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The government on Monday recommended a speed limit for commercial ships along the Atlantic coast, where collisions with the endangered right whale threaten its existence.

About 300-400 of the whales are left in the wild, and they migrate annually between their southeastern Atlantic breeding grounds to feeding areas off the Massachusetts coast, intersecting busy shipping lanes.

The head of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration said Monday the new limit, the first to be instituted on the East Coast for a marine creature, was needed to assure its survival. The rule would set a speed limit of 11.5 miles per hour (10 knots) within 23 miles (20 nautical miles) of major mid-Atlantic ports and throughout the whale’s breeding and feeding areas. The new regulation would cover ships 65 feet or longer and expire in five years if not renewed. Boats from federal agencies would be exempt.

“The bottom line is that this critically endangered species needs our help,” said retired Navy Vice Admiral Conrad C. Lautenbacher, the agency’s administrator.

But the latest version of the so-called ship strike regulation differs from a draft released more than a year ago that was delayed in part because of objections from Vice President Dick Cheney’s office and White House economists over the accuracy of the science linking ship speed to whale deaths.

“NOAA’s decision on these measures is based on the best data and scientific understanding available,” White House environmental adviser James L. Connaughton said Monday.

The option selected on Monday and released with an 850-page analysis of its environmental and economic impacts is narrower than the 34-mile-wide coastal speed zone first proposed for the mid-Atlantic coast by marine scientists in June 2006. Last year, in response to questions from the White House, agency experts said moving the speed-limit zone closer to shore in that region would be less protective of right whales.

On Monday, agency officials said the reduced area still covered 83 percent of all right whale sightings.

Environmentalists said the changes were the latest to come from an administration that has consistently bucked scientific research.

“What we have seen over and over again where economics and partisanship and political interests bump up against the science, science loses,” said Francesca Grifo, director of the Union of Concerned Scientist’s Scientific Integrity Project.

The analysis published Monday said the lower speed limit could cost ferry operators $8.6 million in lost revenues annually, and even have an effect on the whale watching industry, which is expected to lose $1.3 million under the proposed regulation. The economic impact would take more of a toll on high speed vessels, which travel at 28 to 45 mph, versus ships and boats traveling at the normal 14 to 18 mph.

A spokesman for the World Shipping Council, a trade association for the shipping industry, said Monday he saw no scientific or statistical support for a 11.5 mph speed limit around mid-Atlantic ports. The association has argued that this area, stretching from New York to Savannah, Ga., is “where the science is the weakest and the economic impact is the greatest.”

North Atlantic right whales have been protected by endangered species laws since 1970, yet despite warning systems around heavily traveled ports, aerial surveys to map whales in shipping lanes, and improvements in fishing gear, their population has yet to recover.

From 1970 to 1997, researchers documented 41 right whale deaths, 29 of which were caused by ship strikes or entanglement in fishing gear. From 1997 to 2001, about one to two right whales have died from ship strikes annually, federal officials said.

The speed limit would be the first to be set on the East Coast to protect a species. The National Park Service has a 15 mph speed limit in place off Glacier Bay National Park in Alaska to reduce lethal ship strikes for humpback whales. There are also speed restrictions in Florida to protect the endangered manatee.

Environmentalists also criticized the delay Monday, saying that since the rule was first proposed in June 2006 two right whales have died because of ship collisions.

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh Tuesday said his government was putting in place a national network to facilitate sharing of knowledge and information among higher educational institutions of the country.

“We are putting in place an Integrated National Knowledge Network that would have nodes to all major institutions of higher education and learning,” Manmohan Singh said in his speech at a function in the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Guwahati.

“This network would help our institutions of higher learning to connect with each other and carry on the relevant interdisciplinary dialogue,” he added.

The prime minister said: “Collaboration and co-creation are becoming the hallmark of higher education today in an increasingly democratizing and globalised world”.

“Academic resources can then flow from institutions like IITs, IIMs, national research institutions and universities into each other enriching every participating institution.

“The first phase of the network will become functional before the end of this year and this IIT at Guwahati will be part of it,” he added.

He said the government is trying to universalize quality elementary education through the Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan scheme. “We are beginning a major expansion of secondary schooling.”

