TOKYO—A fire at a factory of one of the world’s leading auto chip makers has added to the troubles of car makers that already have slashed production because of a semiconductor shortage.
The fire Friday left a swath of charred equipment in the factory owned by a subsidiary of Renesas Electronics Corp. in Hitachinaka, northeast of Tokyo. The company said it would take at least a month to restart the damaged operations.
Shares of Japan’s three leading car makers— Toyota Motor Corp. , Nissan Motor Co. and Honda Motor Co. —all fell by more than 3% on Monday, worse than the overall market, while Renesas shares were down 4.9%.
Renesas said heat from an electrical problem inside a single piece of equipment caused the fire and contaminated clean rooms needed to make semiconductors. It said two-thirds of the chips made at the fire-affected factory were automotive chips.
Renesas’s chief executive, Hidetoshi Shibata, said Sunday the impact on global chip supplies would be significant. Mariko Semetko, a credit analyst at Moody’s Japan, said the fire was likely to damp the recovery of global auto production this year, while auto makers said they were still assessing the impact.
A growing chorus of lawmakers from both sides of the aisle have called on the Biden administration to allow reporters and journalists into facilities housing unaccompanied migrant children who have sought asylum at the U.S.-Mexico border.
The appeal for greater transparency with the American public and those who cover it comes as the U.S. faces a growing humanitarian crisis at its southwest border, driven by Central America’s economic devastation, climate change, gang violence and political persecution, as well as a new presidential administration.
Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas predicts the U.S. is on pace to encounter more migrants at its southwest border than in 20 years. Amid the ongoing surge in crossings, President Biden said Sunday that “at some point” he will be going to the border.
Senator Rob Portman, ranking member on the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee and one of four senators who accompanied Mayorkas to the border on Friday, told CBS News’ “Face the Nation” that he will “absolutely” push to open Custom and Border Protection (CBP) facilities to journalists amid calls for transparency.
“This should be transparent,” Portman said. “It’s amazing to me how little my constituents know about what’s going on down along the border. It is a situation spiraling out of control.”
Senator Chris Murphy, chairman of the Senate Appropriations subcommittee on Homeland Security, also participated in the trip to the U.S.-Mexico border. The Democratic lawmaker told NPR on Saturday that opening up access to media coverage is “something that we should all press the administration to do better on.”
“We want to make sure that the press has access to hold the administration accountable,” he said. “That’s the reason I was there, to hold them accountable. And they’ve seen a surge that began last year, that began under the Trump administration, but it’s real. It’s pressing their resources.”
A U.S. Customs and Border Protection officer awaits immigrants crossing into the United States on March 16, 2021 in Ciudad Juarez, Mexico.
John Moore / Getty Images
As of Saturday morning, more than 5,000 unaccompanied minors remained in a CBP tent holding facility in south Texas and other stations along the border with Mexico. According to the government records, unaccompanied children are spending an average of 136 hours in CBP custody, far beyond the 72-hour legal limit.
The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) was also housing nearly 10,500 unaccompanied children in emergency housing facilities and shelters licensed by states to care for minors, according to department spokesperson Mark Weber.
Another lawmaker on the trip, Senator Shelley Moore Capito, the top Republican on the Senate Appropriations subcommittee on Homeland Security, told The Washington Post on Saturday that more than 200 border agents have been diverted to a Customs and Border Protection processing center in El Paso to care for children.
According to Capito, as many as 100 migrant children were being held in a large room at the facility amid the coronavirus pandemic, and many are being held in CBP custody beyond the legal limit of 72 hours before transfer into HHS custody. Capito expressed concern about the overstay in CBP facilities, noting, “They’ll move 50 out a night [and] have another 100 come in that night.”
The Republican senator also told The Washington Post that she reinforced to the DHS secretary that reporters should be allowed inside border facilities. “I pleaded with him to have as much transparency with us … but with the press as well,” Capito said.
In an interview with ABC News on Sunday, Mayorkas cited both privacy and health concerns in letting reporters into the facilities. “Let me be clear, we’re in the midst of the pandemic. We’re talking about a crowded Border Patrol station where we are focused on operations,” Mayorkas said.
“At the same time, and let me assure you, that we are working on a plan to provide access so that people could see what is going onat Border Patrol stations,” the DHS secretary continued. “I would encourage people to also see the Department of Health and Human Services facility where the children are sheltered and where they belong and where we are moving them to.”
