Free Republic

The "Madoption" row - surrounding the pop star's adoption of a 13-month-old Malawian boy - has her so on edge that she's even starting to round on her celebrity friends. Madonna adopted David Banda last month and has received nothing but negative criticism ever since, with some critics even accusing her of buying the baby. It's understandable that Her Madgesty, 48, is upset at the backlash but surely there's no need to take it out on her showbiz compatriots. A source has revealed that Singer Gwen Stefani, 37, who gave birth to her son Kingston in May, sent Madge a...

Madonna has said that she does not want to be a wife and a mother. And she confessed her older children, Lourdes, 10, and Rocco, six, complain that she neglects them. The controversial star made the startling admission just three weeks after creating a worldwide furore by adopting little David Banda in Malawi. It came as she was quizzed on American TV about her six-year marriage with British film director Guy Ritchie. Speaking on NBC-TV's Dateline programme, which is similar to Newsnight, she laughed with interviewer Meredith Vieira who said: "Six years... and they said it wouldn't last." Then Madonna...

Angelina Jolie is adopting an Indian baby to add to her growing international brood, according to US reports. Sources say the big-hearted actress and partner Brad Pitt have already applied to adopt a tot from an Indian orphanage. An insider said: "They hope to be able to bring the child home by Christmas. "Brad would prefer a boy no older than 18 months to even out the sexes but Angie has told him she can't guarantee she won't fall in love with a little girl." The source told US magazine Globe: "Whichever they end up with, they'd like to name...

Boy or girl? Almost half of U.S. fertility clinics that offer embryo screening say they allow couples to choose the sex of their child, the most extensive survey of the practice suggests. Sex selection without any medical reason to warrant it was performed in about 9 percent of all embryo screenings last year, the survey found. Another controversial procedure - helping parents conceive a child who could supply compatible cord blood to treat an older sibling with a grave illness - was offered by 23 percent of clinics, although only 1 percent of screenings were for that purpose in 2005....