Going into the world of fashion has been common for a lot of stars lately, and now the one and only material girl has joined the force as well.

Madonna announced the launch of her latest venture, the MG Icon fashion line, together with Iconix and longtime manager, Guy Oseary.

Iconix is the same company in charge of already established names such as Badgley Mischka, Candie’s, Bongo, London Fog and Roca Wear by Jay-Z.

“Joining forces with Iconix to bring my fashion ideas to consumers is very exciting for me,” says the pop icon. “I look forward to working closely with Neil [Cole of Iconix], and his team to create and translate my vision and ideas for MG Icon.”

MG Icon is planning to launch a “fast-fashion” junior collection named “Material Girl,” which will cater to the younger generation. It will be available at Macy’s with prices ranging from $12 to $40. The collection is due to stores on August 2010.

“We are excited to announce the first in a series of new brands that will be developed under our partnership with Madonna. ‘Material Girl’ has a powerful retail partner in Macy’s and we look forward to working together to deliver an innovative launch for our consumers,” says Cole, CEO and Chairman of the clothing company.

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Blantyre, Malawi-pop star Madonna’s planning to put up a girl’s school in Malawi, and that would be at the expense of some 200 village settlers. But the government backs her decision to set up the school.

According to reports, the pop icon, who has adopted a child from the African country last year, is on the course of setting up a $15 million girls’ school just outside Lilongwe, the capital city.

Lilongwe District Commissioner Charles Kalemba announced to the 200 villagers that the government land has been given to Madonna, and they are currently being offered another land to settle on.

Anjimle Mtila-Oponyo, the teacher who will serve as the principal of the school, says Madonna paid more than 16 million kwacha ($115,000) to help the villagers relocate.

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Hollywood has definitely brought a light of hope to Haiti; Friday’s fund raiser telethon organized by George Clooney garnered just around $57 million, setting new record for donations via a telethon.

The whopping figure came from donations from all over the globe, via text, phone calls, and online support. Profits from iTunes sales and corporate donations also helped boost the funds for the victims of the devastating earthquake.

The telethon not only became an avenue for donations to come in, but also served as a union of stars and celebs to fight for one common cause-to help th rest of humanity. Those who took charge of the phones were Clooney himself, Christina Aguilera, Dave Matthews, Justin Timberlake, Stevie Wonder, Sheryl Crow, Ben Stiller, Matt Damon, Meryl Streep, Brad Pitt, Jennifer Aniston, Clint Eastwood, Halle Berry, Julia Roberts and former President Bill Clinton, to name a few.

The ‘Hope for Haiti Now’ album, which contains tracks performed during telethon, is currently the biggest one-day album pre-order in iTunes history. Shakira, Madonna, Mary J. Blige and Bruce Springsteen are among the few who took the stage at the telethon.

George Clooney’s ‘Hope for Haiti’ telethon will take place this Friday in Los Angeles, London, New York and Haiti, and among the list of performers include two iconic hit makers, Beyonce and Madonna.

Beyonce will be performing live from London, while Madge will take the New York stage. Other performers include Alicia Keys, Bruce Springsteen, Taylor Swift, Justin Timberlake, Keith Urban and Stevie Wonder.

The 2-hour telethon will be participated by Clooney himself, as well as Leonardo DiCaprio, Denzel Washington, Brad Pitt and former President Bill Clinton. It will be aired on different TV networks around the globe.

Donors can start sending their contributions before the start of the program at 8 PM EST through phone and text. Online subscribers meanwhile can download performances via iTunes for $0.99.

DiCaprio has already donated $1 million to the Clinton-Bush Haiti Fund, a joint effort by former presidents Bill Clinton and George W. Bush.

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If you live above Madonna’s NYC apartment, you think it would be all fun with the famous people around and posh parties, no? Unfortunately for Karen George who really does live upstairs from Madonna, she had enough of the noise and decided to just sue the superstar.

Ms. George filed a lawsuit Friday demanding that Madge stop dancing and playing loud music in her home. She also filed suit against the building’s co-op board in Manhattan Supreme Court.

In the suit, George says, “Madonna and one or more of her invited guests repeatedly dance….to unreasonably high-decibel, amplified music, causing noise and vibration through the walls, ceilings and radiators.”

The lawsuit claimed that the Board has already warned Madonna about the noise, but has not taken sufficient action to stop it.

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Lady Gaga and Madonna shared the stage on Saturday Night Live and ended up with a cat fight and making up.

The two pop divas performed a synchronized dance-off, dressed in matching black lingerie and knee-high boots, but the skit began its action when Madonna started pulling Gaga’s wig, yelling to her: “What the hell is a disco stick?” – referring to the Gaga’s hit song. The pair was then separated by a host of the fake MTV show ‘Deep House Dish,’ where the two continued their war of words:

“Guess what Madonna, I’m totally hotter than you,” says Lady Gaga to the Material Girl, who then replied, “Hey guess what, I’m taller than you. What sort of a name is Lady Gaga; it sounds like baby food!”

