Stone Threatened With Suit By Chinese Earthquake Victims

SHARON STONE is facing a $1 billion (GBP500 million) lawsuit from the victims of China's recent earthquake after she controversially blamed the disaster on "karma".

The Basic Instinct star provoked outrage with her comments at the Cannes Film Festival in May (08), linking the death of more than 67,000 victims of the natural disaster to China's treatment of Tibetans.

Stone apologised, but a New York lawyer isn't satisfied and has rallied more than 1,000 survivors and victims' relatives to serve Stone with legal documents, demanding a further apology and threatening to sue.

Attorney Ming Hai says: "For the families who have lost their loved ones or lost limbs or suffered severe injuries, your... statement and act has caused extreme emotional distress."

Following her remark, officials in China threatened to ban the release of Stone's films in the country and the actress was dropped by French fashion house Christian Dior as the spokesmodel for its Chinese advertising campaigns.