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National

The newness of Threads has worn off, according to estimates of user data.

By the numbers: Daily active users were down about 20% on Tuesday and Wednesday this week from Saturday, marketing data firm Sensor Tower says.

Time spent has fallen from 20 minutes to 10 minutes.

Separate data from Similarweb revealed similar patterns — a more than 25% drop in daily active users between July 7 and Monday among Android phone users.

What they're saying: Twitter competitor Threads "will need a more compelling value proposition than simply 'Twitter, but without Elon Musk,'"Anthony Bartolacci, managing director at marketing data firm Sensor Tower, tells CNBC.

Threads is big, but no one knows where it's going

Scoop: Branded content tools coming to Threads

Threads app engagement drops off a week after launch

Engagement on the platform has fallen since its vast launch last week.

illustration of Twitter app logo and Threads app logo intertwined

Twitter

Economy

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

From the Valley to D.C., Big Tech players like Facebook, Google and Amazon are under more scrutiny than ever as new technology develops and privacy and antitrust concerns grow in lockstep with companies’ ambitions.

Technology

The Eurotrip is back, no matter how much it costs. 

Why it matters: Travel from the U.S. to Europe was projected to surge 55% this summer, per Allianz, which based its estimate on the company's bookings. The surge comes even as airfare and hotel prices have spiked.

London, Paris, Rome, Dublin and Athens are the most popular European destinations that vacationers are booking this year on Hopper, a travel company. 

By the numbers: Between late April and mid-June, demand to Europe outpaced the same period in 2019 by up to 20%, according to Hopper. 

Costs are up, too. Airfare is the highest it has been in the past six years, according to data Hopper tracks. 

The average plane ticket costs almost $1,200. 

Hotel stays per night are up 37% from June 2022, to an average of about $205. Prices have risen even more sharply in cities like Rome and Madrid. 

The big picture: Since COVID-19 restrictions began lifting in 2021, demand for international travel has surged.

Last year became the summer of "revenge travel" after putting plans on hold for a couple of years.

State of play: Some European cities are responding to the increase in tourism with policies meant to protect cities and local residents.

The City of Dubrovnik released a video showing proper etiquette for tourists, including carrying wheeled suitcases down the cobblestone streets to reduce noise.

The City of Amsterdam launched a "stay away" campaign, aimed at nuisance tourists. "We have to do even more the coming years if we want to give tourism a sustainable place in our city," a statement said.

An autonomous region in northern Italy banned new traveler accommodations from opening without permission from local authorities.

Zoom in: Ariana Lovings, a geology and geoscience student from Clarksville, Tenn., spent seven weeks in Europe this summer on a study abroad program.

Because of the high costs of airfare and lodging, Lovings, 21, would not have been able to travel to Europe without the grant funding for her research program.

Her research schools were in Poland and the Czech Republic. On the weekends, she took trips to Vienna, Prague and Paris, where she was among much larger crowds for sightseeing than in the university areas. 

"Any big-name cities were super touristy, but traveling a bit outside to the lesser known cities or towns was also very, very cool," she said.

Be smart: People traveling to Europe this month can expect to encounter and should prepare for extreme heat across the continent.

Officials were preparing emergency measures to respond to the current temperatures, coined the Cerberus heat wave after the multi-headed dog that guards the underworld in Greek mythology. It is expected to continue through next week.

Italy could meet or beat Europe's all-time high temperature record of 48.8 C (119.8F).

Greece closed Acropolis during the hottest part of the day on Friday for tourists' safety, and Red Cross staff handed out bottled water to tourists waiting in lines for the Parthenon temple. 

Go deeper: Climate change upends summer travel

meet or beat the all-time high temperature

Europe emerging as summer blockbuster destination

Airfare and hotel costs have increased too.

Illustration of a suitcase with the EU flag on it

Travel

Conflicts, policies and powers are intersecting and shaping the world. Breaking news and analysis of national security, foreign policy and global crises.

World

Data: Powerball and Mega Millions; Chart: Axios Visuals

Bigger prizes — and fewer jackpot winners — have become the norm since Powerball and Mega Millions made the games harder to win and more enticing to play a few years ago.

Why it matters: Two of the largest Powerball and Mega Millions jackpots are now up for grabs after months without grand-prize winners.

Driving the news: Friday's Mega Millions jackpot of $560 million is the lottery's seventh-largest prize. Saturday’s Powerball of $875 million is its third-largest jackpot.

The July 15 Powerball is the seventh-largest U.S. jackpot ever and has a cash value of an estimated $441.9 million.

No one has won Powerball since April 19 and there have been 36 straight drawings without a jackpot winner.

Flashback: Powerball made the game harder to win in October 2015 when it added more white balls to the mix. Mega Millions changed its rules and odds in 2017.

Changes to both lotteries were designed to create more possible number combinations, making the chances of winning more of a pipe dream.

