Hollywood star Nicolas Cage is celebrating after his third wife Alice Kim gave birth to their first child together yesterday. The Oscar-winning actor, 41, and Kim Cage, 21, welcomed their son Kal-El Coppola Cage in a New York City hospital yesterday morning. The Leaving Las Vegas star's publicist Annett Wolf confirmed, "They are healthy and happy and it's quite lovely." Cage and Kim wed in July 2004 after a whirlwind six month courtship. They met when the actor visited the Los Angeles restaurant where Kim was employed as a waitress. The actor has previously been married to actress Patricia Arquette and singer Lisa Marie Presley. He has a son Weston, 13, from his relationship with ex-girlfriend Kristina Fulton.

Pamela Anderson scooped a legal victory yesterday, when a California judge granted her request for a restraining order against an alleged stalker. The hearing ended in a matter of minutes, with the Santa Monica Superior Court judge stating there is clear and convincing evidence to issue a three-year restraining order against William Peter Stansfield, 29. Neither Anderson nor Stansfield were present in court. The former Baywatch beauty had claimed that English-born Stansfield followed her all over Malibu, California, where she lives with her sons Brandon, nine, and Dylan, seven. In court papers, Anderson alleged that Stansfield harassed her brother, her assistant and most recently showed up at her children's school. According to the court documents, Anderson confronted Stansfield at her children's school, stating, "He began talking to me, explaining that he wanted me to stop working on (my TV sitcom) Stacked and work on a movie with a script that he had written for me." Stansfield had allegedly been camping in a tent in Malibu - not far from Anderson's home.

Veteran actress Jane Fonda has been forced to back out of plans to attend her own documentary's premiere in France, after checking into hospital with hip and back problems. Flying from her native America to France had left the 67-year-old screen star in pain, according to Karine Lyons, a spokeswoman for the French Riviera resort of Saint Tropez, where a screening was scheduled to be held last night. While Fonda, who recently underwent a hip operation, will not be able to attend the screening of the 90-minute documentary about her ex-husband Roger Vadim - called Vadim, This Billionaire Of Happiness - organizers say it will go ahead as planned. Fonda was expected to attend a second showing of the documentary in Paris on tonight. Producer Philippe Aubert says, "Jane Fonda did indeed undergo exams this morning at the American Hospital, but she was back at her hotel by the early afternoon." The actress is expected to spend several days in France to promote her memoir, My Life So Far. Vadim, who was married to Fonda from 1965 to 1973, directed the actress in the 1968 movie Barbarella. He died in 2000.

Paris Hilton has explained her reasons for breaking off her engagement to Greek shipping heir Paris Latsis - she's not prepared to ditch her career for marriage. After just a four month engagement, the 24-year-old hotel heiress broke off wedding plans with Latsis, 22, because she didn't want to rush into marriage too quickly. Hilton, who says she has movies "in the works" with Latsis explains, "I have seen the breakups between people who love each other and rush into getting married too quickly. I do not want to make that mistake. I'm still young and still have a very active career that I'm not prepared to give up. I have worked very hard to get to where I am. Paris is a great guy and we will handle this with dignity and respect." Meanwhile, Latsis's father, Gregoris Kasidokostas, has declined to say why the two broke up, but brands the wedding postponement "common sense", adding, "(Latsis) is young and he should wait (for marriage). He should be patient." Hilton and Latsis first met as teenagers 10 years ago in a Monaco club, and in December they embarked on a romance while skiing in Gstaad, Switzerland, over the holidays. The couple became engaged at the end of May, with Latsis giving Hilton a 24 carat, $5 million diamond engagement ring.

Cult movie maker Kevin Smith has reportedly quit the planned Fletch Won film after spending years fighting for pal Jason Lee to play the reporter created in the 1980s by Chevy Chase. The Clerks director's decision to walk away from his labor of love comes after a spat with producer David List, according to film gossip website MovieHole.net. List tells the site, "Kevin Smith is no longer affiliated with the Fletch film as writer or director. His type of comedy just isn't Fletch. The movie is going to be made, and, if all goes as planned, should be in production in early 2006." List insists Smith's departure was amicable. Garden State star Zach Braff has long been a favorite of producers to play the lead character in the long-awaited follow up to 1989 movie Fletch Lives. Meanwhile, List claims funnyman Chase is being targeted for a cameo appearance in the new Fletch film. The producer adds, "I think it would be great. I think everyone will welcome his being a part of it."

The Color Purple star Whoopi Goldberg has ruled out the possibility of ever hosting the Academy Awards again - and she's recommending Ellen DeGeneres for the job. Goldberg has had enough after hosting the prestigious ceremony four times, and she believes that fellow comedienne DeGeneres - who recently hosted the Emmy Awards - would be the perfect choice for the job. She says, "I think actually there's another young lady who would like to do it and so I've got my fingers crossed for her. I think it's Ellen. I think she would be good." Comedian Chris Rock hosted this year's awards show.

Ocean's Eleven star George Clooney is urging his fellow Hollywood stars to keep quiet when it comes to politics, because he fears celebrity endorsements could wreck their favorite candidates' chances of victory. Democrat Clooney and a number of screen stars have recently come under attack for voicing their political views. And the actor, whose father Nick Clooney was recently defeated in his bid to be elected the congressional representative for Kentucky, has now vowed to be a lot more politically low-key. He says, "My father ran for congress last year. I couldn't campaign for him and I knew I couldn't, because I'd hurt him. They tried to get me to get on the John Kerry train and I said, 'We'll hurt him. They'll use us as 'liberal'.' Now, I would argue that (throughout) American history, it's pretty hard to find a time when liberals were on the wrong side of an issue. We thought that the conservative view was, 'Witches should be burned at the stake.' Moderate view was: 'Well, just in case,' and the liberal view was, 'There's no such thing as witches.' We thought women should be able to vote and blacks should be allowed to sit at the front of the bus and Vietnam was wrong. We haven't really been on a lot of wrong sides for us to be sort of used as this bad word. But we hurt candidates right now, so we can do fundraisers quietly and make some money. But I think it's dangerous to get up and talk about it."

Blonde actress Tara Reid has hit out at the American media for their consistently negative coverage of her work and private life. The sexy American Pie star is fed up of being portrayed as a drunk socialite and maintains that European journalists are the only people who give her a fair press. She says, "They're nicer. They're not so judgmental. They let you be yourself rather than try to make you into what they think you are." The struggling star was reported to be close to breaking point last week when she revealed she was "fed up" of vicious rumors in an interview about her alleged alcohol problem.

New mother Britney Spears is auctioning off a bundle of her personal items - including clothing, furniture and jewelry - to raise cash for the Mississippi Hurricane Recovery Fund. Items include a white stone bra worn in one of Spears' videos, a pair of blue-and-pink jeans with a pink suede buckle belt, and an autographed "I Have the Golden Ticket" burgundy tank top with an arrow pointing down, similar to the one the Toxic singer wore while she was expecting her two-week-old son Sean Preston. A posting on her website reads, "This is a great opportunity to get some cool (and rare) Britney items while contributing to a very important cause!" The auction, which opened on Saturday, continues this week, with proceeds going to The Britney Spears Foundation to help hurricane victims.

Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright August Wilson died on Sunday of liver cancer. He was 60. Wilson died at the Swedish Medical Center in Seattle, Washington, only four months after he was diagnosed with the disease in an advanced stage. Wilson wrote 10 critically-acclaimed plays about 20th century life for African-Americans, including Gem Of The Ocean and The Piano Lesson. The writer admitted in August he had only months to live, but declared "I've lived a blessed life. I'm ready."