From nowhere to almost there for Karlsson

Wentworth (Britain), May 23 (IANS) Robert Karlsson signed his second round card of one-under 70 and then figured that at three-over 145, he was going to miss the cut. The Swede based in Nice, Monaco, disappointed at finishing with a double bogey seven on the 18th that messed his round, took an afternoon flight from London to Nice.

He was almost home in front of his door, when he got a call that he was likely to make the cut right on the line at three-over. Realising that he was in with a chance to play the weekend, without even as much as saying ‘Hi’ to his wife in the house, he asked the same taxi driver to take him back to the airport.

With no direct flight to London, he took a flight to Paris and then after two hours of sleep, he hired a private jet to leave at 6 a.m. He reached just in time for the 8.55 a.m. tee off.

The 2008 European Number One birdied five of the first seven holes to turn in 30 and then picked further shots at the 12th, 14th and 16th for a stunning 62 at the tough West Course. That took him to tied second and just two strokes behind the leader Chris Wood.

From being nowhere, Karlsson now has the chance to pick up the winner’s cheque of 750,000 euros that could make him the first player to win a European Tour event after coming from the cut line.

Asked where he ranked the round, Karlsson just smiled and replied: ‘Probably the most unexpected.’

Rory McIlroy did just that in US recently while winning the Quail Hollow Open on the PGA Tour.

Indian origin worker dies after being dragged into machine

London, May 13 (IANS) An Indian origin worker was killed in a British factory after he was dragged into a machine that he was operating alone.

Mitesh Prashar, 24, who was working at Duco International in Slough, suffered severe injuries after his left arm and shoulder were crushed between two rollers of the heavy-duty machinery.

Witnesses have said that Prashar may have become caught in the machine while checking giant sheets of rubber for imperfections.

He was pronounced dead on the factory floor.

An inquest jury was told Wednesday that Prashar had expressed concern about using the machine without supervision.

Prashar’s family was present at the hearing in Windsor, Berkshire.

The victim had been working at Duco International Ltd based in Slough since January 2007 and the incident took place Jan 15, 2008, Daily Mail reported Thursday.

At about 2 a.m. on that fateful night, colleagues heard a strange noise before realising that something was wrong.

‘I heard what sounded like a loud sigh more than a scream. It wasn’t a cry for help. It was between a cry and a sigh and there were not any words. It wasn’t somebody in pain,’ team leader Richard Nugus was quoted as saying.

‘I was surprised that Mitesh was put on the night shift unsupervised without another inspections operative. It seemed to be quite a short period before he was allowed to run it (the machine) single-handedly.’

Prashar’s colleagues ran to help him and saw that his arm and shoulder had become trapped between metal rollers on the machine.

Paramedics declared him dead.

Average woman dates more than 24 men to find her ”Mr Right”!

London, Apr 24 (ANI): An average woman spends over 2000 pounds and dates more than 24 men in a bid to find her “Mr Right”, claims a new study.

The study conducted by UKDating.com points that a single date can cost a woman 85.38 pounds.

“Although you cannot put the price on true love, it seems you can certainly put a price on finding it,” The Telegraph quoted spokesman for UKDating.com, as saying.

“While men are still traditionally footing the bill of the date on the night, this shows how much women are prepared to pay behind the scenes to make each date successful,” he added.

The report said that before going on every date women spend 12.86 pounds on their hairstyles, another 26.55 pounds on a new outfit and 8.35 pounds on accessories to match the dress.

The study also showed that seven per cent of women have been on between 41 and 60 dates before finally finding someone to share their life with, the paper reports.

The report also said that despite spending a lot of money preparing for a romantic rendezvous, a third of women left halfway through the date after realising that they were sitting with “Mr Wrong”. (ANI)

Overuse of CT scans ‘putting patients at risk’

There is concern about the overuse of CT scans in Australia, with doctors being urged to stop the indiscriminate ordering of scans which can cause cancer.

The Medicare watchdog says there is an alarming trend of doctors using the scans without clinical justification and not understanding the health risks.

