JANET YELLEN Confirmed By Congress As First Female Federal Reserve Chair! Congrats!!

#JanetYELLEN

JANET YELLEN has been Confirmed by the U.S. Senate as the First FEMALE Federal Reserve Chair. CONGRATS!





ARTICLE: "Janet Yellen Will Be A Fed Chair For The Real, Every-Day Economy"


Janet Yellen, vice chairman of the Federal Reserve, was confirmed Monday by the Senate to succeed chairman Ben Bernanke as the next head of America’s central bank. Her term, which begins February 1st, will mark an important shift in the direction of the bank’s policy efforts, as it begins to “taper” back the last five years of unconventional monetary policy, which have resulted in the Fed pouring some $3.8 trillion into the U.S. economy following the financial crisis.

While Yellen’s appointment marks continuity with the Bernanke era, and with the Fed’s policy of “quantitative easing” of which she was one of the chief architects, it also heralds a number of firsts. Yellen is the first woman to head the central bank, but even more important, she’s also its first openly reform-minded, Keynesian-oriented leader. A stellar academic economist and 36-year Fed veteran with a particular focus on the human impact of unemployment, Yellen has said on many occasions that the last five years of crisis, joblessness and slower growth, “aren’t just statistics to me.”

While former Fed colleagues like Donald Kohn, Alan Blinder, and Larry Meyer cite her as among the most data-driven and analytical economists around, she’s also someone who’s more interested in clear, well articulated ideas with real world impact than creating the cleverest mathematical models. That commitment was partly inspired by her Yale mentor, the legendary liberal economist James Tobin, who argued that the first priority of economics was to improve the lives of real people.

You can bet that Yellen will be keeping that in mind as she slowly and carefully continues the paring back of quantitative easing that began in December. The challenge will be to keep both the markets and the economy steady as the central bank exits from the largest bout of unconventional monetary policy in history. While the Fed’s dual mandate of keeping inflation and unemployment low will be her first task, there’s currently no conflict there, since inflation is running far below the 2 % target that Yellen herself crafted, meaning that tapering doesn’t need to be rushed. She’ll also have her eye on banking reform. Blinder, who was the Fed vice chair back in the 1990s when Yellen was a governor, remembers speaking with her “many times about how the Fed was being too lax on regulation.” And since then he adds, “things have only gotten worse.”

To do all that, she’ll need to build consensus among a group of Federal Reserve governors who are increasingly independent. Fortunately, says Kohn, who worked with her as a Fed staffer in the mid 1990s, “Janet brings a CEO-type skill set to this job.” He and many others say she’s a “listener and a questioner” who likes to surround herself with the smartest people possible, hear out their arguments, challenge them on any weaknesses, then take her own decisions.

It’s a managerial strategy that seems to have worked, as Yellen has the best track record on policy predictions of any Fed leader since 2009. While she’s often characterized as the “nicest” big name economist around, no one should mistake that for a lack of spine. “She can get at the strengths and weaknesses of someone’s arguments so quickly,” says Berkeley professor and Haas School of Business colleague James Wilcox, “but so politely. She’s got that iron fist in a velvet glove quality.” It’s a quality that will likely serve her well as she steers the most important institute in America today towards a new era of monetary policy.


Sources: Bloomberg News, TIME, UCBerkley, Youtube

Yemeni Authorities Arrest Woman Involved In U.S. Terror Plot

Yemeni Forces Arrest Woman Believed Linked To Plot


A woman believed to be connected to a plot to send explosive packages bound for the United States has been arrested in the Yemeni capital of Sanaa, according to a Yemeni government official and a reporter with the state news agency.

Authorities have scrambled to find those responsible for sending two suspicious packages that were found in the United Arab Emirates and the United Kingdom. U.S. Secretary of Homeland Security Janet Napolitano told CNN that the plan to send explosives on a flight to the United States has the "hallmarks of al Qaeda."

Yemen has become a key battleground for al Qaeda since a local affiliate calling itself al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula was established in 2009.

One of the packages was discovered at Britain's East Midlands airport containing "viable explosives" that could have brought down an aircraft upon detonation, British Home Secretary Theresa May said Saturday.

