Kia recalls some Sorento SUVs; front axle can fail

DETROIT — Kia is recalling more than 9,700 SUVs in the U.S. and Canada because the front axle can fail and the vehicles can lose power.

The recall affects 2014 Sorento SUVs with 2.4-liter four-cylinder engines and front-wheel-drive. They were built from Jan. 7 through March 12 of this year.

Kia says the right axle drive shaft can crack and fail. If that happens, the SUVs can lose power or roll away when parked. The company says there haven't been any crashes or injuries reported.

Owners will be notified by letter. Dealers will replace the axle shaft free of charge.

The Hyundai Santa Fe, which is similar to the Sorento, was recalled for the same reason last week.

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Al-Jazeera America debuts as newest news network

NEW YORK — Al-Jazeera America signed on with a brisk hello from anchor Tony Harris before he got down to business with his network's first stories: continued turmoil in Egypt, shots fired at an Atlanta elementary school and more wildfires in the West.

With that, the network entered the cable news fray long dominated by CNN, MSNBC and Fox News Channel.

The Qatar-based Al-Jazeera Media Network launched its U.S. outlet only eight months after announcing the new venture, which replaced Al Gore's Current TV in more than 45 million TV homes Tuesday.

An hour before settling into its regular schedule at 4 p.m. Eastern time, the network aired a prerecorded preview of its programming and goals.

"We are here to tell the story the way it happens, as it happens," anchor Antonio Mora said as the preview began.

At the same time, the Al-Jazeera English network was suspended. It had been available since 2006 online and in a scattering of cable systems.

Headquartered in New York, Al-Jazeera America has vowed to provide unbiased, in-depth domestic and global news. It aims to strike a contrast to the "news talk" often favored by its Big Three competitors. (Its promotional tagline: "There's more to it.")

It has hired a number of veterans of U.S. television, including Harris, a CNN alum, and Mora, previously at ABC News. Other familiar faces include Sheila MacVicar (formerly of CBS News), Soledad O'Brien (NBC News and CNN), Joie Chen (CNN and CBS News) and John Seigenthaler (NBC News).

Scheduled programs include a nightly newscast anchored by Seigenthaler; "Consider This," a current-affairs hour hosted by Mora; "America Tonight," a newsmagazine described as the network's flagship telecast anchored by Chen; and "Real Money" with former CNN business correspondent Ali Velshi.

Besides New York, domestic bureaus are in Washington, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Dallas, Detroit, Chicago, Denver, Miami, Seattle, New Orleans and Nashville, Tenn.

The new network also will draw from the 70 bureaus parent Al-Jazeera operates globally.

Al-Jazeera Media claimed an instant U.S. foothold with its $500 million purchase of Current TV and the cable distribution of that little-watched network. Al-Jazeera America also is available from satellite providers DirecTV and Dish Network.

The breakneck pace of getting the network on the air rivals that of Fox News Channel, which was announced in November 1995 and signed on the following October. MSNBC had launched three months earlier. Before that, CNN, which pioneered the cable news format with its debut in 1980, had the field to itself.

Thanks to the deep pockets of its parent, Al-Jazeera America commands considerable resources with no urgent need to turn a profit, as evidenced by a stated policy to air just six minutes of commercials each hour, less than half the usual time devoted to advertising by most commercial networks.

But the channel also has challenges ahead. It will have to win over viewers to the serious newscasting it promises to deliver and overcome suspicion some Americans may feel for a news organization controlled by a foreign government or even see as anti-American.

Meanwhile, the network wasted no time demonstrating it will jump on hot-button issues, and make certain assumptions, that might turn off a portion of the public.

At 5 p.m. Eastern, on the first "Inside Story" discussion program, host Libby Casey, formerly of C-SPAN, led a thoughtful half-hour with a trio of experts exploring the threat of climate change to the U.S. No one present said its dangers don't exist.

___

Online:

Al-Jazeera America: http://america.aljazeera.com

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Danvers grocery awaits OK on alcohol

A Stop & Shop in Danvers may soon be selling beer and wine, the latest grocery store to take advantage of a change in state law that allows more supermarkets to carry alcohol.

