From Yahoo! News:
Madonna's fiction debut, a children's book entitled The English Roses, is expected to hit bookstores in more than 100 countries, in 42 different languages, on September 15, her publisher announced Friday.
The launch is billed as the largest ever 'simultaneous multi-language release,' presumably meaning no book, not even a Harry Potter installment, has ever been translated into as many tongues at the same time as Madonna's tome.
As previously reported, The English Roses will be the first in a series of five kid-friendly titles, 'all of which were written by' the 44-year-old mother of two, a press release from Callaway Editions and Penguin Group points out.
No publication dates yet for the other books.
In a statement, Nicholas Callaway, editor and publisher of Callaway Editions, said Madonna's stories 'have struck a chord with some of the world's most expert children's publishers.'
Her publisher says it'll print a Potter-esque 400,000 first-edition copies of The English Roses for U.S. readers.
Additionally, the book will debut the same day - September 15 - in countries from Brazil to Slovenia.
'We will have a new generation throughout the world that will know Madonna as an inspiring storyteller,' Callaway said.

From Ananova:
A Scottish castle billed as one of the world's greatest retreats and venue for one of the showbusiness weddings of the decade has been sold.
Skibo Castle, near Dornoch in Sutherland, played host to the wedding three years ago of Madonna and Guy Ritchie.
Its sale will end the direct involvement of its founder, multi-millionaire Peter de Savary, who took over the castle 13 years ago.
It has been bought, for an undisclosed sum, by a small group, the identities of whose members have not been revealed.
A spokeswoman for Mr de Savary said: 'The sale will be complete tomorrow. The buyers would like their identities to be kept quiet.'

From People News:
Madonna is auctioning for charity the Marilyn Monroe-style dress she wore in her Material Girl video.

As reported yesterday by Madonnalicious, it looks like Madonna has turned blond again.
I know Madonna is famous for changing her image, but this is ridiculous. The Queen of Pop has already ditched her brown locks and reverted to her trademark blonde barnet.
Madge dyed her hair dark and wore a beret for a string of low key gigs while promoting her last single American Life. But she obviously thinks blondes have more fun as she’s been back to the hairdresser’s.
She was snapped strolling in Beverly Hills with a cup of coffee in her hand. Her blonde tresses peeped out from under a tweed flat cap. An onlooker said: 'Madonna is an icon and has created some of the most memorable images of the past 20 years. She obviously didn’t like her last style. Blonde suits her more.'

From the Evening Standard:
She may be able to drive in a bullet-proof BMW but when Madonna is out and about in London she likes nothing better than to get on her bike.
For the superstar singer weaving through traffic like a Londoner born and bred, it is a far cry from the days when she took to the park for a daily jog with at least 10 bodyguards and the world's press in tow.
Her flat cap, sunglasses and mountain bike seemed to make her invisible to the hordes of tourists as she and husband Guy Ritchie pedalled happily round Hyde Park Corner.
The pair returned to their £6 million home in Central London, happily posing for photographers after a ride through the park, with a stop to feed the ducks.

Madonnalicious writes - although the article gives no date of when the pictures were taken, it seems to suggest that they were taken over the last couple of days.
If this is the case, then Madonna has given into her blond ambition and changed her hair colour again!

     

These two pictures are featured in the latest issue of heat magazine.

They were taken as Madonna arrived for the opening of Stella McCartney's new store in London on 15 May 2003.

   

London's radio station Capital FM featured a new Madonna interview with Capital FM DJ Margherita Taylor.

You can read the entire transcipt or listen to the interview here.

80 pictures have been uploaded to the Galleries - you can view these latest uploads here.

