Traffic jam as Syrians in Lebanon head to polls

BEIRUT: Polls opened Wednesday for expats to cast their ballots in the Syrian presidential election, causing huge traffic jams around Beirut as voters flocked to the embassy in suburban Yarze.

The most congested roads were in the southern suburbs of Beirut, Sayyad roundabout to the north and Dahr Baidar to the east.

The Central Committee for Syria’s Presidential Elections at the Foreign Ministry had urged expats to head to Syrian embassies in their countries of residence Wednesday between 7 a.m. and 7 p.m. “to practice their constitutional right to choose their president.”

Syrians living inside Syria are due to vote on June 3.

Lloyds bank to float 25 percent of TSB unit

LONDON -- State-backed Lloyds Banking Group Plc says it plans to float 25 percent of its unit TSB, another step forward in its burgeoning recovery.

The group was bailed out during the 2008 financial crisis, and the government holds a 25 percent stake. Lloyds had to sell some 631 branches under European Union rules on state assistance — and spun the branches off into a rejuvenated TSB brand after a deal to sell them to Co-operative Bank collapsed.

The offer is expected to take place next month. Under the terms, each retail investor will be entitled to receive one free share for every 20 shares acquired and held for a year, up to a total of 2,000 pounds ($3,367).

The bank has until 2015 to sell the entire stake.

Crossbows recalled that may shoot unexpectedly

NEW YORK -- About 2,800 crossbows are being recalled because they may fire without the trigger being pulled.

The crossbows were made by Precision Shooting Equipment and affect some of the TAC Elite, TAC Ordnance and Enigma models.

They were sold between June and November last year for between $600 and $1,500 at Bass Pro Shops, Cabela's, Kinsey's Archery and Pape's, as well as online and in catalogs.

The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission says no injuries have been reported, but owners should stop using the crossbows and return them to PSE for repairs.

Customers can call PSE at 800-477-7789 or visit http://bit.ly/1iq3y5o .

PSE is based in Tucson, Arizona. The crossbows were made in the U.S. and China.

---

ONLINE:

CPSC recall information: http://1.usa.gov/1rd6v2G

US stocks move higher after holiday weekend

NEW YORK -- The U.S. stock market is moving higher as traders return from a long holiday weekend.

Investors were encouraged by a report that orders for big-ticket items unexpectedly rose last month and an increase in consumer confidence.

The Standard & Poor's 500 index rose eight points, or 0.4 percent, to 1,908 as of midday Eastern Time Tuesday.

The Dow Jones industrial average rose 64 points, or 0.4 percent, to 16,671. The Nasdaq composite rose 36 points, or 0.9 percent, to 4,222.

U.S. markets were closed Monday for Memorial Day.

Hillshire Brands, the maker of Jimmy Dean breakfast sausage, jumped 22 percent after poultry producer Pilgrim's Pride offered to acquire the company.

The yield on the 10-year Treasury note held steady at 2.53 percent.

Business magnate Branson to speak in Grand Rapids

GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. -- British billionaire Richard Branson is to speak at the annual dinner of the Economic Club of Grand Rapids.

Branson is founder of the Virgin Group, one of the world's most recognized brands.

He's to speak before Economic Club members Tuesday at DeVos Place.

The Grand Rapids Press reports the club also is to present its annual Business Person of the Year and Slykhouse Lifetime Achievement awards at the dinner.

Members are permitted to order up to four tickets each to the event.

WZZM-TV says former keynote speakers include former Presidents George W. Bush and Bill Clinton, U2 lead singer Bono and British Prime Ministers Margaret Thatcher and Tony Blair.

Qatar Airways completes move to new Doha airport

DOHA, Qatar -- Qatar Airways has moved all of its operations to a new multi-billion dollar airport in its capital of Doha.

The Mideast airline says the move to Hamad International Airport marks "a milestone" for the national carrier, which began operations just 17 years ago.

A ceremonial Qatar Airways flight landed in the new airport last month.

Tuesday marks the official move of Qatar Airways to Hamad International, making the airport fully operational. Qatar Airways says passengers on the first flight that touched down were greeted with roses, dates, coffee, chocolate and Qatari flags.

Like the nearby United Arab Emirates, Qatar has invested heavily in its aviation sector in recent years. The airport cost at least $15 billion to build.

President Obama Marvels at Brilliant Minds, Incredible Inventions at White House Science Fair

Watch on YouTube

Today at the White House, President Obama caught basketballs shot off a hand-built catapult, test drove a remote-controlled search-and-rescue robot, and used his hand to activate an auto-retracting bridge made of Legos – all part of his tour of the 2014 White House Science Fair.

This year’s event brought 100 incredible kids from more than 30 states to participate in a day-long showcase of innovative projects, patent-worthy inventions, and potentially life-saving discoveries made by America’s brightest young minds. The student exhibitors included a young researcher making progress to develop an anti-flu vaccine, an engineer who built an electric car and then raced it in a national competition, a group of girl coders who built an app to help their visually impaired classmate, and multiple teens with patents pending on groundbreaking inventions that could one day save lives.

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These Little Boys Will Flex Their Way Into Your Nightmares

Two not-so-little Romanian boys are making a name for themselves as the world’s strongest. Giuliano and Claudio Stroe are freakin’ jacked nine and seven-year-olds who’ve already broken two world records for 90-degree pushups. What do freakin’ jacked celebrity bodybuilder children do when they’re not lifting things up and putting them down? I know what I would do.

