--:-- Gideon Resnick: Good morning. It's Monday, May 20th. I'm Gideon Resnick in for Shamita Basu. This is Apple News Today.
--:-- Gideon Resnick: Coming up on today's show, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is losing the backing of his cabinet on the war in Gaza, the fate of the crew that is still stuck aboard the boat that destroyed the Baltimore Bridge, and the complicated story of prize money for a Boston Marathon winner.
--:-- Gideon Resnick: But first, Iranian President Ibrahim Raisi died in a helicopter crash yesterday. The crash also killed the country's foreign minister. On CNN, Christiane Amanpour talked about the new turmoil Raisi's death is creating.
--:-- Christiane Amanpour: It is obviously shocking news, and it couldn't come at a more unstable time for Iran and for the region. Iran faces, as you know, those internal protests and discontent that have been crushed brutally in the aftermath of Masa Amini's death. And that was under the direction of President Raisi and the Supreme Leader and the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps.
--:-- Christiane Amanpour: And all of this comes as Iran is backing Hamas and Hezbollah in their fights against Israel. And while the war in Gaza is destabilizing the entire Middle East, lately Iran has launched attacks of its own as well. The perennial shadow war between Israel and Iran that had been going on broke into the open over the last several weeks. That somewhat subsided after a reaction from both sides, but nonetheless it shows the peril of the situation.
--:-- Christiane Amanpour: Raisi was fiercely loyal to the country's supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. Some saw Raisi as a leading candidate to become the next supreme leader. That meant Raisi took a tough stance against the U.S. He spoke to 60 Minutes in 2022, saying American sanctions against Iran would backfire.
--:-- Christiane Amanpour: Yes, they can create restrictions and problems for us and difficulties, but there's a number of countries that are being sanctioned. By doing this, they are bringing them closer together, making them more united, and this will render American sanctions ineffective.
--:-- Gideon Resnick: And Raisi did forge closer ties with Russia and China and refused to make the major concessions on Iran nuclear program that the Biden administration wanted. Powerful supreme leader Khamenei is still in place. So the death of President Raisi is unlikely to lead to immediate policy changes. What is next is the elevation of the vice president, an election within 50 days, and a lot of question marks as to where Iran goes next.
--:-- Gideon Resnick: Now, let's take a quick look at some other stories that are in the news, including developments in the war in Gaza. The International Criminal Court is filing arrest warrants, including for Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
--:-- Gideon Resnick: The court says that these officials and others all bear responsibility for numerous war crimes and crimes against humanity. Also, Netanyahu faces new criticism from the other members of his country's war cabinet. Benny Gantz says that he will quit the government next month if Netanyahu does not lay out a clear plan to end the war and to establish stability in Gaza after the fighting.
--:-- Gideon Resnick: Earlier, Israel's defense minister criticized Netanyahu for failing to make a viable post-war plan for Gaza. Also, there's an update on the American medical volunteers trapped in Rafa that we talked about last week. The Syrian American Medical Society says three Americans and two U.S. permanent residents are still there, choosing to stay and continue treating patients.
--:-- Gideon Resnick: But most of the doctors and nurses were able to get out of Gaza on Friday. Some details aren't clear about the healthcare workers remaining. There's reporting that a couple of them were not aware of the chance to evacuate.
--:-- Gideon Resnick: In the U.S., the war was one of the topics President Biden talked about at his commencement speech at Morehouse College in Atlanta yesterday. It's a humanitarian crisis in Gaza. That's why I've called for an immediate ceasefire. An immediate ceasefire to stop the fighting. Bring the hostages home.
--:-- Gideon Resnick: Some students at the Historically Black School for Men turned their backs on Biden in protest.
--:-- Gideon Resnick: And a history-making space mission is now complete. Command it and start 2-1-0. Ignition. And lift off. Ed Dwight was on board that Blue Origin rocket yesterday.
