Srinivas Padma: Personal Musings on Life, Growth, and Connections

Kylie Minogue dazzled an adoring homeland crowd on Saturday in the diva’s triumphant first foray onto the stage since she discovered 18 months ago that she had breast cancer. “Good evening, Sydney!” were the Australian’s first words as she rose on a platform from the centre of the stage. “How are you feeling tonight?” she asked the cheering crowd. The 38-year-old Grammy winner’s performance before a sell-out crowd of 10,000 was the much-anticipated comeback from her shock diagnosis in May last year, just days before the Australian leg of “The Showgirl Tour” was set to begin. Minogue had a successful surgery in her hometown of Melbourne and underwent chemotherapy in Paris, where her French actor-boyfriend, Olivier Martinez has a home. During her recovery, she wrote a children’s book, The Showgirl Princess and launched her own perfume, Darling. The former soap opera teen star wore a pink feathered headdress and flowing gown by designer John Galliano to kick off her renamed “Showgirl Home

London: US pop diva Madonna is under fire in Britain for her plans to adopt an African toddler, with her toughest critics dismissing her as a selfish star who could do much more to ease world poverty. Madonna, 48, who has a family home in London, left Malawi on a private plane on Friday after a judge granted her an 18-month interim order allowing her to take David Banda, the son of an illiterate farmer, out of the country. Mother to 10-year-old Lourdes and Rocco, six, Madonna is not the first star to expand her family by adopting children from developing countries. United States actress Mia Farrow was the first in the 1970s, she has 14 children, including 10 adopted from foreign countries. United States actress Meg Ryan adopted a Chinese girl, while the Scottish actor Ewan McGregor, gave his two children a little Mongolian sister. However, the adoptive parent who is perhaps best known is Angelina Jolie. She adopted Maddox, four, and in Ethiopia she became mother to Zahara, almost two,