(Reuters) - Janet Yellen cleared a key Senate procedural hurdle on Friday that all but assures her place as the next chair of the Federal Reserve as it begins to map its way out of unconventional policy territory. The Senate voted to move forward with Yellen's nomination, and final approval is expected on January 6. As those efforts turn the tide on jobs, Yellen, 67, is expected to extricate the Fed from its super-easy monetary policy, first by managing further reductions to the massive bond-buying program and, eventually, by raising rates from rock-bottom levels. A snapshot of those views follows: JOBS Yellen, as the Fed's vice chair since 2010 and the chief of the San Francisco Fed before that, has helped shape the Fed's ultra-easy monetary policy.

BERLIN (AP) — A German pharmaceutical company says it is appealing a Spanish court ruling ordering it to pay compensation to 22 Spaniards who blame their disabilities on the drug thalidomide.