An arrest warrant was issued on Wednesday morning for singer Bobby Brown in Massachusetts, after the musician failed to appear for a child support hearing.

According to local counsel for the musician, Brown was about to catch a flight to Boston to show up for the hearing, but became ill and was taken to a hospital in Atlanta. Brown, who lives in Georgia with his wife, singer/actress Whitney Houston, has two children from a previous relationship.

According to the Massachusetts court's Register of Probate, Brown has failed to make payments to a trust fund for the two children. Brown was previously sentenced to 90 days in prison last June for missing three months' worth of child support payments.

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Madonna and Sting are planning a duet at the London Live 8 gig, it has been reported.

It is a collaboration which will go down in history and will be perfect for the giant event, says The Sun. It claims that one number the two superstars have talked about singing in Hyde Park on July 2 is John Lennon's "Imagine."

The Sun quotes a source as saying: "They have had a discussion about performing a cover version. "They thought about a Beatles song, or maybe 'Imagine.' Madonna sang it on her Re-Invention tour."

The paper claims Madonna consulted her Rabbi adviser before agreeing to get involved in the biggest charity rock event since Live Aid in 1985. She will reportedly star in a late afternoon slot, while Sting will perform solo earlier in the day.

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Attention, ladies:

For years, tobacco companies have carried out extensive research to find ways to get females to smoke, according to a new study released this week by Harvard University's School of Public Health.

Analysis of the more than 7 million internal documents from the tobacco industry, dating from 1969 up to 2000, provides substantial evidence that cigarette makers intentionally modified their products to appeal to women, including putting an emphasis on "sleek" and "slim" designs, creating a better taste, and even looking into ways to add perceived health benefits, such as weight loss.

"These internal documents reveal that the tobacco companies' targeting of women goes far beyond marketing and adverting. They did so much research in such a sophisticated way, and women should know how far the industry went to exploit them," the study's lead author, Carrie Murray Carpenter, told The Associated Press. The documents, first made public following the 1998 Tobacco Maker Settlement Agreement, are examined further in the report published in the June issue of Addiction, an international scientific journal.

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CNN should cover international news and the environment, not the "pervert of the day," network founder Ted Turner said Wednesday as the first 24-hour news network turned 25.

Turner, an outspoken media mogul who started CNN in 1980 but no longer controls the network, said he envisioned CNN as a place where rapes and murders that dominated local news wouldn't be emphasized, but he's seeing too much of that "trivial news" on the network he created, now second in ratings to Fox News Channel.

"I would like to see us to return to a little more international coverage on the domestic feed and a little more environmental coverage, and, maybe, maybe a little less of the pervert of the day," he said in a speech to CNN employees outside the old Atlanta mansion where the network first aired.

"You know, we have a lot of perverts on today, and I know that, but is that really news? I mean, come on. I guess you've got to cover Michael Jackson, but not three stories about perversion that we do every day as well."

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Former Apollo astronaut Neil Armstrong is threatening to sue an Ohio barber who once cut his hair and then sold the locks to a collector.

Armstrong, the first man to walk on the moon, is steamed at Marx Sizemore, who peddled the shorn hair for $3000 last May. Now, according to the below May 17 letter from Armstrong's attorney, the ex-astronaut wants Sizemore to retrieve the hair or contribute his proceeds from the sale to charity (Armstrong also wants to be reimbursed for his legal expenses).

Ross Wales, Armstrong's lawyer, contends that the 35-year-old Sizemore's tonsorial hijinks violated a state law protecting the "persona rights" of famous Ohioans. Sizemore, who used to cut Armstrong's hair monthly at his Lebanon shop, told The Smoking Gun that he did not initiate the hair sale, but rather was approached by Todd Mueller, a Colorado memorabilia dealer.

