Salgaocar regain Federation Cup 2011

Playing with the flair that made it the I-League champion, Salgaocar SC beat East Bengal 3-1 to regain the Federation Cup at the Salt Lake Stadium here on Thursday.

Having last won the title 14 years ago (1997) beating the same opponent here, Salgaocar repeated history in style. East Bengal, which was looking for a hat-trick of triumphs, was halted by Salgaocar's better organisation and efficiency.

Winning formula

Karim Bencherifa, Salgaocar's Moroccan coach, proved he possessed the winning formula becoming the first foreign coach to win the I-League and the Federation Cup in a single calendar year. This was Salgaocar's fourth Federation Cup title.

Nigerian Edeh Chidi began the scoring for Salgaocar before Francis Fernandes doubled the lead. Scottish striker Alan Gow reduced the margin converting a penalty, but Japanese substitute Ryuiji Sueoka took the match away from the host making it 3-1 late in the second half.

Morgan surprised all by starting with his favourite midfielder Mehtab Hussain. But the ploy failed as Mehtab limped off after only four minutes having aggravated a groin injury after a bad fall.

Chidi on song

Chidi realised the lead in the fifth minute putting the finishing touches to an assist from midfield by Elijah Junior. East Bengal introduced Sanju Pradhan in place of Mehtab, but the home side looked unsure in its formation and struggled to counter Salgaocar's offensives.

In the 19th minute, Chidi proved his class once again setting up right-half Francis Fernandes with a clever flick. Though Sandip Nandy, under the East Bengal bar, blocked the attempt, the ball rebounded to Fernandes, who did not make any mistake this time.

In the 23rd minute referee M.B. Santhosh Kumar of Kerala awarded East Bengal a penalty when Salgaocar's Brazilian defender Luciano Sabrosa brought down Orji Penn. Alan Gow found the goal from the spot to bring the host back into the game.

But, even as East Bengal groped for the right move, despite introducing Tolgay as the third attacker, Salgaocar found its third goal off a well-mounted counterattack.

Nandy made another error, spilling a cross from Chidi in the 66th minute. Sueoka, left unmarked, stole in to slot the rebound home.

Ivanchuk shocks Anand

World champion Viswanathan Anand suffered a rare loss, going down to Vassily Ivanchuk of Ukraine in the third round of the fourth Bilbao Final Masters here.

After two fighting draws, Anand did not achieve much in the opening with white, and once his position worsened Ivanchuk played in machine-like fashion to force a victory.

Carlsen loses

It was in fact a day of the underdogs in the Final Masters as World No. 1 Magnus Carlsen of Norway also suffered a shock defeat at the hands of low-ranked Francisco Vallejo Pons of Spain.

The other game of the category-22 event between Levon Aronian of Armenia and Hikaru Nakamura of United States ended in a draw.

After his second successive victory, Ivanchuk shot into sole lead with seven points. Overnight joint leader Aronian, meanwhile, slipped to the second spot with five points, and now has a two-point lead over nearest rivals Nakamura and Vallejo Pons.

Carlsen and Anand are currently languishing at the bottom of the table with just two points that came from two draws in the first two rounds.

The 42-year-old Ivanchuk came to Sao Paulo after a gruelling World Cup that lasted three weeks.

Ivanchuk had finished third in the World Cup, which gave him a berth in the next World Championship cycle.

It was not Anand's day as the Ukrainian went for the Jaenisch variation in the Ruy Lopez that is recently gaining momentum, thanks to the exploits of Azeri Teimour Radjabov.

Carlsen was quite unlucky as he let go a winning position against Vallejo.

Nokia Launches 700,701,600 with new Symbian Belle’s

Nokia on Friday launched three new smartphones - Nokia 700, Nokia 701 and Nokia 600 – powered with Symbian Belle’s 'Just Tap’ Near Field Communication (NFC) technology.

At an event in Bangalore, Nokia along with Divum, a Bangalore based developer firm controlled an all-terrain vehicle using the Nokia 701. The App running on the Symbian Belle device allows users to steer the vehicle through WiFi and lets them control the drive from anywhere on the globe. The camera fitted on the vehicle streams live video back to the Nokia device. This also brings motion sensing technology to real life, enabling users to steer and manoeuvre the vehicle by simply tilting the device.

At the launch, T. S. Sridhar, Regional General Manager- South, Nokia India said, “The smartphone market in India has rapidly evolved and is at a very interesting stage. Consumers are looking beyond basic functionality, seeking innovative technology in all smartphones. We believe our latest range will push the boundaries for future devices in this segment.”

Each of the three smartphones represents a distinct set of features - the Nokia 700 with the most compact touch screen, the Nokia 701 with the brightest mobile display and the Nokia 600 is touted as the ‘loudest entertainment smartphone’.

With the launch of these products, Nokia now has four NFC-enabled smartphones in the market in addition to NFC enabled accessories.

