Madonna and her husband, film director Guy Ritchie, took custody of a motherless 1-year-old boy from Malawi on Thursday after filing adoption papers and receiving interim approval from a judge in the impoverished southern African nation.

The boy's father, Yohame Banda, said he was happy for his son, named David.

He said he met Madonna and Ritchie at the court as part of the formalities. While they talked, Madonna, who has two children, carried the baby boy, Banda said.

"I am very very happy because as you can see there is poverty in this village and I know he will be very well looked after in America," he said.

He said his wife Marita died a month after David's birth from medical complications and the child had been cared for at an orphanage.

Madonna has not commented publicly since her arrival in Malawi on Oct. 4, though she has made several public appearances in support of projects she supports here to care for AIDS orphans. Her publicist declined comment on the adoption reports.

Judge Andrew Nyirenda "has just given out an interim order" that allowing Madonna to take David, said Thomson Ligowe, a court registrar. The interim order allows the couple to take the boy home.

FENDER BACK HOME AFTER CANCER TREATMENT

Freddy Fender has been discharged from a hospital and was resting at his home in Corpus Christi, Texas, Thursday, but family and friends said the Grammy-winning musician remained gravely ill.

Fender, 69, had been getting treatment for cancer in Oklahoma but was transferred to a hospital in San Antonio last week because of a blood infection. "He's not doing too good," said his wife, Vangie Huerta.

He was to have surgery in January to remove the upper left lobe of his lung because of a fungal infection, but surgeons found two large tumors and left the lobe intact. Doctors last month told Fender the cancer had spread.

TRUDEAU ADDS IRAQ TROOP BLOG

Though often bitterly critical of the war on Iraq in his comic strip Doonesbury, creator Garry Trudeau now is offering readers a chance to get a closer, mostly unfiltered view of troops' experiences in their own words.

"The Sandbox," a new addition to his Doonesbury Web site, lets viewers read the comments of service members.

He wrote that he hopes to let readers see "the unclassified details of deployment -- the everyday, the extraordinary, the wonderful, the messed-up, the absurd." He said the postings will be "lightly edited."

FAWCETT'S ANGEL OFFERS SUPPORT

Farrah Fawcett has enlisted the help of her ex, Ryan O'Neal, as she prepares to undergo treatment for anal cancer in Los Angeles, O'Neal told People magazine.

He accompanied Fawcett, 59, to a chemotherapy treatment on Monday, the magazine reported in its Oct. 23 issue.

"She's so strong," he says. "I love her. I love her all over again."

In a statement released through her publicist last week, Fawcett said she will receive six weeks of "cutting edge, state-of-the-art treatment."

This isn't the first time Fawcett and O'Neal, who ended their 17-year relationship in 1997, have reunited to fight a medical battle. Fawcett helped care for the 65-year-old actor in 2001 when he was diagnosed with chronic myelogenous leukemia.

THOUGHT FOR TODAY

"Children are the true connoisseurs. What's precious to them has no price -- only value."

-- Author-educator Bel Kaufman

ON THIS DATE

1792: The cornerstone of the executive mansion, later known as the White House, was laid during a ceremony in the District of Columbia.

1843: The Jewish organization B'nai B'rith was founded in New York City.

1943: Italy declared war on Germany.

1962: Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? by Edward Albee opened on Broadway.

1974: Longtime TV host Ed Sullivan died in New York City at 72.

1981: Voters in Egypt participated in a referendum to elect Vice President Hosni Mubarak the new president, one week after the assassination of Anwar Sadat.

TODAY'S BIRTHDAYS

Former British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher, 81; singer-musician Paul Simon, 65; actress Pamela Tiffin, 64; model Beverly Johnson, 54; singer Marie Osmond, 47; actress Kelly Preston, 44; skater Nancy Kerrigan, 37; singer Ashanti, 26.