Fabregas returns to Arsenal squad

Arsenal captain Cesc Fabregas is set for his first-team return and has been included in the squad to face Manchester City on Saturday.

The Gunners midfielder has not featured since suffering a serious knee injury during the game with Liverpool at the Emirates Stadium on 21 December.

"Cesc is ready to play again, but he needs three games to be back to his best," said manager Arsene Wenger.

"We are due to play eight games in 25 days, which are all decisive."

Arsenal are battling with Aston Villa for fourth place in the Premier League to secure Champions League football for next season and are also involved in two cup competitions.

The Gunners play their quarter-final first-leg Champions League tie with Villarreal on Tuesday and face Chelsea in an FA Cup semi-final on Saturday 18 April.

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How big a boost is this for Arsenal?

The 21-year-old Spaniard suffered the injury going for a 50-50 challenge with Xabi Alonso in Arsenal's 1-1 draw with Liverpool.

Although Arsenal have recently revived their form, Fabregas' absence has been seen as a key reason for their inability to challenge for the title.

Fabregas was recently embroiled in controversy during the 2-1 FA Cup quarter-final victory over Hull when he was accused by Tigers' boss Phil Brown of spitting at assistant manager Brian Horton.

On Saturday, Arsenal will be without strike duo Robin Van Persie and Eduardo, who were both injured while on international duty, but Theo Walcott and Emanuel Adebayor are available.

Walcott returns from a knee injury while Adebayor is fit again following a recent hamstring strain.

Samir Nasri (flu) and Mexican striker Carlos Vela (fatigue) may miss out though.

Facebook Fires CFO as It Looks Ahead to an IPO

Social networking giant heads back to the rumor mill as it seeks to replace Gideon Yu with "someone with public company experience."
Facebook today dismissed its chief financial officer, Gideon Yu, as the social networking phenomenon is sending signals about its plans to go public.

"Despite the poor economic climate, we are pleased that our financial performance is strong and we are well positioned for the next stage of our growth," the company said in a statement. "We have retained Spencer Stuart to lead our search for a new CFO and will be looking for someone with public company experience."

Facebook's finances have been a closely guarded secret and a favorite topic of speculation in the blogosphere, but a source familiar with the matter toldInternetNews.com that the company has enjoyed five straight quarters of profitability by the measure of EBITDA, or earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization.

The source said that at this early stage in the year, Facebook is on track to see annual revenues jump 70 percent from last year, and that the company expects to be cash flow positive next year.

Facebook is still looking ahead to an IPO, but the source said there is no timetable for going public.

In the past year, Facebook has jumped from around 400 employees to nearly 900 as it continues to grow domestically and beefs up its operations overseas. Yu, 37, had an impressive resume but was generally thought of as someone best suited to bringing along young companies as they mature.

Prior to joining Facebook, Yu had served as CFO of YouTube, where he helped negotiate the sale of the video-sharing site to Google for $1.65 billion.

Previously, Yu was a senior vice president of finance at Yahoo, where he also held the title of treasurer. Yu's executive bio on Facebook's site (still available as of this writing) credits him with engineering more than 30 acquisitions and investments at Yahoo, including the purchases of Delicious Flickr and the partial acquisition of Asian e-commerce sites Alibaba and Taobao. Yu also led Yahoo's first round of financing since its own IPO.

Yu was one of the early high-profile Google executives to wind up at Facebook. The company has also poached Sheryl Sandberg to step in as COO and Eliot Schrage to head up the company's public relations efforts.

Yu's dismissal, announced by internal memo, comes amid speculation that Facebook has been actively seeking -- and struggling to secure -- an additional round of financing. The source disputed that characterization, saying that some of the reporting had been confused and that Facebook is not actively looking to sell an equity stake to an investment group, but that it would consider a deal if the price was right.

Microsoft famously paid $240 million for a 1.6 percent stake in the company in 2007, giving it a valuation of $15 billion, a figure that exceeded analysts' most generous estimates, and by all measures has come down considerably. 