The Australian College of General Practitioners also concedes there is a problem.

Over the past decade, there has been an explosion in the number and the availability of CT scans in Australia.

Dr Tony Webber from Medicare’s Professional Services Review says doctors are turning to the scans too quickly.

“Most people do practise responsibly, although I am really quite astonished when speaking to doctors about their ignorance of the risks of CT scans,” he said.

“Many of the people that I see in my investigations for inappropriate practice have been using CT scans really without regards to the potential risks and the risks are reasonably significant.

“Studies from America … suggest that CT scans may be responsible for up to 1 per cent of all cancer deaths in America. Now that is a very considerable risk.”

And he is worried that patients are not giving informed consent.

“Many patients will request a CT because they think it is the best investigation that will give them the answers they are looking for without realising that there is no free lunch,” he said.

Dr Webber says while CT scans are useful, they are not always necessary.

“In many conditions, particularly things like lower back pain which is a very common presentation, often there is no need for any investigations apart from a good physical examination and history,” he said.

There are also calls for medical students to be better educated about radiology and when it is absolutely essential.

GP Chris Mitchell, who is the president of the Australian College of General Practitioners, agrees.

“I don’t think doctors generally go to a scan as a first resort,” Dr Mitchell said.

“If you are asking if there is benefit in further and ongoing education, absolutely there is. There is an increasing reliance on investigation for a variety of reasons.

“Some of that relates to our legal system and more defensive medicine, but some of it also relates to the fact that our patients actually appreciate the options of progressing some more detailed investigations.

“I think that is something that the community needs to consider and weighs risk of the potential for side effects from investigations against the benefits.”

And he says there is scope to reduce reliance on the CT scans.

“I think all of us as doctors could strive to reduce our use of investigation and spend more time with history and physical examination,” he said.

“It is certainly what most GPs would like to do. Spend their time taking a detailed history, doing a physical examination and then only investigating those patients that need it.”

Shocking tapes reveal what MJ really thought about his family

London, September 20 (ANI): Michael Jackson had launched a string of verbal attacks on his family in secret taped interviews, it has emerged.

The King of Pop lashed out at his brothers Jackie, Tito, Jermaine, and Marlon in the Jackson 5, calling them lazy moaners and dubbing them, one by one, as dull, a copycat, a womaniser and argumentative.

The singer then went on to criticize sisters La Toya and Janet, and even called mum Katherine “disappointing” in the tapes recorded with the ghost writer of his autobiography Moonwalk, reports News of the World.

And after realising that he may have gone too far in his rants, Jackson snapped: “You can’t print that.”

He reportedly said: “The brothers didn’t give me support. We’d be working on a TV show or video and they’d be sitting around moaning and groaning but I’d be watching and learning. It takes a talent, but some people are lazy and don’t want to develop anything.”

On Tito: “Tito is into the anatomy of how a car is built. He is a grease monkey. He still goes to the hobby shop and buys airplanes and flys them. He loves putting them together – they’re on these plastic things and you glue them. That is so boring.”

On Marlon: “People used to call him ugly and make fun of him – and people would say, ‘Which brother is that one?’. He constantly imitates me on stage. Whatever I do he’ll do right after me. I hate when that happens because he looks too “doo woppy” and so old-fashioned.”

On Jermaine: “Jermaine would be either be looking for girls or going along with the jokes.”

On Jackie: “He approaches everything with so much negativity and doubting.”

On Randy: “He doesn’t listen and is real hard-headed. You say it’s dark – he’ll say it’s daylight. And he has to be macho. I’ll never forget the day we had a meeting with our producer who said you’ve got to stand up on your own. Randy stood up and said: “I’m a man’ – we are all started laughing.”

On his mum, whom he always insisted as “the closest person in his life, a great mother and provider”, he said: “She disappointed me. She did an interview (about him). I don’t like her to talk. It’s none of those people’s business.”

