The development, reported by Syrian state television and Russia's Interfax news agency, came a day after the idea bubbled up in the wake of what appeared to be a gaffe by U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry.

It quickly changed the debate in Washington from "Should the U.S. attack?" to "Is there a diplomatic way out of this mess?"

Syrian Foreign Minister Foreign Minister Walid Moallem said Tuesday his country had agreed to the Russian proposal after what Interfax quoted him as calling "a very fruitful round of talks" with Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov on Monday.

Details of such a transfer have yet to be worked out, such as where the arms would go, who would safeguard them and how the world could be sure Syria had handed over its entire stockpile of chemical weapons.

The United States, France, Great Britain and other nations suspect the Syrian government of using chemical weapons repeatedly in its two-year-old civil war -- including an August 21 incident that U.S. officials say killed more than 1,400 people. Syrian officials have blamed rebel forces.

Growing support

Despite the lack of details, the Russian idea was still gaining traction. On Monday, U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon expressed support for the concept. Tuesday, a Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman said it would safeguard stability in the region. Syrian ally Iran welcomed the proposal, and Germany expressed interest.

French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius said France would go to the U.N. Security Council on Tuesday with a proposal for Syria to hand over its chemical weapons, but said France -- whose president has already expressed a willingness to punish Syria over its alleged use of the arms -- will not accept delays in the transfer.

"We need quick results," Fabius said.

European Union Foreign Affairs Secretary Catherine Ashton said she supported the French plan to bring the issue to the Security Council, saying the proposal "now needs to be fully worked up as quickly as possible."

Even Sen. John McCain, R-Arizona, a proponent of a military strike on Syria, said the idea was worth exploring.

"I'm very, very skeptical," he told CNN's "New Day." "But the fact is, you can't pass up this opportunity -- if it is one." He said he is working with other senators to write an amendment to the administration's proposed use-of-force resolution that would allow for such a transfer and set out "guidelines, (a) reporting process and benchmarks that have to be met."

The special committee of the board, which is conducting the CEO search, and its advisers have been meeting with shareholders after Ballmer's surprise decision late last month to retire within a year, the sources said. It could name a CEO as soon as the end of this year, the sources said.

In one such meeting, Microsoft said it started with a list of about 40 people, including internal and external candidates, and has been narrowing it down, one of the sources said.

It wasn't clear whether the Microsoft board had reached out to any of the potential candidates suggested by investors or whether it was even considering them. The names of other candidates in the mix could not be learned.

Microsoft declined comment on Monday. Lawrie and Mulally could not be reached for comment. But last week, Mulally told Reuters that he was "absolutely focused on serving our Ford."

The sources requested their identity as well as those of the investors be kept anonymous because the discussions were private.

The search for a new chief executive of the world's largest software maker is one of the most closely watched developments in the technology sector this year.

Microsoft remains highly profitable, but it has struggled to gain traction in the mobile device business against rivals such as Apple Inc and Google Inc.

In July, the company unveiled a deep reorganization to transform into a "devices and services" leader, but has so far failed to convince investors that its strategy will work. In a sign that shareholders had already lost confidence in Ballmer, Microsoft's shares rose 7 percent after news of his planned retirement.

Last week, Microsoft said it would buy Nokia's phone business and license its patents for 5.44 billion euros ($7.1 billion). Shares of the software company fell as much as 6 percent as investors protested the acquisition of an underperforming and marginalized unit that made a $3 billion operating loss in 2012.

The move also brings Stephen Elop, who ran Microsoft's business software division before jumping ship in 2010, back to the company, positioned as another candidate to succeed Ballmer.

Microsoft Chairman and co-founder Bill Gates, who is still the company's largest shareholder with a 4.8 percent stake and is on the four-member special committee, will likely have a veto on the new CEO choice.

The company on Tuesday released the "OM-D E-M1", a mirrorless model Olympus says is the first of its kind to compete on quality with traditional single-lens reflex (SLR) cameras.

Olympus is now hoping the E-M1, priced for the pro market at 145,000 yen ($1,500) for the body alone, will help it boost mirrorless and SLR sales by 24 percent to 7.3 million units to allow its camera business to finally break even for the first time in four years.