TAGS: Microsoft, Facebook, social media, CFO, IPO

Is Facebook an unsafe environment for business?

Developers continue to vent their frustration at Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg and the direction he’s taking his iconic social networking site. Zuckerberg’s vision for Facebook is to become the web-based platform of the future. But has it become tainted with so many changes that it has become an unsafe environment for building a business?

According to Nick O’Neill, yes.

In a post noting that microblogging platform Twitter is growing at twice the rate of Facebook — which itself is posting incredible growth numbers, notably overseas and in older demographics, with 5 million new visitors per week — O’Neill also notes that Facebook’s latest redesign, emulating the revolving status update river that Twitter is known for, is just one more thorn in the side of developers.

Why? Because Facebook, for all of the ubiquity of its signature blue, is a chameleon that can’t settle down. Internally and externally.

O’Neill writes:

What was once billed as the first social operating system, has instead been replaced as the social backbone for external applications. Not a bad position for Facebook but now some developers have been forced to diversify their development efforts to other platforms.

Not all developers are complaining however. LivingSocial for example, continues to experience phenomenal growth thanks to widespread feed distribution in the new redesign. Flixster and a number of other applications have mimicked the call to action images utilized by LivingSocial. Soon, growth among these applications may become stunted as Facebook plans to be eliminating call to action images from feed stories according to people I’ve spoken with.

In other words, Facebook keeps adapting — which isn’t itself a bad thing — without accepting a common set of standards. In the constantly moving seathat is Facebook, developers and businesses need something to grab hold of, lest they never dive in in the first place.

If Facebook continues to evolve, will businesses bite?

Take LinkedIn, for example: while not nearly as complicated (and large) as Facebook, it’s seen as a stable site. Not a lot of changes happen, and when they do, they’re quite deliberate and incremental.

Facebook, on the other hand, has made so many drastic changes in as many months that even its basic users are revolting. (During the last refresh, friend after friend complained: “Every time I log in, Facebook is different!”)

Ironically, Twitter has acted more like LinkedIn in this area: despite its shaky corporate state, its site changes have been incremental, and while they haven’t been prominently announced like those of Facebook, they’ve barely changed the core functionality of the site. Users — and businesses — haven’t had to drastically adjust strategies to use the site to their advantage, even if there’s no clear path just yet.

It’s clear, then, that for all its breadth, Facebook is still very much the fledgling site it always has been, focused on the individual user. A user’s home page may be radically reformatted, but core functionality of being able to find and share with your friends has remained the same. On the other hand, what little infrastructure there was for entities — be it celebrities, institutions, and so forth — has been haphazard.

What’s a business supposed to do: start a group, or create an “entity” profile? And what of “fans” of a product or company? There are too many different options, none optimized.

In a way, it seems as if Facebook’s user base has grown too fast for the company to manage it. For all of its scope, it’s still very much a lawless Wild Wild West; hardly the planned community it seems.

I expect Facebook to work these things out in coming months. But in the meantime, it must build trust with businesses and guide them to a solution that works.

To boot, rival Twitter has already begun to address entities and the competitionin its search for monetization. So the clock is ticking.

Companies are in the process of trying to understand social networking and how to use it. It’s in Facebook’s best interest to help them.

Here we are at a potential turning point for Facebook: Can it continue to evolve without alienating its own users — the ones innovating on its site each day?

Hamilton loses Aussie GP points

Lewis Hamilton and McLaren have been stripped of their podium finish and all points at the Australian Grand Prix.

The sport's world governing body, the FIA, said they were excluded "for providing evidence deliberately misleading to the stewards".

A post-race hearing promoted Hamilton from fourth to third after Jarno Trulli was penalised for passing Hamilton while the safety car was out.

Trulli and Toyota have been reinstated to third, and McLaren will not appeal.

Hamilton was summoned by stewards on Thursday, ahead of this weekend's Malaysian GP, to discuss what the FIA described as "a new element" of evidence.

