Lebanese might have to pay to watch World Cup games

BEIRUT: Talks between Beirut and Doha to grant Lebanon’s state-run TV station Tele Liban the right to broadcast the 2014 World Cup have stalled, the chairman of the state-run television station told The Daily Star Sunday.

Talal Makdessi said that no progress has followed the verbal promise made by Qatar to Lebanese officials and diplomats earlier this year that Tele Liban would be able to air the World Cup free of charge.

Qatar’s state owned BeIN, the new name for Al-Jazeera’s sports channel, has distribution rights to the 2014 World Cup. Currently, cable television provider Sama is the only one with the rights to air the World Cup in Lebanon.

In Europe and the United States, The World Cup is regularly shown on basic cable, enabling the masses to enjoy watching the matches. In Lebanon however, Sama is charging a fee of $110 to install their cable box with a subscription that allows viewers to watch all the games.

Despite the lack of progress in talks, Makdessi said he still hoped a deal with Qatar would be reached and added that Tele Liban is technically ready to broadcast the world’s most viewed tournament.

World Cup matches kick off June 12. While Lebanon has never qualified for the World Cup finals tournament, football frenzy hits Lebanon hard every four years as fans hang flags from their balconies and on their cars.

Silicon Valley's interns enjoy perk-filled summer

MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif. -- With summer's arrival comes an influx of thousands of Silicon Valley interns. Well paid and perked, young up-and-comers from around the world who successfully navigate the competitive application process are now being assigned big time responsibility at firms such as Google, Facebook, Dropbox and Twitter.

Silicon Valley tech firms pay their interns more than any other sector in the U.S., according to a Top 25 list of 2014 intern pay by online career website Glassdoor.

Palantir Technologies, a Palo Alto-based cybersecurity firm, topped the list with $7,012 average monthly base pay, but Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook, eBay, Google and Apple, all pay more than $5,000 a month. And that's not counting the perks, which include bikes, buses, massages, swimming pools, dance classes, nap pods, parties and access to their tech heroes.

Krewe of Hercules to take over Houma arena lease

HOUMA, La. -- Terrebonne Parish has handed over the lease of the old Houma Airbase arena to the Krewe of Hercules, which will now manage and oversee the building's renovations.

The Courier reports (http://bit.ly/1pUMjhA ) the building is widely known as the livestock arena because it had been leased for the past decade to the Terrebonne Livestock Association, which will continue to use the building for its rodeos and horse shows.

S.P. Larussa, a founding member of Hercules, says the krewe will oversee $60,000 in renovations, including more than $20,000 in parking lot upgrades, which began last weekend.

According to the agreement, the parish will reimburse the krewe for up to $65,000 in repairs to make the facility more attractive to those who would want to rent it for parties and other activities.

Hezbollah to uphold accord with Church over Lasa: official

BEIRUT: A senior Hezbollah officials said the party would uphold an agreement over disputed land with the Maronite church in the Jbeil village of Lasa, saying last week's controversy was aimed at sowing division between the party and its Christian allies.

"What you have heard from some about Lasa is slander," said Ghaleb Abou Zeinab, a member of Hezbollah's political council, at a ceremony Sunday.

"The issue is an individual case that is being handled legally, and we have informed all those concerned that we remain on our agreement with the Patriarchate," Abou Zeinab said.

On Friday, Mount Lebanon Prosecutor Claude Karam ordered the demolition of an unauthorized building after members of Hezbollah returned to work on a site in Lasa, which falls on a plot of land the Maronite Patriarchate claims to own.

Security sources told The Daily Star at the time that Hezbollah’s local military commander, Yasar Hasan Miqdad, backed by around 50 party members dressed in special uniforms, entered the disputed area late Thursday night and began working, nearly two years after a court ruling banned any construction.

The incident occurred days after a dispute between Hezbollah and the Maronite Patriarch over the latter's recent visit to Jerusalem.

But Abou Zeinab indicated that the dispute was being used politically by Hezbollah's rivals.

"To those who seek out strife, what you are doing will not increase your popularity and this incitement will not help you reach Parliament," he said. " Hezbollah and the Free Patriotic Movement and the people Jbeil and its suburbs will continue co-existing and stay proud in their cooperation."

The long-running dispute over land ownership in Lasa dates back to 2011.

The village has historically been a place of coexistence between Christians and the majority of its Shiite population since the early 19th century.

Disputes over land that was claimed by the Maronite Church as part of its endowment in the village subsided when Maronite Patriarch Beshara Rai sponsored an agreement in 2013 to resurvey the area.

