When there are Nobel prizes there are Ig Nobel prizes, which were handed out at Harvard on October 1st. The awards honor research that makes people laugh and then makes them think. Among this years winners: The physics prize went to a study of why pr...
Precious stones and metals have long held an attraction, sometimes a fatal one. The gem trade is a multi-billion dollar business, and precious stones are a highly prized commodity. This has helped some countries develop into success stories and has...
By Selah Hennessy Dakar 09 November 2007 The Republic of Congo has rejoined the Kimberly Process, a global watchdog group designed to stop the flow of conflict diamonds. Analysts say the move shows controls on the diamond trade in the country are imp...
By Naomi Schwarz Bo, Sierra Leone 22 October 2007 As Sierra Leone's recently elected president, Ernest Koroma, begins governing, many observers are watching to see how he will tackle corruption. Some say corruption is the reason the country's huge di...
There's a disturbing side to the diamond trade--- the traffic of conflict diamonds, otherwise known as blood diamonds. This is Freetown, the capital of Sierra Leone on the West African coast, a country still emerging from ten years of war. During tha...
By Naomi Schwarz Dakar 02 May 2007 Liberia has announced it will again export diamonds, using the profits to finance reconstruction, instead of conflict, as was the case in the past. But experts caution that transparency is still crucially important,...
By Kari Barber Dakar 29 December 2006 The West African diamond industry was thrust into the limelight this year with the Hollywood movie Blood Diamond. The film depicts atrocities committed during Sierra Leone's 10-year civil war. Some analysts say...
Russell Conwell : Acres of Diamonds When going down the Tigris and Euphrates rivers many years ago with a party of English travelers I found myself under the direction of an old Arab guide whom we hir...
Lesson Six Text A Diamonds Diamonds are rare, beautiful, and also quite useful. They are the hardest substance found in nature. That means a diamond can cut any other surface. And only another diamond...
Diamond “I love this woman!”----There’s a better way to do it, says the ad: Give her a diamond, or a 1) bunch of them, and she’ll love you back. Which makes me ask, “Why a diamond?” Why no...
