There could be an historic choice to head America’s central bank – The Koreas are back to cooperating – Foul, intemperate remarks could cost a lawyer his livelihood – And we could be witnessing a remarkable Pakistani teen’s evolution into the kind of transformative leader the world sees maybe a couple of times per century.

It’s not every day someone takes his name out of contention for what is arguable the most powerful economic job in the world.  Larry Summers withdrew his name from consideration for Chair of the United States Federal Reserve.  President Obama accepted the decision, praising Summers as someone with whom he “faced down the worst economic crisis since the Great Depression”.  Critics say Summers may have been partially responsible for that crisis by championing the deregulation that created the 2008 crash.  Some expect Obama to nominate Janet Yellen to helm the world’s most powerful economy.

Cars and trucks poured across the border checkpoint between South and North Korea, en route to the Kaesong industrial park.  The two Koreas agreed to reopen the manufacturing zone after being closed five months because of bellicose rhetoric and threats of war.  The mood among South Korean factory owners and managers was optimistic as they crossed north.

Passengers have been evacuated from the Chinese cruise “Henna” as it remains anchored off a South Korean resort island.  Four jets repatriated most of them back to China, although there were reportedly a couple Aussies on board.  A South Korean court took the unusual move of ordering the Henna not to leave the island while two Chinese companies dispute ownership.

It could be the largest and most daunting salvage effort ever attempted.  Crews will attempt to right the Costa Concordia, which famously hit the rocks off Italy’s Tuscan coast in January 2012, winding up on its side and killing 32 people.  The captain is on trial for manslaughter and abandoning ship.  The Costa Concordia is 114,000 tons and the length of three football fields.  They’ll attempt to raise it with giant metal chains, and to keep it afloat with huge, empty metal bins welded to the side that will act as floats.  If it works, it’ll be one of the most amazing acts of engineering so far in our lifetimes.

The defense lawyer for the men convicted the deadly gang rape of a med Student in Delhi, India is in hot water for incredibly misogynist remarks.  A.P. Singh could lose his license to practice law for telling reporters that he would have “burned my daughter alive” if she was having “premarital sex and moving around at night with her boyfriend”.  We remind the world that the victim of the horrible assault had to be airlifted to a hospital in Singapore that was equipped to deal with her severe internal injuries, where she died anyway.  Singh presented not a shred of evidence to back-up his assault on the late victim’s character.  India’s Bar Council will meet Tuesday about pulling Singh’s ticket.

Gunmen shot and likely paralyzed the top female police officer in a troubled town in Afghanistan. Her bodyguard detail opened fire on the assailants, but they got away.  The 38-year old inspector was shot just a few months after cowardly assassins killed her predecessor in a similar attack.  It’s the latest in a series of attacks on high-profile women in Afghanistan.

16-year old Malala Yousufzai is taking on another challenge in her already amazing life.  The gifted young orator will try to raise US$500 Million over the next three years to provide education to 300,000 Syrian school kids currently living as refugees from the civil war in Lebanon.  She survived an assassination attempt by the Taliban in her native Pakistan in 2012, only to take the notoriety of that attack and become and international education advocate, winning the Children’s Peace Prize and addressing the United Nations General Assembly.

Mexico marked a big milestone over the weekend, with the nation’s first openly gay mayor being sworn in at a ceremony in the city of Fresnillo.  Benjamin Medrano Quezada won the seat even though his opponents tried to make an issue of his sexual orientation.  And it turned out voters wanted the best-qualified person to be mayor instead of someone to date their daughters.  Medrano grew up poor in Zacatecas state, got a law degree, and ran nightclubs before running for office.  He’s got his work cut out for him, because Fresnillo’s security is the main issue:  The town is caught in a turf war between rival drug gangs.