Daily News Feed 12.05.2009/Vocab: nonplus

Black unemployment ‘a serious problem’
While the overall unemployment rate for Americans fell in November, the jobless gap between African-Americans and all other races actually rose, continuing a disturbing trend that has many lawmakers up in arms. The black community has suffered the hardest during the economic downturn, with an unemployment rate that currently stands at 15.6%. That’s a much higher rate than for all of the other races that the Labor Department tracks, including Hispanics (12.7%), whites (9.3%) and Asians (7.3%). The jobless rate for blacks has also grown much faster than for other races. The difference between the unemployment rates for blacks and whites fell to an all-time low of 3.5 percentage points in August 2007. (Continue Reading…)

Lawyer says DUI charges dropped against Nas
A lawyer for Grammy award nominated rapper Nas refutes reports of the rapper’s DUI charges from a Sept. 10 arrest. John C. Mayoue represents the Brooklyn, N.Y. native. “Nas has not been charged with any offense whatsoever, including DUI,” said Mayoue. “The state’s own lab results were negative for any drugs, including marijuana.” According to a police incident report made available to the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, Nas, born Nasir Jones, was arrested on Sept. 10 and charged with DUI after the arresting officer observed the rapper was intoxicated. During questioning, Nas admitted to having smoked marijuana at a friend’s house. (Continue Reading…)

WHO launches campaign to halt smoking in Africa
The World Health Organization launched a campaign on Friday to try to stop what could become a health catastrophe caused by rapidly rising levels of smoking in Africa. The Geneva-based agency said it wanted to stop tobacco from becoming as prevalent in Africa as it is in other parts of the world and would set up a regional hub in 2010 for health experts to work with governments to introduce anti-smoking policies. “Tobacco use is the most preventable cause of illness and death,” the WHO’s expert on non-communicable diseases, Ala Alwan, said in a statement. “Unchecked, it will kill more than 8 million people per year by 2030, with more than 80 percent of those deaths occurring in developing countries. Although tobacco use is less prevalent in Africa than in other regions of the world, that will change unless we act.” (Continue Reading…)