From the Daily Mirror:
The pop legend recently 're-enrolled' daughter Lourdes at her London school - only to find teachers there have been going on strike.
We hear 44-year-old Madge is 'furious' with tutors at the £1,500-a-term school.
'Lourdes returned to the school after the Easter holidays but every Tuesday for the past four weeks, the teachers have gone on strike,' says our well-placed source.
Apparently, tutors at the school - who are exclusively French - have downed chalk over proposed changes to pensions and perks by the French government.
'Obviously the kids aren't complaining but Madonna's very angry that she pays fees yet her daughter is only going to school four days a week.'
'She has found it hugely inconvenient and also feels a child's education is incredibly important, so she's really against her daughter missing out on classes.'
Six-year-old Lourdes switched to the Los Angeles branch of the school when the queen of pop and husband Guy Ritchie, 34, left Britain last year. Now the family have resettled here, with Madge so keen on her adopted home she has put two-year-old son Rocco down to attend the school in London as well - even if it isn't an English school.
The 2,700-pupil school has a lengthy waiting list and insiders are surprised Lourdes was allowed to return.
Now she's back, Mum just has to sort out those pesky teachers.

From The Observer:
She is one of the most devout and certainly richest disciples of the mystic teachings of the Kabbalah, the ancient Hebrew philosophy. Now Madonna and her husband, film director Guy Ritchie, are to hand over a slice of their fortune to help buy a multi-million pound headquarters in the heart of the West End for the educational charity that promotes a modern, faddish version of the 4,000-year-old spiritual tradition.
Madonna first drew media attention to her interest in the Kabbalah five years ago when she credited it with 'creative guidance' on her Ray of Light album. Speaking recently of its impact on her life she said it had taught her not to gossip. 'If we truly believed that every act of denigrating somebody is a small form of murder - the negative energy you create by talking badly - we'd never do it again,' she said.
Now, according to yesterday's edition of the Estates Gazette, the Queen of Pop and her consort are behind the Kabbalah Centre's acquisition of 12 Stratford Place, just behind Oxford Street, for around £3.65 million.

To read the full article click here.

In an article in tonight's Evening Standard newspaper, Jean-Paul Gaultier is interviewed about his forthcoming retrospective next Friday at the Victoria and Albert Museum in London.

Gaultier's favourite pieces in the retrospective are also his most famous. One is a conical bra from 1983, made iconic seven years later when Madonna requested he remake it as one of the costumes for her Blonde Ambition tour. The two have remained firm friends ever since.
'Madonna is fabulous. She is a fashion freak - un monstre de mode. I remember the first time I saw her on the TV singing Holiday, and I was thinking she was English.'
'I couldn't think she was American to dress like that. And when I met her in the flesh I was not disappointed. She is not false. She is like a little girl, truly enjoying, truly spontaneous with her different looks.'
What does he think of her new brunette hair colour? As a lifelong peroxide blonde, will he be copying her look? 'Myself? I think it doesn't suit me. Madonna is that kind of person - she can be brunette, roussette, blondette, because she has a face that goes with everything. Bientot, soon I will be snow white - a blanchette. I cannot be brunette because I have no eyebrow.'

Here are some more pictures of Madonna, Guy and Rocco taking Lourdes to school in London on 14 May - click on the images to enlarge.

The pictures are featured in UK magazine OK! - issue dated 27 May 2003.

       

From New magazine:
The King Of Opera, Luciano Pavarotti, has sent good wishes to Madonna, requesting that they work together soon on something to suit both their tastes.
My Madonna spies tell me she is thrilled. 'She loves his voice and has wanted to hook up with him for some time. A few years back, she had hoped to appear at his Hyde Park concert as a surprise guest, but alas, it did not come off. Now, though, they plan to work something out very soon.'
To get praise from him, my Madge sources reveal, sent her into seventh heaven.

Madonna was photographed while taking Lourdes to school in London last week (14 May 2003).

In a new interview with Forth One radio DJ, Vicky Pitchers, Madonna rules out the possibility of attending the European MTV Awards being held in Scotland later this year.

...the big question at the moment, though, is will Madonna be making a return trip to Scotland later this year? Will the woman whose career was made partly thanks to the invention of MTV, come to Edinburgh to celebrate the European channel’s tenth awards ceremony?
It seems not. 'I think I am going to be in America because I think my husband is making a movie at that time,' she says. I say her Scottish fans will be very disappointed. 'Yes, I know,' she says apologetically. 'But my husband will be more disappointed if I left him.'

You can read the full transcipt of a great interview here.

