Rough Cut To Retail

A year after settling a long-running U.S. antitrust suit, De Beers has opened its first American retail business in New York City. Last month some 1,500 customers thronged to the unveiling, which featured the Millennium Star, one of the world's largest flawless diamonds, weighing 203 carats. Also in attendance: protesters from Survival International, a charity that has dogged the De Beers Group for allegedly helping push the bushmen of Botswana off their land. De Beers LV, the retail joint venture with LVMH, is operated independently of the parent company but has still drawn the ire of human-rights activists. Undaunted by such...

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