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The world’s two most powerful diamond companies are making quiet but decisive moves to counter what some insiders are calling an existential threat to the industry — the growing popularity of lab-grown diamonds.

In May, Signet Jewelers — the world’s biggest diamond retailer, with chains that include Jared, Zales, Kay and Blue Nile — began printing a “buyer beware” disclaimer of sorts on the receipts of all of its lab grown diamond sales, warning customers that the bauble they bought could plummet in value.

Lab-grown diamonds’ “relative abundance may not ensure that their value will hold over time,” Signet’s receipts now state.

The retailer is also training its 20,000 sales associates to educate shoppers about natural diamonds’ unique attributes, including their enduring emotional and financial value, Signet spokesperson Katie Spencer told The Post.

Meanwhile, De Beers — the world’s largest diamond producer — late last month unveiled a new diamond ‘verification’ machine that it’s selling to retailers as a tool to give buyers confidence that they are purchasing a natural diamond.

LGDs and mined rocks are nearly indistinguishable to the naked eye — even to trained jewelers.

The developments come as Signet and De Beers aim to deliver a gut punch to so-called LGDs, with the companies preparing major marketing blitzes for real diamonds in the coming year as the industry anticipates a long-awaited, post-pandemic surge of wedding engagements.

“This is the first time in at least 20 years that the largest seller and producer have come together to take a stand on natural diamonds,” diamond analyst Paul Zimnisky told The Post.

Signet is slated to report quarterly earnings on Thursday.

A year ago, the diamond industry still seemed caught in the headlights as the popularity and profitability of LGDs soared. De Beers poured money into a fledgling LGD label called Lightbox as celebrities like Meghan Markle, Billie Eilish and Leonardo DiCaprio touted them as “conflict-free” and environmentally friendly to Gen Z.

The LGD trend has been devastating for De Beers, which reported a 21% sales decline in the quarter ended in mid-May compared to a year ago. That’s on top of the 36% sales drop in 2023 when De Beers took a $1.6 billion writedown — and blamed it partly on the rise of lab grown diamonds, according to Northcoast Research.

“LGDs account for 19% of the market and are a real threat, growing to as much as 22% this year,” according to Zimnisky.

But distributors of real diamonds say trends lately have turned in their favor: LGDs have gotten so cheap that last year’s profit margins — as high as 50% at retail — are fast evaporating.

Last month, De Beers slashed the price of its Lightbox LGD brand by 37% to $500 a carat citing plummeting wholesale prices. This was on top of a 10% price reduction by the diamond giant in January.

In a little-noticed disclosure on May 31, De Beers also revealed that its Element Six factories will end a six-year stint making lab-grown diamonds and return to their previous focus on making diamonds for industrial uses.

While China has long been the largest producer of man-made diamonds, India began ramping up over the past several years focusing on producing 3-, 4- and 5-carat polished synthetic diamonds.

“We believe that lab grown diamond production is greater than expected with supplies still exceeding demand, pressuring prices down,” Northcoast Research analyst Jim Sanderson told The Post.

The result is that jewelers are now drowning in LGDs, which have fallen in price by nearly 30% over the past 12 months alone, according to experts.

“Retailers’ top line revenue is getting squeezed,” Zimnisky added. “Retailers have to decide if they want to be selling $6,000 or $8,000 natural diamonds or $1,200 man-made diamonds. I think the acute price decline of generic LGDs has really put this into perspective.” 

Doug Meadows, owner of David Douglas Diamonds, of Marietta, Ga., is among the retailers whose enthusiasm for LGDs is losing its luster.

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Its a race to the bottom for LGDs for pricing, Meadows told The Post. No one can sustain it at this price. They are just too cheap right now.

A year ago, a two carat LGD engagement ring at his boutique sold for $4,500. Today that same ring is $1,000 less. In response, Douglas began training his sales staff to emphasize natural diamonds again.

We got so excited about LGDs that we lost focus on natural diamonds and the finesse of selling them, he added.

Signets sales were down 6% to $2.5 billion in the latest quarter ended Feb. 3 and its best performing brand in the quarter was value-oriented Banner, which saw flat sales, the company said. 

While we have seen continued discounting into the first quarter, Signet chief executive Virginia Drosos said on a March 20 earnings call, I would anticipate that the inventories are recovering somewhat and so that could be a help. I also think that consumers are becoming more aware that lab-created diamond prices are falling.