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Brad! -- Eagerly in search of the Artful Dodger

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Hollywood's hottest couple is having difficulty persuading the public their romance is real. Not only did nearly two thirds of people questioned by People magazine about the Tom Cruise, 42, and Katie Holmes, 26, coupling believe the relationship was a stunt, but even the couple's peers are questioning their sincerity.

PageSix reports that Saturday Night Live funnygal Tina Fey mocked Tom Cruise and Katie Holmes' high-profile romance last week in front of a host of celebrities, including Gwyneth Paltrow, Whoopi Goldberg and Diane Sawyer at the Robin Hood Foundation's fundraising gala in New York. In a send-up to Cruise's appearance on The Oprah Winfrey Show earlier this month where he jumped on the talk show queen's couch to prove how crazy he was over Holmes, Fey gaveSNL co-star Amy Poehler a high five, before raising her fist in the air, saying, "I love this woman! This woman is so hot..! She's a woman!" and then slapping herself, saying, "Oh my God, I'm so gay."

But the real story is that amidst all of the naysayers, Holmes says that her love for Cruise is real. "I couldn't be happier. I'm so happy," Holmes told Reuters on her way into the world premiere of her latest movie Batman Begins in Tokyo. "He's the most amazing man in the whole world."

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The stars of cult 1980s movie The Breakfast Club are set to reunite at the upcoming 2005 MTV Movie Awards this weekend.

Molly Ringwald, Ally Sheedy, Judd Nelson and Anthony Michael Hall have agreed to reunite for the awards show at the Shrine Auditorium. Emilio Estevez wasn't confirmed for the Movie Awards get together as we went to press.

Meanwhile, pop punks Yellowcard will perform Simple Minds' hit single "Don't You Forget About Me," which was the theme from the 1985 John Hughes movie.

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Sean Combs knows how to hustle. Many were shocked when the music impresario decided to help hawk ProActive acne solutions along with Jessica Simpson — but what they didn't know was that Combs got a cool $3 million for it.

An insider says, "Bad Boy Records might not be making money, but Puffy is. He asked for $3 million and he got it. He drives a hard bargain." Combs also got the use of a free private plane to fly him to and from the shoot.

--$3M to do a zit commercial? Damn.

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Reunited boy band Backstreet Boys kickstarted the lone European date of their comeback tour in unfortunate fashion yesterday, by running over a fan at Dusseldorf Airport.

The five-piece, Nick Carter, Aj Mcclean, Howie Dorough, Kevin Richardson and Brian Littrell, jetted into the German city ready for their gig in Cologne tonight - their first performance in Germany for five years. But the Boys' return ended in pain and a trip to the hospital for 19-year-old fan Julia Wagner - who suffered a fractured leg when she was struck by the band's bus as it fought its way through a huge crowd at the airport.

But the band did what they could to make up for the accident - Carter and Richardson visited Wagner in hospital, where she was treated, and promised to make her a Vip guest at tonight's concert. Carter said, "We are so sorry for what happened. We'll make up for it."

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Nicole Kidman might have to drop her Chanel gowns in favor of Gucci.

Kidman, who has a passion for billionaires, has ditched Los Angeles real estate scion Steve Bing after almost a year of dating for French billionaire Francois Pinault — who owns PPR, which owns Gucci. An insider says: "They just started dating."

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Black Eyed Peas star Fergie is considering a career as an actress following the release of the group's latest album Monkey Business.

The singer - real name Stacy Ferguson - made her acting debut in 1984 as the voice of Sally Brown in TV show It's Flashbeagle, Charlie Brown.

But the 30-year-old star still has reservations about picking a suitable movie for her comeback. She says, "Yes I'm definitely reading scripts, but I'd need enough time to do it and it would have to be the right project." "There are a few things I'm looking at so watch this space."

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Who knew Alec Baldwin was so musically inclined?

The actor, who recently voiced a part in "The SpongeBob SquarePants Movie," has been cast in an upcoming concert version of the Rodgers & Hammerstein musical, "South Pacific," Variety reports. Baldwin has been cast as Luther Billis, a womanizing entrepreneur, for the special performance to benefit Carnegie Hall on June 9.

