Article:
It reads like a bad spy thriller. Between November 2016 and October 2017, a strange illness afflicted 24 diplomatic staff members working at the U.S. embassy in Havana, Cuba. Employees reported symptoms such as headaches, confusion, hearing loss. They talked about hearing strange sounds, triggering speculation the Cubans were employing a new acoustic weapon to harass embassy employees. Other scientists dismissed the idea of a sonic weapon as impractical.

 On September 1 science reporter William Broad jumped into this morass with a long article in The New York Times. His theory: the Cubans were employing a microwave weapon against U.S. embassy employees, causing sonic delusions and “very real brain damage”. He based his theory on the microwave auditory effect, in which pulses of microwave energy of the sort emitted by radar elicits auditory sensations in exposed individuals.

 As the scientist who first proposed the now-accepted explanation of the effect in my 1974 Science article, I find the theory wildly implausible. To elicit auditory sensations, individuals must be exposed to intense but brief (microsecond) pulses of microwave energy. The pulses are sufficient to heat brain tissue by a few microdegrees in a few microseconds, and the resulting thermal expansion launches an acoustic wave in the brain that the subject perceives as sound. The acoustic pressures are many orders of magnitude too weak to cause tissue damage. They elicit audible sensations only because of the exquisite sensitivity of the human auditory system, and represent a near-threshold hearing phenomenon. To actually damage the brain, the microwaves would have to be so intense they would actually burn the subject, which has never happened in any of these incidents.

 To induce such an effect, one could cobble together a device from a military radar set or a commercial microwave generator, such as the one I used in my original experiments, and then direct a beam at a distant target. But the difficulty of aiming the beam at a person’s head some distance away would be daunting. You would have to know exactly where the victim’s head is located. You could use a much higher power radar such as that used for airport traffic control and spray the beam over a wide area, but the equipment then would be very large and cumbersome. Microwave antennas could also be embedded within the embassy walls, along with some kind of aiming device, but they would be easy to detect.

 But why bother with a device that produces near-threshold hearing sensations? There are simpler ways to harass people if that is the goal. Even now, a year after the incidents were reported, the facts of the matter remain unclear. A follow-up medical examination of 21 of the affected individuals by a neuroscience group led by Doug Smith at the University of Pennsylvania (my colleagues, in fact) found equivocal evidence the individuals had sustained “injury to widespread brain networks”. Neuroskeptic, a neuroscientist who blogs anonymously in Discover magazine, brutally reviewed the Penn study. The blogger and other critical scientists suggested the findings were statistical artifacts due to the many tests the Penn group employed on the subjects. Other scientists have argued psychological factors were involved instead. Taken together, the results seem too scattered to allow firm conclusions to be drawn.

 In October 2017 Josh Lederman and Michael Weissenstein from the Associated Press made recordings available of the sounds that the employees reported hearing. If those indeed were the sounds, that would rule out the microwave auditory effect where the microwave-induced vibrations exist only within the head. Chen Yan, Kevin Fu and Wenyuan Xu (of Zhejiang University and the University of Michigan) showed the sounds in the AP recordings are characteristic of those produced by the interaction of two inaudible ultrasound beams via an effect known as intermodulation distortion. Ultrasound is widely used in burglar detectors, room occupancy sensors and other increasingly common appliances, and some individuals report unpleasant audible sensations from such devices. Intermodulation distortion is increasingly being employed to jam microphones used to record concert music illegally or for eavesdropping. Yan and colleagues report ultrasound can be used for eavesdropping purposes as well, by picking up vibrations in objects produced by human speech.

 In short, it is reasonable to guess the sounds were inadvertently produced by ultrasound devices, possibly even spy tech, but without malicious intent against the embassy personnel. The incidents occurred about the time of the 2016 U.S. election, and the Cubans undoubtedly were desperate for intelligence about U.S. intentions.

 There is even a historical parallel to the recent incidents: In 1972 it became publicly known the Soviets had been irradiating the U.S. embassy in Moscow with low-level microwave energy from the 1950s through the 1970s. Neither side disclosed the reason for this. (A reasonable guess is the Russians were trying to disrupt U.S. listening equipment or to collect data from their own bugs in the building.) The media published hyperbolic stories about supposed attempts to harm the embassy staff, fueling a generation of speculation about microwave “neurowarfare.”

 We don’t know all the facts about the earlier incidents or the current ones, and no government is likely to provide them. Much of the information available is distinctly anecdotal. The Times story is not “fake news” but the real facts of the matter may be quite different from those presented by its distinguished journalist. ||||| Havana (CNN) A Cuban government investigator looking into reports of mysterious acoustic attacks on US and Canadian diplomats on the communist-run island on Monday dismissed a US government theory that microwave weapons emitting concentrated beams of radiation may have been used in the incidents.

 "If you look at the alleged events, there have been reports that there are several people in a room with thick walls and thick windows and only one person was targeted. This is a kind of weapon that doesn't exist," said Dr. Mitchell Valdes-Sosa, a well-known neurologist who is part of the Cuban special task force investigating the alleged attacks. "It's science fiction, not science," he said.

 "First, it was sonic weapons, now microwave. What's next, kryptonite?" the investigator said in an interview with CNN at his research center in Havana, referring to an earlier theory that sonic weapons emitting high-powered ultrasound waves could have caused the injuries.

 Valdes-Sosa said researchers and investigators are working on a paper to rebut the microwave weapons theory.

 Previously, the government not only denied involvement in the attacks but cast doubt on whether they actually occurred. In June, Cuba's Foreign Ministry said "political motivations" drove the United States to withdraw its embassy personnel.

 Though a March report based on the examinations of 21 diplomats who served in Cuba didn't link the attacks to microwaves, the study's lead author, Douglas Smith, director of the University of Pennsylvania's Center for Brain Injury and Repair, told The New York Times that US diplomats in Cuba and China likely suffered brain injuries and that microwaves are considered the culprit.

 Valdes-Sosa said for a microwave weapon to work it would have to been used at a close distance, and none of the diplomats reported seeing the alleged perpetrators. He said that Cuban authorities had investigated the report that one diplomat who suffered an apparent attack had seen a van speed off and that the vehicle belonged to a church.

 While the US has not directly blamed the Cuban government for carrying out the attacks, US officials said Cuba is responsible for safeguarding the diplomats well-being and that Cuban officials would likely know if a third government were responsible.

 But Valdes-Sosa said after more than a year of US, Canadian and Cuban investigations there was still no hard proof that any attacks actually took place.

 "For an attack to have occurred you have to have a real victim. First the thing we are not sure is if all these people evacuated from Cuba are really ill or have suffered do something that happened to them," Valdes-Sosa said. "Second, you have to have a perpetrator. Who would be interested? You have to have the opportunity."

 In a Sunday interview with CNN, Smith said microwaves are "a main suspect" in causing the diplomats' injuries, but ultrasound and infrasound were being studied as potential causes as well.

 JUST WATCHED State Department pulls employees out of Cuba Replay More Videos ... MUST WATCH State Department pulls employees out of Cuba 02:34

 "It's almost like a concussion, but without a concussion -- meaning that they look like individuals who have persistent concussion symptoms but have no history of head impact," Smith said, describing the injuries and explaining that learning the cause is vital to determining the best means of preventing it.

 "Just like we have ways to prevent people from having a concussion, you could think of maybe protecting your brain from these energy sources," he said.

 Most of the attacks came in 2016 and 2017, though there have been a handful of reported incidents this year as well.

 A senior administration official told CNN that investigators have torn apart buildings where diplomatic employees encountered the sounds but found no acoustic devices, leading law enforcement to believe that the injuries were the result of microwaves beamed from a nearby location and that the "sounds" were merely a means of masking the microwave attacks.

 This is only a theory, the official said, and there is no concrete evidence to back it. However, brain scans on the injured personnel showed changes that indicate damage, the official said.

 JUST WATCHED Trump: Cuba 'responsible' for diplomat attacks Replay More Videos ... MUST WATCH Trump: Cuba 'responsible' for diplomat attacks 00:18

 In a statement, the US State Department on Sunday neither confirmed nor denied the possibility that microwaves were behind the diplomatic injuries.

 "The health and well-being of our personnel remains our top priority," the statement said. "The investigation into the origin of these symptoms continues. The inter-agency community is working diligently to determine the cause of the symptoms, as well as to develop mitigation strategies."

 Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said earlier this year he was establishing a Health Incidents Response Task Force , led by Deputy Secretary of State John Sullivan and including representatives from the departments of Justice as well as Health and Human Services.

 The task force will serve as the "coordinating body for department and interagency activities, including identification and treatment of affected personnel and family members, investigation and risk mitigation, messaging, and diplomatic outreach," Pompeo said in a statement.

 The sophistication of the attack has led US officials to suspect a third country is involved, perhaps as retribution against the United States or Canada -- whose diplomats have also been targeted -- or to drive a wedge between those countries and Cuba.

 In August 2017, officials included Russia among a list of countries that have an adversarial relationship with the United States and that American investigators suspected might be involved. ||||| Thank you for your interest in spreading the word about Science.

 NOTE: We only request your email address so that the person you are recommending the page to knows that you wanted them to see it, and that it is not junk mail. We do not capture any email address. |||||Summary:

– Microwave weapons? That's the latest theory being floated to explain the mysterious ailments suffered by staffers at the American embassy in Cuba. But now a pioneering scientist in that field thinks the idea—based on a principle called the microwave auditory effect—is bogus. Kenneth Foster is a professor of bioengineering at Penn who explained the auditory effect in a 1974 study. At Scientific American, he assesses what's known about the Cuban ailments and lays out why it's "wildly implausible" that microwaves are to blame. For one thing, any such weapon powerful enough to cause brain damage would almost certainly burn the victims, too, and that didn't happen. Instead, Foster suggests that a much simpler explanation is likely. "It is reasonable to guess the sounds were inadvertently produced by ultrasound devices, possibly even spytech, but without malicious intent against the embassy personnel," he writes. Foster cites this earlier investigation from the AP revealing the sounds that the victims are believed to have heard, and he says the sounds are consistent with ultrasound devices interacting with each other. It makes sense to him that the Cubans might have been trying to listen in on Americans with these relatively common gizmos. "The incidents occurred about the time of the 2016 US election, and the Cubans undoubtedly were desperate for intelligence about US intentions." A Cuban scientist, meanwhile, agrees that the microwave theory is far-fetched. "First, it was sonic weapons, now microwave," he told CNN. "What's next, kryptonite?"


