Toyota Motor Corp. will suspend the operation of 14 production lines across eight factories in Japan for nearly one week later this month as part of the Japanese automaker’s effort to cope with a microchip shortage caused by a month-plus Chinese coronavirus lockdown of Shanghai, China, Kyodo News reported Wednesday.
“[A]s a result of the lockdown in Shanghai, China, we have decided to additionally suspend operations of 14 lines at 8 plants in Japan from May 16 (Mon) to May 21 (Sat),” Toyota said in a press release May 10.
“We had announced that our global production plan for May would be approximately 750,000 units, but due to the impact of the lockdown, it is expected to be around 700,000 units,” the automobile manufacturer revealed.
Health workers in protective gear walk out from a blocked off area after spraying disinfectant in Shanghai’s Huangpu district. (STR/AFP via Getty Images)
Toyota acknowledged that the production suspensions were a direct result of “[t]he shortage of semiconductors … [which] are making it difficult to look several months ahead.”
— Kyodo News | Japan (@kyodo_english) May 10, 2022
Toyota’s latest production adjustments marked the second time in recent weeks that the company’s output has been negatively impacted by a microchip shortage tied to Shanghai’s lockdown, Kyodo News noted Wednesday.
This photo taken on April 29, 2022 shows residential units during a Covid-19 lockdown in the Jing’an district in Shanghai. (HECTOR RETAMAL/AFP via Getty Images)
“The partial suspension will increase the number of Toyota factories in Japan affected to 12. The company, which runs a total of 14 factories in Japan, already said last month it would halt some operations on 10 lines at nine plants in May due to a shortage of semiconductors,” the Tokyo-based news agency observed.
Toyota, which is the world’s number one automaker by sales, cautioned its investors on Wednesday that “unprecedented” spikes in the costs of raw materials and increased logistics costs (both largely due to the Chinese coronavirus pandemic) could cut the company’s full-year profit by as much as 20 percent.
Reuters paraphrased Toyota as saying on May 11 it “expects materials costs to more than double to 1.45 trillion yen ($11.1 billion) in the fiscal year that started in April, which it expected to deal with by switching to lower-cost materials.”
“Since the price of materials is rising, we need to work to reduce the amount of materials we use as much as possible and to replace them with less expensive materials,” Toyota Chief Financial Officer (CFO) Kenta Kon told reporters at a press briefing on May 11.
Shanghai has been under a city-wide lockdown order since April 5 to contain its latest epidemic of the Chinese coronavirus. The movement restrictions have hampered production at nearly all of the city’s local factories, which include several dedicated to the manufacture of semiconductors. Shanghai is considered a top financial hub, both within China and globally. The metropolis contains hundreds of manufacturing plants owned by multinational companies, such as Toyota, and additionally houses the world’s busiest shipping container port. These attributes mean Shanghai’s standstill over the past month has caused not just raw material shortages across industries but also logistical bottlenecks that have frustrated companies worldwide.
In response to the pandemic-induced global supply chain crisis, which has been greatly exacerbated by Shanghai’s ongoing lockdown, the city’s Communist Party-run government announced an extraordinary measure on April 15 that allowed factories to resume limited production if their workers lived on-site at the plants and maintained a so-called “closed-loop” system of management to prevent Chinese coronavirus transmission.
Elon Musk has declared that he will vote Republican at the next election, despite having always voted for Democrats in the past.
Musk made the comments during a live recording of the All-In Podcast on Monday, when asked about why he was so invested in purchasing Twitter and turning it into a private company. Musk argued that there was a serious need for a digital town square that is inclusive, politically balanced, and transparent about their algorithms.
However, this is currently not the case at Twitter, where people don’t know “what the heck is going on” on the Big Tech platform. “Why is one tweet doing well? Why is another tweet not?” he asked. “Is it the algorithm? Did someone manually intervene? Why are some accounts banned with no recourse apparently?” Musk continued.
He said that the current reality was that Twitter has a “very far-left” bias, which could not continue. “I would class myself as a moderate, neither Republican nor Democrat, and in fact I have voted overwhelmingly for Democrats, overwhelmingly,” he added.
“I’m not sure, I might never have voted for a Republican, just to be clear. Now this election I will.”
— The Post Millennial (@TPostMillennial) May 17, 2022
It is unclear whether Musk was referring to the upcoming midterm elections, or the next presidential election in 2024.