Win show-and-tell with nothing but self-tanner and baby oil.

Act as bouncer to the monkey bars.

Play a make-believe game called “Rudy Giuliano,” where I pummel the mafia with Socker Boppers.

Become the Miguel Cabrera of tee ball.

Masquerade as a little person under the moniker "Moldovan Cocktail." Cameo on the WWE as a sinewy jujitsu ninja. Fake injury. Sue.

Kickball the fear of God into whatever playground captain didn’t select me.

Blame all of my raging misbehavior on “Daddy’s super-duper medicine.”

Win red rover always.

Claim my bologna sandwich is blessed with “hero magic” and trade it for other kids’ Gushers and Dunkaroos.

Protect bullying victims for Gushers and Dunkaroos.

Strike an endorsement deal in exchange for unreleased Batman action figures (or Gushers. Or Dunkaroos).

Stop growing by the age of ten.

Jimmy Dean Museum planned for Wayland Baptist

PLAINVIEW, Texas -- Groundbreaking is planned for next month on a museum dedicated to the country singer and sausage mogul Jimmy Dean.

Wayland Baptist University and the Museum of the Llano Estacado will break ground June 24 on the Jimmy Dean Museum addition to the museum on the Wayland campus in Plainview, Dean's hometown.

The Dean family contributed $1 million to the university in 2008 in what is the largest cash gift in school history. The museum will cost about $5 million to complete and will house memorabilia from Jimmy Dean's personal collection. It will depict Dean's life from its most beginnings in northeastern Plainview top his career in music, television and business.

A bronze statue of Dean will be delivered this week and will be moved to the museum entrance.

Bank of America resubmits capital plan to Fed

NEW YORK -- Bank of America is resubmitting its capital plan to the Federal Reserve, a month after it discovered errors in its initial report and was forced to suspend a bigger dividend payout and a stock buyback.

Shares in the bank slumped 4 percent on April 28 when it said that it had made an error in how it how it valued securities obtained in its acquisition of Merrill Lynch during the financial crisis in 2009.

The bank said Tuesday that changes will lead to less than a one-basis point reduction in reported capital ratios for the period ended Sept. 30, 2013, and will have no effect for the period ended March 31 of this year.

Shares in the Charlotte, North Carolina, bank are up almost 2 percent before the opening bell.

Judge recommends 3-year-sentence for Lebanon businessman

BEIRUT: Investigative Judge Ghassan Oueidat Tuesday recommended a three-year sentence for a prominent Druze businessman on charges of fraud and breach of trust.

The judge found Bahij Abu Hamzeh innocent on charges of forging documents and using such documents and impersonation, a judicial source told The Daily Star.

The charges were based on a lawsuit filed by Progressive Socialist Party leader MP Walid Jumblatt and Safa football team, which is sponsored by the Druze leader.

The lawsuits filed by the football ball team accuse Abu Hamzeh of a breach of trust and embezzlement. Jumblatt, however, accuses him and Hussein Bdeir, a Shiite businessman, of selling him a piece of land that did not actually exist.

Abu Hamzeh, who has served as the head of Safa’s board of trustees, ran the PSP chief’s real estate endeavors and managed his private properties and was he former head of the Association of Oil Importing Companies.

Ties between Abu Hamzeh and Jumblatt deteriorated in recent months, with the Druze leader relieving Abu Hamzeh of his duties after around 30 years of service. Abu Hamzeh also recently resigned from his post as the head of Safa’s board of trustees.

In his decision, Oueidat said Abu Hamzeh, the husband of a popular talk show host, deposited $5million belonging to the football team in his personal account.

He also referred the case to a criminal judge in Beirut for trial.

Presidential decree calls on Parliament to open legislative round

BEIRUT: Parliament’s General Secretariat Tuesday received a presidential decree signed by former President Michel Sleiman, calling on the legislative branch to hold an extraordinary round of sessions for a little over four months.

Sleiman announced he would sign such a decree before the end of his six-year term on May 25, arguing that the move would force Parliament to discuss and approve a new electoral law before the parliamentary elections scheduled in November.

The decree, No. 11996, calls on Parliament to open a round of legislation starting June 2, 2014, and running to Oct. 20, 2014, to study state budgets referred from previous Cabinets and future ones as well as outstanding draft laws and potential future ones.

It also stipulates that Parliament will discuss other draft laws that the branch deems necessary.

In his farewell speech, Sleiman said that he would sign a decree that calls on Parliament to hold an extraordinary session to address a new draft law for the parliamentary elections set for November and the controversial salary scale draft law.

“I will sign today a decree to call on Parliament to hold an exceptional session as the country is facing parliamentary elections, which requires setting a new electoral law,” Sleiman said. “The general situation might also witness urgent issues, and our political system requires Parliament to hold a session to question the Cabinet."

Lawmakers struggled last year to approve a new electoral law for the parliamentary elections that were scheduled for May. The failure to agree on an election law prompted the MPs to extend their own mandate for an additional 17 months.

Bombing cases referred to Judicial Council

BEIRUT: Military Prosecutor Judge Saqr Saqr Tuesday referred the cases of recent bombings in the country to the Judicial Council, as per a Cabinet decree.

