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Madonna posted a heartbreaking picture of Malawian twins called Stella and Esther to her Instagram account - six months before her new adoption was finalised. In a heartwarming Instagram post (left) featuring her other daughter Lourdes, the singer wrote: '3 Beauties! Lola spends time with twins Stella and Esther at Home of Home Orphanage.' She shared several photos of her trip to the children's home in the Malawian city of Mchinji (top right) with her four children Lourdes, Rocco, David Banda and Mercy James. Yesterday a judge gave her permission to adopt twin girls aged four called Stella and Esther from the Home of Hope orphanage. The girls' biological father Adam Mwale was in the court room when the adoption was approved. Madonna is expected to fly her new daughters back to New York on a private jet today (bottom right, Madonna leaving Lilongwe High Court after a hearing last month).

Built in 1947, the holiday home or 'dacha' as it's known in Russian was home to former Soviet Union leader Joseph Stalin and his family during the warm summer months. Hidden deep in a forest off of Lake Ritsa in Abkhazia an autonomous region of Georgia - the modest property is almost invisible. Photographer Ioanna Sakellaraki, 26, took the images during her travels around the little known region of Abkhazia. A living testament to Stalin and his renowned paranoia the dacha is surrounded by thick trees and is painted green to make it pretty much invisible from the air. Known for his simple taste Stalin's holiday home is designed in a modest fashion despite it boasting a library and games room equipped with a billiards table.

Tami McVay, 34, (left) was killed when a tree supporting a zip line she was riding struck her in the skull and caused severe head trauma in northwestern Oregon on Saturday. The mother-of-three was sliding on the homemade line near the Nehalem River (right) with her boyfriend Joshua Jackson (inset) when the tree holding them up was uprooted and fell on the couple. She was pronounced dead at the scene after her Jackson made the 911 call to Tillamook County police around 6am. The couple took a trail near the Nehalem River, normally used by experienced hikers, and they were so far along that rescuers used all-terrain vehicles and had to hike two miles to reach the two.

Auckland student Rachael Louise De Jong, 21, (inset) drowned after the Aratiatia Dam In New Zealand had its floodgates opened, sending water surging down the river where she was swimming with friends. Two German tourists, Katrin Taylor and Kevin Kiau, were on a viewing platform in the dam area when they heard the warning siren for the opening floodgates and watched in horror as the water surged towards four people standing on a submerged rock (main). Ms De Jong was swept away, her body was recovered from a rockpool by police on Monday night. Devastated friends and family say Ms De Jong was a smiling, bubbly woman and loved by many.

Four more retailers have dumped Ivanka Trump 's fashion brand just days after it was dropped by Nordstrom and Neiman Marcus following an online boycott started in response to her father's election victory. The first daughter was seen taking a phone call on Tuesday at the White House as she held her 10-month-old son Theodore (left), while her husband, Jared Kushner (right), accompanied President Donald Trump to a listening session. Following Nordstrom's lead, Belk, Jet, ShopStyle and Home Shopping Network (inset) have washed their hands of the first daughter's fashion line following the widespread #GrabYourWallet campaign to boycott businesses the Trump family profits from. As of Tuesday evening neither of the companies were selling Ivanka's fashion line, but each company has insisted that the decision to remove the merchandise was not politically driven and instead based on performance.

James White celebrated the New England Patriots historic Super Bowl win by heading straight from Houston, Texas to the happiest place on Earth - Disney World. The 25-year-old running back and his girlfriend, Diana Civitello, boarded a private plane first thing Monday morning to fly to Orlando where White was celebrated by thousands who lined the streets at Disney for the annual post-Super Bowl parade. It was a fittingly magical trip for White, who scored a record-breaking 20 points on Sunday night in the Patriots defeat of the Atlanta Falcons.

Catherine Zeta-Jones opened her cavernous closet loaded with luxury goods to her captive, combined 1.2M social media followers on Friday. The 47-year-old Oscar winner shared a video featuring race car revving noises captioned: 'A zip through my closet! #StyleByZeta.'

Sarah and John Wenham (together top right) had saved for years for 'the wedding of their dreams' in Cuba, costing more than £25,000 for themselves and 24 guests. But they were left fearing for their lives when the lobby roof at Sol Rio De Luna y Mares Hotel in Cuba suddenly buckled and collapsed (main), trapping them underneath and injuring many members of the wedding party including Ruth Ricketts, who required 19 stitches to her head (bottom right). The bride also needed to be stitched up when she suffered a nasty cut above her right eye (left). Sarah said: 'I saw the blood start to gush from my head and I genuinely thought in that moment that I was going to die.' In the aftermath, John desperately scrambled around the lobby to find his wife, and had to get two people to lift the rubble off her body so that he could drag her to safety.

Rape survivor, Thordis Elva (left), from Iceland, was just 16 when she was raped by her then-boyfriend, Tom Stranger (right), 18, a foreign exchange student from Australia. The pair have joined forces 20 years on and released a TED talk (inset) about the assault. In the talk, the pair discuss the impact the rape had on both of their lives.