Here is a news article: Butch Knight looks like your average guy. He even has a pleasant face, kind of like your grandpa. But cops say Butch is not nice at all. In fact, they tell Crime Watch Daily he is a calculating, cold-blooded killer who confessed to murder on a 911 call he placed himself.

 Police found Butch's wife Sarah dead at the couple's home, just as Butch had told them in the 911 call. Police are desperately searching Harold "Butch" Knight, who vanished in his dead wife's car, leaving only one clue to his whereabouts.

 FOR MORE INFO: US Marshals Fugitive Investigations - Harold Wesley Knight ||||| × Daughter of murder victim sets up page to find killer, Harold ‘Butch’ Knight

 ALLEGAN COUNTY, Mich. – The daughter of a murder victim has set up a GoFundMe page to help find the killer.

 Roxanne Cameron-Harris’s mom is Sara Knight. Sara was killed in January of 2015. Sara’s husband, Harold ‘Butch’ Knight is wanted for the murder.

 The GoFundMe page is selling pink t-shirts saying “No Evil Goes Unpunished – Justice for Sara Lee”.

 The page says there will be a vigil for Sara on January 11th, the one-year anniversary of her death.

 Harold ‘Butch’ Knight called 911 on January 11, 2015 and told dispatchers that he had strangled his wife. Since, police and law enforcement around the country have been searching for Knight. He has been spotted several times in rural locations in Maine.

 Crime Watch Daily, which airs on FOX 17 weekdays at 3:00pm, has featured the search for Harold Knight. Click here to see the latest installment. ||||| × Search for Allegan fugitive moves to Maine Amish community

 ALLEGAN COUNTY, Mich. — As the search for Harold Knight continues, authorities are now looking into the possibility the man might be hiding out in a Maine Amish community.

 Knight, 67, is wanted in connection to the murder of his wife, Sara Knight, who was found dead in the couple’s home in Ganges Township on January 13.

 Allegan County Sheriff’s Detective Craig Gardiner tells FOX 17 that Knight had an interest in Amish communities and read a lot about them. Family members tipped them off about Knight’s curiosity, but detectives also found books in Knight’s pole barn, that led them to believe it could be a possibility.

 The last sighting of Knight was in Rangeley, Maine back in January. Gardiner says there are three Amish communities in that area. The detective believes it would be a great place for someone to hide out. He says Maine State Police have been checking in to the communities. ||||| Please enable Javascript to watch this video

 LAPEER, Mich. — While a manhunt stretching from Michigan to Maine reaches the 10 month mark, the daughter of the woman Harold 'Butch' Knight is suspected of strangling to death in January thinks he's hiding out much closer than anyone realizes.

 Roxanne Cameron-Harris, Sara Knight's daughter, said she believes her stepfather 'Butch' is playing a calculated game in the time he's been on the run from authorities following the 911 call he made confessing to the murder of his wife.

 “There’s never a coincidence with Butch, I’ve noticed that," she told FOX 17. "There’s always a reason for anything."

 >> Watch: The hunt for Harold 'Butch' Knight was recently featured on 'Crime Watch Daily' on FOX 17.

 Ten months ago, 'Butch' called 911, telling a dispatcher he'd strangled his wife in their Ganges Township home and asked authorities to come to the home to "do whatever they do with dead bodies."

 It's a call forever etched into Cameron-Harris' mind once it was played back to her earlier this year.

 “Hearing the words that he said was… it like haunts me," she said. "It’s incredibly hard to hear someone you know talk about somebody like a piece of trash."

 The 911 call was placed Jan. 13, but authorities believe Sara was killed two days prior. 'Butch' became the prime suspect.

 Eluding police ever since, the 67 year old has changed his appearance, dying his mustache and has been spotted several times in Maine. Surveillance pictures spotted him in a Wal-Mart in Franklin County, Maine. It's the same store where it was later discovered he ditched his wife's vehicle before checking into a hotel in nearby Rangley.

 Authorities were even investigating whether Knight had gone into hiding in one of the Amish communities in Maine. At least three Amish communities are known to be in the Rangley area, investigators told FOX 17 in September. Family members tipped police off about Knight’s curiosity in the Amish, but detectives also found books in Knight’s pole barn that led them to believe it could be a possibility.

 Rangley is also familiar territory for 'Butch' who'd lived nearby with Sara for nearly a decade prior to the two moving back to Michigan in the summer of 2014.

 Cameron-Harris says it's no coincidence.

 “He’s very smart. I don’t know if he’s doing this for a reason. We can’t figure that part out, but how do you get from here to Maine and not have a single person see you," she questioned.

 In July, a relative of Sara Knight contacted authorities after noticing someone had 'liked' a post on Facebook using the deceased wife's account. Investigators later said it was highly probable the only person who likely had the password to the Facebook account was 'Butch.'

 Cameron-Harris tells FOX 17 not knowing where and when Knight will appear next has lead her family to live anxiously in fear because they believe he's not only still alive, but hiding nearby.

 "I think this is some kind of sick game he’s playing," Cameron-Harris said. "For whatever reason he wants us to pay, and we’ve paid dearly. It’s time for this game to end.”

 Police said they continue to receive tips from across the country, and take each one seriously. Authorities in Michigan also say they remain in constant contact with investigators in Maine where 'Butch' was last spotted.

 Authorities said Knight should be considered armed and dangerous. Anyone with information on Knight's whereabouts is asked to contact the Allegan County Sheriff's Office at 269-673-0500. ||||| As Roxanne Cameron-Harris goes about her day Tuesday, her mother is never far from her mind.

 Sara Knight would have been 49 today, May 19.

 But instead of celebrating the day with her, Cameron-Harris, 29, is instead reflecting on years of memories and conversations they had before Knight's death in January.

 As one month has faded to the next, police continue to seek Knight's husband, Harold "Butch" Knight, as a suspect in her death, which is being investigated as a homicide. The case has been full of twists and turns.

 Allegan County dispatchers took a 911 call about 8 a.m. Jan. 13 from a man believed to be Butch Knight, who said he had harmed Sara Knight and she was dead in the couple's home south of Fennville. His family has identified him as the one who made the call, which originated in southeast Michigan, police said.

 Knight, 66, fled the state and remains on the run, police said. His vehicle was found abandoned in Franklin County, Maine, on January 16. A surveillance photo showed Knight with dyed black hair and a mustache, wearing camouflage clothing.

 Allegan County sheriff's Capt. Frank Baker said detectives remain in regular contact with FBI investigators working to locate Butch Knight, but have no new information on his whereabouts.

 That knowledge is tough for Cameron-Harris, who longs for closure. Knowing Butch Knight is hiding while holding the answers to so many questions she has about her mother, is a burden she carries daily.

 Cameron-Harris feels someone must be helping Butch Knight. She pleaded with that person to come forward. Police have said Knight is considered armed and dangerous.

 "If they're helping him, their safety is at stake. What if he turns on them? He could snap at any time," Cameron-Harris said.

 She has told police one thing: "Just bring him back alive." Cameron-Harris wants to see him face-to-face, wants him to understand her anguish.

 Sara Knight had recently completed a doctorate's degree in respiratory therapy. She had once taught college classes while living back in Maine and worked hard to help others, Cameron-Harris said.

 Sara Knight worked to provide for both herself and for Butch Knight and cared for him, Cameron-Harris said. Her mother had mentioned he had been noticeably quiet early this year, but she thought he may have been making plans for the couple's upcoming anniversary, Cameron-Harris said. The Knights had been married for 15 years.

 Cameron-Harris said she'll spend Tuesday evening with extended family, remembering her mother and sharing hope for the future. ||||| Justice For Sara Lee

 On January 11 2015 every one’s life change.

 A woman with so much life was brutally murdered in cold blood by a man we all trusted. Sara lee Story is not like most. She loved everyone her two kids and many grand kids. She also has so many friends and she had so much she was still to do, That all was cut short my an evil man Named Harold W Knight (Butch). He killed her and left her for 3 days before calling the police to let them where she was. The 911 tape was release and it is one of the coldest things I have ever heard. The 911 tape can be found on crimewatchdaily.com the family did a show with them to help pass the word.

 I wish we could explain more about the things he has done to her and the family but it is an open investigation. We have tried so hard to find this man and put him behind bars but we need help doing so.

 We have shirts made in her favorite color the proceeds will help find this man before he kills again.

 There is also a prayer visual on 1/11/16 a day for Sara Lee

 If you want your shirt for the 1/11/16 you mush have the order in by the first. we are Asking for a minimum of $20.00 if you want a tee shirt.

 also need to send contact info to Roxanne Harris for she can send you the pink tee shirt. also if you are male we have differnt colors just ask Roxanne.

 138 SHARES Share Tweet Donate COPY, PASTE & SHARE: https://www.gofundme.com/w2g78858

 What is GoFundMe? ||||| ALLEGAN COUNTY, MI -- The daughter a woman who police believe was killed by her husband is raising money in hopes of offering a reward for the suspect's arrest.

 Harold "Butch" Knight, 67, has been on the run since last January, when Allegan County sheriff's authorities allege he strangled his wife, 48-year-old Sara Knight, at their Ganges Township home.

 On Jan. 13, police received a 911 call, believed to be from Harold Knight, reporting that he had harmed the woman two days earlier and she was dead.

 Her daughter, Roxanne Cameron-Harris, has started selling shirts as a fundraiser for reward money. The GoFundMe page has raised $50, but Cameron-Harris said she has personally received about $560 in checks. She hopes to raise $1,000 for the reward.

 The pink shirts reads, "No evil goes unpunished... Justice for Sara Lee."

 "I'm really trying anything. It's not gonna bring my mom back, but at least we can sleep at night," Cameron-Harris said.

 Police looked for Harold Knight in Maine last winter after a surveillance photo showed him wearing camouflage clothing with dyed black hair and a mustache. The couple met in Gladwin, where Sara Knight was raised, and lived in Maine before returning to Michigan.

