To the Point
Enduring Questions about Diamonds
At the height of the holiday season, the Hollywood film Blood Diamond is raising questions about a $60 billion industry. What are the human costs of diamond production? Are diamond profits still used to fund brutal conflicts? How important are diamonds to the economies of many African countries? Plus, Secretary General Kofi Annan delivers his farewell speech to the United Nations, and a conversation with an American journalist all too familiar with the late Agusto Pinochet's brutal reign in Chile and how he came to power.
By Warren Olney • • 1h 0m ListenAt the height of the holiday season, the Hollywood film Blood Diamond is raising questions about a $60 billion industry. What are the human costs of diamond production? Are diamond profits still used to fund brutal conflicts? How important are diamonds to the economies of many African countries? Plus, Secretary General Kofi Annan delivers his farewell speech to the United Nations, and a conversation with an American journalist all too familiar with the late Agusto Pinochet's brutal reign in Chile and how he came to power.
In this episode
3 storiesConflict Diamonds
At least one million African workers earn pennies a day in the backbreaking effort to find diamonds, which themselves have no intrinsic value at all, but serve as symbols of love, wealth and power, and that makes for an industry worth $60 billion a year.
Read the story1 minThe Death of Chile's Augusto Pinochet
Augusto Pinochet led a military coup that topped Chile's elected President, Salvador Allende , on September 11, 1973. It was a bloody affair, and Allende was one of those who died. When Pinochet died yesterday, thousands of demonstrators celebrated in the streets of Santiago, Chile, the country he ruled for almost 20 years.
Read the story1 minUN Secretary General Kofi Annan Gives His Farewell Address
After ten years in office, Kofi Annan has delivered his farewell speech as Secretary General of the United Nations. Annan, who will be replaced by on January 1 by Ban Ki-moon , spoke at the Harry Truman Library in Independence, Missouri.
Read the story1 min