He added, “She wished she would have had all boys. She told my sisters that – and they agreed! That’s how my sisters are – they are prejudiced against other girls.”

On La Toya: “To me she is Mrs Nice and Nasty. I come in her room (and she says), ‘You can’t sit on her couch, sit on the bed or walk on the carpet’, She wants to keep everything fresh.

“If you cough at the table she covers her plate. If you sneeze forget it, she’s in another room. If you clear your throat, you can’t do that while she is eating. And forget about going to the movies. She doesn’t understand what I see in Star Wars, Close Encounters or Jaws.”

On Janet: “Janet is a tomboy. That is why it kills me to see her off and married. We did everything together and were just alike. We write a whole schedule for the day and follow it. It’s a terrible loss.”

On dad Joe: “I would suffer if I had to spend a whole day with him. He is a very jealous father. He isn’t gonna show you love, but anybody that gets closer to us than him he would tell them, ‘Leave my boys alone!’.”

“To tell you the truth, I never have felt close to him. He has always been like a mystery man.” (ANI)

Minglebox launches e-CAT Prep

Bangalore, Sept 19 (ANI/Business Wire India): Realising the changing needs of MBA aspirants with Common Admission Test (CAT) turning into a Computer Based Test (CBT) in India from this year, Minglebox.com has launched e-CAT Prep, a fully online platform for CAT preparation.

Preparation plays a significant role for a large number of candidates and through e-CAT Prep, Minglebox.com intends to assist students, from over 250 cities, by offering them high quality content, tests and study material designed by CAT preparation experts.

Kavita Iyer, CEO, Minglebox.com (an IIM Ahmedabad alumnus) said, “With e-CAT Prep, we have aggregated the best online resources for CAT preparation and are offering it completely free to aspirants. We believe these mock tests will help students prepare in an organized manner and also give them confidence in the lead up to their CAT exams. We have done a lot of research to ensure that these tests are close to the real thing. Minglebox.com promises to help students by providing them with latest, most updated, authentic and comprehensive information.”

Minglebox e-CAT Prep content covers the complete syllabus with refresher material for each lesson following which students can take the refresher and the practice tests.

Not only this, online versions of previous year CAT papers are also available for getting used to this medium while solving the questions of the same difficulty level.

The robust testing engine on e-CAT Prep closely simulates the actual CBT environment. e-CAT Prep for CAT 2009 can be accessed on www.minglebox.com/CAT2009.

In addition to the test preparation content, e-CAT Prep has a CAT Expert Panel to share tips and tricks and provide suggestions and guidance for preparation through regular columns and practice tests.

There are interviews with previous years’ CAT toppers to motivate and encourage aspirants for CAT 2009. A strong aspirant community is actively interacting through forums and Q and A sections.

On this occasion, advising students on preparing for CAT 2009, T Vamsee Krishna, IIM-A alumnus and part of the e-CAT Prep Expert Panel said, “With CAT turning into a Computer Based Test, the mode of preparation also needs to change.

Through Minglebox e-CAT Prep, CAT aspirants can prepare with some of the best online resources and a test engine simulating the actual CAT exam. As we get closer to the CAT exam, one needs a large amount of practice with mock tests and the free tests on e-CAT Prep will help the students immensely.

Aspirants can also get valuable advice, tips and suggestions through columns and articles by experts. Also, there’s no need to panic over the computer format of CAT, remember to keep your cool and give your best.” (ANI)

Meet the Chinese man who spent two months walking wrong way home

New Delhi, May 22 (ANI): A Chinese man spent two months walking before realising that the directions he was following did not go towards his hometown in Guizhou.

Wang Zhaoqing, 28, had gone to Zhejiang province for a job.

He was soon fired and did not have money for a train ticket.

He finally decided to walk from Zhejiang province to his hometown in Guizhou, reports the China Daily.

Zhaoquing even begged for food on the way.

He, however, finally got the ticket from police in Huzhou, who found him sleeping on the side of the road. (ANI)

Sexting may land teens in legal trouble

Washington, May 7 (ANI): Police officials in Virginia have warned that sexting-a term used to describe the act of sending sexually explicit photos by cellular phones-may land teens in legal fix.