Sakr asked judges overseeing cases of bombings that have taken place since June of last year to hand over their files to him. The military prosecutor is expected to refer the cases to the state prosecutor's office.

The Cabinet has agreed to transfer the bombing cases from the military's judicial system to the civilian Judicial Council, which will, along with Justice Minister Ashraf Rifi, appoint judicial investigators and other judges to preside over the cases.

Hariri attends reception held by Saudi King

BEIRUT: Former Prime Minister Saad Hariri attended Monday a reception ceremony hosted by Saudi King Abdullah Bin Abdul-Aziz in Casablanca, Morocco, a statement from Hariri’s office said Tuesday.

The reception was held at the Saudi king’s Casablanca residence to honor Moroccan King Mohammed VI, the statement said.

The ceremony was attended by senior Saudi and Moroccan officials, it added.

Lloyds bank to float 25 percent of TSB unit

LONDON -- State-backed Lloyds Banking Group Plc says it plans to float 25 percent of its unit TSB, another step forward in its burgeoning recovery.

The group was bailed out during the 2008 financial crisis, and the government holds a 25 percent stake. Lloyds had to sell some 631 branches under European Union rules on state assistance — and spun the branches off into a rejuvenated TSB brand after a deal to sell them to Co-operative Bank collapsed.

The offer is expected to take place next month. Under the terms, each retail investor will be entitled to receive one free share for every 20 shares acquired and held for a year, up to a total of 2,000 pounds ($3,367).

The bank has until 2015 to sell the entire stake.

CEO pay: biggest raises and biggest cuts of 2013

NEW YORK -- Here's a look at the CEOs who received the biggest raises and the biggest pay cuts in 2013 compared with 2012, as calculated by the executive pay research firm Equilar and The Associated Press.

Whose pay rose the most:

1. Rodney Sacks, Monster Beverage, $6.2 million, up 679 percent

2. Stephen Kaufer, TripAdvisor, $39 million, up 510 percent

3. Sandeep Mathrani, General Growth Properties, $22.1 million, up 424 percent

4. Richard Adkerson, Freeport McMoRan Copper & Gold, $55.3 million, up 294 percent

5. Jeffrey Immelt, General Electric, $19.2 million, up 264 percent

Whose pay fell the most:

1. Willard Oberton, Fastenal, $794,761, down 79 percent

2. Warren Buffett, Berkshire Hathaway, $485,606, down 77 percent(asterisk)

3. Michael Duke, Wal-Mart, $5.6 million, down 73 percent

4. John Richels, Devon Energy, $3.7 million, down 71 percent

5. Mark Zuckerberg, Facebook, $653,165, down 67 percent(asterisk)

(asterisk)Both Zuckerberg and Buffett own large parts of their respective companies, and the vast majority of their wealth comes from their ownership stakes, not their salaries as CEOs. Zuckerberg, in particular, elected to take a symbolic $1 salary in 2013, down from $503,205 in 2012. Buffett for many years has had one of the lowest base salaries of the S&P 500 CEOs, at $100,000.

Officials to share blight survey, recommendations

DETROIT -- The Detroit Blight Removal Task Force plans to share details of a comprehensive survey and recommendations to deal with abandoned structures and vacant lots.

Business, government and nonprofit leaders gather Tuesday morning at Focus: HOPE's Center for Advanced Technologies to release findings from months of research.

Presenters include Detroit businessman and Quicken Loans founder Dan Gilbert and Detroit Public Schools Foundation President Glenda Price. Detroit Mayor Mike Duggan and state-appointed Emergency Manager Kevyn Orr also are expected to participate.

One highlight is the Motor City Mapping project, which surveyed the entire city. Teams covered about 380,000 parcels to get a clear picture of the city's blight.

The work is part of efforts announced last year by the Obama administration to help Detroit, which is undergoing the nation's largest municipal bankruptcy.

New safety requirements set for Keystone pipeline

WASHINGTON -- Safety regulators have quietly placed two extra conditions on construction of TransCanada Corp.'s Keystone XL oil pipeline after learning of potentially dangerous construction defects involving the southern leg of the Canada-to-Texas project.

The defects — high rates of bad welds, dented pipe and damaged pipeline coating — have been fixed. But the federal Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration wants to make sure similar problems don't occur during construction of the pipeline's controversial northern segment, which is on hold pending a decision by the Obama administration.

One condition requires TransCanada to hire a third-party contractor chosen by the pipeline safety agency to monitor the construction and make reports to the safety administration on whether the work is sound.

The second requires TransCanada to adopt a quality management program to ensure "this pipeline is — from the beginning — built to the highest standards by both Keystone personnel and its many contractors."

The conditions are buried near the end of the 26 appendices in a voluminous environmental impact statement on Keystone XL released by the State Department on Jan. 31.

Most of Appendix Z is devoted to 57 well-known "special conditions" that TransCanada agreed to three years ago. But conditions 58 and 59 are listed on an additional page.

"Everybody looked at that appendix and said, 'Oh, 57 conditions. Move on.' Well, there are a couple more there," energy analyst Kevin Book said. "They just added them without saying anything."

The new conditions were added four months after the pipeline safety agency sent TransCanada two warning letters last year about defects and other construction problems on the Keystone Gulf Coast Pipeline, which extends from Oklahoma to the Texas Gulf Coast.

