Gemstone characteristic that lends value to a gemstone. Apart from jewelry, from earliest antiquity engraved gems and hardstone carvings, such as cups, were major luxury art forms. A gem maker is called a lapidary or gemcutter; a diamond cutter is called a diamantaire. The traditional classification in the West, which goes back to the ancient Greeks, begins with a distinction between "precious" and "semi-precious"; similar distinctions are made in other cultures. In modern use the precious stones are diamond, ruby, sapphire and emerald, with all other gemstones being semi-precious. This distinction reflects the rarity of the respective stones in ancient times,
UK–US extradition treaty of 2003 end of December 2011, 33 known UK citizens (including 6 with dual nationality) were extradited from the UK to the US. The U.S. embassy in London reports that, as of April 2013, 77 individuals have been extradited from the UK to the US. The U.S. has argued that this is not disproportionate, due to the US population being about five times larger than the UK population. UK–US extradition treaty of 2003 Controversy surrounds the UK–US extradition treaty of 2003, which was implemented by the UK in the Extradition Act 2003 and came into force in April 2007 following its ratification