--:-- Gideon Resnick: In 1961 President Kennedy chose him for the astronaut program. Dwight would have been the first Black person in space, but was ultimately denied the opportunity. So it was Jeff Bezos' company that finally brought him to the edge of space. And at age 90, Dwight is the oldest person to ever go there.
--:-- Gideon Resnick: In Baltimore, the 21-person crew of the Dali cargo ship still cannot leave the vessel that crashed into the Francis Scott Key Bridge in March. And that's even though the ship is in the process of being moved to a terminal. Maritime law requires the boat to remain staffed even while it's stuck.
--:-- Gideon Resnick: And crew members didn't have valid visas, so they've not been able to set foot on U.S. soil. So for almost two months, they've been living on board in isolation, reliving the accident that stranded them, mourning the victims, and wondering when they'll be allowed to go home.
--:-- Gideon Resnick: Most of the crew are from India, and one is Sri Lankan. They've had few opportunities to connect with loved ones. The FBI confiscated cell phones as part of their investigation. The crew members were given some replacements, but some were still waiting for their SIM cards as of a few days ago.
--:-- Gideon Resnick: They feel quite vulnerable. That's Baltimore Sun reporter Jean Marbella. This was their lifeline to their families. It was the way they did their banking. You know, they would get their salaries. They would distribute funds to their wives back home. And it was where they stored their photos, as all of us do.
--:-- Gideon Resnick: And, you know, when you're away now more than 50 days, seeing photos of your family is the way you stay in touch. Unions that represent the crew say they felt a, quote, unfounded fear of personal criminal liability.
--:-- Gideon Resnick: Now, investigators have not blamed any person for the power outages that led up to the fatal crash. The unions want U.S. officials to arrange shore leave for the crew, and they want authorities to look into whether some people may be able to fly home.
--:-- Gideon Resnick: As far as what some of the crew might do once they're allowed off the ship, Marbella told us how one person said, He just wanted to be in nature again. You look out the window and you see pieces of bridge that are sticking out of the water. You see barges filled with giant cranes and hydraulic grabbers. It must be really noisy.
--:-- Gideon Resnick: So there's no getting away from a reminder of what happened. And for the foreseeable future, that will continue to be their daily reality.
--:-- Gideon Resnick: And finally, the strange story behind why the winner of the Boston Marathon 10 years ago just recently received her cash prize. Kind of. So last month, ahead of this year's race, The Wall Street Journal published a check-in story about Bazunesh Deba, the winner in 2014.
--:-- Gideon Resnick: She is still waiting for her $100,000 prize over some fine print that's in a policy followed by the Boston Marathon and many other major marathons. Deba technically crossed the finish line second, but the original winner was later disqualified for doping.
--:-- Gideon Resnick: The problem is the Boston Athletic Association says they cannot pay Deba because they haven't been able to recover her money from that other runner. And they say they cannot redistribute prize money before it's been reclaimed.
--:-- Gideon Resnick: So for all this time, Deba has been stuck waiting for her reward for her record-setting race. A check for $75,000 finally came this month, but not from the BAA. It was from a fan who read her story in the Wall Street Journal and decided to pay her out of his own pocket.
--:-- Gideon Resnick: This Philadelphia entrepreneur said, the holdup is unacceptable, and Deba deserved to be paid a long time ago. Through tears, Deba told the journal that it's a life-changing amount of money. She plans to use it for her two children, to fund her return to elite running, and to come back to Boston and hopefully win it again.
--:-- Gideon Resnick: You can find all these stories and more in the Apple News app. And if you're already listening in the News app right now, we have a narrated article coming up next. Bloomberg Businessweek examines the popularity of 23andMe, what DNA tests can and cannot tell us, and whether the industry amounts to a kind of gimmick.
--:-- Gideon Resnick: If you're listening in the podcast app, you can follow Apple News Plus Narrated to find that story. And I'll be back with the news tomorrow.