The warning comes in the wake of a recent scandal in Fairfax County, in which the police discovered a cache of images of naked girls in the mobile phone of a teenage boy.

The police said that some of the photos could qualify as child pornography, a felony in Virginia.

“He thought it was a mischievous, fun game, without realizing he was asking these girls to commit a crime and he was committing a crime,” the Washington Post quoted Sgt. Bill Fulton, of the Fairfax Police Department, as saying.

Authorities are concerned that the sexting issue has almost hit a tipping point in public concern. They say that it has raised an array of practical questions about how police and prosecutors should respond and what the long-term fallout could be for children.

“This whole phenomenon seems to have exploded in the last 60 days,” said John McCarthy, the state’s attorney for Montgomery County, adding that prosecutors across Maryland had exchanged ideas about the troubling trend.

According to him, the problem is that child porn laws never contemplated “children sharing images of themselves,” and youthful sexters have little concept of their actions as a crime.

“You can literally see the shock on their faces,” McCarthy said.

If police officials are to be believed, sexters are often “the good kids” with strong grades and no criminal history.

They say that most of such youngsters send photos without realising that they could be widely circulated or posted on the Internet in view of strangers, predators and potential colleges and employers.

The officials warn that landing on a sex offender registry is possible for those prosecuted. (ANI)

Priyanka Gandhi backs Rahul for Prime Minister

Amethi, Apr 12 (ANI): Priyanka Gandhi on Sunday gave some indications of possibility of her brother and Congress General Secretary Rahul Gandhi becoming Prime Minister one day.

“I have full faith in my brother. He is hardworking. He is, according to me, qualified for the post. So, one day he will. He will do a good job of it,” she told reporters while campaigning for Rahul Gandhi in Amethi parliamentary constituency.

Priyanka, however, added that Manmohan Singh would assume the post, if Congress comes back to power.

Priyanka refused to contest elections herself, and said: “As I am growing older, I am realising that ‘never’ is a bad thing to say. So I am not going to say never,” But I certainly don’t see it. I don’t feel that joining politics is what I would do.”

She also criticized the Samajwadi Party (SP) for its ‘weird’ manifesto.

“I have never seen such a weird document and I want to know who has written the Samajwadi Party manifesto,” she added.

When asked about the Bharatiya Janata Party’s (BJP) criticism that Manmohan Singh is a weak Prime Minister, Priyanka said the country had seen his ability to lead the country.
“Manmohan Singh is a very qualified Prime Minister. The country has seen his ability. He remains firm. I don’t think he is weak at all,” she added.

Amethi will go to poll on April 23. (ANI)

Modi campaigns in Uttar Pradesh, targets Manmohan

Deoria (Uttar Pradesh), April 10 (IANS) Gujarat Chief Minister and Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Narendra Modi criticised Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and called for a tough stand on terrorism as he went on a whirlwind election tour of eastern Uttar Pradesh Friday.

Though he did not spew venom against the minorities for which he is widely known, he linked the rise of terrorism with a section of the minorities and hit out at the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government for ‘soft pedalling’ on terrorism.

Dismissing the UPA as a ‘spent’ and ‘fast disintegrating force’ and terming the Third Front as ‘non-existent’, Modi said the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA) would emerge strongest in the polls.

The BJP’s star campaigner made it a point to raise the issue of terrorism at each of his rallies in Ballia, Salempur and Bhadohi.

Terrorism can be tackled only by force, he declared amid cheers. ‘If we fail to crush terrorism, our country will be completely ruined.’

‘Manmohan Singh got elected (to the Rajya Sabha) from the terror-prone northeastern state of Assam, but he could neither bring an end to repeated bomb blasts there nor could do much to bring about development in that backward region,’ he said.