Following on from the news yesterday that Madonna has sold her Los Angeles home comes the news that she has bought a new house - People News reported today.
However news of her real motives for the sale has emerged - she wants a house with a tennis court. Her new $13 million French Regency design home is on Sunset Boulevard near the Beverly Hills Hotel and is comes complete with the all-important tennis court.

From People News:
A lawsuit which alleges Madonna and Guy Ritchie stole the idea to remake Swept Away could be dropped. Lawyer Morris Getzel may have lost his client the case by making the schoolboy error of not turning up to a hearing.
Getzel's client alleges he suggested a remake of Lina Wertmuller's 1974 film to the Ritchies, and claims he was denied credit and compensation.

From Hello magazine:
Madonna has put her Beverly Hills home on the market. The singer wants £7 million for the 1920s Mediterranean-style property just three years after she purchased the estate from actress Diane Keaton.
The 7,000-sq-ft house, which has eight bedrooms and a guesthouse, was designed by iconic architect Wallace Neff. Its previous owner thoroughly refurbished it, and Madge had to persuade Diane to sell. 'When I bought it, people said it was a tear down,' declared the Annie Hall star, 'but I redid it.' Madonna also has a £6-million home in West London, which she shares with husband Guy Ritchie. And the couple also owns a vast country estate in Wiltshire.
The pop icon has often spoken of her affection for all things British, and now spends the bulk of her time in the UK. The 44-year-old's children Lourdes, six, and Rocco, two, are also going to school in England.
But despite the sale of her LA home, Madonna will continue to work stateside. In recent interviews she's made it clear that she intends to split her time between the US and her adopted home in Europe.

80 pictures have been uploaded to the Galleries - you can view these latest uploads here.

Madonna is performing Hollywood on the UK music show Top Of The Pops tonight.
The show airs at 7.30pm tonight on BBC1, and you can catch a repeat of the show on Saturday night/Sunday morning at 3.25am also on BBC1.

From the Evening Standard:
Madonna was guest of honour last night for the opening of her close friend Stella McCartney's first London shop in Bruton Street, Mayfair.
Melly and Stelly, as they like to call each other, may have fallen out over Madonna's fondness for fur but she was not taking any chances - her raincoat was satin.
After the party, McCartney, her fiance Alasdhair Willis, Madonna and her husband Guy Ritchie went out for dinner at the Mirabelle and later ended up at Annabel's where they stayed till the early hours.

Click on the image to enlarge.

The 17 May issue of UK music magazine NME features a one-page report of Madonna's appearance at HMV Oxford Street last week. The article includes another new picture of her performance and a picture of all the fans who queued to get into the show!

   

Here are four more pictures from Madonna's performance at HMV last week.

Visit Big Pictures USA for larger versions of the pictures.

Madonna made her first-ever UK in-store appearance at London's HMV on Oxford Street on Friday 09 May.

500 lucky fans had queued on Wednesday to get the elusive wristbands (including Madonnalicious) to see Madonna on Friday.

Madonna performed a seven song set, with a full band including American Life producer Mirwais. The band and her stage clothes arrived at 2.30pm, and the band performed a soundcheck. Although Madonna was due on stage at 4pm, she infact did not turn up at the store until 4pm. She then performed a soundcheck with the band which left fans waiting until 5.30pm when the concert finally began.

She sang, American Life, Hollywood, Nothing Fails, X-Static Process, Mother and Father, Like a Prayer and Don't Tell Me.

Click on the images to enlarge.

You can also view this selection of video clips from the show here (right click to save target as). This film consists of various 15 seconds clips taken during the show, please excuse the poor quality, and try not to get annoyed when it cuts out just as you start singing along!

   

     

From Associated Press:
Madonna will perform in a London record store this week in front of 500 fans, the singer's Web site announced Wednesday.
The gig Friday at a downtown HMV store also was announced by a DJ on BBC Radio One, prompting hundreds of fans to line up Wednesday in front of the store on Oxford Street, London's main shopping thoroughfare.
The first 500 fans outside the store at closing Wednesday evening were getting wristbands that would admit them to Friday's show. The queen of pop, who lives part time in London with her British husband, film director Guy Ritchie, will perform songs from her latest album, 'American Life.'

