People

Sinatra and the mobThe Vatican recalled what it called shadows and contradictions in the life of Frank Sinatra, including the singer's turbu...

Sinatra and the mob

The Vatican recalled what it called shadows and contradictions in the life of Frank Sinatra, including the singer’s turbulent love life and alleged links with the mob. Vatican Radio said Sinatra together with Elvis Presley and the Beatles had been the first “to show the extraordinary power of musical success to turn a singer into an idol, a magic figure for millions of fans”. But it recalled “shadows and contradictions” in Sinatra’s personal life, “such as his alleged links with the mafia, his turbulent love-life and the way he changed his political parties”. With his death “a chapter has closed in the history of light music and show business,” the radio said. Meanwhile in the US, records by Sinatra were flying off store shelves in a buying frenzy that could rival the one that occurred after John Lennon’s death in 1980, a record store official said. “Everyone’s coming in,” said Todd Meehan, who has worked at a record store on Sunset Boulevard for 17 years. “It’s as bigas Elvis (Presley) dying,” he added. “The die-hard fans are coming in for some of the old catalogue,” said Meehan. “He must have over 200 different titles.”

With love to Russia

Russian President Boris Yeltsin’s bid to host the Group of Eight summit in Moscow in 2000 is almost sure to fail, a Canadian government official said on Friday. “I don’t think there’s any appetite for Russia hosting a G8 summit until the cycle” of other countries already scheduled to host the annual summits has been run through, the official said. Yeltsin has made a priority of his drive to host the summit in the year that he is due to step down after two terms in the Kremlin. Earlier on Friday, Japan, which is currently down to hold the 2000 summit, indicated that it would consider handing this over to Russia — as long as the other G8 countries were in favour. “I would like to take the proposal seriously. Neither Japan nor I can make a decision alone. We need to talk about it among the G8 nations,” the Japaneseofficial quoted Ruytaro Hashimoto. “If we can obtain understandings from the others we will think about it,” Hashimoto said. However, changing the summit from Japan to Russia would then disrupt the schedule of countries immediately following — including Canada in 2002.Yeltsin is keen to host the G8 summit before his term of office runs out in 2000 as a powerful symbol of Russia’s return to the forefront of the world’s nations.

Wang’s warning

Story continues below this ad

Wang Dan, China’s recently freed dissident, condemned the Jakarta government’s crackdown on students, saying that he is “shocked” by the news that the Army has fired on protesters demonstrating for democracy. “I strongly condemn the Indonesian government’s use of force to stifle student demands for democracy, and I call on the international community to compel the Indonesian government to renounce violence and enter into a dialogue with the student movement,” he said in a statement. “I am extremely unwilling to see the Indonesian students pay a pricein blood like the Chinese students,” he said, drawing a comparison between the violent uprisings in the two countries. “I hope that the Indonesian government can learn from China’s June fourth’ incident. They should not follow the same road to ruin as the Chinese government.” Wang, a leader of China’s pro-democracy movement that was crushed in 1989, was released by prison in April and went into exile in the US.

Regret, not sorry

Japanese Emperor Akihito is to voice his “regret” at the suffering of former British Prisoners of War (PoWs) during his state trip to Britain next week, the British press reported on Saturday. He will use a speech at a banquet given in his honour by Queen Elizabeth II at Buckingham Palace to try to defuse the PoW dispute. But he will stop short of making a formal apology, as demanded by British survivors of Japanese concentration camps, who have threatened protest demonstrations against the emperor throughout his state visit to Britain. British Prime Minister TonyBlair discussed the issue with his Japanese counterpart Ryutaro Hashimoto on the sidelines of the G8 summit in Birmingham.