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Oprah Winfrey arrived in Venice on Thursday, leading a star-studded guest list of celebrities descending on the lagoon city for the weekend wedding of Amazon founder Jeff Bezos and Lauren Sánchez.Winfrey’s private jet landed at Venice’s Marco Polo airport. Former American footballer Tom Brady arrived soon thereafter.The bride and groom pulled into the Aman Hotel dock on the Grand Canal on Wednesday, traveling via water taxi with security boats in tow. A few hours later they slipped out of the hotel, with Sánchez wearing a sleek black and white striped, one-shoulder gown.The details of the nuptials have been a tightly kept secret, though the locations now appear to have firmed up as has the guest list.Ivanka Trump, her husband Jared Kushner, and their three children arrived Wednesday.Other celebrities on the guest list, according to two people close to the wedding who spoke on condition of anonymity, because they weren’t authorized to speak publicly, include: Kim Kardashian Mick Jagger Leonardo DiCaprio Orlando Bloom Microsoft founder Bill Gates Diane von Furstenberg and her husband Barry Diller Katy Perry had originally been expected but the latest update had her as not attending.The wedding has divided Venice, with some activists protesting it as an exploitation of the city by the billionaire Bezos while ordinary residents suffer from overtourism, high housing costs and the constant threat of climate-induced flooding.One group called Extinction Rebellion staged a small protest in St. Mark’s Square on Thursday featuring a masked bride and groom and people holding posters decrying climate change and income inequalities.“The planet is burning but don’t worry, here’s the list of the 27 dresses of Lauren Sanchez,” read one, a reference to the bride’s reported wedding weekend wardrobe.Protesters said that their plans to disrupt the arrivals of guests at one of the wedding venues forced organizers to move the event to the more secure Arsenale area beyond Venice’s congested center.The city administration has strongly defended the nuptials as keeping with Venice’s tradition as an open city that has welcomed popes, emperors and ordinary visitors alike for centuries.“We will always respect the right to speak out, but we reject every form of intolerance and prejudice,” Mayor Luigi Brugnaro said in Thursday’s edition of Italian newspaper Il Foglio Quotidiano. “No one in Venice can claim the right of deciding who can enter, who can love, who can celebrate.” Luca Bruno, Associated Press
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Earlier this year, a new variant of COVID-19 began spreading globally. Some of those infected with the new variant, nicknamed Nimbus, reported an uncomfortable side effect known as razor blade throat. By spring, the variant was present in the United States, and by May, it began to gain a foothold when compared to other circulating variants. But as of last week, Nimbus has jumped to be the dominant strain of COVID-19 in the U.S. Heres what you need to know. What is Nimbus? As Fast Company previously reported, Nimbus is the nickname given to the NB.1.8.1 lineage of COVID-19. Nimbus is a subvariant of Omicron. The World Health Organization (WHO) says that Nimbus was first detected in January 2025 and soon after began circulating around the globe. The Nowcast tracker operated by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) shows that by the week ending March 15, NB.1.8.1 was already detected in America. At that point, it accounted for a minuscule amount of COVID-19 cases in the country. Yet by the week ending April 26, NB.1.8.1 accounted for about 2% of all cases. In May, Nimbus began to assert its rise to dominance. By the week ending May 10, NB.1.8.1 had risen to 5% of cases in the United States. That share jumped to 10% by May 24. By the week ending June 7, NB.1.8.1 accounted for 24% of COVID-19 cases in America, and, most recently, for the week ending June 21, it accounted for 43% of all COVID-19 cases in America, making it the now dominant variant in the U.S. Which U.S. states is Nimbus in? Just because Nimbus is now the most dominant COVID-19 variant in America doesnt mean it is circulating in all states. But it also could be. The uncertainty of where Nimbus is circulating is because a lower number of sequences are being reported to the CDC than in the past. This makes it harder for the CDC to determine where and to what extent COVID-19 variants are spreading in America. Because of this lack of sequencing reporting, the CDC cautions that its Nowcast datas precision in the most recent reporting period is low. Today cites sequence data shared with the Global Initiative on Sharing All Influenza Data (GISAID) database that shows NB.1.8.1 has now been reported in 18 states as of June 25. Those states include: Arizona California Colorado Hawaii Illinois Maryland Massachusetts Michigan Nebraska New Jersey New York Ohio Rhode Island Texas Utah Vermont Virginia Washington That is four more states than GISAID data showed NB.1.8.1 earlier in June. The four new states where the variant has been detected this time around are Michigan, Nebraska, Texas, and Utah. What are the symptoms of NB.1.8.1 Nimbus? The symptoms of Nimbus are much the same as other symptoms of COVID-19. However, there are reports of people saying they feel more harsh throat pain with Nimbus than with previous variants. This throat pain is nicknamed razor blade throat because it feels like you are swallowing razor blades. Symptoms can include: Body aches Congestion Cough Fatigue Fever or chills Headache Loss of smell Loss of taste Runny nose Shortness of breath Sore throat What can I do to protect myself from Nimbus? The precautionary measures you can take to mitigate the risk of contracting Nimbus are the same as those you would take for any other COVID-19 variant. The CDC says these measures include: Staying up to date with COVID-19 vaccines Practicing good hygiene Make sure there is fresh, circulating air flowing through any spaces you are in. One way to help circulate fresh air through a space is by opening windows at home or in the office Precautionary steps are important as Nimbus, like previous COVID variants, can be deadly. According to WHO data from the seven-day period ending June 8, there were 228 reported COVID-19-related deaths globally. A majority of those deaths128 of themoccurred in the United States.