He said they are committed to building eight new IITs, seven new IIMs, 16 new central universities, 14 world class universities and five new Indian Institutes of Science Education and Research of which few are already functioning.

“We have tried to address the uneven geographical spread of higher education facilities in this phase of rapid expansion. The northeast, and in particular Assam, has received its due share of such institutions,” the prime minister said.

Of the eight proposed IITs, six have already started operation from the current academic session. With six new IITs coming into operation, India has a total of 13 IITs, known as the best engineering and technology institutes of the country.

New York and 11 other states are suing federal environmental regulators over greenhouse gas emissions from oil refineries, the New York attorney general’s office said on Monday.The suit, led by New York Attorney General Andrew Cuomo, charges that the Environmental Protection Agency violated the federal Clean Air Act by refusing to issue standards, known as new source performance standards, for controlling global warming pollution emissions from oil refineries.

“The EPA’s refusal to control pollution from oil refineries is the latest example of the Bush Administration’s do-nothing policy on global warming,” Cuomo said in a release. “Oil refineries contribute substantially to global warming, posing grave threats to New York’s environment, health, and economy.”

In ruling last year, the Supreme Court found that the EPA has the power to regulate greenhouse gases under the Clean Air Act.

Since then, the EPA head has said it is Congress’ job to regulate emissions of gases blamed for warming the planet.

Coalitions of states have also sued the EPA to require it to set standards for global warming emissions from power plants and to uphold the right of states to regulate pollution emissions from automobiles.

Monday’s suit, filed in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit, said about 15 percent of U.S. industrial emissions of carbon dioxide, the main greenhouse gas, come from crude refineries, which burn some oil as they make products like gasoline and jet fuel.

The suit seeks to force the EPA to control oil refinery emissions of greenhouse pollution and to order the agency to adopt the standards.

The EPA did not immediately return phone calls about the suit.

Former Pakistani prime minister Nawaz Sharif pulled his party out of the ruling coalition on Monday, deepening a political crisis that has diverted government attention from pressing security and economic problems.The move came just a week after the coalition parties had celebrated the resignation of President Pervez Musharraf in the face of the coalition’s threat to impeach him.

Sharif said the party of assassinated former prime minister Benazir Bhutto, which leads the coalition, had repeatedly broken promises on resolving a judicial dispute and on who should be the next president.

“We therefore feel that these repeated defaults and violations have forced us to withdraw our support from the ruling coalition and sit on the opposition benches,” Sharif told a news conference.

The departure of his party is not expected to force a general election as Bhutto’s Pakistan People’s Party (PPP), now led by her widower Asif Ali Zardari, should be able to gather enough support to govern, analysts say.

Sharif also said he would not try to destabilize the government. “We’ll play the role of a constructive opposition.”

The coalition, formed after Musharraf’s allies lost a February general election, had looked increasingly precarious since Musharraf resigned a week ago.

The PPP and Sharif’s party were bitter rivals during the 1980s and 90s, when Bhutto and Sharif were both chosen twice as prime minister, but they found common ground more recently in their opposition to Musharraf.

His departure undermined the logic of their alliance.

Sharif had pulled his ministers out of the cabinet after an earlier deadline passed to restore judges Musharraf purged last year. He had repeatedly threatened to withdraw from the coalition and last week set Monday as his latest deadline.

The PPP is reluctant to restore the judges partly because of concern the deposed chief justice might take up challenges to an amnesty granted to Zardari and other party leaders from graft charges last year, analysts say.

Before Musharraf sacked them, the judges — the former chief justice in particular — were quite willing to challenge his government on the legality of various decisions, a tendency the PPP may not view with enthusiasm now that it governs.

CANDIDATE

Another divisive issue is who should be the nuclear-armed country’s next president.

The PPP announced on Saturday that Zardari would be its candidate.

Sharif said that violated an earlier agreement with the PPP for a non-partisan candidate if the presidency retained certain powers, including to dismiss parliament.

Sharif wants the post of president stripped of powers, but a senior official from Bhutto’s party said at the weekend the question of powers would be dealt with only after the presidential election.

Sharif named his party’s candidate for president, a former chief justice, Saeeduzzaman Siddiqui. The pro-Musharraf Pakistan Mulim League also nominated a candidate, top party official Mushahid Hussain Sayed.

Members of the four provincial assemblies and two houses of the national parliament will elect a new president on September 6.

