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Italian Conductor Muti to Visit Syrian Refugee Camp in Jordan

FILE - Italian conductor Riccardo Muti rehearses Verdi's "Un Ballo in Maschera (A masked Ball)" with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra in Chicago on Wednesday, June 22, 2022. (AP Photo/Nam Y. Huh, File)
FILE - Italian conductor Riccardo Muti rehearses Verdi's "Un Ballo in Maschera (A masked Ball)" with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra in Chicago on Wednesday, June 22, 2022. (AP Photo/Nam Y. Huh, File)
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Italian Conductor Muti to Visit Syrian Refugee Camp in Jordan

FILE - Italian conductor Riccardo Muti rehearses Verdi's "Un Ballo in Maschera (A masked Ball)" with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra in Chicago on Wednesday, June 22, 2022. (AP Photo/Nam Y. Huh, File)
FILE - Italian conductor Riccardo Muti rehearses Verdi's "Un Ballo in Maschera (A masked Ball)" with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra in Chicago on Wednesday, June 22, 2022. (AP Photo/Nam Y. Huh, File)

Italian conductor Riccardo Muti plans to visit Syrian musicians living in the vast Zaatari refugee camp in Jordan on the sidelines of his annual Roads of Friendship concert series that aims to use music to build bridges and help those affected by war.

Muti will conduct Italian and Jordanian musicians in concerts set in ancient Roman amphitheaters in Jerash, Jordan, on July 9 and the Pompeii archaeological site on July 11, for the 27th Roads of Friendship concert series, The Associated Press reported.

The concerts will pay homage to the “generosity of the Jordanian people” for taking in millions of Syrian refugees fleeing civil war in the neighboring country, the Ravenna festival announced Thursday.

While in Jordan, Muti plans to visit the Zaatari camp, a symbol of the long-running Syrian refugee situation and home to about 80,000 refugees nearly 11 years after it was set up near the Syrian border.

He and a delegation from the Ravenna Festival will meet with musicians among the Syrian diaspora, bringing with them musical instruments as gifts.

This year’s Roads of Friendship concert series will launch on July 7 in Ravenna, and feature the Luigi Cherubini Youth Orchestra founded by Muti, the Cremona Ancient Choir as well as Jordanian musicians.

The series was launched in 1997 in Sarajevo, just two years after the Bosnian civil war ended.

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Jill Biden Gets Priciest Gift from a Foreign Leader in 2023 — a $20,000 Diamond

US President Joe Biden and First Lady Jill Biden walk on the South Lawn of the White House as they return to Washington, DC, from Camp David, on January 2, 2025. (Photo by Chris Kleponis / AFP)
US President Joe Biden and First Lady Jill Biden walk on the South Lawn of the White House as they return to Washington, DC, from Camp David, on January 2, 2025. (Photo by Chris Kleponis / AFP)
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Jill Biden Gets Priciest Gift from a Foreign Leader in 2023 — a $20,000 Diamond

US President Joe Biden and First Lady Jill Biden walk on the South Lawn of the White House as they return to Washington, DC, from Camp David, on January 2, 2025. (Photo by Chris Kleponis / AFP)
US President Joe Biden and First Lady Jill Biden walk on the South Lawn of the White House as they return to Washington, DC, from Camp David, on January 2, 2025. (Photo by Chris Kleponis / AFP)

President Joe Biden and his family were given tens of thousands of dollars in gifts from foreign leaders in 2023, according to an annual accounting published by the State Department on Thursday, with first lady Jill Biden receiving the single most expensive present: a $20,000 diamond from India’s leader.
The 7.5-carat diamond from Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi was easily the most costly gift presented to any member of the first family in 2023, although she also received a brooch valued at $14,063 from the Ukrainian ambassador to the United States and a bracelet, brooch and photograph album worth $4,510 from the president and first lady of Egypt.
The US president himself received a number of expensive presents, including a commemorative photo album valued at $7,100 from South Korea’s recently impeached President Suk Yeol Yoon, a $3,495 statue of Mongolian warriors from the Mongolian prime minister, a $3,300 silver bowl from the sultan of Brunei, a $3,160 sterling silver tray from the president of Israel, and a collage worth $2,400 from Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.
Federal law requires executive branch officials to declare gifts they receive from foreign leaders and counterparts that have an estimated value of more than $480. Many of the gifts that meet that threshold are relatively modest, and the more expensive ones are typically — but not always — transferred to the National Archives or put on official displays.
The $20,000 diamond was retained for official use in the White House East Wing, according to a State Department document, while the other gifts to the president and first lady were sent to the archives.
Vanessa Valdivia, a spokesperson for Jill Biden, said the diamond will be turned over to the archives after they leave office. According to The Associated Press, she did not say what it was being used for.
Ukraine's ambassador, Oksana Markarova, said Friday on Facebook that a Ukrainian designer fashioned the brooch from the remains of a Russian rocket and that the piece was made from inexpensive materials, so its “true value ... lies in its symbolism." The embassy's spokesperson, Halyna Yusypiuk, said US officials provided the assessed value.
Recipients have the option to purchase the gift from the US government at its market value, although that is rare, particularly with high-end items.
According to the State Department’s Office of Protocol, which compiles the list that will be published in Friday’s edition of the Federal Register, several employees of the CIA reported receiving lavish gifts of watches, perfume and jewelry, nearly all of which were destroyed. Of the gifts destroyed, they were worth more than $132,000 combined.
CIA Director William Burns received a $18,000 astrograph, which is a telescope and astrological camera, from an foreign source whose identity is classified. That is being transferred to the General Services Administration. But Burns reported receiving and destroying an $11,000 Omega watch, while numerous others did the same with luxury timepieces.
Below the rank of director, the CIA employees who reported gifts are not identified, but one of them logged an Omega Seamaster Aqua Terra watch, a ladies Omega Constellation watch, a diamond necklace, earring bracelet, and a ring that were valued together at $65,100.