Musk reiterated that the point that he had never voted Republican before, but planned to now, was further evidence that his purchase of Twitter was not meant to be “some sort of right wing takeover, as some people on the left may fear, but rather a moderate wing takeover,” to ensure that “people of all political beliefs feel welcome in the digital town square.”
The South African billionaire’s purchase of Twitter is currently on hold, pending an investigation into the levels of fake and spambot accounts on the platform, but confirmed that he was still “committed” to acquiring it. He has also indicated that he may be willing to buy it for a price lower than the originally negotiated $54.20 per share.
On Monday, Siru Murugesan, a Senior Engineer for Twitter, was caught on camera by Project Veritas admitting that the company’s “commie as f*ck” staff “censors the right” and hates billionaire Tesla CEO Elon Musk for being a “capitalist.”
According to Murugesan, Twitter’s blatant censorship of right wing views is “true. There is bias. It is what it is today.”
Siru Murugesan, a Senior Engineer for Twitter, was caught on camera by Project Veritas admitting that the company’s “commie as f*ck” staff “censors the right” and hates billionaire Tesla CEO Elon Musk for being a “capitalist.”
“Elon [Musk] believes in free speech,” he added, explaining that “some of my colleagues are like super left, left, left, left, left” on the political spectrum. “Our jobs are at stake — he’s a capitalist, and we weren’t really operating as capitalists, more like very socialist,” Murugesan said. “We’re all like Commie as f–k.”
“‘I think it’s just like the environment, like you’re there and you become like this Commie — they call it ‘Commifornia,’” he said, referring to Twitter staffers’ nickname for California.
I don’t know [if] the two parties can truly co-exist on one platform,” he continued. “We’re actually censoring the right, and not the left.”
According to Murugesan, Twitter’s blatant censorship of right wing views is “true. There is bias. It is what it is today.”
While Twitter has not released a statement to the public in response to the explosive Project Veritas video footage, the Big Tech giant reportedly sent out an internal email to staff warning them about the video.
“As we expected, a video was posted this evening by Project Veritas depicting a Tweep allegedly speaking about a number of company issues,” the email reportedly states.
“We are in contact with the person involved and doing everything we can to help them. There may be more videos to come, and we’re continuing to monitor the situation,” Twitter’s email continues.
“Please remember that we all have an obligation to protect confidential, proprietary information and not discuss internal conversations, policies, or products outside of work.
The leaked recording came shortly after Twitter CEO Parag Agrawal wrote a 13-tweet thread about how his platform fights spam bots, apparently prompted after Musk expressed doubt in the company’s claim that only 5% of its users are bots and put his acquisition of the company on hold.
Musk was unimpressed with Agrawal’s lengthy explanation for how the big tech platform fights spam, with the South African billionaire responding with an unflattering emoji and a probing question about Twitter’s advertising practices, Valiant News reported.
So how do advertisers know what they’re getting for their money? This is fundamental to the financial health of Twitter.
Voters in Pennsylvania, North Carolina, Kentucky, Idaho, and Oregon all head to the polls Tuesday to select their nominees in both GOP and Democrat primaries in what is thus far this year perhaps the biggest election night yet.
Center-stage is Pennsylvania’s GOP U.S. Senate primary, where celebrity Dr. Mehmet Oz – with former President Donald Trump’s endorsement – aims to secure the nomination and advance to the general election. Both Oz and businessman David McCormick, who despite his Wall Street history has run one of the most America First campaigns this cycle, have spent north of eight figures bashing each other to smithereens in a brutal ad campaign. Kathy Barnette, the author and conservative commentator whose powerful personal story has captivated voters, has surged into the top tier in the final weeks of the campaign, giving both of the big spenders a run for their money. Who wins between Oz, McCormick, and Barnette, will have major implications for the future of the GOP, for the party’s chances in the general election in Pennsylvania, and whether the GOP has a shot at retaking the U.S. Senate majority in these upcoming midterm elections in November.
The winner of that primetime primary is likely to face Democrat Lt. Gov John Fetterman in the general election, assuming Fetterman can swat away primary opponents, including Rep. Conor Lamb (D-PA), even after suffering a stroke that has left him hospitalized in the final days of the campaign.
In addition to many key congressional primaries as well, voters in Pennsylvania will also select nominees in both parties for governor. On the Democrat side, Attorney General Josh Shapiro is a shoo-in and looks to make his general election bid formal on Tuesday night. On the GOP side, divisions remain despite a last-second endorsement of state Sen. Doug Mastriano from Trump. Mastriano, a deeply-flawed candidate with a messy history on the issues, has relied on a divided field to poll well ahead of the rest of his opponents. Other Republicans, most prominently former Rep. Lou Barletta (R-PA), have waged a desperate campaign in an attempt to hold him off.
