Obama seeks to break ground with his choice for one of the world’s most powerful economic gigs – CFK recovers after Brain Surgery – Europe plans new, Mediterranean-wide patrols to stop immigrant boat disasters – And China warns Australia.

US President Obama is nominating Janet Yellen to chair the Federal Reserve.  The nomination is significant in two ways: If approved by the US Senate, Yellen would be the first woman to hold the most important economic position in the US; and she is considered to be more concerned with unemployment than with inflation.  Other than, Yellen is pretty much expected to steer the US economy through the same waters as her predecessors.

Doctors say brain surgery on Argentina President Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner “went very well”.  Fernandez, or “CFK” as she is known, was out of the operating room after two hours, and will remain in intensive care for two days.  Doctors had to relieve pressure from a subdural hematoma, caused by bumping her head a few weeks ago.

The European Commission is calling for marine search-and-rescue patrols to intercept immigrant boats, such as the one that capsized off the Italian island of Lampedusa last week, killing hundreds of people.  The skipper of that boat is being held on suspicion of manslaughter.  The new European plan is to expand Mediterranean patrols from four ships to providing coverage from Spain to Cyprus.  And not to turn the boats back, but to help find vessels in trouble and also log and register illegal arrivals more effectively.

Police in northern Greece found 19 Somali migrants hiding under the roof of a fake tour bus headed to Italy.  23 greeks posing as tourists were also arrested.  The 12 women and seven men from Africa each paid more than A$4200 to smugglers running the operation, while the Greeks paid only A$140 to pretend to be on vacation. 

Turkey’s Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan got his way on Islamic headscarfs.  The country lifted the ban on civil servants wearing the religious headgear to work, reversing 90 years of official secularism established by modern Turkey’s founder.  Male civil servants will be allowed to grow beards.  Critics accuse Erdogan of lifting the ban to force his increasingly Islamist values on the staunchly secular nation.

China is warning Australia, Japan, and the US not to use their alliance to intervene in territorial disputes in the South China Sea and East China Sea.  This comes after the three Allies issued a joint statement opposing “coercive or unilateral actions” to upset the status quo.  China has developed a case of sharp elbows with Japan over the Senkaku Islands;  and with the Vietnam, the Philippines, Taiwan, Malaysia, and Brunei over oil and mineral rights in their own waters.

China has arrested nearly 400 people for spreading rumors on the Internet.  This is happening in the far northwest Xinjiang region, where Beijing has been vexed by continuing unrest from the Muslim Uigher ethnic group.  Official state media says the rapid rise of Internet users in Xinjiang has seen an increase of religious extremism spreading online.

Nobel week rolls on.  The 2013 Nobel Physics prize goes to British physicist Peter Higgs and Belgian physicist Francois Englert who 50 years ago predicted the existence of the subatomic Higgs Boson Particle – they were proven correct just last year.  The Chemistry Prize will be announced on Wednesday, followed by Literature on Thursday.  The big one, the 2013 Nobel Peace Prize is expected to be announced on Friday.