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October 09, 2013 | | HISTORIC President Obama is set to nominate Janet Yellin as the next chair of the Federal Reserve, the first woman to ever hold the post. The guys on Wall Street will report to a woman as their boss—but that isn't what's truly remarkable. For the first time in a generation an actual Democrat will be in charge of monetary policy. WE HAD PERMISSION? The U.S. military had permission to carry out a high-stakes raid that captured Libyan al Qaeda operative Abu Anas al-Liby last week, American officials insisted to The New York Times on Wednesday. What's more, U.S. officials pretty much knew Libya would deny allowing the raid (thanks for that), but now there are concerns that another al Qaeda operative, Ahmed Abu Khattala, who has been blamed for the Benghazi attack, has been tipped off that the U.S. is friendly enough with the Libyan government to carry out these missions. Khattala is believed to be in Libya, but it's unclear why the U.S. didn't carry out that operation at the same time—and a second raid could bring down Prime Minister Ali Zeidan. THANKS FOR THAT With Edward Snowden possibly spotted grocery shopping in Russia (it's no Hawaii, that's for sure), MI5 has turned its attention onto the Guardian, the newspaper that printed Snowden's disclosures. Britain's spy chief Andrew Parker said Wednesday that the Guardian gave terrorists "a gift they need to evade us and strike at will" and the newspaper caused huge "harm" to Britain's intelligence community. Snowden, a former defense contractor, leaked thousands of classified documents to the Guardian's Glenn Greenwald that detailed the U.S. National Security Agency and Britain's GCHQ's program to monitor phones, emails, and more. Since then, there has been international repercussions for those involved: Snowden has been charged with espionage by the U.S. government and sought asylum in Russia, while Greenwald's partner, David Miranda, was detained at Heathrow Airport for nine hours. SHARE THE PAIN Time to spread the shutdown pain around. Top Democrats on Tuesday called for the House gym and spa to be closed due to the shutdown, insisting that Congress shouldn't enjoy perks while others are not getting paid. According to a letter from Illinois Rep. Bill Foster and Florida Rep. Patrick Murphy, Congress still has "access to the taxpayer-funded gym, sauna, and steam room while tens of thousands of federal employees remained furloughed, janitorial staff are still required to restock it with towels and other 'essential items.'" Yeah, that is kind of a PR disaster, guys. Boehner's office declined to comment. Ouch! The 2013 Nobel Prize in Literature is expected to be announced Thursday, and readers are eagerly gearing up for it. But the award is never given posthumously, which creates a dilemma for members of the Swedish Academy: they face the constant risk of failing to honor the best authors of their time. From Joyce to Tolstoy to Woolf, here are some of the giants of literature who passed away before they could be made a laureate. Plus, a gallery of the all the winners since 2000, and a primer on the top 10 favorites this year. | | 
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