Dozens of diamonds spell out two giant letter “T” next to the Stars and Stripes and “1776” and “2026.”

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Dozens more frame the numbers 45 and 47 in the shape of Superman’s logo.

A diamond-winged eagle carries a ruby shield and clutches an olive branch of emeralds, below a radiant “250” and atop the phrase “250 YEARS USA” etched in 18-karat gold.

All told, 321 diamonds, 56 sapphires, 13 emeralds and six rubies encrust the watch-sized gold ring presented this week to Bill White, the US ambassador to Belgium, to give to President Donald Trump.

“A very special thank you to my friends from Antwerp for the magnificent Freedom 250 ring,” Trump said in a prerecorded video message during an event marking America’s 250th birthday in Brussels.

Isidore Mörsel, president of the Antwerp World Diamond Centre (AWDC) gifted the ring on behalf of the centuries-old diamond community in the Belgian port city, a central hub in the worldwide trade of the precious stones that found itself struggling last year under the weight of Trump’s sweeping trade war.

“May this ring serve as a lasting reminder that true partnership like the finest natural diamonds are formed under pressure, endure the test of time, and shine brightest when built on trust,” Mörsel said.

The ring’s interior is engraved with the phrase “Crafted in Antwerp for Donald John Trump.”

In dollar terms, the ring’s value pales beside gifts like the $400 million (€349 million) plane donated by Qatar that Trump ordered converted into a new Air Force One.

But it’s a glitzy window into the role that ostentatious, and almost always gilded, gifts are playing by those seeking to curry favour with the US president.

A White House official, speaking on the condition of anonymity to discuss the matter, said Thursday that the ring has not been presented to Trump yet.

Latest break with White House custom

The gift comes months after Belgium’s diamond industry won the removal of US tariffs on diamond imports.

In September, AWDC said it had “succeeded in securing a zero percent import tariff” on Antwerp’s annual export of more than $2 billion (€1.7 billion) of polished diamonds to the US.

A spokesperson for the group said on Thursday that the AWDC provided “input” to the European Commission as it negotiated with Trump on a broad deal on tariffs in 2025, but did not itself lobby the administration.

US presidents have considerable discretion to accept gifts from domestic and foreign sources and may determine themselves whether a gift was meant for them personally or the nation.

The exception is those from foreign governments, which are prohibited by the foreign emoluments clause of the Constitution without congressional assent, though presidents could use personal funds to reimburse the Treasury for the full value of an official gift if they wish to retain them.

Personal gifts are also supposed to be registered on the president’s annual financial disclosure.

Trump’s 2025 disclosure, released this week, revealed a $250,000 (€218,000) gift of a sculpture depicting his triumphal gesture after surviving a 2024 assassination attempt at a campaign rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, and tickets to 10 sporting events, including 10 to the upcoming World Cup final in New Jersey from FIFA’s Gianni Infantino, valued at a collective $15,000 (€13,000).

Four US ethics experts told the Associated Press news agency that Trump has broken with decades-old custom in the White House to avoid accepting such gifts.

Ring’s value estimated at $25,000-35,000

To forge the ring, the AWDC turned to David Gotlib, an Antwerp-based high-end jeweller whose cufflinks can sell for more than €15,000.

Neither AWDC nor Gotlib would provide a valuation of the ring, but two independent jewellers told AP they estimated the value between $25,000-35,000 (€21,000-30,000).

After the ring was presented on a star-spangled stage in Brussels, musician Alexis Wilkins, the girlfriend of FBI Director Kash Patel, sang the US national anthem to more than 8,000 people drinking Budweiser and bourbon from Tennessee and Kentucky.

White said he raised more than $5.5 million (€4.8 million) for the 250th anniversary event from corporate sponsors like defence industry titans Lockheed Martin and Northrop Grumman, tech firms like Intel, Google and Meta, as well as the European chocolate companies Leonidas and Ferrero. AWDC said it contributed funds, too.

“The media was asking, ‘Why does it have to be so big?’” White said of the event. “Because we are the United States of America!”

Meanwhile, the fate of the ring is not clear.

On Wednesday, White posted a photo online of himself wearing the ring and giving a thumbs-up. The post has since been deleted.

Digital lifeforms are taking over Kuala Lumpur.

“Algorithmic Organisms 2.0,” an AI-driven immersive audiovisual exhibition from Dutch artist Ray Tijssen, opened at The Grey Box, GMBB Kuala Lumpur, ahead of a public run through July 19.

