Saturday, January 30, 2010

England captain John Terry booed on the pitch as affair with team mate's girlfriend is revealed -Surely the serial brawler, drinker and womaniser John Terry can't remain captain of his country?






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Another night on the town: A bleary-eyed John terry leaving a London club

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Family man: Terry and his wife Toni Poole take their twins for a stroll in 2006. Terry cultivate a family man to secure a 4 million pounds of advertisements.Leakage of affair with team mate wife can cause cancellation of these advertisements.


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Feeling the pressure: A tired and sheepish-looking John Terry warming up with his Chelsea teammates at Turf Moor Stadium in Burnley today






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John Terry leaves the Dunkenhalgh Hotel in Accrington, Lancashire, this afternoon. He is due to captain Chelsea in their match against Burnley

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The triangle: Terry sitting beside Perroncel and Bridge during a Carling Cup match in 2007



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Friends in high places: Perroncel pictured with fellow Chelsea WAG Cheryl Cole during a holiday in the south of France last year



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Wayne Bridge consoles England team mate John Terry following defeat during the FIFA World Cup Germany 2006 quarter-final
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Betrayed: Father-of-two John Terry, pictured with his wife Toni, had an affair with his former Chelsea team-mate Wayne Bridge's girlfriend Vanessa Perroncel
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Sultry: Apart from appearing in lads' mags Vanessa Perroncel she has also posed with Ali G
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Friends: Toni Terry and Vanessa Perroncel spent time together during the 2006 World Cup in Germany


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Advertising frontman: The revelation of adultery could prove damaging to Terry's many sponsorship deals



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Living apart: Bridge, pictured with Miss Perroncel and their child, moved from his Surrey home to Cheshire when he transferred to Manchester City in January 2009




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Lover: Miss Perroncel(Right) is understood to have been offered £1 in return for signing a confidentiality agreement

England captain John Terry was booed on the football terraces this afternoon after it was revealed he had cheated on his wife with a team-mate's girlfriend.

Whenever the disgraced £170,000-a-week Chelsea captain touched the ball, he was jeered from the terraces of Turf Moor Stadium.

While the boos didn't appear to distract Terry from the game, he was given a yellow card just 18 minutes in after a foul.

His yellow card prompted fans to cheer 'same old Terry, always cheating', which appeared to have a double meaning now.

Terry's sheepish appearance on the pitch today comes after reports broke yesterday of his affair with French underwear model Vanessa Perroncel - his wife's best friend and the partner of fellow England defender Wayne Bridge.

Terry, 29, who has three-year-old twins with his childhood sweetheart Toni, is facing a backlash from players and fans fearing the storm will rock the England squad and ruin the team's chances at this summer's World Cup in South Africa.

Leading Chelsea out for their Premiership clash with Burnley this evening, Terry looked strained and tired as he walked onto the pitch accompanied by two young fans.

Earlier, he refused to talk about the allegations as he left the team's hotel in Accrington for the game, but stopped to sign an autograph for a fan.

An insider said Terry had to be consoled by staff on the teach coach and was 'in bits' after reading today's newspapers.

Celebrity publicist Max Clifford confirmed that he has taken on Perroncel as a client after she phoned him last night.

Mr Clifford, who is on holiday in Spain, said the woman is currently monitoring reports of the allegations and is considering what to do next.

'I think she really wants to read the papers, see what is said and decide from there,' he said.

Mr Clifford said he plans to meet the woman tomorrow after he flies back to Britain.

While the rest of the parties involved have kept silent, her ex-partner Bridge released a statement through his lawyer today appealing for privacy.

He said: 'I have read the press reporting in the last two days. The reports deal with matters which are of a deeply personal and private nature.
'My primary concern is the welfare of my son. Therefore, I intend to make no comment whatsoever either now or in the future about these reports and ask that my privacy is respected.'

Within minutes of the story breaking on Friday, the internet was awash with angry calls for Terry to be stripped of the captaincy.

The Chelsea star had initially used human rights laws to obtain a gagging order against the press, claiming his right to a 'private and family life'.

But the judge who threw out the order said he thought Terry was more concerned about the threat to his lucrative sponsorship deals.

Even the existence of the so-called 'super-injunction' was supposed to be a secret. But in a landmark ruling for press freedom, Mr Justice Tugendhat ruled that the public had a right to know.

He told the High Court that people should have the right to criticise 'socially harmful' behaviour because freedom of speech is as important as the right to privacy.

Experts believe his ruling could open the floodgates to more revelations - high on the list being the identity of the Premier League manager recently accused of visiting a brothel.

The decision will shatter Terry's recently-acquired family man image and could lose him millions in commercial sponsorships.

But the judge said Terry had made no mention of personal distress and appeared to be 'a very robust personality.' He said the secrecy claim was more likely to be about 'protection of reputation' and was 'essentially a business matter'.

The judge was critical of the way Terry, his business partners and Schillings, one of the best-known celebrity law firms, had tried to keep the affair under wraps.

Terry, recently crowned celebrity 'father of the year', was not in court and kept out of public sight as the scandal broke.

He has long been close friends with Bridge and until recently they were neighbours in a gated community in Surrey. Bridge was with Terry at Chelsea for five years until he moved to Manchester City in 2008.
Until last week, no one knew that Terry was having a secret sexual affair with Bridge's girlfriend. When Miss Perroncel's relationship with Bridge collapsed last July, it was to Terry's wife Toni, her best friend, that she turned for support. The two women are even understood to have holidayed together.

The court has not said when Terry's affair began or how long it lasted, but there was one unconfirmed suggestion that it was still going as recently as last month.

The alleged relationship had 'consequences', the court heard - but their nature was not spelt out.

Sources close to Bridge said he was 'in bits'. The 29-year-old has a three-year-old son with Miss Perroncel.

Jaydon Jean Claude Bridge was born in November 2006 but when Bridge moved to Manchester City a year ago, Miss Perroncel remained in their Surrey mansion.

Bridge said nothing when he was asked about his teammate's behaviour yesterday as he left his club's training ground before returning to his £2million rented mansion in Alderley Edge, Cheshire.

But even fellow England stars - not always known for their family values - were privately condemning Terry for 'crossing the line' in sleeping with a teammate's partner.
He also faces the wrath of England manager Fabio Capello - the Italian has famously strict moral values. Capello will come under pressure to strip Terry of the England captaincy if his off-field behaviour is causing a rift in the team.

FA insiders claimed Terry's future depended on how fellow players react to him before a friendly against Egypt in March.