Tracy Morgan, 2 others critical; trucker charged

NEW BRUNSWICK, N.J. -- Actor and comedian Tracy Morgan and two members of his entourage were in critical condition Sunday, a day after a tractor-trailer rammed into his chauffeured limousine bus, setting off a deadly chain-reaction pileup.

The former "Saturday Night Live" and "30 Rock" cast member was returning from a standup show in Delaware early Saturday with six others when the limo bus overturned on the New Jersey Turnpike near Cranberry Township, killing Morgan's mentor and fellow comedian James "Jimmy Mack" McNair. A Wal-Mart truck driver was charged with death by auto and four counts of assault by auto.

Jeffrey Millea, of Shelton, Connecticut, and comedian Ardie Fuqua Jr. were listed in critical condition along with Morgan at Robert Wood Johnson Hospital, hospital spokeswoman Zenaida Mendez said Sunday. Another comedian, Harris Stanton, was treated and released from the hospital Saturday.

The truck driver, 35-year-old Kevin Roper, of Jonesboro, Georgia, apparently failed to slow for traffic ahead and swerved at the last minute to avoid a crash, the Middlesex County Prosecutor's office said.

Instead, the big rig smashed into the back of the Mercedes limo bus, prompting a chain-reaction crash with a second tractor-trailer, an SUV and two cars, authorities said. No one in the other vehicles was injured.

Roper, accompanied by his attorney, turned himself in to state police. He was released on $50,000 bail Saturday night, Wal-Mart spokesman David Tovar said Sunday.

Wal-Mart President Bill Simon said in a statement that the company "will take full responsibility" if authorities determine its truck caused the accident.

The National Transportation Safety Board said it was working with state police to look at any issues in the crash related to commercial trucking and limousine safety.

Morgan's limo was owned by Atlantic Transportation Services, which said it had one employee behind the wheel and a second in the front passenger seat. Neither was injured.

"Although the investigation is still pending, we concur with the preliminary reports that the accident was caused by another vehicle traveling behind the Atlantic limo bus," the Rehoboth Beach, Delaware-based company said.

Fuqua had tweeted that he was opening for Morgan on Friday night at Dover Downs Hotel & Casino in Delaware. On his Instagram page, Fuqua included a collage of photos from the show.

"This is what it looks like from the stage to see a standing ovation from 1500 people," Fuqua wrote at around midnight Friday. "Then we traveled back to NYC in style in a luxury Mercedes Sprinter. Road life is a good life!"

McNair, 62, of Peekskill, New York, was a close friend and mentor to Morgan, Morgan's ex-wife, Sabina Morgan, told the New York Daily News. "He was one of the first comedians that took Tracy under his wing," she said. "They were very close."

Royale Watkins, a Los Angeles-based comedian who said he had performed in New York clubs with Morgan and McNair, described McNair as having a big personality.

"There may be guys like Tracy who get the fame and notoriety, but you have people like Jimmy Mack who have kind of energized and fueled cats like Tracy and kept them going on the road," Watkins said.

Morgan, a New York City native, joined "SNL" in 1996 and left to star in "The Tracy Morgan Show" in 2003. That show lasted just one season. In 2006, Morgan found a long-running role on NBC's hit show "30 Rock," which was created by "SNL" co-star Tina Fey. He received an Emmy nomination for best supporting actor for "30 Rock" in 2009.

Associated Press writer Bob Lentz in Philadelphia contributed to this report.

Louisiana insurer selects vice president

BATON ROUGE, La. -- Louisiana Workers' Compensation Corporation has hired Jeffrey Skaggs as senior vice president of policyholder services and agency relations.

Skaggs has more than 27 years of experience in commercial insurance underwriting, marketing, and management.

Most recently, he was vice president of regional operations for Texas Mutual Insurance Company in Austin.

Skaggs holds a bachelor's degree in government and politics from the University of Texas at Dallas.

Louisiana Workers' Compensation Corporation is a private, nonprofit mutual insurance company. It has more than 17,000 policyholders in Louisiana.

Sponsor Adidas concern at FIFA corruption claims

SAO PAULO, Brazil -- World Cup sponsor Adidas says it is concerned about allegations of corruption at FIFA.

Adidas says in a statement "the negative tenor of the public debate around FIFA at the moment is neither good for football nor for FIFA and its partners."

The World Cup ball provider spoke out following renewed claims of financial wrongdoing linked to Qatari former FIFA board member Mohamed bin Hammam and his country's successful 2022 World Cup hosting bid.

Adidas says it is "confident that the matter is being dealt with as a priority" by FIFA's ethics committee, which is investigating the 2018-2022 hosting contests.

Sponsors rarely comment on FIFA issues, and Adidas is the longest-standing World Cup partner.

Adidas joined FIFA for the 1970 World Cup and recently renewed for four more tournaments through 2030.