1 big thing

Yesterday was a historic day in the Middle East. The Israeli prime minister, Naftali Bennett, met the de facto leader of the United Arab Emirates, Crown Prince Mohammed bin Zayed during the first ever official visit to the UAE from Israel. This took place 15 months after the Abraham Accords, the biggest breakthrough in Middle East Peace in a quarter century, normalized diplomatic relations between Israel, the UAE and three other Arab countries.

Guests: Axios' Barak Ravid and Sara Fischer.

Credits: Axios Today is produced in partnership with Pushkin Industries. The team includes Niala Boodhoo, Sara Kehaulani Goo, Julia Redpath, Alexandra Botti, Nuria Marquez Martinez, Alex Sugiura, Sabeena Singhani, Lydia McMullen-Laird, Jayk Cherry, and David Toledo. Music is composed by Evan Viola. You can reach us at [email protected]. You can text questions, comments and story ideas to Niala as a text or voice memo to 202-918-4893.

The death toll continues to rise in Kentucky after devastating tornadoes touch down in the state Friday night. More than 80 people are confirmed dead and scores more injured. Some of the worst damage and the highest toll may be in southwestern Kentucky, but at least two dozen tornadoes were on the ground across six different states. Towns have been flattened and infrastructure devastated. Ten of thousands are without electricity and temperatures have been hovering around freezing.

• And, what we learned about living with COVID this year.

Guests: Axios' Andrew Freedman and Sam Baker.

Credits: Axios Today is produced in partnership with Pushkin Industries. The team includes Niala Boodhoo, Sara Kehaulani Goo, Julia Redpath, Alexandra Botti, Nuria Marquez Martinez, Alex Sugiura, Sabeena Singhani, Lydia McMullen-Laird, Jayk Cherry, and David Toledo. Music is composed by Evan Viola. You can reach us at [email protected]. You can text questions, comments and story ideas to Niala as a text or voice memo to 202-918-4893.

It’s been 566 days since George Floyd was murdered by a Minneapolis police officer. His death spurred millions of people across the globe to protest in support of Black lives. We examine the impact in three locations: United Kingdom, Mexico and Nigeria.

Guests: Aba Amoah, co-founder of Justice for Black Lives, Alice Krozer, professor at the Center for Sociological Research at the College of Mexico and Chika Okeke-Agulu, director of the African studies program at Princeton University and professor of art and archeology.

Credits: "Axios Today" is brought to you by Axios and Pushkin Industries. This episode was produced by Nuria Marquez Martinez and edited by Alexandra Botti. Alex Sugiura is our sound engineer. Julia Redpath is our executive producer. Special thanks to editor-in-chief Sara Kehaulani Goo.

This week has been all about President Biden taking on Russia and China. The president had a two-hour-long call with Vladmir Putin about Ukraine. Earlier in the week the U.S. announced a diplomatic boycott of the Winter Olympics in China. And this all against the backdrop of President Biden’s Summit for Democracy this week.

Guests: Axios' Dave Lawler, Sophia Cai and Bryan Walsh.

Credits: Axios Today is produced in partnership with Pushkin Industries. The team includes Niala Boodhoo, Sara Kehaulani Goo, Julia Redpath, Alexandra Botti, Nuria Marquez Martinez, Alex Sugiura, Sabeena Singhani, Lydia McMullen-Laird, Michael Hanf, and David Toledo. Music is composed by Evan Viola. You can reach us at [email protected]. You can text questions, comments and story ideas to Niala as a text or voice memo to 202-918-4893.

The head of Instagram, Adam Mosseri, came to Capitol Hill yesterday with a message for Senators: his company could and will do better in protecting teens. He was defending the social media app from growing bipartisan backlash over its reported potential harmful impact on teens, especially young girls.

Guests: Axios' Margaret Harding McGill, Oriana Gonzalez, and Ben Geman.

Credits: Axios Today is produced in partnership with Pushkin Industries. The team includes Niala Boodhoo, Sara Kehaulani Goo, Julia Redpath, Alexandra Botti, Nuria Marquez Martinez, Alex Sugiura, Sabeena Singhani, Lydia McMullen-Laird, Michael Hanf, and David Toledo. Music is composed by Evan Viola. You can reach us at [email protected]. You can text questions, comments and story ideas to Niala as a text or voice memo to 202-918-4893.

