Cisco CEO's pay package dipped 9 pct in past year

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) -- Cisco Systems Inc. trimmed CEO John Chambers' pay package for the past fiscal year by 9 percent as concerns about growth at the maker of computer networking equipment weighed on the company's stock.

The value of Chambers' compensation totaled $11.7 million, down from nearly $12.9 million in the previous year, according to documents filed Wednesday with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Most of Chambers' pay was tied to the future performance of Cisco's stock. That's been the case for most of Chambers' 17-year reign as CEO. That arrangement has worked out well for both Chambers and the company, which is based in San Jose, Calif. Adjusting for stock splits, Cisco's shares have increased 10-fold under Chambers' leadership.

Cuban sugar looks to rebound after bitter decline

JARONU, Cuba (AP) -- Cuba's signature industry is showing signs of life two years after the worst harvest in more than a century.

Hulking processing plants are coming back online and production is rising, a boon to rural towns like Jaronu where producing sugar has been a way of life for generations.

Officials recently said that the harvest is expected to increase by 20 percent in the coming season after jumps of 7 percent and 16 percent in the last two harvests.

At the Brasil refinery in the steamy central province of Camaguey, a $6 million makeover is under way. During a recent visit, bulldozers were busy re-grading the floor, operators were laying foundations for new machinery and workers buzzed about, hammering and welding amid a deafening mechanic roar and a pervasive oily odor.

APNewsBreak: Ex-wife of ex-LA Dodgers owner wants divorce reopened, says he lowballed value

LOS ANGELES (AP) -- The ex-wife of former Los Angeles Dodgers owner Frank McCourt wants to set aside the couple's divorce settlement, claiming he vastly understated the value of a team that sold earlier this year for $2 billion, the highest figure ever paid for a pro sports franchise.

Jamie McCourt's attorney, Bertram Fields, told The Associated Press that she "thought very long and very hard about whether to file this motion" but that after other means failed, she returned to court.

AP-GfK Poll: Most say Obama's health care law will be implemented; but 7 in 10 expect changes

WASHINGTON (AP) -- It still divides us, but most Americans think President Barack Obama's health care law is here to stay.

More than 7 in 10 say the law will fully go into effect with some changes, ranging from minor to major alterations, a new Associated Press-GfK poll finds.

Only 12 percent expect the Affordable Care Act - "Obamacare" to dismissive opponents - to be repealed completely.

The law - covering 30 million uninsured, requiring virtually every legal U.S. resident to carry health insurance and forbidding insurers from turning away the sick - remains as contentious as the day it passed more than two years ago. There's still more than another year before its major provisions go into effect on Jan. 1, 2014.

Tipping point? Many fans believe replacement refs finally cost someone a win and it was Pack

GREEN BAY, Wis. (AP) -- Entire stadiums have booed them. The Patriots' Bill Belichick grabbed one by the arm and the Redskins' Kyle Shanahan was so hopping mad he followed one into the tunnel after the game.

But it took the team that Vince Lombardi built, playing in a "Monday Night Football" headliner, to put the NFL's latest labor headache - locked-out officials and their struggling, under-fire replacements - front and center for the nation. Even President Barack Obama, a Bears fan slogging through a re-election campaign, weighed in Tuesday, saying, "We've got to get our refs back."