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As record heat waves hit much of the U.S., the Senate is about to pass a bill that will decimate clean energyand take away our best shot at curbing extreme weather and climate disasters. But while the headlines are dire, most Americans dont realize how close we are to a thriving clean energy economyand what a dramatic impact that would have on averting the worst impacts of climate change. The clean energy revolution I served in the White House Climate Policy Office under President Biden. Since leaving the White House, it has become painfully clear that we failed to convince the American people of the urgency of the climate crisis and that clean energy is our path to a secure, thriving future. Yet in the background, the U.S. has quietly launched a clean energy revolutionin March, for the first time in U.S. history, clean energy generated more electricity than fossil fuels in a single month. Twice as many Americans now work in clean energy than in fossil fuels. In the past four years, the U.S. catalyzed over $860 billion in private clean energy investments and announced 400,000 new clean energy jobs. And we were reigning in the climate crisis, on track to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by more than 50% by 2030 and by 100% by 2050. But that progress is now being threatenedand there will be profound consequences. To pay for Trumps tax cuts for the richest Americans, Congress is on the verge of passing a budget bill that will add $3 trillion to the deficit, gut the clean energy economy, and eliminate our chance at averting future climate disasters. But it hasnt passed yet. And its not too late to try to convince Congress to back off these extreme measures. Giving China a leg up By harnessing sun, wind, and other clean sources, the U.S. was on track for 100% of our electricity to come from clean energy by 2035. In the past four years, the U.S. doubled solar power, enough to run 40 million homes. Last year, 93% of new electricity generation came from clean energy. In that same period, $127 billion was invested in 900 new clean manufacturing facilitiesmost in red statesto produce everything from wind turbines and heat pumps to electric vehicles. Now, just five months into the Trump administration, the Republican budget bill will end that growth if its passed by Congress. It will eliminate tax credits that help families, schools, and churches cut their energy bills with solar, geothermal, and energy efficiency. The EV tax credit will end. The bill kills solar and wind farms, eliminates hundreds of thousands of jobs, undermines U.S. manufacturing, and gives China a leg up on clean energy. Meanwhile, it expedites permits for dirty, higher-cost fossil fuels. In exchange for tax breaks for the wealthiest, Trump will increase consumer energy costs and hurt national security. In anticipation, solar companies that were thriving six months ago are now going bankrupt and laying off workers. At stake are almost a million existing and new jobs through 2030, over $522 billion in planned clean energy investments, and our opportunity to curb future climate disasters. Maintaining legacy power Todays political crisis is about consolidating and maintaining legacy power and money. During his campaign, Trump made a deal with fossil fuel executives that for $1 billion in campaign donations hed decimate environmental regulations, expedite oil and gas permits, expand their tax advantage, and cut the clean energy economy off at its knees. Since the Supreme Courts 2010 Citizens United ruling, oil and gas lobbying has grown 75-fold. In 2023, when consumer energy bills skyrocketed and climate disasters caused $182.7 billion in damages, ExxonMobil, Chevron, Shell, and BPs profits exceeded $100 billion. Now, the fossil fuel industry is getting what it paid for. Since January, large-scale clean energy and electric vehicle factories with investments of $14 billion have been canceled or downsizedleading to 10,000 jobs lost. The largest steel plant in America abandoned plans to replace its fossil fuel furnaces with clean hydrogen. Offshore wind projects that could power millions of homes were canceled. And even the most popular consumer energy efficiency program, EPAs Energy Star, which generated $40 billion in consumer energy savings at a price tag of just $32 million a year, has been eliminated. In March, Congress passed a bill that prevents California from transitioning to electric vehicles by 2035 (a policy 11 other states adopted). This action by the President and Congress predictably raises consumer costs and makes households less economically secure in a country where one in four Americans and one in two low-income Americans already struggle to pay their energy bills. Ending clean energy tax credits will make rooftop solar at home more expensive. Without new solar and wind farms, consumer prices will spike as data centers and AI demand more power. Climate crisis Dismantling the clean energy sector and amping up fossil fuels will also intensify the climate crisis. Disasters like Hurricane Helene in North Carolina and the Los Angeles wildfires will only grow in frequency and power. Record-breaking extreme heat, like Phoenixs 70 days above 110 degrees Fahrenheit or Salem, Oregons 117-degree Fahrenheit temperatures, will become the norm. Climate disasters are already causing property insurance ratesnbsp;to skyrocket and carriers to leave markets. All major property insurance companies now have climate scientists on staff to minimize the financial risk of climate disasters to their bottom line (while at the same time they invest more than a half a trillion dollars per year in fossil fuel assets that cause climate change). In February, Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell testified before the Senate that if you fast-forward 10 or 15 years, there are going to be regions of the country where you cant get a mortgage because of climate change. To hide the climate truth, FEMA has been directed to stop collecting climate disaster data. And this is just the beginning. Earth systems could collapse, choking food production, leading to loss of land, and causing mass migration and conflict, even here at home. This is supposed to be our decade of action to keep global temperature increases under 1.5 degrees Celsius. Instead, were tearing down institutions that could grow a thriving clean energy economy.
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