That "new element" included radio exchanges between Hamilton and his team as well as a post-race interview given by the world champion.

"The stewards, having learned about the radio exchanges and the media interview, felt strongly that they had been misled by the driver and his team manager," said an FIA statement.

An FIA spokesman said it "could not rule out at this stage" further action against McLaren.

Hamilton left the Sepang International Circuit without commenting on the decision.

Trulli was initially handed a 25-second penalty for the incident, which saw him demoted to 12th.

"We are disappointed by what has happened but in the circumstances we are not going to appeal," said McLaren team principal Martin Whitmarsh, before the FIA's summary of considerations was released.

He added: "There is no implication that Lewis lied to the stewards.

"As I understand there is a belief that the team was not explicit enough in the content of the radio communications to the stewards.

"What they believe is that the omission of the information about the radio communication between the team was withheld and that is misleading.

"I believe it was a harsh decision. Lewis made a legitimate pass and then was repassed - at the time the team asked race control several times about the repass but they were too busy to answer that question so we felt the decision in the immediate aftermath was fair.

"I think it's a regrettable day. It certainly wasn't a deliberate attempt (to mislead the stewards)."

F1 MOLE

McLaren have had little leeway in terms of receiving the benefit of the doubt from the FIA since the 2007 'spygate' row.

That saw the team stripped of their constructors' points and fined £50m after being caught in possession of sensitive Ferrari technical data.

In Melbourne on Sunday, the safety car came out after a late collision between Red Bull's Sebastian Vettel and Robert Kubica in his BMW Sauber.

Trulli slid off the track and was passed by Hamilton but the Toyota driver, who has welcomed the decision, said he had little choice but to overtake the Briton again.

"I am happy because I wanted some justice and I got it," said Trulli.

"I am happy for myself and the team and I have to thank the FIA because it does not happen very often they reconsider something.

"It must have been really hard for them, but they had common sense to really try and understand what was going on. I have always been honest and it has paid off.

"It was a controversial end of the race and it was hard for anyone to understand, but I never lied. I was honest in my statement and I never changed it."

BBC commentator and former F1 driver Martin Brundle said: "This does not look good for Hamilton or McLaren.

"Hamilton passed Trulli as he was off the road. Hamilton clearly wondered then, to give him the benefit of the doubt, if he had passed under the safety car conditions and was trying to let Trulli back through.

"There was a point when he was doing just 15mph in his McLaren and Trulli had no option but to repass him.

"I think Lewis then saw half a chance of a third place instead of a fourth, went up to the stewards and didn't give them the full story.

"Now they've matched up his comments (to them) to radio content between him and the team, and other information they've gathered, and they've decided that effectively he was telling fibs.

"I think it's a big issue and it's not going to go away. If they were asked a direct question they should have given the right answer, and they clearly didn't."

Slum cooker protects environment, helps poor

NAIROBI (Reuters) - Kenya's huge and squalid slums don't have much of anything, except mountains of trash that fill rivers and muddy streets, breeding disease.

Now Kenyan designers have built a cooker that uses the trash as fuel to feed the poor, provide hot water and destroy toxic waste, as well as curbing the destruction of woodlands.

After nine years of development, the prototype "Community Cooker" is close to being rolled out in overcrowded refugee camps as well as slums around the country where the filth encourages diseases including cholera.

Invented by Nairobi architect Jim Archer, the cooker combines simplicity with the capacity to confront several environmental challenges simultaneously. The design was highly commended at the World Architecture Festival in Barcelona last year.

The prototype is working in Nairobi's Kibera slum, said to be the biggest in Africa, where around 800,000 people live.

Potatoes, rice and tea cook on some of the eight hotplates above a roaring, spitting furnace. A joint of meat roasts in an oven that can also be used for bread.

Behind the black-painted corrugated iron cooking area, rubbish collected by local youths dries on racks before being pushed into the furnace.