"We believe that the device was designed to go off on the airplane," said Prime Minister David Cameron. "We cannot be sure about the timing when that was meant to take place.There is no early evidence that that was meant to take place over British soil, but of course we cannot rule it out."

The preliminary U.K. investigation indicates that the target may have been an aircraft, May said, but authorities do not believe the perpetrators would have known the location of the device had they detonated it.

May said that there is no indication of any other attack on British soil, and the threat level in the United Kingdom remains unchanged at severe.

All the packages from Yemen that authorities were looking for have been found and did not pose a threat, a U.S. law enforcement official said.

The suspected terror plot involved two suspicious packages found abroad, addressed to Jewish organizations in the United States, that contained considerable amounts of explosive material.

President Barack Obama confirmed that the packages originated in Yemen.

"We also know that al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula ... continues to plan attacks against our homeland, our citizens, and our friends and allies," he said during a press briefing on the incident Friday.

"Initial examination of those packages has determined they do apparently contain explosive material," Obama said.

The devices were "professionally" loaded and connected using an electric circuit to a mobile phone chip tucked in a printer, Dubai police told WAM, the official news agency for the United Arab Emirates.

They were packed in toner cartridges and designed to be detonated by a cell phone, a source close to the investigation told CNN.



Police said they were tipped off about the possibility of an explosive device in postal packages onboard a FedEx flight to Dubai. The device had been shipped first from the Yemeni capital of Sanaa to Doha, Qatar, on a Qatar Airways flight, the UAE General Civil Aviation Authority said Saturday.

The Saudi government provided U.S. officials with tracking numbers of the two packages, enabling quick tracing to the United Kingdom and Dubai, a source told CNN.

"We know that the perpetrators of this -- and it has the hallmarks of al Qaeda, the AQAP -- they are constantly trying things to test our system," Napolitano said, referring to al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula.

"What happened is you have great information sharing from the Saudis," Napolitano said Saturday. "We were immediately able to work across the globe to get these packages segregated."

Pressed by CNN's T.J. Holmes on whether the United States would have known about the plot had it not been for the Saudis, she said, "We certainly got the heads-up from the Saudis."

"I don't want to go into other intelligence," she said. "That would be inappropriate. I don't play the 'what if' game. What if the Saudis hadn't told us? We share information. We share information like this across the globe. The ability for passengers to travel safely is a global issue and all countries of the world need to be involved here."

Obama thanked King Abdullah on Saturday for Saudi Arabia's key role in disrupting the plot, the White House said.

Cameron, meanwhile, lauded the cooperation among several countries and said Britain has banned packages to and from Yemen.

Mohammed Albasha, a Yemen Embassy spokesman in Washington, said no UPS or FedEx flights take off or land in Yemen. He said his government is investigating, but it was too early to speculate or reach any conclusions.

Yemen is cooperating with regional and international partners, including the United States and the United Kingdom, the spokesman said.

A Yemeni government official, who was not authorized to speak to the media, said Saturday that police would close UPS and FedEx offices in the country as part of the investigation. Packages bound to the United States from Yemen "are being inspected and scrutinized as part of the investigation," the official said.

He said workers at local UPS and FedEx offices were questioned, as were other cargo workers.

Obama's presidential counterterrorism advisor John Brennan spoke to Yemeni President Ali Abdallah Saleh, stressing "the importance of close counterterrorism cooperation, including the need to work together on the ongoing investigation into the events over the past few days," according to the White House.

The package found at East Midlands Airport contained a "manipulated" toner cartridge and had white powder on it as well as wires and a circuit board, a law enforcement source said Friday. A similar package set to be shipped on a FedEx cargo plane was discovered in Dubai, officials there said.

The source close to the investigation said the type of material found in the devices was PETN, a highly explosive organic compound belonging to the same chemical family as nitroglycerin. Six grams of PETN are enough to blow a hole in the fuselage of an aircraft.

PETN was allegedly one of the components of the bomb concealed by Umar Farouk AbdulMutallab, the Nigerian man accused of trying to set off an explosion aboard a Northwest Airlines flight as it approached Detroit, Michigan, on December 25.

AbdulMutallab is alleged to have been carrying 80 grams of PETN in that botched attack -- also believed to be the workings of al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula.

