Working long hours can increase risk of death, according to a first-of-its-kind study by the World Health Organization and the International Labour Organization.
Why it matters: The study does not cover the pandemic, but its authors say that working long hours is now the risk factor with the largest occupational disease burden.
Clinical research treating mental illness with psychedelics has been happening for decades, but now there's a group of companies exclusively focused on using LSD and other psychedelics to treat mental health disorders.
Axios Re:Cap digs into the argument for legalizing prescription psychedelics, and the treacherous FDA approval path, with MindMed CEO JR Rahn, whose company recently listed on the Nasdaq.
Zach Perret, the CEO of payments infrastructure company Plaid, is raising $30 million for a venture capital fund called Mischief, according to an SEC filing. His partner is Lauren Farleigh, founder of defunct Gen Z shopping app Dote and an angel investor in such companies as Faire and Modern Fertility.
Why it matters: Plaid is now valued at $13.4 billion, after federal antitrust regulators blocked a proposed $5.3 billion acquisition by Visa.
A growing list of large retailers has begun to ease mask requirements for fully vaccinated customers, after the CDC issued guidance last week saying vaccinated people can do most activities without wearing a mask or physically distancing.
Driving the news: Target and CVS Pharmacy on Monday were among the latest to update policies to allow fully vaccinated guests in their stores without face coverings, unless it is required by local law.
Twitch is rolling out new localized subscription pricing abroad, its VP of monetization, Mike Minton, told Axios. Every new subscription price will be lower than the current $4.99 fee, which will remain in the U.S.
Why it matters: "We heard around world that price point not attainable," Minton told Axios. "In Latin America, for example, 80% can’t support streamers in the same way as people can in the U.S. because of the price." Minton said Twitch's subscription price hadn't changed in seven years.
U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said Monday he had not personally seen evidence that Hamas was operating in a building that housed offices for Al Jazeera, the AP and other media in the Gaza Strip, as the Israeli government has claimed, AP reports.
The latest: "The Secretary was referring only to what he personally had seen. As he made clear, any such information would be provided to others in the administration, not directly to the secretary of State," a senior State Department official told Axios.
Last week's Consumer Price Index reading is putting increased focus on the Federal Reserve's laissez-faire stance, drawing concern from new critics and making old ones even more boisterous.
What we're hearing: "Data are pointing more towards higher inflation than I expected, and sooner," former U.S. Treasury Secretary Lawrence Summers tells Axios' Hans Nichols and Mike Allen. "With more inflation signs sooner than I would have expected."
Friends tell me Jeff Zucker may drop his plan to depart at year's end and instead remain head of CNN, as a result of the massive merger of AT&T-Discovery media assets announced Monday morning.
Driving the news: I'm told that nothing has been decided. But absent this tectonic media shift, Zucker — who's chairman, WarnerMedia News and Sports, and president of CNN Worldwide — was gone. Now, the door is open for him to stay.
AT&T and Discovery have agreed to create a joint venture that would house WarnerMedia’s premium entertainment, sports and news assets with Discovery's nonfiction and international entertainment and sports businesses, the companies announced Monday.
Why it matters: It's a major course correction by AT&T. The deal essentially confirms shareholder fears that the company's $85 billion merger with Time Warner three years ago was not fully baked.
/2021/05/17/1621222510209.gif?w=3840)