Yesterday there was no sign of Terry at his £4million home where, on Monday, he confessed his infidelity to his wife. Terry has previously admitted to cheating on Toni.

In 2005, two years before marrying, he said: 'I've misbehaved and slept with girls behind her back. I'm not going to cheat on her ever again and I want to marry her more than anything.'

But the day he was quoted, it emerged he had a fling with a blonde - and even borrowed his friend Bridge's £4million house as a love nest.

His alleged lover Shalimar Wimble, 25, told a Sunday newspaper: 'John never mentioned his fiancée Toni to me - I guess that's why he took me to Wayne's place.'
Yesterday the judge made it clear he thought Terry's history as a love rat was very much relevant in deciding whether he should be allowed to keep his latest transgression a secret.

Mr Justice Tugendhat said it was crucial that newspapers should not be prevented from reporting things that were 'socially harmful'.

Even before the order was lifted, the internet was buzzing with details of Terry's infidelity. He was named on at least one football website, while posts on the social networking site Twitter ridiculed the England captain. One said: 'Everyone knew he was boffing the (rather gorgeous) girlfriend of Wayne Bridge - let the story run.'

The case echoes former England captain David Beckham's alleged affair with Rebecca Loos.

He was never forced to quit his post, but then again the England coach at the time, Sven Goran Eriksson, was busy having a secret affair of his own.
The underwear model and her friendship with the WAG next door

John Terry's wife and his mistress were the most unlikely of best friends.

Toni Poole, 28, is a working-class girl who shuns the public eye and is happy to stay at home with the twin children she has by her childhood sweetheart.

Vanessa Perroncel is a French-born lingerie model who has posed provocatively in a series of 'lads' mags'.
Yet they holidayed together last summer and were regular guests in each other's neighbouring homes.

Miss Poole, 28, had dated Terry from the age of 16, when he was a year older and an apprentice footballer on £48 a week still living with his family in an estate in Barking, East London.

She worked briefly as a beautician, but in an age of WAGs is more like the traditional footballers' wife - a loyal, quiet presence in the background.
She and Miss Perroncel became friends in 2006 after the exotic model, who is thought to be around 29, had begun dating Wayne Bridge. He was Terry's Chelsea teammate and neighbour - as well as an accommodating friend.

In 2005 a tabloid newspaper told how Bridge allowed Terry to use his house to have sex with a secretary when he wasn't there.

Afterwards, Terry apologised for his transgression and vowed that it would be the last. At the time, it was the eighth to be publicised in tabloid newspapers.

Whatever doubts his long-term partner might have had over Bridge, she quickly became friendly with his new girlfriend, despite their differences.

Miss Perroncel was certainly different-having made a career out of her body once she moved to the UK.

She posed provocatively in a whole array of downmarket lads' magazines including Maxim - where she was labelled a Maxim Mate - and Front.

Apart from her magazine appearances, she posed with Sacha Baron-Cohen's film creation Ali G, she in a white bra and red knickers as he lay between her parted legs.

Toni and Vanessa headed - along with the other WAGs - to Baden Baden in Germany for their now notorious stay during England's ill-fated World Cup campaign in 2006.

The friendship between the two women intensified after Toni gave birth to twins, son George and daughter Summer, and Vanessa had a son, Jaydon Jean Claude five months later.

The following summer, Miss Perroncel and Bridge were both guests when Terry wed Toni at Blenheim Palace in Oxfordshire and last summer they went on a 'girls' break' together.

Yesterday's revelations suggest another holiday is unlikely - and there is likely to be a distinct froideur the next time they meet in their Footballers' Wives estate.

After ten years of secrecy, a powerful blow for freedom

The John Terry ruling is a powerful blow against the growth of the privacy law used by celebrities to silence their critics and keep their bad behaviour secret.

For the first time in a decade a senior judge has come down against secrecy, and in favour of freedom of speech and the right of ordinary people to criticise the rich and famous.

The privacy laws have been built up by judges - and one judge in particular - without endorsement from Parliament. They have, for the first time in centuries, made it against the law to tell the truth about the wealthy and the powerful.

They have been based on the Human Rights Act and its guarantee of 'respect for private and family life'.

Yesterday's judgement from Mr Justice Tugendhat also signals the end for the celebrity super-injunction, which are designed to stop anyone revealing private information and are so secret that no one is allowed to mention their very existence.

Privacy rules reached their zenith in 2008 when the judge most associated with privacy rulings, Mr Justice Eady, found in favour of Max Mosley.

The Formula One chief said the News of the World breached his privacy when it reported his participation in a sado-masochistic orgy conducted in German with five prostitutes. Mr Justice Eady said that since Mosley's orgy was conducted in a private flat, it was not a matter that could lawfully be discussed by others, and nobody was allowed to report it.

But Mr Justice Tugendhat's 37-page judgment backed the right of newspapers to report and help form public opinion, and said that those who feel their privacy has been infringed should have to argue their case in open court.

His findings are an effective counterweight to the Mosley judgment and lawyers believe they will have been discussed with other senior judges, in particular the other two judges who deal with serious libel and privacy cases, Eady and Mrs Justice Sharpe.
Mystery of the £1 silence agreement

An extraordinary attempt to silence John Terry's lover Vanessa Perroncel was revealed by the judge.

In documents disclosed by Terry's lawyers to the court, it was claimed that she was offered £1 in return for signing a confidentiality agreement.
But Judge Tugendhat said he believed it could have been a nominal sum and she might have been given more.

The deal was done at a hotel after Terry became concerned about rumours circulating in the football world a week ago.

He believed a newspaper was about to expose his secret, and was warned the News of the World was 'all over it', although it is understood the paper had made no formal approaches.

On Friday January 22, two of Terry's business partners met Miss Perroncel at a London hotel and she signed two documents, the court heard.

The first was a short letter which said: 'I agree to keep such information private and confidential', and promising to pass any media inquiries on to one of Terry's business partners.

The second document said she agreed to keep quiet, 'in order to assist you in keeping such information confidential and in consideration of £1, receipt of which is hereby acknowledged'.

The judge said he was 'troubled' by the arrangement - and wondered whether the woman was really only paid £1. He added he did 'not feel confident' that the documents really expressed her wishes.

Judge Tugendhat also expressed concern that the business partners were not solicitors, trained in taking statements from witnesses.

'It is very important that information from witnesses should be what the witness truly believes, and that words should not be put into the mouth of a witness,' he said.

In a scathing remark, he added: 'Their business interest is to protect Terry's reputation. I am left in serious doubt as to whether the information sourced through the business partners is full and frank.'