By comparison, the source said the two devices found Friday contained multiple times more PETN.

"The quantity of PETN in these devices was about five times the volume used at Christmas" by AbdulMutallab, Col. Richard Kemp, the former chairman of the British government's Cobra Intelligence Group, told CNN affiliate ITN. The plot "does appear to be a typical al Qaeda-type operation," he said, agreeing that an explosion could have brought down an aircraft.

A source closely involved in the investigation said the detonating substance was Lead Azide. Lead Azide is a "very powerful initiator" which is easily prepared and is a standard substance in detonations, the source said.

Kemp said al Qaeda remains intent on carrying out a "spectacular attack" comparable to the September 11, 2001, attacks on U.S. soil.

Both packages bore addresses in the United States, "specifically two places of Jewish worship in Chicago," Obama said.

The packages led to increased searches of cargo planes and trucks in several U.S. cities, said law enforcement sources with detailed knowledge of the investigation.

White House counterterrorism chief John Brennan said that "the materials that were found and the device that was discovered were intended to do harm."

The Transportation Security Administration on Friday stopped all packages originating from Yemen, and shipping companies UPS, FedEx and DHL all said they were complying with the order. May said Saturday that all cargo into or through the United Kingdom originating in Yemen was halted as well.

The U.S. Postal Service announced it has temporarily suspended acceptance of inbound international mail originating in Yemen.

Counterterrorism officials are taking the threat "very seriously," Obama said. The Department of Homeland Security said it has taken measures to intensify security.

"We have put in place enhanced protections for cargo and passengers emanating from Yemen and making sure we identify all packages coming from there," Napolitano said Saturday. She stressed that officials are acting out of "an abundance of caution."

A security expert in the United Arab Emirates noted that Dubai is under major pressure as the main cargo center in the region. Dubai has a system that re-screens every parcel, even if it is not the final destination for the package, said Mustafa Al Ani, security director at the Gulf Research Center.

"The investigation about the bomb is global -- it's not just about Dubai," he told CNN. Still, Al Ani pointed out that it took "a very short time" for UAE officials to discover the device once they received intelligence.

"Without information or intelligence, such explosives are very difficult to detect," he said.



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Sources: CNN, MSNBC, Telegraph.co.uk, Google Maps

"Jihad Jane": Otherwise Known As Colleen LaRose, Female Terrorist

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Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

"Jihad Jane" Suspect Wasn’t Religious



Colleen LaRose spent long days caring for her boyfriend's father in a second-floor apartment in Pennsburg, a small town north of Philadelphia.

But online, federal authorities say, the devoted caretaker developed a daring alter ego, refashioning herself as "Jihad Jane" while helping recruit and finance Muslim terrorists — and eventually moving overseas to kill an artist she perceived as an enemy to Islam.

LaRose, 46, was charged Tuesday with conspiring with jihadist fighters and pledging to commit murder in the name of a Muslim holy war, or jihad. The indictment was announced hours after authorities arrested seven suspected terrorists in Ireland allegedly linked to LaRose, who has been in prison since her Oct. 15 arrest while returning to the United States.

In e-mails recovered by the FBI over 15 months, LaRose agreed to marry an online contact from South Asia so he could move to Europe. She also agreed to become a martyr, the indictment said.

But perhaps she felt like one already.

Married twice by age 24

Born in Michigan, LaRose moved to Texas as a girl and had married twice by age 24. Her first marriage came at 16, to a man twice her age in Tarrant County, Texas, public records show. There are no records or reports of any children from either union, both of which were long over by the time she met Pennsylvanian Kurt Gorman in 2005 or thereabouts.

LaRose lived with Gorman and his father in Pennsburg, caring for the older man while Gorman worked at his family's small business in another town, Gorman said this week.

"She was a good-hearted person," he said Wednesday. "She pretty much stayed around the house."

But online, she grew increasingly devoted to a loose band of what authorities say were violent co-conspirators from around the world. They found her after she posted a YouTube video in June 2008 saying she was "desperate to do something somehow to help" ease the suffering of Muslims, the indictment said.

She eventually agreed to try to kill Swedish artist Lars Vilks, who had angered Muslims by depicting the Prophet Muhammad with the body of a dog, according to a U.S. official who wasn't authorized to discuss details of the investigation and spoke on condition of anonymity.