 Harold Knight is wanted on an open murder charge.

 Cameron-Harris said she constantly worries about her stepfather's whereabouts.

 "I don't think people take it so seriously how dangerous he is," she said. "He just snapped one day and killed my mom."

 As the search approaches the one-year mark, Sara Knight's family plans to come together for a candlelight vigil Jan. 11, the day police said she died. They will gather in Gladwin.

 Cameron-Harris has sifted through her mother's belongings in search of any type of clue that could help investigators. The amount of tips that have turned out to be false leads has been disappointing. The biggest question left unanswered is why her mother was killed.

 "There's no real clear reason why everything happened," Cameron-Harris said. "I have love letters from the beginning all the way through her relationship from both of them. It was a real, true love story."

 Family believed Harold Knight had access to his wife's Facebook last spring when someone "liked" a relative's photo from her account. Police used the search warrant process to try to track an IP address, but Cameron-Harris said it was not successful.

 Harold Knight was a truck driver, so his stepdaughter thinks he could be anywhere in the country. She's convinced that somewhere, somebody with information will come forward. She thinks the reward could help.

 "I really want to have my day to see face-to-face with him and to share what he's taken from us," Cameron-Harris said.

 Angie Jackson covers public safety and breaking news for MLive/The Grand Rapids Press. Email her at ajackso3@mlive.com, and follow her on Twitter. |||||
A summary of this is?

– Almost exactly a year ago, rural Michigan resident Harold "Butch" Knight allegedly called 911 and matter-of-factly told the operator he'd strangled his wife, Sara Knight, and that she was lying dead on the living room floor in their Ganges Township home. Then he disappeared. (Audio of the 911 call is available at Crime Watch Daily.) Now the murdered woman's daughter, Roxanne Cameron-Harris, has launched a personal manhunt by asking for tips and donations through a GoFundMe page. It has has raised just $50 toward her $1,000 goal in two weeks, though MLive reports she has separately received $560 in donations. Those who donate $20 or more will get a pink T-shirt that says, "No evil goes unpunished ... Justice for Sara Lee." Since Jan. 13, 2015, when the 911 call was placed, law enforcement has searched the country for the 67-year-old, with sightings in rural Maine, reports Fox 17. Just days after he disappeared, his abandoned vehicle was found in Franklin County, Maine, and a surveillance photo suggests Knight had dyed his hair black, reported Michigan Live back in May, when Sara would have turned 49. Fox 17 noted in September that the couple had lived in Maine for nearly a decade before heading to Michigan in 2014; the station also noted that police were investigating whether Knight could be hiding out in one of Maine's Amish communities. A vigil is planned for Monday, exactly a year after the day officials believe Sara was killed. Friends and family interviewed by Crime Watch Daily said that something always seemed off about Knight, who was 18 years older than Sara. The couple had been married for 14 years, during which time Knight never worked and sometimes showed a short temper. (Cops say they know who killed this pastor's wife.)


Here is a news article: These crawls are part of an effort to archive pages as they are created and archive the pages that they refer to. That way, as the pages that are referenced are changed or taken from the web, a link to the version that was live when the page was written will be preserved.Then the Internet Archive hopes that references to these archived pages will be put in place of a link that would be otherwise be broken, or a companion link to allow people to see what was originally intended by a page's authors.The goal is to fix all broken links on the web . Crawls of supported "No More 404" sites. ||||| - It happened in a flash. A father desperate to save his child from the smoke and flames quickly filling his apartment, tossed his baby from the second floor of a burning apartment building.Fortunately, DeKalb County firefighter Robert Sutton, who was among the first firefighters to arrive at the Parks on Glenwood, caught the baby in one swift move.

 "He was a little guy, so when I heard his father yelling 'Help', and saw him hanging out the window with the baby in his arms, I just went into action. I just did what any of the other firefighters out here would have done," Sutton told Fox 5's Portia Bruner Wednesday. "I just said 'Drop him.' He did and I am blessed to have been in a position to catch the baby," said Sutton, who grew up not far from the Glenwood Road apartment complex. "It was my first time in a situation like that," said Sutton.

 It was a remarkable sight to see something like that. They wre on it," said master plumber Larry Carter, who recorded the rescue on his cell phone.

 Carter and other contractors were doing renovations on the building next door when the fire erupted. He stopped to record the fire as the smoke started billowing from the windows. All of a sudden you heard a man screaming. When I heard there was a baby, my heart started fluttering. But the firefighters up to the window fast and the one guy just caught it like a football pass. It was something to see," said Carter.

 Captain Tom Burrell was visibly moved as he watch the video of the rescue with Bruner.

 "I just hope that this helps people understood the hard work and training that goes into being a firefighter," Captain Burrell said as he stood in front of the burned building Wednesday. "There's not really one thing that prepares you for what Firefighter Sutton and his colleagues encountered yesterday. It's good training. It's years of experience and having a good sense of situational awareness. I'm just really proud," he added.

 Sutton, who has two young children of his own, is reluctant to take credit for the life saving catch. He says it just comes down to good training, great fellow firefighters and shared commitment to helping people in distress.

 "I grew up in this community and it's just an honor to be able to help people here and work with the great guys I work with. We do this together and I'm just happy and blessed to be able to help that father and his baby. It's our job," said Sutton, who's been a Dekalb County Firefighter for ten years. "I'm just glad they were both ok," he said. ||||| Air Force Staff Sgt. Georgina Walton, who was home from deployment, surprised her son Brody at the Charleston RiverDogs game April 20.

 Air Force mom surprises son at RiverDogs baseball game after he throws out the first pitch

 The former Tennessee teacher was charged with aggravated kidnapping and sexual contact with a minor.

 James and Alisha Doherty of Nashville donned their Batman and Batgirl costumes for an epic, super hero-themed pregnancy announcement.

 Russ Saputo of Elkhart, Indiana, asked his daughter's best friend to accompany him and his little girl to the school's daddy-daughter dance.

 Maddie Weiler is being called a hero after she fought back against a stranger who police say attempted to steal her family's van.

 Kind-hearted man feeds homeless dogs around New Delhi with charity organization that aims to feed stray dogs in the city.

 Dramatic video shows tractor-trailer dragging car 4 miles down California's Cajon Pass after the sedan became wedged under the truck.

 The tiny cabin where authorities found former Tennessee teacher Tad Cummins and his 15-year-old student, Elizabeth Thomas, is nestled in the woods in a remote, mountainous area of inland, northernmost California near the Oregon border.

 A Georgia firefighter is being hailed a hero after saving the child from the blaze.

 A Georgia firefighter's quick-thinking helped him rescue an infant who was released from the window of a flaming apartment building.

 DeKalb County firefighter Robert Sutton has been hailed a hero for catching the child, who was tossed from the second story. Video footage shows the rescue.

 "It's a term that firefighters and officers alike don't hold onto or acknowledge, but it was heroic," said Captain Eric Jackson, the department's public information officer. "For a firefighter to be where he was and be keenly aware ... when the gentleman dropped the baby, he dropped him right into his arms."

 Firefighters name truck after baby left at station 11 years ago

 Firefighters throw baby shower for woman who lost apartment in fire

 View gallery Firefighter catches baby tossed from second floor window of burning building (ABC News)

 Dog trapped in blaze revived by firefighter's mouth-to-snout resuscitation

 The fire broke out on Tuesday afternoon at the two-story Glenwood Road apartment complex in Decatur, Georgia. The father of the baby had attempted to evacuate, but was cut off by fire. He then tossed the child from the second floor to Sutton on the ground level, to get his baby out of the smoke-filled area as quickly as possible. Soon after, the father was removed by the crew by way of ladder. The family escaped without any injuries, Captain Tom Burrell told ABC News.

 Sutton, a 10-year veteran with the department, has been "very humble" since the incident, Burrell said about his colleague.

 "He deflected a lot of the credit to being in the right place at the right time and the good work to his crew," he said. "He just happened to be the one standing there when the gentlemen found himself at the window. As a father of two children himself, I think anybody can understand that if that opportunity occurred, he could see himself in that man's shoes."

 The video was captured by a contracted plumber who was doing work in the building next door, Captain Jackson said. |||||
A summary of this is?

– "It was something to see," Larry Carter tells Fox 5. The plumber got video of a Georgia firefighter catching a baby that had been thrown from a burning apartment building Tuesday in Decatur. Good Morning America reports the baby's father was unable to get out of the building, so he tossed the baby from the second floor and into the arms of firefighter Robert Sutton. Carter says Sutton "caught it like a football pass." While others are calling Sutton a hero, colleagues say he's being "very humble" about his lifesaving catch. "I just did what any of the other firefighters out here would have done." The baby's father was eventually pulled from the building by firefighters, and no injuries were reported.


News article:

THE TF-2

 REVOLUTIONIZING DAILY TRAVEL

 The TF-2 is being designed to make travel by air and ground part of nearly everyone’s daily commute. It is a three part system that combines a passenger cabin that transfers between a road vehicle and an air vehicle. Passengers travel their full journey, through the air and on the ground without having to switch vehicles along the way.

 The TF-2 will take-off like a helicopter, fly like an airplane, and drive on the roads using the latest technology in electric propulsion, construction materials and manufacturing processes to ensure safety and reliability. ||||| The Transition was designed as a "light sport" aircraft, the smallest kind of private aeroplane under FAA classification, with a maximum weight of 1,320lb. But the manufacturers found it impossible to fit the safety features - airbags, crumple zones and roll cage, for instance - that are required for road vehicles into that weight.

 Uniquely, however, the FAA has granted the Transition an exemption - allowing it to be classified as a light sport aircraft despite being 120lb over the limit.

 The two-seater Transition can use its front-wheel drive on roads at ordinary highway speeds, with wings folded, at a respectable 30 miles per gallon. Once it has arrived at a suitable take-off spot - an airport, or adequately sized piece of flat private land - it can fold down the wings, engage its rear-facing propellor, and take off. The folding wings are electrically powered.

 Its cruising speed in the air is 115mph, it has a range of 460 miles, and it can carry 450lb. It requires a 1,700-foot (one-third of a mile) runway to take off and can fit in a standard garage.

