Free Republic

As America’s first female secretary of state, she was known as a tough bargainer who brooked no nonsense as she travelled the world, facing down despots such as Saddam Hussein and Kim Jong-il. But Madeleine Albright has revealed that she had an unexpected diplomatic tool — costume jewellery. She began using brooches in 1994 after the Gulf war when the Iraqi press referred to her as “an unparalleled serpent”. Then US ambassador to the United Nations, she responded by wearing a golden brooch depicting a coiled snake to her next meeting with the Iraqis. “I didn’t consider the gesture a...

A flawless vivid blue diamond weighing 7.03 carats sold on Tuesday for a record 10.5 million Swiss francs (6.2 million pounds), the highest price paid per carat for any gemstone at auction, Sotheby's said. The rectangular-shaped blue stone, the rarest to enter the international market this year, went to an anonymous buyer bidding by telephone after hectic bidding see-sawed between two callers for 15 minutes. It was the centrepiece of its semi-annual sale in Geneva, conducted by David Bennett, chairman of Sotheby's jewellery department in Europe and the Middle East, who said the results showed the market's resilience despite the...

If you’ve considered selling some of your unused gold jewelry for some cash at $900+ an ounce, you might be in for a very rude awakening. Selling gold jewelry is pretty easy, even if you spend the extra time to avoid the scam artists and rip-offs, but the reality is that whatever you sell will be melted down and the gold will be reused. Since it will be melted and reused, you will only be paid for for the gold in the piece minus whatever markup and fees that the buyer has. $900 an ounce sounds pretty good, but you...

PHOENIX -- The 61-year-old owner of a Phoenix jewelry store shot and wounded two would-be robbers who walked into the business and pepper sprayed him in the face, police said. The men entered the store near 32nd Street and Bell Road Monday afternoon and attempted to sell a watch, said Detective Cindy Scott of the Phoenix Police Department. The owner said he could not purchase the watch and both men left the store, Scott said. "About ten minutes later, the suspects returned and pepper sprayed the victim in the face," Scott said. One of the men then removed a metal...

Winona Ryder — who was convicted of shoplifting more than $5000 worth of clothing and accessories from Beverly Hills' Saks Fifth Avenue in 2002 — is in the middle of yet another accessories crisis. Winona rocked a Bulgari diamond bracelet and ring worth more than $125,000 at the Marie Claire awards in Madrid last week. The problem is, the jewels were on loan — and Winona's set was not returned, according to Voici, a French celebrity gossip magazine. Winona said she put the jewelry in an envelope and handed it to the front desk at the hotel before she flew...

‘The Bigger the Better’ motto continues its invasion into the fall ’08 jewelry territory with super massive cuffs, dramatic necklaces and bejeweled belts. Fendi, Louis Vuitton John Galliano, Christian Dior

The drama will never end with fall’s feather jewelry. From exotic birds feathers to imitative metallic ones, they add a cool edginess to your look. Charming Feather Cluster Necklace Fancy Feather Necklace

Vanity Fair editors estimated that McCain's fierce saffron shirt dress with the popped collar, diamond earrings, four-strand pearl necklace, white Chanel watch and strappy shoes totaled up to $313,100. _______________________________________________________ I say do not watse your time reading the lie at the link just provided for verification of the original lie.

Warning for teens: Teeth and jewelry don't mix Skin piercings might be the rage among teens, but researchers from Tel Aviv University have found good reasons to think twice about piercing one's tongue or lip. Dr. Liran Levin, a dentist from the Department of Oral Rehabilitation, School of Dental Medicine at Tel Aviv University has found that about 15 to 20 percent of teens with oral piercings are at high risk for both tooth fractures and gum disease. Resulting tooth fractures as well as periodontal problems, he says, can lead to anterior (front) tooth loss later in life. High rates...

DETROIT - A man charged with smuggling dlrs 12 million in bogus cashiers checks into the United States told agents the man named on the checks may belong to al-Qaida, authorities said Wednesday. Omar Shishani, 47, also told investigators during an interview that "if you want to know about terrorism, I can help you with that," Assistant U.S. Attorney Eric Straus said during a hearing. Defense attorney Nabih Ayad denied his client ever made such statements. Shishani, who was born in Jordan but is of Chechen descent, was arrested last week after arriving at Detroit Metropolitan Airport on a flight...

WASHINGTON – In the wake of scandals involving tainted food and toothpaste from China comes word of a new concern from the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission as well as the Food and Drug Administration – toys, makeup, glazed pottery and other products that contain significant amounts of lead. While lead poisoning among children was once mainly caused by old paint, U.S. manufacturers long ago banned the ingredient. Today, a new rash of high lead levels in the bloodstreams of American kids is being caused by foreign products – mainly from China. So serious is the resurgence of lead poisoning...

WASHINGTON — A government regulatory agency has taken steps toward banning children's jewelry containing small amounts of lead, which was responsible for more than a dozen product recalls in the past two years. The Consumer Product Safety Commission voted unanimously to move forward in a process that could ultimately lead to a ban on children's jewelry containing more than .06 percent lead by weight. The commission currently has two members and one vacancy. "Our goal is not to continue to do recall after recall," CPSC spokesman Scott Wolfson said. "We've had upwards of 14 recalls since 2004." The commission's action...