Despite Web images that show LaRose in a Muslim head covering, Gorman said he never picked up on any Muslim leanings. She never attended religious services of any kind, he said. Gorman, 47, sensed nothing amiss in their five-year relationship until the day after his father's funeral last August.

"I came home and she was gone. It doesn't make any sense," he said Wednesday outside his small business in nearby Quakertown.

FBI interviewed her July 17

That same day, LaRose had removed the hard drive from her computer and set off for Europe — federal authorities won't specify where. She had swiped Gorman's passport and planned to give it to the co-conspirator she had agreed to marry, the indictment said.

It's unclear how she was able to travel overseas, given that the FBI, presumably tipped to her online postings, had interviewed her July 17. According to the indictment, she denied soliciting funds for any terrorist causes or making the postings ascribed to "JihadJane."

By Sept. 30, she wrote online that it would be "an honour & great pleasure to die or kill for" her intended spouse, the indictment said. "Only death will stop me here that I am so close to the target!" she is accused of writing.

Her federal public defenders, Mark T. Wilson and Ross Thompson, declined to on the case again Wednesday.

Irish police disclosed, though, that they had arrested two Algerians, two Libyans, a Palestinian, a Croatian and an American woman married to one of the Algerian suspects. They were not identified by name.

"I'm glad she didn't kill me," Vilks told The Associated Press on Wednesday, saying the suspects appeared to be "low-tech." He said he has built defense systems in his home to thwart would-be terrorists, including a safe room and electrified barbed wire.

LaRose is scheduled to appear in court March 18 on the indictment, which was returned March 4 and unsealed Tuesday. The document does not link her to any organized terrorist groups.

‘You have to be careful’

She is unusual in being one of just a handful of U.S. women ever charged with terrorism, the Justice Department said. And her online conversations suggest she knew that to be an advantage — as she thought her blond, American profile would help her move freely in Sweden to carry out the attack, the indictment said.

The case "shatters the conventional wisdom that somehow the U.S. is immune to the heady currents of radicalization that have affected citizens of other Western countries," said Georgetown University professor Bruce Hoffman, an international securities expert.

LaRose lived in a tidy red brick apartment building on Main Street, a busy roadway lined with porch-front houses, many decorated with American flags, and a post office.

"It's a great place. A quiet little town," said Pennsburg real estate agent Debbie Turner. "But you never know who your neighbors are. You have to be careful."

LaRose had a few minor convictions in Texas in the 1980s for trespassing and other misdemeanors, according to online records, which list her then as 4 feet 11 and 105 pounds. In Pennsburg, at least, she had little trouble blending in.

"For all intents and purposes, she's the neighbor next door," said Hoffman, noting that the Internet enables like minds around the world to meet up, for better or worse.

"You could get all the thrills of participation in an illegal clandestine act in the comfort of your own bedroom," he said. "This is someone who, I think, because of the communicative power of the Internet is able to ... enter into something that is larger than herself."


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Sources: MSNBC, Google Maps

Michael Irvin Accused Of Rape

Michael Irvin Accused Of Rape At Florida Hotel


A woman who claimed she was raped 2-1/2 years ago by Cowboys Hall of Famer and NFL Network analyst Michael Irvin filed a civil suit against him Thursday, according to the Miami Herald.

According to Broward (Fla.) State Attorney spokesman Ron Ishoy, the office has looked into the case and is expected to reach a conclusion next week.

No criminal charges have been filed.

According to the suit, the woman (referred to as Jane Doe), says the attack happened in the late hours of July 4 or early July 5 in 2007 at the Seminole Hard Rock Hotel & Casino in Hollywood, Fla.

Irvin's lawyer, Larry Friedman, called the accusations "totally untrue."

According to Seminole Tribe spokesman Gary Bitner, the alleged assault was reported to Seminole police on July 20, 2007.

"They investigated it thoroughly," Bitner said. "Although by that time there was no longer any forensic evidence or surveillance video."

David Lister, the woman's attorney, told the Herald his client and Irvin's counsel had been in negotiations for a financial settlement, but those talks stalled, prompting the lawsuit.

