Madonna, kids visit Malawi orphanage

Mchinji - Hundreds of orphans welcomed Madonna and her children with song and dance on Wednesday during their visit to the orphanage where the pop star adopted one of her Malawian children. Madonna said she was happy to be back at the Home of Hope orphanage, where she adopted David Banda, in the western district of Mchinji near the border with Zambia. "I'm happy that David is back to see his brothers and sisters," she said. David, now 8, was accompanied by his sister Mercy James, who is 8 and also adopted from Malawi, and their siblings, Rocco and Lourdes. Preserved in his memory Madonna adopted David in 2006. On Wednesday he was taken to his former crib, which has been preserved in his memory. It wasn't known if the family would also visit the Kondanani Children's Village, where Madonna adopted Mercy in 2009 after a protracted court battle. Madonna and her children will visit a pediatrics hospital in Blantyre on Thursday, and another orphanage on Friday. The singer arrived on Monday in Malawi to visit projects she has helped with. Madonna initially planned to build a $15m 500-bed Raising Malawi Academy for girls, before changing plans to help fund several community schools.

Conrad Murray refuses to testify

Los Angeles - Michael Jackson's jailed former doctor said on Tuesday he does not want to testify in a civil trial against the late singer's tour promoter AEG Live, to avoid incriminating himself. Conrad Murray - who at one point spontaneously broke into song in his first interview since being sent to prison - said he is appealing his 2011 conviction for involuntary manslaughter and does not want to endanger that process. Speaking hours after jury selection began for the wrongful death trial between the late star's mother Katherine Jackson and AEG, he said: "At this time I've not been subpoenaed. I'm not interested in giving testimony in the trial. "I will invoke my 5th Amendment right, because at this time there is an appeal that is in progress. If there is a future trial I don't want to have any issues of self incrimination," he told CNN live from prison. 'I am an innocent man' Murray was jailed for four years in 2011 after being found guilty of involuntary manslaughter for having given Jackson the powerful sedative propofol to help him sleep, between rehearsals for the doomed This is It comeback tour. Katherine Jackson is seeking billions of dollars from tour promoters AEG Live for negligently hiring Murray to take care of the star during rehearsals and the tour itself. AEG says Jackson hired Murray and was responsible for him. Murray has always protested his innocence, saying he was trying to wean Jackson off of propofol. "I am an innocent man (...) I maintain that innocence," he said on Tuesday, adding: "I am extremely sorry that Michael has passed. It's a tremendous loss for me... he was very close to me (...) we were absolutely great friends." "I was not the one that brought propofol into his home," he said, adding: "He had been exposed to it for years... it was my approach to try to get him off of it." "But Michael Jackson was not the kind of person you could say 'Put it down' and he was going to do that." 'I wanna give' At one point in the interview, during which Murray's lawyer on occasion interrupted to prevent him answering questions, the ex doctor broke into song, as he professed his wish to help other people. "I'm so sorry for that laddie ... who hasn't got a daddy! He's a little boy that Santa Claus forgot," the tune climaxed. "That song tells my story. That's how I grew up. I had no Christmases. I had no toys. I had nothing. I walked barefooted for years. But when I grew up my heart has been whole, and my heart says to help. "And all I do is to give. I wanna give," said the Grenadian-born doctor

Halle Berry stops fiancé paparazzi fight

Los Angeles - Halle Berry was forced to break up a fight between Olivier Martinez and a photographer. The Cloud Atlas actress, 46, restrained her fiancé and pushed him into their waiting car after a paparazzo accused him of pushing him at Los Angeles International Airport on Monday. The incident happened when the French actor, 47, was trying to navigate his way out of the terminal while carrying Halle's five-year-old daughter Nahla after they arrived back from a break in Hawaii, according to X17Online.com, who obtained video footage of the altercation. Halle became hysterical as they attempted to leave the area amid dozens of camera flashes and pleaded with photographers to leave them alone. After a photographer told her "he pushed me", she replied: "There is a child. There is a child here, that's why you idiots." Violent brawl Olivier placed Nahla in their car and then attempted to confront the photographer but Halle said: "Olivier no, Olivier no" and pushed him into the vehicle. Another photographer then told the alleged victim: "That's assault. He kicked you. That's assault right there. You should make a police report. He can't be doing this shit because he's violent." Asked if he was going to press charges, he replied: "He kicked me twice. Maybe, we'll see what happens." Last November, Olivier entered into a violent brawl with Nahla's father Gabriel Aubry, 36, after he dropped her off at the Halle's home. They reached a mutual decision not to pursue criminal charges and to settle the dispute amongst themselves for Nahla's sake after Gabriel originally filed for a restraining order against Olivier, claiming he had threatened to kill him. The row stemmed from Gabriel blocking Halle from moving to France with their daughter to escape attention from the media.

Lindsay Lohan's 'fun' April Fools' joke

Los Angeles - Lindsay Lohan isn't going to be a mother, yet. The actress confirmed on Tuesday morning that a cryptic late-night Twitter posting hours earlier that stated she was pregnant was an April Fools' Day prank. The Liz & Dick star's proclamation that she was expecting a child caused a frenzy on social media, and several entertainment news outlets reported the tweet while raising the possibility it was a prank. On Tuesday morning Lohan deleted the tweet and wrote that she was having some fun. The actress wrote, "Where's everyone's sense of humor?"  (sic) Calls to Lohan's attorney Mark Jay Heller and her publicist were not returned. The 26-year-old has until May to enroll in a lockdown rehab to satisfy her sentence in a reckless driving and lying to police case.

