A tenacious computer worm which has wriggled its way onto machines worldwide is set to evolve on April Fool's Day, becoming harder to exterminate but not expected to wreak havoc. A task force assembled by Microsoft has been working to stamp out the worm, referred to as Conficker or DownAdUP, and the US software colossus has placed a bounty of 250,000 dollars on the heads of those responsible for the threat.

IBM will cut about 5,000 jobs in the United States, adding to similarly large cuts in the past few months, sources with knowledge of IBM the matter told Reuters on Wednesday.

The job cuts will account for over 4 percent of IBM's US workforce, which totaled around 115,000 at the end of 2008. The sources, who were not authorized to speak publicly on the issue, said the cuts will mostly be in IBM's global services business, which includes outsourcing and consulting services.

British reality television star Jade Goody, who won the nation's heart with her rags-to-riches success and her very public battle with cervical cancer, died Sunday aged 27.

Prime Minister Gordon Brown led the tributes to the mother-of-two, who lived her adult life in the spotlight but died in her sleep at home at 03:14 am (0314 GMT), with husband Jack Tweed and mother Jackiey Budden by her side.