The Nokia 600 is priced at Rs. 12,999, the Nokia 700 at Rs. 18,099 and the Nokia 701 at Rs. 18,999. All three models are available across the country.

Nokia 700 - At 50 cubic centimetres, weighing 96gm and at 110 x 50.7 x 9.7 mm, the Nokia 700 is Nokia’s most compact smartphone in the Symbian range. Equipped with single-tap NFC sharing and pairing capabilities, a 1Ghz processor, 3.2 inch AMOLED screen ClearBlack display, 2GB of internal memory (with the option of using a 32GB microSD card for a total of 34GB), HD video capture and 5MP full focus camera with LED flash.

Nokia 701 - Incorporates Nokia’s brightest ever mobile phone display, based on a 3.5 inch ClearBlack display. It has active noise cancellation, provides single-tap NFC pairing and sharing capabilities, allowing content to be shared and sound to be streamed wirelessly to headphones and NFC-enabled speakers. The 701 also has a 1GHz processor, 8MP full focus camera with dual LED flash and 2 X digital zoom, 2nd front-facing camera and HD video capture.

Nokia 600 - Nokia’s loudest at 106 Phons. Built-in FM radio antenna for listening to radio without headphones and FM transmitter to broadcast music from your phone to any FM radio. Comes with 60 hours of music playback time

Samsung Launch 4g Phones in South Korea

Samsung Electronics, world's second-largest manufacturer of mobile phones, launched its first smartphones based on fourth-generation (4G) communication technology in a bid to meet growing demand for high-speed wireless services. Galaxy S2 LTE and Galaxy S2 HD LTE compatible with long-term evolution (LTE) technology were rolled out at a media event held in central Seoul on Monday.

The two new smartphones support LTE with data transmission five times faster than the existing third-generation (3G) mobile phones, featuring functions offered by Galaxy S2 smartphones, the company said.

Galaxy S2 LTE is equipped with an Android 2.3, or the latest version of the Android platform, a 4.5-inch wide Super AMOLED display and a 1.5 gigahertz dual core processor, while the Galaxy S2 HD LTE is featuring a 4.65-inch high-definition (HD) AMOLED display with 110 per cent natural colour reproduction and 180-degree viewing angle.

“The 4G LTE technology became the base for enjoying high-speed and high-resolution wireless services. The new products will meet rising demand for such services in an environment where global wireless operators are transitioning to 4G networks,” Shin Jong-kyun, President and Head of Samsung's mobile communications business, told reporters. Mr. Shin forecast sales of the new LTE smartphones would approach the ones of the existing Galaxy S series, adding that it might take time to reach the goal as the LTE networks have yet to be covered nationwide.

Global sales of the Galaxy S2 smartphones reached more than 10 million units since its debut in April, according Samsung.

The nation's top wireless carrier SK Telecom plans to offer LTE service nationwide by 2013, with the country's No. 3 mobile operator LG Uplus aiming to cover the service across the country next year.

Vettel won Singapore Grand Prix

Red Bull's Sebastian Vettel held off a charging Jenson Button to win the Singapore Grand Prix on Sunday and stand one point away from becoming Formula One's youngest double World champion.

The 24-year-old German led from pole to flag and despite a spirited challenge over the final five laps from Button in his McLaren, held on to move 124 points clear of the Briton with just 125 available from the five races remaining.

“You are one point away from achieving the title, brilliant drive,” Red Bull team principal Christain Horner told Vettel over the radio after the reigning champion took the chequered flag under the floodlights.

“Yes, yes, Singapore. We did it,” an emotional Vettel replied, whooping in delight.

The title is now set to be decided in Japan on October 9, unless Vettel fails to score and Button wins that race at Suzuka.

Vettel, who had opened a 22.7-second advantage before a safety car period halfway through the 61 lap race, crossed the line 1.7 seconds ahead of Button with Red Bull team mate Mark Webber a further 27.5 seconds back in third.

Ferrari's Fernando Alonso finished a distant fourth.

McLaren's Lewis Hamilton collided with Ferrari's Felipe Massa and collected a drive-through penalty before fighting back to fifth place ahead of Force India's British rookie Paul di Resta in a career-best sixth.

Vettel's victory was his ninth of the season and he only looked threatened when Team Lotus released Heikki Kovalainen into his path as they left the pits from their final stop.

Button closed late on as the leader eased up slightly but once the Briton ran into traffic on the final two laps, Vettel's victory was never in doubt.

The 2009 World champion is now the only man who can prevent Vettel from becoming the ninth driver to win back-to-back titles.

Vettel has 309 points to Button's 185, with Alonso out of contention on 184 and Webber on 182.

Button would need to win all the remaining races and the German, who has not finished lower than fourth all season, would have to fail to score in any of them.

Felipe Massa of Ferrari, who was the victim of a collision with Hamilton in the early stages of an incident-filled contest, finished ninth.