 Terrafugia says that one of the major advantages of the Transition over ordinary light aircraft is safety - in the event of inclement weather, it can simply drive home instead of either being grounded or flying in unsafe conditions.

 The company says that 70 people have ordered the car, leaving a $10,000 (£6,650) deposit each. The car is expected to retail at $194,000 (£129,000). Deposits are held in escrow, meaning that should the company go bankrupt before delivery, the money will be refunded.

 Story via The Register. |||||
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– Move over, Chitty Chitty Bang Bang. The FAA has approved a small plane that can also double as a car. Drivers can zip down the road in the two-seat Terrafugia Transition, wings folded, at a respectable 30 miles per gallon. Upon arrival at an airport, the "roadable light sport" aircraft, weighing in at just over 1300 pounds, can be transformed into a flying machine. In the event of inclement weather, it can simply be driven back home. Some 70 customers have already ordered the $194,000 craft, and production will begin soon, reports the Telegraph.


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Focused crawls are collections of frequently-updated webcrawl data from narrow (as opposed to broad or wide) web crawls, often focused on a single domain or subdomain. ||||| More than 50 women have made allegations against Harvey Weinstein and the number continues to grow each day. Among the Hollywood mogul’s accusers are household names who were still looking to establish themselves when the alleged offences took place. Below are some of the allegations made public so far.

 What Harvey Weinstein tells us about the liberal world | Thomas Frank Read more

 The Italian actor Asia Argento alleges that Weinstein raped her when she was 21. She told the New Yorker she had been invited to what she thought was a party in his Hotel du Cap-Eden-Roc room near Cannes, but found herself alone with him. He changed into a bathrobe and asked her to give him a massage. She said she had reluctantly agreed, but that he pulled her skirt up and forcibly performed oral sex on her. She said she felt guilty about what she described as a “horrible trauma” and for not fighting him off. She later went on to have consensual sexual relations with him, which she described to the magazine as one-sided and onanistic, because she believed he would ruin her career if she didn’t comply. “After the rape, he won,” she said.

 The British actor Lysette Anthony says she was raped by Weinstein in her London home in the late 1980s. Anthony, who currently appears in the Channel 4 soap Hollyoaks, has given an interview to the Sunday Times describing an attack that left her feeling “disgusted and embarrassed”. She first met the producer in 1982 after being cast in the film Krull. It was a number of years later, Anthony alleges, that Weinstein rang her doorbell. “He pushed me inside and rammed me up against the coat rack in my tiny hall and started fumbling at my gown. He was trying to kiss me and shove inside me. It was disgusting.” Unable to push him away, she continues. “Finally I gave up. At least I was able to stop him kissing me.” Anthony has reported the rape allegation to the police who are investigating.

 Lucia Evans, then Stoller, was an aspiring actor when Weinstein approached her at the Cipriani Upstairs club in New York in 2004, she told the New Yorker. He arranged a meeting at the Miramax office, where she found herself alone with him. “He forced me to perform oral sex on him,” she said. “He’s a big guy, he overpowered me.” She told the magazine she blamed herself for not fighting harder and that she was still haunted by it.

 Facebook Twitter Pinterest Harvey Weinstein leaves the Manhattan criminal court on 25 May 2018 in New York. Photograph: Kena Betancur/AFP/Getty Images

 Gwyneth Paltrow was 22 and had been hired for the lead in the Jane Austen adaptation Emma. She told the New York Times she had been summoned to Weinstein’s hotel suite, where he suggested she give him a massage. She said she refused and felt petrified. She confided in her then boyfriend Brad Pitt, who confronted Weinstein. Soon after, the producer warned her not to tell anyone else. “I was expected to keep the secret,” she told the newspaper. “I thought he was going to fire me.”

 During the release of Playing by Heart in the late 1990s, Angelina Jolie found herself in a hotel room with Weinstein, she told the NYT. He made unwanted advances which she rejected. “I had a bad experience with Harvey Weinstein in my youth and as a result chose never to work with him again, and warn others when they did,” she told the paper.

 Women, we should stop gaslighting ourselves and trust our instincts | Mona Chalabi Read more

 Another anonymous actor claimed Weinstein had raped her. He changed into a bathrobe and “forced himself on me sexually”, the New Yorker reported. She felt “horror, disbelief and shame” and considered going to the police, but then thought about how much she could lose and decided “just to move forward”. She continued to have a professional relationship with him after the alleged rape.

 Mira Sorvino, who starred in several of Weinstein’s films, found herself in his hotel room at the Toronto international film festival in 1995. “He started massaging my shoulders, which made me very uncomfortable, and then tried to get more physical, sort of chasing me around,” the Mighty Aphrodite star told the New Yorker. She said she had managed to leave.

 Facebook Twitter Pinterest Clockwise from top left: Rosanna Arquette, Mira Sorvino, Zoe Brock and Ambra Battilana Gutierrez. Composite: Getty

 Rosanna Arquette, who starred in Pulp Fiction, told the New Yorker she had been supposed to meet Weinstein for dinner at a Beverly Hills hotel to pick up a script, but on arrival was told to go to his suite. He answered the door wearing a white bathrobe and saying he needed a massage. She said he grabbed her hand and pulled it towards his penis which was “visible and erect … My heart was really racing. I was in a fight-or-flight mode”. She said she told him: “I will never do that”, and that he responded by telling her she was making a huge mistake. She claims her career later suffered.

 Ambra Battilana Gutierrez, a Filipina-Italian model, was 22 when she was invited to Weinstein’s office in the Tribeca neighbourhood of New York. He lunged at her, groping her breasts and attempting to put a hand up her skirt while she protested. She went straight to the police. The New Yorker published an audio tape recorded when she was equipped with a NYPD wire tap. In the recording, Weinstein begs her to join him in his hotel room. She refuses and asks him why he had groped her breast the day before. “Oh, please, I’m sorry, just come on in. I’m used to that. Come on. Please,” he says. “You are used to that?” Gutierrez asks. “Yes,” Weinstein replies, later adding: “I won’t do it again”. He also says: “Don’t ruin your friendship with me for five minutes.”

 Moguls and starlets: 100 years of Hollywood’s corrosive, systemic sexism Read more

 Zoe Brock, a model and writer from New Zealand, then 23, accepted an invitation to Weinstein’s hotel suite at Cannes believing others would be present. When others left she found herself “alone in a remote hotel suite with Harvey fucking Weinstein,” she blogged. She alleges he took his clothes off and asked for a massage, forcing her to run to the bathroom to escape. “Harvey chased me, dick, balls and all, and banged on the door with his fists, pleading with me to come out”. She agreed to come out once he was fully dressed and then left.

 Katherine Kendall, who appeared in the film Swingers, told the NYT she was 23 when Weinstein invited her to a screening which turned out to be a solo trip with him to a cinema. Afterwards, he asked if they go to his apartment to pick something up, where he went to the bathroom, came back in a robe and asked her to massage him. She said he told her “everybody does it”, but she refused. He left the room and returned nude. “He literally chased me. He wouldn’t let me pass him to get to the door,” she told the paper. Then he implored her to at least show him her breasts, but she refused.

 Facebook Twitter Pinterest Clockwise from top left: Romola Garai, Katherine Kendall, Rose McGowan and Emma de Caunes Composite: Getty

 Tomi-Ann Roberts was a 20-year-old college junior working as a waitress when Weinstein set up an audition at his hotel. When she arrived, he was nude in the bath, she alleged in the NYT. He told her she would have a much better audition if she was comfortable “getting naked in front of him” as she might have to play a topless scene. She left, apologising, telling him she was too prudish to go along with it.

 The Secret Actress: I've lost count of the unwanted hands that have touched me Read more

 Ashley Judd, a US actor who has starred in a string of box-office hits, was 20 when Weinstein invited her to the Peninsula Beverly Hills hotel for what she thought was a breakfast meeting. Instead, he had her sent up to his room where he appeared in a bathrobe and asked if he could give her a massage or if she could watch him shower, she told the NYT. She said her thoughts were: “How do I get out of this room as fast as possible without alienating Harvey Weinstein.”

 Emma de Caunes, a French actor, met Weinstein at a Cannes party in 2010. She told The New Yorker he had invited her to a lunch meeting at the Ritz in Paris. In the hotel room he disappeared into the bathroom, leaving the door open. “I was like, what the fuck, is he taking a shower?” she said. He came out naked with an erection and demanded she lie on the bed, she said. He told her that many other women had done so before her, but she left and slammed the door.

 Romola Garai, a British actor who starred in Atonement and the BBC series The Hour, was 18 when Weinstein auditioned her wearing only a bathrobe at the Savoy hotel, leaving her feeling “violated”. She told the Guardian she “just tried to make out it was normal because as far as I was concerned it was a job interview. I knew something had happened to me that I didn’t like and that I felt belittled by it. But I didn’t feel like I had the right to complain”.

 Facebook Twitter Pinterest Clockwise from top left: Ashley Judd, Lauren Sivan, Dawn Dunning and Liza Campbell Composite: Getty

 Dawn Dunning was 24, attending design school and waitressing in New York when she met Weinstein. The aspiring actor was invited to a meal with him at a Manhattan hotel, but on arrival was told to go to his suite because he was running late at a meeting. She told the NYT she found him alone in a bathrobe behind a coffee table covered in papers he said were contracts for his next three films. She alleged he told her she could only sign them on the condition she had three-way sex with him. She laughed and he grew angry, she said, telling her: “You’ll never make it in this business. This is how the business works.” She fled, left acting and became a costume designer.

 The actor Rose McGowan reportedly reached a settlement with Weinstein following a hotel room encounter during the Sundance film festival. She had recently had a memorable role in the slasher movie Scream which came out in 1996.

 Lauren Sivan, a former Fox News host, has alleged Weinstein trapped her in a closed restaurant and masturbated in front of her in 2007 after attempting to kiss her.

 Facebook Twitter Pinterest Asia Argento, Rose McGowan and Mira Sorvino. Composite: Getty Images/Rex/Shutterstock

 Liza Campbell, a writer and artist, told the Sunday Times Weinstein had summoned her to his hotel room in London before telling her to get in the bath with him, which she refused to do.

