MCCA hiking garage fees

Parking rates at the Boston Common Garage will jump by as much as $6 a day this summer after a traffic consultant told the Massachusetts Convention Center Authority the city's low prices and high demand for spaces justifies the hike.

"There is a danger in not raising your rates enough," said Andy Hill of Desman Associates, claiming the popular garage could become "an attractive nuisance" overflowing with drivers scrambling for cheap spaces each day. He said the garage had to close 110 times in the last half of 2013 because it was full.

Parking on weekdays for less than an hour will increase from $10 to $12, effective this July. Rates will rise from $14 to $18 for 1-2 hours on weekdays; $18 to $24 for 2-3 hours; $23 to $28 for 3-10 hours; and $28 to $32 for 10-24 hours. Monthly reserved parking will soar by $300 to a price tag of $6,000 a year.

"While this raises the rates, it raises it to a level that's still 14 percent below the market in our district," said MCCA Executive Director James Rooney.

The increase will raise between $1.8 and $2.5 million for the MCCA, which is proposing a $1.1 billion expansion of the Boston Convention & Exhibition Center. But Rooney told the Herald the money will go toward its operating budget and won't be used for a proposed expansion.

The MCCA Board of Directors unanimously passed the rate hike yesterday, even though a few voiced concerns. Board member Jack Hart, the former South Boston state senator, said the public garage rates should remain affordable, especially as thousands of spaces disappear through the development of areas such as the Seaport.

"If you wanted, you could charge as much money as you wanted to," said Hart. "But I think we have a public responsibility."

Hill, the consultant, said that because of development and demand, 9,393 parking spaces are needed in downtown Boston.

For years, the Menino administration and the Boston Redevelopment Authority had replaced parking spaces with bike lanes and tiny street parks and slashed the required number of parking spaces developers had to provide for big projects.

The rate hike came two hours into the MCCA's monthly meeting yesterday and wasn't specifically listed on the board's agenda.

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VW Tiguan a tiger in crossover class

Mini SUV or maxi hatchback, the 2014 VW Tiguan 4motion fits both descriptions.

I found this spirited, four-door utility vehicle a fun and easy car to drive, particularly to park. The quick and tight turning radius and squared-off front and rear make this a great choice as a city crossover. The smallish dimensions belie a roomy rear seat, comfortable for two, but cargo space runs smaller than competitors, even with the back seats down. The ride is quiet and compliant even on rough roads.

Jump into the driver's seat and you're snug behind the familiar and well-made VW cockpit. All the controls are intuitive and well placed. The updated touch screen radio makes working your way around the dial a lot easier than clunky earlier models. The leatherette seating material was comfortable, very supportive and attractive, but I still find the VW cloth options a little more to my liking.

The SE is well equipped with many of the upgraded features demanded by consumers including Bluetooth, a back up camera, keyless entry and a leather-wrapped steering wheel. The hands-free phone has better audio quality than many I've tested in a while, although the setup through the small dashboard display took a few more steps than some models.

The 2.0 liter 200 horsepower turbocharged engine is a feisty motor offering plenty of pop for this car and highway mileage was about 26 miles per gallon — around town you'll only get about 20 mpg. You have to run high octane to get the best performance out of this engine, but I thought it provided some fun exhaust notes. The all-wheel drive mated to a six-speed automatic really helps keep this tall vehicle on its pins and actually makes for decent handling. It's still a working truck that will get the kids to practice and then let you hit the home goods store for building supplies and yet still be a good commuter.

While many VW's have the striking elan of German styling, the Tiguan is content with its conservative features. There's some gentle body curves that help lead your eye along the car's waist and a small spoiler on the rear that completes the tailgate.

It's tall, giving you plenty of headroom, and it doesn't feel crowded while the squared nose and tail make for nifty maneuvering in tight spots.

In a very crowded field that includes cars such as the Kia Sportage, Mazda 5, Ford Escape and Nissan Rogue, the MSRP of $32,440 delivered pushes toward the high side of the competition.

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Oil pipe leak blamed for tainted water in China

BEIJING — An oil pipe leak caused excessive levels of the toxic chemical benzene in a major Chinese city's water supply, prompting warnings against drinking from the tap and sending residents to queue up to buy bottled water.

The scare, which has affected more than 2.4 million people in the northwestern city of Lanzhou, has once again raised concerns over safety of China's oil pipes.

Last year, a ruptured oil pipeline resulted in explosions in the eastern city of Qingdao, killing 62 people.

In Lanzhou, a crude oil pipeline run by the state-owned China National Petroleum Corp. had a leak that tainted the source water feeding a local water plant, the official Xinhua News Agency said.

Phone calls to the oil company's local and national offices rang unanswered on Saturday.

The city of Lanzhou said it has been monitoring levels of benzene in water pipes to ensure public safety, while local residents have been lining up to stock up on bottled water.

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Obama reiterates call for equal pay for women

WASHINGTON — President Barack Obama is stepping up his call for equal pay for women, reinforcing a top election-year issue for Democrats eager to mobilize women to vote.

In his Saturday radio and Internet address, Obama calls it an embarrassment that women earn less than men even in the same professions and with the same education.

Obama this week issued an executive order prohibiting federal contractors from retaliating against employees who discuss their salaries. Such an order is considered a way for women to become better informed about their pay.

In the weekly Republican address, congresswoman Cathy McMorris Rodgers of Washington says the economy under Obama is hurting women. She says Republican proposals to help small businesses and increase jobs will benefit women as well as men.

___

Online:

Obama address: http://www.whitehouse.gov

Republican address: http://www.youtube.com/user/HouseConference

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Liquor licenses may get diluted

Gov. Deval Patrick's move to give cities and towns control over the number of liquor licenses they can issue generally is being well-received, but some expressed concern about the potential devaluation of existing licenses.

Obtaining licenses sold for up to $500,000 on the open Boston market poses a barrier to entry for prospective restaurateurs. But issuing new lower-priced licenses could give them a competitive advantage and spell trouble for businesses that used their licenses' values to get financing, said restaurateur Babak Bina.

"It does have a value as a way to secure a loan, and if you take (that) away, I don't know what that does to the bank's collateral," said Bina, whose eateries include Merrill & Co. and Lala Rokh. "It's a touchy subject, and ... devaluing those will be a certain blow."

Patrick made the proposal as part of an economic development package unveiled yesterday. A 1933 law requiring cities and towns to get legislative approval to exceed statutory limits on licenses is hindering development, said Greg Bialecki, secretary of Housing and Economic Development. "For the kind of mixed-use developments that developers and investors are interested in building, restaurants are a key element," he said. "We hear about big real estate projects that can get all of their other permits, but they can't get liquor license permits."

Boston City Councilor Ayanna Pressley, who's been pushing for a home-rule petition to regain control of Boston's liquor license process from the Legislature, welcomed the move. "Allowing cities and towns to control their licensing process is an important economic development and civil rights issue," she said in a statement.

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Health Connector site fix far off

A long-term solution to the state's failed Health Connector website is still months away, according to the Obamacare czar Gov. Deval Patrick put in charge of fixing it.

Sarah Iselin yesterday told the Health Connector board she'll present recommendations next month for how to achieve a functional site before the Nov. 15 start of the next federal open-enrollment period.

"The clock is ticking," Iselin said, "and we've got a lot of work to do."

The possibilities include reconstructing the site, which continues to have technical problems, or trying to use technology that has worked in other states, she said. Functions that may have to be postponed until next year include the ability to pay health insurance premiums through the website after people have selected a plan.

Iselin said she intends to ask the federal government for an extension until Sept. 30 to allow all 260,877 people in subsidized Commonwealth Care and temporary coverage to keep their plans until they can be switched to Affordable Care Act-compliant ones.

Herald wire services contributed to this report.

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Reps: Let Boston pay MCCA Tab

Skeptical House lawmakers from the South Coast and Western Massachusetts questioned why statewide hotel tax money should be funneled to Boston to pay for a $1.1 billion convention center expansion — and why Hub taxpayers aren't picking up more of the tab.