Technicians have spent three years modifying the firebox to produce enough heat to destroy toxins in the rubbish, particularly plastics, although they are striving to get the temperature higher still.

The stove is one of several projects giving hope amid endemic violence, crime and disease in the huge slums. In another part of Kibera, a group of 35 youths have developed a farm on a former rubbish dump, feeding themselves and selling cucumbers, pumpkins and tomatoes.

HEALTH HAZARDS

The health hazards posed by garbage assault the eye as soon as you enter Kibera.

The slum looks as if it is literally built on trash, with waste including excrement filling the rough mud streets and streams, so only fetid pools remain.

Small rubbish fires stutter on the roadsides, spreading acrid smoke near kiosks selling food.

Pigs and goats forage in the waste and children play by filthy streams and drink from water pipes covered in garbage.

Slums like Kibera, home to 60 percent of Nairobi's population, receive no garbage collection or other services from city authorities.

Mexico sack Eriksson after Honduras defeat

(CNN) -- Former England manager Sven-Goran Eriksson has been sacked as coach of the Mexican national team after disappointing results in their World Cup qualifying campaign.

Eriksson waves farewell after the press conference announcing he was stepping down.

Eriksson waves farewell after the press conference announcing he was stepping down.

Mexico lost 3-1 to Honduras on Wednesday night to leave them fourth in the CONCACAF group with just three points.

Only the top three teams from the group go through to the finals in South Africa with the fourth-placed team playing the fifth best from South America in a playoff.

It was their second loss in three matches in the final phase of qualifying, with a home success over Costa Rica in the Azeteca Stadium in Mexico at the weekend easing some of the pressure on the 61-year-old Swede.

But after the latest defeat the Mexican football federation convened an emergency meeting on Thursday and Eriksson's fate was sealed.

Federation president Justino Compean told Press Association: "We said we had to take some measures because we could not take risks with qualification for the World Cup, and we could not rely solely on results at the Estadio Azteca.

"This morning we had a meeting with Mr Eriksson and although it is a shame for me and a lot of people, we told Mr Eriksson that his spell with the national team was over."

Eriksson took charge less than a year ago after parting company with Premier League Manchester City and was being paid a reported $7 million per year.

Eriksson was the first foreigner to coach Mexico for 11 years and replaced former Mexican international star Hugo Sanchez.

But he has found success hard to come by and courted controversy by including players born outside of Mexico in his squad.

After a successful career in club management, Eriksson took charge of the English national team and held the post for five years until stepping down after the 2006 World Cup where the team went out in the quarterfinals.

Returning to club football, he took Manchester City to a mid-table position in the Premeir League before moving to Mexico.

There was no immediate word on Eriksson's successor but reports linked former Atletico Madrid coach Javier Aguirre and Toluca coach Jose Manuel de la Torre with the job. 

Eat better — for less money

 A family of four spends about $5,300 a year on groceries, according to the Department of Labor. But even though the prices of fresh fruits and vegetables have increased 40 percent, there are ways you can still buy healthy foods without busting your budget. It took a vicious case of Lyme disease to convince Keith Schorsch to change his diet — and his family's. The 44-year-old Seattle resident credits his recovery to nutritional improvements, and ever since then he has insisted on organic, unprocessed, and low-sugar everything. He cut back on carbs, beefed up his protein intake, and lost 50 pounds in the process. His two young sons evince a genuine fondness for yogurt and broccoli. "Eating well and exercising properly changed my life," says Schorsch. "I can now run five to seven miles, whereas before I could run only one to two miles comfortably. And now I bike for two to four hours at a high heart rate; before I was more comfortable in the one-hour range."

The only problem is that Schorsch, CEO of the health networking site Trusera.com, and his wife, a marketing executive, would rather spend time with their kids than drive around town looking for organic tomatoes. And they can't just zip through the supermarket, throwing frozen dinners into the cart. "Ninety percent of the food in the store is stuff you don't want to eat," he says. "It takes a lot of time to learn how to stock up on food that's good for you." Plus, healthy food simply costs more. "It's definitely an extra expense," he says. A family of four spends about $5,300 a year on groceries, according to the Department of Labor.