The court did not name the two business partners, but said they were engaged in the promotion of the player for sponsorship deals and the protection of his image.

The Daily Mail contacted Elite Management, run by Paul Nicholls and Keith Cousins, who represent Terry, to ask if they were the business partners referred to. Neither was available for comment.

Terry's £4million sponsorship deal under threat

Sponsors are under pressure to ditch John Terry, potentially costing the player millions.

The England captain has a £4million contract to wear Umbro sports shoes at every match.

He has also appeared in adverts for the Nationwide building society and electronics giant Samsung.

In a scathing ruling, the judge made it clear he suspected Terry was more afraid of losing the commercial deals than anything else.

He said the footballer appeared to have brought his High Court action in a desperate move to protect his earnings - rather than the woman with whom he had been conducting his affair.

Terry's attempt at a cover-up came as golfer Tiger Woods was estimated to be losing $1million (£625,000) a day after sponsors deserted him following revelations of his extramarital affairs.

Mr Justice Tugendhat referred to Terry's 'number of high-profile sponsorship or endorsement deals for companies'.

The judge said that income earned from such deals for 'successful professionals' could be 'very large indeed', adding: 'But high-profile sponsors are sensitive to the reputation of the sports professionals to whom they pay large sponsorship fees for promoting the sponsor's products.'

Yesterday the silence was deafening as none of Terry's sponsors was prepared to discuss him.

An Umbro spokesman said: 'There is absolutely no comment about this at this time.' A spokesman for Samsung - which sponsors Terry's Premiership side Chelsea - was unavailable, while Nationwide was quick to point out it was the England team it sponsored, rather than Terry personally.

The player had an estimated personal wealth of almost £17million in April last year.

PR guru Max Clifford predicted that football fans would not be 'too concerned' at the actions of Terry and, because neither Nationwide nor Samsung was 'that family-orientated' it would be highly unlikely for those two firms to drop Terry.

He said: 'It all depends how sensitive the sponsors are to both their clients and their customers and I honestly do not think what John Terry has done is going to upset them.'


Body found buried under newly-laid concrete believed to be missing £19.3million lottery winner

Shakespearian tragedy: Lottery jackpot Abraham Shakespeare, who has disappeared. Police believe a body found buried under newly-laid concrete at a Florida home may be him


A body found buried in fresh concrete at a home in Florida may be that of missing lottery winner Abraham Shakespeare.

The 43-year-old has been missing since April last year, after becoming embroiled in a bitter legal battle over the £19.3million jackpot.

Today, police made the discovery after a tip-off, which suggested officers would find human remains near a home in Plant City where new concrete had been laid.

Hillsborough County Sheriff David Gee said the body was slowly being uncovered.
He added their investigation and information specifically led them to the area after they began to believe Shakespeare might be dead because of ‘sinister means and motives’.

Gee said: ‘Our indications were it would be there.’

On Wednesday, the newly finished concrete slabs were scanned and removed.

Yesterday, they discovered the remains – which officers claim appeared to have been there for a while - buried five feet below underground.

Shakespeare, a 43-year-old truck driver, won a $31 million Florida lottery prize in 2006.

A year later, he won a court challenge from a fellow trucker who accused Shakespeare of snatching the winning ticket out of his wallet while the two were delivering meat to Miami restaurants.

Shakespeare's family reported him missing in November 2009, telling the Polk County sheriff's office they hadn't seen him since April.

Polk County Sheriff Grady Judd said when their investigation began, they had hoped to find Shakespeare alive ‘and he truly had just wanted to hide from those who were asking him for money’.

He added: ‘As our investigation continued, the information we developed led us to believe he may very well have ended up with an untimely death.’

Both Judd and Gee said they would not comment on whether anything else was found inside the manmade grave, or whether a previous person of interest was connected to the area.

The home, according to a local TV station, belongs to the boyfriend of a person of interest in the disappearance of Shakespeare.

While they await identification of the remains, police said they would begin to shift their focus to a murder investigation.

‘It's painfully obvious he didn't get there by himself,’ Judd added.

Gee said police from Polk and Hillsborough Counties were already working with prosecutors on the case and hope to bring to justice the person responsible for what they believe is clearly cold-blooded murder.

‘Somebody put that body in that hole,’ Gee said.

‘This isn't by any means just where we find someone on the side of the road. Somebody has obviously put him there.’


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Forces mistakenly exchange fire in Afghanistan




Violence flares in Afghanistan amid reports that Taliban commanders met with U.N. officials.


As talk emerged about a secret meeting of U.N. and Taliban officials, the battlefield lit up in Afghanistan, with a joint Afghan-international force and Afghan soldiers exchanging fire when both sides mistook the other for enemy combatants.

The violence flared as a widely circulated news report said that senior Taliban commanders met in Dubai earlier this month with Kai Eide, the U.N. special representative for Afghanistan. The meeting reportedly dealt with the prospect of peace talks with the Afghan government.

The United Nations won't comment on the reports, and the Taliban issued a flat denial of what it called "futile and baseless rumors."

But they surfaced on the heels of this week's London Conference on Afghanistan, where President Hamid Karzai pushed a reconciliation plan to attract "disenchanted brothers" into law-abiding society, a reference to Taliban foot soldiers who fight to earn wages.

Such breakthrough diplomacy would be welcomed by many Afghans weary and caught in the middle of the daily fight between Taliban and al Qaeda militants and Afghan security forces, backed by NATO's International Security Assistance Force.

ISAF said small arms fire targeted a joint Afghan-international security force conducting an operation in Sayed Abad district of Wardak province that apparently originated from an Afghan National Army combat outpost.

ISAF said the "subsequent air support called by the joint force likely killed at least four ANA soldiers." Wardak is near Kabul in the eastern part of the country.

"We work extremely hard to coordinate and synchronize our operations. This is a regrettable incident and our thoughts go out to the families of those killed and wounded," said Brig Gen. Eric Tremblay, ISAF spokesman.

The Afghan Defense Ministry said the clash occurred in the Akakhil village of Maydan in Wardak province, pointing out that it was a "joint operation of international forces" conducting a mission in an area where Afghan forces had been stationed.

Both sides thought the other was the enemy, the ministry said. The airstrike killed four Afghan soldiers and wounded several others, the ministry said.

Shahidullah Shahid, the Wardak governor's office spokesman, didn't mention the airstrike. He said four Afghan soldiers died and seven were wounded in what he said was an exchange of fire in the province's Sayed Abad district.

The incident infuriated the Afghans, with the ministry saying "the people responsible for this incident will certainly be punished according to military law."