The delegation’s trip to the border on Friday remained closed to press “due to privacy and COVID-19 precautions,” according to the DHS statement.
A Biden administration official indicated on Thursday that DHS made an “operational decision” in March 2020 “to discourage visitors” because of the ongoing coronavirus pandemic and that rule “still stands.”
Journalists were permitted into government facilities to inspect the conditions and speak with asylum seekers during past migrant surges, including under the Trump administration in 2018 and Obama administration in 2014.
White House press secretary Jen Psaki told reporters Wednesday that the Biden administration did not have a timeline for when the public would be able to see the conditions inside border facilities, amid repeated questioning in the White House briefing room.
“We remain committed to sharing with all of you data on the number of kids crossing the border, the steps we’re taking, the work we’re doing to open up facilities, our own bar we’re setting for ourselves, improving the and expediting the timeline and the treatment of these children,” Psaki said, deferring further questions to the Department of Homeland Security. “And we remain committed to transparency. I don’t have an update for you on the timeline for access, but it’s certainly something we support.”
In addition to media access, the Biden administration has not provided photos nor video documenting the inside of crowded government facilities housing migrant children amid the COVID-19 public emergency.
But the Biden administration, including Homeland Security officials, have repeatedly vowed to expand transparency and access into department operations since before the president’s inauguration. In his confirmation hearing before the Senate Homeland Security and Government Affairs Committee on January 19, Mayorkas promised “to elevate the level of public engagement, so that we are a transparent agency — transparent not only to the public that we serve, but to the media whose responsibility it is in part to hold us accountable.”
“We established three new facilities last week. … We are working on the system from beginning to end. We are working around the clock 24/7,” Mayorkas told CNN’s Dana Bash on “State of the Union” when pressed on the administration’s timeline for having new processing facilities up and running. “We have dealt with surges in the past and the men and women of Department of Homeland Security will succeed.”
The comments from Mayorkas, who insisted the southern border is currently closed to migrants even though the administration is making an exception for unaccompanied minors, come as the situation there worsens amid a surge in unaccompanied children in US custody. The Biden administration has resisted calling the situation a crisis, even as Democratic and Republican lawmakers do so as they pressure officials to rectify the growing issue.
Bash pressed Mayorkas to provide a timeline, asking: “Can you be more specific?” and “Can you give me a date you hope to be up and running so that these children have better facilities?”
The secretary, declining again to provide a date, told Bash “as soon as possible,” adding that the coronavirus pandemic has partly complicated their efforts.
Mayorkas defended the administration’s work at the southern border and placed blame on the Trump administration for dismantling the immigration system, saying his department now has to rebuild it “from scratch.”
As of Saturday, there were more than 5,000 unaccompanied children in CBP custody, according to documents obtained by CNN, up from 4,500 children days earlier. Mayorkas told Bash on Sunday that the administration is expelling families and single adults, but that they are “focused on … the needs of the children.”
“I have said repeatedly from the very outset that a Border Patrol station is no place for a child and that is why we are working around the clock to move those children out of the Border Patrol facilities, into the care and custody of the Department of Health and Human Services that shelters them,” he said.
There were, as of Saturday, more than 600 children who have been in custody for more than 10 days, documents show. Federal law requires unaccompanied children to be turned over within 72 hours to HHS, which oversees a shelter network designed to house minors, but amid constraints related to the pandemic, children are staying in custody for longer than the 72-hour limit.
On average, children are staying in Border Patrol custody in jail-like facilities for an average of more than five days.
CNN previously reported that children are alternating schedules to make space for one another in confined facilities, some kids haven’t seen sunlight in days and others are taking turns showering, often going days without one, according to case managers, attorneys and Border Patrol agents. Bunk beds have been brought in to one of the processing facilities to help accommodate the influx of children, with one agent saying children are also sleeping on plastic cots and mats on the floor and benches.
The ballooning issue was not anticipated by the administration, officials told CNN, saying they expected the number of migrants arriving at the US border would swell once they took office — given their drastically different approach to immigration compared to former President Donald Trump’s — but that they did not anticipate a surge this big.
Mayorkas has warned that the surge will likely reach a two-decade peak.
This story has been updated with additional details Sunday.
CNN’s Priscilla Alvarez, Jason Hoffman and Nikki Carvajal contributed to this report.
Toyota Motor Corp. , Honda Motor Corp. and Samsung Electronics Co. said supply-chain problems were complicating their businesses, as freak weather, port blockages and the continued impact of Covid-19 combine to disrupt global supply chains.