Signet and De Beers are hammering the point that LGDs are less valuable in a coordinated campaign to change consumers minds about purchasing them for their engagement rings.

De Beers’ “a Diamond is forever” tagline was introduced in 1948 and became one of the most powerful marketing slogans ever.

“Marketing is such an important part of this industry,” Zimnisky said. “Its really up to the diamond industry to explain why consumers should pay more for natural diamonds.”

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UK

VE Day: Veterans to join King for tea party as Keir Starmer praises ‘selfless dedication’

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VE Day: Veterans to join King for tea party as Keir Starmer praises 'selfless dedication'

Veterans are set to join the King for a VE Day tea party today as the prime minister has paid tribute to the “selfless dedication” of the war generation.

Among them will be a 99-year-old who took part in the D-Day landings and a 100-year-old woman who worked in the Special Operations Executive, known as Churchill’s Secret Army.

Director general of the Royal British Legion, Mark Atkinson, said the charity was “proud” to be taking a place “at the heart of these national celebrations and commemorations” on the 80th anniversary of the end of the Second World War.

He said it would be “one of our last opportunities as a nation to pay tribute to those veterans still with us today”.

Evacuees from World War Two and veterans who were still in active conflict after VE Day are among the other guests set to attend the tea party, which will take place in the presence of the King and other members of the Royal Family.

The Royal Family will watch a millitary procession and flypast on Monday. File pic: PA
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The Royal Family will watch a military procession and flypast on Monday. File pic: PA

At 12pm, the Royal Family will observe a military procession, followed by a flypast.

It will be the first major VE Day anniversary without any of the royals who stood on the balcony of Buckingham Palace on the day victory in Europe was declared, after the death of the late Queen Elizabeth II in 2022.

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‘Not just for Britain’

The celebrations come as Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer praised veterans for their “selfless dedication” and thanked them for a “debt that can never fully be repaid” in an open letter ahead of VE Day.

He said the stories which will be heard this week from those who fought in the Second World War would be a reminder that the victory “was not just for Britain” but was also “a victory for good against the assembled forces of hatred, tyranny and evil”.

Sir Keir said the WW2 veterans “represent the best of who we are” and that without their service “the freedom, peace and joy that these celebrations embody, would not be possible”.

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VE Day veteran tells Sky News what the atmosphere was like when WWII was finally declared over in Europe

Personnel from NATO allies the US, France and Germany will be among those taking part in the procession in London.

The commemorations will begin with the words of Sir Winston Churchill‘s 1945 victory speech, spoken by actor Timothy Spall.

Thousands of people are expected to line the streets of the capital to witness the celebrations.

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Codebreaker’s ‘special’ encounter with Churchill

Read more:
What’s happening to mark the 80th anniversary of VE Day?
When and where to watch VE Day flypast
Augmented reality brings to life the stories of VE Day 80 years on

On the anniversary itself on Thursday, marking exactly 80 years since the Allies formally accepted Germany’s surrender, a service of commemoration will be held at Westminster Abbey, to include a national two minutes’ silence.

Pubs across England and Wales, which usually close at 11pm, will also stay open for an extra two hours to allow punters more time to celebrate.

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Sports

Logano gets 1st win this season in OT at Texas

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Logano gets 1st win this season in OT at Texas

FORT WORTH, Texas — Reigning NASCAR Cup champion Joey Logano overcame a lot to get his first victory this season.

It came a week after Team Penske teammate Austin Cindric‘s win at Talladega, where Logano had a fifth-place finish that became 39th after a postrace inspection found an issue with the spoiler on his No. 22 Ford. There was also Logano’s expletive-laden rant on the radio toward his teammate in the middle of that race that the two smoothed out during the week. Oh, and he started 27th at Texas after a bad qualifying effort on the 1½-mile track.

But Logano surged ahead on the restart in overtime Sunday to win in the 11th race this year. He led only seven of the 271 laps, four more than scheduled.

“After what happened last week, to be able to rebound and come right back, it’s a total ’22’ way of doing things. So proud of the team,” Logano said.

On the final restart after the 12th caution, Logano was on the inside of his other teammate, Ryan Blaney. But Logano pulled away on the backstretch and stayed easily in front for the final 1½ laps, while Ross Chastain then passed Blaney to finish second ahead of him.

“Just slowly, methodically,” Logano said of his progression to the front. “Just kept grinding, a couple here and a couple there and eventually get a win here.”

Logano got his 37th career victory, getting the lead for the first time on Lap 264. He went low to complete a pass of Michael McDowell.