 The French actor Léa Seydoux, who was awarded the Palme d’Or at the Cannes film festival for Blue is the Warmest Colour, told the Guardian that Weinstein lunged at her and tried to kiss her on the lips in 2012 after a Paris fashion show they were both attending. “I had to defend myself. He’s big and fat, so I had to be forceful to resist him,” she said.

 The British actor Claire Forlani posted an account of her experience on Twitter, recalling two meetings at a hotel where “I ducked, dived and ultimately got out of there without getting slobbered over, well just a bit. Yes, massage was suggested.” Weinstein also spoke about all the actresses he had slept with and what he had done for them, Forlani said.

 The Canadian actor Erika Rosenbaum alleged that Weinstein masturbated behind her while holding her neck. In an interview with CBC she said the producer made aggressive sexual advances during three separate meetings around 15 years ago. The masturbation incident took place in a hotel room during the Toronto film festival, she said. “He grabs me by – he holds me by the back of the neck and faces me to the mirror and very quietly tells me that he just wants to look at me and he starts to masturbate standing behind me.” She continued: “He really took something from me.”

 The screenwriter and actor Louisette Geiss told a press conference that Weinstein masturbated in front of her while she was making a pitch. She was in his office, adjacent to his hotel room, during the Sundance film festival in 2008. Weinstein excused himself to go the bathroom. He returned in an open robe before getting in the bath. “When I finished my pitch I was obviously nervous, and he just kept asking me to watch him masturbate. I told him I was leaving. He quickly got out of the tub and grabbed my forearm as I was trying to grab my purse and led me to his bathroom, pleading that I just watch him masturbate. My heart was racing and I was very scared.”

 Facebook Twitter Pinterest Clockwise from top left: Léa Seydoux, Claire Forlani, Louisette Geiss and Cara Delevingne Composite: Getty/Rex Shutterstock

 The British actor Cara Delevingne alleged she was sexually harassed by Weinstein early in her career, detailing how he encouraged her to kiss another woman in his hotel room. After she refused and tried to leave, Delevingne said: “He stood in front of [the door] and tried to kiss me on the lips. I stopped him and managed to get out of the room.”

 Sophie Dix, an English actor who was on the brink of a career in the British film industry in the 1990s, told the Guardian her trajectory was “massively cut down” after an alleged attack by Weinstein in a London hotel. Dix, who was 22 at the time, described the alleged assault as “the single most damaging thing that’s happened in my life”.

 Eva Green, who starred in the James Bond film Casino Royale, has said she felt “shocked and disgusted” by a meeting with Weinstein, where she “had to push him off”. The French actor responded to comments made by her mother about the Hollywood mogul. She told the Telegraph: “I met him for a business meeting in Paris at which he behaved inappropriately and I had to push him off. I got away without it going further, but the experience left me shocked and disgusted.”

 Facebook Twitter Pinterest Clockwise from top left: Sophie Dix, Eva Green, Myleene Klass and Heather Graham Composite: Graeme Robertson for the Guardian/Rex/Getty

 British singer and model Myleene Klass told the Sun that when she was 32 the Hollywood producer offered her a “sex contract” at a film festival lunch at Cannes in 2010 while working for CNN.

 The American actor Heather Graham wrote in Variety that Weinstein implied she had to have sex with him in order to get a movie role. She said he had offered her the chance of choosing a script. “Later in the conversation, he mentioned that he had an agreement with his wife. He could sleep with whomever he wanted when he was out of town. I walked out of the meeting feeling uneasy.” She was never hired for one of Weinstein’s films.

 Lupita Nyong’o, the Oscar-winning star of 12 Years A Slave, published a personal essay about her alleged harassment in the New York Times. She detailed several encounters with Weinstein in which the producer allegedly offered to help her career in exchange for sex. Nyong’o said she first encountered Weinstein while she was a student attending the Berlin film festival. Shortly afterwards, she was invited to a screening at his home in Westport, Connecticut, where Weinstein asked if he could give her a massage.

 When she tried to sidestep the request by offering to give him one instead, Nyong’o said Weinstein told her “he wanted to take off his pants. I told him not to do that and informed him that it would make me extremely uncomfortable. He got up anyway to do so and I headed for the door, saying that I was not at all comfortable with that.” At a later dinner in New York, Nyong’o said Weinstein propositioned her again and continued to pursue her afterwards.

 The Game of Thrones star Lena Headey said Weinstein spoke to her inappropriately at the Venice film festival and reacted angrily when she resisted his advances in a Los Angeles hotel. In a series of posts on Twitter, Headey said she “felt completely powerless” and Weinstein walked her to the hotel exit “by grabbing and holding tightly to the back of my arm”.

 Facebook Twitter Pinterest Clockwise from top left: Lupita Nyong’o, Lena Headey, Angie Everhart and Jessica Barth Composite: Getty

 The US actor Angie Everhart alleged that Weinstein masturbated in front of her on a boat during the Venice film festival. “I had just arrived and I was sleeping, I was in my bed,” she said. “I wake up and Harvey is standing above my bed ... all of the sudden he takes his pants down and starts doing his stuff.”

 An Italian actor and model, whose name has not been released, told the Los Angeles Police Department she was raped by Weinstein in a hotel near Beverly Hills in 2013. “The LAPD robbery and homicide division has interviewed a potential sexual assault victim involving Harvey Weinstein, which allegedly occurred in 2013,” an LAPD spokesman said. Dave Ring, the woman’s lawyer, said his client thanked the “courageous women” who had previously spoken out.

 #MeToo named the victims. Now, let's list the perpetrators | Jessica Valenti Read more

 The Vietnamese actor Vu Thu Phuong said in a Facebook post that she agreed to meet Weinstein at a hotel room in 2008 to discuss a role. When she arrived, she said, he greeted her in a towel and offered to show her how to perform sex scenes.

 Jessica Barth, the actor known for her roles in the film Ted, told The New Yorker that in 2011 Weinstein asked her to give him a massage while he was naked, an incident that reportedly inspired Seth MacFarlane to make a joke about it at the 2013 Oscars after Barth told him about it.

 The former actor Heather Kerr alleged in a press conference that Weinstein exposed himself to her and forced her to touch him during a private meeting in 1989. She said he wanted to have sex with her and offered to take her to parties where he would tell her who she needed to sleep with. “I was frozen with fear, trying to remain calm, trying not to freak out because, after all, there was nobody else in the office,” Kerr said. She left and stopped acting soon afterwards: “He told me that this was how things worked in Hollywood.”

 Facebook Twitter Pinterest Attorney Gloria Allred comforts her client, Heather Kerr, during a press conference regarding the sexual assault allegations that have been brought against Harvey Weinstein in Hollywood on 20 October 2017 Photograph: Matt Winkelmeyer/Getty Images

 Weinstein allegedly invited a 17-year-old Kate Beckinsale to his hotel room, where he greeted her wearing only a robe, she told the Hollywood Reporter. “A few years later, he asked me if he had tried anything with me in that first meeting. I realised he couldn’t remember if he had assaulted me or not.”

 Alice Evans, a British actor, said in a Telegraph article that Weinstein invited her to join him in a bathroom at the Cannes film festival. “Just go. I’m right behind you. I want to touch your tits. Kiss you a little,” he allegedly said.

 As a young, powerless woman trapped alone with a predator, I did not run | Van Badham Read more

 Another British actor and model, Amber Anderson, said she was 20 years old when Weinstein coerced her into a private meeting in 2013, where he propositioned her with a “personal” relationship. “He told me not to tell anyone I was alone with him, told me if I did it might affect my opportunities,” she wrote on Instagram. “He tried to take my hand and put it in his lap, which is when I managed to leave the room.”

 Judith Godrèche, the French actor and writer, told the New York Times that Weinstein invited her to his hotel suite in 1996 at the Cannes film festival to discuss business, but then asked her for a massage, which he said was an American custom. “The next thing I know, he’s pressing against me and pulling off my sweater.” Godrèche said she pulled away and left the suite.

 Daryl Hannah claimed she repeatedly turned down Weinstein’s advances during promotional work for Kill Bill and its sequel. He tried to get into her hotel room several times, the Splash actor said, and once got a key and “burst in like a raging bull”. She alleged he asked to grope her breasts and then asked her to expose herself to him, she told The New Yorker.

 Sopranos star Annabella Sciorra has accused Weinstein of rape and sexual harassment in 1992. She told the New Yorker’s Ronan Farrow the assault happened after she had filmed The Night We Never Met, which Weinstein produced. Having dropped her off after a group dinner, she alleged, he forced himself into her New York apartment. “I struggled but I had very little strength left in me.” she said. “And I fought. I fought. But still I was like, why did I open that door? ... I felt disgusting.”

 The Norwegian actor and model Natassia Malthe accused Weinstein of raping her in a London hotel room after the Bafta awards ceremony in 2008. She told a press conference in New York he went to her room and when she opened the door he barged in and forced himself on her. “It was not consensual. He did not use a condom.” She was “completely grossed out” and lay still “like a dead person”, she claimed.

 Mimi Haleyi, a former production assistant for a TV show made by the Weinstein Company, accused the producer of rape by forcibly performing oral sex on her without her consent in 2006. She told a New York press conference she had met him several times to try to maintain a good business relationship, but when she visited him at his house, he forced himself on her. “I told him no, no, no, but he insisted,” she claimed, saying Weinstein pinned her to a bed and removed a tampon. “I was mortified. I was in disbelief and disgusted.”

 The actor and model Dominique Huett filed a £3.8m civil suit with Los Angeles superior court alleging the Weinstein Company “aided and abetted” Weinstein in “repeated acts of sexual misconduct”. According to documents uploaded by Variety, the lawsuit alleges Weinstein asked Huett to his Beverly Hills hotel room in 2010 under the pretence of discussing her career. Once there he asked if she would give him a massage, before suggesting he perform oral sex on her. Huett said she refused, but claims Weinstein “would not take no for an answer”. After performing oral sex on Huett, Weinstein masturbated in front of her, the suit claims.

