Week In The News: Berlin Attack, Assassination In Turkey, North Carolina Bathroom Bill

The Berlin Christmas market attack. A Russian ambassador gunned down. North Carolina’s political struggles. Trump takes the Electoral College. Our weekly news round table goes behind the headlines.

A Christmas market attack this week and a dead ambassador, then Donald Trump upping the global ante, saying "let there be an arms race" — as in nuclear arms against all comers. New terrain. The Berlin attacker has been shot dead. Rebel-held Aleppo has fallen. We've got wild politics over bathrooms in North Carolina. Oil drilling bans — for how long? — in the Arctic and Atlantic. And hope in an Ebola vaccine. This hour On Point, our weekly news roundtable goes behind the headlines. — Tom Ashbrook

Kathy Gilsinan, senior editor at The Atlantic, where she oversees the Global section. (@kgilsinan)

Sahil Kapur, national political reporter for Bloomberg Politics. (@sahilkapur)

Jack Beatty, On Point news analyst. (@JackBeattyNPR)

Euronews: Berlin Attack: Timeline —"The lorry’s headlights are switched off and moments later, the 25-tonne, heavily-loaded, Scania lorry smashes through the crowd, toppling wooden stalls and Christmas trees. Twelve people die and 50 are injured. Lukasz has been shot and stabbed. Leaving his dead body in the passenger seat the driver flees. An onlooker, believing he has spotted the attacker, gives chase."

The Atlantic: What Are Turkey and Russia Doing in Syria? —"When an off-duty police officer fatally shot the Russian ambassador in Turkey on Monday, he reportedly shouted: “Don’t forget Aleppo. Don’t forget Syria.” Russia has attracted broad international condemnation for its role in the sustained siege and bombardment of rebel-held enclaves in Aleppo, which in recent days fell to the forces of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and his allies."

Washington Post: North Carolina lawmakers leave 'bathroom bill' in place —"North Carolina lawmakers failed Wednesday to repeal a law regulating transgender people’s use of public restrooms, despite convening in a special legislative session for the express purpose of rescinding the controversial law."