--:-- Shamitha Basu: Good morning. It's Thursday, December 12th. I'm Shamitha Basu. This is Apple News Today.
--:-- Shamitha Basu: On today's show, the effort to find an American journalist believed to be imprisoned in Syria for more than a decade, a bill to expand bereavement leave to include pregnancy loss, and FIFA makes a controversial pick to host the 2034 World Cup. But first, to a bitter family feud over the future of an American media empire.
--:-- Shamitha Basu: Earlier this week, a court in Nevada denied a request from Rupert Murdoch, the magnate who controls Fox News and several other conservative outlets, to change his family trust and consolidate power of the company under his son Lachlan.
--:-- David Folkenflik: So here he is at the age of 93, stepping into an obscure probate court in Reno, Nevada, away from the national spotlight and glare to say, you know, that irrevocable trust, I pretty much want to revoke it and I want to rewrite it. And Lachlan's going to be my guy.
--:-- Shamitha Basu: He explained to us this isn't really about money, as most inheritance fights tend to be. It's about which kid Murdoch trusts to maintain the right-wing slant of his media empire after he dies.
--:-- David Folkenflik: For years, he has effectively made his four oldest children vie for his affection, respect, and perhaps most importantly, the opportunity to take over his businesses. The way the trust is laid out now, power will be split evenly between them after Murdoch dies. It was an agreement that came out of a divorce settlement with Murdoch's second wife, and it's ironclad.
--:-- Shamitha Basu: But over the years, his eldest son, Lachlan, gained favor with the father. Volkenflik told us he may in fact be even more conservative than Murdoch. And together, they tried to argue in court that the three other siblings, James, Elizabeth, and Prudence, would soften the Fox News ideology.
--:-- David Folkenflik: Rupert and Lachlan were arguing that in order to serve the financial interests best of the rest of the family, they needed to consolidate control in one person. Some sort of divided brain trust doesn't work. And furthermore, that Fox News and Fox more generally and the other holdings needed to retain their conservative outlook. And particularly in the case of Fox, it's far right outlook. It's adamantly pro-Trump stance in order to retain the connection with the audiences that yielded such huge profits for Rupert and for his family.
--:-- Shamitha Basu: That argument did not fly in court. The probate commissioner looks all this and says, this is purely about control. This is about them wanting to rewrite the rules late in the game.
--:-- David Folkenflik: It was as brutal a repudiation and a rejection of the legal and in effect moral case that Rupert and Lachlan Murdoch were making. And also saying they didn't take it seriously, indicating in some of the material provided that the Murdochs were taking inspiration from the HBO hit series Succession.
--:-- Shamitha Basu: What could happen next for Fox News and News Corp at large is still a big question mark. Now James Murdoch may be able to get his two sisters to rally behind him for a different structure and push Lachlan out. And they could well moderate Fox as a result.
--:-- David Folkenflik: Equally logical could be that they could say, look, we don't want to be part of this. This is not how we look at the world. This is not where we take pride. Let's sell it at the top. Let's get rid of this thing.
--:-- Shamitha Basu: So I think that there's going to be a bloody brawl or a buyout of some sort. Either Fox gets sold or the different siblings are bought out of their voting shares to allow Lachlan to continue.
--:-- David Folkenflik: Rupert and Lachlan Murdoch have said they intend to appeal the court's decision.
--:-- Shamitha Basu: Let's turn out to Syria. As the Assad regime's prisons empty, there's growing hope here in the United States that Austin Tice, an American journalist and Marine veteran, will turn up.
--:-- Nancy Youssef: He's been missing for over a decade, since 2012, when he was in Syria on assignment covering the start of the Civil War.
--:-- Shamitha Basu: Nancy Youssef, a national security reporter for The Wall Street Journal, told us his story.
--:-- Nancy Youssef: He was finishing up an assignment and leaving Syria when he disappeared. According to his family, Tice was detained at a checkpoint near Damascus. He was last seen a few weeks later in a YouTube video where he was blindfolded and surrounded by armed men wearing masks.