"There were discussion back and forth between the parties," Lister said, adding that Irvin's representatives had asked for a settlement figure. "Nothing came of it."

Friedman called the discussions attempts at extortion.

According to the report, Friedman said the woman came forward last year, after Irvin had appeared on a few episodes of the television show "Dancing With the Stars."

Irvin grew up in Fort Lauderdale and was a star wide receiver at the University of Miami before his Hall of Fame career with the Cowboys.

In 1996 he pleaded no contest to a cocaine charge and later that same year, Irvin and a teammate were accused of sexually assaulting a woman, but an investigation revealed the woman had made up the story. She soon recanted.


Sources: NY Daily News

Pope Benedict XVI Attacked During Christmas Eve Mass

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Pope Knocked Down At Christmas Eve Mass


Pope Benedict XVI's Christmas Eve Mass at St. Peter's Basilica got off to a tumultuous start Thursday after an apparently deranged woman jumped the barriers and knocked him down on his way to the altar.

The 82-year-old pope quickly got up and was unhurt, said a Vatican spokesman, the Rev. Ciro Benedettini. But 87-year-old French Cardinal Roger Etchegaray, a longtime Vatican diplomat who was also dragged down, fractured his hip in the fall and will be operated on, Vatican spokesman Rev. Federico Lombardi said Friday.

The pope delivered his traditional Christmas Day blessing Friday, looking tired and unsteady but otherwise fine. The Vatican said his busy Christmas schedule would remain unchanged.

Footage aired on Italy's RAI state TV showed a woman dressed in a red hooded sweatshirt vaulting over the wooden barriers and rushing toward the pope before being swarmed by bodyguards.

Lombardi identified the woman as Susanna Maiolo, a Swiss-Italian national with psychiatric problems. Video shot by a witness showed Maiolo grabbing the pope's vestments as she was taken down, with Benedict seemingly falling on top of her.

Vatican officials speaking on condition of anonymity said Maiolo was involved in a similar incident last year in which she jumped the barricade as the pope passed. In that case, however, Maiolo never managed to reach the pope and was quietly tackled to the ground by security.

In both cases she wore a red sweat shirt.

The commotion occurred as the pope's procession was making its way toward the main altar and shocked gasps rang out through the crowd that packed the basilica. The procession came to a halt and security rushed to the trouble spot.

Benedettini said Maiolo was arrested by Vatican police. "During the procession an unstable person jumped a barrier and knocked down the Holy Father," Benedettini told The Associated Press by telephone. "(The pope) quickly got up and continued the procession."

Security guards tackle woman

MaryBeth Burns from Paris, Texas, was about four people away from Maiolo and was filming the pope's procession as the commotion started.

"I'm really mad because I had a perfect shot lined up," she said. "I'm still shaking."

Burns, who was visiting Italy with her family on a religious pilgrimage for Christmas, said the security guards immediately pulled the woman to the ground and the pope tumbled with them.

Benedict lost his miter and his staff in the fall. He remained on the ground for a few seconds before being helped back up by attendants. At that point a few shouts of "viva il papa!" (long live the pope!) rang out, followed by cheers from the faithful, witnesses said.

After getting up, Benedict, flanked by tense bodyguards, resumed his walk to the basilica's main altar to start the Mass. He did appear somewhat shaken and leaned heavily on aides and an armrest as he sat down in his chair.

Few people who were watching the Mass on giant screens set up in a rain-soaked St. Peter's Square even knew that the pope had fallen, with many saying that either they weren't looking or had arrived too late.

Benedict made no reference to the incident as the service started. As a choir sang, he sprinkled incense on the altar before opening the Mass with the traditional wish for peace in Latin.

Security Breaches

The latest incident was the first time a potential attacker came into direct contact with Benedict, and underscored concerns by security analysts who have frequently warned the pope is too exposed in his public appearances.

There have been other security breaches at the Vatican, in addition to this year's and last year's incidents.

In 2007, during an open-air audience in St. Peter's Square, a mentally unstable German man jumped a security barrier and grabbed the back of the pope's open car before being swarmed by security guards.

