In brief: Elisha Cuthbert, aka Kim Bauer, gets her revenge

Elisha Cuthbert (pictured), the actress who plays Kim Bauer in the hit US television series 24, is not the sort of woman you want to disrespect, as her ex-boyfriend Sean Avery, an ace hockey player with the Dallas Stars team, has discovered to his cost. Avery recently referred to the 26-year-old Canadian actress as "my sloppy seconds" in an interview, a remark aimed at fellow ice hockey star Dion Phaneuf of the Calgary Flames who is currently dating Cuthbert. At first Avery was suspended for six matches for his outburst, but now the Dallas Stars have cancelled his contract altogether. Said a spokesman: "All parties said there is a clear understanding that a return to the Stars is not in the best interest of either the hockey club or Avery" …………. Opera singer Jose Carreras has revealed that he and Placido Domingo will never reform The Three Tenors, the singing trio that fell silent on the death of Luciano Pavarotti. "Placido and I will never sing with another tenor – it would not be respectful to the memory of Luciano," he told the Daily Telegraph……….. John Cale, one of the founder members of 1960s pop art band The Velvet Underground, is to represent his native Wales at next year's Venice Biennale. The 66-year-old musician will produce new audio-visual work, in collaboration with artists, filmmakers and poets………….Naomi Watts, the Oscar-nominated Australian actress and star of 21 Grams, has had a second child, a boy, with her partner and fellow actor, Liev Schreiber………… John Sergeant, the former political correspondent who quit the BBC's Strictly Come Dancing programme after his performances were traduced by the show's judges, is to return for a medley with the other contestants next week............If Kate Winslet fails to win an Oscar in March it won’t be for want of an effective PR campaign. The latest bolstering salvo comes from Leonardo DiCaprio, her co-star in Revolutionary Road - and, of course, the 1997 blockbuster Titanic - who announced in an interview at the weekend that Winslet is the "best actress of her generation"............. ·