Sebastian Vettel ended Lewis Hamilton’s run of four straight pole positions on Saturday when he secured the prime starting spot for Sunday’s Italian Grand Prix.

The government on Saturday described as “successful” the Monsoon Session of Parliament, which saw the passage of the landmark Food Security as also the Land Acquisition Bills. However, it failed to see through its plan to scrap the collegium system of appointment of judges, as Lok Sabha did not pass the Constitutional Amendment Bill before it was adjourned sine die late Friday evening.

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh unofficially announced the Congress Party’s prime ministerial candidate on Saturday, suggesting that party vice-president and Nehru-Gandhi family scion Rahul would be an ideal choice as his successor at 7, Race Course Road and he would be happy to work for the party under Mr Gandhi’s stewardship.

The battle for the final spot at the 2020 Olympics has entered its business end with wrestling, squash and a joint bid from baseball-softball hoping to emerge stronger from their existence crisis when the International Olympic Committee will take a call on their future on Sunday.

The Congress does not want the Telangana Rashtra Samithi to be merged with it before the Lok Sabha and the Andhra Pradesh Assembly elections due in early next year after realising that a merger could help the BJP in getting space in Telangana.

India-born maestro Zubin Mehta’s “peace” concert in Srinagar’s Shalimar Bagh was blemished by a series of bloody incidents, a protest shutdown and a parallel show at which local poets, singers and political and human rights activists attempted to showcase Kashmir in its “right perspective” on Saturday.

Young Mukesh Kumar, who had a liver transplant two years ago, fought all odds to return to competitive football. His hard work paid rich dividends and Mukesh was adjudged the player of the recently-concluded Delhi leg of the Airtel rising star football tournament in the capital.

With the BJP sharply divided over Gujarat chief minister Narendra Modi’s prime ministerial candidature, the RSS is trying hard to evolve a consensus on the issue to make an announcement before the “pitrapaksha” (considered inauspicious period) starts from September 20.

CBI investigations into the coalgate scam have revealed that the change in ownership of private companies affected the decisions of the coal ministry and the concerned state governments in favouring the allocation of captive coal blocks to particular companies.

Sumit Gulia’s all-round show (88, 7/38) went in vain as Telefunken Club edged past Madras Club by one wicket on the very last ball in a league match of the RS Rawat London Wood U-17 cricket tournament on Saturday.