"From where I am, 110 miles from the State House, no one wants to keep footing the bill in Boston," said state Rep. Nicholas Boldyga (R-Southwick), one of four members of the 11-member House Committee on Bonding, Capital Expenditures and State Assets at yesterday's hearing. "They come here infrequently and they can't even get $10,000 budgeted for a cultural council."

Chairman Antonio Cabral (D-New Bedford) wanted to know why Boston isn't paying more of the expansion costs — like it did in 1997 when it shelled out $157 million to construct the Boston Convention & Exhibition Center.

"Would Boston be prepared to again be a partner since it's the city that's probably going to benefit the most out of the expansion?" asked Cabral.

"Boston feels we are partnering in this proposal and that we are a partner at that table," said John Barros, the city's economic development chief.

Barros said Boston used much of the money in 1997 to help acquire the land the Massachusetts Convention Center Authority now owns, and that Boston and Cambridge contribute 98 percent of the money in the convention center fund that will help pay for the construction.

The Herald reported this week that the state hotel tax fund could be used as collateral to secure the bonds for the convention center expansion.

But in a surprise revelation, Colin MacNaught, an assistant state treasurer, told the committee there's a high likelihood the state will have to dip into that hotel tax fund at some point to pay back bondholders.

MCCA Executive Director James Rooney disputed that.

"I would be willing to bet that if that happened, the Legislature would say, 'Wait a minute. Let's solve this another way. We're not using statewide resources for this. Let's look at those revenues that flow into the convention center today and see if we can raise those taxes instead,'" Rooney told the Herald.

Rooney told the committee the state is losing out on major conventions because the BCEC is too small and the South Boston Waterfront lacks enough hotel rooms. The proposal would expand the BCEC by 1.3 million square feet.

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At Locke-Ober Cafe, 
a tasteful makeover

You can't eat at Boston's Locke-Ober Cafe anymore, but you can live above it.

The storied 137-year-old restaurant closed two years ago and its six connected Greek Revival-style buildings dating back to 1832 were bought by local developer Origen Ventures for $3.3 million.

The developer has just unveiled the Winter Place Residences, six large condos on the upper three floors, ranging in price from $1.75 million to $3 million.

It's taken 18 months to rehab the building into condos. Three of the units have extensive period details, and the developer created more traditional-looking condos around them.

"Our goal was to keep all the details we could," said Jim Robertson, a partner at Origen.

One of these now available is Unit 3-2, a 2,234-square-foot, two-bedroom condo for $1.75 million. Its dining/living room is called the Camus Room — named after former Locke-Ober manager Emil Camus — and features 
restored Corinthian pilasters, dentil molding and original sconce lighting. The kitchen has white Shaker cabinets, River White granite counters and Wolf, Sub-Zero and Bosch appliances.

A unit on the second floor will feature the 
restored private dining room used by the Kennedy family, including original paneling and wallpaper and the bell used to ring for service.

A downtown financial executive who was a regular at the restaurant bought a unit that listed for $2.7 million and has a 900-square-foot living room that was one of Locke-Ober's 
upper-floor dining rooms.

"The Locke-Ober name is what drew the buyer here, but what got him to buy was the square footage, the quality of construction, and direct elevator access," said Valerie Post of Meridian Property Group, co-listing broker.

The three other units feature more contemporary design, with white quartz counters and striped rosewood cabinets. The 3,357-square-foot, fourth-floor penthouse Unit 4-1, listing for $3 million, has skylights, a private roof deck and two master bedroom suites.

Condo fees will range from $531 to $740 a month. The building doesn't have parking, but owners can buy garage spaces for $75,000 at nearby Tremont on the Common.

Robertson said negotiations are underway to bring a restaurant to the historic, first-floor former Locke-Ober main dining room, which could be announced by the building's mid-May opening.

"We're insisting that the new eatery will respect the grand interior of the restaurant," Robertson said. "Our goal with the entire project is to feel like we did the building justice."

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The Ticker

Medicare paid some doctors millions

Medicare paid a tiny group of doctors $3 million or more apiece in 2012. One got nearly $21 million.

Those are among the findings of an analysis of physician data released yesterday by the Obama administration, part of a move to open the books on health care financing.

Topping Medicare's list was Florida ophthalmologist Salomon Melgen, who was paid $20.8 million. His lawyer said the doctor's billing conformed with Medicare rules and is a reflection of high drug costs.

The analysis found that a small sliver of the more than 825,000 individual physicians in Medicare's claims database — just 344 physicians — took in top dollar, at least $3 million apiece for a total of nearly $1.5 billion.

Deputy administrator Jon Blum said Medicare will now take a closer look at doctors whose payments exceed certain levels.

"We know there is waste in the system, we know there is fraud in the system," he said. "We want the public to help identify spending that doesn't make sense.

'Heartbleed' bug is security headache

A computer bug called "Heartbleed" is causing major security headaches across the Internet as websites scramble to fix the problem and Web surfers wonder whether they should change their passwords to prevent theft of their email accounts, credit card numbers and other sensitive information.

The breakdown revealed this week affects a widely used encryption technology that is supposed to protect online accounts for a variety of online communications and electronic commerce. Security researchers who uncovered the threat are worried because it went undetected for more than two years.

TODAY

 Labor Department releases weekly jobless claims.

 Freddie Mac, the mortgage company, releases weekly mortgage rates.

 Treasury releases federal budget for March.

TOMORROW

Labor Department releases the Producer Price Index for March.

THE SHUFFLE

Kaloutas Painting, a commercial painting company headquartered in Peabody, announced the appointment of Douglas Blake of Salem to the newly created position of director of the Industrial Flooring Division. The appointment follows Kaloutas Painting's recent acquisition of Ipswich-based sister companies Clean World Floors and Res-Stone Industrial Flooring. Blake, who had an ownership stake in the companies, will lead Kaloutas Painting's effort to expand its scope of services into the commercial flooring arena.

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State rep: 2024 Olympic bid behind BCEC expansion try

Olympic fever may be the driving force behind the push for a proposed $1.1 billion expansion of the Boston Convention & Exhibition Center, said a Republican lawmaker on the committee that will consider the controversial proposal today.

"I don't think it's unreasonable to say people are thinking of this expansion with the Olympics in mind," said state Rep. Todd Smola (R-Palmer), a member of the House Committee on Bonding, Capital Expenditures and State Assets. "I don't know if we'd be talking about it now with this price tag if the Olympics weren't potentially on the horizon. That's a big what if."

A commission created by Gov. Deval Patrick determined in February that Boston could handle hosting the 2024 Summer Olympic Games.

Smola said he's also concerned about two sections of the convention center bill — first reported this week by the Herald — that would keep secret the financial information of businesses the Massachusetts Convention Center Authority contracts with, and allow all hotel tax money from communities across the entire state to be pledged to secure the $1.1 billion in bonds.

"I'm not sure that serves the public well," Smola said. "We pride ourselves on the idea that transparent government is the most effective government. That's the kinds of things I'll be asking about (today)."

The House bonding committee will hold a public hearing this morning at the State House, featuring testimony from MCCA Executive Director Jim Rooney and other state officials. The public will also have a chance to speak.

Committee Chairman Antonio Cabral (D-New Bedford) said he also has concerns about using the statewide hotel tax fund as collateral.

"The proposed way of paying and raising revenues is slightly different — in some cases very different — from the original proposal back in 1997," he said. "We certainly will look at that area very closely."

He didn't expect the committee to vote on the proposal today.

The MCCA is pushing for a 1.3 million-square-foot expansion of the convention center, arguing the city is losing business to cities with larger facilities.

MCCA spokesman Mac Daniel declined to comment on the idea that the hefty build-out is Olympic-inspired.

"We will wait for the hearing to engage with members of the committee and look forward to our opportunity to present our proposal and answer questions," Daniel said.