"From the start of welding, TransCanada experienced a high weld rejection rate," said one letter dated Sept. 26. Over 72 percent of welds required repairs during one week. In another week, TransCanada stopped welding work after 205 of 425 welds required repair.

Inspections by the safety agency found TransCanada wasn't using approved welding procedures to connect pipes, the letter said. The company had hired welders who weren't qualified to work on the project because TransCanada used improper procedures to test them, the letter said. In order to qualify to work on a pipeline, welders must have recent experience using approved welding procedures and pass a test of their work.

The weld failure rates are "horrible," said Robert Bea, professor emeritus of civil and environmental engineering at the University of California, Berkeley. "The level of defects is indeed cause for alarm and indicative of something that is going on in the Keystone organization that isn't satisfactory."

In high-risk projects such as nuclear submarines or nuclear power plants, even one-tenth of a percent rate of bad welds would be cause for deep concern, Bea said. He is a certified welder and was an expert consultant on the construction of the trans-Alaska pipeline in the 1970s.

"In this case, you are talking about a pipeline that has requirements on its performance that rival those of a nuclear power plant," he said.

Another letter, dated Sept. 10, said a government inspector witnessed TransCanada officials investigating dents in pipeline that had been laid without first sufficiently clearing rock from trenches or from soil used as backfill. The same letter said coating that protects pipeline from corrosion was damaged by weld splatter because a contractor hadn't followed the company's welding procedures. Eventually, pipeline was excavated in 98 places to make coating repairs.

Dents and damaged coatings are serious defects because they can weaken pipes and lead to failures, Bea said.

Davis Sheremata, a spokesman for TransCanada, cautioned against drawing a connection between construction problems found on the southern leg between Cushing, Oklahoma, and Nederland, Texas, and conditions placed on the northern leg, which will extend from Alberta, Canada, to Nebraska's southeast corner. The southern leg's problems are "a separate matter," he said in an email.

"TransCanada had identified and addressed these issues prior to any product being introduced into the pipeline and reported them voluntarily" to the government, Sheremata said. "The fact that the anomalies on the exterior of the pipe were discovered in the first place is a direct result of the 57 special safety conditions we agreed to implement on this project and Keystone XL, many of which are not required by regulation but are standard practice on all TransCanada pipeline construction projects."

But Book said the timing "would seem to suggest (the pipeline safety agency) was uncomfortable with the construction of Keystone south and that was part of their reasoning" for imposing additional conditions on the northern leg.

Damon Hill, a spokesman for the pipeline safety agency, said the additional conditions were the result of "observations in the field during construction projects from several pipeline operators over the past few years," as well as the agency's general knowledge and experience.

Keystone is intended to transport oil from Canadian tar sands to oil refineries on the Gulf Coast. Supporters say the pipeline will create thousands of jobs and aid energy independence. Environmentalists warn of possible spills and say tar sands oil is especially "dirty" and will contribute to global warming.

The project has become a major flashpoint alongside the larger debate over carbon emissions, drilling policies and tax breaks for energy companies.

The administration said in April it was putting off its decision on whether to approve the pipeline indefinitely. A decision now isn't expected until after the November elections.

Knockoffs a headache for IPO-bound Alibaba

HONG KONG -- At first glance, the Monster Tron T1 headphones sold on Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba's Taobao site are a tempting offer for audiophiles looking for state-of-the-art hi-fi equipment.

But sellers omit one key detail: Monster Inc. never produced this model.

"There should be none in existence but our prototypes," said Dave Tognotti, general manager of the California company best known for its audio-visual cables. He said Monster went so far as to announce a launch date but the design proved too complex to build to the company's quality specifications, so it was abandoned.

"You can understand our surprise when we started to see counterfeit versions of this product appearing on websites like Alibaba.com, Aliexpress.com, 1688.com, and Taobao.com," he said. All four sites are part of Alibaba Group. Tognotti said that 99.5 percent of purported Monster products sold on Alibaba sites are fakes, based on thousands of listings the company's investigators have examined over the years.

Phony headphones and other knockoffs are a persistent problem for Alibaba that has grown more urgent since the company started working on a blockbuster initial public offering of shares in the United States. Analysts say the IPO could raise up to $15 billion.

Founder and Chairman Jack Ma has called theft of intellectual property a "cancer" on society and Alibaba has stepped up efforts to root out fakes that dent its credibility with consumers, but there are still complaints.

"To ask for $15 billion to move Alibaba forward is going to open the floodgates on counterfeits," said Craig Crosby, publisher of the Counterfeit Report, a website that flags pirated products sold online.

Alibaba spends more than $16 million dollars a year on anti-counterfeiting efforts. Taobao has 200 staff working on copyright infringement, brand protection and quality control. According to the company's blog, it took down 114 million listings of fake or counterfeit products in the first 10 months of 2013, nearly a third more than for all of 2012.

For such efforts, the U.S. Trade Representative removed Taobao in December 2012 from its Notorious Markets list of counterfeit goods. The report urged Taobao, which has about 800 million listings and requires just a Chinese ID card to start selling, to further streamline procedures to reduce the time needed to take down listings.

Counterfeits are not limited to Alibaba. EBay said in its latest annual report that it faces lawsuits or the threat of lawsuits from brand owners over alleged listings of counterfeit items.

Many hope a U.S. stock listing will give Alibaba the resources and motivation to step up enforcement.

