LILONGWE — Malawi authorities granted pop star Madonna an interim order to adopt a one-year-old boy from the impoverished African country, a senior court official said yesterday."Madonna and the husband (Guy Ritchie) filed their papers for an interim order this morning at Lilongwe High Court and the judge gave the ruling at 2 p.m. this afternoon," the high court's deputy registrar Thomson Ligowe said yesterday.

"Madonna was granted an interim order to adopt the child, which means that there's going to be a subsequent hearing by the same court to either allow her to adopt the child or not," Ligowe said.

Under Malawian law the hearing must take place within two years.

"This also means that she (Madonna) has been put on observer status to see how she will relate to the child, and people from social welfare will have to observe that. The court will depend upon their observations to make a final decision," Ligowe added.

The announcement brought to a climax Madonna's controversial week-long charity visit to the Southern African country during which her aides denied earlier reports by government officials that she planned to adopt a child.