Jazz

Worries about a slowing world economy took its toll on the markets today: At close, the Dow was down 250.82 points or 2 percent. Standard & Poors was down 2.2 percent and Nasdaq was down 2.4 percent.

That was the worst drop in three weeks and the second worst drop of the year.

The Wall Street Journal reports:

It almost certainly won't solve the European sovereign debt crisis. But the way it's being framed, tomorrow's European Championship quarterfinal is starting to sound like its next chapter: Greece vs. Germany; austerity vs. stimulus; intact eurozone vs. one without Greece.

The Wall Street Journal reports that some have dubbed the game a "debt derby" that pits "the euro zone's most cash-strapped nation against its Teutonic task- and paymaster." The Journal adds:

On average, it costs $10,615 to send a kid to public school for a year. (That's federal, state and local government spending combined.)

As the map above shows, that one number masks a huge variation. Utah spends just over $6,000 per student; New York and the District of Columbia over $18,000.

There's even more variation when you get to the district level. Detailed figures and lots more data (including district-level spending) are available in a report the Census Bureau released today.

Iran's intelligence minister says his country has uncovered a "massive cyber attack" he says was launched by the United States, England and Israel to coincide with nuclear negotiations that happened in Moscow.

Press TV, Iran's official, English-language news outlet, reports that Heidar Moslehi said Iran had "taken necessary measures" to protect itself against the attack.

Moslehi added:

Last week, NPR Special Correspondent Susan Stamberg revealed a streak of "steamers" she managed to check out from her neighborhood library at age ten for our take on NPR Books' PG-13 series, where NPR staffers look back on the Young Adult novels that inspired their own coming-of-age moments.

Turns out, Susan isn't the only one around here guilty of giving in to the gripping pages of Young Adult fiction. NPR Senior Washington Editor Ron Elving shares this week what he found among the scholarly books on his father's book shelf: