NEW YORK

Barbara Walters is expected to announce her retirement

Barbara Walters is expected to announce Monday morning on “The View” that she will retire from TV journalism during the summer of 2014.

ABC said Sunday that, until then, Walters will continue to anchor and report for the network, appear on “The View,” and anchor specials throughout the year.

She will remain executive producer of “The View,” the weekday talk show she created in 1997.

The 83-year-old Walters has spent 37 years at ABC News, joining the network in 1976 to co-anchor its evening newscast and, three years later, becoming a co-host of its “20/20” newsmagazine. Before that, she spent 15 years at NBC News, where she was a co-host of the “Today” show.

BUFFALO, N.Y.

Former Penn State president tops public college payrolls

Former Penn State President Graham Spanier became the highest paid public college president of 2011-12 when he was forced out over his handling of the sex abuse scandal involving former assistant football coach Jerry Sandusky, according to a survey released Sunday.

The Chronicle of Higher Education’s annual ranking of public college presidents’ earnings said Spanier’s $2.9 million pay, which included $1.2 million in severance and $1.2 million in deferred compensation, put him well ahead of his peers when he left Penn State in November 2011.

While the median compensation for public college presidents was $441,392, a 4.7 percent increase over 2010-11, Spanier was one of four chief executives to surpass the $1 million threshold in 2011-12, one more than the previous year.

The others were Auburn University President Jay Gogue, who received $2.5 million; E. Gordon Gee of Ohio State University, who earned $1.9 million; and now-retired George Mason University’s Alan Merten, whose total pay plus benefits and deferred compensation totaled $1.87 million.

ISLAMABAD, Pakistan

Former prime minister scores overwhelming win

Former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif’s overwhelming victory in weekend parliamentary elections returns to power a seasoned politician who historically has had rocky ties with Pakistan’s powerful military and is viewed by many as soft on militants and extremist groups.

The expected showdown between Sharif, 63, and former cricket-star-turned-politician Imran Khan never really materialized. Sharif’s party swept the elections, putting him in a position to lead the next government and become prime minister for an unprecedented third time.

With much of the vote counted Sunday, unofficial results had Sharif’s party winning at least 46 percent of the seats in the National Assembly, according to Pakistani media projections.

BEIRUT

Syria rejects Turkish charges of backing car bomb attacks

Syria on Sunday rejected Turkish charges that Damascus was behind a pair of devastating car bomb attacks in southern Turkey that killed 46 people and left scores injured.

In another development, a Syrian rebel group Sunday reportedly released four United Nations peacekeepers seized along the Golan Heights border with Israel. The abduction left Israeli officials concerned that such incidents could cause peacekeepers to pull out, leaving no buffer zone between the two countries.

The strikes Saturday in the southern Turkish town of Reyhanli stunned Turkey and exacerbated tensions between the two nations about the civil war raging in Syria.

Turkish officials publicly linked the bombings to Syria’s intelligence service – a charge denied Sunday by Omran Zoubi, the Syrian information minister.

JERUSALEM

Prime minister alters plans for sleeping on future flights

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will seek alternate sleeping arrangements when traveling after receiving a sky-high bill for installing a customized bed on a recent flight to London, officials close to the Israeli leader said.

Netanyahu found himself facing a public uproar Sunday after Channel 10 TV reported over the weekend that he had spent $127,000 in public funds on a special sleeping cabin for the five-hour flight to attend Margaret Thatcher’s funeral last month.

Netanyahu’s office initially defended the decision, saying the prime minister had a busy schedule ahead of the flight and needed to be fresh for important meetings in Britain.

But following public criticism, officials close to Netanyahu said late Saturday that he had been unaware of the cost, and once informed, he ordered the bed canceled on all future flights.

The Israeli prime minister’s office does not have its own plane, such as the U.S. presidential aircraft Air Force One. Instead, Israeli leaders must charter a plane when traveling abroad.

— From news service reports