Axios Homepage

America's young women are on the cusp of a rite of passage that's been reserved for men until now: registering with the Selective Service when they turn 18.

Driving the news: Whether allowing women to serve in combat also means they should have to sign up for the military draft has been a debate for decades. Now, an unlikely coalition of feminists, veterans and conservatives could make it law as part of the Senate's expected passage of the National Defense Authorization Act.

The Staples Center in Los Angeles will be renamed Crypto.com Arena, with a formal announcement expected on Wednesday.

Why it matters: Cryptocurrencies are pushing deeper into the American mainstream.

Flooding from the deadly Pacific Northwest storm is so severe, it can be seen from space, according to images captured by NASA on Tuesday.

The big picture: At least one person has died and Canada's largest port was cut off by flood waters after the intense "atmospheric river event" slammed the region, bringing with it record-shattering rainfall and damaging winds, and triggering evacuations. Thousands of people were still without power on Tuesday night.

Congress is about to repeal a president's authorization to use military force for the first time in about half a century, kicking off a debate about restoring its role in authorizing future wars.

Why it matters: Democrats are eager to declare they've succeeded in facilitating an official end to America's "endless wars." The 2002 AUMF that justified the Iraq war was cited as recently as the January 2020 assassination of Iranian Gen. Qassem Soleimani, who was killed in a drone strike in Baghdad.

The U.S. and China have agreed to ease Trump-era visa restrictions for journalists on a reciprocal basis, following a series of expulsions by both governments during heightened tensions last year, a State Department spokesperson confirmed to Axios.

Why it matters: It's an initial but significant breakthrough in a dispute that had played a prominent role in the overall ratcheting up of tensions between Washington and Beijing toward the tail end of the Trump administration.

The House will vote Wednesday on censuring Rep. Paul Gosar (R-Ariz.) and removing his committee assignments, a source familiar with the matter tells Axios.

Why it matters: Gosar posted a video depicting violence against Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) and President Biden. The resolution would remove him from the House Committee on Oversight and Reform, of which Ocasio-Cortez is also a member, and the Committee on Natural Resources, the source said.

Pfizer said Tuesday it has asked the FDA for emergency authorization of Paxlovid, its experimental COVID-19 treatment.

Why it matters: Antiviral drugs can be a key pandemic-fighting tool, as not everyone will get vaccinated against the virus, Axios Caitlin Owens reports. If authorized, the drugs can also be administered at home.

Latinas are a growing segment in the beauty and self-care industries, outspending non-Hispanic buyers in the past few years.

Why it matters: Many companies have yet to market to them, while brands aimed at Latinas or have Latina founders struggle to attract investors.

The International Olympic Committee on Tuesday announced a new framework for transgender athletes, as well as those born with intersex conditions that foregoes a "one-size-fits-all" approach in favor of encouraging each sport's governing body to come up with appropriate policies.

Why it matters: The first openly transgender athletes competed in the Tokyo Olympics, 17 years after the IOC first set rules allowing for participation, while several female athletes saw themselves excluded from the Olympic Games on the basis of their natural testosterone levels.

NASA isn't likely to land astronauts back on the surface of the Moon before 2026, according to a new report.

Why it matters: It suggests NASA may not meet its newly updated deadline of 2025 for the space agency's flagship human spaceflight program designed to get astronauts on the lunar surface again.

Companies that do business in China — especially Olympics sponsors — are concerned Beijing will use the 2022 Winter Games as a loyalty test.

Why it matters: China's leaders have become adept at silencing criticism from U.S. companies that might otherwise condemn the country's human rights record — and the Chinese government has been able to host prestigious global events like the Olympics while committing rights violations with impunity.

Mayor Muriel Bowser announced D.C. will lift its current mask mandate next Monday, citing the effectiveness of vaccines in preventing most hospitalizations and deaths.

Details: Masks will still be required in schools and public transportation, and private businesses are free to instate their own mandates.

The majority of Americans say the Supreme Court should reject a Texas law banning most abortions after about six weeks of pregnancy, according to a Washington Post-ABC News poll out Tuesday.

Why it matters: The poll comes after the Supreme Court heard two cases on the Texas law earlier this month. It is set to hear a case on Mississippi's 15-week abortion ban — a direct challenge to Roe v. Wade — on Dec. 1.

The global oil market remains tight but "a reprieve from the price rally could be on the horizon" as U.S. production rises, the International Energy Agency said on Tuesday.

Why it matters: Its latest monthly analysis comes as elevated oil — and hence gasoline — prices are another political headache for President Biden amid broader inflation.

"The current inflation surge will get worse this winter before it gets better," Goldman Sachs Global Investment Research warns clients in a "2022 U.S. Economic Outlook."

Driving the news: But Goldman expects the economy "to reaccelerate to a 4%+ growth pace over the next few quarters as the service sector continues to reopen, consumers spend part of their pent-up savings, and inventory restocking gets underway."