The new model is the successor to Olympus's E-5, its last flagship SLR released in 2010. Executives are saying there are no current plans to develop more SLRs and the new camera likely signals the company's exit from a market that is dominated by Canon Inc and Nikon Corp.

The E-M1 illustrates Olympus's dedication to the mirrorless format, heralded at its inception as a happy marriage between the size of a compact camera and the picture quality of an SLR. But the format has so far failed to connect with consumers outside of Japan, with most seeing it as an awkward compromise.

Most consumers prefer smartphones for taking snaps when weight is an issue and opt for pricier SLRs when quality is a priority.

Research company IDC originally projected the mirrorless segment to grow 31 percent in 2013 and to more than triple by 2017. But dramatically poor sales earlier this year prompted the company to change its forecast to a 1.2 percent drop this year and expansion of just 24 percent by 2017.

Olympus admits that its overseas marketing has been lacking so far.

"This is the kind of product that we have to carefully explain to individual consumers. It's not just a point-and-shoot that you can leave out on the shop floor and it sells by itself," Olympus President Hiroyuki Sasa said at the product launch in Tokyo.

Tech bloggers who had been invited to test-drive the E-M1 in advance were effusive about the camera on Tuesday, praising its retro design, image quality and compatibility with all Olympus lenses, a first for the company's mirrorless models.

But some criticized the camera's sluggish autofocus, a fault that has plagued mirrorless models and disqualified it for sports photography, thus barring it from a chunk of the pro market that Olympus is attempting to capture.

Last year, the company's camera division lost 23.1 billion yen ($231.99 million) as compact camera sales shrank by a third and it shifted 6 percent fewer interchangeable lens camera sales, mostly mirrorless.

iPhone 5S: Apple’s due for its annual iPhone refresh, and that’s exactly what most analysts are anticipating Tuesday. No big changes are expected for the upgrade to the iPhone 5, which is likely to be called the iPhone 5S, in keeping with the company’s naming patterns. That’s not to say that phone won’t be appreciably better than its predecessor. Analysts think it will have a faster processor and a better camera than the iPhone 5. It might also come in a new color — gold.

One feature that could distinguish the new iPhone is the rumored inclusion of a fingerprint scanner in the home button, a move that could bring Apple a better reputation on the security and payments front. The Wall Street Journal reported that people familiar with the company’s plans say the phone will include the scanner and could prompt Google to follow suit in its Android operating system.

If the rumors for this version of the high-end iPhone aren’t enough for you, there is already some chatter about the next version. The Journal has also reported that the company is testing screens as big as six inches for its next iteration of the iPhone. If such a phone went to market, it would be among the largest on the market and only slightly smaller than the company’s iPad mini.

iPhone 5C: Analysts also expect that Apple may be prepared to release a less expensive version of its iPhone to appeal to more price-conscious consumers.

Analysts and reported industry “leaks” have indicated the company is doing so by making phones out of plastic rather than glass and aluminum. The tech press has nicknamed this new phone the “iPhone 5C.” Adding a bit of personality, the company is also expected to release the 5C with a variety of candy-colored backs, reminiscent of its iPod line and iMacs.

The iPhone 5C wouldn’t have the bells and whistles of the premium phone — and, analysts say, will probably run the current iPhone’s chip rather than any upgraded version — but would be a good way for Apple to move into the entry-level part of the market.

Feeling medically "invincible" - as the conventional wisdom holds 19-to-34-year-olds do - never had much to do with it. That is especially after he fell out the back of a pickup truck packed with chess equipment, breaking his arm in 13 places, on a recent trip through Alabama to a chess tournament.

"I'm looking forward to getting insurance because it hasn't been an option up until now," Kormick said of the new plans for 2014 coverage to be offered under President Barack Obama's healthcare reform. "I'm just hoping the cost is reasonable."

A new Reuters/Ipsos poll of 1,053 uninsured Americans, and detailed interviews with 51 of the respondents, shows that Kormick is not an outlier: Obamacare may attract enough of the young healthy adults it needs to buy insurance to offset the costs of covering sicker Americans and keep the system afloat financially.