Kano Mass wedding: 20 HIV positive women discovered

Kano - The Kano State Hisba Board has discovered 20 HIV positive and five pregnant among the 1,000 women to be married in the third batch of mass wedding on Sunday. The Commander General of the board, Sheik Aminu Daurawa, disclosed this in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Kano on Wednesday.  He said the affected women were detected during the medical screening conducted on the prospective brides by the board across the 44 local government areas of the state. Aminu said that 20 prospective couples were also found to be HIV positive during the mandatory medical check-ups. He said that each of the 44 councils would hold the wedding prayer session for 21 couples while the session for the remaining 76 couples would be conducted in the state capital. The commander general said the board had set aside N10 million to be paid as dowries to the brides in addition to providing  other essential items for the couples. Aminu said that the renowned Kano-based businessman, Alhaji Isiyaka Rabi’u and the Governor of the Central Bank (CBN),  Sanusi Lamido Sanusi had donated N2 million and N1 million respectively toward the success of the programme. "A chieftain of the PDP and traditional title holder of Dan-Saran Kano in the state, Alhaji Gambo Danpass has also donated 200 bundles of lace to the brides." "In addition GLO Mobile Telecommunication company has donated 2,000 SIM cards for distribution free to the couples," Aminu said. NAN recalls that traders at the popular Kantin Kwari Textile Market had last month donated N5 million toward the success of the mass wedding.

Real Madrid thump Galatasaray

Madrid - Real Madrid took a huge step towards reaching the Champions League semi-finals for the third consecutive year as they beat Galatasaray 3-0 at the Santiago Bernabeu. Cristiano Ronaldo got the hosts off to the perfect start as he calmly chipped home from Mesut Ozil's wonderful through ball after just nine minutes. Karim Benzema then doubled Madrid's lead on 29 minutes with a simple finish at the back post from Michael Essien's cross and Gonzalo Higuain headed home the third 17 minutes from time to seal a highly satisfactory evening for the hosts. Galatasaray manager Fatih Terim had signalled his intent to attack by naming the trio of Wesley Sneijder, Didier Drogba and Burak Yilmaz in his starting line-up. However, as a result the Turkish champions gifted way too much for Madrid to create in midfield, with Ozil in particular shining in the first-half. The German international set-up the opener as he received Xabi Alonso's pass before turning and feeding Ronaldo to dink the ball over the advancing Fernando Muslera for his ninth Champions League goal of the campaign. Drogba nearly produced an immediate reply for the visitors as he spun Raphael Varane on the edge of the box, but with a clear sight of goal the Ivorian lashed wildly wide of the target. Sneijder also fired wide from 20 yards as Galatasaray went in search of the away goal. However, that was opening up gaps that Madrid love to exploit on the counter-attack and from another sprightly break Ozil forced Muslera into a good low save. Drogba did hit the target with another long-range strike that Diego Lopez could only turn behind for a corner and Galatasaray had a good claim for a penalty turned down when Sami Khedira appeared to handle inside his own area. Yet, they were still struggling to cope at the back and went further behind when Essien's cross just evaded Ronaldo but fell perfectly for Benzema to slot in off the near post. Emmanuel Eboue had a great chance to give Terim's men a lifeline just before half-time as he broke through on goal after a neat exchange of passes with Drogba, but the former Arsenal defender fired his shot too close to Lopez, who made a comfortable save. Perhaps recognising the error of his ways to start the game, Terim replaced Sneijder with Gokhan Zan at the break. The change to a 5-3-2 formation did allow the visitors to stem the tide of Madrid attacks in the second period, but the Spanish champions should have scored a third when Angel Di Maria was found by another majestic Ozil pass only for the Argentine to volley meekly into Muslera's arms. The tie was virtually killed off by a third Madrid goal 17 minutes from time though as substitute Higuain glanced home Alonso's in-swinging free-kick. And Galatasaray's night was summed up when Yilmaz saw a yellow card for diving when he was challenged by Sergio Ramos, meaning he will now miss the return-leg on Tuesday. Now that's my team!!! Up galaticos

NSCDC to search suspected premises

Abuja - The NSCDC says it will henceforth search suspected premises for materials used in the vandalism of critical infrastructure. This is contained in a statement issued in Abuja on Wednesday by Emmanuel Okeh, the Public Relations Officer of the organisation. The statement quoted Dr Ade Abolurin, the Commandant-General, Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps as making the promise during a visit to the Lagos Command of the organisation. ``Abolurin said the corps would maintain 24 hours surveillance over infrastructure, sites, and projects of the federal, state and local governments. ``The corps will also search suspicious premises for illegal dealers in petroleum products, PHCN, postal services, Nigeria Telecommunications and other public utility or infrastructure. ``He stressed the need for a stronger collaboration between the NSCDC and other security agencies in the fight against crime.’’ The statement explained that the new strategies were in line with its mandate as contained in Section 3 of the NSCDC Act. It added that the successes recorded so far by NSCDC in the arrest of criminals, fraudsters, vandals and oil thieves were made possible with the collaboration of other security agencies. The statement lauded other security agencies and stakeholders for the synergy and collaboration in fighting crimes affecting the economy. It urged members of the public to always provide security agencies with information on the activities of criminals in their areas. ``Insecurity affects the society negatively. Therefore, it should be every one’s business,’’ it added.