"I'm excited for the IPO because I feel like it will level the playing field," said Nick Wester, founder of The Mainland Group, which sniffs out knockoff products sold online on behalf of brand owners. "As Alibaba moves into the same playing field as Amazon and eBay, they'll have to be responsible and accountable and show that they're taking that responsibility seriously."

Wester's Las Vegas-based company uses image recognition and keyword software to search sites for counterfeits. There are also six Chinese-speaking employees, including two in Beijing, who look for clues that a product is faked, such as using Chinese characters that mimic the sound of a brand name in English.

He said the company has gotten better at responding to complaints, although foreign brand owners still feel like it's the "Wild West."

Alibaba declined to comment, citing requirements to not selectively release information ahead of its initial public offering.

It outlined in its preliminary prospectus the steps it takes to reduce knockoffs, including a complaint system for brand owners and random checks by outside investigators. Violators are given demerit points and if they're penalized four times in a year, they're kicked off. Sellers on TMall, Alibaba's virtual storefront for brands, found to be selling phony goods will have their hefty security deposits seized.

In August, Alibaba agreed to work with the International AntiCounterfeiting Coalition on identifying copycats and fakes on its sites and to cooperate with law enforcement on follow-up investigations. Taobao has signed similar agreements with Louis Vuitton and the Motion Picture Association.

And it is suggesting to brands that they set up shop on Tmall so that they become the clearly authentic seller of their products, a strategy that worked with guitar string maker D'Addario.

But some companies still complain Alibaba isn't doing enough to crack down.

Golf equipment maker Acushnet has seen a "significant increase" in pirated clubs, balls, shoes and clothing bearing its Titleist and FJ brands appearing on Taobao in the past five years, said Jason Yao, the company's Asia Pacific legal counsel. While complaints to eBay usually result in listings removed within 24 hours, it sometimes takes weeks for the site to react "because the complaints often get rejected by their system automatically," he said.

Monster's Tognotti said the company has 12 staff on its anti-counterfeiting team and also uses monitoring software that crawls the Internet looking for suspected knockoffs, which it buys to verify their authenticity or otherwise.

It started reaching out to Alibaba in early 2009 after seeing fakes on the Chinese company's websites and has asked it to take down thousands of listings.

"We have received no cooperation from Alibaba to resolve this matter," Tognotti said.

ISF arrests two for impersonating Red Cross volunteers

BEIRUT: The Internal Security Forces' Information Branch arrested two people for impersonating Red Cross volunteer to carry out scams in Zouk Mosbeh, Kesrouan, a police report Tuesday said.

The two men pretended to be paramedics with the Red Cross to collect donations, the report said.

The police confiscated the money collected by the two men, it added.

The two were identified by their initials, M.Q. and M.M.

Senatobia furniture factory to close

JACKSON, Miss. -- A furniture factory that was once had more than 1,000 employees in Senatobia is closing.

Chromcraft Revington laid off as many as 200 employees earlier this month, leaving the furniture maker and distributor with about 30 employees to wind down its operations.

E.E. Wang, a spokeswoman for the company, said that the company's primary lender demanded repayment of its loans, sparking the shutdown. She says Chromcraft Revington plans to fulfill current orders and repay its creditors as much as possible.

The company was bought last year by Sport-Haley Holdings, which sells woman's golf clothing. Sport-Haley, in turn, is controlled by North & Webster LLC, a Massachusetts-based investment group.

Wang says Chromcraft Revington has not filed for bankruptcy. She says the company is examining all options, including a potential sale.

Business magnate Branson to speak in Grand Rapids

GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. -- British billionaire Richard Branson is to speak at the annual dinner of the Economic Club of Grand Rapids.

Branson is founder of the Virgin Group, one of the world's most recognized brands.

He's to speak before Economic Club members Tuesday at DeVos Place.

The Grand Rapids Press reports the club also is to present its annual Business Person of the Year and Slykhouse Lifetime Achievement awards at the dinner.

Members are permitted to order up to four tickets each to the event.

WZZM-TV says former keynote speakers include former Presidents George W. Bush and Bill Clinton, U2 lead singer Bono and British Prime Ministers Margaret Thatcher and Tony Blair.

Union's demands sidelined by presidential stalemate

BEIRUT: Civil servants returned to the streets Tuesday as their fight for a wage hike was delivered a fresh blow with many Christian MPs boycotting Parliament over the presidential stalemate.

Speaker Nabih Berri adjourned Tuesday's scheduled Parliament session over the modified salary scale until June 10.

The civil servants' protest was scheduled to take place in parallel with a Parliament session over the modified salary scale. The session, however, did not convene due to a lack of quorum.

Christian lawmakers are boycotting Parliament over the failure to elect a successor to Michel Sleiman, who left office Sunday, arguing that Parliament cannot legislate in light of a presidential void.

The sources said that March 14 MPs, mainly the Future bloc, also boycotted the session in solidarity with the Christian lawmakers.

The sources added that the boycotting lawmakers also argued that a consensus on the salary scale should be reached before Parliament convened. If there were a prior agreement, the salary scale could be endorsed in one hour, they said.

A parliamentary committee formed to study the controversial salary scale issue earlier this month reduced the total funding from LL2.8 trillion ($1.9 billion) to LL1.8 trillion.

