Estimating airstrike casualties
Airstrikes on Iran’s nuclear facilities could kill or injure more than 80,000 people, according to a recent study. The uranium-conversion facility at Isfahan, for example, is located on the city’s outskirts; toxic plumes released from a strike would reach the city center within an hour, rapidly killing or injuring as many as 70,000 and exposing more than 300,000 to toxic clouds of radioactive uranium.
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The military's “silent epidemic”
One in five female military veterans, and one in 100 male ex-soldiers, screens positive for “military sexual trauma,” according to the Veterans Affairs Department. The Pentagon estimates that 20,000 soldiers are raped by fellow soldiers every year, and Defense Secretary Leon Panetta calls sexual assault in the ranks a “silent epidemic.”
National Journal
Banning tennis court grunts
Maria Sharapova’s screeches and grunts on the tennis court have been measured at 101 decibels, or roughly the loudness of a chain saw. The Women’s Tennis Association is now taking steps to ban the distracting practice—but only in the next generation of players.
CSMonitor.com
Defaults on student loans rise
The number of Americans who defaulted on federal student loans rose again last year, reflecting the inability of graduates to find good jobs. Of students whose loans came due after October 2009, 9.1 percent have defaulted—an increase from 8.8 percent in the previous two-year reporting period, and almost double the rate of five years earlier.
The Wall Street Journal
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Very rich and very poor in California, and morefeature California is home to 111 billionaires, yet it also suffers the highest poverty rate in the country.
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Arctic cold kills tree insects, and more
feature This winter’s arctic temperatures have had at least one beneficial impact: They’ve killed ash borers, gypsy moths, and other tree-eating insects.
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Congress's poor record, and more
feature The 113th Congress is on course to pass less legislation than any Congress in history.
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Gender differences in employment, and more
feature
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A first for West Point, and more
feature For the first time, two male graduates of West Point were married at the military academy’s chapel.
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A God given land?, and more
feature More white evangelical Protestants than U.S Jews believe that Israel was “given to the Jewish people by God.”
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Jailing the mentally ill, and more
feature American prisons have replaced state mental hospitals as a place to warehouse the mentally ill.
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Treating Internet addiction, and more
feature Treating Internet addiction; Freshman virgins at Harvard; A salary handicap for lefties; Prices for vintage automobiles soar; Gun permits for blind people