By Wayne Cole SYDNEY (Reuters) - Shares in tech heavyweights Apple and Facebook held hefty after-hours gains on Thursday as their results handily outpaced Wall Street expectations, though Asian markets managed only a mumbled cheer on the news. South Korea's Samsung Electronics did gain 0.6 percent but the main KOSPI index dipped a fraction. Markets were mixed across the region with Japan's Nikkei off 0.6 percent but Singapore up 0.5 percent. MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan edged ahead by 0.1 percent.

By Edwin Chan SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - Apple Inc has approved another $30 billion 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. Activist investor Carl Icahn, who had famously called on the iPhone maker to boost its buyback program, tweeted his approval of the move on Wednesday. On Wednesday, Apple reported sales of 43.7 million iPhones in the quarter ended March, far outpacing the roughly 38 million that Wall Street had predicted. But whether Apple can again produce a revolutionary new product remains the central question in investors' and Silicon Valley executives' minds.

By Luciana Lopez NEW YORK (Reuters) - Warren Buffett, chairman of conglomerate Berkshire Hathaway , said on Wednesday that safety is a major priority for the rail industry, after a recent spate of accidents raised concerns about how to transport oil safely. He added that the delay in the construction of the Keystone pipeline was unlikely to prompt additional purchases of tank cars at Berkshire railroad unit BNSF. COCA-COLA COMPENSATION PLAN Buffett also said, in an interview with CNBC the same day, that he thinks Coca-Cola's equity compensation plan was excessive, but that Berkshire Hathaway abstained in a shareholders vote. Earlier on Wednesday, Coca-Cola said 83 percent of shareholders approved the plan.

By Chuck Mikolajczak NEW YORK (Reuters) - U.S. stocks dipped on Wednesday to snap a six-session winning streak as gains in Boeing and Gilead were offset by slides in AT&T and the wider biotech sector. AT&T Inc fell 3.8 percent to $34.92 a day after the Dow component reported earnings that beat expectations, offset by weak service revenue growth. Verizon Communications shed 1 percent to $47.43 while the S&P telecom sector index dropped 2.2 percent, easily making it the session's worst-performing sector. Biotech shares pulled the Nasdaq lower.

By Noel Randewich SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - Leading mobile chipmaker Qualcomm said on Wednesday it could face a civil action from U.S. authorities over alleged bribery of officials associated with state-owned companies in China. With smartphone sales tapering off in the United States, China is a major market for Qualcomm, but doing business there has included disagreements over royalties and an antitrust investigation. In its fiscal second-quarter report, Qualcomm said it has received a notice from the Securities and Exchange Commission's Los Angeles office advising it of a preliminary determination to recommend an enforcement action against the company for violating the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA). Qualcomm said the civil action could seek remedies including "disgorgement of profits, the retention of an independent compliance monitor to review the company's FCPA policies and procedures, an injunction, civil monetary penalties and prejudgment interest." Qualcomm said it first learned of and disclosed the SEC investigation in 2012.

By Jonathan Spicer and Emily Stephenson NEW YORK/WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A former lawyer with the American Bankers Association is being considered by the White House as a possible nominee to the board of the Federal Reserve, according to sources familiar with the efforts The lawyer's name emerged as the White House weighs candidates with community banking backgrounds to fill gaps on the Federal Reserve's powerful but depleted board, the sources said. People familiar with the White House's process said administration officials may fill one of the remaining openings with someone with banking experience, as opposed to an economist. Two sources said the administration is considering Diana Preston, a lawyer who recently left a post at the American Bankers Association, which represents many small banks.

By Alexei Oreskovic SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - Facebook Inc's mobile advertising business accelerated in the first three months of the year, helping the Internet social networking company top Wall Street's financial targets. Shares of Facebook were up nearly 3 percent at $63.05 in after-hours trading on Wednesday. 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. "They've got the right products for what advertisers are looking for and that's manifesting itself in the results you're seeing," said JMP Securities analyst Ronald Josey.

By James Topham and Niu Shuping TOKYO/BEIJING (Reuters) - Three employees at one of Marubeni Corp's grain trading units in China have been detained by authorities, the Japanese trading house said on Thursday, a move sources told Reuters was prompted by allegations the unit evaded taxes on soy bean imports. The employees worked at a Chinese unit of Marubeni's Columbia Grain, Inc, a spokesman at the trading company said. The detentions may signal further complications in strained relations between Japan and China. Japan's Mitsui O.S.K. Lines Ltd has paid almost $40 million to Chinese claimants, stemming from a wartime claim after the seizure of one of its ships by a court in Shanghai, media in Japan said on Thursday.

By Lucia Mutikani WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Sales of new U.S. single-family homes tumbled to their lowest level in eight months in March, dashing hopes for a quick turnaround for a sector that fell into a soft patch last summer.

(Reuters) - Wal-Mart Stores Inc said former Chief Executive Officer Lee Scott and board member Chris Williams will not stand for re-election to the retailer's board. Scott will complete his service as director at the company's annual shareholders' meeting on June 6, "in line with Walmart`s historical practice for its prior CEOs' Board service," the company said in a statement on Wednesday. Scott had joined Wal-Mart in 1979 and served as its chief executive officer from 2000 till 2009. Williams, chief of The Williams Capital Group, is stepping down from the board after 10 years, in accordance with the company's corporate governance guidelines, Wal-Mart said.

