Singer Spears taken to hospital

Spears has been locked in a custody battle for her sons
Singer Britney Spears has been taken to hospital by ambulance from her home in Los Angeles, police have said.

A police officer told Associated Press that the pop star was being taken to hospital to "get help", but did not say which facility she was being taken to.

A UCLA medical centre spokesman refused to confirm she had been admitted there.

Earlier this year Spears, 26, was admitted to hospital after refusing to surrender custody of her two sons in a stand-off with the police.

'Mental issues'

The star was released from the Cedar-Sinai Medical Center after a day and a half. The details of her medical treatment were not revealed.

Sole custody of Sean Preston, two, and Jayden James, who is one, was awarded to Spears' ex-husband Kevin Federline after the incident.

The singer was also denied visitation rights to her children.

Earlier this week, US talk show host Barbara Walters claimed that Spears has been receiving treatment for "mental issues".

She said Spears' manager Sam Lutfi had told her the singer was suffering from psychiatric problems that are "treatable".

"She has been having mood swings. She's been having trouble sleeping," Walters said on her show The View.

TV therapist Dr Phil McGraw, who visited Spears during her hospital stay last month, said at the time that he thought she was "in dire need of both medical and psychological intervention".

McGraw, who cancelled a planned TV show on the singer's predicament, was later criticised by Spears' family for speaking publicly about the matter.