Schorsch has developed a strategy for maximizing nutrition while minimizing time in the produce aisle. He goes online to order nonperishables such as nutrition bars and organic beef jerky, and every two months or so, he hits Costco to stock up on healthy staples such as brown rice and cheese. He and his wife keep a template shopping list for their regular stores, so when they run out of something, they just mark it on the appropriate list; it makes shopping faster and easier. To ensure the family enjoys a good dinner every evening, they've been paying a cook to come in and prepare five meals in advance every two weeks. "It actually costs less than takeout," he says. 

The deck is stacked against a busy guy trying to feed his family healthful food. The Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy found that over a 15-year period the cost of fresh fruits and vegetables rose 40 percent, while prices on sweets and soda dropped. Adam Drewnowski, PhD, director of the University of Washington Center for Obesity Research, found that a dollar buys 1,200 calories worth of potato chips and cookies but just 250 carrot calories. The government's agriculture policy actually encourages low prices for corn and soybeans, leading the food industry to produce cheap snacks full of corn syrup and soybean oil. 

If you're willing to look beyond the grocer, however, here are sixways to improve your diet while saving cash and time.

aRSENE TO STAY UP TO 2011

l 2011.

After Wenger reassured shareholders he would see out his contract, chief executive Ivan Gazidis said: “We believe in him wholeheartedly and hope he will be around for a long time.”

resident Obama, G-20 leaders pledge $1 trillion to help smaller nations weather economic crisis


LONDON - World leaders pledged $1.1 trillion in loans and guarantees to struggling countries and agreed Thursday to crack down on tax havens and hedge funds — but failed to reach sweeping accord on more stimulus spending to attack the global economic decline.

At the end of a highly anticipated one-day gathering, leaders of the Group of 20 nations said they would upgrade an existing financial forum to serve as an early warning monitor to flag problems in the global financial system.

They did not, however, satisfy U.S. and British calls for new stimulus measures. Nor did European politicians get their goal of a global financial superregulator.

The leaders did bridge several gaps between the United States and some European nations over how far to regulate the market and how to curb the excesses that sparked the global economic crisis.

President Barack Obama, in his first major venture into international diplomacy, failed to get U.S. trading partners to spend more money on job-creating stimulus programs, as the U.S. and Britain have done. The proposal was opposed strongly by France and Germany.

However, it had become clear long before the gathering began that there was little support for more such stimulus spending outside the U.S. and Britain.

"I think we did OK," Obama told reporters afterward. "We have agreed on a series of unprecedented steps to restore growth and prevent a crisis like this happening again... We have created as fundamental a reworking of resources to these international financial institutions as anything we've done in the last several decades."

Obama's words echoed comments by British Prime Minister Gordon Brown and the French and German leaders.

Thursday's gathering was called in hopes of restoring faith in the global financial system — and in one possible gauge of success, European and U.S. markets surged ahead as the outcome of the summit came into view.

The biggest headline figure was the new money for the International Monetary Fund, which helps out governments that run into financial trouble from the crisis, and other development organizations to send credit to countries that have seen it dry up.

French President Nicolas Sarkozy, who earlier had threatened earlier to walk out if unsatisfied with the outcome, also praised Obama for helping to create consensus and persuade China to agree to publish lists of tax havens.

"There were moments of tension," Sarkozy said. "Never would we have thought to get as big an agreement."

German Chancellor Angela Merkel called the measures "a very, very good, almost historic compromise" that will give the world "a clear financial markets architecture."

"For the first time we have a common approach to cleaning up banks around the world to restructuring of the world financial system. We have maintained our commitment to help the world's poorest," Brown said. "This is a collective action of people around the world working at their best."

The G-20 leaders also said that developing nations — hard-hit and long complaining of marginalization — would get a greater say in world economic affairs. They said they would renounce protectionism and pledged $250 billion in trade finance over the next two years — a key measure to help struggling developing countries.