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Auto recalls in high gear

Recalls by General Motors, Ford and, just yesterday, Toyota have put automakers on a record pace this year as they scramble to avoid bad publicity, government fines and criminal prosecution.

Since January, at least 
9 million vehicles have been recalled in the United States. At that rate, the auto industry could break the record of 30.8 million vehicles recalled in 2004.

"Right now, we're poised to beat that," said Jeremy Acevedo, an analyst at Edmunds.com, a resource for auto information.

Yesterday alone, Toyota announced it was recalling 6.4 million cars and trucks worldwide, including nearly 1.8 million vehicles in the U.S., to fix faulty air bags and a spate of other problems.

The announcement came two weeks after the Justice Department skewered the automaker for covering up problems that caused unintended acceleration in some cars, beginning in 2009. To settle that case, Toyota agreed to pay $1.2 billion, but federal prosecutors still can resurrect a wire fraud charge if the company fails to comply with the terms of the settlement.

The Toyota recall comes in the wake of rival General Motors' recall of 6 million vehicles and as GM faces a Justice Department investigation on the heels of congressional hearings about faulty ignition switches that have been linked to at least 13 deaths and what lawmakers have called a cover-up.

"That can be a real game-changer," said Clarence Ditlow, executive director of the nonprofit Center for Auto Safety. "There's nothing that changes corporate behavior as much as criminal prosecutions."

Ditlow said he expects smaller recalls in the future as companies move quickly to fix parts and limit the impact of a problem.

"Automakers certainly see value right now in initiating a recall rather than having one imposed on them," 
Acevedo said.

The high number of recalls could also be attributed to the use of "the same engineering, the same parts, the same suppliers," by some automakers, said Rosemary Shahan, president of the nonprofit Consumers for Auto Reliability and Safety.

"To try to cut costs, they are making the same mistakes," Shahan said.

Herald wire services contributed to this report.

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Jane Pauley to join CBS News as contributor to 'Sunday Morning'

Former "Today" anchor Jane Pauley has agreed to become a contributor to CBS News' "Sunday Morning." The news was disclosed at the start of a panel held as part of an annual symposium held at Texas Christian University's Schieffer School of Journalism by "Face the Nation" anchor Bob Schieffer.

Pauley may be best known for her 13-year tenure as co-anchor of NBC's "Today," where she held a seat from 1976 to 1989 alongside Tom Brokaw and Bryant Gumbel. She has also served as a host of NBC's "Dateline" and as a daytime talk-show host.

'We're really, we're really really happy to have you," Schieffer said during the panel, according to a transcript provided by CBS NEws. "And I can't think of a better place for you to tell a story. Because you're a great storyteller - and Sunday Morning is one of my favorite, favorite broadcasts."

A date for Pauley's first appearance on the program could not be immediately determined.

(C) 2014 Variety Media, LLC, a subsidiary of Penske Business Media; Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC

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Twitter tweaks website to attract new users

NEW YORK — As Twitter looks to broaden its appeal beyond its 241 million users, the company is introducing a redesign of profile pages that includes bigger photos, more user controls and a distinct resemblance to Facebook.

"Moment by moment, your Twitter profile shows the world who you are," the company wrote in a blog post Tuesday. "Starting today, it will be even easier (and, we think, more fun) to express yourself through a new and improved Web profile."

As part of changes coming in the next few weeks, users who access Twitter via the Web will notice larger photos on their profile pages. Besides profile photos on the left corner of the page, the redesign includes a large banner photo that resembles the big rectangular cover photos on Facebook pages. Users will be able to "pin" one of their tweets to the top of the page to give others an idea of the topics they like to tweet about. In addition, tweets that receive the most interest from other users will appear slightly larger.

The more visual look is an attempt to attract people who may be intimidated by Twitter's onslaught of text filled with quirky acronyms, at-symbols and hashtags. The changes come at a time when Facebook is adding features to its site that are Twitter-like, highlighting the way the two companies are jockeying for people's time and advertisers' dollars.

Is Twitter saying a picture is worth 140 characters? Perhaps not. The new profiles don't apply to Twitter's mobile app, which is a more popular way to access the service than the website. Mobile is also where Twitter earns most of its money. EMarketer expects about 77 percent of Twitter's estimated $1.1 billion in advertising revenue to come from mobile this year.

Even so, Twitter has acknowledged that it needs to reach a bigger audience. CEO Dick Costolo described the effort in broad terms during the company's February earnings call with analysts.

"By bringing the content of Twitter forward and pushing the scaffolding of the language of Twitter to the background," Costolo said, "we can increase high quality interactions and make it more likely that new or casual users will find the service as indispensable as our existing core users do."

Costolo also promised more visually engaging content, of which the profile page redesign is just one example. Last fall, the company decided to make users' feeds more visual by including previews from Twitter photos and Vine videos.

Twitter's first-quarter tally of users signaled that growth is slowing on the service. The company added just 9 million new monthly users in the fourth quarter, only 1 million of which came from the U.S. It added an average of 16 million new accounts in each of the first three quarters of 2013.

Twitter said in February that it had 241 million users at the end of 2013. By comparison, Facebook boasts some 1.23 billion users, while WhatsApp, the messaging service Facebook is buying for $19 billion, said it had 400 million active monthly users last December.

Twitter has not yet reported its first-quarter financial results, so it's hard to tell if the slowdown is a sign of trouble or just a blip. EMarketer analyst Debra Aho Williamson said in a recent report that Twitter's user base "may be growing more slowly than expected, but the social service has steadily increased its ad revenue and shown that its ads can drive engagement and interaction."

Noah Elkin, executive editor at eMarketer, said advertisers "love the engagement they get on Twitter." That said, he added that the company is still under pressure to grow.

The redesigned profile page, Elkin said, will likely have a "relatively minimal impact" on Twitter's advertising revenue, "unless and until" the company brings the new look to its mobile app.

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NC sides with Duke in appeal of coal ash ruling

RALEIGH, N.C. — North Carolina regulators are joining with Duke Energy in appealing a judge's ruling on cleaning up groundwater pollution leeching from the company's coal ash dumps.

The state Environmental Management Commission filed notice Monday that it intends to appeal a March 6 ruling by Superior Court Judge Paul Ridgeway.

The commission and Duke contend North Carolina law does not give the state the authority to order an immediate cleanup. Ridgeway ruled the state had been misinterpreting the law for years.

Environmentalists say the decision to file an appeal directly conflicts with public statements from Gov. Pat McCrory suggesting his administration is getting tough with his former employer after a Feb. 2 coal ash spill that coated 70 miles of the Dan River in toxic gray sludge.

McCrory, a Republican, worked for Duke more than 28 years prior to retiring to run for governor. The nation's largest electricity company and its employees have remained generous political supporters to McCrory's campaign and GOP-aligned groups that support him, providing more than $1.1 million in support since 2008.

Though the governor directly appointed eight of the commission's 15 members, McCrory spokesman Josh Ellis said the panel operates independently of the administration. The remaining seven members were appointed by state House Speaker Thom Tillis and Senate leader Phil Berger, both Republicans.

"The commission does not report to the governor," Ellis said.

Ellis declined to say whether the governor disagreed with the decision made by his appointees.

Charlotte lawyer Benne C. Hutson, whom McCrory appointed as the commission's chairman in July, said Tuesday that he recused himself from the special April 3 closed-session meeting where Ridgeway's ruling was discussed. Hutson said his law firm represents Duke, which presented a conflict of interest.

Vice Chairman Kevin C. Martin, a McCrory appointee who presided over the meeting, said he couldn't discuss matters under pending litigation or any legal advice the commission received. However, he said a concern with Ridgeway's ruling is that it wouldn't just affect Duke, but potentially thousands of other state-permitted wastewater lagoons in North Carolina.

He said staff from the state Department of Environment and Natural Resources advised the commission without taking a position on the issue.

