By Sonja Pace
The global trade in precious stones is a multi-billion dollar business. It touches the lives of people in the mines of South Africa, stone cutters of India, and countless others around the world. These precious gems adorn, kings, queens, movie stars and millionaires, and serve as that special gift for a birthday or a young bride. The gem trade – a business that begins in the bowels of the earth and ends up in the glittering shops of Hollywood’s Rodeo Drive or New York’s Fifth Avenue – brings joy, wealth and glory to some, badly needed income to others and prolonged war and devastation to still more. VOA’s Sonja Pace has this look at the gem trade, and the lives it touches. (Part 1 of 5) Read more about Glitter, Sparkle, Danger – International Gem Trade Has Many Facets …