The leaders also agreed to new rules on linking executive pay to performance, Brown said.

Despite the announcement of a global supervisory body to flag problems, Sarkozy lost his bid for a global regulatory czar that could actual enforce regulations inside U.S. and other countries.

Obama said that the comprehensive deal was just the beginning, and the world's problems "are not going to be solved in one meeting, they're not going to be solved in two meetings."

G-20 leaders agreed to gather again to assess progress on their commitments at the sidelines of the annual U.N. summit in New York in September.

Police were out in force for the G-20 summit Thursday, swarming the east Londonriverside site after demonstrations in the city's financial district on Wednesday turned spordically violent.

Police boats patrolled the Thames river as small groups of demonstrators protested world poverty and climate change. Over 110 people were arrested over two days, police said.

uctions a bit of glitz for weary Cleveland

Cindy Pulido, left, Jannely Romero, and Jennifer Hernandez, right, pose for a photo taken by a self-timer on a camera with The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Museum in the background, Monday, March 30, 2009, in Cleveland. The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame’s 24th Annual Induction Ceremony will take place at Cleveland’s historic Public Hall on Saturday. (AP Photo/Tony Dejak)

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CLEVELAND — The city that bills itself as the birthplace of rock 'n' roll is going through some rocky times of its own.

Cleveland's foreclosure rates are alarmingly high, unemployment is skyrocketing, its steel mills are going idle and federal officials are investigating alleged government corruption.

A high flying rock party might be just the distraction this troubled city needs.

On Saturday, the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame will hold its induction ceremonies in the city where it is based for the first time in more than a decade. A week's worth of events are leading up to the induction of heavy metal band Metallica, rap pioneers Run-DMC, soul singer Bobby Womack, guitarist and former Yardbirds member Jeff Beck and rhythm and blues doo-wop group Little Anthony and the Imperials.

"These are difficult times and Cleveland has a chip on its shoulder," Rock Hall Director Terry Stewart said. "The idea is to do a great job this time and everybody will say let's do it again."

Although the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Museum is in Cleveland, the induction ceremony usually is held at the Waldorf Astoria in New York, the city where hall's foundation is based. The foundation tentatively has agreed to let Cleveland host the event every three years, if this year's ceremony is successful and funding is available. The last time Cleveland hosted the ceremony was in 1997.

The tab for this year's ceremony is an estimated $5 million, with most of the money coming from Cleveland, civic organizations and sponsors.

The city is putting on the glitz to make sure it will be ready when the spotlight hits it this weekend. Already, $500,000 has been spent to spruce up downtown's 87-year-old Public Hall, the site of the ceremony. Cleveland is also making a greater effort to clean downtown streets of litter and debris, remove graffiti and fix sidewalks around Public Hall, Public Service Director Jomarie Wasik said.

While Cleveland has long been known as a gritty city with its share of troubles, in recent years, its problems have multiplied. It was the nation's second most impoverished big city in 2007, according the Census Bureau's most recent American Community Survey.

Its steel industry, the linchpin of its economy for decades, is in freefall. Its biggest steel plant has been idle since October, when the Luxembourg-based ArcelorMittal ordered a temporary shut down because of the slumping steel business. Cleveland also faces a rising tide of foreclosures, with some neighborhoods rampant with vacant homes.

In addition, a federal investigation of alleged corruption in Cleveland has focused on several key officials in the Democratic-controlled county government.

The induction ceremony will give the city a chance to temporarily set aside its troubles and remind the music world of Cleveland's key role in the creation of rock 'n' roll.

Cleveland disc jockey Alan Freed in the 1950s is widely credited with popularizing the music and the term rock 'n' roll. Legendary bands in their early years, including the Beatles and Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band, made sure to sample that fan base with Cleveland appearances. British rock star Ian Hunter even paid homage to the city with the song "Cleveland Rocks," which later became the theme for "The Drew Carey Show," which had some scenes and its storyline set in Cleveland.

