Syria vows to defend itself against the West

DAMASCUS, Syria - Momentum appeared to build Tuesday for Western military action against Syria, with the U.S. and France saying they are in position for a strike, while the government in Damascus vowed to use all possible measures to repel it.

The prospect of a dramatic U.S.-led intervention into Syria's civil war stemmed from the West's assertion - still not endorsed by U.N. inspectors - that President Bashar Assad's government was responsible for an alleged chemical attack on civilians outside Damascus on Aug. 21 that the group Doctors Without Borders says killed 355 people. Assad denies the claim.

The Arab League also threw its weight behind calls for punitive action, blaming the Syrian government for the attack and calling for those responsible to be brought to justice.

U.S. Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel said U.S. military forces stand ready to strike Syria at once if President Barack Obama gives the order, and French President Francois Hollande said France was "ready to punish those who took the heinous decision to gas innocents."

No testimony for Fort Hood gunman

FORT HOOD, Texas - The Army psychiatrist who fatally shot 13 people at Fort Hood decided not to present any evidence during his trial's penalty phase on Tuesday even though jurors are deciding whether to sentence him to death.

Maj. Nidal Hasan rested his case without calling witnesses or testifying to counter the emotional testimony from victims' relatives, who talked of eerily quiet homes, lost futures, alcoholism and the unmatched fear of hearing a knock on their front door.

Prosecutors hope the testimony helps convince jurors to hand down a rare military death sentence against Hasan, who was convicted last week for the 2009 attack that also wounded more than 30 people at the Texas military base.

Fire policies help fuel latest Sierra Nevada blaze

GROVELAND, Calif. - Unnaturally long intervals between wildfires and years of drought primed the Sierra Nevada for the explosive conflagration chewing up the rugged landscape on the edge of Yosemite National Park, forestry experts say.

The fire had ravaged 282 square miles by Tuesday, the biggest in the Sierra's recorded history and one of the largest on record in California.

Containment increased to 20 percent but the number of destroyed structures rose to 101 and some 4,500 structures remained threatened. The types of lost buildings were not specified. Firefighters were making stands at Tuolumne City and other mountain communities.

The blaze was just 40 acres when it was discovered near a road in Stanislaus National Forest on Aug. 17, but firefighters had no chance of stopping it in the early days.

Fueled by thick forest floor vegetation in steep river canyons, it exploded to 10,000 acres 36 hours later, then to 54,000 acres and 105,620 acres within the next two days. On its 11th day it had surpassed 179,400 acres, becoming the seventh-largest California wildfire in records dating to 1932.

First woman to head Air Force Academy

AIR FORCE ACADEMY, Colo. - The first woman to lead the Air Force Academy says she faced resistance and sexual harassment in her career, but competence and confidence helped her push through the ranks to one of the top jobs in the service.

Lt. Gen. Michelle Johnson said in an interview Tuesday she isn't surprised that 32 years passed between her graduation from the academy in 1981 - in the second class to include women - and her appointment as its first female superintendent.

"It takes 32 years to make a lieutenant general," she said referring to the experience and training it takes to reach the three-star rank required for the superintendent's job.

She became superintendent on Aug. 12 at a time the military is under increasing pressure from Congress and the president to prevent sexual assaults.

Photos show the night suspect surrendered

BOSTON - Dramatic new photos show the Boston Marathon bombing suspect, his face bloodied, climbing out of a boat in a suburban backyard as heavily armed police officers wait for him to drop to the ground.

The images were among those a state police officer provided last month to Boston Magazine, which published some then and more on Tuesday.

Sgt. Sean Murphy took photos the April night police cornered Dzhokhar Tsarnaev in a dry-docked boat in Watertown, just outside Boston. He wasn't authorized to release the photos but said he was angry about a Rolling Stone magazine cover he felt glamorized Tsarnaev.

- The Associated Press