Mrs. F. received this largeish piece of jewelry from a relative for her birthday (that'd be the jewelry there on the left, wisenheimer). Long story short, the donative relative has no idea what kind of stone or setting this is.

Ok, I want to propose. I dont know how to go about a ring. I want something cheap but nice. She is the nicest, most understanding woman on the planet, but I dont want to look like a cheapskate. I am not that rich. going into my life savings for this. any freepers have any advice. I would like to propose on Canadian thankgiving in Oct. She lives in Toronto. plan to be moved in with her by Christmas *smile*

The alleged mastermind of a planned terrorist attack in Australia used a NSW Government website to get maps, data and satellite images of potential targets, including Sydney's Centrepoint, the Parramatta CBD and transport systems. "He was using it during office hours to look at things like the numbers of floors in a building," a former colleague of Faheem Lodhi told the Herald. "He was interested in areas dead smack in the middle of the city." Lodhi, 34, also bought a map of the country's energy supply system, which gave details of the routes of gas pipelines and the location of...

Turning Away Customers to Maximize Sales The glass door of Le plus Joaillerie, a jewelry shop in Seoul’s affluent Cheongdamdong, is always locked, though the inside is brightly lit. When a curious customer knocks on the door, a manager in a designer suit comes out and politely tells them to go away unless they have an appointment. Well-heeled Gangnam, the area south of the Han River, is seeing more of such snob appeal from savvy businesses. Instead of luring customers, they are more likely to turn them away, as if to say we don’t need you. Surprisingly, it works. Le...

Sikh bracelets, but no Christian rings at school bans pupils from wearing 'purity rings' A group of teenage Christians have been banned by a secondary school from wearing "purity rings" as a symbol of their religious belief in chastity until marriage. At least one of the dozen pupils, who all attend the same girls' comprehensive in Horsham, West Sussex, is considering legal action against the Millais School for "a breach of human rights". Although the school allows Muslim and Sikh pupils to wear headscarves or kara bracelets as a means of religious expression, the purity ring - a small band...

WASHINGTON - A female mummy with complex tattoos on her arms has been found in a ceremonial burial site in Peru, the National Geographic Society reported Tuesday. The mummy was accompanied by ceremonial items including jewelry and weapons, and the remains of a teenage girl who had been sacrificed, archaeologists reported. The burial was at a site called El Brujo on Peru's north coast near Trujillo. They said the woman was part of the Moche culture which thrived in the area between A.D. 1 and A.D. 700. The mummy was dated about A.D. 450. The presence of gold jewelry and...

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) -- John Suhrhoff found a Louis Vuitton bag on a Sausalito park bench. Inside, police say, were a 12-carat diamond ring, pearl and emerald jewelry, a Cartier watch and roughly $500 in cash. The contents were worth $1 million. The respiratory therapist didn't think of heading to a pawn shop. He took the bag to police Monday afternoon. The bag is now en route to a Toronto family who had been in Northern California for a wedding. "Every person I know or associate with would have done the same thing," Mr. Suhrhoff, 56, said Tuesday. "I'm glad...

See this thread first. Mrs. Clinton's diamond weighs three carats But it isn't for Hillary to wear: It's what Kobe Bryant gave his marriage to save! Bill plays the weasel--Hill'ry ferrets!

NEWARK, New Jersey - An American Jew was among three suspects nabbed for allegedly attempting to smuggle a missile to terror groups operating inside the United States in order to down commercial aircraft. But the smuggling attempt was in fact a sting operation orchestrated over the past 18 months by U.S., Russian and British authorities. Terrorism-related charges were leveled on Wednesday against a British arms dealer who praised Osama bin Laden and thought he was smuggling into the United States missiles, federal prosecutors announced. Two other suspected accomplices to the plot, inlcuding Yehuda Abraham, who is Jewish, face conspiracy charges,...

(Branford-WTNH, July 21, 2005 6:55 PM) _ Oysters may give you pearls, but some clams in Branford deliver diamonds. A man who lost his wedding ring two years ago while digging for clams got a gift from the sea this week. Nearly forty years of marriage and Stewart and Mary Petri still hold hands. "When we go for a walk sometimes sure we do." For two years he's been without the wedding band she gave to him in 1967. He lost it digging for clams. "I was very depressed when I came back and ever more depressed to tell my...

Confusion surrounded the recent whereabouts of the right-hand man of Saddam Hussein's oldest son Uday after Iraqi exile groups claimed he had defected last week after disappearing from a hotel in Beirut. The reports circulated for several days before Adeeb Shabaan emerged in Damascus last night and insisted that he was in Syria on an unspecified work trip and had not defected. Mr Shaaban, 47, is officially head of the Iraqi Photographic Association and a Baghdad newspaper editor, but in practice he has for the past five years run Uday's private office and acted as his press officer. He is...