"No one told us how to vote," he said.

On the same day the state commission met behind closed doors, Duke filed its notice appealing Ridgeway's decision. The company also asked the judge to delay enforcement of his order until the N.C. Court of Appeals rules. Ridgeway declined.

The latest legal tussle comes after a coalition of environmental groups moved last year to sue Duke under the federal Clean Water Act over its groundwater pollution.

After state officials met with the company's chief lobbyist, the state environmental agency used its authority to file environmental violations against all of Duke's 33 coal ash pits across the state. The agency, represented in court by the office of Democratic Attorney General Roy Cooper, then quickly proposed a settlement that would have fined Duke $99,111 over pollution at two of its plants with no requirement that the $50 billion company take action to clean up its pollution.

Environmentalists criticized the deal, which they contend was intended to shield the company from harsher penalties it would have likely faced in federal court. McCrory has denied his former employer received any preferential treatment from his administration.

The state agency withdrew from its proposed agreement with Duke following increased public scrutiny in the wake of the Dan River spill.

"Just a week after the state publicly abandoned its sweetheart deal with Duke and promised to 'enforce' the law, it has appealed a judicial ruling that confirmed the state's legal authority to enforce a real solution for coal ash contamination," said D.J. Gerken, a lawyer for the Southern Environmental Law Center. "We're disappointed that this administration remains so determined to delay through litigation rather than move forward to stop ongoing pollution of North Carolina's rivers, lakes and groundwater."

Federal prosecutors have filed at least 23 grand jury subpoenas as part of an ongoing criminal investigation into the relationship between state regulators and the company prior to the spill.

___

Follow Associated Press reporter Michael Biesecker at Twitter.com/mbieseck

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Online security flaw exposes millions of passwords

SAN FRANCISCO — An alarming lapse in Internet security has exposed millions of passwords, credit card numbers and other sensitive bits of information to potential theft by computer hackers who may have been secretly exploiting the problem before its discovery.

The breakdown revealed this week affects the encryption technology that is supposed to protect online accounts for emails, instant messaging and a wide range of electronic commerce.

Security researchers who uncovered the threat, known as "Heartbleed," are particularly worried about the breach because it went undetected for more than two years.

Although there is now a way to close the security hole, there are still plenty of reasons to be concerned, said David Chartier, CEO of Codenomicon. A small team from the Finnish security firm diagnosed Heartbleed while working independently from another Google Inc. researcher who also discovered the threat.

"I don't think anyone that had been using this technology is in a position to definitively say they weren't compromised," Chartier said.

Chartier and other computer security experts are advising people to consider changing all their online passwords.

"I would change every password everywhere because it's possible something was sniffed out," said Wolfgang Kandek, chief technology officer for Qualys, a maker of security-analysis software. "You don't know because an attack wouldn't have left a distinct footprint."

But changing the passwords won't do any good, these experts said, until the affected services install the software released Monday to fix the problem. That puts the onus on the Internet services affected by Heartbleed to alert their users to the potential risks and let them know when the Heartbleed fix has been installed so they can change their passwords.

"This is going to be difficult for the average guy in the streets to understand, because it's hard to know who has done what and what is safe," Chartier said.

Yahoo Inc., which boasts more than 800 million users worldwide, is among the Internet services that could be potentially hurt by Heartbleed. The Sunnyvale, Calif., company said most of its most popular services — including sports, finance and Tumblr — had been fixed, but work was still being done on other products that it didn't identify in a statement Tuesday.

"We're focused on providing the most secure experience possible for our users worldwide and are continuously working to protect our users' data," Yahoo said.

Heartbleed creates an opening in SSL/TLS, an encryption technology marked by the small, closed padlock and "https:" on Web browsers to signify that traffic is secure. The flaw makes it possible to snoop on Internet traffic even if the padlock had been closed. Interlopers could also grab the keys for deciphering encrypted data without the website owners knowing the theft had occurred, according to security researchers.

The problem affects only the variant of SSL/TLS known as OpenSSL, but that happens to be one of the most common on the Internet.

About two-thirds of Web servers rely on OpenSSL, Chartier said. That means the information passing through hundreds of thousands of websites could be vulnerable, despite the protection offered by encryptions. Beside emails and chats, OpenSSL is also used to secure virtual private networks, which are used by employees to connect with corporate networks seeking to shield confidential information from prying eyes.

Heartbleed exposed a weakness in encryption at the same time that major Internet services such as Yahoo, Google, Microsoft and Facebook are expanding their usage of technology to reassure the users about the sanctity of their personal data. The additional security measures are being adopted in response to mounting concerns about the U.S. government's surveillance of online activities and other communications. The snooping has been revealed during the past 10 months through a series of leaked documents from former NSA contractor Edward Snowden.

Despite the worries raised by Heartbleed, Codenomicon said many large consumer sites aren't likely to be affected because of their "conservative choice" of equipment and software. "Ironically, smaller and more progressive services or those who have upgraded to (the) latest and best encryption will be affected most," the security firm said in a blog post.

Although it may take months for smaller websites to install the Heartbleed fix, Chartier predicted all the major Internet services will act quickly to protect their reputations.

In a Tuesday post announcing it had installed the Heartbleed fix, Tumblr offered its users some blunt advice.

"This still means that the little lock icon (HTTPS) we all trusted to keep our passwords, personal emails, and credit cards safe, was actually making all that private information accessible to anyone who knew about the exploit," Tumblr said. "This might be a good day to call in sick and take some time to change your passwords everywhere — especially your high-security services like email, file storage, and banking, which may have been compromised by this bug."

___

Jesdanun reported from New York.

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Toyota recalls about 6.4 million vehicles globally

TOKYO — Toyota Motor Corp. is recalling 6.39 million vehicles globally for a variety of problems spanning nearly 30 models in Japan, the U.S., Europe and other places.

No injuries or crashes have been reported related to the recalls announced Wednesday. But two reports of fires are linked to one of the problems, a defective engine starter that can keep the motor running.

Some vehicles were recalled for more than one problem. The recall cases total 6.76 million vehicles for 27 Toyota models, the Pontiac Vibe and the Subaru Trezia, produced from April 2004 through August 2013.

The Pontiac Vibe, which is a General Motors Co. model, is also involved because Toyota and GM made cars at the same plant in California and the recalled model is the same as the Toyota Matrix. It was recalled for a problem with a spiral cable attached to an air-bag. It is unrelated to a separate GM recall over ignition switches linked to at least 13 deaths.

Subaru is partly owned by Toyota, and the model was the same as the Toyota Ractis.

For the recall, Toyota also reported problems with seat rails, the bracket holding the steering column in place, the windshield-wiper motor and a cable attached to the air-bag module.

The recalls affect a large range of models, including the Corolla, RAV4, Matrix, Yaris, Highlander, and Tacoma.

By region, the latest recall affects 2.3 million vehicles in North America, 1.09 million vehicles in Japan and 810,000 vehicles in Europe. Other regions affected by the recall include Africa, South America and the Middle East.

Toyota was embroiled in a massive recall crisis in the U.S. starting in late 2009 and continuing through 2010, covering a wide range of problems including faulty floor mats, sticky gas pedals and defective brakes. In response, it has become quicker to recall cars and

Last month, the Japanese automaker reached a settlement with the U.S. Justice Department to pay a $1.2 billion penalty for hiding information about defects in its cars. It earlier paid fines of more than $66 million for delays in reporting unintended acceleration problems.

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration never found defects in electronics or software in Toyota cars, which had been targeted as a possible cause.

The focus in the U.S. auto industry has recently shifted to another major recall problem, this time with defective ignitions in compact cars made by GM.

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Follow Yuri Kageyama on Twitter at twitter.com/yurikageyama

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Electrical device helps paralyzed men move legs

LONDON — Three years ago, doctors reported that zapping a paralyzed man's spinal cord with electricity allowed him to stand and move his legs. Now they've done the same with three other patients, suggesting their original success was no fluke.