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — Apple is doling out more of its cash to shareholders and preparing to split its stock for the first time in nine years in an attempt to win back investors fretting about the iPhone maker's slowing sales growth and pace of innovation.

NEW YORK (AP) — Facebook's earnings nearly tripled and revenue grew sharply in the first quarter, surpassing Wall Street's expectations thanks to an 82 percent increase in advertising revenue.

MOSCOW (AP) — The founder of Russia's leading social media network — a wunderkind often described as Russia's Mark Zuckerberg — has left his post as CEO and fled the country as cronies of President Vladimir Putin have made steady inroads into the company's ownership.

NEW YORK (AP) — Stocks edged mostly lower Wednesday, breaking a six-day winning streak, as investors were disappointed by the latest round of earnings from U.S. companies.

That little voice nagging you to put down the cake and lace up the running shoes is increasingly coming from your employer and is likely to grow louder with a looming change under the federal health care overhaul.

NEW YORK (AP) — In a new book, Thomas Piketty, the French economist who helped popularize the notion of a privileged 1 percent, sounds a grim warning: The U.S. economy has begun to decay into the pattern of aristocratic Europe of the 19th century. Hard work will matter less, inherited wealth more. The fortunes of the few will unsettle the foundations of democracy.

NEW YORK (AP) — Fans of classic HBO shows like "The Sopranos" and "The Wire" will soon have access to those series and more through Amazon Prime in the first online streaming deal signed by the cable network.

Summary: Samsung Gear App Challenge, a worldwide app challenge for Gear 2 apps, will be held, vitalizing the wearable app market. From May 8, developers can apply for the challenge by registering their apps developed …

Elton is on top of his game and proves that you really can have it all, on and off the court. Read along and find out what it takes to reach entrepreneurial success and achieve all around greatness.

An over-reliance on a familiar tool is a concept made famous by American psychologist Abraham Maslow who in 1966 said: "I suppose it is tempting, if the only tool you have is a hammer, to treat everything as if it were a nail." Recently, I worked on two interesting yet vastly different online reputation problems, and the experiences affirmed to me that even though online reputation management issues are diverse, "hammers" are very popular. The first involved a company that was fighting a disparaging and defamatory online forum posting. ...

Having bought a number of small companies and frankly having sold my companies to bigger companies a number of times, I have found the following eight steps to be essential in this process.

Does customer service really matter? It seems like an obvious question to answer, but, given the results of a consumer survey by the American Customer Satisfaction Index (ASCI), "conventional wisdom" may be wrong on this one. From a consumer PR perspective, and by examining consumer buying habits, a large majority of people, based on their practices care more about other aspects of their shopping experience than customer service. Here are five companies which the survey said had bad customer service -- and why they still manage to clean up at the cash register: 1. ...

Your content marketing will attract customers seeking to solve the problems you are best at solving. When that happens, your sales efforts will be about determining if you can help, not convincing them of your talents.

Bond traders seem to have seen Steve Martin's The Man With Two Brains so often they have forgotten it was a comedy. And these are the folks the equity markets are supposed to pay attention to?

Judith Rodin is president of The Rockefeller Foundation, which held $3.7 billion in assets as of its 2012 annual report. That year, the foundation distributed $130 million in grants and charitable activities while taking in a net investment income of $283 million.

As technology continues to evolve, so does the way users interact with it, making new and innovative user acquisition strategies necessary as well. Growth engineering requires equal parts marketing, technology and creativity, which is why the best toolboxes are as diverse as they are ever-changing.

Fortunately, if your credit score has taken a hit, you can initiate several actions that will begin improving it almost immediately. Just be aware that it can take many years to recover from severe credit-damaging situation such as bankruptcy or foreclosure.

What's revealed in these arrangements is striking: a belief that, once you've hired someone, you have bought the power to control their future when they work for you -- even after they've quit. In other words, you own them.

If you're looking for somebody to blame for rising inequality, blame babies. A drop-off in population growth is a big reason why global economic growth is going to slow down in the decades ahead, French economist Thomas Piketty points out in his new book, Capital in the 21st Century. The top-selling book on Amazon.com is getting a lot of attention for its predictions of soaring wealth concentration and inequality and its call for a massive global tax on the wealthy.

JetBlue and Southwest Airlines are starting to look less like innovative upstarts -- complete with low fares and unusual perks -- and more like their stodgy competitors. As they age, they may have less room to treat workers well, and employees are starting to respond. JetBlue’s pilots voted to unionize Tuesday, ending the airline’s status as the biggest U.S. carrier without organized labor groups. ...

If you think the Internet has rendered business cards obsolete, it probably just means you need a better idea. The fact is, the vast majority of Americans still exchange cards when they first meet, according to a recent survey by DesignCrowd, a crowdsourcing site that sells business card designs. You just need make sure your card stands out among the rest. If you're struggling to think outside the box, here's some inspiration. For the fitness guru who wants to show off those downward-facing digits. Or the yoga instructor who is ready to roll. For the plastic surgeon who is well-endowed.