Mexican Sergio Perez, whose collision with Michael Schumacher saw the German eliminated from the race, finished 10th.

It was Vettel's ninth win this season and the 19th of his career. His Singapore triumph in sweltering humidity was heralded by an explosion of dazzling fireworks over the brightly lit cityscape.

Vettel won in one hour, 59 minutes and 6.757 seconds, a time that signalled the longest and most arduous race of the year.

He, Button and Webber stood still, drained and dripping with sweat on the podium at the end.

Vettel, from his 11th pole position, pulled clear with apparent ease to take control early on, leaving the rest to scrap for places in a flurry of action into Turn One, Sheares Corner.

And he hardly looked back from there.

The brilliant German appeared to revel in his supremacy and opened up a comfortable lead as Hamilton, on successive laps, produced perfect passes to climb to sixth ahead of Rosberg and Schumacher.

By lap 11, Vettel was seemingly in cruise control as the rest battled furiously — Webber taking third from Alonso, whose rear tyres were worn severely, Rosberg initiating the pit-stops and followed a lap later by Alonso.

Vettel's lead after 18 laps was more than 10 seconds.

Schumacher collision

He stretched it to 20 seconds by lap 30 when the race was red-flagged for the first time after Schumacher ran into the rear of Perez's Sauber car and made an airborne collision with the barriers.

This brought out the Safety Car and signalled a spate of pit-stops while Schumacher's wrecked Mercedes was lifted clear. The 42-year-old German was unhurt.

The results:

1. Sebastian Vettel (Red Bull-Renault) 1hr 59min 06.757sec; 2. Jenson Button (McLaren-Mercedes) +1.737sec; 3. Mark Webber (Red Bull-Renault) 29.279; 4. Fernando Alonso (Ferrari) 55.449; 5. Lewis Hamilton (GBR/McLaren-Mercedes) 1min 07.766sec; 6. Paul di Resta (Force India-Mercedes) 1:51.067; 7. Nico Rosberg (Mercedes) 1 lap; 8. Adrian Sutil (Force India-Mercedes) 1 lap; 9. Felipe Massa (Ferrari) 1 lap; 10. Sergio Perez (Sauber-Ferrari) 1 lap; 11. Pastor Maldonado (Williams-Cosworth) 1 lap; 12. Sebastien Buemi (Toro Rosso-Ferrari) 1 lap; 13. Rubens Barrichello (Williams-Cosworth) 1 lap; 14. Kamui Kobayashi (Sauber-Ferrari) 2 laps; 15. Bruno Senna (Lotus-Renault) 2 laps; 16. Heikki Kovalainen (Team Lotus) 2 laps; 17. Vitaly Petrov (Lotus-Renault) 2 laps; 18. Jerome d'Ambrosio (Virgin-Cosworth) 2 laps; 19. Daniel Ricciardo (Hispania-Cosworth) 4 laps; 20. Vitantonio Liuzzi (Hispania-Cosworth) 4 laps; 21. Jaime Alguersuari (Toro Rosso-Ferrari) 5 laps.

Overall standings:

Drivers: 1. Sebastian Vettel 309 pts; 2. Jenson Button 185; 3. Fernando Alonso 184; 4. Mark Webber 182; 5. Lewis Hamilton 168; 6. Felipe Massa 84; 7. Nico Rosberg 62; 8. Michael Schumacher 52; 9. Vitaly Petrov 34; 10. Nick Heidfeld 34; 11. Adrian Sutil 28; 12. Kamui Kobayashi 27; 13. Paul di Resta 20; 14. Jaime Alguersuari 16; 15. Sebastien Buemi 13; 16. Sergio Perez 9; 17. Rubens Barrichello 4; 18. Bruno Senna 2; 19. Pastor Maldonado 1.

Constructors: 1. Red Bull 491 pts; 2. McLaren 353; 3. Ferrari 268; 4. Mercedes GP 114; 5. Lotus-Renault 70; 6. Force India 48; 7. Sauber 36; 8. Toro Rosso 29; 9. Williams F1 5.

Twitter to allow brands to advertise in user's timeline

Micro-blogging site Twitter will now allow brands to advertise in a user’s timeline, regardless of whether they follow the advertiser or not.

In July 2011, Twitter launched promoted tweets, its own form of advertising, in users’ timelines.

Twitter users saw sponsored messages in their timelines, but only from brands and organisations that they already follow. Before that, promoted tweets had appeared only in search results and on the top of the Twitter trends lists. But according to the new system, Twitter users can be served adverts from a company in their personal timelines, regardless of whether they follow the brand, the Telegraph reports.

“This will be the first time that consumers will be exposed to adverts in their timelines from brands they don’t follow. Initially, we will make this feature available to a single-digit percentage of our global user base,” the paper quoted company’s spokesman, as saying.

