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Obama has weak spots to address in his case to the nation for action against Syria
• WASHINGTON (AP) -- President Barack Obama is grasping all his tools of persuasion in trying to turn around public opinion and rally congressional support for a strike against Syria. He's got tricky ground to cover in his Oval Office address Tuesday night and acknowledged on the eve of it that Americans don't back his course.
• A guide to weak spots in his case, and some opportunities, in advance of the speech:
• LATE TO THE BULLY PULPIT
• Until recent days, Secretary of State John Kerry was the point man both with Congress and the public in arguing that Syria's alleged use of chemical weapons on its people justifies a U.S. attack. Obama now has stepped up, with a series of TV network interviews Monday setting the stage for his White House remarks.
• He does so as a potential diplomatic breakthrough emerges, with Syria now suggesting it might surrender its chemical weapons to international control to avoid a U.S. strike. The president argues he needs to "maintain and move forward with a credible threat of military pressure" if that development is to come to anything, so congressional approval of military action is at least as important as before.
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Indian court convicts 4 in fatal gang rape of woman on bus, case that set off wave of protest
• NEW DELHI (AP) -- An Indian court convicted four men Tuesday in the fatal gang rape of a young woman on a moving New Delhi bus, an attack that set off waves of protests and gave voice to years of anger over the treatment of women.
• The men were convicted on all the counts against them, including rape and murder, and now face the possibility of hanging. The sentences are expected to be handed down Wednesday.
• Judge Yogesh Khanna said in his verdict that the men, who tricked the 23-year-old rape victim and a male friend of hers into boarding the bus they were driving, had committed "murder of a helpless person."
• The parents of the woman, who cannot be identified under Indian law, had tears in their eyes as the verdicts were read. The mother, wearing a pink sari, sat just a few feet from the convicted men in a tiny courtroom jammed with lawyers, police (Continued on page 30)
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