--:-- Shamitha Basu: Other than a video that was less than a minute long in September of that year, we haven't seen any information about him.
--:-- Nancy Youssef: Assad's regime publicly denied holding him. But over the years, President Biden and government officials have repeatedly said they have evidence Tice was imprisoned by Assad, and they believe with certainty he's alive.
--:-- Shamitha Basu: The State Department said this week they have no new verifiable information about Tice's status or location, but they are working to find him.
--:-- Nancy Youssef: His mom, Deborah, was in D.C. last week at the National Press Club advocating for his release.
--:-- Shamitha Basu: We have from a significant source that has already been vetted all over our government. Austin Tice is alive. Austin Tice is treated well. And there is no doubt about that.
--:-- Nancy Youssef: The administration hasn't shared many details about how it plans to locate Tice and get him out of Syria. They say they're communicating with the rebels who toppled Assad as part of their search.
--:-- Shamitha Basu: The State Department is offering $10 million for information on his whereabouts and to relocate anyone who finds him and helps to bring him home.
--:-- Nancy Youssef: National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan told ABC they're also working with countries near Syria. We are talking through the Turks and others to people on the ground in Syria to say, help us with this. Help us get Austin Tice home.
--:-- Shamitha Basu: This is a case that has frustrated U.S. intelligence officials for years, according to The New York Times.
--:-- Nancy Youssef: And more recently, there was a feeling among some that it had gone cold. But Youssef's sources told her the fall of Assad has unlocked new possibilities.
--:-- Shamitha Basu: There's a renewed hope that he will emerge out of one of these prisons and end his captivity, which is one of the longest periods we've seen an American held hostage ever.
--:-- Shamitha Basu: Now to a story about pregnancy loss and a bill making its way through the New Jersey state legislature that could change the way families grieve.
--:-- Bobby Breyer: Many companies give time off to employees when there's a death in the family, but not all of them recognize miscarriage as an event that warrants time off in the same way.
--:-- Shamitha Basu: The sponsors of this bill, a Democrat and a Republican, want to make bereavement leave available to employees after a miscarriage, a stillbirth, a pregnancy terminated for medical reasons, a failed fertility treatment, or an unsuccessful adoption.
--:-- Bobby Breyer: This bill would really address some of those early mental health issues that could be caused when somebody is forced back into work to pay rent or to pay for groceries.
--:-- Shamitha Basu: That's Bobby Breyer, a mental health reporter for New Jersey Spotlight News.
--:-- Bobby Breyer: Many people have told me if this bill were to be signed into law, they'd be able to just get more of a chance to address the grief in a healthier way that kind of honors the life of the person that they may have lost.
--:-- Shamitha Basu: Stacey Dinberg is an advocate of the bill. She has personally experienced this type of loss several times.
--:-- Stacey Dinberg: First, an ectopic pregnancy, which is a highly dangerous situation that creates a non-viable pregnancy and can endanger the life of the mother. I lost a fallopian tube. Then, after a pregnancy that felt like a miracle, Stacey learned that her daughter, who was full-term at the time, had no heartbeat and would be stillborn.
--:-- Shamitha Basu: She testified to a Senate committee about what it was like going back to work before she felt ready.
--:-- Stacey Dinberg: I suffered from severe depression and anxiety shortly after my child's death. There were days where I could barely get out of bed or even care for myself. Even under the care of a psychologist and a psychiatrist, my depression and anxiety continued to negatively impact me and my career.
--:-- Shamitha Basu: If New Jersey lawmakers pass the bill and Governor Phil Murphy signs it into law, it would allow pregnant people and their partners in these situations to take between 7 and 21 days off of work.
--:-- Bobby Breyer: And New Jersey would join a handful of other states that have expanded bereavement benefits like this for employees in recent years.