Experts say it's a promising development but warn that the experimental treatment isn't a cure. When the implanted device is activated, the men can wiggle their toes, lift their legs and stand briefly. But they aren't able to walk and still use wheelchairs to get around.

"There is no miracle cure on the way," said Peter Ellaway, an emeritus professor of physiology at Imperial College London, who had no role in the study. "But this could certainly give paralyzed people more independence and it could still be a life-changer for them."

In a new study published Tuesday in the British journal Brain, researchers gave an update on Rob Summers, of Portland, Oregon, the first to try the treatment, and described successful results for all three of the other men who have tried it. All had been paralyzed from below the neck or chest for at least two years from a spinal cord injury.

The study's lead author, Claudia Angeli of the Kentucky Spinal Cord Research Center at the University of Louisville, said she believes the device's zapping of the spinal cord helps it to receive simple commands from the brain, through circuitry that some doctors had assumed was beyond repair after severe paralysis.

Dustin Shillcox, 29, of Green River, Wyoming, was seriously injured in a car crash in 2010. Last year, he had the electrical device surgically implanted in his lower back in Kentucky. Five days later, he wiggled his toes and moved one of his feet for the first time.

"It was very exciting and emotional," said Shillcox. "It brought me a lot of hope."

Shillcox now practices moving his legs for about an hour a day at home in addition to therapy sessions in the lab, sometimes wearing a Superman T-shirt for inspiration. He said it has given him more confidence and he feels more comfortable going out.

"The future is very exciting for people with spinal cord injuries," he said.

The study's other two participants — Kent Stephenson of Mount Pleasant, Texas and Andrew Meas of Louisville, Kentucky — have had similar results.

"I'm able to (make) these voluntary movements and it really changed my life," Stephenson said. He said the electrical device lets him ride on an off-road utility vehicle all day with his friends and get out of the wheelchair.

"I've seen some benefits of (the device) training even when it's turned off," he added. "There have been huge improvements in bowel, bladder and sexual function."

The new study was paid for by the U.S. National Institutes of Health, the Christopher and Dana Reeve Foundation and others.

Experts said refining the use of electrical stimulators for people with paralysis might eventually prove more effective than standard approaches, including medicines and physical therapy.

"In the next five to 10 years, we may have one of the first therapies that can improve the quality of life for people with a spinal cord injury," said Gregoire Courtine, a paralysis expert at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Lausanne, who was not part of the study.

Ellaway said it was unrealistic to think that paralyzed people would be able to walk after such treatment but it was feasible they might eventually be able to stand unaided or take a few steps.

"The next step will be to see how long this improvement persists or if they will need this implant for the rest of their lives," he said.

The National Institutes of Health is investing in more advanced stimulators that would better target the spinal cord as well as devices that might work on people who are paralyzed in their upper limbs.

____

Online:

Journal: www.brain.oxfordjournals.org

Foundation: www.ChristopherReeve.org

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Samsung's profit falls as smartphones get cheaper

SEOUL, South Korea — Declining smartphone prices hit profit at Samsung Electronics Co. for a second straight quarter.

The consumer technology heavyweight said Tuesday that it expects operating income of about 8.4 trillion won ($8 billion) for the January-March quarter, down 4 percent from a year earlier. Sales were flat at 53 trillion won. Samsung, the world's largest maker of smartphones, televisions and memory chips, will release full quarterly results later this month.

The operating profit was in line with the median estimate by analysts surveyed by FactSet. Compared with the previous quarter, sales sank 11 percent while operating income inched up 1 percent.

The year-on-year profit decline shows the challenge for Samsung to maintain earnings growth as smartphone prices fall. The devices are its biggest cash cow, accounting for more than two-third of its income.

The average price of a Samsung smartphone this year will likely be $275, down 9 percent from 2013, according to Chung Chang-won, an analyst at Nomura Financial Investment.

That is because smartphone sales growth is slowing in North America, Europe, South Korea and Japan while consumers in developing nations tend to buy cheaper handsets.

Chinese handset makers are also vying for customers in emerging markets. Samsung faces competition from a slew of handset makers in regions such as Southeast Asia where Lenovo and Xiaomi are expanding.

"In 2014, I expect that even more Chinese vendors will come in and they will put in greater investment in such emerging markets and they will pose a bigger threat" to Samsung, said Ryan Lai, an analyst at research firm IDC.

Latest data shows Samsung is fending off the threat at least in China. The maker of Galaxy smartphones sold a record number of smartphones in the world's most populous country in February, according to Counterpoint Technology Market Research. Apple Inc. tied Lenovo for second even after the launch of the iPhone through China Mobile helped the company boost sales.

Declining prices of smartphones also put pressure on profit margins for components that go into mobile devices, such as memory chips and display panels, two other key products made by Samsung.

Samsung is attempting to cut costs in response to its business challenges. Earlier this year, a mobile business executive said the company will reduce the proportion of ads and promotional fees to revenues. Samsung spent over $11 billion on advertising and promotions for handsets, televisions and other products last year.

Most analysts expected Samsung's bottom line to improve from the current quarter as the latest version of its flagship smartphone, the Galaxy S5, goes on sale worldwide from Friday. It selling the phone for slightly less than the previous version.

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High-tech items giving deaf-blind online access

SANDS POINT, N.Y. — Tanisha Verdejo loves to surf the Internet for shopping deals. She chats on Facebook, learns about new recipes and enjoys sending emails to friends and family.

Verdejo, who can't see or hear, could do none of that a year ago.

The 40-year-old New Yorker lives in a group home in Port Washington and is among the thousands of people with combined hearing and vision loss to have benefited from a pilot program called iCanConnect. The initiative provides low-income deaf-blind individuals with the most up-to-date telecommunications devices for free and special training to use them.

"For me, it's opened up my whole world," Verdejo said through a sign language interpreter at the Helen Keller National Center in suburban Long Island. The center, along with the Boston-based Perkins School for the Blind, is working with state agencies and others around the country to distribute items like refreshable Braille displays, amplified telephones and computer programs that allow for large print displays for those who may be vision-impaired but not entirely blind.

Much of the equipment is compatible with Apple devices such as the iPhone and iPad and connect via Bluetooth.

"Modern technology has rapidly progressed, and we are available to provide individuals with combined vision and hearing loss the best technology and telecommunications tools for their individual needs," said Thomas J. Edwards, president of Helen Keller Services for the Blind, which has 11 regional offices around the country.

For Verdejo and others, the changes have been dramatic.

"I'm able now to access anything I want," Verdejo said. "I mean, I have all these apps here and can see anything now. I see it through my Braille device. I'm just so thrilled and happy that I'm able to communicate with the world."

Established by the Federal Communications Commission, the pilot program allocates $10 million annually for low-income deaf-blind people to get the equipment. The program, which is in the second year of a three-year study, is open to individuals earning less than $44,680 annually, with income limits slightly higher in Hawaii and Alaska.

An estimated 2,000 people have been served by the program in its first 18 months, said Betsy McGinnity, a Perkins spokeswoman. She said the program has received positive feedback and was confident it could be extended beyond the three-year study period.

Dr. Christian Vogler, director of the Technology Access Program at Gallaudet University in Washington, D.C., said because the deaf-blind population is relatively small — about 100,000 in the U.S., according to one estimate — the high-technology devices are very expensive to produce. Some refreshable Braille displays — hand-held electronic devices that employ a network of tiny pins that pop up and down through holes, scrolling letters that a blind person can read — can cost as much as $6,000.

Software that enlarges text on computer screens can sometimes cost $800 to $1,000.

"There's not a lot of profit for these companies; the equipment is very expensive and most can't afford it," Vogler said.

Other devices include amplifiers that assist those with limited hearing loss to know when a telephone is ringing or computer programs that accent certain colors that may assist the vision-impaired.