In another part of Afghanistan, Ghazni province in the eastern region, two Afghan civilians died when NATO-led forces fired on a vehicle barreling toward troops, ISAF reported on Saturday.

The vehicle moving at a high speed "failed to heed several warning signs to stop" on Friday and troops firing at the engine block killed the two Afghans and injured one more. A fourth person in the car was not injured.

The incident, which occurred in the province's district, represents one of the trends bedeviling the international fight against the Taliban -- civilian deaths in the course of the war that have strained relations between Afghanistan and the United States and its allies.

The numbers of civilian casualties have fallen off in recent months, since Gen. Stanley McChrystal took over as U.S. commander in Afghanistan. But escalation-of-force incidents at checkpoints, air bombings and accidents that have led to civilian deaths have undermined international and Afghan efforts to win wider civilian support.

Earlier this week, a NATO convoy fired "on what appeared to be a threatening vehicle" and killed an imam, prompting angry demonstrations and an ISAF statement conveying regrets about the incident, which took place outside a U.S. military base on the outskirts of Kabul."

"Despite all the measures that we put in place to ensure the safety of the Afghan people, regrettable incidents such as this one can occur," Tremblay said about the Thursday shooting of the imam.

"On behalf of ISAF, I express my sincere regrets for this loss of life and convey my deepest condolences to his family."

International troops continue to endure violence, and the latest occurred on Friday in Wardak province.

A NATO official who asked not to be identified said two U.S. service members were killed by an Afghan interpreter, who was then killed. Initial inquiries by authorities have determined that the interpreter was disgruntled for work reasons and not a Taliban infiltrator.

As for the London Conference on Thursday, a central focus was a $500 million pay-for-peace proposal to bring Taliban fighters into the civilian fold if they promise to renounce violence. The money would create jobs and housing in an effort to moderate the Taliban fighters, helping them return to civilian life. Major international donors are expected to pledge money for the effort.

Karzai also said he would establish a national council for peace reconciliation and integration, followed by a "peace jirga" -- a traditional gathering of Afghan tribal leaders -- and said he hoped Saudi Arabia's King Abdullah would play a "prominent role."

Karzai has suggested that high-level Taliban commanders could take part in the Afghan government in the future. This week, the United Nations removed several members of the Taliban from a blacklist, suggesting negotiations could take place in the not-too-distant future.


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Hamas man was 'suffocated with hotel pillow', says Dubai Police chief-Israel 'poisoned senior Hamas military leader in hotel room in Dubai', claim Palestinians




Lieutenant General Dahi Khalfan Tamim, Chief of Dubai Police, reserved from giving details about the crime scene saying the cause of death is by suffocation.


Dubai: Police authorities in Dubai are still unyielding to reveal more information about the recent assassination of a senior Hamas military commander in a Dubai hotel.

Lieutenant General Dahi Khalfan Tamim, Chief of Dubai Police, reserved from giving details about the crime scene saying the cause of death is by suffocation. "Forensic examination point out that the deceased was suffocated with a pillow in his hotel room," he told Gulf News without commenting on whether he was electrocuted or tortured.

Mahmoud Al Mabhouh, 50, who managed to escape previous assassination attempts, was found killed in his hotel room a day after he arrived to the country. Dubai Police did not reveal the identities of the suspects.

"From our investigations and evidences collected from the crime scene, we have the identities of the people involved including the killer and the master mind behind this crime. It is a professional criminal group," he said.


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A security source said that surveillance cameras in the hotel captured the images of the suspects.

Hamas said the Israeli intelligence unit, Mossad, was behind the assassination of Mabhouh, one of the founders of Hamas' military wing, the Ezz Al Deen Al Qassam Brigades.

According to Lt Gen Dahi, they have send requests through the Interpol to get more information about the suspects and whether the passports they were carrying were authentic. Lt Gen Dahi refused to reveal the European countries they are approaching. He said he expects cooperation from the authorities.

"We are approaching all the channels including embassies and consulates to get more information on the suspects," he said.

"European countries don't extradite suspects but we will demand for the suspects to be tracked," he said.

"The big question to ask is how Hamas allowed such an important figure like Al Mabhouh travel without protection. He didn't have any escort or guard and they should have sought the assistance from the authorities in Dubai to provide him with security, " he said.

"If this is how they handle matters then they have no knowledge on security matters," he said.

When asked on the reasons for his presence in Dubai, he said, "I don't know. All we know is a Palestinian entered on a visit visa to the country. His last name, Al Mabhouh, was missing from his passport."

Mossad role?

Lt Gen Dahi did not confirm or deny whether the Mossad is behind the assassination of Al Mabhouh, as claimed by Hamas Movement, but referred to an article in Sharq Al Awsat quoting an article published in the Israeli daily newspaper, Yediot Ahronot.

"The Israeli expert, [Ron Ben Yishai] stated that indicators from the crime point out to the involvement of the Mossad in the operation," he said.

Al Mabhouh's brother, Fayed was qouted by AFP saying, "The first results of a joint investigation by Hamas and the UAE show he was killed by an electrical appliance that was held to his head. He was then strangled."

Israel has assassinated a senior Hamas military commander in Dubai who played a major role in a Palestinian uprising in the 1980s, an official in the Islamist group revealed today.

Mahmoud al-Mabhouh, who has been a target since engineering the capture of Israeli soldiers in the 1980s, was killed on January 20 - the day after he arrived in Dubai.

He was found dead in his hotel room in Dubai without any injuries to his body, a Palestinian source said.

He had barricaded the door of his room with chairs, a standard precaution by a man who felt that Israeli intelligence had been after his head for 20 years.

‘It seems that an autopsy was ordered and found traces of poison in his body,' a source said.

'Mabhouh was also ill. Hamas controls the information on this.

‘Being in Syria, Mabhouh was not directly involved in Hamas's military operations. He was one of their main military guys, although not a crucial figure.’

The death of Mabhouh, 50, lengthens Hamas's list of what it describes as ‘martyrs’, and constitutes another setback for the group, which has defied Israel and refuses to abandon its fight against the Jewish state.

Israeli officials were not prepared to comment.

Israel has killed dozens of leaders and military figures in Hamas, which was founded two decades ago as a religious resistance movement against Israeli occupation.

‘I cannot reveal the circumstances (of the killing). We are working with the authorities in the United Arab Emirates,’ said Izzat al-Rishq, who is a member of Hamas's politburo.

He added Mabhouh was an ‘important’ member of Izz el-Deen al- Qassam brigades, Hamas's military wing named after a Syrian religious leader who fought British colonial forces in Palestine in the 1930s.