 Brit Marling, the actor and co-creator of the Netflix drama OA, has accused Weinstein of luring her to his hotel room and suggesting they take a shower together. In an essay for the Atlantic she said she managed to get out of the room after realising “it was clear that there was only one direction he wanted this encounter to go in, and that was sex or some version of an erotic exchange”.

 Salma Hayek wrote in the New York Times that she repeatedly refused Weinstein’s alleged sexual advances, and that he once told her: “I will kill you, don’t think I can’t.”

 Angelina Jolie alleged she was propositioned by Weinstein in a hotel room during the release of Playing by Heart in 1998. In an email to the New York Times, she said: “I had a bad experience with Harvey Weinstein in my youth, and as a result chose never to work with him again and warn others when they did.”

 Facebook Twitter Pinterest Angelina Jolie says Weinstein propositioned her in a hotel room. Photograph: Hannah Mckay/Reuters

 Florence Darel, a French actor, claimed Weinstein promised to help make her big in the US if she became his “part-time mistress” . Darel claimed: “He talked to me about a film he wanted to make about world war one and he began to tell me that he found me very attractive and wanted to have an affair with me,” she told French media. When she told him she had a partner whom she loved, she claims Weinstein told her he only wanted her to be his mistress for a few days a year. “Basically he said that if I wanted to make it in America, it would be through him,” she alleged. “I told him I had to go, and left.”

 Canadian actor Lauren Holly claimed in an interview with Canadian TV that the producer had showered and used the toilet in front of her after inviting her to his hotel room in the late 1990s. She alleged he then approached her naked and requested a massage, at which point she “pushed him and ran”.

 Zelda Perkins, the British former assistant of Harvey Weinstein, claimed she was paid £125,000 to keep quiet after accusing him of sexual harassment. She told the Financial Times she signed a non-disclosure agreement in 1998 after making the accusation. She claimed he asked her to give him massages and that he tried to pull her into bed.

 Weinstein has denied many of these allegations. His spokeswoman has said: “Any allegations of non-consensual sex are unequivocally denied by Mr Weinstein. Mr Weinstein has further confirmed that there were never any acts of retaliation against any women for refusing his advances.” Though he was unable to respond to anonymous allegations, of those made on the record “Mr Weinstein believes that all of these relationships were consensual”, the statement said.

 Weinstein has been charged with rape, a criminal sex act, sex abuse and sexual misconduct for alleged incidents involving two separate women, after he surrendered to authorities in New York on Friday 25 May. ||||| "Me too."

 It's a simple, powerful call to arms, and the latest hashtag collating stories of sexual harassment and assault, posted by Hollywood actor Alyssa Milano.

 Milano was one of the early responders to fellow Charmed co-star Rose McGowan's #WomenBoycottTwitter protest on Friday. The protest took place after McGowan was temporarily suspended from the platform amidst the Harvey Weinstein shitstorm.

 Milano's now put her own hashtag experiment out there, asking people to reply to her tweet, or post on Facebook, if they've experienced sexual harassment or assault with a simple, "Me too."

 If you’ve been sexually harassed or assaulted write ‘me too’ as a reply to this tweet. pic.twitter.com/k2oeCiUf9n — Alyssa Milano (@Alyssa_Milano) October 15, 2017

 Milano's tweet has garnered over 12,000 comments, the majority of which say "Me too," and have each generated their own thread of responses.

 There are some Hollywood and Broadway names among the responses, including Anna Paquin, Debra Messing and Anika Noni Rose.

 Me too — Anna Paquin (@AnnaPaquin) October 15, 2017

 Me too. I don’t know if means anything coming from a gay man but it’s happened. Multiple times. — Javier Muñoz (@JMunozActor) October 15, 2017

 Twitter's Jack Dorsey promised changes to anti-harassment policies after #WomenBoycottTwitter on Friday. And while he didn't get into any specifics, he promised to address, "unwanted sexual advances, non-consensual nudity, hate symbols, violent groups, and tweets that glorifies violence."

 Here's hoping, as Twitter has pledged to make improvements when it comes to stopping harassment on its platform before. ||||| (Update: Harvey Weinstein is certainly not the first powerful man publicly and credibly accused of sexually harassing or abusing women in recent years, but his fall has opened the floodgates in Hollywood. Read more »)

 Women are posting messages on social media to show how commonplace sexual assault and harassment are, using the hashtag #MeToo to express that they, too, have been victims of such misconduct.

 The messages bearing witness began appearing frequently on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram on Sunday, when the actress Alyssa Milano posted a screenshot outlining the idea and writing “If you’ve been sexually harassed or assaulted write ‘me too’ as a reply to this tweet.” ||||| Story highlights Actress tweeted asking women to respond

 #MeToo began trending on Twitter

 (CNN) Two simple words became a rallying cry on Twitter to stand against sexual harassment and assault.

 "Me too."

 Social media was flooded with messages Sunday, mostly from women, who tagged their profiles to indicate that they have been sexually harassed or assaulted.

 On Sunday actress Alyssa Milano tweeted a note that read "Suggested by a friend: If all the women who have been sexually harassed or assaulted wrote "Me too" as a status, we might give people a sense of the magnitude of the problem."

 "If you've been sexually harassed or assaulted write 'me too' as a reply to this tweet," she wrote. ||||| I've been asked a number of times to comment on the Harvey Weinstein scandal. While I am sickened and angered over the disturbing accusations of Weinstein's sexual predation and abuse of power, I'm happy - ecstatic even - that it has opened up a dialogue around the continued sexual harassment, objectification and degradation of women. To the women who have suffered any form of abuse of power, I stand beside you. To the women who have come forward against a system that is designed to keep you silent, I stand in awe of you and appreciate you and your fortitude. It is not easy to disclose such experiences, especially in the public eye. Your strength will inspire others. Thank you, thank you, thank you, for fighting this battle so hopefully my daughter won't have to.

 I've been an actor for a long time. So long, that when I started, we were called 'actresses' - a feminized, watered down name for the same profession our male colleagues have dominated. Somewhere in the early 2000's it became politically incorrect to call us actresses, and with good reason. After all, there's no feminized moniker for a director or producer or a writer or doctor or a lawyer. So 'actresses' became 'actors'. But sexual harassment and sexism in the industry did not change with the title change. We were still clearly 'actresses' to anyone that saw gender before talent and intelligence.

 I can tell you what it meant to be an 'actress' then and what it means to be an 'actor' (with breasts) now. BUT more importantly, I can tell you what it means to be a woman in our society. In any - and every - profession, women are continuously mistreated. This is not an uncommon occurrence. This is a sick culture. Men like Harvey Weinstein are around every corner. Men who undermine women and their strength, ability and intelligence exist everywhere. Statistics say that 1 in 3 women are sexually harassed in the workplace. Really think about that. Really allow that statistic to become a part of you. Also, while you process it, think about the gender inequality women - particularly women of color - face in salary and opportunity. Actually, fuck the statistics, just do better, world.

 Even with these strong feelings - not just about Weinstein but about workplace sexism in general - this statement is complicated for me for personal reasons. Harvey has a wife, who I have had the privilege of working with for the last 5 years on Project Runway All Stars. Georgina Chapman is my friend. She is one of the most special humans I have ever met. Harvey and Georgina also have two very young children who my children have known their entire lives. It is because of my love for Georgina, India and Dashiell that I haven't publicly commented on this until now. Please don't confuse my silence for anything other than respect for a dear friend and her beautiful children.

 And please know that I fight for women's rights every day. I am constantly part of this conversation even if I don't publicly comment on specific scandals. Sexual harassment and assault in the workplace are not just about Harvey Weinstein. We must change things in general. We must do better for women everywhere. |||||
What is a summary?

– As new accusations continue to emerge in the Harvey Weinstein scandal, a celebrity-driven hashtag has started a wave of people who are sharing their personal experiences with sexual abuse and harassment, Mashable reports. On Sunday afternoon, Alyssa Milano tweeted: "If you've been sexually harassed or assaulted write 'me too' as a reply to this tweet." This quickly led to the #MeToo hashtag and a tsunami of posts that simply read "Me too" on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram, as well as detailed stories from those who felt comfortable sharing more—all messages the Washington Post notes "were striking in their simplicity, and in the sheer number of them." Included among the "tens of thousands" the New York Times says reacted to Milano's message were other names from show biz, including Debra Messing, Anna Paquin, and Javier Munoz, from Broadway's Hamilton. "I don't know if [it] means anything coming from a gay man but it's happened. Multiple times," Munoz tweeted. CNN notes that Milano co-starred on Charmed with Rose McGowan, one of Weinstein's most vocal accusers. Milano also penned an essay last week about Weinstein on her Patriot Not Partisan website, noting she's friends with Weinstein's wife, Georgina Chapman, and that even though she's "sickened and angered" by the specific allegations against him, "we must change things in general. We must do better for women everywhere."


Here is a news article: Syria Geneva talks take positive step - opposition

 Both sides have said they will continue with the peace talks until Friday

 Syria's government has said it will debate a UN-backed document that sets out a way to end the three-year conflict, in a move hailed by the opposition as a "positive step forward"

 Presidential adviser Bouthaina Shaaban said they would discuss the Geneva Communique "paragraph by paragraph".

 She made no mention of the part that calls for a transitional government.

 The idea of a transition process has proved to be a major sticking point at the peace talks in Geneva.

 But there were some slightly more promising signs on Wednesday.

 Ms Shaaban confirmed that government delegates were willing to go through the 2012 communique "paragraph by paragraph".

 She said the first issue they wanted to discuss was the first issue in the document, "stopping terrorism".

 "Even in [the Geneva I communique], the first item is to stop violence which has turned to terrorism," she said.

 The government generally labels any armed opposition as "terrorism".

 She claimed that the opposition's aim "to jump to the item that speaks about transitional government" proved they "are only interested in being in government".

 Continue reading the main story Geneva Communique A UN-backed meeting in 2012 issued the document and urged Syria to: Form transitional governing body

 Start national dialogue

 Review constitution and legal system

 Hold free and fair elections

 Louay al-Safi, a spokesman for the opposition National Coalition, said the fact that the document was now on the table was "a positive step forward".

