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Economic Times
3 days ago
- Business
- Economic Times
Jeff Bezos wedding with Lauren Sanchez in Venice: 'No Space for Bezos' protests force Amazon founder to change celebrity party venue
Venice has hosted scores of other VIP weddings, including that of actor George Clooney and human rights lawyer Amal Alamuddin in 2014. Demonstrators hold smoke flares while standing by a banner that reads 'No space for Bezos' as they take part in a protest against Amazon founder Jeff Bezos in Venice. (Reuters photo) Tired of too many ads? Remove Ads Tired of too many ads? Remove Ads FAQs Tired of too many ads? Remove Ads Mass tourism, impossibly high rents, worker exploitation, inequality and elitism: Venice, Italy's protests in recent days against Jeff Bezos and Lauren Sanchez's high-profile wedding have highlighted growing global grievances. "No Space for Bezos" banners draped over the iconic Rialto Bridge and a huge canvas laid out on St Mark's Square urging the tech billionaire to pay more taxes have been seen all over the world. Concerns of greater disruptions forced Bezos and his bride to move their final and biggest celebrity party from the central district to a more isolated venue in the eastern part of the lagoon city, as per a report."The idea that the city should be seen as a set, a stage, or an amusement park has been highlighted like never before by Bezos' wedding," Tommaso Cacciari, a frontman for the No Space for Bezos movement, told the final protest on Saturday, around 1,000 residents and activists rallied in front of Venice's train station under a scorching sun, before marching roughly 1.5 kilometres (0.93 miles) to the Rialto carried banners including one proclaiming 'Kisses yes, Bezos no', playing on Venice's reputation as the city of love, and another one saying 'No space for Bezos' with a rocket, in a reference to his Blue Origin space technology businesses and politicians, however, welcomed the event, hailing its major boost for the local economy. Luca Zaia, the regional governor of Veneto around Venice, said the city should be proud of hosting the and Sanchez have given 1 million euros each to three Venetian institutions: CORILA, an academic consortium that studies the lagoon, UNESCO's local office, and Venice International University. Protesters have called Bezos a 'hypocrite' for donating 3 million euros ($3.5 million) to Venice while flooding its fragile ecosystem with high-polluting private jets and Italy, the e-commerce giant has faced criticism and strikes from trade unions over labour practices, and scrutiny over tax compliance. Reuters reported in February that Italian prosecutors were investigating alleged tax evasion worth 1.2 is rapidly depopulating, largely because of the cost of living crisis. Its historic city centre now has fewer than 50,000 residents, compared to more than 100,000 some 50 years city has hosted scores of other VIP weddings, including that of actor George Clooney and human rights lawyer Amal Alamuddin in 2014.A1. Amazon founder is Jeff Bezos.A2. Venice is rapidly depopulating, largely because of the cost of living crisis. Its historic city centre now has fewer than 50,000 residents, compared to more than 100,000 some 50 years ago.
Time of India
23-04-2025
- Business
- Time of India
US-China fentanyl talks hang by thread amid trade war
Live Events 'BAD FAITH' (You can now subscribe to our (You can now subscribe to our Economic Times WhatsApp channel Talks continue between the U.S. and China on tackling the fentanyl epidemic amid the bitter trade war between the world's two largest economies, four U.S. officials familiar with the discussions told Reuters, even as American negotiators claim the Chinese are failing to negotiate in good two sides are exchanging intelligence about traffickers and communicate frequently. But Beijing's proposals to help resolve the crisis thus far are inadequate, the people said, testing the patience of U.S. President Donald Trump , who has pursued a more confrontational stance with China on drugs than did his predecessor Joe Biden Washington says Chinese chemical manufacturers and exporters provide the majority of precursor chemicals used by drug cartels to produce synthetic opioids, the cause of nearly 450,000 U.S. overdose deaths. China has long defended its tough drug laws and record of cracking down on smugglers, and says America must get a handle on its own addiction woes."The abuse of fentanyl in the United States is a problem that must be confronted and resolved by the United States itself," Liu Pengyu , spokesman for the Chinese embassy in Washington, told recent weeks, the Trump administration has engaged in direct talks with Chinese counterparts, mostly between the top staff at the Chinese embassy in Washington and the U.S. National Security Council, the four U.S. officials said. Staff at the U.S. embassy in Beijing have also been negotiators have conveyed his desire for swift action by Chinese authorities to prosecute and convict China-based producers and sellers of precursors feeding the fentanyl trade, the U.S. officials said. China, in turn, has offered to regulate additional fentanyl precursor chemicals beyond those it already controls, a proposal the Americans say falls well short of what they're looking for."Talk is cheap," one of the U.S. officials said, adding the two sides were largely "at an impasse."In response to questions from Reuters about the counternarcotics talks, an administration official said the U.S. might consider additional punitive measures to compel China to take meaningful action on fentanyl precursors, including sanctions on Chinese banks. "Nothing is off the table," the person reporters last year purchased 6.6 kilos of precursors and pill-making equipment online from Chinese sellers who openly market to the illegal drugs trade as part of a multi-part investigation into fentanyl's secretive global supply chain. As part of that series, " Fentanyl Express ," reporters detailed U.S.