Lewis Hamilton struck a fresh blow in the fight for the world championship title as the McLaren driver produced a stunning last lap to snatch pole position away from team-mate Fernando Alonso for tomorrow’s Japanese grand prix.

Hamilton’s time of 1m 25.368s in low visibility wet weather conditions around the Fuji Speedway edged out closest rival Alonso by just seven hundredths of a second to hand him a potentially decisive advantage for the 67-lap race.

Kimi Raikkonen’s slim championship hopes took a blow as he could only claim third in his Ferrari while team-mate Felipe Massa was fourth.

Hamilton punched the air with delight after nicking pole from his team-mate Alonso, who he has accused of disloyalty and unsporting behaviour.

He said: “It was a good session for us, the whole weekend has started off a little bit better than others. It was a good car today in tricky conditions. I’m very, very fortunate the team did a fantastic job in getting it set up right.

“When you’re out there you don’t really know where you are and they just timed it to perfection.”

Formula one supremo Bernie Ecclestone has stoked the fire burning between the McLaren title rivals by insisting he would “love to see” a dramatic end to the championship battle between the McLaren drivers.

And Ecclestone has claimed he would not mind the rivalry ending up with a crash on the last lap - so long as no-one is hurt.

“I can see them going off together. I’d love to see that,” he said. “Just like McLaren’s 50million fine it would bring a lot of publicity to the sport and it would be very dramatic. That’d be great.”

“If they crashed on the last lap the guy who is leading in the points should be the winner. That would be fantastic. The drivers have got to be careful no-one gets hurt.”

“In the old days they were a bit naughty but now it’s much safer,” he continued. “The racing has been good with Lewis, bloody good. People are talking about something other than the fact we don’t see [Michael] Schumacher any more.”

HAMAS yesterday increased its pressure on the Gaza group holding BBC journalist Alan Johnston, arresting one of its top leaders and labelling it a “threat” to Palestinian society.

The shadowy Army of Islam’s refusal to free Mr Johnston, now 112 days in captivity, has turned the Scottish journalist’s fate into the first major test of Hamas’s authority since its armed takeover of the Gaza Strip last month from Mahmoud Abbas’s Fatah movement.

Hamas had hoped a quick release of Mr Johnston would enhance its image in the international community, but instead the continued abduction is embarrassing the movement and raising questions about the extent of its control.

Hamas sources said that Khattab al-Maqdissi, spokesman of the Army of Islam, was arrested when he and companions opened fire on troops from Hamas’s Executive Force early yesterday.

The Army of Islam said Hamas “kidnapped” Maqdissi after he emerged from dawn mosque prayers. Hamas sources said the Army of Islam kidnapped ten Hamas supporters yesterday after Maqdissi was taken into custody.

The crackdown began last Wednesday as Hamas said it had arrested two Army of Islam members, including one from the Doghmush family, which runs the group.

The Army of Islam said that on Saturday Hamas kidnapped five of its members and killed a sixth.

The arrests appear aimed at giving Hamas bargaining chips with which to free Mr Johnston.

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June 15, 2007 — Rocker Partners LLC, a New Jersey hedge fund, switched legal counsel and hired David Boies’ law firm to defend it in an Overstock.com Inc. suit accusing it of attempting to drive down the company’s share price.

A California appeals court in May denied a motion to dismiss the suit, prompting Rocker to change law firms to Boies, Schiller & Flexner, of Armonk, N.Y., from Los Angeles’ Paul, Hastings, Janofsky & Walker, said Gavin Rooney, a New Jersey attorney who’s remaining one of Rocker’s lead lawyers.

Research firm Gradient Analytics Inc. aided naked short sellers of Overstock.com’s shares by issuing false and misleading reports on the company using information from Rocker, according to the 2005 complaint filed in California state court in San Francisco. The hedge fund also profited from shorting Overstock shares, according to the complaint.

Overstock.com, a Salt Lake City Internet retailer, sued both Gradient and Rocker, accusing them of libel and unfair business practices. The research and hedge-fund firms deny wrongdoing and say the lawsuit is an attempt by Overstock.com to silence its critics.