Applicants for the technology go through a rigorous screening process to determine what specific devices could benefit them best, said Ryan Odland, the New York coordinator of the distribution program for the Helen Keller National Center. Once accepted, they are trained in the proper ways to use the equipment; the training is tailored to each individual.

"We do not order equipment for anything other than to gain equal access to telecommunications," Odland said. "We tend to be very thorough with our assessment to be certain what equipment our consumer wants is ideal for them."

He said there is no financial cap on what any individual may receive. "It's based on their specific needs," Odland said.

Although many of those eligible for the devices are known to officials at the Keller and Perkins facilities, the organizations are reaching out to others who may not be clients of either.

"We want to get the word out to seniors who are experiencing age-related vision and hearing issues," said Sue Ruzenski, acting executive director at the Helen Keller center. "And there are other groups of people that we may not always interact with that may be eligible for services."

Ruzenski said a $10 million annual allocation may not seem like much, but insisted: "We looked at it as a huge breakthrough for the deaf-blind community."

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Only 2 midsize SUVs get top rating in crash tests

DETROIT — Only two of nine midsize SUVs got the highest rating in crash tests done by an insurance industry group.

The Chevrolet Equinox and GMC Terrain, both made by General Motors, received the highest "good" rating from the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety. The Toyota Highlander got the second-best "acceptable" rating in tests of 2014 models.

But the Jeep Grand Cherokee, Toyota 4Runner and Ford Explorer got "marginal" ratings, while the Kia Sorento, Mazda CX-9 and Honda Pilot all were rated "poor."

The ratings are based on six crash test measurements done by the institute. Only the Equinox and Terrain got "good" ratings in a front overlap crash that mimics what happens when a car's front corner collides with another vehicle or an object like a utility pole. In the test, 25 percent of a vehicle's front end on the driver's side strikes a rigid barrier at 40 mph.

The test, instituted in 2012, is more difficult than the U.S. government's frontal crash test, in which a car strikes a rigid barrier head-on at 35 mph. IIHS says hitting only part of the front end makes it harder for cars to manage the energy from a crash. The test "continues to challenge manufacturers more than a year and a half after its introduction," the institute said in a statement.

The institute uses its crash test scores to prod automakers into adding safety devices or making their cars more crash-resistant.

The institute said the Equinox and Terrain, which are almost identical, were modified by GM in the new model year to strengthen their front structure and door-hinge pillars. In tests, the Equinox driver's space was well-maintained, and the crash dummy's movement was well-controlled, the institute said.

The institute changed its requirements for vehicles to get the "Top Safety Pick-Plus" designation this year. To earn that, vehicles must get "good" ratings in four crash tests, "good" or "acceptable" in the overlap test, and they must have available a front crash prevention system that either warns the driver of a crash or stops the vehicle with automatic braking.

Of the nine midsize SUVs, only the Equinox and Terrain and the Highlander qualified for "Top Safety Pick-Plus."

The Honda Pilot was the worst performer of the group, largely because the driver's space was seriously compromised in the overlap test, the institute said.

Honda said in a statement that with each redesign, the Pilot has been a leader in light-truck safety and driver-assist technologies "and we are committed that it will continue to do so in the future."

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Microsoft's Cortana to take on Siri

Microsoft's upcoming digital personal assistant gives us a glimpse into the future of how our smartphones and tablet computers will work for us: anticipating — not just responding to — our requests and our needs.

Named for an artificial intelligence life-form featured in its gaming series Halo, Cortana will launch with the upcoming Windows Phone 8.1 update. In its current state, Cortana is a combination of Apple's voice assistant Siri and Google Now, the Android-based version that is powered by the search giant's body of knowledge.

Cortana was announced last week. Demonstrations and reports indicate Cortana may at times act more like a person than a computer.

In designing its first digital personal assistant, Microsoft actually interviewed personal assistants. So ask her for the nearest good restaurant, and rather than giving you a list more than a dozen items deep, Cortana does research and comes back with one solid choice.

Cortana carries a digital "notebook" with some personal information and preferences, much like a real-world assistant would. If this all feels too invasive, a user can edit the notebook to limit the information Cortana receives. So she won't read your email unless you say it's OK. But what's the point of having a personal assistant if you can't trust that person — er, program — with your personal information. The ability to limit Cortana's access is likely meant to prevent the type of criticism prompted by Google Now's automatic email reading.

Much like hired help, Cortana can respond to phone and text messages, according to Microsoft.

As it learns more about you over time, Cortana becomes contextually aware, knowing who and what is important to you. For instance, you can tell Cortana, "Next time I'm talking to my wife, remind me to tell her how beautiful she is." Microsoft says Cortana will discreetly remind you just as Don Draper's assistant might do. Same thing if you ask Cortana to prompt you to get a present for your wife next time you're at the mall.

Cortana might be Microsoft's best shot at making a real dent in the smartphone market. It's the personality of Siri combined with the practicality and feature-richness of Google Now. And it has an advantage over both in that it will be a presence across all your devices — from your PC to your Xbox and Windows tablet.

Google and Microsoft are the only companies that could do something like this, and Google hasn't. Given that Microsoft is now giving Windows Phones away for free to manufacturers who want to run its software, this slow-to-grow platform couldn't do much more than it's doing to help its chances.

Over the years, lots of people have questioned Microsoft for continuing to throw money at Bing. But Bing is what allows Cortana to work. So maybe the people in Redmond really do know what they're talking about. After all, it seems they've created a personal assistant who's absorbed the entire Internet and knows what to do with it.

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Kitchensurfing brings chefs home

For people who want to entertain with talented chefs cooking in their homes — and learn a little about cooking themselves — it may be time to go Kitchensurfing.

Founded in New York in 2012, the company branched out into Boston last year, pairing customers with professional chefs and amateurs with a culinary flair.

"There's a novelty factor about having a meal prepared for you that's special and intimate," said Kitchensurfing founder and CEO Chris Muscarella, a self-described "competent home cook, but no chef."

"People are amazed at the food coming out of their kitchen," said Muscarella, who grew up in Framingham. "And instead of being stuck in the back of a restaurant, chefs get to actually see people enjoying the food they prepared."

After years of working in the tech industry, Muscarella helped open a restaurant in Brooklyn a few years ago and thought: "If a chef wanted to be an entrepreneur, how would they be able to do what they love without having to put up any money to do it?"

Muscarella's website lets people enter the number of guests in their party and their budget. Kitchensurfing connects them with chefs who send them menus that can be customized, and the price per person. Customers then pick a chef, who shops, shows up at their house, cooks, serves and cleans up afterward.

Chefs are vetted by the company in a test kitchen and set their own prices, with 10 percent of each transaction going to Kitchensurfing.

In Boston, there's Mark Hardin, who prepares a taco and burrito bar starting at $25 per person, and Bing Liu, formerly of Corton and Dovetail — two upscale New York restaurants — who offers a tasting menu beginning at $100 per person.

Jeff Gabel of Boston discovered Kitchensurfing through Twitter and in January hired Chris Borges and Jose Ordovas to prepare a nine-course tasting with wine pairings for two for $300.

"It was comparable to (opulent Back Bay eatery) Clio, but I didn't have to go out, and I got to learn how to make pasta," said Gabel, 25. "I would certainly do it again. I think it's changing how people think about fine dining."

Kitchensurfing chefs Borges and Ordovas, two Harvard graduate students who often cook together when they aren't studying immunology, prepared an elaborate dinner that included duck with dark chocolate and squid ink agnolotti, each stuffed with a single bay scallop and draped in mussel shell broth resembling sea foam, on a plate sprinkled with brown butter powder like sand.

"The beauty of Kitchensurfing is they let both amateur and professional chefs sign up," said Borges, who was trained by his father, a New York chef who graduated from the Culinary Institute of America. "It gives us the opportunity to hone our craft. Before, we would get a group of friends together and cook for them. But the stakes are higher when you're cooking for someone who's paying you."