 "For the first time now we are talking about the transitional governing body, the body whose responsibility is to end dictatorship and move toward democracy and end the fighting and misery in Syria," he told reporters.

 However, he stressed again the opposition view that the transfer of power issue must "come first, because nothing else can be achieved before we form a transitional governing body".

 The UN-Arab League mediator Lakhdar Brahimi said after adjourning Tuesday's talks that the negotiations continued to be difficult and were unlikely to get any easier.

 But he said the representatives of both sides had confirmed that they intended to stay and continue the discussions until Friday, as planned.

 Please turn on JavaScript. Media requires JavaScript to play.

 Meanwhile, the Syrian government has criticised a recent decision by the US Congress to approve continued support for rebels.

 Syrian Information Minister Omran al-Zoubi said the aid contradicted Washington's sponsorship of the Geneva peace talks. Moscow, the other sponsor, has continued to sell weapons to the Syrian military but notes that there is no international arms embargo.

 It emerged on Monday that Congress had secretly given its backing to a CIA programme to arm and train "moderate", non-Islamist Syrian factions in Jordan, and provide a variety of small arms and anti-tank rockets.

 In a separate development on Wednesday, the UN welcomed the UK's decision to take in hundreds of the "most vulnerable" refugees from Syria.

 The British government had previously been reluctant to accept Syrian refugees, preferring to focus on humanitarian aid to the region, but it was facing a parliamentary defeat on the issue. ||||| BEIRUT, Lebanon — Islamist rebels and extremist groups have seized control of most of Syria’s oil and gas resources, a rare generator of cash in the country’s war-battered economy, and are now using the proceeds to underwrite their fights against one another as well as President Bashar al-Assad, American officials say.

 While the oil and gas fields are in serious decline, control of them has bolstered the fortunes of the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria, or ISIS, and the Nusra Front, both of which are offshoots of Al Qaeda. The Islamic State of Iraq and Syria is even selling fuel to the Assad government, lending weight to allegations by opposition leaders that it is secretly working with Damascus to weaken the other rebel groups and discourage international support for their cause.

 Related Coverage Syrian Talks Disrupted by Congress’s Approval of Aid to Rebels

 Although there is no clear evidence of direct tactical coordination between the group and Mr. Assad, American officials say that his government has facilitated the group’s rise not only by purchasing its oil but by exempting some of its headquarters from the airstrikes that have tormented other rebel groups.

 Crisis in Syria News, analysis and photos of the conflict that has left more than 100,000 dead and millions displaced. Full Coverage »

 The Nusra Front and other groups are providing fuel to the government, too, in exchange for electricity and relief from airstrikes, according to opposition activists in Syria’s oil regions.

 The scramble for Syria’s oil is described by analysts as a war within the broader civil war, one that is turning what was once an essential source of income for Syria into a driving force in a conflict that is tearing the country apart. “Syria is an oil country and has resources, but in the past they were all stolen by the regime,” said Abu Nizar, an antigovernment activist in Deir al-Zour. “Now they are being stolen by those who are profiting from the revolution.”

 He described the situation in his oil-rich province as “overwhelming chaos.”

 The Western-backed rebel groups do not appear to be involved in the oil trade, in large part because they have not taken over any oil fields.

 Syria was once an important supplier of oil to Europe, and attracted international oil companies like Royal Dutch Shell and Suncor to develop its fields. Declining even before the anti-Assad uprising began, the oil industry has taken a beating since, with production down to no more than 80,000 barrels a day at the end of 2013 from about 400,000 barrels a day in 2011. Violence has damaged pipelines and other infrastructure, aggravating energy shortages and leaving the country heavily dependent on imports from its allies.

 As the war has progressed, rebel groups have seized control of the oil and gas fields scattered across the country’s north and east, while Kurdish militias have taken over areas near the border with Iraqi Kurdistan.

 Filling the void left by the government’s withdrawal is a Wild West-like patchwork of local efforts to try to wring any possible profit from the remnants of the oil industry. In some areas, locals have used primitive methods to extract usable products from crude they drain from pipelines or storage tanks, often causing environmental and health problems in their communities.

 Elaborate trade networks have also evolved, with oil being smuggled across borders in plastic jugs and transported by trucks and on donkeys into Iraq and Turkey.

 “The government practically doesn’t control anything anymore,” said Dragan Vuckovic, president of Mediterranean International, an oil service company that operates across the Middle East and North Africa. “The oil is controlled by crooks and extremists. They sell it for a bargain wherever they can find a buyer.”

 Oil has proved to be a boon for the extremists of the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria, who have seized control of most of the oil-rich northern province of Raqqa. The group typically sells crude to middlemen who resell it to the government but sometimes sells it directly to the government, said Omar Abu Laila, a spokesman for the rebels’ Supreme Military Council.

 “Selling the oil brings in more cash, so why not sell it to the regime, which offers higher prices?” he asked.

 An American official said the United States had received multiple credible reports that the Syrian government had purchased crude from the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria that was delivered in tanker trucks from areas the group controls to behind Syrian government lines.

 The official also said Mr. Assad’s government had refrained from bombing the group’s headquarters in Raqqa and elsewhere, although their locations are well known and clearly marked with black flags and banners.

 A second American official said that while Mr. Assad’s government is growing ever more desperate for oil, the group is becoming increasingly independent of wealthy donors in the Persian Gulf and other funding sources. As the group has gained control of more territory, it has been able to sustain its operations through a combination of oil revenues, border tolls, extortion and granary sales, the official said.

 While other American officials discounted the possibility of tactical military cooperation between the group and Mr. Assad’s government, they said that Syrian intelligence had almost certainly infiltrated opposition groups, including the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria and the Nusra Front, to track their activities.

 “The Syrian regime is as Machiavellian as they come, and there is little it won’t do to hold on to power,” said an American counterterrorism official. “If the regime could strike a tactical accord with an enemy faction to achieve its larger strategic goals, it probably would.”

 Denied access to Syria’s oil regions, Mr. Assad’s government has become increasingly dependent on its foreign allies and imports most of its fuel from Iran and Iraq, while Hezbollah smuggles diesel and gasoline over the border from Lebanon, according to regional oil experts. The opposition also accuses Syria’s Kurds of providing the government with oil.

 While rebel oil revenues are small by world market standards, they can help groups exercise local power as well as finance their operations.

 “Even sold at discounted prices, this oil could be generating significant revenue for rebels to arm themselves,” said Badr H. Jafar, chairman of Crescent Petroleum, a regional oil and gas company based in the United Arab Emirates.

 The politics of the local oil trade can be complex, insiders say. When the Nusra Front and other rebel groups took over a natural gas facility in the northern province of Hasaka, they sought to cut the supply to a government facility, said Amer Abdy, a local activist.

 But local tribal leaders objected, saying that would simply invite government airstrikes to destroy the plant. So they brokered a deal to keep a limited amount of gas flowing so the area would not be bombed, Mr. Abdy said.

 When the government first withdrew from the oil fields of Deir al-Zour Province in the country’s east, said Abu Nizar, an activist there, rebel brigades and local tribes took control of wells and sold or tried to refine whatever oil they could extract to buy arms. Recently, however, most of the area’s rebel brigades have left the administration of the wells to an Islamic legal commission set up to run local affairs, he said.

 One facility the group controls is a natural gas plant that feeds a major power station near Homs that is still controlled by the government.

 “We can’t cut off the gas because it would lead to a power cut in a large part of Syria,” Abu Nizar said, adding that he hoped the new commission would effectively manage the area’s resources.

 “Let’s be honest. Some of the wells were used to arm the rebels and to fund aid operations,” he said, “but unfortunately the majority were robbed and exploited by thieves.” ||||| One of two cargo ships intended to take part in a Danish-Norwegian mission to transport chemical agents out of Syria docks in Limassol, December 14, 2013.

 AMSTERDAM Syria has given up less than 5 percent of its chemical weapons arsenal and will miss next week's deadline to send all toxic agents abroad for destruction, sources familiar with the matter said on Wednesday.

 The deliveries, in two shipments this month to the northern Syrian port of Latakia, totaled 4.1 percent of the roughly 1,300 tonnes of toxic agents reported by Damascus to the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW), said the sources, who spoke on condition of anonymity.

 "It's not enough and there is no sign of more," one source briefed on the situation said.

 The internationally backed operation, overseen by a joint OPCW-United Nations mission, is now 6-8 weeks behind schedule. Damascus needs to show it is still serious about relinquishing its chemical weapons, the sources told Reuters.

 Failure to eliminate its chemical weapons could expose Syria to sanctions, although these would have to be supported in the U.N. Security Council by Russia and China, which have so far refused to back such measures against President Bashar al-Assad.

 The deal under which Syria undertook to eliminate its chemical arsenal stopped the United States and its allies from launching bombing raids to punish Assad for a chemical attack last August and made clear the limits to international action against him.

 U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon suggested in a report to the Security Council this week that shipments had been unnecessarily delayed and urged the Syrian government to speed up the process.

 MESSAGE TO SYRIA

 That is the message that will be given to Syria's representative to the OPCW during its executive council meeting on Thursday in The Hague, where the Nobel Peace Prize-winning organisation is located, the sources said.

 A senior Western diplomat, speaking on condition of anonymity, said that the U.N. Security Council will be briefed on the issue by mission head Sigrid Kaag next week.

 "All the indications are, and the secretary-general's report makes clear, that actually the regime has been sort of stalling on the implementation of the agreement," the diplomat said.

 "It will be important what Sigrid Kaag says about whether she thinks these delays are deliberately politically motivated and why or whether there's any truth in the weather, the security and those more technical aspects," he said.

 Another senior Western diplomat said the Syrian government is "teasing us" by dragging its heels but doing enough to avoid being declared in non-compliance with its obligation to destroy its chemical weapons program.

 The second diplomat added that Russia would never permit the U.N. Security Council to declare Assad's government in non-compliance with its duty to eliminate its poison gas program.

 "The Russians will never accept it," the second diplomat said, adding that Western powers were also reluctant to do anything that could be seen as undermining the Geneva peace talks between Assad's government and the opposition.