“Of this group, we will only show promoted tweets to people from advertisers relevant to their interests,” he said.

“We are carefully measuring how users respond to and engage with these Tweets; based on this response, we will roll this capability out to a wider audience in the coming months,” he added.

Twitter users would be allowed to remove the advert, or ‘timely tweet’, from their timelines with one click.

According to the paper, Disney, Pepsi and Xbox, are some of the brand partners it is working with while rolling out this next stage of its advertising program.

Intel’s Ultrabooks on launch around $1,000

The world’s largest chip-maker Intel Corporation on Thursday said the new ‘Ultrabook’ devices being developed with its technology will initially cost around $1,000, but the price tag should fall below $799 in coming years.

Such a price tag would bring Ultrabooks, which are billed as being slimmer, faster and lighter than conventional notebook PCs, closer to tablet devices in terms of pricing, although Intel does not expect the computing devices to be in direct competition, as they cater to different categories of consumers with different requirements.

“Initially, the Ultrabooks should be priced in the sub-$1,000 (Rs. 45,000) category. But the prices should come below $799 and even further lower in the coming years,” Intel Vice-President and PC Client Group General Manager Mooly Eden said.

Speaking to journalists at the Intel Developer Forum (IDF) 2011, Eden said the price tag of around USD 1,000 could be too expensive for consumer’s budgets, but the ultimate objective was to make Ultrabooks available at a price that works for users.

Intel expects to kick off the first phase of the roll-out of Ultrabooks later this year with its second-generation Core processors, followed by third-generation ‘Ivy League’ processor-powered Ultrabooks next year and Intel’s next-generation Haswell processors in the third and final phase in 2013.

PC-makers are expected to start selling Ultrabooks in the U.S. market this holiday season and the product should be available in other parts of the world around the same time.

The final price of these computers, either for the U.S. or other markets, including India, would be determined by the computer manufacturers.

Mr. Eden dismissed suggestions that Ultrabooks would eat into the share of tablet PCs or other computing devices and said that various kinds of devices, such as smartphones, tablets and Ultrabooks, had their own functions and usefulness.

Mr. Eden said he expects the Ultrabooks to eventually become the mainstream computing devices for the users and his estimate for initial years was for 40 per cent of traditional notebook PC users to move to Ultrabooks.

“One would have to wait for at least two years to see the transition happening in this market,” he said, adding that tablet PCs would continue to have their own place in the market.

Asked about the slowdown in sales growth of netbooks, an earlier attempt by PC-makers to provide a smaller version of traditional laptop or notebook PCs, Eden said their growth was not hampered by tablet PCs or smartphones.

He said the growth of netbooks was primarily affected by various manufacturers dumping their inventories of traditional laptops in the market at competitive prices after the launch of this smaller version.

He said tablet PCs, priced at about $699, could not cannibalise the $299-priced netbooks, which were indeed good for their price point.

Earlier in the day, Mr. Eden demonstrated various capabilities of Ultrabook PCs powered by Intel chips at the Intel Developer Forum.

Mr. Eden said that Intel was working to provide computer-makers with chips that could enable them make the Ultrabook computers, which could run with very low power consumption and were thinner, lighter and sleeker, with better performance and an affordable price tag.

Federer pulls out of Shanghai Masters

Roger Federer pulled out of next month's Shanghai Masters on Friday because of injury with the former World No. 1 insisting he needs to rest after a gruelling year.

“After consultation with my team, I have unfortunately decided to pull out of the Shanghai Masters (October 9-16) in order to take some necessary time to rest and recuperate after a long summer,” Federer wrote on his website.

“I have some nagging injuries that I need to address and I look forward to returning to the ATP World Tour as soon as possible. I have very fond memories of Shanghai so I will miss this tournament and all my loyal Chinese fans.”

World's Cheapest Car Covered In Gold

When it comes to questionable marketing moves, this one may rank up there with Marie Antoinette’s infamous suggestion that her bread-less citizens should simply eat cake.

In an effort to spur flagging sales of its Nano micro-car, Indian automaker Tata has decided to take a jewel-encrusted version of the $3,000 two-door People’s Car worth $4.6 million yes, buy just one for the price of 1,533 Nanos and trot it around a country where a third of the world’s poor live on about 50 cents a day. By way of explanation, Tata chairman Bhaskar Bhatt said, “It’s only meant to travel around to showcase the Indian karigar’s (craftsmen’s) expertise.”

This particular Nano, commonly referred to as the world’s cheapest car, certainly does that. Artisans associated with the company’s chain of GoldPlus jewelry stores lavished the automobile with 194 pounds of hard-crafted 22-karat gold, 33 pounds of silver and 10,000 precious and semi-precious stones. The end result is a blinding chariot out of modern Bollywood, an automotive paean to some of India’s most iconic designs, colors and inherent beauty.

