People : Adopting a defensive stance
A year-old African boy being adopted by Madonna arrived at her London mansion Tuesday amid growing debate about the idea.
David Banda was whisked past waiting photographers at Heathrow Airport into a silver Mercedes minivan, wrapped in a gray coat and surrounded by armed police officers.
Malawi’s High Court last week granted Madonna and movie-director husband Guy Ritchie an interim adoption order giving them custody of the boy for 18 months, bypassing a law requiring prospective parents to live in the country for a year while being evaluated.
Child-protection groups have challenged the order, and the Independent newspaper said in an editorial that “reports that Madonna chose the child from a selection of orphans presented to her make the whole affair sound worryingly like a commercial process.”
But the boy’s widower father, Yohame Banda, accused Malawi activists of being “jealous of my son,” adding: “I want David to have a bright future, not to live in this poverty.”
Not so sharp
Actor Wesley Snipes was indicted Tuesday on eight counts of tax fraud, accused of trying to cheat the government out of nearly $12 million in false refund claims.
The star of the “Blade” trilogy also was charged with failure to file returns from 1999 through 2004.
If convicted of all the charges, Snipes, 44, could face 16 years in prison – five years each on two conspiracy counts and one year each on six counts of failure to file income tax returns.
Why’d they shoot Fab for?
Rapper Fabolous was shot early Tuesday as he stood at a Manhattan parking garage, ending up both hospitalized and under arrest.
The 28-year-old rapper, whose legal name is John Jackson, was shot once in the thigh when a man approached and opened fire.
He and three others jumped into a vehicle and fled, attracting the attention of police when they ran a red light. Officers discovered two loaded guns in the vehicle, both apparently unlicensed, and all four were arrested.
Five for five, then deep-six
Mel Harris, who played Hope on the ‘80s TV show “thirtysomething,” has filed for divorce from investment banker Mike Toomey, her fifth husband. They were married five years.
Quite the collection
Country singer Sara Evans is accusing her husband of taking $274,000 from their joint bank accounts – including $66,500 designated for church tithing – on the day she filed for divorce last week.
In court papers, Evans claims the Thursday transfers to an account solely in Craig Schelske‘s name violated a restraining order.
She says Schelske committed adultery with their children’s former nanny, kept photos of himself naked and having sex with other women and frequently watched pornography in their home.
The birthday bunch
Singer-guitarist Chuck Berry is 80. Actor Peter Boyle (“Everybody Loves Raymond”) is 71. Actress Pam Dawber (“Mork and Mindy”) is 55. Actor Jean-Claude Van Damme is 46. Jazz trumpeter Wynton Marsalis is 45. Actress Erin Moran (“Happy Days”) is 45. Country singer Josh Gracin is 26. Actress Joy Lauren (“Desperate Housewives”) is 17.