News Headlines - 23 April 2014

▽Obama’s First Order of Business in Tokyo: Sushi From the Master - NYTimes.com

To all the perks afforded the leader of the free world, add this one: Within about 90 minutes of arriving in Tokyo on Wednesday, President Obama sat down for a meal prepared by an octogenarian sushi chef whom some regard as the master of all masters.
The chef, Jiro Ono, was the subject of a critically acclaimed documentary film, “Jiro Dreams of Sushi,” by the director David Gelb, which was featured at the 2011 Tribeca Film Festival, among other events.

▽Tony Blair warns on radical Islam threat - BelfastTelegraph.co.uk

Tony Blair has urged a deal with Bashar Assad in Syria and further Nato involvement in Libya as part of a "titanic" struggle against radical Islam.
The former prime minister said the West had to focus its efforts on tackling religious extremism, insisting it lay behind most of world's most intractable problems.

▽Russian planes shadowed by RAF - BelfastTelegraph.co.uk

British military aircraft were scrambled to investigate Russian planes which flew close to UK airspace, the Ministry of Defence (MoD) confirmed.
Officials said Typhoon aircraft were dispatched from Scottish base RAF Leuchars after the Russian presence was detected.

▽Apple expands buybacks by $30 billion, OKs 7-for-1 stock split | Reuters

Apple Inc has approved another $30 billion (17.8 billion pounds) in share buybacks till the end of 2015 and authorized a rarely seen seven-for-one stock split, addressing calls to share more of its cash hoard while broadening the stock's appeal to individual investors.

▽Facebook first revenue grows 72 percent on rising mobile ads | Reuters

Facebook said that mobile ads represented 59 percent of its ad revenue in the first quarter, up from 30 percent in the year-ago period. Facebook's overall revenue grew 72 percent year-on-year to $2.5 billion in the first quarter, above the $2.36 billion expected by analysts polled by Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S.