Mabhouh was born in the Gaza Strip but had been living in Syria since 1989.
Syria and Iran are the main backers of Hamas, which controls the Gaza Strip.

Rishq, who lives in exile in Damascus, along with several of Hamas's main figures, said Mabhouh engineered the capture of two Israeli soldiers during the Palestinian uprising in the 1980s. The soldiers were later killed.

Mabhouh was imprisoned several times by Israeli forces. Israel razed his home in Gaza, Rishq added.

A diplomat in Damascus said it was too early to say if Mabhouh's past was linked to his death.

‘The Israelis have a long memory for sure, but one cannot draw conclusions yet. It might be easier for the Israelis to kill him in Dubai than in Damascus,’ the diplomat said.

The U.S., which has started a rapprochement with Damascus, wants Syrian authorities to help neutralise Hamas as an armed Middle East force.

Syria, which is seeking peace with Israel, resisted U.S. pressure several years ago to expel the Hamas leadership.

Hamas also has a presence in Lebanon.

A bomb in Beirut killed two of its members in December 2008.

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'Assassinated': Mahmoud al-Mabhouh

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Conflict: Air strike on January 5, 2009, as Israel intensified its ground assault against the Gaza Strip in an effort to put an end to Hamas rocket attacks


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  • The father of Hamas's Mahmoud Al Mabhouh holds up a family photo showing Al Mabhouh, at their home in the Jebaliya refugee camp, northern Gaza Strip.


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Palestinian mourners attend the funeral of Mahmoud al-Mabhouh, one of the founders of the Islamic movement's armed wing known as Izzedein al-Qassam Brigades, in Damascus, Syria, Jan. 29, 2010. Hamas vowed on Friday to retaliate the assassination of its top military commander Mahmoud al-Mabhouh in Dubai after it blamed Israel for his death.

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Khaled Meshaal, the exiled leader of Hamas politburo, speaks during the funeral of Mahmoud al-Mabhouh, one of the founders of the Islamic movement's armed wing known as Izzedein al-Qassam Brigades, in Damascus, Syria, Jan. 29, 2010. Hamas vowed on Friday to retaliate the assassination of its top military commander Mahmoud al-Mabhouh in Dubai after it blamed Israel for his death.


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Palestinian mourners attend the funeral of Mahmoud al-Mabhouh, one of the founders of the Islamic movement's armed wing known as Izzedein al-Qassam Brigades, in Damascus, Syria, Jan. 29, 2010. Hamas vowed on Friday to retaliate the assassination of its top military commander Mahmoud al-Mabhouh in Dubai after it blamed Israel for his



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The Roman Army Knife: Or how the ingenuity of the Swiss was beaten by 1,800 years



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Inspired: The Roman army pen knife, a precursor to today's popular Swiss Army accessory


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The knife is on display at the Greek and Roman antiquities gallery at Cambridge's Fitzwilliam Museum

The world's first Swiss Army knife' has been revealed - made 1,800 years before its modern counterpart.

An intricately designed Roman implement, which dates back to 200AD, it is made from silver but has an iron blade.

It features a spoon, fork as well as a retractable spike, spatula and small tooth-pick.

Experts believe the spike may have been used by the Romans to extract meat from snails.It is thought the spatula would have offered a means of poking cooking sauce out of narrow-necked bottles.

The 3in x 6in (8cm x 15cm) knife was excavated from the Mediterranean area more than 20 years ago and was obtained by the museum in 1991.

The unique item is among dozens of artefacts exhibited in a newly refurbished Greek and Roman antiquities gallery at the Fitzwilliam Museum, in Cambridge.

Experts believe it may have been carried by a wealthy traveller, who will have had the item custom made.

A spokesman said: 'This was probably made between AD 200 and AD 300, when the Roman empire was a great imperial power.
The expansion of Rome - which, before 500 BC, had just been a small central Italian state - made some individuals, perhaps like our knife-owner, personally very wealthy.

'This could have been directly from the fruits of conquests, or indirectly, from the 'business opportunities' the empire offered.

'We know almost nothing about the person who owned this ingenious knife, but perhaps he was one of those who profited from the vast expansion of Rome - he would have been wealthy to have such a real luxury item.

'Perhaps he was a traveller, who required a practical compound utensil like this on his journeys.'

The spokesman added: 'While many less elaborate folding knives survive in bronze, this one's complexity and the fact that it is made of silver suggest it is a luxury item.

'Perhaps a useful gadget for a wealthy traveller.'

Modern Swiss Army knives originated in Ibach Schwyz, Switzerland, in 1897 and were created by Karl Elsener.

The knives which provide soldiers with a 'battlefield toolkit' have since become standard issue for many modern day fighting forces thanks to their toughness and quality.

Nationalist Elsener decided to design the knives after he realised the Swiss army were being issued with blades manufactured in neighbouring Germany.

Other popular artefacts include an intricately designed Greek make-up box which was custom made almost 3000 years ago for a women of 'wealth and status'.

The round clay make-up container from Athens dates back to 740BC and experts believe it may have been stored in a grave in the Ancient Greek city for the last 2,700 years.

The six inch high and 12 inch diameter box would have contained precious gems and make up from the era made from a variety of naturally occurring substances.





You're a liar and murderer they screamed at him: Fury in public gallery as Blair says 'I have not a regret'





An unrepentant Tony Blair was heckled and jeered by families of Britain's war dead last night as he declared he had 'not a regret' about invading Iraq and toppling Saddam Hussein.

At the end of what had been billed as his 'Judgment Day', the former Prime Minister made it clear he would do the same again - and warned world leaders they may soon have to take similar decisions over Iran.

Despite the deaths of up to 700,000 Iraqis and 179 British troops, Mr Blair said he felt 'responsibility but not a regret' as he concluded his six hours of evidence to the Chilcot inquiry.
There was uproar and shouts of 'liar' and ' murderer' as bereaved relatives in the public gallery of the QEII conference centre in Westminster realised they were not going to receive the apology for which they had waited all day.

There was no hint of remorse.

Indeed, Mr Blair even suggested the world should be grateful to him.

Saddam had been a 'monster' and it had been right to remove him even to prevent the 'possibility' that he could acquire weapons of mass destruction.

He warned that Iran's nuclear weapons programme now poses an even greater threat.

And, in an apparent rebuke to Gordon Brown and Barack Obama, suggested that if he was still in power he would be championing military action.