The show weaves together AI, generative imagery, immersive audio and spatial narrative design, which organizers describe as producing a living, evolving environment. It is organized by Jazzy Group of Companies and presented by MAISEAT, with support from the National Art Gallery of Malaysia (Balai Seni Negara). The Embassy of the Kingdom of the Netherlands in Kuala Lumpur also backed the project.

The opening drew figures from the arts and creative industries alongside media, strategic partners, cultural institutions and members of the diplomatic community.

“More than a traditional exhibition, it invites audiences into a living audiovisual environment where AI-generated imagery, immersive sound, and digital lifeforms continuously evolve in real time. It challenges the way we experience art, not as passive observers, but as participants within the work itself,” said Joanne Goh, founder and CEO of Jazzy Group of Companies, in her opening remarks.

Goh added that the project reflects Jazzy Group’s broader push to bring internationally minded creative programming to Malaysia and to foster dialogue across art, technology and culture.

Dutch audiovisual artist and Creative Director 0010×0010, known offstage as Ray Tijssen, joined the ceremony to present the curatorial thinking behind the show, touching on the interplay between technology and creativity and the visitor journey the exhibition is designed to deliver. Tijssen, who is based in Los Angeles and serves as creative director of SQNXR, has built a career around immersive visual installations, sound design and AI-driven imaging systems. Variety first reported on the exhibition in April, when it was announced as a sidebar installation to the Malaysia International Film Festival’s 2026 edition, set to run July 18-25 in Kuala Lumpur.

Goh and Tijssen, joined by representatives of the exhibition’s presenting and supporting partners, performed a ribbon-cutting to mark the official opening. Tijssen then led guests on a walkthrough of the installations, unpacking how artificial intelligence, sound design and generative visuals work together to keep the show’s audiovisual landscape in constant flux.

The evening closed with a cocktail reception featuring live DJ sets and synchronized audiovisual projections.

Tijssen will extend the exhibition’s themes with “Machine Vision & Human Expression: An Interactive Masterclass with 0010×0010,” set for July 4 at the National Art Gallery of Malaysia.

Jazzy Group of Companies also founded and organizes the Malaysia International Film Festival (MIFFest) and has a footprint spanning film production, distribution and exhibition across Asia and beyond.

The International Criminal Police Organization (Interpol) issued a red notice Friday for Anastasiia Berezovska, a 39-year-old Ukrainian national suspected of bombing a Monaco apartment building that reportedly targeted a Russian-linked Ukrainian oligarch.

The June 30 apartment building explosion, according to numerous media reports, injured Vadym Yermolaiev, a Ukrainian-born construction magnate.

While declining to identify any of the victims by name, Monaco public prosecutor Stéphane Thibault also revealed the explosion injured a woman and a 13-year-old child in the apartment who media reports widely claim to be members of Yermolaiev’s family.

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Berezovska, according to Interpol, is now wanted on charges of attempted murder, depositing an explosive device on a public highway with criminal intent and criminal association.

Interpol identified the Ukrainian national as a dark-haired German-speaking woman who possibly has a tattoo of a snake on her arm.

The 39-year-old suspect was initially believed to be a heavy-set man. Monaco Deputy Prosecutor Morgan Raymond even initially referred to the suspect in masculine terms.

“He stood up a few meters ahead of the victims, placed an explosive device taken from his shopping bag on the entrance steps of the building, then turned to confirm the presence of the three victims before triggering the explosion using a remote control,” Raymond said at an initial news conference after the incident.

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Prosecutors reviewed footage of the days leading up to the explosion, finding that a man wearing a fishing hat repeatedly cased the apartment building and surrounding area. However, on June 28, the man was absent from security footage. Instead, a woman — who prosecutors now believe to be Berezovska — followed the same patterns as the man.

“The repeated reconnaissance operations and the pauses made in front of the building clearly demonstrate the intention to specifically target the three victims,” Raymond said.

Investigators tracked her escape across the Monaco-France border, through Italy and into Germany, where authorities are now actively looking for her. They raided her Frankfurt apartment Thursday.

Raymond noted that the sophistication of her explosive device gives prosecutors reason to believe she did not act alone.

“The relative sophistication of the explosive device and the modus operandi appear to indicate that the person who placed the device was not acting alone,” Morgan said.

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Though authorities have provided no motive, Yermolaiev’s status as a sanctioned former Ukrainian is notable.

The 58-year-old construction tycoon renounced his Ukrainian citizenship in 2017, Ukrainian media reported, and has been a citizen of Cyprus since 2019. 

In 2023, the Ukrainian government sanctioned him for allegedly continuing to engage with Russia, paying taxes to Moscow and facilitating business transactions through his liquor business in Crimea, a Ukrainian peninsula which Russia annexed in 2014.