<p>At least three men reportedly were taken into federal custody in two Pensacola malls as the FBI and the federal Immigration and Naturalization Service initiated a nationwide sweep Wednesday.</p> <p>Witnesses said plain-clothes agents closed Intrigue jewelry vendors at Cordova and University malls, Wild Things at University and possibly other shops.</p>

FBI and INS Raid Dozens of Jewelry Stores in Search for Terrorist Financiers and Immigration Violators WASHINGTON (AP) - Federal investigators are conducting raids nationwide on jewelry stores owned by Pakistanis and others from the Middle East, hoping to break up fronts for terrorist groups or their financial backers, U.S. officials say. The raids have taken place in several cities over the past two weeks, including Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, Atlanta and New York. About 75 jewelry stores have been raided, said a law enforcement official, speaking on condition of anonymity. Tariq Hussain, 27, a recently discharged U.S. Army mechanic whose Intrigue...

A Pakistani man who spent hours photographing the World Trade Center days before it was destroyed was sentenced to six months in jail for immigration violations exactly one year after suspicions over the pictures prompted his arrest. Ashar Butt, 22, acknowledged that he entered the country illegally last year using an altered British passport, but his lawyers said he only came to the United States to start a new life. "He was an innocent individual taking pictures," said his attorney, Anser Ahmad. He added that Butt has already spent a year in jail and is eligible for release within a...

<p>October 10, 2002 -- WASHINGTON - Former President Bill Clinton was showered with pricey gifts while he was in office from the leaders of Nigeria, Saudi Arabia and elsewhere, but he didn't disclose them because they were earmarked for his presidential library in Arkansas, a new report yesterday revealed.</p>

-- Researchers synthesize gem-sized diamonds of natural colour and exceptional hardness using Chemical Vapour Deposition. -- WITH U.S. GOVERNMENT DEBT now topping US$7 trillion (about US$100,000 for each family of four), and interest rates at historic lows, new life is beginning to breathe through the Canadian resource sector. One sign of this renewed vigor is a sudden surge in prospecting claims being staked throughout vast tracts of the Canadian Arctic. Over 1,500 new permits have been issued this year for Nunavut alone, compared to 190 last year. And according to the Nunavut Mining Recorder’s Office in Iqualuit, the largest number...

Tornillo To Serve Two Years In Plea Deal Tornillo Will Get Two-Year Sentence NBC 6 News Team POSTED: 12:58 p.m. EDT August 25, 2003 UPDATED: 7:13 p.m. EDT August 25, 2003 MIAMI -- The longtime leader of the Miami-Dade County teacher's union pleaded guilty Monday in a deal after a public corruption task force found he fraudulently charged the organization for up to $650,000 in personal expenses for cruises, vacations and other luxuries. Pat Tornillo, on leave from the United Teachers of Dade, pleaded guilty to mail fraud and filing a false tax return under the deal in exchange for...

Damage: Tongue and lip piercings can increase the risk of gum disease, infections and tooth loss, researchers say. People who jab gold studs through their lips and pierce their tongues with silver bars aren't usual eager to hear a learned discourse on gum disease. But Dr. John K. Brooks tries anyway: Oral jewelry, he tells them, can cost you a tooth. "The patients I've been successful with are the ones that had pain and infection. They're much more ready to be convinced," the Mount Airy dentist says. Brooks and two colleagues at the University of Maryland Dental School say there...

DJ US Tsy: Anti-Money Laundering Steps For Metals Dealers 02/19/2003 Dow Jones News Services (Copyright © 2003 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.) WASHINGTON (Dow Jones)--Metals and jewelry dealers that do more than $50,000 worth of business per year would need to set up an anti-money laundering strategy, under a new proposed rule released Wednesday by the U.S. Treasury. The proposed rule covers precious metals dealers and refiners, jewelry manufacturers, loose gemstone merchants and retail stores that also act as a dealer in such items. Retail-only stores aren't covered by the rule, nor are dealers that buy or sell less than...

  ----- Original Message ----- From: ABC TV Stossel Reporting To: ABC TV Stossel Reporting Sent: Thursday, October 03, 2002 5:28 PM Subject: JOHN STOSSEL'S "GIVE ME A BREAK" THIS FRIDAY, OCTOBER 4,200210 P.M. EST This Friday's "Give Me A Break" is about an another accounting scandal. The accounting at an institution is so lax, employees used investors' money to buy engagement rings, Elvis photos, women's lingerie, jewelry, escort services, and breast implants. The "investors" in this case are you, because the "company" is the defense department. It happened because of the defense department's ludicrous policy of giving out...

COPENHAGEN, Denmark (AP) - With vacuum cleaner in hand - and an extension cord for good measure - a thief made off with more than $12,800 in jewelry. Police in Kolding, Denmark, about 145 miles west of the capital, Copenhagen, said Wednesday that the thief drilled a small hole in the window of Lykke's Gold and Silver store, stuck in the tip of the vacuum's hose, and sucked out several items, including rings, necklaces and earrings. "We discovered it when we came to work in the morning," Kirsten Lykke Salling, the store's owner, said Friday. "It was terrible, but at...