Pop Corner

Holiday film releases will include The Blood Diamond, a political thriller starring Leonardo DiCaprio and set in Sierra Leone, where control of diamond exports fueled a bloody civil war in the 1990s. Though the industry has taken steps to keep "conflict diamonds" off the market, some companies are trying to address human-rights and environmental issues in other ways, such as by using diamonds from more strictly regulated Canadian mines (brilliantearth.com, cred.tv) or creating gem-quality synthetics (greenkarat.com).