The March 8 and March 14 camps are divided on a value added tax increase proposed by the committee. It proposed raising the VAT to 11 percent and customs by 1 percent, saying that the increases should generate revenues of LL623 billion annually. The March 8

Hanna Gharib, the head of the Union Coordination Committee, slammed lawmakers for their continued failure to endorse the salary increase.

“What happened today is a boycott to the poverty and pain of people. The interests of civil servants cannot be boycotted; the government employees are the state,” Gharib said outside Parliament.

He accused Parliament of trying to corner and obstruct the employees but vowed to stand firm on the civil servants’ demands.

“They said they would not meet unless they agree on the numbers and the means to fund the salary scale,” he said. “This is only an alibi.”

“You should get it very well,” he said, addressing lawmakers. “We want our full rights and the 121 percent increase.”

“We haven’t been taking down the streets for three years to play; we will not back off.”

The rally was accompanied by a strike of public sector employees as well as public school teachers, leaving most government offices nonoperational.

Civil servants have been holding protests off and on for nearly three years, demanding a 121 percent salary increase. The protests are being organized by the UCC.

The private sector, represented by the Economic Committees, has rallied against the adoption of the salary scale, warning that it will burden an already struggling economy.

Top 50 highest-paid CEOs

NEW YORK -- Here are the 50 highest-paid CEOs of 2013, as calculated by The Associated Press and Equilar, an executive pay research firm:

1. Anthony Petrello, Nabors Industries, $68.2 million, up 246 percent

2. Leslie Moonves, CBS, $65.6 million, up 9 percent

3. Richard Adkerson, Freeport-McMoRan Copper & Gold, $55.3 million, up 294 percent

4. Stephen Kaufer, TripAdvisor, $39 million, up 510 percent

5. Philippe Dauman, Viacom, $37.2 million, up 11 percent

6. Leonard Schleifer, Regeneron Pharmaceuticals, $36.3 million, up 21 percent

7. Robert Iger, Walt Disney, $34.3 million, up 46 percent.

8. David Zaslav, Discovery Communications, $33.3 million, down 33 percent

9. Jeffrey Bewkes, Time Warner, $32.5 million, up 27 percent

10. Brian Roberts, Comcast, $31.4 million, up 8 percent

11. Mark Bertolini, Aetna, $30.7 million, up 132 percent

12. Rex Tillerson, ExxonMobil, $28.1 million, up 3 percent

13. Brian Goldner, Hasbro, $27.4 million, up 188 percent

14. David Cote, Honeywell International, $26 million, up 63 percent

15. Steve Ells, Chipotle Mexican Grill co-CEO, $25.1 million, up 27 percent

16. Montgomery Moran, Chipotle Mexican Grill co-CEO, $24.4 million, up 27 percent

17. James McNerney, Boeing, $23.3 million, up 50 percent

18. Alan Mulally, Ford Motor Co., $23.2 million, up 32 percent

19. Alexander Cutler, Eaton, $23.1 million, up 24 percent

20. Laurence Fink, BlackRock, $22.9 million, up 13 percent

21. Larry Merlo, CVS Caremark, $22.9 million, up 59 percent

22. Trevor Fetter, Tenet Healthcare, $22.7 million, up 180 percent

23. Sandeep Mathrani, General Growth Properties, $22.1 million, up 424 percent

24. Paal Kibsgaard, Schlumberger, $22 million, up 30 percent

25. Kenneth Chenault, American Express, $21.7 million, down 15 percent

26. Brian Jellison, Roper Industries, $21.4 million, up 18 percent

27. David Nelms, Discover Financial Services, $21.2 million, up 113 percent

28. Robert Hugin, Celgene, $21 million, up 99 percent

29. Miles White, Abbott Laboratories, $20.9 million, up 34 percent

30. David Lesar, Halliburton, $20.9 million, up 20 percent

31. Lamberto Andreotti, Bristol-Myers Squibb, $20.8 million, up 29 percent

32. Randall Stephenson, AT&T, $20.7 million, up 10 percent

33. Carol Meyrowitz, TJX Companies, $20.7 million, up 9 percent

34. Andrew Liveris, Dow Chemical, $20.5 million, up 21 percent

35. Paul Jacobs, Qualcomm, $20.4 million, up 2 percent(asterisk)

36. John Watson, Chevron, $20.2 million, down 9 percent

37. Lloyd Blankfein, Goldman Sachs, $19.9 million, up 162 percent

38. Lawrence Culp, Danaher, $19.7 million, down 11 percent

39. Stephen Wynn, Wynn Resorts, $19.6 million, up 10 percent

40. David Calhoun, Nielsen Holdings, $19.5 million, up 40 percent(asterisk)(asterisk)

41. James Cracchiolo, Ameriprise Financial, $19.4 million, up 20 percent

42. John Stumpf, Wells Fargo, $19.3 million, up 4 percent

43. Jeffrey Immelt, General Electric, $19.2 million, up 264 percent

44. George Chapman, Health Care REIT, $18.9 million, up 73 percent(asterisk)(asterisk)(asterisk)

45. Glenn Murphy, GAP, $18.7 million, down 24 percent

46. Robert Niblock, Lowe's Companies, $18.7 million, up 54 percent

47. Richard Kramer, Goodyear Tire & Rubber, $18.7 million, up 178 percent

48. Richard Fairbank, Capital One Financial, $18.3 million, down 19 percent

49. Louis Chenevert, United Technologies, $18.2 million, up 4 percent

50. Ahmet Kent, Coca-Cola Co., $18.2 million, down 21 percent

(asterisk) Jacobs stepped down as CEO on December 13, 2014.