-China counternarcotics talks held during the Biden administration, negotiations that failed to wrest major concessions from Beijing, and previewed a more antagonistic approach planned by the second Trump Trump's first moves was imposing tariffs now totaling 20% on Chinese imports over Beijing's alleged failure to stem the flow of fentanyl precursors to drug cartels. Other rounds of tariffs in the president's trade war have slapped baseline duties of 145% or higher on many Chinese goods, levels China has cautioned would undermine talks on counternarcotics."If (the U.S.) truly wants to address the fentanyl problem, it needs to revoke the unjustified tariffs, engage in equal consultation with China, and seek mutually beneficial cooperation," said Liu, the Chinese embassy in the past has suspended dialogue on drugs when angered by Washington, doing so after a 2022 visit to Taiwan by then-Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi. Biden got those talks back on track, and negotiations have continued under returning to the White House, Trump has named the opioid crisis as one of his top foreign policy priorities. He has designated drug cartels as foreign terrorist organizations. Some Canadian and Mexican goods have also been slapped with so-called fentanyl tariffs. But Trump has reserved particular vitriol for China, accusing Beijing of "actively sustaining and expanding the business of poisoning our citizens."Biden's measured approach in engaging Beijing yielded some small wins but no dramatic breakthrough, something Trump's team views as a failure. They see tariffs as a tool for compelling Chinese cooperation, despite China's warnings to the Trump's initial tariffs over fentanyl, China offered to schedule two precursor chemicals: 4-Piperidone and concession was easy for Beijing to make, the U.S. officials said, because China was already obligated to do because those chemicals were placed under international control in 2024 by the U.N. Commission on Narcotic Drugs. China is a member of that commission, and thus bound to regulate those precursors. Work on scheduling them is underway, according to a March report by the Chinese government on its fentanyl-control negotiators were underwhelmed. The Chinese offering "to do something that they've already agreed to, it's essentially negotiating in bad faith," a second U.S. official Trump escalated the tariffs in recent weeks, Beijing has made additional proposals to schedule several more precursors, the U.S. officials said, an offer the Americans still deem Ministry of Foreign Affairs said in a statement after Reuters published this article that it was "obvious to everyone who has goodwill and who has ill intentions," and that the U.S. approach will "seriously undermine China-U.S. counternarcotics dialogue and cooperation."During Trump's first term, China did take some steps to constrict the synthetic opioid pipeline. At the time, most fentanyl sold on U.S. streets was made in China. In 2019, Beijing placed fentanyl and its analogs under national control, effectively ending illicit exports of the finished product. But Chinese chemical companies quickly pivoted to supplying ingredients to the Mexican cartels that took over production, U.S. authorities the Trump team wants now is for China to crack down on Chinese chemical manufacturers and sellers catering to that illicit trade. Many market their wares openly online. Beijing has failed to make such prosecutions a priority, one of the U.S. officials said, despite evidence and leads supplied by the American side."Start putting big, important people behind bars as a signal to the whole industry or black market," the first official said. "We just haven't seen that."The Biden administration, too, pressed China to require its chemical sector to vet customers and better monitor where their exports are China has resisted out of concern that too much regulation would hamper the growth of its powerful chemical industry. Many chemicals used to make synthetic opioids also have legitimate uses. Tsang Wai-hung, an official with China's National Narcotics Control Commission, last year told Reuters that it's the responsibility of importing countries - not Chinese chemical companies - to investigate sketchy buyers suspected of purchasing legal precursors to manufacture directed questions to China's Ministry of Public Security, which oversees the National Narcotics Control Commission. The ministry did not respond to a request for last year said it had targeted internet advertising related to fentanyl and its precursors, shuttering more than a dozen online platforms and hundreds of recent Reuters interviews with more than 50 fentanyl users in Philadelphia, Boston, San Francisco, and Columbus, Ohio, showed the drug remains plentiful and cheap.A third U.S. official warned that Trump could resort to more tariffs if he felt that China was dragging its the Chinese embassy spokesman, said his country won't sit idly by."China never accepts power politics or hegemony," Liu said. "If the United States insists on applying pressure and even goes down the path of extortion, China will surely take resolute countermeasures."
