Police in the Philippines say they have identified and placed under surveillance the originator of the computer virus which paralysed computer systems around the world last week.

The head of the National Bureau of Investigation, NBI, Nelson Bartolome, said the suspect's identity would not be released because it might jeopardise the search operation.

Mr Bartolome said the NBI was trying to get an arrest warrant issued by a judge.

Local news reports say suspicion is focussing on a twenty-three-year-old man in the capital, Manila.

The computer virus appeared on Thursday in an e-mail entitled I LOVE YOU, and caused damage estimated at billions of dollars.

From the newsroom of the BBC World Service