In a hearing before the committee, Secretary of State John Kerry admitted there are risks that an attack on Syria could have unintended consequences, but he insisted the risks of inaction are much greater.

“Are you going to be comfortable if Assad, as a result of the United States not doing anything, then gasses his people yet again, and the world says why didn't the United States act?”

The House takes up the debate with a hearing on Wednesday. Larry Abramson, NPR News.

Israel today announced a successful joint US-Israel missile test over the Mediterranean. As NPR's Emily Harris explains, the routine test drew attention because of heightened tensions in the region.

Israel was testing a dummy version of a modified missile to ensure it followed the right arc, one step in evaluating Israel's missile defense system. But Russia picked up on the launch of what it called “an unknown ballistic object,” raising questions of what happened at this time when the US is considering launching strikes against Syria. The US regularly offers technical advice and support to develop Israel's missile defense technology under a program that costs close to 100 million dollars a year. Routine Israeli missile tests like this one are usually made known to American technicians a week or so before. US defense officials say Israel set the timetable for Tuesday's test, and the US could have voiced objections. Emily Harris, NPR News, Jerusalem.

Manufacturing sector grew last month. The Institute for Supply Management, a key purchasing managers group, says its manufacturing index in August expanded at its fastest clip since June of 2011, rising more than a full point. Brad Holcomb is the group’s business survey chair and says the figure bodes well for the final part of the year.

“It would suggest a strong second half relative to the first half of the year. So we can be hopeful for that. I don't see any reason within the data that we can't have a continuation of a good second half of the year.”

Fifty-five point seven, the index is now well into positive territory. Any reading over 50 indicates growth in manufacturing, while the reading below that level indicates contraction.

The nation's builders were be busier in July. The Commerce Department says an increased number of housing and non-residential building projects boosted construction spending in July by 0.6%. Total construction reached a seasonally adjusted rate of just under 901 billion dollars.

Modest gains on Wall Street today: The Dow Jones Industrial Average closed up 23 points to end the session at 14,833; the NASDAQ was up 22 points. This is NPR.

Lawyers representing accused Colorado movie theater shooter suspect James Holmes now said he filed half a dozen new constitutional challenges in the case, including a challenge to the death penalty, which they say amounts to cruel and unusual punishment. Holmes is accused of shooting and killing 12 people and wounding 70 others in a crowded movie theater near Denvor in July of last year. Hormes was pleaded not guilty by reason of insanity to charges of murder and attempted murder. Prosecutors are seeking the death penalty in the case.

News research suggests your baby may be able to learn just as much from a  shrieking lemur as the child can from you. NPR's Geoff Brumfiel reports the research found three-month-old babies can use lemur calls to help them make sense of the world.

Psychologists at Northwestern University in Illinois wanted to know what kinds of sounds helped new-born babies learn. So they tried two different noises--a lemur call and human speech run backwards. To their surprise, the backward speech didn't help babies learn at all, but the lemur calls did. The results are published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. Scientists think it may show that young babies are pre-wired to pay attention to both human and near-human sounds. Geoff Brumfiel, NPR News.

Kodak has emerged from its trip to bankruptcy, the legacy film and photography company officially exiting Chapter 11 bankruptcy today. Kodak says it’s reinvented itself as a commercial imaging company serving business markets including packaging and graphics. The company's old stock is now canceled with creditors getting shares of reorganized company. The new company will be known as Kodak Alaris. The reorganized company will have more than 4,700 employees in 30 countries.