While four in 10 of the uninsured of all ages support the 2010 law, according to the poll, the result indicated half of those 18 through 34 do so. Among the younger respondents, a little more than one-third have attempted to buy health insurance in the past, suggesting pent-up demand for the insurance plans to be sold through online exchanges in each state beginning October 1.

One-third of young adults in the poll said they are "very" or "somewhat" likely to buy insurance through their state's exchange.

If half of that proportion of the nation's young and healthy follow through, the White House would easily meet its goal of getting 2.7 million young adults - out of about 16 million uninsured 19-to-29-year-olds - to buy Obamacare insurance for 2014.

The results are part of Reuters' ongoing online poll. Among all uninsured, the credibility interval, a measure of the poll's accuracy, was plus or minus 3.4 percentage points.

"Contrary to commonly held beliefs, young adults do want affordable health coverage," said Dr David Blumenthal, president of the Commonwealth Fund, a nonprofit that studies healthcare systems.

The young demographic is so pivotal to the success of Obamacare that one of the law's fiercest opponents, the libertarian group FreedomWorks, is running a campaign on social and traditional media aimed at persuading Americans in their 20s not to buy insurance on the exchanges.

"The American people have not been supportive. They have not made the sale to the American people. That's why I think tonight is so important," John Boehner told a news conference, referring to Obama's planned speech to the U.S. nation on Tuesday night on Syria.

The dispute centres over the launch of the Motion Sync vacuum cleaner which the South Korean firm showed off at the Ifa tech show in Berlin last week.

Dyson alleges that the machine infringes its patent on a steering mechanism for cylinder cleaners.

Samsung has rejected its rival's accusation.

"We will take all necessary measures, including legal actions, to protect our technological innovation against Dyson's groundless claims," said a spokeswoman.

Dyson said it had issued proceedings in the High Court in England, but has not said whether it wished to block the sale of Samsung's product or impose a licence fee.

"This looks like a cynical rip-off," said Sir James Dyson, the firm's founder.

"Samsung has many patent lawyers so I find it hard not to believe that this is a deliberate or utterly reckless infringement of our patent.

"We have been forced to issue proceedings in the English High Court, but I would much rather invest in research to develop new technology than have to sue."

'Swift motion'

Dyson first filed a patent for its steering mechanism in 2009. It describes a way to allow the device to rapidly spin quickly from one direction to another on the spot, and to follow the user's path rather than just being dragged behind, in order to prevent the vacuum getting snagged on corners.

It said the system took three years to develop and has since been used in two of its models.

Samsung's marketing materials for its new vacuum cleaner specifically highlight the "revolutionary" design of its swivel body machine saying it "makes swift motion for sudden turns much easier".

The firm rejected the idea that it achieved this by copying Dyson.

"The Samsung Motion Sync is an outcome of our own extensive research and development," added a spokeswoman.

This is not the first time the two firms have clashed in the UK courts.

In February 2009 a judge ordered Samsung to pay Dyson about £600,000 after it tried to patent the British firm's existing "triple-cyclone" suction technology.

Bill de Blasio, the city's public advocate, has taken the lead, but he may not have the 40 percent needed to avoid a run-off. His rivals, City Council Speaker Christine Quinn and Bill Thompson, are competing for second place.

Polls opened at 6 a.m. (1000 GMT) across New York, the biggest U.S. city.

Two polls on Monday showed De Blasio with a comfortable lead. A Quinnipiac poll put his support at 39 percent, while an NBC 4 New York/Wall Street Journal/Marist poll found him the choice of 36 percent of likely voters.

"Remember that there are no undecided voters on Election Day," said Maurice Carroll, director of the Quinnipiac University Polling Institute. "If de Blasio picks up just a few of those undecided voters, he's over the top."

In the same arena, former Congressman Anthony Weiner is fighting for his political life.

Weiner resigned from Congress in 2011 after admitting that he had sent lewd pictures of himself to women he met online and then lied about it.

