Greenpeace joins protests against gala Bezos wedding in Venice

A large banner against Amazon founder Jeff Bezos lies on the ground, placed by Greenpeace Italy activists along with others in St. Mark's Square, ahead of the expected wedding of Amazon founder Jeff Bezos and Lauren Sanchez, in Venice, Italy, June 23, 2025. REUTERS/Yara Nardi
VENICE, Italy (Reuters) -Global environmental lobby Greenpeace added its voice on Monday to protests against this week's celebrity wedding in Venice between American tech billionaire Jeff Bezos and journalist Laura Sanchez.
The event, expected to attract some 200 guests including U.S. President Donald Trump's daughter Ivanka and son-in-law Jared Kushner, as well as scores of stars from film, fashion and business, has been dubbed "the wedding of the century".
But some locals see the celebration as the latest sign of the brash commodification of a beautiful but fragile city that has long been overrun with tourism while steadily depopulating.
Activists from Greenpeace Italy and UK group "Everyone hates Elon" (Musk) unfolded a giant banner in central St Mark's Square with a picture of Bezos laughing and a sign reading: "If you can rent Venice for your wedding you can pay more tax."
Local police arrived to talk to activists and check their identification documents, before they rolled up their banner.
"The problem is not the wedding, the problem is the system. We think that one big billionaire can't rent a city for his pleasure," Simona Abbate, one of the protesters, told Reuters.
Mayor Luigi Brugnaro and regional governor Luca Zaia have defended the wedding, arguing that it will bring an economic windfall to local businesses, including the motor boats and gondolas that operate its myriad canals.
Zaia said the celebrations were expected to cost 20-30 million euros ($23-$34 million).
Bezos will also make sizable charity donations, including a million euros for Corila, an academic consortium that studies Venice's lagoon ecosystem, Italy's Corriere della Sera newspaper and the ANSA news agency reported on Sunday.
Earlier this month, anti-Bezos banners were hung from St Mark's bell tower and from the famed Rialto bridge, while locals threatened peaceful blockades against the event, saying Venice needed public services and housing, not VIPs and over-tourism.
The exact dates and locations of the glitzy nuptials are being kept confidential, but celebrations are expected to play out over three days, most likely around June 26-28.
($1 = 0.8722 euros)
(Reporting by Ali Kucukgocmen, writing by Alvise Armellini, editing by Gavin Jones and Mark Heinrich)

Try Our AI Features

Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:

Learn with AIFact CheckingText to SpeechAI Summary

Related Articles

The Star

29 minutes ago

• The Star

Goldman Sachs launches AI assistant firmwide, memo shows

FILE PHOTO: The logo for Goldman Sachs is seen on the trading floor at the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) in New York City, New York, U.S., November 17, 2021. REUTERS/Andrew Kelly/File Photo (Reuters) -Goldman Sachs on Monday announced a firmwide launch of an artificial intelligence assistant, a tool driven by generative AI, to boost productivity, according to an internal memo seen by Reuters. Around 10,000 employees at the bank are already using the GS AI Assistant, the memo sent to staff by Chief Information Officer Marco Argenti showed. With the AI tool's official company-wide launch, Goldman joins a long list of big banks already leveraging the technology to shape their operations in a targeted manner and help employees in day-to-day tasks. Citigroup has AI tools such as Citi Assist, which searches internal bank policies and procedures, as well as Citi Stylus, which helps with document summarizing and comparisons. Morgan Stanley has a chatbot that helps financial advisors in interactions with clients, while Bank of America's virtual assistant, Erica, focuses on day-to-day transactions of retail clients. The GS AI assistant will help Goldman employees in "summarizing complex documents and drafting initial content to performing data analysis," according to the internal memo. (Reporting by Saeed Azhar and Pritam Biswas in Bengaluru; Editing by Shreya Biswas)

The Star

44 minutes ago

• The Star

Liberty Media receives nod from EU regulators for MotoGP deal

Formula One F1 - Monaco Grand Prix - Circuit de Monaco, Monaco - May 22, 2025 General view of the F1 logo ahead of the Monaco Grand Prix REUTERS/Stephanie Lecocq/File Photo BRUSSELS (Reuters) -Formula One owner Liberty Media received unconditional clearance from EU regulators for its acquisition of Dorna Sports, which owns MotoGP, the European Commission said on Monday. Liberty Media had argued the transaction would allow it to grow the reach and appeal of MotoGP. The commission said the decision followed a lengthy probe that examined if the acquisition would reduce competition for the licensing of sports content broadcasting rights. "Based on the evidence gathered, the Commission found that on such markets the companies are not close competitors for the licensing of broadcasting rights for sports content," the commission said in a statement. "Therefore, the transaction will not remove important competitive constraints between Formula 1 and MotoGP," it added. Reuters had reported that EU regulators were poised to approve the acquisition in April. Liberty Media had announced the 3.5-billion-euro deal to purchase an 86% stake in Dorna in April 2024. (Reporting by Makini Brice; Editing by Sudip Kar-Gupta)

The Star

an hour ago

• The Star

Exclusive-Iranian retaliation against U.S. forces could come soon, U.S. officials say

FILE PHOTO: U.S. and Iran flags are seen in this illustration taken June 18, 2025. REUTERS/Dado Ruvic/Illustration/File photo WASHINGTON (Reuters) -The United States assesses that Iran could carry out retaliatory attacks targeting American forces in the Middle East soon, although the U.S. is still seeking a diplomatic resolution that would see Tehran forgo any attack, two U.S. officials said on Monday. One of the officials, who spoke to Reuters on condition of anonymity, said Iran's retaliatory attack could happen within the next day or two. Iran has threatened to retaliate after U.S. bombed its nuclear sites over the weekend. (Reporting by Phil Stewart and Idrees Ali; Editing by Alistair Bell)