Accusing the prime minister and the UPA government of appeasing the minorities, Modi recalled Manmohan Singh’s remarks on Muslims. ‘The prime minister of this country goes on record to say that Muslims have the first right over this country’s resources. It would have made sense if he had given the first right to the poor,’ he said.

‘It was so shocking that some UPA leaders like Ram Vilas Paswan had gone to the extent of promising Indian citizenship to Bangladeshi migrants, without realising that any such move would adversely affect the interests of our own poor people.’

Rooney, Ronaldo fuel ManU’s wage bill to whopping 121-mn pounds

London, Apr 10 (ANI): Manchester United’s wage bill has increased to a whopping sum of 121million pounds in 2008, an increase of 29 million pounds.

The 30 per cent rise comes after improved deals for ace players Wayne Rooney and Cristiano Ronaldo.

United’s Premier League and Champions League Double last season saw them splash 13.3 million pounds in bonuses, compared to 8.6 million pounds the previous year.

Chief executive David Gill is United’s best-paid non-playing or non-coaching employee on 1.7 million pounds a year, The Sun reported.

The champions are still second in the big spenders table with Chelsea’s bill at 148 million pounds – a rise of 12 per cent.

United boss Alex Ferguson admits Real Madrid’s continued pursuit of Ronaldo has affected his performance on the field.

The build-up to the 2-2 Champions League quarterfinal draw with Porto was dominated by fresh reports of a Ronaldo move, something Ferguson termed as “pathetic”.

But Ferguson says being honest with the player has kept his focus.

“He’s lucky in the sense that people here can be straight with him and he appreciates that – he has responded to that.”

Ferguson also praised Ronaldo for realising when he had overstepped the line in his tentative courting of Real.

“If it changes him as a person then you have a problem. Fortunately Ronaldo knows when he’s gone too far and he draws back in after that,” he added. (ANI)

Courtney Love to sue Kurt Cobain estate’s ‘looters’

New York, April 8 (ANI): American rock musician-actress Courtney Love is contemplating dragging some of the people handling her late husband Kurt Cobain’s estate to court, after realising that they have lost all the money that the Nirvana frontman had left for her and their daughter Frances Bean.

Her lawyer Rhonda J. Holmes, of Gordon and Holmes in San Diego, has revealed that Cobain’s estate had been looted of more than 30 million dollars in cash, and up to 500 million dollars in real estate.

According to reports, a team of investigators, forensic accountants and lawyers hired by Love made these findings.

“I have never seen such greed and moral turpitude. This case is going to make Bernard Madoff look warm and fuzzy,” the New York Post quoted Holmes as saying.

“We will be filing civil cases . . . within the next 30 days. There are many, many millions missing. We’ve only been able to track down 30 million dollars, but there is more. And then there is the real estate,” the lawyer added.

According to Holmes, bank accounts using Cobain, Love and Frances Bean’s Social Security numbers were set up and used to buy and sell real estate across the US.

“There is now a web of homes which were bought, flipped and used to launder money — up to $500 million worth. Any of the property we can get back will be donated to people who have lost their homes in foreclosures,” Holmes said.

When Holmes was asked how could that have happened, the lawyer said: “Courtney noticed the money was gone when there wasn’t any left. It’s no secret she struggled with substance-abuse issues, but in the last year she’s taken a more serious approach to sobriety and started noticing things were wrong. She hired private investigators, accountants and me.”

Holmes added: “We are also working with local and federal authorities. When Mr. Cobain died in 1994, he left his enormously wealthy estate behind for the benefit of his mother, two sisters, a brother, his wife and young daughter. Many of those [involved with] the estate’s coffers mismanaged, stole and outright looted it shamelessly.” (ANI)

Timely treatment saves Ohio girl with Natasha Richardson-like injury

Washington, Mar 27 (ANI): An Ohio girl with an injury similar to the one that claimed Natasha Richardson’s life has been saved, after her parents read about the actress’ medical drama and rushed their child to hospital for timely treatment.

Morgan MCCracken, 7, was hit by a baseball during a family game.