The micro bling machine was fittingly unveiled in a theater in Mumbai, and will go on a six-month tour of towns where Tata has manufacturing plants. The GoldPlus Nano is dazzling to the point of distraction, which is perhaps some of the point. Originally launched in 2008 with a 100,000-customer waiting list, the Nano has been plagued by Ford Pinto-like incidents of spontaneous combustion, the result of which were electrical system and exhaust safety upgrades for 70,000 owners. Sales have flagged markedly since that launch; August saw 1,200 sales, an 88 percent drop from 10,000 in April. Some analysts argue that the reason for the Nano’s sales decline may have less to do with safety issues and more to do with Indian consumers not taking well to the notion of owning the world’s least expensive vehicle.

Although Tata is well-known in its native land, particularly for commercial vehicles, the 66-year-old Mumbai-based company’s Western profile was raised in 2008 with its purchase of Jaguar/Land Rover. And now again, with the GoldPlus Nano — surely a car that no one ever asked for, but one that nonetheless is almost impossible to take your eyes off of, astronomical price aside. King Midas would have approved.

Leila Lopes of Angola crowned Miss Universe

Leila Lopes from Angola was crowned Miss Universe Monday night, smoothly handling an interview question about what physical trait she would change if could, while wearing a strapless cream-colored gown.

Lopes, Angola’s first winner, beat out 88 other competitors to win the title during the 60th anniversary of the world’s biggest beauty pageant. She replaces last year’s winner, Ximena Navarrete of Mexico.

“Thank God I’m very satisfied with the way God created me and I wouldn’t change a thing,” Lopes said when asked her interview question. “I consider myself a woman endowed with inner beauty. I have acquired many wonderful principals from my family and I intend to follow these for the rest of my life.”

The first runner-up was 23-year-old Olesia Stefanko of Ukraine and the second runner-up was Priscila Machado of Brazil. The third was Miss Philippines and the fourth Miss China.

Contestants from 89 nations on six continents spent the past three weeks in Sao Paulo, trying to learn samba dance steps, visiting impoverished children and kicking a football around for cameras as the globe’s biggest beauty contest is held in Brazil for the first time.

Before the contest began, judges offered little insight into who they thought might win.

“I know my job and I’ll be tough, but fair,” said pageant judge and journalist Connie Chung. “You have to keep in mind that these women are not objects just to be looked at. They’re to be taken seriously. I want to choose somebody I take seriously and the world takes seriously, too.”

Paula Shugart, president of the Miss Universe organization, was hyped for the night.

“It’s our 60th anniversary, it’s a very big show,” she said. “We’re anticipating close to a billion viewers from around the world.”

Shugart said it was fitting the globe’s biggest beauty pageant be held in Brazil at this time, as the nation prepares to host some major events in the coming years.

“I don’t think there is any doubt in the rest of the world’s mind that Brazil is the place, between hosting the Olympics and hosting the World Cup,” she said. “I love the fact we’re going to kick it off. I always say we’re the ‘World Cup’ of beauty.”

The contestants, who must never have been married or had children and who must be at least 18 years of age and under 27 years of age by Feb. 1 of the competition year.

The pageant, hosted by NBC “Today” anchor Natalie Morales and the Bravo network’s Andy Cohen, will air live on NBC and be distributed to about 170 countries. The contest is co-owned by Donald Trump and NBC, and will be judged by celebrities including Connie Chung, supermodel Isabeli Fontana and Indy race car driver Helio Castroneves.

Morales, who is half Brazilian, said that “what’s most important is for the women to be beautiful inside and out.”

For Cohen, the task of hosting is an easy one.

“It’s a fun job. All I have to do is stand there, smile and scream the names of countries,” he said.

Cohen said after the big event he would be taking advantage of Sao Paulo’s noted nightlife.

“I’m going to party hard tonight. That’s what you do in Sao Paulo. We’re going to see the sunrise tonight,” he said. “I’m going to samba ... and then I’m going to samba some more.”

Sharply dressed women and men were jostling for chances to have their photos taken with stars on the red carpet. Some traveled from across the globe to support contestants.

Jehona Dreshaj, 17, arrived from Kosovo to cheer on her sister, Aferdita Dreshaj, who is representing the European country.

“It doesn’t really matter the outcome, she is already a winner in our eye and we are so proud of her,” she said. “This has been an incredible experience for her and for all of us. It’s great for her to be representing our country in an event like this”

There have been no headline—grabbing gaffes going into this year’s competition, as opposed to past years that have seen controversies of various stripes. The show itself went off without a hitch.

Some of the contestants have complained to the local news media about the size of bikinis used in some photo shoots, with Miss Mexico Karin Ontiveros saying they were “very small.”

That was enough to draw chuckles in Brazil, where women from all walks of life, not just beauty queens, sport barely there swimwear on beaches throughout the country.

