Madonna granted second Malawi adoption

Madonna has won her appeal to adopt a second child from Malawi, according to BBC News. The singer was denied the right to adopt four-year-old Mercy James in April after the court claimed that she had not fulfilled the necessary residency requirements.

Delivering the appeal court's verdict, Chief Justice Lovemore Munlo said that the initial ruling had failed to take into account the star's commitment to helping disadvantaged children in the African country.

The 50-year-old singer was not in the country to hear the verdict, although she had attended the initial application in April, which was blocked by a lower court on the grounds that she had failed to meet an 18-month residency requirement.

Madonna has set up a charity, Raising Malawi, which provides support for orphans and vulnerable children.

She has already built a multi-purpose community centre at Mphandula village, 50 kilometres (30 miles) from Lilongwe, which looks after more than 8,000 orphans from scores of villages in the area.

Rights groups, led by the Human Rights Consultative Committee, a coalition of 85 groups, have objected that the impoverished southern African state does not have a law on inter-country adoptions.