Month: December 2021

The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission has declined an effort by Apple Inc. to skip a shareholder proposal asking the iPhone maker to provide greater transparency in its efforts to keep forced labor out of its supply chain.

A group of shareholders earlier this year asked Apple’s board to prepare a report on how the company protects workers in its supply chain from forced labor. The request for information covered the extent to which Apple has identified suppliers and sub-suppliers that are a risk for forced labor, and how many suppliers Apple has taken action against.

In a letter from the SEC reviewed by Reuters on Wednesday, regulators denied Apple’s move to block the proposal, saying that “it does not appear that the essential objectives of the proposal have been implemented” so far.

The letter means that Apple will have to face a vote on the proposal at its annual shareholder meeting next year, barring a deal with the shareholders who made it.

Apple did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

American lawmakers last week passed a bill banning imports from China’s Xinjiang region over concerns about forced labor.

“There’s rightfully growing concern at all levels of government about the concentration camplike conditions for Uyghurs and other Turkic Muslims living under Chinese government rule,” Vicky Wyatt, campaign director for SumOfUs, a group supporting the shareholder proposal, said in a statement on Wednesday.

Apple routinely asks the SEC to skip shareholder proposals, and the requests are granted about half the time.

The SEC also denied Apple’s request to skip a shareholder proposal that would give investors more information about the company’s use of nondisclosure agreements.

Source: Voice of America

Researchers in Australia have identified a gene that indicates the kidney has its own way of resisting damage. However, they have also identified a mutation of the gene that can in patients with, for example, diabetes, trigger the development of renal disease.

A gene called VANGL1 has been found to help stop the immune system from attacking the kidney. But Australian researchers say the genetic mutation, which is present in about 15% of the population worldwide, can cause renal disease in patients with diabetes and other autoimmune conditions.

The mutation is highly prevalent among indigenous people on the Tiwi Islands, 80 kilometers from the city of Darwin in the Northern Territory. According to the study, just less than 50% of the islands’ residents have the genetic mutation.

The islands’ recorded rates of kidney disease are four times those of mainland indigenous Australians and about 11 times that of non-Indigenous Australians, according to researchers.

Dr. Simon Jiang is from the John Curtin School of Medical Research at Australian National University. He says the mutation is mostly benign in healthy adults.

“If your body is not inflamed and you are otherwise healthy, it is probably not too much of an issue. It is when you have another condition that occurs on top of it. And so in the Tiwi Islands, rates of infection, of diabetes and probably some immune diseases, are a lot higher than the rest of Australia. And so, when you have that process happening within your body, what is initially a reasonably benign mutation suddenly takes on a new turn and becomes something that is really bad news for the kidney,” Jiang said.

The study could lead to better transplant screening that would identify potential donors who have the genetic mutation.

The study was published Wednesday in the journal Cell Reports Medicine.

Source: Voice of America

U.S. President Joe Biden’s administration says it is looking to push ahead with work on a social safety net spending bill after a key Democrat in the Senate said he could not support it.

White House press secretary Jen Psaki told reporters at a briefing Monday that the administration is ready to “work like hell” with West Virginia Senator Joe Manchin and other members of the Democratic caucus in order to achieve its goal.

“What’s most on the President’s mind is the risk of inaction,” Psaki said. “And if we do not act to get this legislation done and the components in it, not only will costs and prices go up for the American people, but also we will see a trajectory in economic growth that is not where we want it to be.”

Manchin has been a focal point in talks within the Democratic Party as leaders pushed to get the $2 trillion package passed by this week. The legislation includes plans to expand health care for older Americans, provide universal pre-kindergarten classes, authorize new funding to combat climate change and offer more financial support for low-income Americans.

Manchin has expressed opposition to the amount of spending, and in a radio interview Monday he reiterated that in his view the bill included too much spending without enough restrictions on incomes or work requirements for recipients.

Earlier Monday, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer said the Senate would vote “very early in the new year” on a revised version of the bill already approved by the House of Representatives.

Manchin’s vote is essential for Democrats in the politically divided Senate as they try to pass one of the key elements of Biden’s legislative agenda. None of the 50 Republicans in the 100-member chamber supports the plan.

Democrats had hoped to push through the legislation on a 51-50 vote before Christmas, with Vice President Kamala Harris providing the tie-breaking vote.

Source: Voice of America