Cleveland's importance to rock music became a reason why the hall's New York foundation erected the steel and glass triangular shrine here in 1995.

"There is a rich history," said Jerome Anthony Gourdine, better known as Little Anthony, part of this year's induction class (others include Wanda Jackson, Bill Black, DJ Fontana and Spooner Oldham.)

Gourdine says his group always considered Cleveland a key city in which to perform.

"I can't think of a better place than Cleveland," he said of the induction ceremony. "You talk about Cleveland rocks? Whoa! The stuff I'm hearing that's going on ... Man!"

Stewart regularly hears criticism of an out-of-town induction ceremony, most often when he's trying to raise money in Cleveland. Concerns increased last year, when a Rock Hall Annex opened in New York.

Stewart said the Annex was designed to display some exhibits and to make the Rock Hall generally more well known and isn't a test to see if New York might be a better location.

Henry LoConti, 79, who in 1966 opened one of Cleveland's more well known rock music performance nightclubs, the Agora, is among those relieved that the ceremony has returned to the city.

"It adds legitimacy to the fact that the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame is here," he said.

Viruses with trigger dates

Conficker, which was set to activate on April 1 but failed to cause any problems, isn't the first virus to be programmed to take action on a certain date or time. Experts believe that worms with a trigger date can lead to panic and hype. Here are some others:

Michelangelo
The Michelangelo virus, first discovered in 1991, was triggered to launch its payload (rendering disk unusable) on computers running MS-DOS every March 6, but by 1997 it appeared to have petered out.

CIH
The CIH, or Chernobyl, virus targeted Windows and was discovered in 1998. The original variant was set to destroy data on April 26, the birthday of the virus writer, which coincidentally happened to be the anniversary of Chernobyl disaster. Subsequent variants have different trigger dates for their payloads, including one that was set to activate on the 26th of every month but which was not widespread.

Code Red
The Code Red worm, discovered in July 2001, exploited a flaw in Microsoft IIS software and directed infected Web servers to launch attacks on other computers within a certain period of time. One of the sites was that of the White House, but the administration was able to successfully fend off the attack after moving the site from the targeted IP address.

Klez.e
Klez.e first spread via e-mail messages in February 2002 and exploited a hole in Outlook. It was set to activate on the sixth day of odd-numbered months and destroy files on infected Windows computers. However, it caused little or no damage because in the month between when it surfaced and when it was first due to activate on March 6, 2002, PC users were able to update their antivirus software.

Blaster
Blaster, or MSBlast, began spreading August 11, 2003, about three weeks after Microsoft announced a serious hole in Windows. The worm exploited the hole and was programmed to launch a denial of service attack on a Microsoft update Web site on August 15, 2003, but the company killed the Internet address to thwart it. In the code, the worm writer exhorted Bill Gates to "stop making money and fix your software!!"

MyDoom
Discovered in January 2004, the MyDoom virus targeted Windows PCs and was originally triggered to launch a denial of service attack against the Web site of the SCO Group between February 1 and February 12, 2004. The attack crippled SCO Group's site, forcing the company to move to an alternate site. A second variant launched a DDOS attack on Microsoft's site, but that had little impact. SCO Group and Microsoft both offered $250,000 rewards for information leading to the arrest of the creators of the variant targeting their site. (Microsoft is alsooffering a $250,000 reward in the Conficker case.)

Kama Sutra
The Kama Sutra worm, also called Nyxem, spread via e-mail and infected Windows PCs when the e-mail, typically sexually suggestive, was opened. It was programmed to delete files on infected machines on February 3, 2006, butfailed to do much damage.

Sober
A variant of the Sober Windows worm that began circulating in November 2005 was set to activate on January 5 or 6, 2006, possibly dated to coincide with the 87th anniversary of the founding of the Nazi party. It had the potential to download malicious code onto infected computers and launch a new wave of viruses, but was unsuccessful.
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