Susan Rice

As the international community awaits verification that chemical weapons were used, what remains unclear is how Washington might respond.

Israel’s prime minister is warning that his country will strike back if Syria attacks the Jewish state. The threat comes after two and a half years of official Israeli silence on Syria’s civil war. The Syrian regime responded with a threat of its own.

President Barack Obama has selected United Nations Ambassador Susan Rice to replace National Security Adviser Tom Donlion, who stepped down Wednesday morning — sooner than most predicted. In Rice’s place, Obama selected Samantha Power, a former journalist and human rights activist who supported intervention in Libya.

After the attacks on Benghazi, members of the U.S. Congress demanded Secretary of State Hillary Clinton appear before them to answer questions about how the deadly attacks happened. In testimony Wednesday, Clinton took responsibility, but said she wants to move forward to prevent future attacks.

Robert Downey Jr., who stars in the new movie “Sherlock Holmes,” takes on the iconic role — how he compares to other great Holmes of the past.