Violence is intensifying in Syria, with as many as 70 dead in the past 24 hours. Among the casualties were Syrian army defectors who clashed with government forces near the southern city of Deraa. There was also much bloodshed in the central city of Homs, another hotbed of resistance to the Assad regime.

The Herman Cain campaign is on the defensive Tuesday following a video that shows the candidate grasping and stammering for an answer to a question about Libya. The video was recorded during an interview with editors and reporters of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. Melissa Block talks with Craig Gilbert, the newspaper's Washington bureau chief, who was part of the interview.

Top Pentagon leaders went to Capitol Hill Tuesday and took tough questions from lawmakers on the future of the U.S. relationship with Iraq. Specifically, they addressed how the decision to withdraw all U.S. combat troops by the end of this year will impact Iraq's stability — and U.S. national security interests in the region. Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta told a congressional committee that, while U.S. military commanders wanted to keep a contingency force on the ground, it was Iraq's decision to make.

The Loya Jirga, or grand assembly in Afghanistan, will gather 2,000 delegates from across the country to Kabul on Wednesday. The event has long been cast by opponents of President Hamid Karzai as the first step in his attempts to increase his power and perhaps extend his term beyond 2014. The Loya Jirga has no legal force, but with parliament suffering legitimacy problems, members of parliament fear Karzai is starting to establish an alternative over which he has much more control. The Jirga is supposed to consider a future strategic partnership with the U.S. as well as ways to re-start peace talks.

Nearly a dozen official parties with ties to Islamist groups have sprung up in Egypt since the summer, and they are expected to do well in this month's parliamentary elections. Even so, observers say Egypt is likely to remain a moderate state.