The Senate's Syria hearing: Live updates  —  The Senate Foreign Relations Committee is hearing testimony Tuesday about the potential use of military force in Syria.  Testifying are Secretary of State John Kerry, Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel and Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Gen. Martin Dempsey.

Hillary Clinton backs Obama on Syria  —  Former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton backs President Barack Obama's move to urge Congress to back a targeted effort in Syria, in the first comments from her camp since the president unveiled his plan, POLITICO has learned.

Ariel Castro: Convicted Cleveland kidnapper/rapist found dead in cell  —  52-year-old convicted kidnapper and rapist Ariel Castro was found hanging in his cell Tuesday.  —  Castro was being held at the Correction Reception Center in Orient, OH in Pickaway County.

The ‘Mysterious’ Disappearance of a Quotation Has a Mundane Explanation  —  Was a quote about a pro-Israel group mysteriously scrubbed from a New York Times story?  A number of online commenters, in blog posts and on Twitter, wrote Tuesday that a quote calling the American Israel Public Affairs Committee …

Bloomberg sues City Council to overturn law targeting stop-and-frisk profiling  —  Mayor Bloomberg kept his promise: He filed a lawsuit against City Council to overturn one of the two laws passed last month to curtail the NYPD's controversial stop-and-frisk program.

Another Set of Questions About Syria  —  A few minutes ago I posted the six-step pattern of pro-escalation rhetoric that Eric Martin laid out two years ago.  That followed William Polk's lengthy and important 13-question examination of a strike on Syria.  —  Now on the Foreign Policy site …

FULL TRANSCRIPT: Kerry, Hagel and Dempsey testify at Senate Foreign Relations Committee hearing on Syria  —  So I know today's focus is going to be largely on the issue of chemical warfare.  And I know that the case has to be made.  And I know that each of us have had the opportunity to hear that case …

65 Years Later, a Memorial Gives Names to Crash Victims  —  FRESNO, Calif. — A fiery plane crash here decades ago that killed 32 people, most of them unidentified Mexican farmworkers, inspired a protest song by Woody Guthrie that has been performed by Bruce Springsteen, Joan Baez and Bob Dylan, among others.

AP Interview: Putin Warns West On Syria Action  —  NOVO-OGARYOVO, Russia (AP) — President Vladimir Putin warned the West against taking one-sided action in Syria but also said Russia “doesn't exclude” supporting a U.N. resolution on punitive military strikes if it is proved that Damascus used poison gas on its own people.

Introducing “Kindle MatchBook”: Soon Customers Will Be Able to Purchase Kindle Editions of Print Books Purchased from Amazon—Past, Present and Future—for $2.99 or Less  —  Over 10,000 books already enrolled from authors such as Ray Bradbury, Michael Crichton, Blake Crouch, James Rollins …

ECONOMISTS: Summers As Fed Chair Would Shave 0.5% Off GDP And Cost Us 350,000 Jobs  —  Economists at BNP Paribas have issued a research note saying if President Obama picks Larry Summers as the next Federal Reserve Chairman, he will do serious harm to the U.S. economy.

Chart of the day, Microsoft edition  —  Many thanks to Ben Walsh for pulling together the data for this chart.  The numbers speak for themselves, really: over the course of Steve Ballmer's tenure as Microsoft CEO, the company's stock price has gone nowhere, its market share has plunged — but its headcount has more than trebled.