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Shumita Basu, Narrating: Good morning! It's Thursday, June 9th. I'm Shumita Basu. This is "Apple News Today." Each morning, hear about some of the most fascinating stories in the news, and how the world's best journalists are covering them.
Tonight, at 8pm Eastern, the January 6th committee will hold its first televised hearing. We'll get a live look into what the committee has learned about the attack on the U.S. Capitol, but it's not clear whether these revelations will change many voters' minds. "Bloomberg Washington" correspondent Mike Dorning explains Republicans who promoted Trump's election lies are doing okay at the polls so far.
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Mike Dorning: In this primary season, we've actually seen a number of candidates who were big election deniers denying that this was a legitimate victory by Biden, and people who question the results of the presidential election, actually doing quite well in some Republican primaries.
That includes Republican Doug Mastriano, who won the party's nomination in the Pennsylvania governor's race in a landslide. He was at the rally before the attack on the Capitol. In North Carolina, Congressman Ted Budd, who voted against certifying Biden's win, won the GOP Senate nomination by more than 30 points. And Dorning told us, data shows many Republicans just aren't interested in bringing the Capitol rioters to justice…
Dorning: There was a poll done in December, less than a year after the riot, and more than half of Republicans polled said they didn't want to continue law enforcement efforts to identify and prosecute people who actually participated in the riot.
As more time passes, surveys show Republicans have been less likely to hold Trump responsible for what happened that day.
Dorning: I was struck by another poll that found that 58% of Republicans believe that either Biden or the Democratic Party or Antifa was most responsible for the violence at the Capitol, and another 24% who said the Capitol Police were mostly responsible.
As one Democratic pollster put it, "we're now a year and a half removed from the riot. People are worried about gas prices and baby formula shortages." He said what happened on January 6th is just not "dinner-table conversation" anywhere in the country.
Dorning: To see this building that symbolizes democracy, a country that everyone took for granted was a stable democracy, suddenly that's under attack, suddenly America's identity as a stable democracy is being questioned. But despite all that, this wasn't enough to shake these tough, divisive, deep, tribal political differences we have in America, where we've divided into these partisan tribes.
Dorning writes, "the hearings today might be the best remaining shot at making a case to the American public that accountability for the insurrection is still worth something."
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There is a lot at stake if the Supreme Court overturns Roe V. Wade, and it goes beyond abortion access. There could be sweeping changes to how miscarriages are managed, how some birth control is provided, and also access to IVF. "Stat" reporter Andrew Joseph is covering concerns about the future of in vitro fertilization…
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Andrew Joseph: So the issue is, if state laws that come after Roe define life as at fertilization, that may include embryos made in labs. If it does, like all these embryos that you make in a lab could have legal rights.
Not all embryos made through IVF become babies. Sometimes people choose to do genetic testing at this stage to screen out embryos that carry a high health risk. That means some embryos are stored, some are donated, some are discarded.
Joseph, Narrating: So there are questions about, like, if that embryo has legal rights but we don't wanna transfer it, like, what are we gonna do with it?
Basu: Clinics worry that if state laws give legal rights starting at fertilization, what's now standard IVF practice could be criminalized. People could theoretically be prosecuted for discarding embryos made in labs. IVF specialists may decide not to take the risk. They may not practice in states with strict anti-abortion laws. That could make IVF less accessible and more expensive, creating some tough decisions for people who want children.
Joseph: Some states that are expected to ban abortion have actually already carved out IVF embryos from what are called these "trigger laws" that would go into effect if and when Roe is overturned. So, like, some states have actually kind of like gotten ahead of this potential issue, but other states it's a little unclear what's gonna happen.
Joseph says there are a lot of unresolved questions around the legal impact of changes to abortion law, and the whole fertility field is watching.
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Saudi Arabia is trying to change the world of golf by taking on the PGA Tour. It faces long odds, but the kingdom has deep pockets. Today, the Saudi-backed "LIV Golf" tour has its first invitational, in Britain. Alex Kirshner writes about the controversial event in "Slate"…
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Alex Kirshner: It seemed, for a while, like the momentum for LIV Golf, and for this Saudi upstart effort, had been blunted after Phil Mickelson, one of the most accomplished players of all time, said some really shocking things.
We've talked about this a bit on the show. Mickelson spoke openly, and cynically, about the murder of the journalist Jamal Khashoggi and executions of gay people. Despite Saudi Arabia's poor human rights record, he said the golf venture could help top players gain leverage with the PGA. Other players distanced themselves from Mickelson and this hurt the momentum of LIV Golf, but eventually the big paychecks that LIV Golf was offering became too hard to resist.
Kirshner: Ultimately, Phil Mickelson, as well as the world's number 15 player, Dustin Johnson, who's won a couple of majors, and a growing list of other pretty well-known players in some cases, and less well-known players in others, have decided to go ahead and play on this LIV Golf circuit. And the PGA Tour, for its part, has threatened that those players who go ahead will be banned or suspended.
Angering the PGA Tour is a risk for golfers, but Saudi Arabia's oil wealth enables it to put unheard-of offers on the table.
Kirshner: If you're an elite player who wants to go and play for LIV golf because LIV says "we'll pay you hundreds of thousands or millions of dollars, and you'll get that money even if you finish in last place," you don't have to worry about making the cut. You don't have to worry that your finishing position will affect your pocketbook, and that is something that, for a certain class of player, is extremely appealing.
Critics say golfers are helping Saudi Arabia in "sportswashing," where sporting events are used as PR distractions from human rights abuses. And Kirshner says the implications go way beyond the golf course…
Kirshner: The thing that is striking about this story is that golf is a mirror to business and international relations between the United States, between the West and between Saudi Arabia. The playbook for Saudi Arabia is not completely different in golf than it is in diplomacy. Ultimately, throw a lot of money at an issue and hope that the people who have made your life difficult or refused to join your effort will get in line.
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<v The "Fortune 500" is out. For decades, the magazine's roundup has been a list that companies want to be on, a sign they've made it. This year, though, "Fortune" also came up with a different kind of list>the most overpaid CEOs.
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It compared CEO pay with company performance to point out whose paychecks seem really hard to justify. At the top is Dexter Goei, CEO of cable company Altice USA. "Fortune" crunched the numbers and found Goei took home an average of $16.1 million over the last three years, but on average, his company's annual total return dropped more than 25% during that period. That's far worse than competitors. The company lost a lot of subscribers last year, but Altice tells "Fortune" that it stands by Goei's pay.
On the other hand, "Fortune" says some CEOs on the "Fortune 500" list may deserve a raise, like Stéphane Bancel, CEO of Moderna. He made way below the median for CEOs. Under his leadership, Moderna quickly created a COVID-19 vaccine that saved lives and generated $18 billion in sales.
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You can see the whole list of best and worst value CEOs, as well as the highest paid overall, with a lot of infographics, on the Apple News app. And when you're in the app, keep listening to hear narrated articles from our News+ partners. We'll talk with you again tomorrow.
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