10 things you need to know today: January 30, 2013

Kerry sails to confirmation, South Korea sends a satellite into orbit, and more in our roundup of the stories that are making news and driving opinion

South Korea's Naro rocket lifts off from the launch pad at Goheung Space Center on Jan. 30.
(Image credit: Korea Aerospace Research Institute via Getty Images)

1. JOHN KERRY CONFIRMED WITHOUT A FIGHT

As expected, Sen. John Kerry (D-Mass.) easily won confirmation Tuesday as President Obama's next secretary of state. The vote among his colleagues in the Senate, where he has served for 28 years, was nearly unanimous, with just three Republicans opposed. Earlier in the day, the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, which Kerry chaired, approved his nomination in a unanimous voice vote. Kerry said in his Senate hearing that there was no "daylight" between his governing philosophy and that of outgoing Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, who said the Massachusetts senator and former Democratic presidential nominee was the "right choice" to replace her. Kerry could be sworn in as early as Friday. [CBS News]

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Harold Maass, The Week US

Harold Maass is a contributing editor at The Week. He has been writing for The Week since the 2001 debut of the U.S. print edition and served as editor of TheWeek.com when it launched in 2008. Harold started his career as a newspaper reporter in South Florida and Haiti. He has previously worked for a variety of news outlets, including The Miami Herald, ABC News and Fox News, and for several years wrote a daily roundup of financial news for The Week and Yahoo Finance.