The skit ended with the two divas kissing each other and attacking Kenan Thompson instead.

SNL was hosted by Ryan Reynolds with his real-life Scarlett Johansson playing his comedy spouse in one of the skits.

Lourdes Leon, Madonna’s 12-year-old daughter, wants to follow her mom’s footsteps in the entertainment industry, but she’s not about to seek for her mom’s crown. Madonna reveals that her daughter may become an actress anytime soon.

Madonna talked to PopEater and revealed, “I don’t think she wants to be a singer. I think she wants to be an actress. I’m fine with it, as long as she finishes school, and takes it seriously. She also plays piano, and she’s really into clothes and fashion and style. She can go in any direction. She’s got a lot of diverse interests right now. I’m not pushing anything. We’ll see what she wants to do.”

Whichever path Lourdes Leon decides to go, Madonna is confident Lourdes can handle the press. She explained, “She’s grown up in the limelight, for sure. She’s been protected, but she’s been chased by the paparazzi since she was a tiny baby.”

Madonna broke her own record for the ‘top-grossing tour by a solo artist,’ according to information released by her concert promoter Live Nation Inc.

On Wednesday, Madonna’s concert promoter announced that Madonna smashed her own record, but this time, she had to play more shows and in bigger venues for her “Sticky & Sweet” world tour. Her yearlong tour wrapped in Israel on Wednesday and was able to pull $408 million after performing in front of over 3.5 million fans in 85 shows.

It broke the record Madonna set in 2006 after her “Confessions” tour grossed $194 million in 60 shows with 1.2 million fans. A spokesperson from ‘A Live Nation’ said the 2006 concert focused on many locations, while the recent tour featured bigger stadiums.

Although Madonna has proven she’s still bankable, Rolling Stones remain the top-grossing tour overall with its $558 million “Bigger Bang” tour of 2005-2007, which drew 4.7 million fans to 144 concerts.

Madonna is no stranger to controversies, but getting booed on stage can make any performer straight to the headlines. This time, Madonna incited booing at a concert in Bucharest last night after she paused in the middle of the show and preached the importance of loving thy neighbors (particularly, the gypsies) to a 60,000-strong Romanian crowd.

Madonna shared her views on discrimination in Eastern Europe, where anti-Gypsy (or Roma as they’re known locally) behavior is common. She said, “It has been brought to my attention … that there is a lot of discrimination against Romanies and Gypsies in general in Eastern Europe. It made me feel very sad.”

Thousands booed and jeered her.

However, a few loyal fans cheered when Madonna added, “We don’t believe in discrimination… We believe in freedom and equal rights for everyone, right? Gypsies, homosexuals, people who are different; everyone is equal and should be treated with respect, OK? Let’s not forget that.”

Earlier this week, Madonna also faced problems when officials from the Orthodox Church encouraged fans to boycott her show in Sofia, Bulgaria due to the star’s “disrespect” for their religious rituals.

Want to know how kinky and lovey-dovey Madonna used to be? Well, personal items that Madonna gave to her ex-boyfriend/former bodyguard James Albright are now up for auction. Posted on the “Rock & Roll Pop Art Auction” website, Madonna’s items include 21 love letters from Madge to Albright, two cassette tapes of phone messages from Madonna to Albright and a 15-minute VHS tape of a movie-within-the-movie “Dangerous Game,” where Madge appears to snort cocaine, inhale nitrous oxide and expose her breasts to James Russo, who then snorts cocaine off her body.

James Albright began working as Madonna’s bodyguard back in 1992 and has since mixed business with pleasure until 1994. On most of Madonna’s letters to Albright, she refers to herself as “Lola Montez” and “Lil’ Booty.” If that isn’t embarrassing enough, the 15-minute VHS called “Snake Eyes Wife Swap” was filmed when Madonna was working on the 1993 film “Dangerous Game” alongside James Russo.

A source close to Madonna made a statement, saying:

“This is extremely private memorabilia. Never in a million years did Madonna think it would be made public. She is mortified. Some of this stuff makes her Sex Book of the 90s look tame. That this has all come to light is horrendously embarrassing. To say that she is furious is something of an understatement. Madonna is desperate to shield her four children from her more sordid early days. This could hardly have come at a worse time.”

The seller’s identity is unknown, but they come with an expensive price tag. The cassette tapes start at $25,000, $10,000 for the VHS footage and the letters are up for $3,000. Her white bustier used in the ‘Like a Virgin’ tour is also up for auction.

The auction is reportedly set to begin on August 5.