To the Point

UN Report on Arab World Problems

Although Arab leaders often blame the West, a new report finds Arabs themselves responsible for deficiencies in political freedom, women-s rights and education. Two weeks ago, the United Nations issued its Arab Human Development Report. Despite being written by sociologists, economists and experts on culture from 22 Arab countries, the finds have been criticized by some who say that the UN is a tool of the West and that Arab problems are the legacy of colonialism. We hear more about the development gap between Arab nations and the rest of the world from one of the report-s authors and get responses from Arab and British journalists, and the Director of the World Assembly of Muslim Youth. Newsmaker: Will Greenspan Speech Do What Bush's Couldn't? With the stock markets still wallowing in five-year lows, Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan reported to the Senate Banking Committee today on the state of the economy. Watching, along with anxious business leaders and legions of angry shareholders, was Rex Nutting, Washington bureau chief for CBS MarketWatch.com. Reporter-s Notebook: Fast Food, Fast Track? Fast-food restaurants have been the subject of innumerable nutrition studies, but not until now have they been looked at in the context of immigration. Fast Food, Fast Track addresses that seemingly unlikely connection in fast-food restaurants in the ethnic neighborhoods of New York. Author Jennifer Parker Talwar says that such restaurants serve as pathways for assimilation - even upward mobility.