--:-- Shamita Basu: Good morning. It's Thursday, June 9th. I'm Shamita 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.
--:-- Shamita Basu: Tonight at 8 p.m. 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.
--:-- Mike Dorning: Bloomberg Washington correspondent Mike Dorning explains Republicans who promoted Trump's election lies are doing OK at the polls so far. 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 questioned the results of the presidential election actually doing quite well in some Republican primaries.
--:-- Shamita Basu: 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.
--:-- Mike Dorning: And I was struck by another poll that found that 58 percent of Republicans believe that either Biden or the Democratic Party or Antifa was most responsible for the violence at the Capitol. And another 24 percent who said the Capitol police were mostly responsible.
--:-- Shamita Basu: 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.
--:-- Mike 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.
--:-- Shamita Basu: 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. Dorney 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.
--:-- Andrew Joseph: 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.
--:-- Shamita Basu: 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.
--:-- Andrew Joseph: Not all embryos made through IVF become babies. Some 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.
--:-- Shamita Basu: So there are questions about, like, if that embryo has legal rights, but we don't want to transfer it, like, what are we going to do with it? Clinics worry that if state laws give legal rights, starting at fertilization, what's now standard IVF practice could be criminalized.
--:-- Andrew Joseph: 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.
--:-- Shamita Basu: That could make IVF less accessible and more expensive, creating some tough decisions for people who want children. 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.
--:-- Alex Kirshner: 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 Live Golf Tour has its first invitational in Britain.
--:-- Shamita Basu: It seemed for a while like the momentum for Live 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.
--:-- Alex Kirshner: 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.
--:-- Shamita Basu: Other players distanced themselves from Mickelson, and this hurt the momentum of Live Golf. But eventually, the big paychecks that Live Golf was offering became too hard to resist.
--:-- Alex 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 than others, have decided to go ahead and play on this Live Golf circuit.
--:-- Shamita Basu: 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.
--:-- Alex 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.
--:-- Shamita Basu: And that is something that for a certain class of player is extremely appealing. Critics say golfers are helping Saudi Arabia in sports washing where sporting events are used as PR distractions from human rights abuses.
--:-- Alex Kirshner: And Kirshner says the implications go way beyond the golf course. 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.
--:-- Shamita Basu: 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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--:-- Shamita Basu: The Fortune 500 is out. For decades, the magazine's roundup has been a list that companies want to be on, a sign that they've made it. This year, though, Fortune also came up with a different kind of list, the most overpaid CEOs.
--:-- Shamita Basu: At the top is Dexter Goey, CEO of cable company Altice USA. Fortune crunched the numbers and found Goey 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 percent during that period. That's far worse than competitors.
--:-- Shamita Basu: The company lost a lot of subscribers last year, but Altice tells Fortune that it stands by Goey'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.
--:-- Shamita Basu: 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.
--:-- Shamita Basu: 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.
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--:-- Shamita Basu: And when you're in the app, keep listening to hear narrated articles from our News Plus partners. We'll talk with you again tomorrow.
--:-- Shamita Basu: Thanks for listening to Apple News Today.
