Week In The News: Anwar al-Awlaki Reported Dead, FBI Busts Plot, Chris Christie

Republicans beg Chris Christie to run. The FBI stings a would-be terrorist. Saudi women will get the vote. Our weekly news roundtable goes behind the headlines.

An American drone strike has taken down a top Al Qaeda voice in Yemen this week. Anwar al-Awlaki, killed today we’re told. And a homegrown, amateur drone strike on the Pentagon and US Capitol, thwarted — says the FBI - in Washington.

It’s been a week of shifts and begging in the GOP. Rick Perry tumbling, Mitt Romney steady. Republicans begging Chris Christie to run for president. We’ve got super-tough immigration laws upheld in Alabama, bad cantaloupe, China in space.

This hour On Point: our weekly news roundtable goes behind the headlines.
-Tom Ashbrook

John Heilemann, National affairs editor for New York Magazine.

Chrystia Freeland, Global Editor-at-Large of Reuters news.

Jack Beatty, On Point news analyst.

The Washington Post "Senate leaders agreed to a deal Monday evening that is almost certain to avert a federal government shutdown, a prospect that had unexpectedly arisen when congressional leaders deadlocked over disaster relief funding."

The New York Times "The next Russian Revolution started this month. It will be another two or three or even four decades before the Russian people take to the streets to overthrow their dictator — and the timing will depend more on the price of oil than on anything else — but as of Sept. 24, revolution rather than evolution became Russia’s most likely path in the medium term."

NPR "And I don't expect it to -– they can't turn it off overnight. I'm not asserting that the Pak mil or the ISI has complete control over the Haqqanis. But the Haqqanis run that safe haven. They're also a home to al-Qaida in that safe haven."