Charity bash canceled

London – A charity backed by Paul McCartney and his estranged wife has canceled a fundraising gala after the former Beatle said he would not attend, British newspapers reported.

The event, set for Oct. 11 in Los Angeles, was intended to raise money for the Adopt-A-Minefield campaign, the Daily Mirror said. Heather Mills McCartney helped found the charity.

Adopt-A-Minefield declined to comment on the reports and would not say whether the event had been canceled.

British newspapers reported that McCartney was considering making a donation to the organization to compensate it for the cancellation.

Stuart Bell, McCartney’s spokesman, confirmed that McCartney would be making a donation, although he declined to comment on the exact sum.

McCartney, 64, and Mills McCartney, 38, announced their separation in May after four years of marriage. They have begun divorce proceedings in an increasingly acrimonious split. The couple have a 2-year-old daughter, Beatrice.

The smoking loophole

London – Keith Richards won’t be fined for reportedly lighting up during a Rolling Stones concert in Scotland.

The stage at Hampden Park, where the band performed Friday night on their “A Bigger Bang” tour, is exempt from a new law that bans smoking in enclosed public places, the Glasgow City Council said Monday.

Violators of the new law, which took effect in March, can be fined up to $95. The ban includes theaters and sports venues.

The City Council said it had heard from journalists that the 62-year-old guitarist was smoking during the performance, but it wasn’t known whether the journalists had been at the concert.

Concert venue changed

Moscow – Posters throughout the Russian capital had proclaimed the venue and date for a month, and 40,000 tickets had already been sold.

But a long-awaited concert by Madonna had become mired in security concerns, and it was anyone’s guess where and when the show would take place, if at all.

After more than a week of negotiations – spiced up by protests against the 48-year-old pop star performing anywhere in Moscow – an agreement was struck Monday for the show to be Sept. 12 at the Luzhniki stadium.

Originally, promoters said it would be Sept. 11 in Vorobyovye Gory, the hills that rise on the south bank of the Moscow River, in a vast space framed by the tower of Moscow State University.

It’s not clear whether promoters had firm permission for that site, but city officials began raising an array of objections, primarily that the huge space would be impossible to police properly.

The city had pushed for an alternative site – the Tushino airfield, a charmless venue where other outdoor concerts have taken place.

Horse-riding mishap

New York – Matthew Broderick’s vacation in Ireland was marred when he suffered a broken collarbone after falling off a horse Sunday, his publicist, Simon Halls, told The Associated Press.

The 44-year-old actor, accompanied by actress-wife Sarah Jessica Parker, was treated and released from a hospital the same day, Halls said.

“He’s fine. He’s just been in a little bit of pain,” Halls told the AP on Monday.

Broderick co-starred with Nathan Lane on Broadway in “The Producers.” They reprised their roles in a 2005 film. Broderick’s screen credits also include “Ferris Bueller’s Day Off,” “The Stepford Wives” and “Election.”

First Emmy, then surgery

Los Angeles – Just hours after crooner Barry Manilow won his Emmy, he took it into the operating room where he had hip surgery Monday. Manilow won the Emmy for outstanding individual performance in a variety or music program.

Manilow came through the operation “swimmingly,” then headed back to his Palm Springs home, publicist Carol Marshall said. She said his recovery and rehabilitation was expected to last six to eight weeks. Then the celebrated showman will travel to Atlantic City for an Oct. 14 performance.

Manilow postponed arthroscopic surgery on both hips so he could attend the Emmys on Sunday.

“He was excited. He didn’t think he’d win,” Marshall said Monday. “It was a nice surprise.”