Madonnalicious received this email from a producer at MTV, so if anyone meets the criteria and is interested then please contact the producer directly here mentioning you read it at Madonnalicious.

I am producing a pilot show for MTV here in London and I am looking for real Madonna fans. I am looking for people who would be interested in spending half a day living Madonna's life. The following points are really important:
- must be between 18 and 30
- must be real Madonna fans and have encyclopaedic knowledge
- must be happy to be filmed by MTV
I am looking for at least ten people and the filming needs to take place over the next two weeks and won't be broadcast. I would be really grateful if you could pass the information on to anyone who might be interested and fit the bill. Anyone who is interested should contact me either on 0207 478 5404 or by mail.
Thanks for your help
Shona Fraser

56 pictures have been uploaded to the Galleries - you can view these latest uploads here.

From the Sunday Mirror:
When Madonna wants something, she inevitably gets it. So when she insisted the BBC ship in a specific sound engineer for her appearance on Tonight With Jonathan Ross, they had to comply.
The singer rejected all the BBC's experienced techies in favour of someone from the team of French dance music supremo Mirwais Ahmadzaim, who produced Madge's lates album American Life.
Not only did the BBC have to foot the extortionate bill, they had to provide him with a first-class Eurostar ticket and pay all his expenses while in London.
It seems the three live songs she performed wouldn't have been the same without ths man's particular expertise. She argued she needed an expert on the Vocoder, a device used to distort her voice on her single American Life.
'She was absolutely insistent that it had to be this one particular guy' said a BBC source. 'When we said we had people who could do it just as well she wouldn't hear of it. So we just had to go ahead and get him and to hell with the money.'
It had to be said that Madge made up for her demand by being a real sweetie backstage when she arrived at BBC TV center on Thursday afternoon to rehearse.
Although she was put in the executive dressing room (the best they have) she didn't ask for any changes to the simple decoration of furniture. And all she asked for were a few bottles of water to keep her going through the day.
'She was no trouble at all and certainly a lot easier than the likes of Jennifer Lopez who likes everything painted white and a list of goodies as long as your arm,' the source added.
Ironically, it was executives from Warner Music who made the biggest fuss. The BBC had to redecorate a room for the Warner crowd to hang out in. They also hired caterers to serve exquisite sushi from birdcage-type contraptions. How lavish.

Here are a few screen shots from tonight's BBC1 program Tonight with Ross and Madonna.

From NME.com:
Madonna played an intimate show to 200 fans for a live TV recording in London today.
The US superstar gave rousing performances of her single 'American Life' and the track 'Hollywood' for the 'CD:UK' show, which airs the current single tomorrow (May 3).
Madonna, who is currently top of the album charts on both sides of the Atlantic, told her British fans she will be embarking on a world tour next year.
She also told 'CD:UK' presenter Cat Deeley about the high points of her 20-year career in the music business. She said that she has enjoyed touring, and thanked her loyal fanbase, but said working with French producer Mirwais on her last three albums has been the biggest highlight.

CD:UK is shown tomorrow in the UK at 11:30am on ITV1.

Madonna is currently one of the UK Media's favourite stars since the launch of American Life, here is a list of some of the magazines she is featured in:

New magazine (05 May 2003 issue) - two pages on the Tower Records in-store appearance - see picture, and a half-page on more pregnancy rumours.

Now magazine (07 May 2003 issue) - two pages on why Guy's my Mr Right featuring pictures from the '72 Names of God' book launch.

Hello! magazine (06 May 2003 issue) - three pages on The Men look after the kids as Madonna takes care of business featuring pictures of Madonna and Guy at the Paramount Bar and pictures of Carlos, Lourdes and Rocco.

OK! magazine (06 May 2003 issue) - three pages on Madge, you're looking swell yet more pregnancy rumours, pictures from the MTV Special in New York and pictures of Carlos and Lourdes.

All the pictures featured in these articles will be available in the next gallery update (due Monday 05 May 2003).