Two days later, when the girl was on the verge of death, her father Donald decided to call doctors for advice, after realising that his daughter’s injury was similar to the one that killed Richardson on March 18.

The actress died two days after banging her head in a fall during a skiing lesson.

Initially, Morgan’s folks iced the lump on her head, and when the swelling subsided the girl seemed fine.

However, she complained of a headache after two days.

When her parents watched the Richardson tragedy unfold, they took her to hospital.

“Because of Natasha, we called the paediatrician immediately. And by the time I got off the phone with him, Morgan was sobbing, her head hurt so much,” Contactmusic quoted Donald MCCracken as telling CNN.com.

After going through tests, Morgan was taken on a helicopter to Rainbow Babies and Children’s Hospital in Cleveland, where her parents learnt that their daughter had the same injury as Richardson.

“They told us that if we hadn’t brought her in Thursday night, she never would have woken up,” said Donald.

Luckily, doctors were able to operate on the little girl, who is now back home recovering after a five-day hospital stay. (ANI)

Oz Olympic swimming star short changes cabbie

Sydney, Mar.26 (ANI): Triple Olympic medallist Eamon Sullivan was left red-faced following a drunken argument with a short-changed cabbie.

According to the Sydney Morning Herald, Sullivan left the driver short of his ten dollar fare after being driven home from a pub crawl at Kings Cross on Wednesday night.

After realising he did not have the money to pay the fare, the world’s fastest swimmer spent more than 15 minutes rummaging through his Sydney house for extra cash.

The 23-year-old returned to the waiting driver with only a few dollars and the cabbie went and complained to police.

Officers knocked on Sullivan’s door just after midnight but he was asleep. Flat mate and training partner Matthew Abood stepped in and handed the driver 20 dollars.

Sullivan publicly apologised to the driver for the incident on Thursday.

“I feel a bit disappointed and obviously embarrassed obviously of the misunderstanding and I just hope that he can accept my apology,” he was quoted, as saying. (ANI)

BJP acted troublesome with “Hindutva agenda”: BJD

Bhubaneshwar, March 17 (ANI): Having already deserted its old friend Bharatiya Janata Party just ahead of Lok Sabha elections, Biju Janata Dal (BJD) on Tuesday accused the BJP of attempting to implement “Hindutva agenda” in Orissa state.

The Naveen Patnaik-led BJD cherished political relations with Hindutva-minded BJP for nearly a decade in Orissa.

evealing the reasons that compelled his party to snap ties with the BJP, the BJD supreme and Orissa’s chief minister Naveen Patnaik revealed that the relations started getting sour for last six months.

“They (BJP) were creating disturbances for last six months. When government took bold steps to check trouble they started opposing,” said Naveen Patnaik told an election rally at Bhubaneswar on Tuesday.

“BJP tried to implement its Hindutva agenda in Orissa after realising that its vote base was declining. This was not acceptable to us,” said BJD MP Pyari Mohan Mohaptra, considered to be the main strategist of Patnaik.

Claiming that BJD was not responsible for the break up of the alliance, Mohapatra alleged that BJP had made up its mind earlier to quit coalition to pursue its ‘communal aganda’.

“I am not responsible for the break up. I just placed the real picture before the BJD supremo on the dismal performance of the saffron party which was supposed to go to polls under Naveen Patnaik’s leadership,” he said.

Mohapatra, often blamed by BJP leaders for the break-up, said the saffron party had no option but to work on its ‘Hindutva agenda’ to save its vote base.

The bureaucrat-turned-politician commented that BJP’s popularity graph could be gauged from its poor show in recent civic polls. (ANI)

US nuclear relic dating back to 1944 found in bottle

London, March 3 (ANI): Scientists have found a discarded bottle at a waste site in the US that contains the oldest sample of bomb-grade plutonium made in a nuclear reactor, dating back to 1944.

According to a report by BBC News, the sample dates to 1944 and is a relic from the infancy of the US nuclear weapons programme.

A team from the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory used nuclear forensic techniques to date the sample and track down its origins.

