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Tuesday, said it had "reasonable grounds" to suspect small-scale use of toxic chemicals in at least four attacks in March and April in Syria.
• The statements -- which included a confirmed case of the Syrian regime using sarin -- leave many questions unanswered, however, because the probes were mostly carried out from outside Syria from samples collected by doctors and journalists.
• On the ground in the past two months, the Syrian army has moved steadily against rebels in key battleground areas, making advances near the border with Lebanon and considerably lowering the threat to Damascus, the seat of Assad's government. A wide offensive on Qusair was launched on May 19.
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• WASHINGTON (AP) -- Lawmakers outraged by sexual assaults in the military are moving swiftly to address the problem, tackling legislation that would strip commanders of their authority to overturn convictions in rape and assault cases.
• The House Armed Services Committee plans to consider a sweeping, $638 billion defense policy bill for the fiscal year beginning Oct. 1. Debate over numerous provisions on sexual assault, the war in Afghanistan, missile defense and the U.S. detention facility at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, is expected throughout the day Wednesday. A final panel vote is likely late into the evening.
• The House committee's action comes one day after senators grilled senior military leaders about steps the services are taking to combat sexual assault as a series of high-profile cases and the growing number of incidents have shone a harsh spotlight on the services.
• Members of the Senate Armed Services Committee, especially the panel's seven female senators, challenged the military's mostly male leadership on whether they understood the difference between relatively minor sexual offenses and serious crimes that deserve swift and decisive action.
• "Not every single commander necessarily wants women in the force. Not every single commander believes what a sexual assault is. Not every single commander can distinguish between a slap on the ass and a rape because they merge all of these crimes together," Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand told the beribboned military leaders at a nearly daylong hearing Tuesday.
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