CHINA escalated its rhetoric against supporters of the Dalai Lama yesterday, accusing the Nobel Peace laureate’s backers of planning suicide attacks.

Sri Lankan officials said today they expect the country’s tsunami death toll to exceed 40,000 people, as emergency workers pull more bodies from the rubble three weeks after the disaster.

China says it plans to make it easier to jail producers of counterfeit movies, music and other goods, responding to pressure from other governments to toughen penalties against rampant product piracy.

Israel has accused Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat of authorising payment to a militant suspected of being involved in terror killings.