On a dramatic day of evidence, Mr Blair:

* Revealed he decided soon after 9/11 to back the U.S. in whatever action it took;
* Said a second UN resolution was politically desirable but not legally necessary;
* Defended his claim that evidence for Saddam's weapons of mass destruction was 'beyond doubt' and insisted he had believed it;
* Admitted the infamous claim that Saddam's WMD could be deployed within 45 minutes should have been corrected;
* Revealed he rejected a last-minute offer of a 'way out' from the U.S., which said the UK did not need to send ground troops.
* Mr Blair, in what is likely to be his last major appearance on the international stage, arrived by the back entrance to the centre, apparently to avoid a crowd of protesters outside.

As he began his evidence, he looked uncharacteristically nervous, with his hands shaking.
But he soon got into in his stride, joking about the recent TV interview with Fern Britton in which he suggested that if he had known Saddam had no WMD, he would simply have found a different argument for toppling him.
He denied this meant he had been committed to regime change at all costs, and tried to laugh off the comments, saying that 'with all my experience' of interviews, he still had 'something to learn'.

Mr Blair went on to take a defiant stance on Iraq, which has come to define his premiership and left Britain deeply divided.
He insisted he acted because of Britain's alliance with the U.S. and his firm belief that the world had to send a 'strong message' in the wake of the terrorist attacks of 2001.

He insisted there had been no 'covert' deals with the U.S., but admitted had promised President Bush that Britain would help topple Saddam nearly a year before the war began.

That remained his position-even though every senior Government legal adviser was advising him military action would be illegal.
He made an extraordinary attempt to shift his central argument that he acted because he believed Saddam had WMD.

Mr Blair said: 'If there was any possibility that he could develop WMD, we should stop him. That was my view then and that's my view now.'

One rare concession was that he should have published raw intelligence rather than the Government's notorious dossier.

He also admitted he should have corrected the way the 45-minute claim was interpreted - it referred only to short-range battlefield weapons - but claimed it had not been of great significance at the time.

Mr Blair insisted: 'This isn't about a lie or a conspiracy or a deceit or a deception. It's a decision.

'And the decision I had to take was, given Saddam's history, given his use of chemical weapons, given the over one million people whose deaths he had caused, given ten years of breaking UN resolutions, could we take the risk of this man reconstituting his weapons programmes or is that a risk that it would be irresponsible to take?

'The decision I took - and frankly would take again - was if there was any possibility that he could develop weapons of mass destruction we should stop him.'

He suggested people should recognise that the war had made the world safer, arguing that if Saddam had not been removed Iraq would now be competing with Iran to develop nuclear weapons and support terrorists.

But his refusal to express any contrition left some relatives of soldiers in tears.


She wore his dog tags around her neck and ran them through her fingers as she spoke.

It was five years since her brother was killed in Iraq and a few minutes earlier Sarah Chapman had been sitting just feet from the man she blames for sending him unnecessarily to his death.

Now she was standing in the rain outside the Iraq war inquiry and she could barely hold back the tears.
Inside, a suntanned Tony Blair was giving the performance of a lifetime before a worldwide television audience and a handful of families who lost loved ones in the conflict he was attempting to defend.

He sat with his back to them and smirked occasionally as he spoke. It might have been raining outside, but you couldn't blame Sarah Chapman if she suddenly felt the need for fresh air.

'What Tony Blair has given me is a life sentence,' she said. 'There isn't a day that goes by when I don't think about it.

'Even when you switch it off in your head, you switch on the news and it's there. My brother gave his life for this. I lost my life because of it.'

The former nurse, who gave up her job in Cambridge after suffering post-traumatic stress, was one of 20 relatives attending the first session of Mr Blair's evidence.

Her brother Bob O'Connor, a special services sergeant, was one of ten killed in a Hercules aircraft that was shot down exactly five years ago today.

She steeled herself to attend the hearing but never expected any apology or condolence from Mr Blair.

'I wanted to be here but watching him in there made me very angry,' she said. 'Everyone thought he was very smug.

'At times he even seemed to be making light of it. It was extremely disrespectful.

'I would have liked to have had some answers but I'm realistic. I never really thought we'd get any.'

She added: 'I'm so angry with him. He was asked if there was anything finally that he wanted to say and he just said no.'

Perhaps this should have been the day Mr Blair acknowledged what a price these families paid for his determination oust Saddam Hussein. Instead, he ignored them.

Rose Gentle, whose son Gordon was killed by a roadside bomb in 2004, sat only feet away from him and fixed him with a stare.

'His hands were shaking, just like my hands have been shaking for the last five years,' she said.

'I'd hoped we could turn the tables so he could face us.'

She added: 'I have been writing to him for years asking for a meeting, and he didn't have the decency to acknowledge us or meet us today to say sorry.

'I will never forgive him and I believe he should stand trial. I will be angry with him for the rest of my life.'

Anne Donnachie lost her son Paul, an 18-year-old rifleman, in 2006. He was shot dead by a sniper in a war she believed was illegal and unnecessary.

'I blame Tony Blair for the death of my son,' she said. 'He made a massive mistake when he sent troops into Iraq. But now he's just denying everything. He won't face up to the facts.'

Valerie O'Neill, who lost her son Kris, 27, when the Royal Army Medical Corps serviceman was blown up by a roadside bomb, said: 'We waited right to the very end to hear an apology from him. It never came.

'He couldn't bring himself to do it. It's an absolute disgrace.'

Some of the relatives emerged to join the demonstration outside.

Names of some of those who became victims of Mr Blair's war were read aloud from a platform.

They included casualties not just from the roll call of 179 British servicemen-but from the huge list of Iraqi civilian dead. Many of the military dead were still in their teens and early 20s.

Among them was Llywelyn Evans, 24, who died in a Chinook helicopter crash in 2003.

His mother Theresea Evans travelled from her home in North Wales to attend the inquiry with one forlorn hope.
'I would simply have liked Tony Blair to look me in the eyes and say he was sorry,' she said.

Had he done that? 'No,' she said. 'He just sat there smirking.'
UN resolutions

The former Premier admitted sharing President Bush's view that it 'wasn't necessary' to have UN Security Council support for war.

Mr Blair said he wanted a 'UN situation in which everyone was on the same page and had agreed' because, politically, this would have made 'life a lot easier'.

But he admitted reaching the conclusion that if the UN route failed, Saddam would have to go.

Mr Blair added: 'The American view throughout has been, "This leopard isn't going to change his spots" - he was always going to be difficult.'

He said it had been his decision to seek UN support, and that had led to resolution 1441 giving a final warning to Saddam to comply with weapons inspectors.

But he claimed that, despite Saddam failing to comply, France and Russia had made it clear they would not support a second resolution justifying military action so it had been withdrawn.

