Week In The News: Bombing Charges, Chemical Weapons, AP Twitter Hack

Charges in the Boston bombing. Chemical weapons use charged in Syria. Twitter is hacked and stock markets shudder.

Bombing charges in Boston to begin this week.  Chemical weapons charges in Syria to end it.

On the bombing front, “weapon of mass destruction” charges for the pressure cooker bombs and their toll.  On Syria, the US now treading cautiously but clearly nearer declaring a red line crossed.  Stay tuned there.

We’ve seen fury over sequester-driven flight delays.  A Senate move to end them.  A new presidential library in Dallas.  A hacked tweet that moved markets.  Accelerating US economic growth.

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

Michael Hirsh, chief correspondent for National Journal. (@michaelphirsh)

Meredith Shiner, staff writer for Roll Call. (@meredithshiner)

Jack Beatty, On Point news analyst.

National Journal (Michael Hirsh): How Tamerlan Tsarnaev Might Have Been Stopped — "Perhaps the biggest 'what if' question to be asked after the Boston bombings is this: Was there some way that U.S. authorities might have been able to notice and then stop or dissuade Tamerlan Tsarnaev as he began his descent into terrorism, ultimately bringing his younger brother Dzhokhar along with him?"

Roll Call (Meredith Shiner): Four Senators Who Could Derail the Immigration Deal — "With one hearing down, another in full swing Monday and one more to go, the Senate Judiciary Committee is the first crucible for a comprehensive immigration overhaul bill. And in that cauldron will be the heat-bringing Republicans who likely will do everything in their power to stop the legislation from passing, trying to puncture holes in a delicate agreement forged by a bipartisan group of eight senators."

The New York Times: Israel Says it has Proof that Syria Used Chemical Weapons — "Israel declared Tuesday that it had found evidence that the Syrian government repeatedly used chemical weapons last month, arguing that President Bashar al-Assad was testing how the United States and others would react and that it was time for Washington to overcome its deep reluctance to intervene in the Syrian civil war."