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Tech stock sell-off spreads to Asian markets

HONG KONG — A sell-off of Internet and technology stocks that started on Wall Street spread around the globe on Monday, with tech companies in Asia hammered by worries about excessively high valuations.

Mainstays of the Internet economy such as Google and Netflix that have surged over the past year were hammered on Friday as investors had a change of heart and decided prices were too high. The technology-heavy Nasdaq had its biggest one-day drop since February.

"Perhaps the key equity story now is the horrible price action in the growth stocks, especially ones that trade, or at least did trade, on outrageous valuations," Chris Weston, chief strategist at IG Markets in Melbourne, wrote in a commentary.

In early European trading, Germany's DAX sank 1 percent to 9,602.92 and France's CAC 40 slid 0.5 percent to 4,460.49. Britain's FTSE 100 lost 0.3 percent to 6,672.31. U.S. stocks were poised to fall. Dow futures shed 0.2 percent to 16,324 and broader S&P 500 futures dropped 0.3 percent to 1,855.40.

Asian benchmarks started the week lower as the pessimism about tech companies proved to be contagious.

Japan's Nikkei 225 led regional declines, dropping 1.7 percent to close at 14,808.85. Japanese Internet company Softbank Corp. slid 4.6 percent. Yahoo Japan plunged 5.6 percent and e-commerce firm Rakuten Inc. sank 5 percent

South Korea's Kospi gained 0.1 percent to close at 1,989.70, with gains coming in the final minutes of trading after spending most of the day in the red. Naver Corp., which owns the Line messaging app, tumbled 6.5 percent, and NCsoft Corp., developer of online games such as Lineage, lost 5 percent.

Hong Kong's Hang Seng was down 0.6 percent to 22,377.15. Hong Kong-listed shares of China's Tencent Holdings, which owns the smartphone-based instant messaging service WeChat, fell 4.5 percent. Chinese software maker Kingsoft Corp. slid 6.3 percent.

Australia's S&P/ASX 200 shed 0.2 percent to 5,413.70 while markets in mainland China were closed for a holiday.

Investors this week will be looking ahead to some key releases for further clues on the economic outlook. On Tuesday, they'll be awaiting a policy statement from the Bank of Japan that may reveal whether the central bank will provide further stimulus. On Wednesday, they'll be scrutinizing minutes from the Federal Reserve's policy setting committee.

In currencies, the euro rose to $1.3718 from $1.3703 in late trading Friday. The Japanese yen slipped to 103.22 from 103.26.

In energy trading, benchmark U.S. crude for May delivery was down 53 cents to $100.61 in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. The contract rose 85 cents to settle at $101.14 on Friday.

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India's Sun Pharma to buy Ranbaxy in $4 bln deal

MUMBAI, India — India's Sun Pharmaceutical Industries is buying troubled generic drugmaker Ranbaxy Laboratories in a $4 billion deal, the companies said Monday.

The combined company will be India's biggest pharmaceutical firm, with annual revenue estimated at $4.2 billion.

Sun Pharma shares rose 1.7 percent. Shares of Ranbaxy, which is 63-percent owned by Japan's Daiichi Sankyo, were down 4.8 percent on the Bombay Stock Exchange.

Ranbaxy is the leading drugmaker in India's $26 billion generic pharmaceutical industry, but it has faced penalties from U.S. regulators for years. The U.S. has banned imports of drugs from two of its factories because of concerns about quality control.

The acquisition will allow Sun Pharma to tap Ranbaxy's global network and manufacturing capabilities. The combined company will have 47 factories across five continents and operations in 65 countries, said Dilip Shanghvi, Sun Pharma's managing director.

"In high-growth emerging markets, it provides a strong platform which is highly complementary to Sun Pharma's strengths," Shanghvi said. "We see tremendous growth opportunities."

Sun Pharma said the transaction value includes $3.2 billion in stock and nearly $800 million of Ranbaxy debt. Ranbaxy shareholders will receive 0.8 shares of Sun Pharma for each share of Ranbaxy with an implied value of 457 rupees, a premium of 18 percent to Ranbaxy's average share price over 30 days.

Ranbaxy shareholders are expected to own 14 percent of the new company and Ranbaxy's parent company, Daiichi Sankyo, will be the second-largest single shareholder.

Ranbaxy has annual revenue of about $2 billion.

The acquisition is subject to approval of shareholders of both Sun Pharma and Ranbaxy.

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AP reporter in stable condition in Afghanistan

KABUL, Afghanistan — An Associated Press correspondent shot and wounded while covering preparations for elections in Afghanistan was in stable condition Saturday and receiving medical treatment at a military hospital in Kabul.

Kathy Gannon, 60, a senior correspondent for Afghanistan and Pakistan, suffered three gunshot wounds in the attack Friday that killed AP photographer Anja Niedringhaus in the eastern city of Khost. Gannon was expected to be transferred to a hospital out of the country in coming days.

Niedringhaus, a Pulitzer Prize-winning photographer, died instantly of her wounds. She was repatriated to her native Germany on Saturday. A funeral announcement was pending.

An Afghan police commander opened fire on the two in their car with a Kalashnikov assault rifle after shouting "Allahu Akbar" — or God is Great, witnesses said. The officer then surrendered to other police officers on hand to guard a convoy of election workers delivering ballots.

The shooting took place on the eve of the presidential election, a pivotal moment in Afghanistan's troubled history. In what promises to be the nation's first democratic transfer of power, people in large numbers on Saturday defied threats of violence to vote for a successor to President Hamid Karzai.

A Canadian who has been covering unrest in Afghanistan and Pakistan for the AP for nearly three decades, Gannon received injuries to the shoulder and wrist in Friday's attack. She often worked with Niedringhaus, who was 48.

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Phone passwords go high tech

Traditional passwords, sometimes difficult to remember and easy to steal, are inadequate for increasing digital security needs and companies are answering the call with fingerprint sensors, voice biometrics and sound waves.

"User ID and password is how I logged into AOL in 1994," said Andrew Grochal, vice president of operations and finance at digital security company Certus Technology Systems, an early-stage startup that is testing logging onto websites and other secure locations like ATMs using high-frequency sound waves. "The user ID and password is a painful, horrible nightmare, and now everyone has a smartphone in their pocket that can send and pick up sound."

Certus works by sending a unique, one-time sound undetectable to humans ­— like a dog whistle — from a computer to a smartphone app, which then authenticates the user, said Grochal. Because the sound expires 0.3 seconds after use, Certus is significantly harder to hack, Grochal said. Another benefit of Certus, Grochal said, is not having to remember complex passwords.

"The goal is to fix both the user experience problem and the security problem at the same time," he said.

Certus has raised $375,000 from angel investors, and is running a pilot program with a local company. Grochal said the company will likely begin a second pilot in the coming months.

Digital security has begun to move beyond passwords after high profile username and password hacks with the addition of fingerprint sensors in both the iPhone and Galaxy S5, Samsung's flagship smartphone.

"Passwords are more unwieldy and less secure than some of these other methods," said Roger Kay, founder of Endpoint Technologies, a technology research and analysis firm.

Nuance, the Burlington-based company that powers Siri, added voice biometrics to its own personal assistant app last week.

"Entering a pin or a password is clunky," said Josh Lipe, director of mobile products and solutions for Nuance.

For consumers, Nuance is using the voice biometrics technology to improve personalization and understanding, but it offers voice recognition and authentication for businesses to address "increasing consumer dissatisfaction with PINs, passwords and security questions," the company said in a statement.

Lipe said voice biometrics could easily replace a pattern or PIN to unlock a phone, features that have not kept up with advancing technology. "2003 called. They want their features back," Lipe said.

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What’s causing RAV4’s tire pressure warning to light?

I have a 2005 Toyota RAV4 with 115K miles. Intermittently the dashboard's tire pressure warning light comes on, even when all tires are within 4-5 pounds. This is the indirect-type TPM system associated with the ABS brakes. I use the "blinks 3 times" method to get the light to stay off after verifying pressures. The dealer has no clue what is causing this and suggested just ignoring the light. The tire store verified that the tires are OK.