When he announced his candidacy for mayor, he asked voters to give him a second chance, and he quickly moved to the top of polls. But campaign issues like police tactics and housing were overshadowed by another scandal involving lewd photographs he sent online, and his campaign began to sputter.

As the clock ticked down to Tuesday's primary election, New York magazine published an interview with Bloomberg in which he effectively threw his support behind his close ally, Quinn.

Bloomberg criticized de Blasio for his campaign's emphasis on economic inequality. But he took particular issue with the prominent role de Blasio's mixed-race family has played in the campaign, suggesting the strategy was meant to fuel "class warfare" and was potentially "racist."

The Republican contest, which has been tame in comparison with the Democratic race, will see Joe Lhota, the former head of the city's mass transit agency, and billionaire businessman John Catsimatidis face off in Tuesday's Republican primary.

Regardless of who wins in November's general election, the next mayor will inherit a city whose nearly 300,000 teachers, firefighters, police and other public service employees are working under expired contracts.

The more than 100 municipal contracts expired at least a year ago, leaving the city with a bill for retroactive pay increases that may top $7 billion.

Since mid-July, three interlocking events - all of them considered highly unlikely six months ago - have unfolded in quick succession, unsettling Microsoft managers and employees and roiling its share price.

First, CEO Steve Ballmer rejiggered top management as part of an ambitious plan to remodel the company around devices and services rather than software. Six weeks later, he announced his retirement within a year, sending shares soaring. Ten days after that, he unveiled a $7.2 billion purchase of Nokia's phone business, a move that ate up the stock's recent gains.

Within the company's Redmond, Washington, headquarters at least, the casually dressed workers seem much more worried about the far-reaching reorganization announced by Ballmer than the multibillion-dollar Nokia acquisition, which has incensed many investors who view it as a waste of money.

"The funniest thing I read on LinkedIn was, 'Two black holes converge,'" said one Microsoft employee, who asked not to be named, soon after the Nokia acquisition was announced. "But I think there's some real potential here."

The topic of Ballmer's retirement elicited a more complex reaction from some Microsoft employees interviewed this week.

"Like Wall Street, there was initial euphoria with the announcement for employees," said one 15-year veteran who has worked in a number of units at the company, in response to Ballmer's retirement and a change at the helm of a company that no longer sets the pace for technological innovation.

"But he is as much a symptom as the actual problem. This whole crazy re-org will still happen. And nothing will really change." he said. "Among many of my fellow employees - both new hires and long-timers - there is a recognition that Microsoft has lost its way."

Microsoft declined comment on the mood of its employees.

One of the ways the company aims to regain its stride is the addition of Nokia's phone business, but that will likely complicate an already complex reorganization that is just getting under way.

"The re-org is more unsettling for some people than Ballmer's departure. Exactly how that shakes out is more interesting," said another employee who asked not to be identified.

Net neutrality is the principle that Internet users should be able to access any Web content and use any applications they choose, without restrictions or varying charges imposed by the Internet service provider or the government.

Oral arguments in the case pit Verizon Communications Inc against the FCC. The biggest U.S. wireless provider is challenging the commission's order that guides how Internet service providers manage their networks.

The FCC's 2011 open Internet rules require Internet providers to treat all Web traffic equally and give consumers equal access to all lawful content.

Verizon has argued the rules are an excessive, "arbitrary and capricious" intrusion which violates the company's right to free speech, stripping it of control over what its networks transmit and how.

The ruling of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit on the case will have major implications for the debate over the degree of regulatory power possessed by the federal communications agency.

The outcome will also determine whether Internet service providers can restrict some so-called crossing content, for instance, by blocking or slowing down access to particular sites or charging websites to deliver their content faster.

Public interest groups have termed the FCC rules too weak, saying the agency was swayed by big industry players and needs to forge more direct and clearer power of oversight.

"I'd like to see political impetus for the FCC to go back and do the right thing instead of fumbling along and continuing to make bad compromises," said Matt Wood, policy director at public interest group Free Press, adding that a loss to Verizon could serve as such an impetus.