Toyota and Honda said Wednesday that they would halt production at plants in North America because of a squeeze in crucial supplies, including plastic components, petrochemicals and semiconductors. Honda also blamed port backlogs and severe winter weather that has frozen plants and pipes across the central U.S. for the disruption.
Separately, Samsung, the world’s largest maker of smartphones, said a severe global shortage in chips would hurt its business into the next quarter. The South Korean company also said it might withhold launching a new model of one of its most popular handsets, though it said the move was aimed at keeping it from competing with an existing handset.
The disruptions underscore how a number of forces are coming together to squeeze the world’s supply chains: from the pandemic-driven rise in consumer demand for tech goods to a backlog of imports at clogged California ports and U.S. factory outages caused by severe weather. The timing is particularly concerning for manufacturers because the U.S. and some other economies are beginning to reopen thanks to vaccination campaigns.
“Automotive companies initially had to bear the brunt of these shortages, but now it has spread to pretty much all parts of the consumer-electronics sector,” said Sanjeev Rana, senior analyst at investment bank CLSA in Seoul.
HE WOULD SIGN THE RELIEF PACKAGE SOON AFTER IT PASSES THE HOUSE. ALYX: IOWA SCHOOLS HAD TO SWITCH FROM IN-SCHOOL CLASS WORK TO ONLINE LEARNING IN AN INSTANT BECAUSE OF CORONAVIRUS. IT STARTED LAST MARCH, AND THE SHIFTING CONTINUED INTO THIS SCHOOL YEAR. NEW THIS MORNING, KCCI’S TOMMIE CLARK REACHED OUT TO IOWA LEADERS IN EDUCATION ABOUT THE LONG-TERM IMPACT OF A TUMULTUOUS SCHOOL YEAR. TOMMIE. TOMMIE: I SPOKE WITH EMILY HAYDEN, WHO TAUGHT K-THROUGH-12 FOR NEARLY 20 YEARS. NOW AT ISU, SHE SAYS THE BIGGEST IMPACT WILL BE ON THEIR SOCIAL, EMOTIONAL LEARNING. >> MY CONCERNS WERE RIGHT AWAY, HOW ARE WE GOING TO MAKE SURE THAT KID’S NEEDS ARE STILL MET? TOMMIE: HAYDEN SAYS PRIMARY AND SECONDARY YOUTH WILL EXPRESS THEIR CONCERNS DIFFERENTLY. EITHER WAY, IT’S IMPORTANT TO SPEND TIME HELPING THEM PROCESS WHAT THEY’VE BEEN SEEING AND HEARING DURING COVID-19. THEN, SHE SAYS YOU CAN MOVE ON TO ADDRESSING LOSS IN ACADEMIC SKILLS. IN TERMS OF TEST SCORES, SHE SAYS WE WON’T SEE THAT IMPACT FOR A WHILE. SHE IS CONFIDENT IOWA TEACHERS ARE PREPARED TO HELP ALL KIDS CATCH UP, AS LONG AS THEY HAVE THE TOOLS TO SUCCEED. >> BECAUSE A LOT OF IOWA IS RURAL, I WAS REALLY CONCERNED ABOUT THE DIGITAL DIVIDE. NOT ONLY THAT HOMES MAY NOT HAVE COMPUTERS, BUT THEY MAY NOT HAVE THE CONSISTENT AND STRONG WIFI ACCESS THAT’S NEEDED FOR VIRTUAL LEAR
6 Iowa long-term care facilities report COVID-19 outbreaks
Updated: 9:59 AM CST Mar 10, 2021
Just six Iowa long-term care facilities report COVID-19 outbreaks after more than 140 facilities reported virus outbreaks in November.The Iowa Department of Public Health on Wednesday reported 879 new positive COVID-19 tests and 27 additional deaths. At 10 a.m., the health department reported 368,632 total positive tests, 322,276 total recoveries and 5,601 total deaths since the pandemic began. A day earlier, the health department reported 367,753 total positive tests and 5,574 total deaths. State data shows 916,360 vaccine doses have been administered in Iowa, with 293,783 individuals fully vaccinated. Find out how you can get vaccinated in Iowa here. Iowa’s positivity rates remain at 4.1%. The state reports 4,186,155 COVID-19 tests have been administered in Iowa.The number of patients hospitalized with the virus dropped from 179 to 173. The health department reports 39 patients in ICU and 10 patients on ventilators. The number of long-term care facilities reporting virus outbreaks in Iowa is down to six. That’s down from nine the previous day and down from more than 140 at the height of the pandemic in November. The state reports 88 positive cases and 56 recoveries among staff and residents within those facilities. The state reports 2,195 care facility deaths.The Iowa Department of Public Health displays COVID-19 data in real time on this website. KCCI publishes a summary of the data each day at 10 a.m.Iowa Gov. Kim Reynolds will host a news conference Wednesday on the state’s response to the pandemic. You can watch the news conference live at 11 a.m. on KCCI-TV, the KCCI Breaking News and Weather App, KCCI.com or the KCCI Facebook page.