--:-- Shamitha Basu: Breyer says we'll likely see more states consider similar policies in the future, especially considering infant mortality has climbed nationwide since the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade in 2022.
--:-- Bobby Breyer: It's something that will most likely gain momentum as we head into a new year, a new presidential administration. And so I could certainly see this moving forward, not only at the state level, but at the national level.
--:-- Shamitha Basu: Before we let you go, a few other stories being featured in the Apple News app.
--:-- Shamitha Basu: President Biden is commuting the sentences of roughly 1,500 people, the largest granting of clemency by any modern president in a single day.
--:-- Shamitha Basu: He will also pardon 39 people convicted of nonviolent crimes, including possession of marijuana.
--:-- Shamitha Basu: Many of those whose sentences will be commuted were moved from prison to home confinement during the coronavirus pandemic.
--:-- Shamitha Basu: Some Republicans have pushed for legislation that would send those people back to prison.
--:-- Shamitha Basu: In a statement, Biden said the commutation recipients have successfully reintegrated into their communities and deserve a second chance.
--:-- Shamitha Basu: The Wall Street Journal notes that the previous single-day clemency record was set by President Barack Obama, who commuted 330 sentences in one day.
--:-- Shamitha Basu: It's likely Biden will pardon and commute more Americans in his final weeks in office.
--:-- Shamitha Basu: President-elect Trump says he'll choose Carrie Lake, the former TV news anchor who lost her race for senator in Arizona last month, to lead the federally funded international media outlet Voice of America, which provides news and information in nearly 50 languages around the world.
--:-- Shamitha Basu: Lake was one of the most prominent faces of the so-called Stop the Steal movement to overturn the 2020 election results in Trump's favor.
--:-- Shamitha Basu: In other Trump-related news, FBI Director Christopher Wray announced he will step down at the end of the current administration, three years before the end of his 10-year term.
--:-- Shamitha Basu: Wray addressed FBI employees at a packed town hall meeting yesterday.
--:-- Shamitha Basu: This is the best way to avoid dragging the bureau deeper into the fray while reinforcing the values and principles that are so important in how we do our work.
--:-- Shamitha Basu: This is not easy for me. I love this place. I love our mission and I love our people.
--:-- Shamitha Basu: Wray, a Trump appointee, oversaw the investigation of around 2,000 people believed to have taken part in the January 6th attack on the Capitol and the raid of Donald Trump's home at Mar-a-Lago.
--:-- Shamitha Basu: Both incidents angered the president-elect, who has harshly criticized the agency and Wray himself.
--:-- Shamitha Basu: Trump announced earlier he would nominate Kash Patel to replace Wray.
--:-- Shamitha Basu: And finally, two big announcements in sports.
--:-- Shamitha Basu: First, FIFA announced Saudi Arabia will host the 2034 Men's World Cup.
--:-- Shamitha Basu: Critics have condemned the decision to award such a coveted event to a country that has what many human rights groups have called a deplorable record.
--:-- Shamitha Basu: And the second big announcement, six-time Super Bowl winning coach Bill Belichick is the next head football coach at the University of North Carolina Chapel Hill.
--:-- Shamitha Basu: Belichick mutually parted ways with the Patriots earlier this year after 24 seasons.
--:-- Shamitha Basu: His return to coaching, this time on the college level, has raised eyebrows, with ESPN calling it, quote, one of the most stunning and compelling moves in college football history.
--:-- Shamitha Basu: You can find all these stories and more in the Apple News app.
--:-- Shamitha Basu: And if you're already listening in the News app right now, we've got a narrated article coming up next.
--:-- Shamitha Basu: If you find the Murdoch family trust story interesting, or if you just really miss the show's succession, Town & Country has a good article on how the ultra-wealthy cement their legacies through the often messy world of estate planning.
--:-- Shamitha Basu: If you're listening in the podcast app, follow Apple News Plus Narrated to find that story.
--:-- Shamitha Basu: And I'll be back with the news tomorrow.