Today marks two years to the day since a mysterious new virus was discovered in Wuhan, China. That of course was soon dubbed SARS-CoV-2, and fast forward to today, we are grappling with the latest variant and another pandemic winter. We delve into the latest Axios-Ipsos poll that shows the nuance behind how tired Americans are with the pandemic, and what they want governments or businesses to do about it.

Guests: Axios' David Nather, Kristal Dixon, and Andrew Freedman.

Credits: Axios Today is produced in partnership with Pushkin Industries. The team includes Niala Boodhoo, Sara Kehaulani Goo, Julia Redpath, Alexandra Botti, Nuria Marquez Martinez, Alex Sugiura, Lydia McMullen-Laird and David Toledo. Music is composed by Evan Viola. You can reach us at [email protected]. You can text questions, comments and story ideas to Niala as a text or voice memo to 202-918-4893.

Americans spend hundreds of billions on prescription drugs each year. In fact, about $370 billion as of 2019. And employers in charge of healthcare plans paid for about $166 billion of that. It's middleman firms, which actually negotiate these drug prices on behalf of employers. But because they keep their data secret, companies have no idea whether they're getting a fair deal on drug prices or not. And an Axios investigation shows these intermediaries are working hard to keep it that way.

Guests: Axios' Ben Herman and Russell Contreras.

Credits: Axios Today is produced in partnership with Pushkin Industries. The team includes Niala Boodhoo, Sara Kehaulani Goo, Julia Redpath, Alexandra Botti, Nuria Marquez Martinez, Alex Sugiura, Sabeena Singhani, Lydia McMullen-Laird, Michael Hanf, and David Toledo. Music is composed by Evan Viola. You can reach us at [email protected]. You can text questions, comments and story ideas to Niala as a text or voice memo to 202-918-4893.

Editor's note: This conversation was updated to correct an error. The Supreme Court conservative majority is 6-3 (not 6-4).

The investigation continues into last week’s shooting at a Michigan high school. Over the weekend, the parents of the 15-year-old suspect who shot and killed four of his classmates and injured seven others were charged with involuntary manslaughter for their role in the deaths. Now the school’s culpability is in question.

Guests: Catherine J. Ross, law professor at George Washington University, and Axios' Jonathan Swan.

Credits: Axios Today is produced in partnership with Pushkin Industries. The team includes Niala Boodhoo, Sara Kehaulani Goo, Julia Redpath, Alexandra Botti, Nuria Marquez Martinez, Alex Sugiura, Sabeena Singhani, David Toledo and Jayk Cherry. Music is composed by Evan Viola. You can reach us at [email protected]. You can text questions, comments and story ideas to Niala as a text or voice memo to 202-918-4893.

The Biden administration has reached a deal with Mexico to restart the Trump-era “Remain in Mexico” program, also known as the Migrant Protection Protocol at the border. Starting Monday, asylum seekers will once again have to wait outside the US while their claims are processed.

Guests: Axios' Stef Kight, Mike Allen and Jennifer Kingson.

Credits: Axios Today is produced in partnership with Pushkin Industries. The team includes Niala Boodhoo, Sara Kehaulani Goo, Julia Redpath, Alexandra Botti, Nuria Marquez Martinez, Alex Sugiura, Sabeena Singhani, David Toledo and Jayk Cherry. Music is composed by Evan Viola. You can reach us at [email protected]. You can text questions, comments and story ideas to Niala as a text or voice memo to 202-918-4893.

The Supreme Court heard arguments Wednesday in a challenge to Mississippi’s law that bans abortion after the 15th week of pregnancy. It’s the most significant abortion case in years and a direct challenge to Roe v. Wade.

Guests: Harvard University constitutional law professor Noah Feldman and Axios' Emma Hurt and Ben Geman.

Credits: Axios Today is produced in partnership with Pushkin Industries. The team includes Niala Boodhoo, Sara Kehaulani Goo, Julia Redpath, Alexandra Botti, Nuria Marquez Martinez, Alex Sugiura, Sabeena Singhani, David Toledo and Jayk Cherry. Music is composed by Evan Viola. You can reach us at [email protected]. You can text questions, comments and story ideas to Niala as a text or voice memo to 202-918-4893.