Mr Blair denied this was because U.S. troops were already massed in Kuwait.


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Ring of steel: Scores of police were ranked outside the conference hall to keep order

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On the spot: Tony Blair as he is grilled today by the Iraq inquiry


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Probe: A court sketch shows the layout of the inquiry room

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Fury: Protesters daubed in fake blood wear Bush and Blair masks and carried a coffin


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Public anger: Demonstrators protesting outside the inquiry building in central London today


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Sarah Chapman with her brother's dog tags (right) and Theresea Evans proudly wearing her son's medals


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China protests US arms sales, warns of 'serious' impact


Two US-made Kidd class warships


China on Friday protested the US decision to sell 6.4 billion dollars in weapons to Taiwan and warned of "serious" damage to relations and cooperation with Washington.

China's Vice Foreign Minister He Yafai made an urgent official demarche to the US ambassador in Beijing, Jon Huntsman, in the early hours Saturday local time, Wang Baodong, spokesman for the Chinese embassy in Washington, told AFP.

"The latest US move to sell weapons to Taiwan, which is part of China, constitutes a gross intervention into China's internal affairs, seriously endangers China's national security and harms China's peaceful reunification efforts," Wang quoted the protest as saying.

"The US plan will definitely undermine China-US relations and bring about serious negative impact on exchange and cooperation in major areas between the two countries," he added.

China "strongly urges the US side to fully recognize the gravity of the issue, revoke the erroneous decision on arms sales to Taiwan and stop selling any weapons to Taiwan," he said.

China snapped off military relations with the United States temporarily after the last US arms package to Taiwan in October 2008.

Beijing considers Taiwan, where China's nationalists fled in 1949 after losing the mainland's civil war, to be a territory awaiting reunification, by force if necessary.

The United States in 1979 switched recognition to Beijing. But Congress requires the administration to provide Taiwan weapons for defensive purposes.

Wang said that the weapons deal violated the 1982 communique between China and the United States, which said the arms sales to Taiwan "will not exceed, in qualitative or in quantitative terms," the level in the years before that.

State Department spokesman Philip Crowley earlier said that the arms sales were consistent with the three key communiques between the United States and China when they normalized relations.




Friday, January 29, 2010

Magnificent lion awoken from catnap by his pride and joy's gentle roar


Mane attraction: The enormous lion wakes from his slumber as his cub emits a tiny growl

Nestled under the magnificent mane of his father, the little lion cub gives a growl so gentle it would fail to startle a passing gazelle.

But when he grows up he'll be able to roar just like daddy.

Not that this particular parent looked in the mood for exercising his vocal cords. Or indeed any other part of his mighty frame.

He had been trying to enjoy a catnap when his offspring was disturbed by the approach of a Land Rover carrying tourists on safari in Tanzania.

One of the party, Martina Neumann, took this remarkable photograph. She said: 'It was very funny to look at because the lion was so grumpy and tired that it reminded me of many of my friends when they were new dads having to cope with their children.

I bet he didn't thank us one bit for ruining his brief moment of peace.'

U.S. government weighs other sites for 9/11 trial

The Obama administration has begun looking for places other than the heart of New York City to prosecute the accused Sept. 11 attack plotters in the face of fierce criticism tied to security and costs, U.S. officials said on Friday.

Critics have said the government's plan to try self-professed mastermind Khalid Sheikh Mohammed and four alleged co-conspirators blocks from the World Trade Center would require a large security cordon, hurt area businesses and afford the defendants certain legal rights in criminal court.

U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder was considering other venues for the trials, according to one Obama administration official. Justice Department spokesman Dean Boyd said: "We're considering our options."

The New York Times and Washington Post reported that the lower Manhattan courthouse was out of the running, citing unnamed administration officials. However, one Obama administration official told Reuters that "no decision has been made."

Holder in November decided the trials would be held in New York City, whose federal courthouse is connected to a fortified detention center with a tunnel.

"Conversations have occurred with the administration to discuss contingency options should the possibility of a trial in lower Manhattan be foreclosed upon by Congress or locally," another administration official said.

New York City Police Commissioner Ray Kelly told reporters he believed the trials are "unlikely" to occur there.

It was not clear what other venues are under consideration. New York officials have suggested a military base, the U.S. Military Academy at West Point, New York, or nearby Governor's Island, though some said that last option was not feasible.

A U.S. official has said that no terrorism trials had been held outside of a federal courthouse and there were questions whether a trial could be held on a military base.

PRESSURE ON OBAMA

The decision to reconsider the location comes as President Barack Obama faces increased political pressure to refocus his agenda. Obama has been trying to push through a healthcare reform initiative and reduce the high U.S. unemployment rate.

Earlier this week, New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg reversed his support for holding the trials in Manhattan.

"I can tell you I would prefer if it was done elsewhere, I think some of the suggestions make sense, like a military base, because it's far away from people and you can provide security easily," Bloomberg said on Friday on his weekly radio show.

He said he called the Obama administration on Thursday to express his concerns but acknowledged ultimately the city could handle the trials. "I will be as supportive as, and the city will be, as supportive as we can, period," Bloomberg said.

New York Governor David Paterson has also been hesitant about the trials in Manhattan. "We are worried about the effects of mass law enforcement on lower Manhattan, congestion, traffic, resources that have to be spent," he told reporters.

Administration officials have pointed to past terrorism trials that were held in U.S. courts with little difficulty, including one this week of a Pakistani scientist charged with firing a rifle at U.S. military personnel in Afghanistan.

Those entering that courtroom have faced airport-style security: removing shoes and belts, passing through a metal detector and having purses and other personal items searched.

HIGH COST

Bloomberg has estimated the cost of security for the Sept. 11 trials to be at least $200 million a year, and has asked the Obama administration to pick up the tab.

That could be tough for Obama because he has had enormous trouble getting the U.S. Congress -- despite big Democratic majorities in the Senate and the House of Representatives -- to approve funding for his bid to close the U.S. military prison at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, where terrorism suspects are held.

Republicans and even some of Obama's fellow Democrats have ramped up pressure in recent weeks against the planned criminal trials, urging that the alleged Sept. 11 plotters be tried in military tribunals instead.

Republican Senator Lindsey Graham plans to offer legislation next week aimed at barring funding for the Sept. 11 trials in civilian court. They "should be tried by military commission -- not civilian court where they will be given the same legal rights as American citizens," he said.

In addition to security concerns, some lawmakers -- as well as some relatives of the almost 3,000 people who were killed in the Sept. 11 attacks -- have said the defendants could use the criminal courts as soapboxes to propagate their anti-American beliefs and turn the trials into a media circus.