A spokesman for Zardari welcomed Sharif’s pledge not to destabilize the government.

“In a way, the coalition will remain intact,” said the spokesman, Farhatullah Babar. “We still hope Mr Sharif will rejoin the coalition.”

As the politicians bicker, militant violence has surged in Pakistan.

Pakistani Taliban gunmen attacked a district government official’s home in the Swat Valley, northwest of Islamabad, on Monday, killing three family members and seven guards.

Signaling what could be a new Taliban tactic to undermine foreign forces in Afghanistan, gunmen in the port city of Karachi set fire on Sunday night to two armored vehicles bound for U.S. forces in Afghanistan.

The violence and political uncertainty, on top of weak economic data, have undermined investor confidence and sent the country’s financial markets sharply lower.

The Pakistani rupee closed at a record low of around 76.60/70 to the dollar on Monday. Shares were nearly 2 percent lower

Pakistan’s stock market, which rose for six consecutive years to 2007 and was one of the best-performing markets in Asia in that period, has fallen about 30 percent this year.

Indonesia has called on Brazil, China and India to help revive the stalled Doha Round of trade talks at a meeting in September, a spokesman for President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono said on Monday.

Yudhoyono has contacted President Lula da Silva of Brazil, Chinese President Hu Jintao and Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to underline his concern at the failure of the ministerial-level World Trade Organization talks in July.

“In these three communications the president expressed his concern at the latest developments in the Doha Round,” spokesman Dino Patti Djalal said.

“He called on these leaders not to give up and to push for discussions to begin again, the President hopes in September.

“The President is very concerned about this issue because if discussions fail, the effects on the world economy and developing nations, for Indonesia, will be bad.”

It was not clear what form of meeting Yudhoyono was proposing or where, but Washington has also said it supports holding talks with a small number of countries in September to explore ways to restart the world trade talks.

US trade negotiator Susan Schwab said ahead of talks last week with WTO chief Pascal Lamy that the meeting could “clear the way, conceivably, for another round of ministerial engagement.”

The US trade negotiator suggested talks could start among a “small group” of senior officials from “those countries in leadership roles.”

The Geneva ministerial meeting ran aground after India and the US failed to agree over a special safeguard mechanism that would allow nations to impose a special tariff on agricultural goods if imports surge or prices fall.

Washington rejected Indian proposals that developing nations should be allowed to boost duties by an additional 25 percent on farm products if imports surged by 15 percent. Washington insisted extra duties should be allowed only if imports rose by 40 percent.

Brazil has also been pushing to revive the talks and India has said it would like to return to the negotiating table if the United States signals that the impasse can be overcome.

Britain continues to favour a tie-up between British Energy and French energy group EDF, Energy Minister Malcolm Wicks said in an interview published Monday.

Speaking to the Financial Times last week while on a visit to Lagos, Wicks said a deal with EDF was “the most sensible option” and added that the government thought “that’s the natural link”.

He added, however, that while the government was “very intimately involved” in the negotiations, British Energy’s future was “very much in its own hands”.

Electricite de France, Europe’s number one electricity producer, had been widely expected to confirm earlier this month that a deal had been struck to buy British Energy, which operates Britain’s power stations, but the deal fell through.

The offer was aimed at the British government’s 35.2 percent stake in British Energy — under takeover rules, any bid for the government stake would trigger an offer for the rest of the group.

Reports said earlier this month that British electricity and gas supplier Centrica may decide to offer 4.0 billion pounds (5.0 billion euros, 7.4 billion dollars), as well as shares, for British Energy to woo the government.

Centrica said earlier this month it was in talks with a “third party”, thought to be EDF, regarding a takeover of British Energy, though Centrica has also said it would consider merging with British Energy should it fail to strike a deal with the unidentified “third party”.

The British economy ground to a halt between April and June, ending nearly 16 years of continuous growth.

The government reported Friday that the economic performance is below the modest 0.2 percent growth that the Office for National Statistics had predicted.

It ends a run of 63 consecutive quarters of growth since the April to June period of 1992, when Britain’s gross domestic product shrank.

In the midst of the worst housing crash for 30 years, Britain’s construction industry was hit the hardest, the national statistics office said, with construction output falling 1.1 percent.

