Investors snapped up the stocks of companies that make computer networking gear Thursday after industry leader Cisco Systems Inc.'s latest quarterly earnings raised hope that business is picking up after a long stretch of lackluster demand.

Four young computer hackers who masterminded cyberattacks on targets from the CIA to Sony Pictures and Rupert Murdoch's News International were sentenced to up to 32 months in prison on Thursday.

Political and business leaders are gathering on a billionaire's private island Friday to back a program aimed at expanding protection for the Caribbean's imperiled coasts and waters.

The unlikely pair _ an itinerant hitchhiker turned Internet celebrity and a lawyer three times his age _ met amid the neon lights of Times Square and headed back to a squat brick home on a quiet New Jersey cul-de-sac, authorities say.

A clutch of blogs and Twitter accounts maintained by the Financial Times were hacked Friday, the latest in a series of cyberattacks claimed by the Syrian Electronic Army, a pro-government group which often attacks media organizations it sees as sympathetic to the country's rebels.

In a bid to safeguard biodiversity and the Caribbean's tourism-based economy, regional political leaders and corporate executives will gather Friday on billionaire Richard Branson's private island with the aim of protecting 20 percent of the region's coastal resources by 2020.

Google used its annual conference for software developers to unveil several new products, services and features. They include enhancements for online games, maps, search, music and photos and are meant to help the company cement its role in people's technological lives. Here's a look at some of the announcements made at Wednesday's keynote at Google I/O.

Cisco's net income jumped 14 percent in the latest quarter as revenue at all four of its divisions rose for the first time in a year and a half.

A homeless, hatchet-wielding hitchhiker who became an Internet hero earlier this year was arrested Thursday for allegedly beating a New Jersey lawyer to death inside his home.

The National Marine Fisheries Service announced Thursday it will consider listing a population of harbor seals that live in a freshwater Alaska lake as a threatened or endangered species, a decision that could affect the massive Pebble Mine development project.

A homeless, hatchet-wielding hitchhiker who became an Internet hero earlier this year was arrested Thursday for allegedly beating a New Jersey lawyer to death inside his home.

A Russian-financed search engine seeking to challenge Google's dominance in Vietnam is redirecting queries for some politically sensitive terms to the American company's website, apparently as a way of avoiding government anger or legal liability for sending surfers to sites containing criticism of the ruling party.

A labor group Apple Inc. joined to assess working conditions at three manufacturing plants in China, where its products are made, says conditions are improving. But employees are still working more hours than the country's legal limit.

A homeless, hatchet-wielding hitchhiker who became an Internet hero earlier this year is wanted for allegedly beating a New Jersey lawyer to death inside his home, a prosecutor said Thursday.

The National Marine Fisheries Service announced Thursday it will consider listing a population of harbor seals that live in a freshwater Alaska lake as a threatened or endangered species, a decision that could affect the massive Pebble Mine development project.

Two endangered Hawaiian hawks were found wounded on the Big Island after apparently being shot with a pellet gun, and federal wildlife officials want to know who is responsible.

Google is digging deeper into its technology toolkit to turn its social networking service into a more formidable threat to Facebook, sprucing up its photo features at a time when sharing snapshots online and on mobile gadgets is growing more popular.

New Jersey authorities have issued a murder warrant for a homeless hitchhiker who gained Internet and television celebrity after using a hatchet to attack a man who ran over a California utility worker.

Researchers have detected swine flu in elephant seals off the Central California coast, saying it was the first time a human pandemic strain has been found in marine mammals.

An impromptu spacewalk over the weekend seems to have fixed a big ammonia leak at the International Space Station, NASA said Thursday.