But Holder testified to Congress last year that the judges who will preside over the trials will be able to prevent such a scenario.



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Thursday, January 28, 2010

Internet virals take a bite out of Apple's new iPad amid widespread disappointment -Apple iPad is finally here... but will anyone want to buy one?






# 'Magical and revolutionary product' bridges gap between laptop and mobiles
# Prices start at $499 (£308) in the US for a 16GB version with WiFi
# Powered by a 1GHz Apple A4 chip, and has 16GB to 64GB of flash storage
# New device is half an inch thick, with 9.7in display and weighs 1.5lb
# Ten hours of battery life if watched continuously and one month of standby charge
# WiFi version available worldwide, including the UK, in 60 days with 3G following 30 days later
# Apple could run into trademark problems with Fujitsu, who previously filed a claim to the name 'iPad'

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-1246551/iPad-Steve-Jobs-unveils-Apples-revolutionary-tablet-computer.html#ixzz0dvzyxEz6




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Hands on: Journalists get to try out some of the iPads (left) while Steve Jobs demonstrates the slimness of the half inch thick gadget

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Easy access: The type-pad is almost the same size as a traditional Qwerty keyboard

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Price range: The basic iPad will be $499 with a top-of-the-range model with WiFi, 3G and 64GB retailing at $829

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iPad users will also be able to watch films on the device, which they can purchase from the iTunes store

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Users will be able to play a wide variety of video games on the iPad, including motoring games

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There are also apps available for keen baseball players, who will be able to live out their love for the game on the screen

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Revolution: Apple chief executive Officer Steve Jobs unveils the company's latest product - the iPad which many critic said look the same as ipod iphone

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Publishing phenomenon: Jobs on stage in front of an image of the iPad

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Many virals revealed disappointment that the iPad failed to live up to its great promise and hype
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A spoof of the Apple website shows an alternative name for the iPad because it look the same with Ipod Iphone.

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Many virals revealed disappointment that the iPad failed to live up to its great promise and hype

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iBooks: The new app will allow users to browse an online bookshelf (left) and use the iPad as an eReader

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Groundbreaking: The device will have its own applications (music store, left) and will also have special apps from other companies including the New York Times (right). Jobs: 'We're very excited about this'




Apple claim their new tablet computer the iPad is a 'magic and revolutionary' product, but the device has been swiftly ridiculed by bloggers and industry insiders.

Company chief Steve Jobs launched the iPad last night, amid great hype at the annual Apple conference in San Francisco.

Today it emerged that British users will be able to get their hands on one by March.

Mr Jobs claimed the device came from a next generation of gadgets that would plug the gap between small laptops and mobiles.

But alarmingly for the company which is always been the darling of the 'geek' community the sentiment on the web was distinctly underwhelmed and immediately sparked a wave of cruel ridicule.Another reveals disappointment felt by many pundits that the iPad has failed to live up the hype. It shows a typical Apple checklist, comparing the iPad to a piece of blue tack. iPad has a ticked box for 'iTunes store' but only the blue tack has a tick for 'Multitask capability.'

Much hilarity has come from the unfortunate link between ''iPad' and the common name for feminine hygiene products. Internet users were quick to trade time-of-the-month iPad jokes.

'If you and your friends all buy one, will they sync up?' one woman asked. While another questioned, 'Does it come with wings?'

Some female bloggers wryly commented probably didn't have any women on its marketing team and 'iTampon' quickly became a cheeky trending topic on the micro-blogging site Twitter.

A YouTube clip from 2006, now enjoying a fresh surge of popularity, shows the term 'iPad' has been ridiculed for years. In the comedy skit shown on Fox, two women discuss an Apple period-maintenance device called the iPad.
Another more contorversial spoof video on YouTube shows an actor playing Hitler in his Berlin bunker, apparently complaining about the iPad.

The video, which has already been viewed 27,000 times, shows the Fuhrer shouting at his subordinates after he discovers the iPad won't support multi-tasking or have Flash support.

In his subtitled tirade he says: 'It could have changed the market. It could have single handedly destroyed netbooks. But what do we get instead? An oversized iPod Touch! It can't even make phone calls!'

And while the pictures and videos could be seen as just innocent fun, it could be a worrying sign for Apple that punters simply aren't taking the iPad seriously.

It surely didn't help that Apple grandly announced the gizmo with a quote from the Wall Street Journal that said: 'Last time there was this much excitement about a tablet, it had some commandments written on it.'

At the launch Mr Jobs said the device would be used for browsing the web, sharing photos, reading eBooks and watching movies.

The WiFi version will go on sale worldwide in two months time, with the 3G version following a month later. There are three memory levels - 16gigabyte, 32gb or 64gb - under each of these two formats.

Apple has not yet revealed their UK mobile carrier partners but will start negotiations soon. Orange has reportedly already opened talks with Apple to provide 3G mobile internet connections.

The iPhone is currently available through O2, Orange and Vodaphone.

Prices will start at $499 (£308) in the US but British Apple fans will have to wait longer to find out the UK price - although it is likely to be far higher.
However, technology pundits were quick to ask how revolutionary the iPad really was, and more pertinently, who will want to buy one.
Respected blogger MG Siegler from TechCrunch said: 'Is it a must have? The quick and dirty answer is: for many people, right now, no.

'Unlike the iPhone, which filled an already well-established need, there is no existing need the iPad fills.'

Rhi Morgan at T3 magazine agreed. He said: 'I can’t see anybody who needs a laptop buying an iPad, and I can’t see people using it as a smartphone either.'
Apple will have a steep hill to climb with their tablet by trying to open what has been up till now a niche market. Microsoft's 2001 tablet failed to catch on and many analysts fear the iPad could run into the same problems.

What is more the operation of the iPad is virtually identical to the iPhone and iTouch.

Gene Munster from Piper Jaffray said: 'The gadget is a premium mobile device, not a computer; as such we see some iPod Touch buyers stepping up to the iPad, but consumers looking for an affordable portable computer will likely stick with the MacBook line up.'

Reviews of the iPad have been vastly mixed. Some technology experts have highly praised the innovation behind the product.

Rob Hearn from Pocketgamer.co.uk insisted: 'The iPad is a characteristically sexy bit of consumer electronics, and at $499 it's cheap enough to sell.'

Meanwhile Brian Lam from Gimodo.com said: 'It's substantial but surprisingly light. Easy to grip. Beautiful. Rigid. Starkly designed. The glass is a little rubbery but it could be my sweaty hands. And it's fast.'

Only time will tell whether customers agree.

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