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Travis Barker has another band.

The Blink-182/ Box Car Racer/ Transplants/ Plus-44 drummer has teamed up with DJ AM, Nicole Richie's fiance, to form an as-yet-unnamed duo.

"We're just gonna play clubs every once in a while, it's gonna be pretty crazy, DJ versus drummer," Barker said of the still-developing project. "We're like 40 minutes into the routine. ... We just jam."

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Carmen Electra, Tori Spelling, Brittany Murphy, Courtney Peldon, Bai Ling and Nikka Costa were among the lovely ladies to step out Thursday night for "Stylemakers 2005," presented by Life + Style, a popular celebrity magazine.

From the world of music, Nikka Costa and Nate Dogg made an appearance while Fonzworth Bentley arrived with the lovely, Faune Chambers. From the world of fashion, designer Kevan Hall, make-up and America's Next top model judge Jay Manuel and former fashion model (and Angel forever) Cheryl Tiegs smiled for the flashing photo gauntlet.

Many of Hollywood's most lively and stylish participated in a runway and auction event for "Clothes of Our Back," a fundraising effort. Actors Jane Kaczmarek ("Malcolm In The Middle") and Bradley Whitford ("The West Wing") founded the organization. "Clothes Off Our Back," bestows the proceeds from auctioned famous and designer clothes to worthy childrenÂ’s charities like, among others, the Children's Defense Fund, Smile Train and the Cure Autism Now Foundation. For this particular auction, the focus was on the Cure Autism Now Foundation.

--Courtney Peldon got an invite? Please. She's the worst-dressed woman I've ever seen. The ladies at Go Fug Yourself have an entire category dedicated to her.

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New statistics suggest a downtrend in the number of women looking to marry Mr. Moneybags — and, surprisingly, an upswing in the number of men who seem to be seeking Mrs. Moneypenny.

Click here to read the entire story.

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Producers of the upcoming movie based on the blockbuster novel "The Da Vinci Code" were not allowed to film in Britain's Westminster Abbey after church officials denounced the book as "theologically unsound."

The 940-year-old London Abbey, where British monarchs are crowned, features in the international murder mystery by U.S. author Dan Brown which has been condemned by the Vatican and Anglican Church leaders for distorting the Christian message. The novel alleges Jesus married Mary Magdalene and had children, whereas Christians are taught that Christ never married and was childless when he was crucified.

"Although a real page turner, 'The Da Vinci code' is theologically unsound and we cannot commend or endorse the contentious and wayward religious and historic suggestions made in the book -- nor its views of Christianity and the New Testament," the Abbey said in a statement. "It would therefore be inappropriate to film scenes from the book here."

Last week officials at Lincoln Cathedral in eastern England said they had agreed to allow their building to be used by the makers of the forthcoming film, which stars Tom Hanks as the book's central character Professor Robert Langdon.

The statement from Westminster Abbey, which appears in scenes toward the end of Brown's novel, also insisted some of the book's details were factually inaccurate. It said it would be providing the Abbey's marshals with information to clear up the mistakes for visiting tourists drawn to the church by its appearance in The Da Vinci Code. "We are already receiving regular, daily inquiries related to the book and we expect these to continue and even grow in the next couple of years, even with no effort on our own part, simply because the book is so popular," its statement said.

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Ellen and Oprah, move over: Will & Grace Emmy winner Megan Mullally is set to host her own syndicated TV talk show debuting in fall 2006, NBC announced Tuesday.

Mullally, 46, who plays the freewheeling Karen Walker on the prime-time sitcom, would base her one-hour show from Los Angeles.

In her own statement, Mullally, who has an extensive stage background, said: "I'm hosting a what? Oh, okay. Well, if I am, I want it to be different and I want the viewers to play an active role and actually get something out of watching it. I think it will be fun. Jeff Zucker is going to play drums in the band."

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