The biggest bang for shopping bucks

Research finds BHP Billiton boss Marius Kloppers is the nation's highest-paid CEO, earning $11.8m last year.

Aquila Resources executive chairman Tony Poli. Source:Supplied

THE country's top 10 bosses earned almost $90 million last year, while the founder and executive chairman of a lowly miner received almost $170 million as its share price soared.

Aquila Resources' Tony Poli, who has an annual salary of $572,000, scored a mammoth $169.9 million pay packet, driven by share options granted in 2005 which rose to almost 14 times their original worth during 2011.

And almost 90 per cent of Australia's top 200 chief executives received bonus payments in 2011, despite falling profitability and widespread job cuts.

A new report from the Australian Council of Superannuation Investors shows executive pay is still rising but the rate of growth is slowing as board's lower bonuses to try and meet shareholder

The average bonus in 2011 dropped to $1.25 million its lowest level since 2004.

But angry shareholders are expected to use the coming AGM season to increase the pressure to directly link long-term bonuses to shareholder returns as part of a campaign to put greater scrutiny on fat cat wages as profits slip.

The ACSI report shows the biggest bonus was $3.3 million paid to Commonwealth Bank's outgoing boss Ralph Norris.

BHP Billiton chief executive Marius Kloppers was the top earner at more than $17 million in realised pay for 2011, which includes almost $12 million in share options and holdings.

Frankfurt lufthavn rammes af strejke

De kabineansatte i det tyske luftfartsselskab Lufthansa indleder fredag morgen deres strejke i Frankfurt.

Det oplyser de kabineansattes fagforening UFO.

Al trafik med Lufthansa-fly vil være ramt fra kl. 05.00 til 13.00 i Frankfurt lufthavn, der er en af Europas største.

Strejken ventes at medføre store forstyrrelser i flytrafikken.

Både korte og lange flyrejser er berørt af arbejdsnedlæggelsen.

Lufthansa har i tidsrummet mellem kl 05.00 og 13.00 to afgange fra Københavns lufthavn, men det er ikke oplyst, om de er omfattet af strejken.

Foreløbig er det kun Frankfurt lufthavn, der er berørt.

Det er et sammenbrud i forhandlinger mellem Lufthansa og de 19.000 kabineansatte tirsdag, som nu fører til den første arbejdsnedlæggelse.

Stewarderne og stewardesserne har krævet en fem procents lønforhøjelse, men Lufthansa siger, at konkurrencen på det internationale flymarked er så hård, at man ikke kan honorere kravet.

Entire History of the Internet on One Facebook Timeline

We’ve seen companies and people do some inventive things with Facebook’s Timeline feature, but this project may take the cake.

Grovo, a company looking to better educate people about common web and mobile products, has curated the entire history of the Internet on one single Facebook Timeline.

Many important dates in the development of the Internet are honored with milestones on the company’s page, from recent social media launches like Instagram, to way back in 1536, which is the first known use of the @ symbol.

Check out the many cool happenings of the 1990s in particular — the good old dot-com days. Also, can you believe the U.S. military’s Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) was founded in 1958? The agency has done lots of truly mind-boggling research in those fifty-some years. And it only took six years after the invention of email in 1972 for spam emails to show up.

James Franco takes the role of Galaxy Note 10.1 spokesman

It seems to make sense that actor, director, short story writer, and Ph.D. candidate for Yale's English program James Franco would be the new spokesman for

Samsung's Galaxy Note 10.1. The company is aiming to show that while Franco is a man of many talents, the device can also accomplish many tasks at once.

In a new TV ad for the device, which Franco claims to have directed himself, the actor is seen walking around his house using his Note to look up information

with the touch pad, write down messages with the S pen stylus, and check out other features of the device. All the while, he touts his many skills.

The Galaxy Note 10.1 was launched earlier this month as a potential competitor to Apple's iPad. The device comes with a 10.1-inch screen, 1.4GHz quad-core

processor and Android 4.0 (Ice Cream Sandwich). The device also comes with Samsung's S Pen stylus, allowing users to "write" all over the screen.
For now, only a Wi-Fi model is available, but a Wi-Fi and LTE option are expected to be launching later this year.

Apple has also rolled out celebrity spokespeople in its Siri ads this past summer. Actors including Samuel L. Jackson, Zooey Deschanel, and John Malkovich,

along with director Martin Scorsese, are shown using the iPhone voice chat feature to ask questions, schedule appointments, and check local traffic.

LeBron James' Image May Be the Biggest Winner in the Dwig

LeBron James went from one of the most beloved NBA players to one of the most scrutinized after leaving Cleveland for Miami in 2010.

However, after a year of taking on the villain role, James was able to get back in his own skin this year, winning his first NBA championship, a Finals MVP

Award, his third NBA MVP Award and an Olympic gold medal this year.

And though it was "The Decision" that ignited the downward spiral of James' popularity among the masses, it could be Dwight Howard's indecision this past

year that helps propel James back to fan favorability.

Talks were abuzz at the beginning of the 2011-12 season about Howard wanting a trade from the Orlando Magic. 

In March, ESPN's Chris Broussard reported that within a matter of days, Howard said he would waive his early termination option—which could have otherwise

allowed him to opt out of his contract—before deciding not to do so, only to then end up waiving it, ensuring that he would remain with the Magic through

the 2012-13 season.
However, even after waffling with his opt-out clause, Howard never agreed to sign an extension to stay past the 2012-13 season, leaving the Magic stuck

between a rock and a hard place. Orlando was left deciding whether to keep Howard through next season and risk watching him walk away for nothing, or trade

him for players and draft picks to help rebuild the franchise.