 "Our impression is that they (Assad's government) are managing this issue in parallel with the Geneva discussion," he said. "Everything is blocked so they are blocking on the chemical weapons to remind us" of their power on this issue.

 Syria, where civil war has killed well over 100,000 people and forced millions to flee, has blamed delays on security obstacles. It said the mission could not be safely carried out unless it received armored vehicles and communications equipment.

 A source briefed on the situation said: "Yes, it's true there is a war, but have you ever heard of a civil war without security issues? They have all the necessary means they need for transportation. Now they need to start shipping the chemicals out."

 Under a deal agreed by Russia and the United States after the August 21 sarin gas attack, Syria vowed to give up its entire stockpile by mid-2014. The rocket attacks in the outskirts of Damascus killed hundreds, including women and children.

 Eradicating Syria's chemical weapons stockpile, including sarin, mustard gas and VX, requires massive foreign funding and logistical support.

 The bulk of the most toxic substances are to be destroyed on the Cape Ray, a U.S. cargo ship now en route to the Mediterranean that will be loaded with the chemicals at an Italian port. The remainder will go to several commercial waste processing facilities, including in Britain and Germany.

 (Additional reporting by Michelle Nichols in New York; Editing by Giles Elgood and Eric Walsh) ||||| Image copyright AFP Image caption Some 9.5 million people have been displaced since the uprising began in March 2011

 Syrian peace talks being held in Geneva have broken up early amid opposition demands that the government address the question of a transition of power.

 Opposition spokesmen said they wanted the Syrian government to have time to come up with a proposal on the issue.

 The talks are at an impasse over the issue, with division over the future role of President Bashar al-Assad.

 UN mediator Lakhdar Brahimi also said that there had been no breakthrough on getting aid to the city of Homs.

 'Not co-operating'

 Government and opposition delegates held a joint session with Mr Brahimi on Tuesday morning.

 On previous days that has been followed by separate consultations with Mr Brahimi and each of the two delegations in the afternoon, but on Tuesday the opposition delegation said this would not happen.

 "The regime is not co-operating on any subject, not on humanitarian issues and not on a transitional governing body," opposition delegate Rima Fleihan told the AFP agency.

 Media playback is unsupported on your device Media caption UN mediator Lakhdar Brahimi says it is "not easy" to get aid in Homs

 Another opposition delegate, Murhaf Jouejati, told Associated Press the delay would give the government time "to come out with their own vision for a future Syria".

 Addressing a news conference later in the day, Mr Brahimi said: "We have not had any breakthrough but we are still at it and this is good enough as far as I am concerned."

 He said that he had cancelled the meeting "with no request or pressure from either side".

 Mr Brahimi also said that a convoy bearing humanitarian aid was still waiting to enter besieged parts of the city of Homs.

 He said the government had not yet granted permission, adding that "we haven't given up on that".

 The government has offered to allow women and children to leave opposition-held areas, and to grant safe passage to men as well if they receive a list of their names.

 But the opposition has dismissed it as a ruse to displace and arrest its supporters.

 Western diplomats have said that if aid is not allowed in by next week they will draft a resolution at the UN Security Council to put pressure on the government and its ally, Russia.

 Image copyright AFP Image caption Fighting between government and rebel forces is meanwhile raging on in Syria

 Some 2,500 people have been trapped in the Old City of Homs since June 2012, without access to food and medical supplies.

 On Tuesday, the governor of Homs province said a UN official was in contact with rebel fighters in besieged parts of the city to try to get civilians evacuated, while the UN's World Food Programme said it was ready to deliver a month of rations once it got clearance from both sides.

 Opposition delegate in Geneva, Louay Safi, said that the rebel Free Syria Army was prepared to lift a siege on three Shia villages in the north, allegedly being used as bases by the government from which to attack Aleppo, if this came as part of a wider deal to lift sieges across the country.

 'Dialogue of the deaf'

 The third day of face-to-face meetings in Switzerland was said to have broken up after the government's representatives set out a "declaration of basic principles" that did not mention a political transition as demanded by the 2012 Geneva Communique, the basis of the negotiations.

 Government spokeswoman Buthaina Shaaban said the principles included protecting Syria's sovereignty, preserving state institutions and stopping the threat from "terrorist" groups, the designation officials routinely use to describe Mr Assad's opponents.

 The government's proposal also included a condemnation of the US decision to "resume arming terrorist groups in Syria".

 "We were surprised that this basic paper was rejected by the other side," Ms Shaaban said.

 Mr Jouejati said the discussions had ended on a "sour note" after the government delegation became confrontational.

 "We thought there was no point in continuing this since it was going to be a dialogue of the deaf," he said.

 The National Coalition insists the government must agree to the full implementation of the Geneva Communique, which it says means Mr Assad will have no role to play in Syria's future.

 The government says its delegation will not "hand over power to anyone".

 White House spokesman Jay Carney said the US, which organised the negotiations along with the UN and Russia, was "realistic about how difficult this is going to be, but we are completely convinced that this is the only way forward".

 Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov meanwhile called for progress on aid, besieged areas and prisoner exchanges.

 Fighting between government and rebel forces is meanwhile raging on in Syria, with activists saying about 100 people are being killed each day.

 More than 100,000 people have died and another 9.5 million have been displaced since the uprising against President Assad began in 2011. ||||| People stand on a street lined with damaged buildings in the besieged area of Homs January 27, 2014.

 WASHINGTON Light arms supplied by the United States are flowing to "moderate" Syrian rebel factions in the south of the country and U.S. funding for months of further deliveries has been approved by Congress, according U.S. and European security officials.

 The weapons, most of which are moving to non-Islamist Syrian rebels via Jordan, include a variety of small arms, as well as some more powerful weapons, such as anti-tank rockets.

 The deliveries do not include weapons such as shoulder-launched surface-to-air missiles, known as MANPADs, which could shoot down military or civilian aircraft, the officials said.

 The weapons deliveries have been funded by the U.S. Congress, in votes behind closed doors, through the end of government fiscal year 2014, which ends on September 30, two officials said.

 The apparently steady weapons flow contrasts with the situation last summer, when lethal U.S. aid to the Syrian rebels dried up for a time due to congressional reservations.

 Congressional committees held up weapons deliveries for months over fears that U.S. arms would not prove decisive in the rebels' efforts to oust President Bashar Assad and his government and could well end up in the hands of Islamist militants.

 A U.S. official familiar with recent developments said national security officials and members of Congress are more confident that weapons delivered to southern Syria are going to, and remaining in, the hands of moderate rebels rather than militant jihadist factions.

 Congress approved funding for weapons deliveries to the Syrian rebels in classified sections of defense appropriations legislation, two sources familiar with the matter said. It was not clear when the funding was approved, but unclassified defense funding passed Congress in late December.

 Some additional budget tweaks may be necessary to ensure that all the approved funding is fully available for disbursement during the current fiscal year.

 Yet, officials who support providing U.S. arms to the rebels acknowledge that this has not greatly increased U.S. expectations of victory by anti-Assad forces, whether moderate or militant.

 "The Syrian war is a stalemate. The rebels lack the organization and weapons to defeat Assad; the regime lacks the loyal manpower to suppress the rebellion. Both sides' external allies... are ready to supply enough money and arms to fuel the stalemate for the foreseeable future," said Bruce Riedel, a former senior CIA analyst and sometime foreign policy adviser to President Barack Obama.

 Both U.S. and European officials said that "moderate" rebels had recently consolidated their positions in the Syrian south, where they are pushing out elements linked to al-Qaeda. More militant factions remain dominant in the north and east.

 Another recent development favorable to more moderate factions is that Kurdish groups that had been providing weapons and other aid financed by donors in the Gulf state of Qatar indiscriminately to both moderate and religious extremist rebel factions had greatly reduced their involvement in the arms traffic, one of the officials said.

 A White House spokeswoman had no comment. Other U.S. agencies did not respond to requests for comment.

 As for "non-lethal" aid like communications and transportation equipment, the United States hopes to resume deliveries to moderate groups in Syria soon, a U.S. official said on Monday.

 The United States and Britain suspended non-lethal aid to northern Syria in December after reports that Islamist fighters seized Western-backed rebel weapons warehouses, highlighting fears that supplies could end up in hostile hands.

 "We hope to be able to resume assistance to the SMC shortly, pending security and logistics considerations," said the official, referring to the Supreme Military Council moderate rebel group. "But we have no announcements at this time," he said, speaking on condition of anonymity.

 Non-lethal aid was resumed to civilian groups in that region in late December.

 (Additional reporting by Lesley Wroughton; Editing by Dan Grebler) |||||
A summary of this is?

– Geneva talks on Syria's future have been tense—and new US support for rebels isn't helping. On Monday, Reuters reported secret Congressional approval of funding to lightly arm "moderate" Syrian rebels through September. An opposition adviser reported an "outburst" by the Syrian government's lead negotiator, Bashar al-Jaafari, after which the UN's leading mediator called off the day's discussion, the New York Times reports. Talks resumed today, the BBC reports. Syrian officials say the US is backing terrorists—which the US calls "ludicrous"—and that its support for the rebels conflicts with its diplomatic efforts in Switzerland. The Times reports yesterday's afternoon session was axed to give the government time to come up with a transitional blueprint of its own. The BBC adds government reps did share a "declaration of basic principles," but absent from it was any statement on a political transition. And negotiators haven't even been able to achieve the basic goal of suspending fighting in Homs to bring in humanitarian aid. If talks don't move forward soon, the Times notes, Western officials may seek help from the UN Security Council, hoping that an image-conscious Russia won't exercise its veto ahead of the Olympics. Meanwhile, in Syria itself: Various rebel groups—including al-Qaeda-linked extremists—have gotten hold of the lion's share of oil and gas supplies, US officials tell the Times. Extremist groups are actually selling the resources to the government, with some getting electricity or a break from airstrikes as payment, opposition activists say. They're using the resulting cash to support clashes not just with Bashar al-Assad's forces, but with each other. Syria is poised to miss a chemical weapons deadline next week, insiders tell Reuters. By then, the country is supposed to have sent all such weapons abroad to be destroyed. But so far, just 4.1% of some 1,300 metric tons of chemical agents have been sent to the relevant port in Latakia, the sources say.