Lower odds of winning have meant larger jackpots with bigger prizes, leading more people to pick up tickets in hopes of winning.

When Mega Millions and Powerball drawings are

Mega Millions drawings are held in Atlanta at 11pm ET Tuesdays and Fridays.

Two machines pick the numbers in the drawings with the first picking five white balls and the other selecting a gold "Mega Ball."

Saturday's Powerball drawing is at 10:59pm ET and will be broadcast on the Powerball website and television stations across the country from the Florida Lottery draw studio in Tallahassee, Florida.

Drawings are held on Mondays, Wednesdays and Saturdays.

Powerball winning odds versus Mega Millions

Between the lines: The odds of winning the Powerball jackpot are 1 in 292.2 million. The overall odds of winning a prize are 1 in 24.9.

The jackpot odds for Mega Millions are 1 in 303 million.

State of play: Lottery players can pick six numbers from two separate pools of numbers — five different numbers from 1 to 69 (the white balls) and one number from 1 to 26 for the red Powerball.

Powerball and Mega Millions jackpots keep growing bigger, with harder odds.

Lottery ticket prices: Powerball and Mega Millions

Powerball tickets are $2 per play but for an extra $1 per play you can add the Power Play feature to "multiply non-jackpot prizes by 2, 3, 4, 5 or 10 times."

The price for a Mega Millions ticket is $2, but players in most states can "add the Megaplier for an additional $1 to multiply their non-jackpot prizes."

How the biggest fast-food chains botched National Fry Day

Why some birthday freebies are becoming less rewarding

The cost of car repairs is surging amid widespread shortages

Lottery jackpots keep growing and getting harder to win

The games' odds were tightened a few years ago, making jackpots harder to win but also more enticing to play.

Millionaires

Person fills out Powerball form to buy a ticket with Mega Millions form underneath

Boston

Axios Boston

Another family has filed a lawsuit asking for class-action status against Harvard Medical School over the university's role in a ring that allegedly sold human remains on the black market for years.

Why it matters: It's the latest in a string of similar class-action suits against the prestigious school since federal authorities charged its morgue manager with conspiracy and trafficking of stolen goods.

Driving the news: In a suit filed in Suffolk County Superior Court on Thursday, lead plaintiff Anne Weiss claims Harvard failed to protect the dignity of donated remains, including those of her father, a pediatrician who donated his body to the school.

Harvard should have prevented Cedric Lodge, the school's morgue manager, from having unfettered access to human remains, Weiss alleges.

The school failed to set up "precautions that would have prevented the establishment and operation of a body parts bazaar within their facility," the suit claims.

What they're saying: "This ghoulish black market was allowed to flourish in plain sight operated by [a Harvard Medical School] morgue employee whose lack of respect for the dead was obvious to anyone who scrutinized his behavior," Weiss' suit states.

The suit alleges that Lodge sometimes dressed as a 19th-century undertaker and would park his car bearing a "Grim-R" license plate each day in the medical school's lot.

Weiss is seeking damages for the emotional distress she and other families say they suffered as a result of their loved one's bodies being mistreated or sold.

When asked for comment, Harvard Medical School referred Axios to a letter from the dean in June.

"We are appalled to learn that something so disturbing could happen on our campus — a community dedicated to healing and serving others," George Daley wrote.

Catch up quick: Lodge, 55, and his wife Denise, 63, pleaded not guilty in June after they were indicted with several other defendants by a federal grand jury in Pennsylvania. 

The couple is accused of stealing and selling donated body parts between 2018 and last year.

Lodge managed the morgue of the school's anatomical gifts program and is accused of taking remains to his New Hampshire home to arrange sales to outside buyers.

FBI investigators found 40 skulls, as well as spinal cords and bones, in the Kentucky home of James Nott this week, which investigators say may be tied to Lodge's alleged black market scheme.

What we're watching: Harvard Medical School has appointed an external panel to evaluate the anatomical gifts program and the morgue's security policies.

accused of stealing and selling body parts

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Harvard Medical faces another lawsuit over stolen body parts

"This ghoulish black market was allowed to flourish in plain sight," the suit says.

Harvard Medical School. Photo: Sergi Reboredo/Getty Images

Crime

The U.S. health system faces critical questions about cost, access and equity. Technological advances and new discoveries about diseases like cancer and Alzheimer’s are transforming patient care and reshaping public health.

Axios

Friday's top stories

Threads app engagement drops off a week after launch

Europe emerging as summer blockbuster destination

Lottery jackpots keep growing and getting harder to win

Harvard Medical faces another lawsuit over stolen body parts

House GOP passes key defense bill with abortion restrictions

Gig workers' push for better pay is still a struggle

Media summer apocalypse

State of the economy: The vibes vs. the data

Robotaxis face their moment of truth

Cost could limit demand for over-the-counter birth control pills