Sarah Ferguson, the Duchess of York, posted bail for a man arrested at a charity event in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, for being $6,000 behind in child support. Fergie paid a $4,000 bond for Ramon Dixon at a charity function for his next Stepyouth programme, saying: ``Here is a man who has so much to give the community and inner-city kids, and they get him for something like this.''

But Michelle Davis, mother of Dixon's daughter, Nakisha, was angered by Fergie's goodwill gesture. ``I don't understand how Fergie could back somebody who shirks child support,'' Davis said. ``He's not paying to help take care of his own child.'' At the charity function Fergie lost 9-5 in a squash game with Senator Arlen Specter. Said Fergie to Specter: ``You play a good game of squash. But I'm 38 and fit and I can do more games, so that's OK.''

Back in Paris

Vintage rock group the Rolling Stones is to give an additional concert inParis in July as a result of popular demand, a spokesman for the band told AFP. The first concert on July 25 at the 60,000-seat stadium in Saint Denis, North of Paris, was virtually sold out, so the concert promoters decided to put on a second event the following day. Meanwhile, the four Stones Mick Jagger, Keith Richards, Charlie Watts and Ron Wood have chosen the support bands who will perform with them during their French tour. US group the Smashing Pumpkins will appear with the Stones in Lyon, central Eastern France, in June, while singer and guitarist Jean-Louis Aubert will take part in the concert in Marseille, southern France, on July 22 and the two Paris concerts. Aubert of the group Telephone performed the first part of the Stones' Paris concert in 1982.

Shot in the head

Wendy O Williams, the Mohawk-cropped star of the 1980's punk rock band the Plasmatics, has died of a self-inflicted gunshot wound to the head. The 48-year-old rocker died on Monday at her home in Storrs, Connecticut,according to a State medical officer who confirmed she had committed suicide.

Williams broke into show business early, as a tap dancer on the Howdy Doody TV show when she was six. Her next stint as a stage performer came when she worked for Captain Kink's Sex Fantasy Theatre in Manhattan in 1976. The theatre's live sex show manager, Rod Swenson, became her manager and created the Plasmatics band as a backdrop for her outrageous antics and performance art. The Plasmatics released four albums and Williams was nominated for a Grammy award for best female rock vocals. She acquired more fame when she was arrested twice on obscenity charges. Despite her image and a film career that included Reform School Girls Williams was described as a shy woman and loyal friend who espoused vegetarianism and supported animal rights. She and Swenson moved to Connecticut in 1991.

Jacksons' day

A jury on Thursday ruled that a man who had said he had a videotape of Michael Jackson having sex with a minor must pay thepop star $2.7 million in damages, court sources said. Jackson had sued Victor Gutierrez in 1995 after Gutierrez said on television that he possessed such a videotape.

Gutierrez also released a book entitled Michael Jackson Was My Lover. Gutierrez had refused to present evidence that the charges were true, citing a California law allowing journalists to protect their sources' confidentiality. On another Jackson front, the Jackson brothers got back: Michael and brothers Jackie, Jermaine, Marlon, Randy and Tito have begun work on a new album together, The Hollywood Reporter said. The first record the King of Pop has made with his lesser-known siblings since Victory in 1984 is tentatively entitled J5. Jackie, Jermaine, Randy and Tito joined up -- without Michael -- in 1989.

Designer thieves

Fashion designers in London are falling victim to the newest craze to sweep the trend-setting city -- the theft of their latest collections. In the space of six days three designers have had their creationsswiped by thieves, a British police source said, leading to speculation all three incidents were the work of one gang. Lisa Bruce lost an entire years' work, and some $85,000 worth of clothes, when an unknown gang raided her shop in southwest London. Last Thursday British designer of the year Antonio Berardi had most of his autumn collection stolen. Two men took 75 items, shown at February's London Fashion Show and valued at $400,000, as they arrived at a central London warehouse from Italy. The mini-crime wave started last weekend when thieves stole $85,000 worth of clothes from a shop belonging to designer Effi Samara.