National

An Amazon Web Services outage Tuesday caused problems for streaming, gaming, and even security apps and devices. 

Host Erica Pandey is joined by Axios technology reporter Ashley Gold to discuss why it happened and what this outage could tell us about the future of cloud storage.

Amazon Web Services’ critical outage

An Amazon Web Services outage Tuesday caused problems for streaming, gaming, and even security apps and devices.

Amazon Web Services (AWS)

Axios Re:Cap

Podcasts

The New York Times, Buzzfeed and Gannett all find themselves embroiled in very public union fights with their employees.

Host Felix Salmon is joined by Axios media reporter Sara Fischer to discuss what we know about the labor disputes at these three companies and what they tell us about broader tensions between employees and management in the workforce.

The union fights plaguing media companies

And what they say about tensions between employees and management in the workforce at large.

Labor unions

The Omicron COVID variant shattered any expectations that a busy holiday season could bring a rebound to pre-pandemic levels of international travel. 

Host Felix Salmon is joined by Axios What’s Next reporter Joann Muller to discuss travel bans, border closures and new testing requirements that are impacting international air travel.

The Omicron variant’s impact on air travel

How travel bans, border closures and new testing requirements are impacting international travel.

Air travel

Two storylines have emerged from the latest jobs numbers. Far fewer jobs were added to the U.S. economy in November than economists expected, yet the unemployment rate dropped to 4.2%. 

Erica Pandey is joined by Washington Post economic columnist Catherine Rampell to dig into these numbers and how two very different economic indicators can coexist — and how they could influence Federal Reserve officials.

Distilling disparate job numbers

Fewer jobs were added to the U.S. economy in November than expected, yet the unemployment rate dropped.

Jobs

After a record economic expansion, the coronavirus pandemic sent the U.S. economy into a recession as unemployment soared to staggering heights. The country now faces urgent questions about how much stimulus is needed for reeling consumers and businesses, and what a recovery might look like.

Economy & Business

The Supreme Court heard oral arguments this week in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization — a case that offers a rare opportunity for the majority-conservative court to strike down the precedent set by Roe v. Wade. 

Host Erica Pandey is joined by MSNBC columnist Chris Geidner to understand why those in favor of abortion access are concerned by what they heard in court and where this case could be headed.

Unpacking the Supreme Court’s abortion arguments

Why those in favor of abortion access are concerned by what they heard in court this week.

Supreme Court

President Biden has made the COVID-19 crisis and a post-Trump return to national unity and traditional democratic ideals his top priorities. From vaccinations to stimulus to schools, Biden is seeking bipartisan compromise while showing a willingness to use executive authority and bare Democratic majorities in the U.S. House and Senate to implement his policies. Republican leaders are navigating deep party divisions over if and how to move beyond former President Trump.

Politics & Policy

The first case of Omicron variant COVID-19 has been detected in the U.S. just one week after the variant was first reported to the World Health Organization. Concern about the variant has led to global action including travel restrictions, but there are still a lot of unknowns, like whether it causes more severe illness or evades the protections afforded by vaccination. 

Axios Re:Cap host Erica Pandey examines what we know, what we don’t know and what to expect in the coming weeks with former CDC acting director and president and CEO of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Richard Besser.

Parsing what we do and don’t know about Omicron

Former CDC director Richard Besser joins the show to discuss the new variant of concern.

Omicron variant COVID

An Axios investigation found that Airbnb has over a dozen properties listed for rent in China's Xinjiang region on land owned by a paramilitary group that has been sanctioned by the U.S. government for complicity in genocide. 

Axios China author Bethany Allen-Ebrahimian joins host Erica Pandey to discuss how these listings expose Airbnb to regulatory risk under U.S. law and raise important questions about how U.S. companies operate abroad, especially in China. 

Airbnb’s problematic Xinjiang rentals

The listings, on land owned by a sanctioned group, expose Airbnb to regulatory risk under U.S. law.

China

China is becoming the most formidable rival America has faced, and the risk of confrontation with Russia, North Korea or Iran still looms. Authoritarians are rising, the chaotic Afghanistan exit revealed the limits of U.S. power, and the pandemic, climate change and other critical challenges continue to pose grave threats.

World

Axios business reporters Erica Pandey and Hope King examine how one corporate leader stepped into her role just before the pandemic and kept her employees motivated through a crisis.

Hope speaks to Pernod-Ricard North America CEO Ann Mukherjee and joins Erica to discuss what she learned in that conversation.

The future of work from the corner office

How one CEO stepped into her role just before the pandemic and kept her employees motivated.

Workforce

This year, the Thanksgiving turkey pipeline is experiencing supply chain problems, much like many industries and delivery systems in the U.S.

To understand exactly what's happening and where, Axios Local teams in Iowa, Minnesota, and Arkansas teamed up to talk to a top producers of animal feed, check in on one of the nation's biggest turkey producers and examine how one of the country's largest retailers is handling complications.

Tracing Thanksgiving turkeys from farm to table

The Thanksgiving turkey pipeline has its own supply chain woes playing out across the country.

Thanksgiving

As America's political polarization has intensified, it's hit many families hard, particularly when it comes time to share a holiday meal. 

Kirsten Powers is a USA Today columnist and CNN analyst with a new book out, "Saving Grace," which explores how people can adjust their own behavior and expectations when spending time around those with whom they don't agree. 

Axios Re:Cap host Margaret Talev is joined by Powers to discuss the lessons her book has for this holiday season. 

Examining grace ahead of the holidays

Author Kirsten Powers discusses her new book, "Saving Grace," and disagreeing and coexisting.

More Axios Re:Cap episodes

Dan Primack unpacks the business story of the day and why it matters.

All Axios Re:Cap episodes