In North Carolina, Rep. Ted Budd (R-NC) appears to be coasting into the GOP nomination for U.S. Senate – something that just a few months ago was no sure thing. However, Budd, with Trump’s endorsement, has rallied late in the spring to a commanding lead in the polls representing a generational shift inside the GOP towards outsider candidates like him and J.D. Vance in Ohio, who won his primary a couple of weeks ago. Several down ticket congressional primaries are up for grabs, too, most notably whether Rep. Madison Cawthorn (R-NC) can hold off a primary challenge, and some open seats will test Trump’s endorsement there as well.
In Oregon and Kentucky, Democrat infighting in their primaries could potentially be the story of the night, and other races loom large there possibly. In Idaho, GOP Gov. Brad Little faces GOP Lt. Gov. Janice McGeachin in a primary. Trump endorsed McGeachin, another test of the former president’s strength inside the party, especially in a deep red state like Idaho.
Follow along here for live updates as the results pour in from across the country. The polls begin closing in parts of Kentucky at just 6 p.m. ET and the rest of the state at 7 p.m. ET. In North Carolina, the polls are open until 7:30 p.m. ET, and in Pennsylvania until 8 p.m. ET. In Idaho, the polls close at 10 p.m. ET, and in Oregon most of the polls close at 11 p.m. ET though some in areas that follow Mountain Time close at 10 p.m. ET.
UPDATE 8:14 p.m. ET:
Oz is leading in the early Philadelphia County returns, but McCormick has the early statewide lead for now.
UPDATE 8:10 p.m. ET:
It’s worth noting those first Pennsylvania Senate GOP primary results are from Allegheny County, where McCormick is expected to do very well. Some early results from Northampton County on the other side of the state also have McCormick leading there too. It’s still very early, so this race will tighten big time as other counties begin reporting.
UPDATE 8:07 p.m. ET:
The very first results are coming in in Pennsylvania. With 1 percent reporting according to the New York Times, David McCormick has a huge lead. McCormick, at 42.6 percent, is way ahead of Mehmet Oz’s 22.7 percent while Kathy Barnette is at 15.6 percent. It is still very early here so expect this to tighten and change significantly.
UPDATE 8:05 p.m. ET:
An update on Cawthorn’s situation–Wasserman says it is looking good for young flashy congressman at this point:
#NC11 update: Edwards (R) leads Cawthorn (R) 38%-27%, but Edwards’s best vote troves – the early votes in his Buncombe/Henderson/Transylvania state senate district – are entirely reporting.
So this thing is going to tighten. And, it’s probably not going to a runoff.
In North Carolina’s 13th congressional district GOP primary, Bo Hines–the Trump-backed pick–has a healthy lead so far but it is early. With 23 percent reporting according to the New York Times, Hines has 30.9 percent–close to a double digit lead–and leads by about 1,500 votes.
UPDATE 8:00 p.m. ET
The polls have closed in Pennsylvania, where the banner race of the night–the U.S. Senate GOP primary–is, and results there are expected imminently.
UPDATE 7:54 p.m. ET:
It is worth noting that the open U.S. Senate seat in North Carolina that Budd just won the nomination for and is easily the favorite over Beasley in November’s general election is being vacated by retiring Sen. Richard Burr (R-NC). Similar to in Ohio a couple weeks ago, where the outgoing Sen. Rob Portman (R-OH) saw the GOP primary for his seat won by another outsider J.D. Vance, this seems to be the beginning of major changes to the Republican Party–and the U.S. Senate–in 2022.
UPDATE 7:52 p.m. ET:
On the other side of the aisle, Democrat Cheri Beasley has wrapped up her primary and will face Budd in November in the critical swing state of North Carolina:
BREAKING: Cheri Beasley wins Democratic nomination for U.S. Senate in North Carolina primary election. #APRaceCall at 7:47 p.m. EDT. https://t.co/2nlgpji7ac
The polls were not closed for even 20 minutes before the Associated Press made the official call for the Trump-backed Ted Budd, who is now the GOP nominee for U.S. Senate:
BREAKING: Ted Budd wins Republican nomination for U.S. Senate in North Carolina primary election. #APRaceCall at 7:47 p.m. EDT. https://t.co/2nlgpji7ac
This was clearly a landslide, or blowout, election victory for both Budd and Trump.