Three giant conglomerates announced their breakups in the past week. All of them are seeking to put their recent past behind them.

Why it matters: GE, Johnson & Johnson, and Toshiba weren't the last of the conglomerates. Giants both old and new remain. (Think 3M, or Softbank.) In today's financially-optimized stock market, however, the arguments for internal diversification have mostly lost the day.

The promise of a "metaverse" is being used by companies across entertainment, tech and gaming to lure developers and excite investors.

Why it matters: While each company defines metaverse differently, the broad concept of bringing people together in a virtual interactive world seems to have taken over the chatter in Hollywood and Silicon Valley.

Pfizer has agreed to a licensing deal with the UN's Medicines Patent Pool for its COVID-19 pill — roughly a month after Merck said it licensed its COVID pill with the MPP.

Why it matters: These antiviral pills have showed promising results in reducing the severity of infection and preventing death among the unvaccinated, and Pfizer's licensing agreement, combined with Merck's, will allow generic drug companies to cheaply produce the pills for more than 100 low- and middle-income countries.

Pressure from new publishing platforms has finally pushed newsrooms to create programs that give writers more pay, autonomy and flexibility. Those changes are attracting some independent writers back to traditional news companies.

Why it matters: The Substack threat to newsrooms was overblown. Newsrooms have been quick to react to the idea of the independent-operator model while journalists have been sharing its challenges or detailing why they decided to return to newsrooms.

A Russian anti-satellite weapon test this week demonstrated just how extreme the space junk threat is in orbit today.

Why it matters: As space gets more crowded, events like a missile destroying a satellite, an explosion of a defunct spacecraft or a satellite-to-satellite attack could create debris that disrupts communications and endangers people in space.

President Biden and Chinese President Xi Jinping held a wide-ranging and, at times, candid discussion in a virtual meeting that lasted for about three and half hours on Monday evening.

Why it matters: The meeting didn't produce any "deliverables," but it did bolster a sense of much-needed stability between the two countries.

People who have health insurance but get sick with rare diseases that require out-of-network care continue to face potentially unlimited costs.

The big picture: Federal regulations cap how much people pay out of pocket for in-network care, but no such limit exists for out-of-network care.

The Biden administration is expected to begin the process of expanding the booster authorization to all adults as early as this week, according to a source familiar with internal planning.

Why it matters: America's booster campaign got off to an underwhelming start, potentially leaving millions of vulnerable people at risk as the holidays approach.

An intense "atmospheric river event" has resulted in extensive flooding and wind damage across parts of the Pacific Northwest, per the National Weather Service.

The latest: The extreme storm has triggered record-shattering rainfall in several cities in British Columbia, namely Hope, which had more than 11 inches of rain between Saturday and Monday.

California Attorney General Rob Bonta announced Monday that the state has ordered Amazon to pay $500,000 for "concealing COVID-19 case numbers" from workers.

Why it matters: The court judgment is the first of its kind under California's new "right to know" law, which aims to bolster worker safety by requiring employers to disclose coronavirus cases to employees and local health agencies, among other provisions.

President Biden told Chinese President Xi Jinping at the start of Monday night's virtual summit that he's looking forward to a "candid and forthright discussion" on how to establish "common-sense guardrails" between the world's two most powerful countries.

The big picture: Biden has repeatedly said that he likely knows Xi better than any world leader does, citing the dozens of hours that the two spent together while serving as vice presidents of their respective countries.

Rep. Peter Welch (D-Vt.) is indicating to colleagues he's preparing to run for the Senate seat being vacated by Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.), people familiar with the matter tell Axios.

Why it matters: Vermont has never sent a woman to serve in either the House or Senate. Welch would likely clear the Democratic primary field but also would face the prospect of a challenge from the left, according to the Intercept.

Migrants fleeing countries that refuse to take them back are driving new backlogs in the U.S. immigration system — and White House and Homeland Security officials worry this poses a growing obstacle to balancing humanitarian and national security concerns.

Driving the news: U.S. officials at the southern border have come across an average of nearly 800 Venezuelan migrants each day for the past week— more than any other nationality except those from Mexico, according to internal immigration data obtained by Axios.

JPMorgan Chase filed a lawsuit against Tesla Monday, accusing the electric car firm of "breach of contract action" over stock warrants following CEO Elon Musk's 2018 tweet that he might take his firm private.

Why it matters: JPMorgan alleges the bank and Tesla "entered a series of warrant transactions, which required Tesla to deliver either shares of its stocks or cash to JPMorgan" if the car company's share price was above the contractual "strike price" when the warrants expired.

The Biden administration is warning Americans in Ethiopia to evacuate immediately or risk being trapped if the civil war spreads to the capital.

What they're saying: State Department spokesperson Ned Price said U.S. passport holders should not expect a Kabul-style airlift if the fighting reaches Ethiopia's capital, Addis Ababa. That's not going to happen, Price told Axios, calling the Afghanistan withdrawal a "unique and extraordinary situation."