The Route 1 grocery store's application was cleared by the town's Board of Selectmen earlier this month and must still be approved by the state's Alcoholic Beverages Control Commission.

A spokeswoman for Stop & Shop said it hopes to know for sure by September.

It would be the fourth Stop & Shop location to sell alcohol in the Bay State — joining branches in Hingham, Quincy and Malden — and the first attempt by the Quincy-based company to add more alcohol licenses since a change in state law went into effect in 2012.

Under the new law, grocery stores can increase the number of locations selling booze from three to five. In 2016, that number will grow to seven.

By 2020, grocery stores will be able to stock alcohol at up to nine locations.

A spokesman for Shaw's and Star Market couldn't say whether the supermarket has any current plans filed to add liquor licenses beyond the three locations in Cambridge, Franklin and at the Prudential in Boston, where it already sells alcohol.

A spokesman for Market Basket did not return a call seeking comment.

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Report: Medical industry robust in Massachusetts

Massachusetts continues to lead the nation in R&D jobs and federal research funding per capita, though smaller biotech clusters in New York and Washington, D.C., are growing at faster rates, according to the Massachusetts Biotechnology Council's annual industry report.

In 2012, the state's biopharma industry added 365 jobs for a total of 56,462, including 27,883 in biotechnology research and development — more than in any other state.

From 2007-12, Massachusetts added 3,227 jobs in biotech research and development, second only to California's 4,304. But the Bay State's 13.1-percent growth over that period was outpaced by Washington's 53.8 percent, New York's 41.7 percent and California's 22.5 percent growth.

"It says we maintain a very strong position nationally and globally, but it does also raise questions about what's next," said Peter Abair, MassBio's director of economic and global affairs. "We need to consider what's going on in smaller clusters like D.C. and New York and see if we can learn from that."

In addition to the jobs the biopharma industry added, the medical device industry added 205 jobs last year for a total of 23,151, a figure that is closer to more than 70,000 if jobs at companies that manufacture components of medical devices are included, said Thomas Sommer, president of the Massachusetts Medical Device Industry Council.

"It's modest growth," Sommer said. "It reflects the fact that the industry is challenged by the 2.3 percent medical device excise tax that went into effect Jan. 1."

Only California and Minnesota employed more people in the medical device industry last year, with 74,377 people and 29,087 people, respectively, according to the MassBio report.

Massachusetts also trailed California in National Institutes of Health funding in 2012. California received $3.47 billion — more than any other state — while Massachusetts came in second with $2.56 billion.

On a per-capita basis, however, Massachusetts led all states by far, with $391 per person, compared to $93 in California. And half of the top 18 NIH-funded research hospitals are in the Bay State.

Venture investment in Massachusetts biotechs declined from an all-time high of $1.07 billion in 2011 to $838 million last year, or 21 percent of all U.S. venture capital. Nationally, venture investment in biotech declined 15 percent in 2012.

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The Ticker

Netflix strikes movie deal with Weinstein Co.

In a drive to add subscribers, Netflix has expanded on a movie-licensing deal with The Weinstein Co. that will add more films to its Internet video service beginning in 2016.

The multi-year agreement announced yesterday builds upon a partnership that Netflix Inc. forged with Weinstein Co. last year. That deal gave it the streaming rights to the Oscar-winning film, "The Artist," as well as other foreign films and documentaries from the eight-year-old studio.

Two new auto insurers on the way

Two new auto insurance companies, Privileged Underwriters Reciprocal Exchange (PURE) and Esurance, will now be allowed to sell insurance to Massachusetts consumers, the state Division of Insurance said.

Fifteen new insurers have entered the market since Gov. Deval Patrick introduced managed competition in the auto insurance market in 2008, officials said.

Barnes & Noble quarterly loss up

Barnes & Noble said it plans to keep making its Nook electronic readers and will focus on offering content to its customers, even as its first-quarter net loss nearly doubled.

