A landmark survey conducted on street corners in Dorchester shows that African-Americans born in this country are nearly three times more likely to have asthma than their black neighbors born abroad, a finding that could yield important clues about a national epidemic.

The study was conceived in 2005 by frustrated residents of Dorchester who wanted to understand why asthma is rampant in their neighborhood. The results appear in the November edition of the Journal of Asthma.

Source: http://www.boston.com/news/local/massachusetts/articles/2008/12/01/asthma_rate_higher_in_us_born_blacks_dorchester_study_finds/

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President-elect Barack Obama will name Sen. Hillary Clinton as secretary of state as he unveils his national security team at an event Monday morning, two officials said.

Obama also is expected to finally confirm that he is keeping Defense Secretary Robert Gates in his current post, and to name retired Marine Gen. Jim Jones as his national security adviser at the White House, the officials said.

Source: http://www.cnn.com/2008/POLITICS/12/01/transition.wrap/index.html

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Much of the Zimbabwe capital, Harare, is without water, state media reports, at a time of a cholera outbreak.

Water was cut because of a shortage of purification chemicals, The Herald newspaper quotes water authority officials as saying.

At least 425 people have died in recent months from cholera - a disease spread by contaminated water.

Source: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/7758147.stm