The type of plutonium in the bottle – known as Pu-239 – is a so-called alpha emitter. These alpha particles are too bulky to penetrate skin or paper, but they can cause poisoning if swallowed or inhaled.

It has a half-life (the time it takes for half the radioactive nuclei in a sample to decay) of 24,110 years.

The bottle in question was discovered in a burial trench at the Hanford nuclear site in Washington state, north-western US.

Established as part of the Manhattan Project in 1943, Hanford was home to the world’s first full-scale plutonium production facility.

The Manhattan Project was the US’ bid to build the world’s first nuclear weapon during World War II. The project’s roots lay in fears that Nazi Germany was investigating similar technology.

The Hanford site is now the focus of a massive environmental cleanup effort due to high levels of radioactive waste that remain at the site.

While excavating a burial trench in December 2004, clean-up personnel discovered a safe which contained a jug filled with whitish liquid slurry.

Further tests revealed the bottle contained a type of plutonium made by re-processing spent fuel in a manner consistent with early operations at Hanford.

Realising the historic potential of the find, Jon Schwantes and colleagues from the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory carried out further tests on the sample.

In order to determine its age, the researchers analysed the different forms, or isotopes, of plutonium and uranium in the sample.

They found it had been separated from the spent fuel in 1944.

In order to determine which reactor had produced the sample, they compared plutonium isotope ratios from the contents of the bottle against technical data from nuclear research reactors that were operating at the time the sample was made.

Their results strongly suggested the plutonium was manufactured at the prototype X-10 reactor at Oak Ridge in Tennessee, which began operating in 1943, a year after the Manhattan Project was authorised. (ANI)

Witherspoon’s singing embarrasses her daughter

New Delhi, Feb 12 (ANI): Reese Witherspoon has revealed that her nine-year-old kid cringes when she breaks into song.

The 32-year-old actress, who won the 2006 Best Actress Oscar for portraying singer June Carter Cash in ‘Walk the Line’, said: “I love to sing around the house and in the car, but my daughter hates it,” reports the China Daily.

When the mum and daughter pair decided to see country singer Carrie Underwood, Ava set down some ground rules, Witherspoon herself revealed.

The actress explained: “She said, ‘Mom I really appreciate you taking me to the concert, but will you please not embarrass me in front of Carrie Underwood by singing because she’s a real singer and you’re just, like a movie singer.’ “

Reese – who also has five-year-old son Deacon with ex-husband Ryan Phillippe – insists she is glad her children keep her grounded.

She told Parents magazine: “Realising you’re not anything special to the kids is always a great sort of reminder that you’re just a regular person.” (ANI)

Police seize Manchester United footballer Carlos Tevez’s car

London, February 8 (ANI): Manchester United footballer Carlos Tevez’s white Bentley car, worth 140,000 pounds, has been seized by police.

Cops pulled over the 25-year-old Argentinian striker, while he was driving to the club’s training ground on the M60, because its windows were “too dark”.

They initially warned him that the windows of his car were heavily tinted, but later seized the vehicle upon realising that the football ace did not have a full UK licence.

A Greater Manchester Police spokesman says that the car was taken to a compound because there was no one with Tevez, who could be asked to drive the vehicle home.

He has revealed that Tevez hitched a lift from another team-mate Patrice Evra, who was also in a Bentley.

Tevez now faces prosecution for driving without a valid licence, he adds.

“Shortly after 9.20am on Friday 6 February 2009, traffic officers pulled over a Bentley close to junction 7 of the M60,” the Telegraph quoted the spokesman as saying.

“The officers were concerned certain windows were illegally tinted. They were tested and found to be too dark so a prohibition notice was issued to the driver.

“When asked to provide his documentation, it was discovered the driver did not have a full UK driving licence and was advised to arrange removal of the car.

“As he could not arrange the car was removed under Section 165 of Road Traffic Act 1988,” he added.

The maximum penalty for driving without a valid licence carries a 1,000-pound fine, and six points. (ANI)