Washington, Apr 7 : Madonna, who returned to London after a judge rejected her bid to adopt 4-year-old Chifundo "Mercy" James from Malawi, was met by her ex-husband.

The 50-year-old met the British director Guy Ritchie, at a London airport, where he took their sons -- Rocco, 8, and David Banda, 3 -- so that she could have some space while the court takes action on her appeal, a source tells Usmagazine. com.

Mercy''s uncle, Peter Baneti, said that he hopes the courts will reconsider the adoption.

Washington, Apr 7 : High School Musical star Zac Efron has revealed that he has not signed up for Twitter, MySpace or Facebook.

Efron, 21, says that he values his privacy and does not like to have his personal life open to all.

"I don''t have a Twitter, a MySpace or a Facebook or anything like that," People magazine quoted him as saying.

"I kind of value in people not knowing where I am or what I''m doing," he added.

Washington, April 7: Smoking cigarettes is not the only risk factor for chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), it may also change the body''s immune responses to bacteria that commonly cause exacerbations of the disease, according to a study in mice.

Washington, Apr 7: People who gain weight early in life are three times more likely to develop mobility problems in old age, even if they eventually lose weight, says a new study from Wake Forest University School of Medicine.

Lead researcher Denise Houston added that dropping weight later in life could lead to problems with mobility because weight loss later in life is usually involuntary and the result of an underlying chronic condition.

Washington, Apr 7 : Hollywood actor Jonathan Rhys Meyers, who has thrilled fans with his acting skills, is ready with a backup plan for his retirement - writing poetry.

The `The Tudor' actor has revealed that he writes terrific poetry, but is reluctant to show it to others.

According to reports, he wants to wait until his retirement before making his creative side public.

Washington, April 7: A new study led by UK and German researchers has shown that schizophrenia patients can correctly see through an illusion known as the ‘hollow mask’ illusion, probably because their brain disconnects “what the eyes see” from what “the brain thinks it is seeing”.

The observations made during the study attain significance as they may help understand why cannabis users may also be less deceived by the illusion whilst on the drug.

The study — carried out by scientists at the Hannover Medical School in Germany and UCL Institute of Cognitive Neuroscience in the UK — confirms that people with schizophrenia are immune to certain vision illusions, and that they are not fooled by the ‘hollow mask’ illusion.