Oops, Britney’s Mercedes gets towed

Los Angeles – It was just another night on the town Monday, and then another headline in the tabloids on Tuesday, for Britney Spears after the pop star had her car towed away and her visit to a high-end hotel triggered a scuffle between a photographer and a security guard.

The scuffle resulted in police being called to the Four Seasons Hotel near Beverly Hills about 90 minutes after they had a private towing company haul Spears’ car away. But Officer Karen Smith said the pop star wasn’t to blame for the Four Seasons dust-up.

“She was leaving the hotel when one of the paparazzi and a security guard at the hotel had a scuffle,” Smith said.

Police took a battery report but the photographer had left the hotel by the time officers arrived and no one was arrested.

Police said Spears left her 2008 Mercedes-Benz on busy Sunset Boulevard, near the University of California, Los Angeles campus, about 8 p.m. Monday because of a flat tire.

“She left it unattended and it was blocking traffic, so it was towed,” Smith said.

Madonna, Guy Ritchie visit India slums

Mumbai, India – Madonna visited a crowded Mumbai slum Tuesday, where impoverished residents showered her with rose and marigold petals.

Madonna didn’t speak to journalists, and a New York-based spokeswoman for the 49-year-old singer wasn’t immediately available for comment.

Millions of people live in makeshift huts in slums along railway lines and roads in Mumbai, India’s financial and entertainment center.

Wearing a black jacket, T-shirt and jeans, Madonna spent nearly 45 minutes with residents of the downtown shanty township.

She was accompanied by her husband, Guy Ritchie, and Australian author Gregory David Roberts, who made the Mumbai slum his home in the early 1980s.

Roberts worked for the city’s crime bosses and set up a free health clinic in the slum when he took refuge in Mumbai after escaping from an Australian high-security prison.

The slum features prominently in Roberts’ best-seller “Shantaram.”

Eminem recovering from pneumonia

Detroit – Eminem is recovering from a bout with pneumonia that sent him to the hospital.

“Over the holidays, Marshall Mathers, aka Eminem, was under doctor’s care at a Detroit-area hospital for complications due to pneumonia,” the rapper’s publicist, Dennis Dennehy, said Tuesday. “He has since been released and is doing well recovering at home.”

Eminem’s illness first was reported by celebrity Web site TMZ.com.

Eminem, 35, rose to stardom thanks to a number of best-selling CDs, personal lyrics and a starring role in the hit 2002 film “8 Mile.”