The quarterly results came as the struggling bookseller's chairman, Leonard Riggio, said he is abandoning his bid for the company's retail stores. Shares tumbled more than 12 percent.

TODAY

 National Association of Realtors releases existing home sales for July.

 Federal Reserve releases minutes from its July interest-rate meeting.

 Hewlett-Packard Co., Lowe's Cos., and Target Corp. report quarterly financial results.

TOMORROW

 Labor Department releases weekly jobless claims

 Gap Inc., Sears Holdings Corp. reports quarterly financial results.

 GZA GeoEnvironmental, Inc., an environmental and geotechnical consulting firm, announced that David M. Leone, left, has been promoted to associate principal at the company's corporate offices in Norwood. His areas of specialization include hydrology, hydraulic engineering, water resources, flood evaluation and site civil engineering.

 Seasons Hospice & Palliative Care of Massachusetts announced the appointment of Dr. James L. Baker as medical director. A nationally recognized expert in hospice and palliative medicine, Dr. Baker most recently served as medical director of VNA Hospice Care of Boston.

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Framingham’s TJX surges, lifts outlook

TJX — the corporate owner of the T.J. Maxx, Marshalls and HomeGoods chains — continues to impress investors with high earnings, showing its off-price big-brand "treasure hunt" stores remain popular amid an uneven retail climate, while the company prepares to launch web sales.

The Framingham company beat Wall Street estimates with earnings that jumped 13.9 percent to $479.5 million for the quarter ended Aug. 3, on sales that rose 8 percent to $6.4 billion.

The TJX Companies, Inc., has a markedly different operating model than most retailers, according to Stifel Nicolaus analyst Richard Jaffe. "They're selling nationally recognized brands at discounted prices," he said. "(Consumers) have to apply some energy in looking through the assortments, but they know that they will find good things at low prices, and that is very different from ... any other department store or specialty store."

TJX saw increased customer traffic and higher checkout receipts, with strong results in clothing and home goods.

"It is great to see a strong performance continue over such strong year-over-year comparisons," CEO Carol Meyrowitz said.

TJX narrowed the window for its T.J. Maxx e-commerce website launch, saying it will begin controlled test sales by late fall.

Meyrowitz isn't concerned about translating the "treasure hunt" experience to online, where customers, as in stores, may not always find items in the right color or size. "I believe it can," she said. "T.J. Maxx is a very well-known brand."

TJX shares hit a 52-week high of $54.41 yesterday, closing at $54.24, up 6.88 percent. The better-than-expected results, combined with a "solid start" to the current quarter, prompted the company to raise its outlook for the entire year.

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Buzz grows at HubSpot conference

Cambridge-based marketing company HubSpot announced its latest products yesterday, as the firm's founders celebrated their most successful year at an annual conference that is quickly expanding and on its way to becoming a significant Boston event.

Co-founders and MIT grads Brian Halligan and Dharmesh Shah took the stage at a packed main auditorium in the Hynes Convention Center to announce three new products for their marketing software, including tools to customize the content of a website based on the relationship a company has with the viewer, and a method of tracking what email recipients do with the message.

The announcement was part of HubSpot's four-day conference, Inbound 13, which is expected to draw more than 5,000 marketers, entrepreneurs and others this year. The number of attendees has nearly doubled from last year, and will prompt the company to move to the much larger Boston Convention and Exhibition Center for next year's conference, HubSpot spokeswoman Katie Burke said.

"We want Boston to be a destination for marketing events and tech events and we think Inbound is a critical component of that," Burke said. This year's conference speakers include polling analyst Nate Silver and Huffpo entrepreneur Arianna Huffington.

Seven-year-old HubSpot has been on a run of late, with revenue growing by 82 percent in 2012, Burke said. A new office opened in Dublin, Ireland this year, and the company is approaching the 10,000-customer mark, Halligan and Shah announced.

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Facebook aims to get more people online

NEW YORK — Facebook wants to get more of the world's 7 billion people online through a partnership with Samsung, Nokia and other large mobile technology companies.

