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Median CEO pay rises to $9.7 million in 2012 Associated Press Copyright 2013 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. Updated 8:51 am, Wednesday, May 22, 2013 The head of a typical large public company made $9.7 million in 2012, a 6.5 percent increase from a year earlier that was aided by a rising stock market, according to an analysis by The Associated Press using data from Equilar, an executive pay research firm. Shareholders tend to favor stock compensation because it can be tied to metrics like revenue and earnings, whereas the value of stock options depends only on the stock price. [] shareholder activists and some corporate governance experts say many CEOs are being paid far above what is reasonable or what their performance merits. Yet with the economy on steadier footing and the stock market surging, the debate over CEO pay is settling into more of a simmer than a boil. Companies cut CEO pay in 2008 and 2009 amid investors' white-hot anger over the losses they suffered during the financial crisis. Since 2011 they have been required by law to hold "say on pay" votes, which give shareholders the right to express whether they approve of the CEO's pay. [] they're more often linking stock awards to revenue, earnings and share price targets, rather than just handing them out automatically. [] they're anxious for the Securities and Exchange Commission to implement a rule required under the Dodd-Frank financial reform law that would force big public companies to disclose the ratio of their CEOs' pay compared with the median pay for their entire workforce. Charles Elson, a well-known shareholder rights expert who is director at the Weinberg Center for Corporate Governance at the University of Delaware, has been crusading for companies to stop compensating their CEOs based on what their peers at similar companies are making. To calculate pay, Equilar looked at salary, bonus, perks, the potential future value of stock awards and option awards, and other pay that companies have to report for their top executives in regulatory filings each year. — THE SHAREHOLDER REVOLUTION?: So far this year, only seven U.S. companies have had shareholders vote down their executive pay packages, according to proxy adviser Glass Lewis, and none are in the S&P 500.

An official for the city of Vienna says the Austrian capital has handed over nearly 6,000 valuable objects looted by the Nazis to their rightful owners or their heirs since it started taking inventory of them 14 years ago.

Zimbabwe's president signs new constitution into law, vows peaceful polls expected September    

Ukrainian reporters disrupt government session, lash out at PM after 2 journalists beaten    

Two officials say Britain has launched a bid to formally have the European Union declare the Lebanese party Hezbollah's military wing a terrorist organization.

A 61-year-old Irishman has been charged with the Irish Republican Army bombing of the queen's ceremonial cavalry in Hyde Park in 1982 that killed four soldiers and seven horses.

Japan's government is looking into re-opening official talks with North Korea to resolve questions over the abductions of Japanese citizens decades ago, raising concerns among allies who fear Tokyo's focus on that issue might weaken efforts to reign in Pyongyang's nuclear weapons program.

Kyrgyz leader says US Manas air base will close in 2014; base supports Afghanistan operation    

Experts urge Japan watchdog to delay decision on closure of nuclear plant over seismic fault    

A Saudi online newspaper says Oman is proposing that women be banned from wearing face veils when driving.

Syrian opposition groups meeting in Spain say they oppose all negotiation with President Bashar Assad's government unless it is aimed at his giving up of power. Some 80 opposition representatives from inside and outside the country concluded a two-day meeting Tuesday, saying Assad would neither form part of any transition government nor have any role in Syria's future. Mouaz al-Khatib, former chief of the Syrian National Coalition, said a decision on whether the opposition groups would take part in a new Russia-U.S proposed conference on Syria*s future in Geneva will be taken within two weeks. The groups oppose Assad representatives taking part in the meeting. At a news conference, the opposition members condemned increased intervention in the Syrian conflict by neighboring Lebanon's Hezbollah militant group, in support of Assad.

Bulgaria's newly seated parliament has elected Socialist Mihail Mikov as its speaker during what is proving to be a turbulent stretch in the economically struggling country's politics. Mikov, 52 and a former interior minister, earned 118 votes in the 240-seat National Assembly thanks to support from other Socialists and the mainly Turkish MRF party. The center-right GERB party of ex-Prime Minister Boiko Borisov, which won May 12 elections without a majority, will try to form a new government, but is not expected to succeed. Its candidate for speaker, Tsetska Tsacheva, came in second Tuesday, gaining votes from her party's 97 legislators. The nationalist Ataka party's 23 legislators did not vote. The Socialists have already said that they intend to form a technocratic government led by non-partisan economist Plamen Oresharski.

Russia's point man on Syria and on its relations with the U.S. is turning his attention toward a subject close to Russian hearts - alleged vote theft at the Eurovision Song Contest.

The chief executive of security firm G4S is to retire after a tumultuous year that saw the company fail to fulfill its Olympic contract. The company said Tuesday that Nick Buckles will be replaced by Ashley Almanza, a senior executive from the oil and gas company BG Group. G4S had agreed in February to take an 85 million pound hit after failing to provide agreed upon security personnel for last summer's London Olympics. That figure includes extra costs paid by the government to provide military and police security to cover the G4S shortfall. Despite the setback, the company has been hired in a support role to help secure the G-8 summit of world leaders in Northern Ireland next month. The new CEO is scheduled to take over on June 1.

Justin Bieber's pet monkey is set to become the property of Germany.

Official: Roadside bomb kills 6 policemen in western Afghanistan