Top headlines: iPhone 12 assembly in India, Buffett joins $100 bn club

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Covid: Strict lockdown will be enforced in parts of Maharashtra, says CM

Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray on Thursday said strict lockdown measures will be enforced in some parts of the state to contain the spread of COVID-19. Thackeray, 60, was speaking after receiving the first dose of the vaccine against COVID-19 at the government-run J J Hospital here. Maharashtra on Wednesday recorded 13,659 new coronavirus cases, the highest one-day spike this year, which took the state's caseload to 22,52,057. Read more

Apple starts assembling its flagship smartphone iPhone 12 in India

Apple Inc has started the assembly of iPhone 12 in India, the U.S. tech giant said, as the company ramps up manufacturing operations in the world's second-biggest smartphone market. "We are proud to be starting production of iPhone 12 in India for our local customers," Apple said in a statement on Thursday, without naming the supplier making the smartphone. The Indian unit of Apple's Taiwanese contract manufacturer Foxconn will assemble the device in its plant in southern Tamil Nadu state, two sources familiar with the matter said. Read more

Winners' curse: Top bosses at PSBs see their term ending much before time

The appointments committee of the cabinet (ACC), which cleared the appointment of 14 executive directors (EDs) at public-sector banks late evening on Monday, said these officials would be eligible for an extension of two years after completing their three-year term, provided they passed a performance review test. This means that many bankers’ career at public-sector banks will end much before they attain the retirement age of 60. Read more

Most economies won't return to pre-Covid activity levels by 2022: Moody's

Moody's Investors Service on Thursday said the credit downturn arising out of COVID-19 will be short-lived but most economies will not return to pre-pandemic activity levels until 2022. In the year since the World Health Organisation (WHO) declared COVID-19 a pandemic on March 11, 2020, the virus has disrupted the global economy and triggered a credit downturn accompanied by a spike in bond defaults. Read more

Warren Buffett becomes 6th member of $100 bn club; joins Musk, Gates, Bezos

Warren Buffett has been a fixture at the top of the world’s wealth rankings for decades, but in recent years he’s slipped down the list as tech fortunes soared and his hot hand cooled. Now, at 90, his net worth has blown past $100 billion. The Berkshire Hathaway Inc. chairman’s wealth jumped on Wednesday to $100.4 billion, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index. That makes Buffett the sixth member of the $100 billion club, a group including Jeff Bezos, Elon Musk and his friend Bill Gates. Read more