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  NEWS YOU CAN ABUSE: It will spotlight what greed has done to the poorest of the poor in Africa, particularly in Sierra Leone, in a seemingly unending human need to display sparkle and wealth and status that has benefitted the diamond industry, DeBeers at the top of the list, and brought unimaginable suffering and death to the boys and men who dig the stones from the ground. (via Cosmos)

PAPERMAG BLOGS: Clearly rankled by the subject matter, which they fear could cut into jewelry sales, the World Diamond Council and a loose coalition of diamond organizations are appealing to the film's producer, cowriter and director, Edward Zwick, to include a scene at the end of the movie depicting improvements in the trade of so-called "conflict diamonds" [aka Blood Diamonds]--that is, rough diamond sales that helped fuel bloody African civil wars in which thousands of people were killed, particulary in Sierra Leone, where the film is set. (via Cosmos)

Cinematical: Politics In the wake of all sorts of special interest groups getting offended by the phenomenon that is The Da Vinci Code, news comes fromMSNBC that the U.S. jewelry industry "is gearing up to counter any negative effects from the upcoming film The Blood Diamond, which shows how illicit gem trade fueled bloody civil wars." The film stars Leonardo DiCaprio (via Cosmos)

  mediabistro.com: FishBowlLA: Post "Da Vinci Code," the worlds is a might tetchy about nearly everything. News came today that the U.S. jewelry industry, perMSNBC, "is gearing up to counter any negative effects from the upcoming film 'The Blood Diamond,' which shows how illicit gem trade fuelled bloody civil wars, a trade group said." That film stars Leonardo DiCaprio (via Cosmos)

  YesButNoButYes: The movie tells the fictional tale of two South Africans, a white mercenary and a black fisherman (Leonardo DiCaprio and Djimon Hounsou), who find a rare pink diamond. The gem trade is busy trying to defend its reputation and sales after publicity about conflict diamonds by such groups as Amnesty International, Global Witness, and One Sky. (via Cosmos)

  WorldChanging: Tools, Models and Ideas for Building a Bright Green Future: The periscope and observation deck invite visitors to engage in the roof's ecology above the street. Daylighting studies allowed the team to maximize the use of varying intensities of natural light, and metered, photovoltaic glass panels shade the Neighborhood Service Center lobby, demonstrating the effectiveness of photovoltaic technology in the Pacific Northwest. (via Cosmos)

Africa Media: According to HRW, even interviewing gay people appears to be forbidden as the country's Broadcasting Council fined a radio station more than $1,000 for simply having gay people on air. Meanwhile New Vision, the state-owned newspaper has written about the topic this way: "The police should visit the holes mentioned in the press, spy on theperverts, arrest and prosecute them. (via Cosmos)

Rights Readers: From the Los Angeles Times comes word of a new film, Blood Diamond (link opens with soundtrack) starring Leo DiCaprio that's making diamond execs mighty uncomfortable. The film is set during Sierra Leone's civil war and depicts both the issue of "conflict diamonds" used to finance the war and the devastation to the country including the exploitation of children as soldiers-- a topic we have been exploring in our reading this month. (via Cosmos)

  oxygenbandits: It's similar to "there's JoeD," except instead of pointing out any guy who had a white beard, flowered Hawaiian shirt, and Teva sandals, they would point out any person who was totally punched in a public place. Because I used to be able to do that, very easily, and would often take naps in the park, or the front yard, or anyone's sofa, anytime. (via Cosmos)

 [Ajayshahblog.blogspot.com] Ajay Shah's blog: The Indian diamond trade - notes from a field visit: The size of revenues from this theft is driven by the (max-min) of the value of diamonds in a given consignment. Maybe, the introduction of computers which analyse all 57 faces and give out numerical scores for perfection (as described above) will reduce the dispersion of the quality of gems in one consignment, in which case the profit from theft will go down, but the problem will not go away easily.

 [Princeton.edu] Andrew Moroz's Blog: Have You Ever Tried To Sell A Diamond? (*****): In the 1971 De Beers annual report, Harry Oppenheimer explained the unique situation of diamonds in the following terms: "A degree of control is necessary for the well-being of the industry, not because production is excessive or demand is falling, but simply because wide fluctuations in price, which have, rightly or wrongly, been accepted as normal in the case of most raw materials, would be destructive of public confidence in the case of a pure luxury such as gem diamonds, of which large stocks are held in the form of jewelry by the general public." During the periods when production from the mines temporarily exceeds the consumption of diamonds -- the balance is determined mainly by the number of impending marriages in the United States and Japan -- the cartel can preserve the illusion of price stability by either cutting back the distribution of diamonds at its London "sights," where, ten times a year, it allots the world's supply of diamonds to about 300 hand-chosen dealers, called "sight-holders," or by itself buying back diamonds at the wholesale level. The underlying assumption is that as long as the general public never sees the price of diamonds fall, it will not become nervous and begin selling its diamonds.

[Brookston.org] Brookston Beer Bulletin: Suspicion because every single time this story was reported it contained a justification for this move, saying that in Fleming’s novel his character James Bond does drink beer for the first and only time. If they want to have Heineken be a sponsor for the film and have the character drink one, that’s their decision even though I really hate these type of deals where products are featured prominently in films for big bucks.

 [Blog.foreignpolicy.com] FP Passport | blogging on global news, politics, economics and ideas: A native Californian and self-proclaimed al Qaeda memberbelieved to be living in Pakistan was indicted for treason by the U.S. Justice Department. If found guilty, he would be the 30th person in U.S. history convicted of the charge.

Reflected tags on Technorati: Blog, International Trade, EconWatch.com