News Headlines - 23 December 2020

▽Taiwan reports 1st local coronavirus case in 253 days - The Mainichi

Taiwan reported Tuesday its first locally transmitted case of the novel coronavirus since April, ending a 253-day streak without domestic transmission.
Health and Welfare Minister Chen Shih-chung told a press conference that the new case was confirmed as a Taiwanese woman in her 30s who had close contact with a New Zealand pilot in his 60s, whose infection was confirmed Sunday.
The last time Taiwan reported a local transmission was April 12. Taiwan saw its first local case on Jan. 28.

▽Apple targets car production by 2024 and eyes 'next level' battery technology - sources | Reuters

Apple Inc is moving forward with self-driving car technology and is targeting 2024 to produce a passenger vehicle that could include its own breakthrough battery technology, people familiar with the matter told Reuters.

▽Elon Musk claims Apple CEO wouldn't take meeting about Tesla buyout - CNN

Tesla CEO Elon Musk said on Twitter on Tuesday that he attempted to sell the company "during the darkest days of the Model 3 program," but that Apple CEO Tim Cook "refused to take the meeting."
Apple did not immediately respond to a request for comment
Musk made the claim in response to a post about a Reuters report published Monday. Apple is planning to introduce a mass-market automobile that will make use of new battery technology, according to the Reuters report, which cites anonymous sources.

▽Junichi Hanzawa tapped to head MUFG Bank | The Japan Times

Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group Inc. plans to name MUFG Bank Managing Executive Officer Junichi Hanzawa as president and CEO of the core banking unit, sources said Tuesday.
The plan means that Hanzawa, 55, will become the first managing executive officer to directly assume the post of president and CEO at the bank, the sources said... Hanzawa entered the former Mitsubishi Bank in 1988, engaging in corporate planning for many years. He currently serves as chief compliance officer.
At Mitsubishi Bank, he was a contemporary of Jun Ikeido, who later became a novelist, the original author of “Hanzawa Naoki,” a popular television drama series featuring bankers.

▽Tokyo Games' Mansai Nomura-Led Ceremony Team to Be Disbanded - JIJI PRESS

The planning team for the opening and closing ceremonies of next year's Tokyo Olympics and Paralympics, headed by acclaimed "kyogen" traditional Japanese farcical drama actor Mansai Nomura, will be disbanded, the games' organizing committee said Wednesday.
The team, which was due to supervise a total of four ceremonies, will part ways just seven months before the opening of the Olympic Games... Creative director Hiroshi Sasaki, who has been in charge of the Paralympics' ceremonies in the planning team, will head a new team for the four ceremonies to replace the seven-member group.