Vettel seals historic world title defence

Germany's Sebastian Vettel became Formula One's youngest back-to-back world champion on Sunday when he finished third in the Japanese Grand Prix behind Jenson Button and Fernando Alonso.

The Red Bull driver, 24, who needed just one point to clinch the title, joins Juan Manuel Fangio, Ayrton Senna and Michael Schumacher as one of only nine drivers to successfully defend the world title.

He ran down the pit lane to celebrate with his mechanics after the race, which sealed the championship with four grands prix remaining following a dominant season with nine wins in 15 outings.

"There are so many things you want to say, but it's hard to remember all of them," Vettel said.

"I'm so thankful to everyone in the team, pushing hard to build those two cars. It's great to achieve the goal we set ourselves this year already.

"Today's race we weren't as quick on the soft tyres and we lost two positions, and it was difficult to get past Fernando."

At just 24 years and 98 days, Vettel outstrips fellow consecutive winners Alberto Ascari, Fangio, Jack Brabham, Alain Prost, Senna, Schumacher, Mika Hakkinen and Fernando Alonso as the youngest driver to achieve the feat.

Button's victory, which came after he passed Vettel in the second round of pit stops on lap 21, was his third of the season and the 12th of his career.

The McLaren driver finished 1.1 seconds ahead of Spain's Alonso of Ferrari, with Vettel's third place easily enough to secure the world title.

Australian Mark Webber was fourth for Red Bull, eight seconds adrift of Button, while Briton Lewis Hamilton of McLaren had another controversial race, clashing again with Felipe Massa of Ferrari en route to finishing fifth.

Schumacher was sixth for Mercedes, briefly leading the race after the final round of pit stops, while Massa was seventh.

Mexican Sergio Perez came through from 17th on the grid to take eighth for Sauber with a two-stop strategy, while German Nico Rosberg drove his Mercedes from second-last on the grid to finish 10th.

Vettel didn't lead last year's world championship until after the final race in Abu Dhabi, but this season he has never been headed in the standings.

Demi Moore seeking divorce

Demi Moore has consulted a divorce lawyer after the failure of a last-ditch bid to save her marriage to Ashton Kutcher.

The 48-year-old actress’s marriage hit the rocks after allegations that Kutcher cheated on her.

Kutcher, 33, is alleged to have had sex with 23-year-old Texan Sara Leal in a hotel at the end of September – at a time when the actor should have been preparing to celebrate his sixth wedding anniversary with Miss Moore.

Last night an entertainment industry insider said: ‘Miss Moore has been totally humiliated. On Friday, therefore, she consulted a lawyer about getting a divorce.

'The discussion included her living arrangements and how a divorce would impact her assets. She is worth about £97 million and Kutcher is also worth close to that.

‘This is a huge and very tough decision for Miss Moore to take. But her trust has been shattered.’

Miss Moore already had two broken marriages behind her – to songwriter Freddy Moore and actor Bruce Willis – when she wed Kutcher in 2005.

Pakistan players' participation in IPL to be discussed - Shukla

The participation of Pakistan players in next year's IPL will come up for discussion during the next IPL governing council meeting on October 14, Rajiv Shukla, the league's chairman, has said. Pakistan players have not taken part in the IPL following the terrorist attacks in Mumbai in November 2008, and even though 11 of them featured in the auction list for the third edition of the tournament in 2010, none were picked up by the franchises. Some of the franchises put it down to the uncertainty over their availability following a breakdown in diplomatic relations between India and Pakistan.

"This decision has to be taken by the Governing Council. It is not that Pakistan as a country has been banned in IPL," Shukla told PTI. "Their (Pakistani) referees' services have been utilised. Some franchises have taken Pakistani former players as coaches also and supporting staff as well. So it is not that Pakistan as a whole has been banned or something. There is no question of banning anyone."

The final call, however, rested with the franchises, Shukla said. "About Pakistani players, it is purely up to the franchises to decide whether they want to take Pakistani players or not. And we have to keep certain considerations in mind before deciding about it."

With regards to the resumption of cricketing ties with Pakistan, Shukla said matters of security and scheduling needed to be resolved before going ahead. He was also not too keen on the idea of playing at a neutral venue. "We have worked together. The question is about the circumstances and certain issues ... in terms of security. Those issues are to be sorted out. Then only, we can think of it.

"At the same time, there is no slot available. If there is slot available, then all these things can be discussed. Everybody wants cricket ties to be revived, to be resumed but slot has to be there to resume the ties.

"Secondly the atmosphere should be congenial because I am of the view that we should play on each others' soil instead of playing at a third venue. There is no point on playing at a third venue."

