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A6 WORLD NEWS
Wednesday 9 november 2022
18-carat pink diamond reaps $28.8 million at Geneva auction

GENEVA (AP) — A pear- Managing director Tobias
shaped 18-carat pink dia- Kormind of 77 Diamonds,
mond billed as a rarity an online diamond jeweler,
sold at a Geneva auction called the sale price disap-
for 28.4 million Swiss francs pointing.
($28.8 million), including "The extraordinary Fortune
fees and taxes, on the Pink diamond sold in Ge-
lower end of the expected neva, with its auspicious
range. 18.18 carat weight, which
The "Fortune Pink" fancy signifies prosperity in Asia,
vivid pink stone, said to be sadly didn't bring the luck
the largest of its kind and or uplift in fortunes many
shape to go on the block, had hoped for," he said.
headlined Christie's latest He suggested the result
Geneva sale of jewelry. could be reflection of a
It had been expected to "shaky global economy"
fetch between $25 million and other financial factors,
and $35 million. which have been "giving
The auction house said an rise to worries creeping in,
unidentified Asian buyer even among the top ech-
snapped up the diamond. elon of wealthy buyers."
Max Fawcett, head of The auction comes six
Christie's jewelry depart- months after Christie's sold
ment in Geneva, said the A Christie's employee displays a pink diamond called "The Fortune Pink" of 18,18 carat, during a "The Rock" a 228-carat
stone with a strong, satu- preview at Christie's, in Geneva, Switzerland, Wednesday, Nov. 2, 2022. The pear-shaped 18-carat egg-sized white diamond
rated pink color was mined pink diamond is set to be sold at auction on Tuesday and is expected to fetch between $25 million billed as the largest of its
in Brazil more than 15 years and $35 million. Associated Press kind to go up for auction
ago. He declined to iden- for more than $21.75 mil-
tify its owner, but described diamonds ever recorded turned up over the cen- lowed a showroom tour in lion, including fees.
the diamond as "a true mir- were found in India's Gol- turies in places like Africa, New York, Shanghai, Singa- That was also at the low end
acle of nature." conda mines in the 16th Australia, Brazil and Russia. pore and Taiwan before its of the expected range.q
Christie's says the first pink century, before others The pink stone's auction fol- arrival in Geneva.

Dutch PM meets Spanish minister under growing

lawmakers amid govt pressure over border deaths

tensions over migration By RENATA BRITO been accused of withhold- Among the migrants were

Associated Press ing evidence, namely se- many refugees from Sudan,
BARCELONA, Spain (AP) curity footage, from inves- according to human rights
By MIKE CORDER — Spain's interior minister tigators. New video of the activists and interviews in
Associated Press is coming under increased border clash that leaked Spanish media. "(Grande-)
THE HAGUE, Netherlands pressure to be more trans- and was published Tuesday Marlaska must appear and
(AP) — Dutch Prime Min- parent about how Spanish in Spanish media showed stop denying the evidence,
ister Mark Rutte met with security forces responded hundreds of men storming as he has done in the past
lawmakers from his party to a June storming of its into a border post from the four months," said Jon Iñar-
Tuesday to discuss their border with Morocco that Moroccan side. ritu, a hard-left lawmaker
concerns about the rising led to the deaths of at least At some point inside the from the Basque region
numbers of migrants seek- 23 migrants in the North Af- gated area between the who visited Melilla with a
ing asylum in the Nether- rican enclave of Melilla. two countries, the crowd parliamentary committee
lands, amid tensions within Spanish members of par- funnels as it tries to pass and had access to some
his four-party coalition Netherland's Prime Minister liament across the political through to Spanish soil, of the footage previously
about how to tackle the is- Mark Rutte speaks with the spectrum are pushing for causing a stampede. withheld. q
sue. The meeting followed media as he arrives for an EU the opening of a parlia-
summit in Brussels, Thursday,
the refusal of lawmakers Oct. 20, 2022. mentary investigation, with
in Rutte's center-right Peo- Associated Press some calling for Interior
ple's Party for Freedom and Minister Fernando Grande-
Democracy to support leg- bigger question it's also Marlaska's resignation.
islation that could compel about arrivals, it's about The actions of Spanish au-
municipalities to offer ac- ensuring that people who thorities in Melilla on June
commodation to asylum- aren't entitled to be here 24 have been brought
seekers. The party's opposi- leave the country." back to the spotlight fol-
tion put it at odds with the The growing number of ar- lowing a report by BBC Af-
three other parties in the rivals has led to hundreds rica Eye, an investigative Riot police officers cordon off the area after migrants arrive on
coalition. of migrants being forced program of the British pub- Spanish soil and crossing the fences separating the Spanish
After the meeting, the to sleep outdoors in unsani- lic broadcaster, that claims enclave of Melilla from Morocco, in Melilla, Spain, June 24,
leader of the party's law- tary conditions outside an the lifeless bodies of mi- 2022. Spain’s interior minister, Fernando Grande-Marlaska, is
makers, Sophie Hermans, overcrowded reception grants were dragged from coming under increased pressure to be more transparent about
said the party would sup- center for asylum-seekers the Spanish-controlled terri- how Spanish security forces responded to a June incident at
port the legislation. But she in the northern Netherlands tory of Melilla to Morocco. its border with Morocco that led to the deaths of at least 23
migrants in the North African enclave of Melilla.
said migration "is a much last summer. q Grande-Marlaska has also Associated Press