Meanwhile, manufacturing output fell by 0.8 percent

In the wake of Robert Plant & Alison Krauss, John Mellencamp and all that’s come before, T Bone Burnett is on such a producing roll that his presence threatens to eclipse the artist(s) he’s working with. But that’s hardly the case on B.B. King’s first new studio album in three years. Burnett’s concept for the 12-track set — to have the 82-year-old King revisit songs he played at the very beginning of his career — plays out in an inspired outing that finds King replacing the fire of his youth with a confident authority. King laces lyrical solos and fills into every song, a list that ranges from Blind Lemon Jefferson’s “See That My Grave Is Kept Clean,” T-Bone Walker’s “I Get So Weary,” Big Bill Broonzy’s “Backwater Blues” and the Mississippi Sheiks’ “Sitting on Top of the World.” The tricks aren’t new, but the old dog still has plenty of bite left.ARTIST: THE VERVE

ALBUM: FORTH (On Your Own/MRI/RED)

It was no big surprise that the Verve got back together last fall after a nine-year hiatus, but what’s stunning is the quality of this reunion album. More than any of the recent comeback efforts from like-minded groups, “Forth” not only equals the Verve’s best work, but in many cases exceeds it. “Judas” is the most beautiful song the band has ever written, its burbling guitar lines conjuring a gloriously bleary New York sunrise. “Valium Skies” is the kind of ready-made anthem that turned the Verve into a superstar in the first place, while “Appalachian Springs” and “I See Houses” are hard-hitting hybrids of emotion and virtuosity. Even more enticing are “Sit and Wonder” and the eight-minute “Noise Epic,” which reignite the psychedelic passions of the Verve’s earliest releases.

ARTIST: SOLANGE

ALBUM: SOL-ANGEL AND THE HADLEY ST. DREAMS (Geffen Records)

On her sophomore set, Solange not only takes on a sound that differs from her pop-driven 2002 debut, but she demonstrates that, unlike her sister Beyonce — who she vehemently refutes comparisons to on “God Given Name” — she has no reservations about sharing personal experiences. The breakup song “Valentine’s Day,” on which she gloomily sings, “I sure wish we made it till Valentine’s Day”; the regretful “T.O.N.Y.,” about a one-night stand; and the SoulShock & Karlin-produced “SandCastle Disco,” which finds her lightheartedly warning her Casanova not to break her heart, all demonstrate Solange’s frank approach. The electronica-inspired “Cosmic Journey” and the ’70s-drenched lead single, “I Decided,” further support the eclectic sound.

ALBUM: DO YOU BELIEVE ME NOW (Valory Records)

This talented singer-songwriter’s self-titled 2003 debut disc spawned four hit singles before DreamWorks Nashville shuttered, stalling his momentum, but this project is the perfect vehicle to reintroduce an amazing young artist. The bulk of the album comprises uptempo fare. Among the highlights are “No Good for Me,” a gorgeous duet with Patty Loveless, and “Kerosene Kid,” an autobiographical song about his impoverished childhood. That theme of hope triumphing over adversity continues on “Where You’re Going,” another powerful cut that finds the songwriter drawing on his tumultuous past. Wayne is a compelling songwriter and gifted vocalist, and this album heralds the arrival of the country format’s next major star.

ARTIST: DAVID PHELPS

ALBUM: THE VOICE (Word Entertainment)

David Phelps possesses a polished, powerful tenor that shines on any style of music, as this eclectic collection of songs proves. He admits to being frustrated in the past when people would comment that it seemed hard to find songs as good as his voice. He remedies that here by tackling such classics as the Righteous Brothers’ “Unchained Melody,” Foreigner’s “I Want to Know What Love Is” and even Luciano Pavarotti’s “Nessun Dorma.” Another highlight is the love song “Mine,” penned by Dennis Matkosky. Phelps also delivers a powerful rendition of the classic hymn “Angel Band” that’s sure to delight his Christian fan base, but this beautifully sung collection should expand his audience beyond the faithful core.

Hollywood studios are nearing the end of their summer of superheroes with domestic box office receipts expected to roughly match last year’s record $4.18 billion sum despite lower movie attendance.Led by the blockbuster Batman sequel “The Dark Knight,” U.S.-Canadian weekend ticket sales since May 2 are running just ahead of last summer, up 1.2 percent, according to box office tracking service Media By Numbers.

