Madonna given appeal date for Malawi adoption bid

Queen of pop Madonna is preparing for the next stage in her battle to adopt four-year-old Malawian orphan Mercy James after the date of her court appeal was confirmed as May 4.
 
The 50-year-old singer is due to contest the ruling against her bid to adopt. She was initially refused permission because she did not meet Malawi residency requirements.
 
The appeal will be held in private and Madonna - who already has an adopted three-year-old son David from the African country - does not need to attend.
 
At the initial hearing the court said it feared setting a harmful precedent, but the Material Girl's lawyer says he is hopeful the appeal will succeed because the original ruling was based on an "archaic" law.

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