DES MOINES, Iowa —
Just six Iowa long-term care facilities report COVID-19 outbreaks after more than 140 facilities reported virus outbreaks in November.
The Iowa Department of Public Health on Wednesday reported 879 new positive COVID-19 tests and 27 additional deaths. At 10 a.m., the health department reported 368,632 total positive tests, 322,276 total recoveries and 5,601 total deaths since the pandemic began. A day earlier, the health department reported 367,753 total positive tests and 5,574 total deaths.
State data shows 916,360 vaccine doses have been administered in Iowa, with 293,783 individuals fully vaccinated. Find out how you can get vaccinated in Iowa here.
Iowa’s positivity rates remain at 4.1%. The state reports 4,186,155 COVID-19 tests have been administered in Iowa.
The number of patients hospitalized with the virus dropped from 179 to 173. The health department reports 39 patients in ICU and 10 patients on ventilators.
The number of long-term care facilities reporting virus outbreaks in Iowa is down to six. That’s down from nine the previous day and down from more than 140 at the height of the pandemic in November. The state reports 88 positive cases and 56 recoveries among staff and residents within those facilities. The state reports 2,195 care facility deaths.
The Iowa Department of Public Health displays COVID-19 data in real time on this website. KCCI publishes a summary of the data each day at 10 a.m.
Iowa Gov. Kim Reynolds will host a news conference Wednesday on the state’s response to the pandemic. You can watch the news conference live at 11 a.m. on KCCI-TV, the KCCI Breaking News and Weather App, KCCI.com or the KCCI Facebook page.
Oil tanks at an oil processing facility of Saudi Aramco, a Saudi Arabian state-owned oil and gas company, at the Abqaiq oil field.
Stanislav Krasilnikov | TASS via Getty Images
International benchmark Brent crude futures popped during Asian trading hours Monday, moving above $70 a barrel for the first time in more than a year.
The surge in oil prices came after Saudi Arabia said its oil facilities were targeted by missiles and drones on Sunday. A Houthi military spokesman claimed responsibility for the attacks.
Brent jumped 2.65% to trade at $71.20, while U.S. crude futures rose 2.56% to $67.78.
Saudi Arabia’s ministry of energy said a petroleum tank farm at one of the world’s largest oil shipping ports was attacked by a drone and a ballistic missile targeted Saudi Aramco facilities, according to state news agency SPA.
Such acts of sabotage do not only target the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, but also the security and stability of energy supplies to the world, and therefore, the global economy.
Saudi Arabia Ministry of Energy
spokesman
A spokesman said neither attack caused any injury or loss of life or property, but shrapnel from the intercepted missile fell near residential areas in the city of Dhahran, SPA reported.
“Such acts of sabotage do not only target the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, but also the security and stability of energy supplies to the world, and therefore, the global economy,” the ministry said via state media. “They affect the security of petroleum exports, freedom of world trade, and maritime traffic.”
Yahya Sare’e, a spokesman for Yemen’s Houthis, said it carried out a “broad joint offensive operation” involving 14 drones and eight ballistic missiles.
He said on Twitter that other military sites were also targeted with four drones and seven ballistic missiles, adding that “the hit was precise.”
“We promise the #Saudi regime painful operations as long as it continues its aggression and blockade on our country,” he said in another post.
A Saudi-led coalition intervened in Yemen’s civil war in 2015 and has continued to fight against the Houthis in what is seen as a proxy war with Iran.
The Houthis have reportedly stepped up attacks on Saudi Arabia in recent weeks.
The Biden administration last month said it would remove the Iran-backed Houthi rebels in Yemen from the Foreign Terrorist Organization and Specially Designated Global Terrorist lists, according to NBC News.
