Stone's A Gem For Jewellery Giants

Movie star SHARON STONE has been named the new face of Italian jewelery firm Damiani just weeks after anti-China comments cost her a lucrative deal with Christian Dior in the Far East.

Stone has since apologized for suggesting the recent earthquake tragedy in China was karma for the way the country's leaders treat Tibetans, but Dior dropped her from an advertising campaign there.

But Damiani bosses accept the remarks made at the Cannes Film Festival last month (May08) were a slip-up on Stone's part, and she'll join the likes of Brad Pitt, Gwyneth Paltrow, Isabella Rossellini and Sophia Loren as spokesmodels for the gem giants.

Stone will front an international print campaign for the firm's Musts and Masterpieces collection, in which she'll portray aviator Amelia Earhart and Biblical first lady Eve.

Sparkling Stone says, "The wonderful thing about representing a diamond company is that you get to wear all of their diamonds!"