(asterisk)(asterisk) Calhoun stepped down as CEO on January 1, 2014.

(asterisk)(asterisk)(asterisk) Chapman retired April 14, 2014.

Google, lawmakers to help businesses get online

NORWALK, Conn. -- Google Inc. and two Connecticut lawmakers are helping businesses get a presence online.

The technology giant and U.S. Sen. Chris Murphy and U.S. Rep. Jim Himes say they will bring a business online program to Norwalk on Tuesday. It's intended to help Connecticut business owners create free websites and use other services.

Google is partnering with StartLogic, a web design site, to provide its product for free.

For the next year, participating Connecticut businesses can go to http://bit.ly/1ptG4kA to get a free website and free tools, training and resources to help their business succeed online.

The event will begin at 1 p.m. at Dolce Norwalk.

CEO Pay: Healthy pay for health care CEOs

NEW YORK -- Here's a look at median CEO pay by industry last year, as calculated by executive pay research firm Equilar and The Associated Press. For the fifth time in six years, health care CEOs got the most pay while CEOs at utility companies got the least.

—Health care: $12.3 million, up 3 percent

—Financial: $12 million, up 22 percent

—Industrial goods: $10.8 million, up 9 percent

—Basic materials: $10.5 million, up 10 percent

—All companies: $10.5 million, up 9 percent

—Consumer goods: $10.3 million, up 7 percent

—Technology: $10.2 million, up 9 percent

—Services: $10.2 million, down 6 percent

—Utilities: $7.9 million, up 3 percent.

Median CEO pay crosses $10 million in 2013

NEW YORK -- They're the $10 million dollar men and women.

Propelled by a soaring stock market, the median pay package for a CEO rose above eight figures for the first time last year. The head of a typical large public company earned a record $10.5 million, an increase of 8.8 percent from $9.6 million in 2012, according to an Associated Press/Equilar pay study.

Last year was the fourth straight that CEO compensation rose following a decline during the Great Recession. The median CEO pay package climbed more than 50 percent over that stretch. A chief executive now makes about 257 times the average worker's salary, up sharply from 181 times in 2009.

The best paid CEO last year led an oilfield-services company. The highest paid female CEO was Carol Meyrowitz of discount retail giant TJX, owner of TJ Maxx and Marshall's. And the head of Monster Beverage got a monster of a raise.

Over the last several years, companies' boards of directors have tweaked executive compensation to answer critics' calls for CEO pay to be more attuned to performance. They've cut back on stock options and cash bonuses, which were criticized for rewarding executives even when a company did poorly. Boards of directors have placed more emphasis on paying CEOs in stock instead of cash and stock options.

The change became a boon for CEOs last year because of a surge in stocks that drove the Standard & Poor's 500 index up 30 percent. The stock component of pay packages rose 17 percent to $4.5 million.

"Companies have been happy with their CEOs' performance and the stock market has provided a big boost," says Gary Hewitt, director of research at GMI Ratings, a corporate governance research firm. "But we are still dealing with a situation where CEO compensation has spun out of control and CEOs are being paid extraordinary levels for their work."

The highest paid CEO was Anthony Petrello of oilfield-services company Nabors Industries, who made $68.3 million in 2013. Petrello's pay ballooned as a result of a $60 million lump sum that the company paid him to buy out his old contract.

Nabors Industries did not respond to calls from The Associated Press seeking comment.

Petrello was one of a handful of chief executives who received a one-time boost in pay because boards of directors decided to re-negotiate CEO contracts under pressure from shareholders. Freeport-McMoRan Copper & Gold CEO Richard Adkerson also received a one-time payment of $36.7 million to renegotiate his contract. His total pay, $55.3 million, made him the third-highest paid CEO last year.

The second-highest paid CEO among companies in the S&P 500 was Leslie Moonves of CBS. Moonves' total compensation rose 9 percent to $65.6 million in 2013, a year when the company's stock rose nearly 70 percent.

"CBS's share appreciation was not only the highest among major media companies, it was near the top of the entire S&P 500," CBS said in a statement. "Mr. Moonves' compensation is reflective of his continued strong leadership."

Media industry CEOs were, once again, paid handsomely. Viacom's Philippe Dauman made $37.2 million while Walt Disney's Robert Iger made $34.3 million. Time Warner CEO Jeffrey Bewkes earned $32.5 million.

The industry with the biggest pay bump was banking. The median pay of a Wall Street CEO rose by 22 percent last year, on top of a 22 percent increase the year before. BlackRock chief Larry Fink made the most, $22.9 million. Kenneth Chenault of American Express ranked second with earnings of $21.7 million.

Like stock compensation, performance cash bonuses jumped last year as a result of the surging stock market and higher corporate profits. Earnings per share of the S&P 500 rose 5.3 percent in 2013, according to FactSet. That resulted in an average cash bonus of $1.9 million, a jump of 12.9 percent from the prior year.

More than two-thirds of CEOs at S&P 500 companies received a raise last year, according to the AP/Equilar study, because of the bigger profits and higher stock prices.

CEO pay remains a divisive issue in the U.S. Large investors and boards of directors argue that they need to offer big pay packages to attract talented men and women who can run multibillion-dollar businesses.