In calling for clearer oversight and warning of the risks of letting Internet providers go free without net neutrality rules, Wood, however, acknowledged that since the case has dragged on, the industry has largely accepted the rules as they are written now and "generally stayed in line."

James Cicconi, top lobbyist for Verizon's chief competitor AT&T Inc, said the court doing away with the FCC's rule is unlikely to prompt any business practice changes.

But while Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's bold gamble to throw himself into the Tokyo bid paid off handsomely, his claims to have the problems of the crippled Fukushima nuclear reactor under control ran into fresh resistance.

The Japanese capital's decisive win over rivals Madrid and Istanbul boosts Abe's fortunes after he put his reputation on the line for the bid, and a brisk gain for Tokyo shares suggests a boon as well for national confidence, a key ingredient in the success so far of Abe's aggressive pro-growth policies.

The Tokyo bid committee estimates the world's third-biggest economy will get a boost of more than 3 trillion yen ($30 billion) with the creation of 150,000 jobs. The Nikkei stock index gained 2.5 percent on Monday, while some analysts predict a short-term boost of 10 percent. The examples of the London and Athens suggest a one- to three-month rally after winning the right to host the games.

But Tokyo, which held Asia's first Olympics in 1964, is now preparing for the world's biggest sporting extravaganza as the worst atomic crisis since Chernobyl continues to unfold just 230 km (140 miles) from the Japanese capital.

The plant's operator, Tokyo Electric Power Co, has recently been forced to reverse denials and admit that hundreds of tons of radioactive water are pouring into the Pacific Ocean each day. Radiation levels near tanks that leaked highly radioactive water have spiked, and the operator of the plant has voiced concerns that contamination may reach groundwater.

Abe said in Buenos Aires, where Tokyo's victory was announced by the International Olympic Committee, that the plant is "under control".

"I would like to state clearly that there has not been, is not now and will not be any health problems whatsoever," Abe told a news conference. "Furthermore, the government has already decided a program to make sure there is absolutely no problem, and we have already started."

Tokyo pledged last week to spend nearly half a billion dollars on cleaning up the plant, with critics saying the announcement was aimed at the Olympic vote.

But a poll by the Asahi newspaper over the weekend found that 72 percent of the respondents thought the government's response was too late, while 95 percent thought Fukushima was a serious problem.

That was the assessment on Sunday, not of an opponent but of an early and ardent Republican supporter of Obama's plan for attacking Syria, the influential Republican chairman of the House intelligence committee, Mike Rogers.

Rogers told CBS's "Face the Nation" the White House had made a "confusing mess" of the Syria issue. Now, he said, "I'm skeptical myself."

Congress will be in session on Monday for the first time since the August recess. Debate on Syria could begin in the full Senate this week, with voting as early as Wednesday. The House of Representatives could take up the issue later this week or next.

Obama is expected to spend the next several days in personal meetings with members.

Some Democratic opponents of a military strike, meanwhile, were looking for a way to spare Obama's administration the effects of a "no" vote.

Representative Jim McGovern of Massachusetts suggested that the president withdraw his request before it is defeated, saying on CNN's "State of the Union" that there was insufficient support for it in Congress.

There are no signs that Obama is considering that, but speculation about the possibility that the administration might delay a vote surfaced on Sunday when Secretary of State John Kerry, speaking in Paris after meeting Arab foreign ministers, did not rule out returning to the United Nations Security Council to secure a Syria resolution.

A U.S. official who asked not to be named later squelched that speculation: "We have always supported working through the U.N. but have been clear there is not a path forward there."

Obama is scheduled to address the American public on television on Tuesday, but even his political allies fear that his acknowledged power as an orator will be tested, given that polls show a majority of Americans opposed to his plan for military action.

White House Chief of Staff Denis McDonough suggested that the speech will repeat points Obama has already made several times.

"What he'll tell the country is what this is, which is a targeted, limited, consequential" use of military force, McDonough said during a round of appearances on Sunday TV shows.

"He'll also tell the country what this is not. This is not Iraq. This is not Afghanistan. This is not an extended air campaign like Libya."

'FLOOD THE ZONE' IS NOT WORKING