Then in July, Broussard again reported on Howard, except this time it was on his demand to be traded.

Howard dragged his team through the mud and claimed he wanted to be in Orlando before and after asking to be traded. He eventually wound up on the team that

most outside of Los Angeles love to hate: the Lakers.
The timing of Howard's lack of commitment couldn't be more perfect for James, as he had the best year of his life.

On top of the achievements mentioned earlier, James also recorded Team USA's first ever triple-double in Olympic play, became Team USA's all-time leading

scorer and was named to the NBA's All-Defensive First Team.
Off the court, James proposed to his longtime girlfriend—and mother of his children—before the start of the 2011-12 season, tuned out the negativity that

was being spewed about him, surrounded himself with only those who would challenge him and did a ton of soul searching in hopes of maturing and winning a

championship, as Brian Windhorst of ESPN wrote about in June.

And though James' move to Miami was undoubtedly ill-received, James never publicly said a word about leaving Cleveland during his tenure there.

He also made sure to fulfill his entire contract before eventually leaving as an unrestricted free agent—a move he had every right to make.

And it appears that his move has worked out quite well for him.
James is a champion. James is a two-time gold medalist. James is a three-time NBA MVP.

His performance over the past year has re-ignited the Michael Jordan comparisons.

He's matured, held himself accountable and finally shown that he can win when it matters.

James has even admitted he would change the way he handled his free agency two years ago.  
Small-market teams are having a harder time keeping their stars, so Howard's trade demands and switching of teams may move him to the top of the NBA's most

hated list at a time when the current most hated—and former small-market betrayer—is proving his detractors wrong with his demeanor and play on the

hardwood.

As James heads into what may be the best stretch of his career, Howard's drama could be enough of a distraction to help James gain back some of the fans who

stopped rooting for him two years ago.

Echoes of Lebanon civil war as Syrian turmoil spreads

Beirut. Tit-for-tat kidnappings by Syrian rebels and Lebanese Shi'ite gunmen have escalated tensions in Lebanon, where the spectre of contagion from Syria's conflict is alarming the fractured and war-scarred Mediterranean nation, Reuters reports.
Despite government efforts to insulate it from turmoil in its once dominating neighbour, Lebanon has seen armed clashes in its two largest cities, and last week authorities said they uncovered a Syrian plot to destabilise the country.
The sight of masked gunmen in Beirut on Wednesday claiming the capture of 20 Syrians, and the kidnapping in broad daylight of a Turkish businessman near the airport, was another dramatic sign of Syria's crisis spilling over into Lebanon.
While they may not herald an imminent slide towards conflict in Lebanon, the incidents highlight the weak and tenuous authority of Lebanon's state institutions and point to future instability in the country of four million.
"This will have a negative impact on state authority, the military and the business environment in Lebanon" said Ayham Kamel of the Eurasia Group consultancy. "The likelihood of civil war right now remains low, but reaching this stage is a very alarming development".
To the outside world, kidnapping foreigners was a defining feature of Lebanon's civil war, and the brazen public appearance by the masked gunmen this week - unchallenged by security forces - echoed the chaos of the 1975-1990 conflict.
"This ...brings us back to the days of the painful war, a page that Lebanese citizens have been trying to turn," said Prime Minister Najib Mikati, whose policy of 'dissociation' from Syria's conflict next door has come under growing strain.

Notable & Quotable

 Editor Josh Kraushaar blogging at National Journal, Aug. 13:

Watching Mitt Romney on the campaign trail this weekend after he tapped Paul Ryan as his running mate, it was hard not to be struck by how significantly the

candidate's message and delivery improved. Romney was newly energized, almost sounding like an evangelist preacher as he preached the merits of capitalism

and the free market.

His rhetoric was sharp and specific as he contrasted his policy vision with that of President Obama's. With Ryan, he looked confident in his sit-down

interview with CBS' Bob Schieffer.

It was as if the ghost of New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie entered the cautious, often-awkward pol's body, to great effect. (Indeed, like Christie, he even

challenged a heckler at last night's event in Waukesha County, Wisconsin.)

This is the type of change that's very tough to measure in even the best polls and focus groups. Romney overruled his top consultants in picking Ryan; they

wanted him to go with a more cautious choice, like Tim Pawlenty.

But Romney clearly felt a kinship with the younger Ryan, and the chemistry was undeniable on their first couple of days on the campaign trail. Romney felt

unshackled, and felt free to play to his biggest political asset—a fiscal conservatism that's been the one consistent hallmark of his career, from working

at Bain Capital to the Salt Lake City Olympics to his tenure as governor of Massachusetts.

This carries risk, of course. Romney's hallmark of his campaign so far has been his cautiousness. . . .
Even Christie, known as the blunt political truth-teller to his fans in New Jersey, was a much more cautious pol when he ran against Gov. Jon Corzine in

2009. Indeed, his campaign was rapped for not offering specific plans, resorting to anti-incumbent generalities. It wasn't until he was elected that he

developed his persona as a straight-talking reformer.

In a sense, Romney is one-upping Christie, and placing the even riskier bet that calling for major changes is a political winner in the middle of a heated

presidential race. High-risk, high-reward, indeed.