A Facebook group calling for the death of a woman who dumped a cat in a wheelie bin was today removed by moderators as police said they were "closely monitoring" threats made towards her online.

A spokeswoman for the social networking site said the group, entitled "Death to Mary Bale", contravened Facebook's terms of use.

Hundreds of people posted angry messages online after a clip showing four-year-old tabby Lola being thrown into a bin was uploaded by her owners.

Mary Bale, a bank worker from the Stoke area of Coventry, said she binned the feline as "a joke", adding: "It's only a cat."

But animal lovers have expressed their rage online, with some calling for Ms Bale to be violently punished. One Facebook user said the 45-year-old should be "repeatedly head butted", whilst another wrote: "She should be flogged to within an inch of her life, the evil b****."

A Facebook spokeswoman said: "We can't comment on individual cases for privacy reasons but I can tell you that one group, entitled Death to Mary Bale, has been removed today."

The spokeswoman said Facebook users were encouraged to report any offensive comments posted on the site, adding that moderators would remove anything deemed to be a "credible threat".

West Midlands Police described the some of the group's content as "inflammatory and offensive".

A spokeswoman said: "We have monitored Facebook to assess any threat of harm to Mary Bale as part of this investigation.

"The investigation is being led by the RSPCA but obviously the other strand of this now is Mary Bale's safety and we are looking at the potential impact of these messages.

"I would not go so far as to say we are investigating death threats, that is not the situation, but we are closely monitoring these groups and messages."

She added: "There are no plans to give any kind of formal police protection but we are talking to Mary Bale about her personal safety, we are having that conversation with her, and we do want to make sure she is ok."

DOCTOR Who and Amy Pond are being transported to a new dimension - by moving into video games for the first time, it was announced today.

Gamers will be able to swap Sonic The Hedgehog for sonic screwdrivers when the Time Lord appears on the Wii and DS consoles in the coming months.

The Doctor and Amy - played by Matt Smith and Karen Gillan - will be turned into computerised versions for the games Doctor Who: Evacuation Earth and Doctor Who: Return To Earth.

ONE of the longest waits in computing history is over - Starcraft II is here.

Along with Duke Nukem Forever, it has been one of the longest sagas in gaming and the big question - was it worth the wait?

Well, firstly, it is fair to say that the developers haven't taken any chances.

In fact, Starcraft II is identical in almost all the important ways to its predecessor, although, as I'll show, there are some differences.

For one there is no triple campaign. All you get is to play though with the humans, with Zerg and Protoss coming as paid for add-ons in the future.

Also there is no LAN support: something which has annoyed gamers around the world,

A campaign for BT's fibre-optic broadband has been banned for misleadingly suggesting it provided "instant internet", a watchdog said today.

The national press ad showed a burst of light with large text stating: "BT Infinity. The birth of the instant internet."

It added: "Upload and share high-quality photos and videos instantly, download your favourite music instantly, enjoy multiple websites and online content instantly, stream HD movies and TV shows instantly."

The United Arab Emirates (UAE) will block key features on BlackBerry smart phones, citing national security concerns because the devices operate beyond the government's ability to monitor their use.

Neighbouring Saudi Arabia also indicated it planned to follow suit.

The decision could prevent hundreds of thousands of users in the Middle East country from accessing email and the internet on the handsets from October, putting the federation's reputation as a business-friendly commercial and tourism hub at risk.

Below: A woman uses her BlackBerry to access a social networking site.

Buying online is almost like having a secret affair, with more than half of buyers keeping their purchases secret from their partners, new research revealed today.

A survey carried out by retail intelligence analysts and mystery shopping company Retail Active found over the last six months 58% of buyers deliberately kept their online buys secret.

The company, which offers mystery shopping and brand auditing services to businesses, surveyed 3,500 people last week.

It found 40% of online buyers spent their money on personal indulgences.