Miss USA Alyssa Campanella, from California, will be trying to end a long losing spell for the U.S. in the competition. An American has not been named Miss Universe since Brook Lee won the title in 1997.

The pageant started as a local bathing revue in Long Beach, California, organized by a swimwear company.

Vittel Won Italian Grand Prix

Nearing a second consecutive Formula One championship, Sebastian Vettel will be looking to draw on his personal success and end a trend of Red Bull struggles at this weekend’s Italian Grand Prix.

Vettel became the youngest winner in F1 history when he won at Monza in 2008 at the age of 21 when he was with Toro Rosso, but his fourth-place finish last year was Red Bull’s best result in six attempts at the historic track.

Recalling his 2008 win, Vettel said it is something he “will never forget”, adding that he had “goosebumps standing on the podium with the fans below.”

Vettel has won seven of the 12 races thus far this season and holds a commanding 92-point lead over team-mate Mark Webber in the drivers’ standings.

If Vettel wins this weekend, he could seal the title at the next race in Singapore later this month - depending on how Webber fares.

“Unfortunately it’s the last European race of the season. But we were spoilt with how good the race unfolded in Spa, so let’s hope Monza is the same,” said Webber, who finished second behind Vettel at the last race in Belgium.

Other former winners in the field include Michael Schumacher, who won a record five times - the last coming in 2006 after which he announced his retirement; three-time winner Rubens Barrichello, now with Williams; and Ferrari’s Fernando Alonso, who won for the second time last year.

Racing in front of Ferrari’s home fans, Alonso will be under immense pressure to repeat his win - especially with his victory at the British GP in July bring Ferrari’s only win this year.

Alonso sits third in the standings, a massive 102 points behind Vettel, with teammate Felipe Massa sixth, 185 points back.

“Winning in Monza is incredible, (and) winning there driving a red car is even more incredible,” Alonso said. “Being on the podium, seeing thousands of fans below you wearing red shirts and waving red flags is simply an overwhelming emotion.”

With average speeds of 250 kph (155 mph) and top speeds of 340 kph (211 mph), Monza is the fastest circuit on the calendar, as well as one of the oldest - with the Italian GP one of only four races to have survived from the first year of F1 in 1950.

The layout of the Monza track - slow corners followed by long, high-speed straights - means the KERS power boost system will be in use.

Cars can gain 0.4 seconds per lap at Monza with the help of KERS, according to the Mercedes team.

There are four places on the track - turns 2, 7, 10 and 11 - where cars accelerate from relatively low speed to near top speed, providing up to four boosts per lap, which are delivered to the wheels 20 milliseconds after drivers press the deployment button on their steering wheels.

The high speeds will also make it a key race for the new Pirelli tires being used this year, although the Italian manufacturer - with headquarters a half-hour drive from Monza - promises to be ready.

Monza was one of the testing venues for Pirelli before its inaugural season in the sport.

Samantha Stosur WON Womens US title

Samantha Stosur outplayed three-time champion Serena Williams 6-2, 6-3 to win the US Open, claiming the first Grand Slam title of her career in a stormy final.

Stosur kept her composure as Williams erupted in anger at the chair umpire in the second set yesterday, dominating the 13-time Grand Slam champion who had reached the final without dropping a set.

She became the first Australian woman to take the title in New York since Margaret Court in 1973, and the first to win a Grand Slam since Evonne Goolagong won Wimbledon in 1980.

"I had one of my best days and I'm very fortunate that I had it on this stage in New York," Stosur said. "Ever since I started playing it was a dream of mine to be here one day."

Williams arrived in the final after dismantling world number one Caroline Wozniacki in the semi-finals on Saturday night in a match that dragged toward midnight.

Jack Sock and Melanie Oudin won mixed doubles trophy.

American teenagers Melanie Oudin and Jack Sock helped restore some lost pride to the host nation at the U.S. Open on Friday when they won the mixed doubles final after Andy Roddick and John Isner were knocked out of the men's draw.

The pair, who were only allowed to play in the competition after organisers granted them a wildcard, vindicated their invitation by beating the Argentine pairing of Gisela Dulko and Eduardo Schwank 7-6(4) 4-6 10-8 (tiebreak).

“I gave him a few tips here and there, and we worked really well as a team,” said 19-year-old Oudin.

“We were wildcards and we didn't even know we would get to play but we get better and better.

“Hopefully we can play again next year, if he says 'yes'.”

The 18-year-old Sock, who made it to the second round of the men's singles competition after also getting a wildcard to the main event, gave his partner an instant reply.

Huber and Raymond beat defenders to win women's doubles

The American pair of Liezel Huber and Lisa Raymond won the US Open women's doubles title on Sunday with a 4-6 7-6 7-6 victory over defending champions Vania King, of the U.S., and Kazakhstan's Yaroslava Shvedova.

