People — For a generous divorce

The Spencers, who have four children, were married in 1989 and have been separated since 1995. They live as near neighbours in Cape Town. Tuesday evening, Earl Spencer attended a dinner given in honour of Prince Charles during the latter’s visit to South Africa. He was accompanied by his new fiancee, Josie Borain, a South African former model.

Swindling celebrities

A New York art dealer pleaded guilty on Thursday to swindling more than two million dollars from such famous clients as actor Jack Nicholson and singer Paul Stanley, founder of the rock group, Kiss, judicial officials said. Todd Volpe, 49, former director of the Jordan-Volpe gallery, admitted that he held on to the profits from the sale of his clients’ art treasures.The art included work by such luminaries as Salvador Dali, Tamara de Lempicka and Andrew Wyeth, federal prosecutors in Manhattan said. Nicholson was one of the stars whom Volpe swindled, to the tune of $224,000, prosecutors said.

According to court records, Volpe also swindled the co-founders of a movie production company owned by Steven Spielberg, and the wife of Warner Brothers movie mogul Robert Daly. Volpe has been charged with five separate felony counts, each of which carries a maximum sentence of five years in prison. He also faces a possible $250,000 fine.

George Bush as future history

World leaders past and present lauded George Bush here on Thursday at a gathering to dedicate a new library to the former US President who led the Gulf War against Iraq. “In George Bush, America has had a good man, whose decency and devotion has served our country well and that is the story this library will tell to generations to come,” said President Bill Clinton.

Former US Presidents Gerald Ford and Jimmy Carter were also on hand along with former first lady Nancy Reagan, whose husband Ronald has stayed out of the public eye since he was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease.The $80 million library on the Texas A and M University campus will house memorabilia of the 41st President ranging from a video of his first baby steps to a section of the fallen Berlin Wall and a collection of Bush’s fishing flies. “As to whether we got some things right or could have done some things better the beautiful thing about this library and the 40 million documents here is that history can make that determination,” Bush said.

Foreign dignitaries included former Prime Ministers John Major of Britain, Brian Mulroney of Canada and Toshiki Kaifu of Japan along with ex-Polish President Lech Walesa. Former chairman of the joint chiefs of staff Colin Powell, who orchestrated the 1991 war against Baghdad, joined former secretary of state James Baker and ex-defense secretary Richard Cheney at the ceremony. Earlier, Bush said during a picture-taking session with the President that he approved of Clinton’s handling of the latest crisis with Baghdad over the expulsion of US weapons inspectors.

Too tired for dinner

Former Soviet President Mikhail Gorbachev was too tired to attend a gala dinner in his honour late on Thursday after undergoing a series of allergy tests in a Bern hospital, the Swiss news agency reported.

Gorbachev was scheduled to attend the dinner in Basel before heading to Zurich for a meeting on Friday of Green Cross International, an ecological body he heads which cares for the victims of industrial or environmental disasters. He told journalists before making his excuses that his health was satisfactory and he had no major problems, but he was tired following the tests carried out under light sedation. The former Soviet leader, 66, arrived at Inselspital hospital Tuesday for a check-up that had been planned in advance but extended his stay so doctors could perform further examinations after discovering an “abnormality”.