Madonna Adoption Opposed by Baby’s Father

The father of the Malawian little girl that singer Madonna hopes to adopt has come out publicly against the move, reports the BBC. Although he has never met the child, James Kambewa told CBS’s “The Early Show” that he wants to raise her. Read more.

Jamaican Hijacker is Charged
Stephen Fray, the Jamaican man who held a Canadian flight crew hostage at the Caribbean nation’s Sangster International Airport last month, has been charged with robbery and shooting with intent, reports the BBC. The 21-year-old, who is allegedly mentally unstable, got past security and was able to board CanJet Airlines plane with a gun, police say. After eight hours, authorities took Fray into custody. He will face six charges which include assault, breaches of civil aviation regulations and illegal possession of a firearm, reports the news service.

In somewhat of a surprise decision, Malawi’s High Court has refused to allow pop star Madonna to adopt a four-year-old girl from the nation. The court cited a law that said people who wish to adopt must have been a resident of the nation for at least a year. And in her ruling, the judge spoke out against celebrity adoptions, fearing they could lead to child trafficking, reports Reuters. “Anyone could come to Malawi and quickly arrange for an adoption that might have grave consequences on the very children that the law seeks to protect,” Judge Esimie Chombo said during her ruling.  Read more.

Pirates Hijack Tankers Near Somalia
In 24 hours, pirates were able to hijack two vessels off of Somalia’s coast, reports CNN. Both were chemical tankers owned by European nations, according to the European Union Maritime Security Center. One, a 23,000 ton M/V Bow-Asir owned by Norway, was hijacked 250 miles east of the city of Kismayo and southern Somalia Thursday morning. The other one captured was the 9,000-ton M/V Nipayia tanker, which is owned by Greece, and had 19 crew members on board. An alert has been issued by officials to all nearby vessels to be on alert of elevated pirate activity. 
 

Madonna Set to Adopt Another Malawian Child

Singer Madonna will travel to Malawi this weekend to adopt a second child, officials from the African nation told the BBC. She reportedly already filed adoption papers and could have her case heard at the High Court by early next week. While Madonna’s reps are mum on the topic, the singer did hint to her intentions while answering questions from readers of a Malawian newspaper. “Many people – especially our Malawian friends – say that David should have a Malawian brother or sister,” she said.  Read the rest.

 The guy who bought a nude photo of Madonna Thursday afternoon at a Christie’s Art House auction certainly didn’t get a cheap thrill. The 13-inch by 8 5/8-inch framed, full-frontal photo, taken by photographer Lee Friedlander two decades ago, went for an astonishing $37,500. Appraisers had predicted that the photo would go in the neighborhood of $10,000 to $15,000. Most of the pictures, which were taken in 1979, were featured in Playboy six years later. Madonna posed for the photo as a broke student and was paid a whopping $25 for the entire shoot.

A nude explicit photo of Madonna, which was sold to Playboy when she was a struggling, 20-year-old dancer, could go for $10,000 at auction. A representative of Christie’s auction house says that the photo, taken in 1979 and appearing in the men’s magazine in 1985, is one of six photos from the shoot sold to Playboy. Lee Friedlander took the full-frontal image, according to People magazine. Matthieu Humery, head of Christie’s photography department, says that of all the photos, this is “maybe the most explicit one.” Another photo of Madonna to be auctioned is by Helmut Newton; in that photo, the pop star is wearing lingerie, according to People.

Ohio man is charged with a hate crime

An Ohio man has been charged with a hate crime for allegedly sending threatening letters to a respected Muslim man who was brutally beaten in his home a month earlier. Michael Coon is accused of sending 10 threatening emails to Dr. Amjad Hussain, a retired heart surgeon, trustee of the University of Toledo and the writer of a guest column for the Toledo Blade. Last month, according to sheriff’s deputies, someone pistol-whipped Hussain and sprayed him with mace. Police say the hate mail is nothing new. “This guy has just been the victim of a violent crime and now he receives another crazy email from this guy,” Det. Mark Woodruff. Deputies say they don’t think Coon is connected to the beating.

Columbia professor who got a noose has been fired
The Columbia University professor who drew national attention after being targeted with a noose on her door has been fired amid plagiarism charges. Madonna G. Constantine, who taught psychology and education with an emphasis on ethnic issues at Columbia’s Teacher’s College, received a reprimand four months ago following a year and a half investigation into whether she stole the writings of two former students and a former colleague. Although she had been censured, she was allowed to keep her job. But acrimony grew as Constantine defended herself and filed a grievance against the university president, Susan Fuhrman. Constantine’s firing, announced in a letter to faculty Monday, was “purely retaliatory,” her attorney, Paul Giacomo, said. “During the months since the college levied sanctions against her, Professor Constantine continued to make accusations of plagiarism, including in at least one instance to the press, against those whose works she had plagiarized,” the letter stated. “We are terminating Madonna Constantine’s employment with Teachers College for cause, subject to a hearing before a faculty committee,” it said. “In the interim Professor Constantine is suspended, effective immediately.” Regarding the noose incident of February, a criminal investigation is ongoing. Constantine initially linked it with the plagiarism case. “I believe that nothing that has happened to me this year is coincidental, particularly when I reflect upon the hate crime I experienced last semester involving a noose on my office door,” she said in a February email to faculty and students. “As one of only two tenured Black women full professors at Teachers College, it pains me to conclude that I have been specifically and systematically targeted.”