“I mean, there’s always a story next week, right?” Logano said. “So I told my wife last week before we left, I said, ‘Watch me go win this one.’ It’s just how we do stuff.”

On a caution with 47 laps left, McDowell took only two tires and moved up 15 spots to second. He ended up leading 19 laps, but got loose a few laps after getting passed by Logano and crashed to bring out the caution that sent the race to overtime. He finished 26th.

“We were giving it everything we had there to try to keep track position,” McDowell said. “Joey got a run there, and I tried to block it. I went as far as I think you could probably go. When Blaney slid in front of me, it just took the air off of it and I just lost the back of it. I still had the fight in me, but I probably should have conceded at that point.”

Odds and Ends

William Byron, Kyle Larson, Denny Hamlin and Chase Elliott remained the top four in season points. … Elliott left Texas last spring with his first victory after 42 races and 18 months without one. He hasn’t won since, and now has another long winless drought — this one 38 races and nearly 13 months after finishing 16th. … A crew member for Christopher Bell crawled in through the passenger side of the No. 20 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota and was fully in the car to reconnect an air hose to the driver’s helmet during a caution in the second stage. It took two stops during that caution, and twice climbing into the car, to resolve the issue.

Fiery end to Hamlin streak

Hamlin had finished on the lead lap in 21 consecutive races, but a fiery finish on Lap 75 ended that streak that had matched the eighth longest in NASCAR history. He was the first car out of the race.

After the No. 11 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota lost power, something blew up when Hamlin recycled the engine. Flames were coming from under the car and it was engulfed in smoke when it rolled to a stop on the inside of the track, and Hamlin climbed out unharmed.

Youngest pole sitter

Carson Hocevar, the 22-year-old driver who is McDowell’s teammate with Spire Motorsports, was the youngest pole sitter in Texas. He led only the first 22 laps of the race, losing it while pitting during the first caution. He finished 24th after a late accident.

Stage cautions

Both in-race stages finished under caution. Cindric won Stage 1 after Hamlin’s issues, and Kyle Larson took the second after a yellow flag came out because of debris on the track after the right rear tire on Chris Buescher‘s car came apart.

Larson got his 68th overall stage win and his sixth at Texas, with both marks being records. He has won a stage in each of the past five Cup races at Texas, starting in his 2021 win there.

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US

Trump calls for reopening of Alcatraz to house ‘most ruthless and violent offenders’

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Trump calls for reopening of Alcatraz to house 'most ruthless and violent offenders'

US President Donald Trump has called for the reopening of notorious prison Alcatraz.

In a post on his social media site Truth Social, Mr Trump said America had been “plagued by vicious, violent, and repeat criminal offenders”.

He added that when the United States was “a more serious nation” it “did not hesitate to lock up the most dangerous criminals”.

“That is why, today, I am directing the Bureau of Prisons, together with the Department of Justice, FBI, and Homeland Security, to reopen a substantially enlarged and rebuilt Alcatraz, to house America’s most ruthless and violent offenders,” he wrote.

Mr Trump said the reopening of the San Francisco prison would “serve as a symbol of law, order, and justice”.

The US president’s latest policy announcement comes after he fired national security adviser Mike Waltz last week in the first major change to his administration.

US President Donald Trump. Pic: AP
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US President Donald Trump speaking to reporters on Sunday. Pic: AP

Alcatraz was infamously inescapable and in the 29 years it was open, 36 men attempted 14 separate escapes, according to the FBI.

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Nearly all of them were caught or did not survive the attempt at escaping.

The prison housed some of America’s most notorious criminals, including Al Capone and George Kelly.

It has also been the subject of a number of films, including The Rock, starring Sean Connery and Nicolas Cage.

Alcatraz Island. File pic: AP
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Alcatraz Island. File pic: AP

Alcatraz Island, which is surrounded by strong ocean currents and cold Pacific waters, is now a major tourist site, operated by the National Park Service.

The prison’s closure in 1963 was attributed to crumbling infrastructure and high repair costs.

A spokesperson for the Bureau of Prisons said it would “comply with all presidential orders”.

The Bureau of Prisons currently has 16 high-security prisons, including its maximum-security facility in Florence, Colorado, and a facility in Terre Haute, Indiana, which is home to the federal death chamber.

The United States’ federal law enforcement agency has been the subject of increased scrutiny in recent years after Jeffrey Epstein‘s suicide at a federal jail in New York City in 2019.

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