Three of my tires pass the "Lincoln's head" test, but should probably be replaced this summer. One is a warranty replacement so is a slightly different diameter than the others. I think the warranty tire was installed after this problem started but I'm not sure. Where would you start to run this to ground?

Toyota issued a brake system service bulletin in February 2006 that indicated that the Low Tire Pressure warning light can illuminate without cause due to a lack of or improper "re-initialization" after tire replacement or tire rotation. The "blinks 3 times" procedure you described is the proper re-initialization procedure, so it's time to check the tires.

Measure the rolling diameter of each tire by one of two methods. With all four tires at equal pressure, put the vehicle on jack stands and measure the circumference of each tire with a tape measure. Or park the vehicle on dead-level ground with the steering straight, mark with chalk the pavement and each tire at the tire's center-bottom point, roll the vehicle straight forward one tire revolution and recheck each tire's chalk mark. All four marks should be at bottom center of each tire. If not, mark the pavement at each tire chalk position and measure the distance between each mark with a tape measure. This will measure the circumference of each.

Since the indirect TPM system on your vehicle uses the ABS wheel speed sensors to "look" for a wheel/tire rotational speed difference caused by low tire pressure reducing the rolling circumference of a tire, I can't help but be suspicious of the warranty replacement tire. If it is more than about 3 percent larger in circumference, it may be triggering the TPM system due to its larger circumference and different rotational speed.

L L L

I would like to know what is going on with my 1998 Toyota 4-Runner. The engine makes this growling, groaning noise. It sounds like a power steering pump but the noise only appears when the weather is cold. During warm weather it hardly makes any noise. It has 160,000 miles on it, has plenty of pep and runs like a champ. I do not have any problems steering the car. Do you have any suggestions?

Have you ever had the power steering system flushed and refilled with fresh fluid? After 16 years and 160,000 miles, aerated and contaminated power steering fluid may well be causing the whine in cold weather. First, try adding a couple of ounces of SeaFoam Trans-Tune or similar power steering fluid additive. Better yet, have the system flushed and refilled with new fluid. I'll bet this stops the whine.

L L L

Recently on a road trip I was passed by a car on which one of its rear tires appeared to be bouncing up and down. A few miles up the road, it was stopped. That tire had blown out and had taken most of the back bumper with it. What causes a tire to be vibrating like that when cruising on the interstate at 75 miles an hour?

An ignorant motorist. I can't imagine the driver not feeling the vibration from that wobbling tire at that speed. Unfortunately, I've seen more than enough evidence of major problems that potentially affect vehicle safety being completely ignored by the motorist, primarily because nothing had happened yet.

In this case, I would suspect two possibilities. First, a tire that has suffered a structural failure or belt separation in the carcass or a progressive separation of the tread, which could explain the rear bumper damage. Secondly, a dead shock absorber/strut on that corner of the vehicle. The uncontrolled up-and-down movement of the wheel could lead to this type of tire failure eventually.

The moral of the story? If it doesn't look, feel, sound, smell or drive right, stop and investigate why. Not sure if anything's wrong? Have it checked out by a professional.

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APNewsBreak: Obama actions test workplace ideas

WASHINGTON — Lacking congressional backing to raise wages or end gender pay disparities, President Barack Obama is imposing his policies directly on federal contractors, following a long-established tradition of presidents exerting their powers on a fraction of the economy directly under their control.

This week, the president will sign an executive order that would prohibit federal contractors from retaliating against employees who discuss their pay with each other. The prohibition on the wage "gag rules" is similar to language in a Senate bill aimed at closing a pay gap between men and women. That legislation is scheduled for a vote this week, though it is not likely to pass.

In addition, Obama on Tuesday will direct the Labor Department to adopt regulations requiring federal contractors to provide compensation data based on sex and race. The president will sign the executive order and the presidential memo during an event at the White House where he will be joined Lilly Ledbetter, whose name appears on a pay discrimination law Obama signed in 2009.

This week's steps showcase Obama's efforts to take action without congressional approval and illustrate how even without legislation, the president can drive policy on a significant segment of the U.S. economy. At the same time, it also underscores the limits of his ambition when he doesn't have the backing of Congress for his initiatives.

Republicans maintain that Obama is pushing his executive powers too far and that he should do more to work with Congress. His new executive orders are sure to prompt criticism that he is placing an undue burden on companies and increasing their costs.

Federal contracting covers about one-quarter of the U.S. workforce and includes companies ranging from Boeing to small parts suppliers and service providers. As a result, presidential directives can have a wide and direct impact. Such actions also can be largely symbolic, designed to spur action in the broader economy.

"This really is about giving people access to more information both to help them make decisions at the policy level but also for individuals," said Heather Boushey, executive director and chief economist at the Washington Center for Equitable Growth who has been working with the administration to get compensation information about the nation's workforce.

"This is definitely an encouraging first step," she said.

Federal contractors, however, worry that additional compensation data could be used to fuel wage related lawsuits, said James Plunkett, director of labor policy at the U.S. Chamber of Commerce.

What's more, he said, such orders create a two-tiered system where rules apply to federal contractors but not to other employers. Those contractors, knowing that their business relies on the government, are less likely to put up a fight, he said.

"Federal contractors ultimately know that they have to play nicely to a certain extent with the federal government," he said.

Separately, on Monday, Obama will also announce the 24 schools that will share in more than $100 million in grants to redesign their schools to better prepare high school students for college or for careers. The awards are part of an executive order Obama signed last year. Money for the program comes from fees that companies pay for visas to hire foreign workers for specialized jobs.

The moves represent a return to economic issues for the president after two weeks devoted almost exclusively to diplomacy and the final deadline for health insurance coverage. A trip to Asia in two weeks is sure to change the focus once again.

Still, Obama has declared this a year of action, whether Congress supports him or not.

In February, Obama signed an executive order increasing the hourly minimum wage for federal contractors from $7.25 per to $10.10. While White House officials estimated such an increase would affect only a small percentage of federal contract workers, they said the move could encourage states or individual businesses to act on their own to increase workers' wages.

Obama has also pushed his workplace initiatives beyond just federal contractors where possible. Last month he instructed the Labor Department to come up with new workplace overtime rules for all employers, a power the administration has under the Fair Labor Standards Act.

But presidents have most direct power over the workforce that is paid with taxpayers' money.

Obama's go-it-alone strategy is hardly new. The most enduring workplace anti-discrimination laws began with an executive order signed by President Franklin Delano Roosevelt in June 25, 1941, outlawing discrimination based on race, color, creed and national origin in the federal government and defense industries.

President John F. Kennedy broadened that in 1961 with an order that required government contractors to take affirmative action to ensure hiring "without regard to their race, creed, color or national origin."

President George W. Bush also acted on his own when he ordered federal contractors to ensure that their workers were in the country legally by requiring the use of an electronic employment-verification system.

Jeffrey Hirsch, a former lawyer with the National Labor Relations Board, said presidential executive orders that affect federal contracting workforces can over time demonstrate that those practices are less onerous than initially imagined.

"It's an important step in implementing things in a broader scale," said Hirsch, now a professor at the University of North Carolina School of Law.

By employing such executive actions, however, Obama has also drawn attention to areas where he has chosen not to act on his own.

The White House has resisted pressure from gay rights advocates who want have Obama to sign an anti-discrimination executive order that would protect gays and lesbians working for federal contractors. The White House wants the House to approve a Senate-passed bill extending those protections to all Americans.

On Friday, the Human Rights Campaign, the nation's largest gay rights group, criticized the White House for saying such an executive order would be redundant if Congress were to pass a White House-supported bill. It's an argument the White House has not made when it comes to minimum wage or anti-gag rule orders imposed on federal contractors.

Follow Jim Kuhnhenn on Twitter at http://www.twitter.com/jkuhnhenn

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