"If you have a good CEO at a company, the wealth he might generate for shareholders could be in the billions," says Dan Mitchell, a senior fellow at the Cato Institute, a libertarian think tank. "It might be worth paying these guys millions for doing this type of work."

CEOs are still getting much bigger raises than the average U.S. worker.

The 8.8 percent increase in total pay that CEOs got last year dwarfed the average raise U.S. workers received. The Bureau of Labor Statistics said average weekly wages for U.S. workers rose 1.3 percent in 2013. At that rate an employee would have to work 257 years to make what a typical S&P 500 CEO makes in a year.

"There's this unbalanced approach, where there's all this energy put into how to reward executives, but little energy being put into ensuring the rest of the workforce is engaged, productive and paid appropriately," says Richard Clayton, research director at Change to Win Investment Group, which works with labor union-affiliated pension funds.

Investors have become increasingly vocal about executive pay since the recession. This has led to an increasing number of public spats between boards of directors, who propose pay packages, and shareholders, who own the company. These fights become public during "say on pay" votes, when shareholders have an opportunity to show they approve or don't approve of pay packages. Votes are non-binding, but companies sometimes act when there is clear disapproval from shareholders.

Petrello was the best-paid CEO largely because the board of directors of Nabors Industries' wanted to end his previous contract. Under that contract, Petrello could have been owed huge cash bonuses, and the company could have paid out tens of millions of dollars if he were to die or become disabled. The board changed his contract following "say on pay" votes in 2012 and 2013 that showed shareholders were unhappy with how Nabors paid its executives.

There have been other signs of shareholder concern about CEO pay. This month, 75 percent of Chipotle Mexican Grill shareholders voted against a proposed pay package for co-CEOs Steve Ells and Montgomery Moran. Ells earned $25.1 million in 2013 while Moran earned $24.3 million, a 27 percent rise in compensation for each. Chipotle spent $49.5 million on CEO pay last year, the fourth highest in the S&P 500.

"Companies are now taking the time to think through their pay practices and are talking more with shareholders," says Hewitt of GMI Ratings. "There's still a long way to go but pay practices are getting better."

To calculate a CEO's pay package, the AP and Equilar looked at salary as well as perks, bonuses and stock and option awards, using the regulatory filings that companies file each year. Equilar looked at data from 337 companies that had filed their proxies by April 30. It includes CEOs who have been at the company for two years.

One prominent name not included in the data was Oracle CEO Larry Ellison, who is typically one of the best paid CEOs in the country.

Oracle files its salary paperwork later in the year, so Ellison was excluded in the 2013 survey data. He was awarded $76.9 million in stock options for Oracle's fiscal year ending May 2013, according to proxy filings.

Among other findings:

— Female CEOs had a median pay package worth more than their male counterparts, $11.7 million versus $10.5 million for males. However, there were only 12 female CEOs in the AP/Equilar study compared with 325 male CEOs that were polled.

— The CEO who got the biggest bump in compensation from 2012 to 2013 was Rodney Sacks, the CEO of Monster Beverage. Sacks earned $6.22 million last year, an increase of 679 percent. Monster's board of directors awarded Sacks $5.3 million in stock options to supplement his $550,000 salary and $300,000 cash bonus.

Syrian wounded in border landmine blast

BERIUT: A Syrian man trying to cross into Lebanon was wounded Tuesday in a land mine blast at the northern border, security sources told The Daily Star.

Abdullah K. A. was trying to enter Lebanon through an illegal border crossing on the outskirts of the Akkar villages Dababiyeh and Al-Noura when the land mine exploded, the sources said.

He was transferred to Halba Hospital, where he remains in critical condition, they added.

The incident comes a day after a shell fell in the outskirts of Al-Noura, but no casualties were reported.

Hezbollah suspect in Harb case killed in Syria: reports

BEIRUT: A Hezbollah suspect indicted in the attempted assassination of Telecom Minister Boutros Harb was killed in Syria, media reports said.

The reports said Mahmoud Hayek, wanted by the Lebanese authorities, was killed while fighting alongside Assad regime troops in war-torn Syria.

Harb told a local television channel that he had not received official information confirming Hayek’s death.

Hayek, who hails from the Nabatieh village of Adchit, was indicted in February 2013 for attempting to kill Harb, but his whereabouts remained unknown.

He was also charged with carrying out acts of terror after planting a bomb in the elevator of the building that houses Harb’s office in Beirut's Badaro neighborhood.

Hezbollah refused to hand over Hayek after he was implicated in the case.

Russian clubs join forces over financial fair play

MOSCOW -- Russia's top football clubs have joined forces to cut costs after three teams were punished for breaking UEFA's financial fair play rules.

Russia's Zenit St. Petersburg, which was fined $16.4 million, Rubin Kazan and Anzhi Makhachkala were among nine European clubs sanctioned by UEFA this month.

Most leading Russian clubs are backed by state-owned companies and earn relatively little from TV rights or ticket sales.

"We decided to work collectively to solve this issue," Roman Babaev, director general of Russian champion CSKA Moscow, was quoted as saying by the RIA Novosti agency Monday.

"We're working on a strategy which will be aimed at ... increasing earnings and cutting expenditure."

The FFP rules aim to stop clubs making large losses in pursuit of European success.