I Have Nothing Really, I Have Nothing…

Blow up the well to stop monster oil leak: Clinton

The US Navy may have to blow up a ruptured well gushing oil into the Gulf of Mexico if efforts to cap the leak with relief wells fail, former president Bill Clinton said.

"This is a geological monster," the former president told CNN.

"That is one heck of an oil well. There's more oil down there than I ever dreamed."

Mr Clinton says the "most important thing is to fix the leak".

After that, he says there is a need to keep oil from reaching shore, minimise the damage and then "figure out what went wrong and hold them accountable, whether it was somebody in British Petroleum or someone in the US government".

Asked if he was concerned that the two relief wells currently being drilled may not work, Mr Clinton said "yeah" and added blowing up the well "may become necessary".

"The Navy could probably stop it, but there are all kinds of consequences that would have to be considered," he said.

"You could stop that well, but what else might you do that might upset the ecostructure of the Gulf?"

Porn sites move closer to .XXX web addresses

THE porn industry has moved closer to getting .XXX web addresses, after the international regulatory body endorsed the domain name.

"The green light has been given for the application to move forward," said a spokesman for the the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) as its board met in Brussels.

"The domain name has not yet been approved, but it moves forward under a fast-track process," Martijn Pakker said. "We now go on to developing the .XXX domain name."

ICM Registry, a company which registers domain names, applied for the .XXX domain in 2004 as a home for the adult entertainment industry, but saw its application rejected by ICANN in 2007.

That decision was overturned in February by an independent review panel, meaning an estimated 100,000-plus companies that have pre-reserved website names can begin planning for a new future online.

Social media ‘mining’ sparks privacy fears. (About time)

Privacy advocates are raising further concerns about the use of personal information from social media sites.

They say the practice known as "sentiment analysis" or "sentiment mining" may not be illegal but it is often unethical because people are unaware it is happening.

While there are obvious privacy concerns around the misuse of hard personal data - where you live, how much you earn, your medical records and so on - they say the use of soft data such as how you feel, what you like, your values - the personal sentiments that shape your behaviour - blurs the lines of privacy protection.

"I think a lot of consumers will be quite concerned that in reality what's happening on social networks is that there's a lot of marketing companies sitting over your shoulder," said Chris Connolly from the Australian Privacy Foundation.

"They're reviewing every comment that you make - positive negative, about brands, about products, about movies, services etc and they're collating all of this information and re-selling it to other organisations to make a profit.

"You're not getting any benefit from that particular sale, so I think there's a fine line between what consumers would allow that information to be used for."

Pope called to front US court over abuse

THE Vatican is asking a federal judge to reject an attempt to question Pope Benedict XVI under oath in a Kentucky sex abuse lawsuit on the grounds that there has been no evidence of a link to church officials in Rome.

The arguments filed on Thursday in US District Court also say that forcing Pope Benedict, a head of state, to give a deposition would violate international law. The US considers the Vatican to be a sovereign nation.

The lawsuit accuses the Vatican, referred to in papers as the Holy See, of orchestrating a coverup of priests sexually abusing children throughout the US.

Louisville attorney William McMurry asked to depose Benedict and other Vatican officials in a motion in March and the filing on Thursday is a response. Mr McMurry has also asked that the Vatican turn over administrative documents and respond to questions related to the abuse scandal in the US.

Lawyers for the Vatican argue that thousands of documents provided in a lawsuit against the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Louisville several years ago have turned up no connection to Rome. The Louisville archdiocese reached a settlement in 2003 with more than 240 abuse victims represented by Mr McMurry for $US25 million ($28.78 million).Mr McMurry will have an opportunity to reply to the Vatican's latest arguments in a response to the court.

While US dioceses have been sued over abuse by priests, the Kentucky lawsuit is the first US case to make it to the stage of determining whether victims have a negligence claim against the Vatican.

Filed in 2004 by three men abused by priests in the Louisville diocese, it argues in part that US bishops should be considered employees or officials of the Holy See.

Julia Gillard has taken the floor in the House of Representatives for her first Prime Minister's Question Time since her dramatic Labor leadership coup this morning.

Australia's first female Prime Minister addressed the house as her predecessor Kevin Rudd watched from the backbenches.

"I believe that every member of this place would be full of admiration for the remarkable and dignified way he has conducted himself today," she said.

Earlier Ms Gillard was sworn in as the nation's 27th Prime Minister in a Yarralumla ceremony which set the seal on a tumultuous 24 hours in Canberra.

Ms Gillard's partner Tim Mathieson was there for the ceremony and congratulated her with a kiss and a hug.

Treasurer Wayne Swan was sworn in as her deputy.

Earlier Ms Gillard had told a packed Parliament House press conference that she was "truly honoured" to be given the chance to lead the country.

"I asked my colleagues to make a leadership change because I believed that a good Government was losing its way," she said.

"My values and beliefs have driven me to step forward to take this position as Prime Minister. I will lead a strong and responsible Government that will take control of our future."

Politicians suspected in journalists’ murders

Police in the Philippines say politicians are the main suspects in the murders of two journalists in the last week.

The two radio broadcasters, who were shot in separate incidents, were known for their criticism of powerful people.

One was shot when he was on his way home on a motorbike last Tuesday. Police say they have arrested the bodyguard of a local politician for the murder.

The broadcaster was a known critic of the politician.

In another incident, a village chief and policeman have been accused of the murder of another radio broadcaster on Monday.

Yet another journalist was shot dead last week in another part of the country.

The Philippines is notorious for violence against journalists and has cemented its status as one of the most dangerous places in the world for the media.

Thirty journalists were killed in a single mass murder last year.

No anti-virus software? No internet connection

AUSTRALIANS would be forced to install anti-virus and firewall software on their computers before being allowed to connect to the internet under a new plan to fight cyber crime.

And if their computer did get infected, internet service providers like Telstra and Optus could cut off their connection until the problem was resolved.

Those are two of the recommendations to come from a year-long inquiry into cyber crime by the House of Representatives Standing Committee on Communications.

Results of the inquiry, titled Hackers, Fraudsters and Botnets: Tackling the Problem of Cyber Crime, were released last night in a 260-page report.

In her foreword, committee chair Belinda Neal said cyber crime had turned into a "sophisticated underground economy".

"In the past decade, cyber crime has grown from the nuisance of the cyber smart hacker into an organised transnational crime committed for vast profit and often with devastating consequences for its victims," Ms Neal said.During its inquiry the committee heard a growing number of Australians were being targeted by cyber criminals and that increasing internet speeds were likely to make the situation worse.