Then there was the assassination attempt against Pope John Paul II by Turkish gunman Mehmet Ali Agca in 1981. John Paul suffered a severe abdominal wound as he rode in an open jeep at the start of his weekly audience in the Vatican piazza.

The pope is protected by a combination of Swiss Guards, Vatican police and Italian police.

Delivers Homily

Since the Sept. 11 attacks on the U.S., the Vatican has tightened security at events where the pope is present. All visitors must pass by police to get into the square, with some going through metal detectors or being scanned by metal-detecting wands.

In a similar incident to Thursday's, Italian Premier Silvio Berlusconi was attacked as he was greeting the crowd at a political rally earlier this month. A man with a history of psychological problems hurled a souvenir statuette at the politician, fracturing his nose and breaking two of his teeth.

Benedict celebrated this year's Christmas Eve Mass two hours earlier than the usual midnight starting time in a move by the Vatican to ease the pontiff's busy holiday schedule.

In his homily, delivered unflappably after the incident, Benedict urged the world to "wake up" from selfishness and petty affairs, and find time for God and spiritual matters.

"To wake up means to leave that private world of one's own and to enter the common reality," Benedict said. "Conflict and lack of reconciliation in the world stem from the fact that we are locked into our own interests and opinions, into our own little private world."

Benedict's next scheduled appearance is at noon on Christmas Day, when he is to deliver his traditional "Urbi et Orbi" Speech (Latin for "To the city and the world") from the basilica's balcony.




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Sources: MSNBC, Google Maps

Woman Rushed To Hospital From Tiger Woods' Home

(WESH) Firefighters Respond To Rescue Call At Tiger Woods' Home


Orange County firefighters responded to a medical call at the residence of Tiger Woods on Tuesday morning.

The call was received at 2:36 a.m.

A radio log showed an adult woman was transported to Health Central Hospital in Ocoee. The log also showed the patient initally refused transport, but was later listed as an advanced life support patient.

Video from the hospital showed a middle-age woman being removed from an ambulance on a stretcher and taken through an emergency entrance.

Health Central is the same hospital where Woods was taken after his crash on Nov. 27.

A black Cadillac Escalade was seen leaving the hospital shortly after the ambulance arrived there. The tag on the Escalade was similar to the one involved in Woods' crash.ti

Woods' Wife Moves Out Of Home

Neighbors of Tiger Woods said an increasing number of alleged affairs led the professional golfer's wife to move out of their Isleworth mansion.

The number of women who claim they've had affairs with Woods has climbed to 10. The number includes two local women.

Several celebrity news Web sites said Elin Woods had enough and moved out of the couple's $2.6 million home. A report on RadarOnline.com said Elin Nordegren had enough and moved into another nearby home also owned by Woods.




(NBC Sports) Woman rushed to hospital from Tiger Woods’ home

A woman was transported to hospital from Tiger Woods' Florida home after firefighters responded to a medical call early Tuesday, NBC News reported.

According to Orlando-based WESH, the adult female was taken from the $2.6 million masnion "on advanced life support" after firefighters received a call at 2:36 a.m.

A radio log showed an adult female was transported to Health Central Hospital, WESH reported.

Footage obtained by WESH showed a woman on a stretcher being removed from an ambulance by emergency officials.

Orange County Fire officials were unable to disclose further information about the incident.

The world’s No. 1 golfer hit a hydrant and a tree around 2:25 a.m. on Nov. 27. The Florida Highway Patrol last week cited Woods for careless driving and fined him $164.

The accident — and Woods’ refusal to answer questions about it — fueled speculation about a possible dispute between the golfer and wife Elin Nordegren

Just days before the crash, a National Enquirer story alleged Woods had been seeing a New York nightclub hostess, Rachel Uchitel, who has denied it. After the crash, Us Weekly reported that a Los Angeles cocktail waitress named Jaimee Grubbs claims she had a 31-month affair with Woods.

Last week, Woods issued a statement saying he had let his family down with unspecified “transgressions” that he regrets with “all of my heart.” He did not elaborate.



Can Tiger Woods be tamed? As more women come forward claiming to be mistresses of Tiger Woods, would the rebranding of the golf great as a cheater become a permanent trend or momentary stain on his legacy?

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Sources: WESH, NBC Sports, MSNBC, NY Daily News, Google Maps