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Reports claim that Madonna is planning an imminent trip to Africa to adopt a second Malawian child. An official at Malawi's Department Of Women And Child Welfare told the BBC that the singer is expected to arrive over the weekend and attend a procedural hearing at the High Court on Monday, having already filed adoption papers. The anonymous official later confirmed to Reuters: "We expect her over the weekend or earlier than that... but without a doubt she is coming before the end of this month".

It's seemingly part of a plan to provide David Banda - the Malawian child that Madonna and Guy Ritchie made moves to adopt in 2006 - with a brother or sister of the same nationality. The singer told Nation readers last week, in response to emailed questions: "Many people - especially our Malawian friends - say that David should have a Malawian brother or sister. It's something I have been considering".

The adoption of David Banda did cause some controversy, of course, with critics accusing the Malawian government of overlooking laws banning foreign adoptions in light of Madonna's celebrity status. She may run into trouble again this time, given that the country's laws don't, as a rule, allow for adoption by a single or divorced person, and, as much previously reported, Madonna is now very much divorced. It may, however, be another legal issue she can side-step, and presumably the providing-David-with-a-sibling argument will wash a bit.

No comment from the Madonna camp.