Madonna paid tribute to her old friend Michael Jackson during her July 4th concert in London. The performance, held at the O2 arena where Michael was scheduled to perform a series of sold-out shows, featured a dancer dressed as Michael, and a huge screen projecting images from his career.

Madonna and three year old daughter Mercy made their first public appearance together over the weekend. Mercy rode piggyback on Madonna out of the Kabbalah Centre, followed by Madonna’s ex-husband, Guy Ritchie, and daughter Lourdes.

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After a lengthy court battle, Mercy James of Malawi is now Mercy Ciccone of London. The three year old was spotted outside Madonna’s London home in the arms of a nanny, just one day after being whisked away from her orphanage via private jet.

Madonna, who previously vowed to never give up on adopting Mercy, officially took custody of the girl last week, making Mercy the fourth kiddo in Madonna’s brood.

In a surprise appeal, Malawi’s Supreme Court announced they would let Madonna adopt three year old orphan Mercy James. This decision came a couple months after another Malawi court denied Madonna’s request on the grounds that she wasn’t a resident of the African country.

“I am extremely grateful for the Supreme Court’s ruling on my application to adopt Mercy James. I am ecstatic … My family and I look forward to sharing our lives with her,” Madonna said in a statement through her spokesperson Friday.

“It’s the early hours in New York now but my client has been awake all night waiting for this,” Madonna’s Malawi lawyer, Alan Chinula, tells People. The attorney spoke to his client as soon as the ruling was made official, at around 2 a.m. her time Friday. “She was ecstatic when I broke the news to her. She said, ‘Thank heavens.’ ”

Chinula says he is “now awaiting instructions from New York to start preparing travel arrangements for Mercy. I have to be there for her passports and everything.”

Madonna reportedly arranged a private jet to fly Mercy from Africa to New York, but the adoption paperwork may take up to three to five days to complete.

Kanye West might not use Twitter, but his girlfriend does. Amber Rose posted a photo of Madonna grabbing her ass at last week’s Costume Institute at the Metropolitan Museum in NYC.

In another photo, Amber, Kanye, and Madonna squeeze in for a shot with Jessica Biel and the gala’s co-chair, Justin Timberlake. Madonna kept her hands to herself that time.

Madonna escorted her three children to Kabbalah services in NYC over the weekend. Apparently Madonna’s youngest kiddo, David, took etiquette lessons from mom’s ex-husband Sean Penn, because he was totes not feeling the paparazzi.

Meanwhile, Madonna’s possible future ex-husband, Jesus Luz, is brushing on up on his English. The Brazilian model had some problems speaking his lovah’s native tongue, so she paid for him to take English lessons.

A source tells Star magazine, “She’s paying more than $1,000 a week for him to learn English.”

Madonna: helping the world one foreigner at a time.

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• Madonna should wear this to her next adoption hearing. [PB]
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• MET Costume Institute fashion round-up. [INMF]
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