New Hampshire health officials announced Tuesday there were no new outbreaks of COVID-19 this week at long-term care and other congregate living facilities, and a dozen outbreaks, including one at the state Veterans Home, have closed.The decreasing number of outbreaks follows other trends that show that while COVID-19 is still spreading widely in New Hampshire, the rate of spread is slowing some, with active cases, test positivity and hospitalizations all trending lower.>> Latest coronavirus coverage from WMUR”I am very pleased to announce we are closing the New Hampshire Veterans Home outbreak effective Jan. 26,” said Health Commissioner Lori Shibinette. “So, we’re very happy that that’s closed.”Gov. Chris Sununu said the state’s efforts to vaccinate staff members and residents at the facilities may be helping to prevent or shut down outbreaks. “It’s working,” Sununu said. “Yeah, there’s no doubt it’s having some effect.”>> COVID-19 in New Hampshire: Important informationAccording to Dr. Beth Daly, chief of the state’s Bureau of Infectious Disease Control, 18,000 people in long-term care facilities have received the first dose of the vaccine, and about 5,000 have received the second dose. She said the total population of residents and staff members in those facilities is about 33,000, so there is more work to be done to get most of them vaccinated.Health officials said more outbreaks are still likely until the virus is no longer spreading widely in the community. There are still 32 active outbreaks in congregate living facilities in the state.This story will be updated.** Town-by-town COVID-19 case data **PGRpdiBjbGFzcz0iaW5mb2dyYW0tZW1iZWQiIGRhdGEtaWQ9Il8va2I1OW5tSmpubGlPTUt4M1lpd1YiIGRhdGEtdHlwZT0iaW50ZXJhY3RpdmUiIGRhdGEtdGl0bGU9Ik5IIENvcm9uYXZpcnVzIENPVklELTE5Ij48L2Rpdj48c2NyaXB0PiFmdW5jdGlvbihlLGksbixzKXt2YXIgdD0iSW5mb2dyYW1FbWJlZHMiLGQ9ZS5nZXRFbGVtZW50c0J5VGFnTmFtZSgic2NyaXB0IilbMF07aWYod2luZG93W3RdJiZ3aW5kb3dbdF0uaW5pdGlhbGl6ZWQpd2luZG93W3RdLnByb2Nlc3MmJndpbmRvd1t0XS5wcm9jZXNzKCk7ZWxzZSBpZighZS5nZXRFbGVtZW50QnlJZChuKSl7dmFyIG89ZS5jcmVhdGVFbGVtZW50KCJzY3JpcHQiKTtvLmFzeW5jPTEsby5pZD1uLG8uc3JjPSJodHRwczovL2UuaW5mb2dyYW0uY29tL2pzL2Rpc3QvZW1iZWQtbG9hZGVyLW1pbi5qcyIsZC5wYXJlbnROb2RlLmluc2VydEJlZm9yZShvLGQpfX0oZG9jdW1lbnQsMCwiaW5mb2dyYW0tYXN5bmMiKTs8L3NjcmlwdD4=
CONCORD, N.H. —
New Hampshire health officials announced Tuesday there were no new outbreaks of COVID-19 this week at long-term care and other congregate living facilities, and a dozen outbreaks, including one at the state Veterans Home, have closed.
The decreasing number of outbreaks follows other trends that show that while COVID-19 is still spreading widely in New Hampshire, the rate of spread is slowing some, with active cases, test positivity and hospitalizations all trending lower.
>> Latest coronavirus coverage from WMUR
“I am very pleased to announce we are closing the New Hampshire Veterans Home outbreak effective Jan. 26,” said Health Commissioner Lori Shibinette. “So, we’re very happy that that’s closed.”
Gov. Chris Sununu said the state’s efforts to vaccinate staff members and residents at the facilities may be helping to prevent or shut down outbreaks.
“It’s working,” Sununu said. “Yeah, there’s no doubt it’s having some effect.”
>> COVID-19 in New Hampshire: Important information
According to Dr. Beth Daly, chief of the state’s Bureau of Infectious Disease Control, 18,000 people in long-term care facilities have received the first dose of the vaccine, and about 5,000 have received the second dose. She said the total population of residents and staff members in those facilities is about 33,000, so there is more work to be done to get most of them vaccinated.
Health officials said more outbreaks are still likely until the virus is no longer spreading widely in the community. There are still 32 active outbreaks in congregate living facilities in the state.