UPDATE 7:49 p.m. ET:
Meanwhile, in the 11th district, Cawthorn might be in a bit of trouble:
In #NC11, state Sen. Chuck Edwards (R) leads Rep. Madison Cawthorn (R) 38%-27% in the early vote w/ a huge lead in Asheville. But we’re going to have to wait for EDay votes.
With 11 percent reporting according to the New York Times, Budd has a commanding lead over McCrory and former Rep. Mark Walker (R-NC). Budd has 57.8 percent to McCrory’s 25.5 percent while Walker has just 8.7 percent.
UPDATE 7:40 p.m. ET:
Ted Budd has taken a huge lead in the very early results, and Dave Wasserman of the Cook Political Report has already called the race for him:
I’ve seen enough: Rep. Ted Budd (R) wins the GOP primary for #NCSEN and will face Cheri Beasley (D) in the fall.
News organizations have yet to call it, but it seems like Budd is as expected coasting to victory. This is another win for Trump, and more importantly was not always as sure a thing as it turned out to be in the last few weeks. As recently as late winter or early spring, Budd was trailing in the polls or even with his opponents. Trump’s early endorsement, as well as a strong campaign from the conservative outsider, seem to have generated significant momentum for him and propelled him to way out in front in this critical race. Budd is likely to face Democrat Cheri Beasley in the general election.
UPDATE 7:36 p.m. ET:
Another Trump endorsement, Rep. Andy Barr (R-KY), won his primary:
BREAKING: Andy Barr wins Republican nomination for U.S. House in Kentucky’s 6th Congressional District. #APRaceCall at 7:31 p.m. EDT. https://t.co/2nlgpji7ac
One to watch closely in North Carolina is the primary challenge that Rep. Madison Cawthorn (R-NC) is facing. He’s endorsed by Trump, but has been dogged by a series of attacks in recent weeks. The primary runoff thresholds also, per some experts, benefit him:
Election rules matter: if NC’s primary runoff threshold were 50% or even 40%, #NC11 Rep. Madison Cawthorn (R) would be the underdog for renomination. Because it’s just 30%, he enters tonight the slight favorite.
Another Trump endorsement, Rep. Thomas Massie (R-KY), has won his primary:
BREAKING: Thomas Massie wins Republican nomination for U.S. House in Kentucky’s 4th Congressional District. #APRaceCall at 7:23 p.m. EDT. https://t.co/2nlgpji7ac
The polls have now closed in North Carolina, where the GOP U.S. Senate primary is set to be the banner race but several down-ticket primaries matter as well. Results should be coming very soon and if the polls showing Rep. Ted Budd (R-NC) significantly leading huge over former GOP Gov. Pat McCrory are right a call should be imminent.
UPDATE 7:23 p.m. ET:
Those 26 Trump endorsements on the line on Tuesday night are as follows, according to Trump’s team:
Idaho-Governor: Janice McGeachin Idaho-Senate: Mike Crapo Idaho-01: Russ Fulcher
Kentucky-Senate: Rand Paul Kentucky-01: James Comer Kentucky-02: Brett Guthrie Kentucky-04: Thomas Massie Kentucky-05: Hal Rogers Kentucky-06: Andy Barr
North Carolina-Senate: Ted Budd North Carolina-03: Greg Murphy North Carolina-05: Virginia Foxx North Carolina-07: David Rouzer North Carolina-08: Dan Bishop North Carolina-09: Richard Hudson North Carolina-10: Patrick McHenry North Carolina-11: Madison Cawthorn North Carolina-13: Bo Hines
Pennsylvania-Governor: Doug Mastriano Pennsylvania-Senate: Mehmet Oz Pennsylvania-08: Jim Bognet Pennsylvania-10: Scott Perry Pennsylvania-11: Lloyd Smucker Pennsylvania-13: John Joyce Pennsylvania-14: Guy Reschenthaler Pennsylvania-16: Mike Kelly
UPDATE 7:21 p.m. ET
The polls have closed in Kentucky, and several of Trump’s endorsed candidates have already won. Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY) won his primary easily:
BREAKING: Rand Paul wins Republican nomination for U.S. Senate in Kentucky primary election. #APRaceCall at 7:10 p.m. EDT. https://t.co/2nlgpji7ac
BREAKING: Harold Rogers wins Republican nomination for U.S. House in Kentucky’s 5th Congressional District. #APRaceCall at 7:16 p.m. EDT. https://t.co/2nlgpji7ac