Huber and 38-year-old Raymond did it the hard way. They saved a match point in the second set then won two nerve-wracking tiebreaks to seal the title.

It was the sixth grand slam doubles title for Raymond and the fifth for Huber, who will rise to the number one rank in doubles with the victory.

“We have a ranking system and that is great - - but it's definitely not been my goal,” said Huber.

“My goal has been to play with Lisa and reach success with Lisa. This U.S. Open title is much bigger for me today than the ranking,” she said.

Raymond, who won her third U.S. crown, most recently won a major at the 2006 French Open with Australian Sam Stosur, who upset Serena Williams in the women's singles final played later on Sunday. It was the fifth grand slam doubles title for Huber, who last prevailed at the 2008 US Open partnering Cara Black of Zimbabwe.

Brilliant Djokovic beats Nadal to win US Open

Novak Djokovic shrugged off a back scare to defeat defending champion Rafael Nadal 6-4, 6-2, 6-7(3), 6-1 to clinch the US Open on Monday, his third Grand Slam title of the year in an epic, brutal final.

The World No.1 Serb, who had already won the Australian Open before defeating Nadal at Wimbledon, racked up his 64th win against just two losses all year.

But having been just two points from the title in the 12th game of the third set, his dreams were almost shattered when he dropped the set on a tiebreaker and needed a medical time-out on a strained back muscle.

Victory represented the top-seeded, 24-year-old's fourth Grand Slam trophy after making his breakthrough at the 2008 Australian Open.

Nadal, a 10-time Grand Slam title winner, slumped to his sixth defeat in six meetings in 2011 against Djokovic.

The red-hot Serb eventually triumphed in a four-hour, 10-minute final featuring breathtaking shot-making, rock-solid defence and gruelling rallies.

“US Open....it sounds unreal,” said Djokovic, who had to save two match points to beat Roger Federer in a five-set semifinal.

“It's an incredible feeling. I've had an amazing year. To play Rafa is always a great challenge and I hope we have many more tough matches in the years to come.”

Nadal, who faced 26 break points and was out-hit in winners with his 32 lagging behind the champion's 55, said he is determined to eventually overturn his losing run at the hands of Djokovic.

Comfortable first set

Djokovic arrived on court sporting a New York fire department baseball cap, a gesture appreciated by the 23,000 crowd, just a day after the 10th anniversary of the September 11 attacks. Despite the tricky, swirling breeze, Nadal was quickly on top, breaking for a 2-0 lead before the Serb hit straight back for 2-1.

Djokovic fought off three more break points in the fourth game and the Spaniard was made to pay when impressive court coverage allowed the Serb to bury a deep forehand to break for a 3-2 advantage.

A hold and another break, aided by two drop shots which left the struggling Nadal stranded at the back of the court, had Djokovic 5-2 ahead.

The Serb comfortably wrapped up the opener in the eighth game — his sixth in succession — when the second seed netted a backhand as Djokovic again closed in for a volley.

In a carbon copy of the first set, Nadal was 2-0 ahead in the next before a marathon third game, which lasted just over 17 minutes and included two exhausting rallies of 21 and 27 shots, was claimed by Djokovic on a sixth break point.

Doing it in style

He did it in real style, too, three times retrieving the ball from the back of the court before Nadal netted a volley.

The Spaniard was becoming increasingly irritated with his inability to sneak away from his opponent as well as constant movement in the stands.

Djokovic held comfortably before breaking a weary Nadal, when the Spaniard served a third double fault after a fifth game which featured another punishing rally of 28 shots.

Nadal avoided a double break in the seventh game and his sudden, new injection of confidence pushed him to even the set at 4-4. But it was another brief respite as back came the Serb with his sixth break of the final for 5-4 which was converted into a two-set lead when Nadal was made to look uncharacteristically heavy-footed as he fruitlessly tried to chase down a blistering Djokovic forehand winner.

In a rollercoaster third set, Djokovic broke for 2-1, Nadal hit back for 2-2; the Serb broke again for 3-2 before Nadal levelled again for 3-3.

Another lengthy rally, this time 31 shots, punctuated the eighth game where Djokovic saved a break point.

The Serb then nipped to 6-5 on his 20th break point of the final and was just two points from the title at 30-30 when Nadal hit back to take the set to the tiebreaker through which he cruised 7/3.

Djokovic then summoned the trainer for treatment on his back, but incredibly still managed to break for 2-0 and then 5-1 as Nadal's spirit suddenly wilted under a sustained barrage.

A razor-sharp backhand set-up match point and the title was his with a sweeping, killer forehand.

Roman Gladiator school discovered now in Austria

A virtual video presentation of the former Roman gladiator school that was found
by underground radar is provided by the Ludwig Bolzmann institute for archaeology
in Carnuntum, Austria, on September 5, 2011

A team of archaeologists has ‘sensationally’ discovered the ruins of a Roman gladiator school on the outskirts of the Austrian capital Vienna.