The termination of the Kochi franchise and the number of teams for the next IPL will also be discussed at the meeting.

Protest in New York

Protests against corporate greed and economic inequality spread across America on Thursday and found unlikely sympathy from a top official of one of main targets of scorn -- the Federal Reserve.

The Occupy Wall Street movement that began in New York last month with a few people has expanded to protests in more than a dozen cities.

They included Tampa, Florida; Trenton and Jersey City, New Jersey, Philadelphia, and Norfolk, Virginia in the East; to Chicago and St. Louis in the Midwest; Houston, San Antonio and Austin in Texas; Nashville, Tennessee; and Portland, Oregon, Seattle and Los Angeles in the West.

Dallas Federal Reserve President Richard Fisher surprised a business group in Fort Worth, Texas on Thursday when he said: "I am somewhat sympathetic -- that will shock you.

The Fed played a key role in one of the protest targets, the 2008 Wall Street bailout that critics say let banks enjoy huge profits while average Americans suffered high unemployment and job insecurity.

"We have too many people out of work," Fisher said. "We have a very uneven distribution of income. ... We have a very frustrated people, and I can understand their frustration."

In addition to the bailout, protesters have raged against corporate greed and influence over American life, the gap between rich and poor, and hapless, corrupt politicians.

"I'm fed up with the government, I'm fed up with the bailouts. If I fail at my job, I don't get a bonus -- I get fired," said Tim Lucas, 49, vice president of a software company, who was protesting in Austin.

Hundreds of people have been arrested in New York since the protests began last month. On Wednesday, the biggest crowd so far of about 5,000 people marched on New York's financial district, and police used pepper spray on some protesters. But protests for the most part have been nonviolent.

Pakistan says Obama pressure on militants hurts Afghanistan

President Barack Obama's warning to Islamabad over suspected ties to militants will only fuel anti-Americanism and make it harder for Pakistan to support U.S. efforts to stabilise Afghanistan, a senior senator said on Friday.

Pakistan is seen as critical to bringing peace to neighbouring Afghanistan, but the United States has failed to persuade it to go after militant groups it says cross the border to attack Western forces in Afghanistan.

"This is not helping either the United States, Afghanistan or Pakistan," Salim Saifullah, chairman of the Senate Foreign Affairs Committee, told Reuters.

"There will be pressure on the (Pakistan) government to get out of this war," he said, referring to the U.S. war on militancy.

Obama warned Pakistan on Thursday that its ties with "unsavory characters" had put relations with the United States at risk, as he ratcheted up pressure on Islamabad to cut links with militants mounting attacks in Afghanistan.

His comments are likely to deepen a crisis in the strategic alliance between the United States and Pakistan.

Obama accused Pakistan's leaders of "hedging their bets" on Afghanistan's future, but stopped short of threatening to cut off U.S. aid, despite calls from lawmakers for a tougher line over accusations that Pakistani intelligence supported strikes on U.S. targets in Afghanistan.

Pakistan says it has sacrificed more than any other nation that joined America's global "war on terror" after the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks on the United States, losing 10,000 soldiers and security forces, and 30,000 civilians.

Pakistan is often accused of playing a double game, vowing to help the United States fight some militant groups while using others as proxies in Afghanistan.

Ties were heavily damaged after U.S. special forces launched a secret raid that killed Osama bin Laden in Pakistan in May, which Islamabad saw as a violation of its sovereignty.

Protest in Syria

Syrian forces killed at least eight people when they opened fire to disperse protests against President Bashar al-Assad after Friday prayers (October 7) in Damascus and Homs, activists said, as Russia's president urged him to undertake reforms or step down.

The head of the British-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, said three died in the Damascus suburb of Douma, one in Zabadani near the Lebanese border and four in Bab Sbaa, a district in the central city of Homs.

At least 25 people were wounded, he said, in the latest round in almost seven months of demonstrations seeking more political freedoms. Assad has held autocratic power for 11 years and his late father for three decades before that.

Video footage posted online in social media websites showed several people bleeding seriously as they are evacuated away from streets echoing with the sound of gunfire.

Reuters cannot independently verify content uploaded to social media websites.

An activist told Al Jazeera television that protesters had burned the flags of Russia and China for blocking a European-drafted U.N. Security Council resolution urging Syria to end its six-month crackdown on protesters.

In the east of the country, four gunmen shot dead prominent Kurdish opposition figure Mishaal al-Tammo and wounded his son.

It was not clear who was behind the attack. Tammo, a charismatic figure who was released from jail earlier this year, was a critic of Assad who had also angered powerful Kurdish parties because of his criticism of Kurdish rivals.

There were reports that at least another two died at the Tammo's protest in Qamishli.

Reuters