REDMOND, Wash. -- Microsoft Corp. forgave a $15 million loan to outgoing company President Rick Belluzzo when he resigned last spring, according to the company's annual report.

In exchange, Belluzzo forfeited options to buy 3.5 million shares of stock -- options that might someday have been worth far more than the amount forgiven, according to Saturday's editions of The Seattle Times.

The annual report was filed Friday with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

The kind of loan granted Belluzzo became illegal July 30 under the Sarbanes-Oxley Act, passed after public outcry over excessive corporate compensation and scandal.

Navy submariner pleads guilty on military secrets

SAN DIEGO -- A Navy submariner pleaded guilty to charges he improperly possessed military defense secrets and stole government-owned computer hard drives, which he later sold on the Internet.

A military judge Friday sentenced Petty Officer 1st Class Bryan Moody to seven months in the brig and loss of pay and reduced his rank to seaman recruit.

Moody, formerly assigned to the submarine Helena at Point Loma Naval Base, was originally charged with possession of classified information. He faced more than 18 years if convicted of all charges.

Two get malaria in U.S. without travel abroad

STERLING, Va. -- Two Virginia teenagers have contracted malaria, a rarity because neither traveled abroad, health officials said.

Loudoun County health officials are trying to figure out how the 15-year-old boy and 19-year-old woman contracted the disease last month. Both are receiving antibiotics and recovering.

Of the estimated 1,200 cases of malaria in the United States each year, most are found among immigrants from countries where malaria is common.

Malaria is contracted when a person is bitten by an infected mosquito.

Polluted bayou gets added to Superfund list

HOUSTON -- A polluted waterway that flows into the Houston Ship Channel and is home to a wide range of wildlife has been added to the list of federal Superfund hazardous waste sites requiring priority cleanup.

Patrick Bayou, surrounded by petrochemical plants near Deer Park, was one of 19 sites added to the Superfund National Priorities List this past week.

With the new additions, the priorities list now contains 1,238 cleanup sites, the Environmental Protection Agency said.

Chemicals in sediment from the bayou and adjacent areas include pesticides, aromatic hydrocarbons, polychlorinated biphenyls, mercury and other metals, according to tests by city and state agencies and the EPA.

--From wire reports