TACOMA, Washington (Reuters) – A U.S. Army sergeant was convicted by court-martial on Thursday of murdering unarmed civilians and cutting fingers from their corpses as ringleader of a rogue platoon in Afghanistan’s Kandahar province.

The guilty verdict on all counts, returned after five hours of deliberations, carried an automatic life prison sentence, but the five-member jury panel then decided that Staff Sergeant Calvin Gibbs, 26, would be eligible for parole in 8 1/2 years.

TACOMA, Wash (Reuters) – A U.S. Army sergeant was convicted by court-martial on Thursday of murdering unarmed civilians and cutting fingers from their corpses as ringleader of a rogue platoon in Afghanistan’s Kandahar province.

A five-member jury panel returned a guilty verdict on all counts against Staff Sergeant Calvin Gibbs, 26, capping an 18-month investigation of the most egregious case of atrocities U.S. military personnel have been convicted of committing during a decade of war in Afghanistan.

SEATTLE, Nov 9 (Reuters) – The transformation of Seattle’s
South Lake Union district stands as a metaphor for this city’s
emergence as what some would argue is the West Coast’s second
most important hub of technology and entrepreneurship.

Many of the glass and steel buildings were built by Paul
Allen, the second-richest — behind Bill Gates — of the
numerous ex-Microsoft employees who have taken the wealth and
expertise earned in the personal computer era and applied it to
new ventures.

SEATTLE (Reuters) – Wall Street is warming up to Microsoft Corp’s $8.5 billion purchase of online chat service Skype.

After initial shock at the price — more than double its expected public valuation — investors think Microsoft made a smart move buying advanced communications technology it can put into its products along with a ready base of users.

SEATTLE (Reuters) – Wall Street is warming up to Microsoft Corp’s (MSFT.O: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) $8.5 billion purchase of online chat service Skype.

After initial shock at the price — more than double its expected public valuation — investors think Microsoft made a smart move buying advanced communications technology it can put into its products along with a ready base of users.

SEATTLE (Reuters) – Microsoft Corp’s flagship operating system made only slight gains last quarter, largely due to business and emerging market spending, holding back profit growth for the world’s largest software company.

Sales of Windows, which still runs more than 90 percent of the world’s personal computers, edged up only 2 percent from the year-ago quarter, in line with limp PC sales across the board.

SEATTLE (Reuters) – Microsoft Corp’s flagship operating system made only slight gains last quarter, largely due to business and emerging market spending, holding back profit growth for the world’s largest software company.

Sales of Windows, which still runs more than 90 percent of the world’s personal computers, edged up only 2 percent from the year-ago quarter, in line with limp PC sales across the board.

SEATTLE, Oct 20 (Reuters) – Microsoft Corp’s quarterly
profit rose 6 percent, meeting Wall Street’s modest
expectations, helped by strong sales of its popular Office
applications package, but limited by only slight gains from its
flagship Windows operating system.

Windows sales edged up only 2 percent, in line with limp
personal computer sales last quarter, breaking the streak of
three straight quarters of declining sales, as compared to the
year before. But it fell short of some analysts’ hopes.

SEATTLE, Oct 20 (Reuters) – Microsoft Corp looks
set to report flat or lower demand for its flagship Windows
product on Thursday, a victim of limp personal computer sales,
casting a shadow over otherwise strong earnings in a troubled
global economy.

The world’s largest software maker generally meets or beats
Wall Street’s profit forecasts — as it has for the last nine
quarters — but investors tend to focus on Windows sales, which
have dropped for the last three quarters when compared to
year-ago figures.