But with the number of actual admissions down nearly 3 percent from a year ago, the gain in revenues is fueled mostly by higher ticket prices.

With no other huge hits on the horizon before the U.S. Labor Day holiday on September 1, the 2008 vacation season will likely draw to a close at about the same level as last year’s summer tally, which crossed the $4 billion threshold for the first time, box office analysts said.

Brandon Gray of the Web site Box Office Mojo said Hollywood suffered in the second half of summer from a mediocre film slate propped up almost entirely by the record-breaking strength of “The Dark Knight,” now closing in on $500 million.

“If ‘Dark Knight’ failed to perform way above expectations, this would have been a decidedly down summer,” Gray said.

Paul Dergarabedian of Media By Numbers agreed, saying Hollywood was hard-pressed to repeat the success of last year, which was anchored by “threequels” “Spider-Man 3,” “Shrek the Third” and “Pirates of the Caribbean: At World’s End.”

Dergarabedian said keen interest in the Beijing Olympics may also have dampened moviegoing in August.

Economic woes and high gas prices cut both ways at box offices as cash-strapped families sought relatively cheap entertainment in the form of movies, but were more choosy about which films to see.

“They may not hesitate for one second to spend 10 bucks on a movie ticket to go see ‘The Dark Knight,’ but some of these other films, they may say, ‘Oh, I’m going to wait,’ or ‘I’m going to be a little bit more careful with my spending.’”

Comic book adventures with a twist proved to be the hot ticket of summer 2008, accounting for at least three of the top four films and nearly $1.5 billion in revenues.

“The Dark Knight,” gained much of its notice from the menacingly edgy performance of Heath Ledger as the villainous joker, his last completed film role before he died of an accidental overdose of prescription drugs.

Likewise, “Iron Man” kicked off the summer season in robust fashion with Robert Downey Jr. winning praise for his role as a wealthy weapons executive and playboy going through a mid-life crisis as he invents a high-tech armor suit to fight bad guys.

Those films have been the two highest-grossing titles of the summer, amassing over $471 million and $317 million respectively in North American receipts so far.

Ranked fourth, with $225 million, was “Hancock,” starring Will Smith as a hung-over, often reckless superhero.

Even the summer’s No. 3 movie, “Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull,” which grossed $315 million, could be classified as a superhero movie of sorts.

“The Incredible Hulk” was No. 10 with $134 million, while “Hellboy 2: The Golden Army,” landed at No. 24 with nearly $75 million. Other bright spots included chick flick “Sex and the City” and the animated hits “Wall-E” and “Kung Fu Panda.”

With the exception of “Dark Knight” and the musical “Mamma Mia!,” the box office had cooled considerably by mid-July. Of the 16 summer weekends so far, nine were down year-to-year in overall ticket sales.

In 2007, Hollywood boasted 14 summer films grossing $100 million or more, compared with 12 this summer. Four films last summer cracked $300 million, versus three this season.

Chairman of the TATA group Ratan Tata today said that the group could exit the Nano project from Singur in the interest of the safety of its employees, if violence continued there.

Ratan Tata said that even though it would cost a great deal to move but there was a concern about the safety of employees.

“We will move from Singur whatever the cost to protect our people,” he added.

On Thursday, Commerce and Industries Minister of West Bengal Nirupam Sen and Ratan Tata held talks over TATA Motor’’s small car plant at Singur.

Sen apprised Tata on the recent talks between the State Government and the Opposition Trinamool Congress party to resolve the Singur land impasse.

“Tata expressed concern over the recent activities at Singur and the proposed indefinite agitation of the Trinamool Congress demanding immediate return of 400 acres of land to farmers acquired for ancilliary industries of the TATA group,” Sen told reporters after the meeting.

Tata Motors started to build its factory in Singur in January 2007 to make the world”’’s cheapest car.

The much awaited one-lakh rupee car, Nano, was unveiled by Tata Motors chairman Ratan Tata in New Delhi in January this year, and it is likely to hit roads by October.

But the project, which has become a test case for the ruling Communist party in the State, has been opposed by some farmers who claim that the Government took their land against their will.

There have been regular protests in West Bengal this year over the acquisition of agriculture land for setting up industries.