The find is one of the 100 hundred schools that the Romans built to train the fighters before they got involved in a brutal combat with each other.

The group from the Ludwig Ludwig Boltzmann Institute for Archaeological Prospection and Virtual Archaeology in Vienna discovered the school, which contains sleeping cells, a bathing area and a training hall with heated floors and a cemetery.

The school, which is the only one of its type to have been discovered outside Italy, has been mapped by the use of ground penetrating radar, but the ruins still remain underground.

According to officials, the find can compete the famous Ludus Magnus — the largest of the gladiatorial training schools in Rome — in its structure.

Radar scans show that outside the walls of the school, what archaeologists believe was a cemetery for those killed during training.

"This is a world sensation, in the true meaning of the word,” the Daily Mail quoted lower Austrian provincial Governor Erwin Proell as saying. The team now hopes to unearth a wealth of artefacts, including body armour, weapons, eating utensils and money from the site where warriors trained and lived 2,000 years ago.

Google buys Zave Network

Internet titan Google, which is on an acquisition spree, has bought digital coupons and incentives platform Zave Networks for an undisclosed amount.

Zave Networks is Google’s 19th buyout this year so far.

According to an estimate, Google has acquired over 100 firms in the last decade, starting with Deja, a company in the Usenet space that was later integrated with Google Groups.

This roughly translates into the purchase of 10 companies every year, on average, by Google.

Last month, the search engine giant said it would buy Motorola Mobility, the mobile phones division of Motorola Inc, for USD 12.5 billion in cash.

Zave Networks, a company founded in 2006, has announced on its homepage that it has been acquired by Google.

“We are delighted to share that Zave Networks has been acquired by Google. When we had the opportunity to join Google, we felt it was the perfect fit for our company and the perfect opportunity to rapidly drive the deployment and use of our platform to the next level,” Zave Networks said on its website.

“We’re humbled by the unending support our investors, retailers, advertisers and consumers have provided over the past five years and would like to thank each and every one of them. Going forward, we are excited about being part of Google’s efforts in this space,” it added.

The company did not disclose the financial details of the deal.

World's smallest electric motor with 1nm size

Chemists at Tufts have developed the world’s smallest electric motor made from a single molecule, a development that may potentially create a new class of devices with applications ranging from medicine to engineering.

In the new study, the Tufts team reports an electric motor that measures a mere 1 nanometre across, groundbreaking work considering that the current world record is a 200 nanometre motor. A single strand of human hair is about 60,000 nanometres wide.

"There has been significant progress in the construction of molecular motors powered by light and by chemical reactions, but this is the first time that electrically-driven molecular motors have been demonstrated, despite a few theoretical proposals,” said E. Charles H. Sykes, Ph.D., associate professor of chemistry at Tufts and senior author on the paper.

"We have been able to show that you can provide electricity to a single molecule and get it to do something that is not just random.” The study was recently published in the journal Nature Nanotechnology.

Argentina take over Venezuela in Kolkatta .India

The world's best striker Lionel Messi accomplished his responsibility as the captain helping Argentina down its Latin American cousin Venezuela by a solitary goal in a FIFA international friendly here on Friday.

A crowd of about 70,000 filled the giant Salt Lake Stadium to see the ruling deity of world football make an appearance.

The FC Barcelona icon did not disappoint his fans as he played the entire 90 minutes and helped Nicholas Otamendi find the winner with a finely set corner in the 67th minute.

Good start

Being the first outing for the Argentine national team seeking redemption under new coach Alejandro Sabella with Messi as skipper, the beginning looked good. The victory could have been bigger, but for some good work by Venezuela skipper Rafael Romo, who thwarted two good attempts by Messi and one from Gonzalo Hugain.

Sabella's attempt at re-invoking the flair that made the two-time World Cup champion one of the best attacking combinations in the world, reflected in the way the experienced coach tried a new combination of players to get the best out of Messi.

The challenge looked stiff as Venezuela, known for defensive orientation, packed men at the back to check the threat of the Argentine sorties. The novelty seemed to start at the defence as the Argentine coach pinned his hopes on a new combination of Martin Demichelis, Marcos Rojo and Otamendi.

The 30-year-old Demichelis, who plays for the Spanish club Malaga, proved good checking the thrust and speed of the Venezuelan attackers — Frank Feltscher and the veteran Jose Rondon.

Timely challenge

Demichelis's best came in the 16th minute when he produced a timely challenge on Rondon, who came threateningly close to the Argentine goal receiving a chip from Feltscher.

Venezuela, the surprise Copa America semifinalists, seemed to take inspiration from their recent performance and put up a tidy show dwelling on effective counterattacks. As the big gathering lent their cries for their favourite Messi's Argentina, there were moments of silence as Feltscher, Rondon and Cesar Gonzales sought their chances to finish the Venezuela attacks.