Most congressional observers agree that the level of discourse on Capitol Hill is coarser and more partisan than ever before. A new study suggests it’s also dumber. Congress collectively speaks at almost a full grade-level lower than it did seven years ago, with Republican lawmakers ranking as the smartest and least-smart-sounding talkers, according to a new study by the Sunlight Foundation sure to earn the ire of at least some congressional offices. Read full article > >

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Congressional discourse getting dumber, study says

The Spanish government has announced that the level of bad loans held by the country’s banks is at an 18-year high.

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VIDEO: Tension over Spanish bank debts

The election of Barry Larkin to the Hall of Fame on Monday reminds us of the clean sense of simple celebration that has surrounded such moments through most of baseball history. It illustrates an ideal of purity — the fair test of talent, the level playing field, the triumph of ability and will — that we hope to find in sports, at least sometimes. It’s exactly the way we want it. Read full article > >

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Hall of Fame and steroids: Questions no one wants to answer

Stocks dropped across the board in Europe and the United States after bond yields in Italy passed 7 percent, nearing the level that had led other euro zone nations to seek bailouts.

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Sell-Off Fever Spreads to U.S. on Fears of Broader Crisis

No hurry, guys. TEPCO, the company that owns the troubled Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant in Japan, says it’s still working out a plan for how to deal with radiation at the plant, two days after announcing that the level of crisis was equivalent to the…

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TEPCO Still Mulling Radiation Plan

Dana Delany does her level best to lift “Body of Proof,” a paint-by-numbers morgue drama premiering Tuesday on ABC.

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ABC’s ‘Body of Proof’: Dana Delany, dealing with too many stiffs

“Sell crazy someplace else, we’re all stocked up here.” Given the level of wackiness that seems to have afflicted this third planet from the sun, Jack Nicholson’s immortal line in the movie “As Good as It Gets”" (written by Mark Andrus and James L. Brooks), should become our worldwide slogan. Sure, it’s always a cuckoo fest here on Earth, but this week it seems the out-of-control dial has been cranked up way beyond 11. read more

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Wackos of the World, Unite!

No one at Level Global has been accused of any wrongdoing, but its reputation has been damaged by the F.B.I. raid and it has closed.

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DealBook: For Level Global, F.B.I. Raid Is a Final Blow

Scottish universities have for the first time indicated the level of tuition charges they think could be introduced.

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Scottish unis urge graduate fee

One in five UK workers fear they could lose their jobs, with the level of concern even greater in the public sector, a survey says.

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One in five workers ‘fears sack’

Staff at a special school in the West Midlands vote to strike over the level of violence and disruption from pupils.

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Strike vote over pupil violence

British authorities raised the level of terrorism alerts at railroad stations and airports on Friday but left the national assessment unchanged at “severe.”

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Britain Raises Terror Alert Level, Reports Say

Tax authorities are facing a challenge to meet a target to cut the level of fraud and error in the tax credits system.

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Challenge to cut tax credit fraud

Two of the funds under investigation, Level Global Investors and Diamondback Capital, are both run by alumni of the giant hedge fund SAC Capital.

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DealBook: Agents Raid 3 Hedge Funds’ Offices

The disclosure of roughly 400,000 classified U.S. government documents by WikiLeaks at the end of last week gained prominent press play around the world. Der Spiegel carefully reviewed the data on Iraqi civilian deaths; the WikiLeaks documents suggested that the Pentagon’s own records could not be reconciled with the Pentagon’s broad claims about the level of civilian casualties. The Guardian focused on a wealth of documents about the torture of prisoners by Iraqi forces and what the United States knew. It identified a fragmentary order issued by the U.S. command that authorized Americans to simply ignore the problem. . . .

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SCOTT HORTON—The Washington Post and WikiLeaks