Week In The News: GOP Debate, Greek Deal, Qurans Burned

With Mike Pesca in for Tom Ashbrook

Romney and Santorum go at it. Quran burning in Afghanistan. A debt deal for Greece. The weekly news roundtable goes behind the headlines.

Gas prices are spiking; the burning of Korans leads to protests and deaths - but not all news is bad - Newt Gingrich is, in a word, cheerful.  The states of Michigan and Arizona will hold their primaries on Tuesday, the race in both places is surprisingly close.

The governor of Virginia backs off  a requirement that women seeking an abortion first get an invasive sonogram; the Supreme Court will take on the issue of affirmative action in colleges, just 8 years after issuing a ruling that was expected to last for decades.  

This hour, On Point: our weekly news roundtable goes behind the headlines.
-Mike Pesca

David Shepardson, Washington bureau chief for the Detroit News.

David Ignatius is a columnist at The Washington Post. He has covered the Middle East and the CIA for more than 25 years.

Jack Beatty, On Point news analyst.

New York Times "President Obama apologized on Thursday for the burning of Korans at the largest American base in Afghanistan earlier this week as furious protests raged for a third day and a man wearing Afghan Army uniform turned his weapon on coalition soldiers, killing two of them."

Wall Street Journal "Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney sought Wednesday to portray Rick Santorum's 16-year career in Congress as a betrayal of conservative principles, using a televised debate to try to define his top rival at a moment when many voters are paying new attention to the former senator."

 LA Times "Since the retirement of Justice Sandra Day O'Connor, conservatives have looked forward to the day when the Supreme Court would take up a new challenge to the use of race-based affirmative action in the nation's colleges and universities."