Facebook Inc. announced a partnership called Internet.org on Wednesday. The company says its goal is to "make Internet access available to the two-thirds of the world who are not yet connected."

"By reducing the cost and amount of data required for most apps and enabling new business models, Internet.org is focused on enabling the next 4 billion people to come online," Facebook said in a statement.

The group's plans include developing cheaper smartphones and using mobile data more efficiently.

Javier Olivan, vice president of growth and analytics at Facebook, said the move continues what the company has already been doing to get more people online. This includes "Facebook For Every Phone," an app that launched in 2011 to let people with simple, non-smartphones use Facebook

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Staples 2Q results miss Street, cuts forecasts

FRAMINGHAM  — Staples said Wednesday that its net income dropped 15 percent in the second quarter as it closed some stores and dealt with declining traffic and lower sales of computers, ink and toner.

The office supply company's performance missed Wall Street expectations. It also cut its full-year earnings and revenue forecasts Wednesday, citing the weaker-than-expects quarterly results.

Staples Inc. earned $102.5 million, or 16 cents per share, for the period ended Aug. 3. A year earlier it earned $120.4 million, or 18 cents per share.

Analysts, on average, expected higher earnings of 18 cents per share.

Revenue fell 2 percent to $5.31 billion from $5.43 billion, weighed down in part by store closures. The performance was also hindered by declining sales overseas, which were hurt by softness in Europe and Australia.

Wall Street was looking for $5.37 billion in revenue.

The Framingham, Mass., company experienced softer sales of business machines and technology accessories, ink and toner and computers. This was somewhat offset by better sales of tablets, facilities and break-room supplies and copy and print services.

Many companies that offer computers and electronic devices have seen an increasing consumer shift to portable devices like tablets and smartphones and are trying to adjust their inventory to address such changing needs.

Revenue at stores open at least a year, which excludes online sales, slipped 3 percent on lower traffic and a decline in the average order size.

One bright spot was online sales, which climbed 3 percent.

Going forward, Staples now foresees full-year earnings from continuing operations of $1.21 to $1.25 per share. Revenue is expected to decline by a low single-digit percentage rate. Its prior guidance was for earnings of $1.30 to $1.35 per share, with revenue up by a low single-digit percentage rate.

Analysts forecast 2013 earnings of $1.32 per share.

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Facebook aims to get more people online

NEW YORK — Facebook wants to get more of the world's more than 7 billion people — all of them, actually — online through a partnership with some of the world's largest mobile technology companies.

Facebook Inc. announced a partnership called Internet.org on Wednesday. In addition to the world's biggest online social network, the group also includes Korean electronics giant Samsung, Finnish handset maker Nokia and wireless chip maker Qualcomm Inc.

Facebook said the group's goal is to "make Internet access available to the two-thirds of the world who are not yet connected" — about 5 billion people.

The group's plans include developing cheaper smartphones and tools that would reduce the amount of data required to run apps. For Facebook, the move would certainly add more users to its current 1.15 billion, but CEO Mark Zuckerberg paints it as something bigger.

"For nine years, we've been on a mission to connect the world. We now connect more than 1 billion people, but to connect the next 5 billion we must solve a much bigger problem: the vast majority of people don't have access to the internet," Zuckerberg wrote on his Facebook page along with a paper titled "Is Connectivity A Human Right?"

He points out that the people who already use Facebook "have way more money than the rest of the world combined." That means it may "not actually be pro?table for us to serve the next few billion people for a very long time, if ever. But we believe everyone deserves to be connected."

Javier Olivan, vice president of growth and analytics at Facebook, said the move continues what the company has already been doing to get more people online. This includes "Facebook For Every Phone," an app that launched in 2011 to let people with simple, non-smartphones use Facebook.

Wireless equipment company Ericsson, Web browser developer Opera Software and MediaTek, another wireless semiconductor company, are also founding members of Internet.org.

Google Inc., which is not a part of the Internet.org effort, launched a similar undertaking earlier this year with the goal of getting everyone on Earth online. Called Project Loon, the project launched Internet-beaming antennas abroad giant helium balloons into the stratosphere.

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