With Valentine's Day fast approaching, it might be about time for you to find a special gift for your loved one. The latest brainteaser, created by vouchercloud, challenges you to find the ruby red ring hidden among a bed of roses. The romantic riddle might just serve as a reminder to couples that are yet to find their present this year.

The list ranks the 100 largest metropolitan areas in the country and rates them on a range of criteria, including affordability, job prospects and quality of life. This year, Austin, Texas topped the list, with Denver, Colorado coming second. Silicon Valley's San Jose in California is third and Washington, despite being described as a swamp, comes in at fourth.

Student Emily Bulea (left), from Goleta, California, is paid to go on dates with wealthy men and keep them company at social events. The 20-year-old said without the money she would struggle to afford her college fees. The cash also allows her to live a luxury lifestyle with weekly beauty treatments, jewellery, clothes meals in exclusive restaurants - and this glittering $500 bra covered in Swarovski crystals (seen right). She even has the support of boyfriend Jack (inset), although he doesn't see 'sugaring' as a long-term career.

Cooking is a difficult thing to master. One wrong press of a button or a moment of memory lapse, and everything is ruined. But now people from around the world have seen the funny side in failure, and shared photographs of their biggest cooking errors (pictured). The images are a lesson to everyone in the importance of using a tray and keeping an eye on your rolls at all times.

The woman, who has not been publicly named, grabbed the shark pup from the sea as she walked along the beach in the Fernando de Noronha archipelago, off the coast of Brazil, to take a photo with it. But as she wrestled with the shark it bit into her hand, leaving the 35-year-old holidaymaker needing stitches. Video of the Brazilian woman's frantic attempts to get the writhing animal to release its grip was shared online on Tuesday. Last night the woman and her boyfriend, who had filmed the incident, were charged with animal cruelty and ordered to pay a fine of around £2,500 each.

Bird-welfare volunteers are trying to locate a bald eagle that was photographed in Bonneauville, Pennsylvania with a leg-hold trap clamped to one of its talons. Wildlife rehabilitator Wendy Ebersole Looker, who is part of the NGO Rehabitat Inc, told The York Dispatch on Tuesday she will care for the injured raptor if it can be caught. 'There's really not much the average person can do,' Looker said. 'Obviously no one should try to handle the bird.' Eagles need their talons to hunt, eat, perch and defend themselves and Looker said that the wounds caused by the trap could become infected. Photographer, Susan Boardman, said she watched the eagle on the ground for about 10 minutes before seeing the leg trap, attached a long chain. She said the eagle appeared to struggle as it started to fly away.

A Brazilian teen born with microcephaly has become the first person in the world with the condition to be signed-up by a modelling agency. Ana Victoria Lago, 17, (pictured left and centre during a photoshoot, top right as a toddler and bottom right with her mother Viviane as a child) from Manaus, Brazil, has a smaller than normal head and an under-developed brain because of a genetic abnormality. She was snapped up by BM Model's Agency based in the city on Saturday and hopes to make history by debuting on the runway at the Rio de Janeiro Fashion Week in June. Although Ana's condition has not been caused by the Zika virus, her family hope she will be an inspiration to those affected by the disease which has ravaged Brazil.

Potter author Rowling (right), who often gets involved in spats with readers on Twitter, hit back at a fan who wrote they would 'cry' when she died and that millions would 'pull out toy wands' in tribute to her. The meme (left) also said that in the wake of her death 'Hogwarts will come back to life as a new generation is introduced to ‘The Boy Who Lived.’ Billionaire novellist Rowling, replied (inset): 'This is very sweet, but I won't be offended if you untag me when making plans for my death.'

Turkish chef Nusret Gökçe, aka Salt Bae, received 4 million views in one day on his latest video, where he uses his signature move (right) to season a pig as he dances around the gammon joint (left and right). It follows his announcement to open branches of his steak house restaurant in London and New York after his original viral video (inset) made him a star.

The parents of the cute stars of this online gallery spied a silver lining to the endless stream of dirty nappies that is part and parcel of life with a newborn - the comical faces that babies pull when nature calls.

An intrepid photographer has created an incredible picture project documenting his year in Antarctica. Michal Krzysztofowicz, Data Manager for the British Antarctic Survey based at the Halley Research Station was posted to the continent in December 2015 and is due to stay until March 2017, and challenged himself to take a picture a day for the whole year. The result is Antarctica366 (it was a leap year), an amazing picture collection showcasing jaw-dropping photographs of life at the southernmost continent where temperatures can drop to -56øC.

A problem-solving donkey has been caught on camera opening a wooden gate at a sanctuary in Ronco Scrivia, northern Italy. Sanctuary staff say he's much brighter than the other donkeys there and that his party-trick has become a regular occurrence.

A wildlife park has captured the adorable moment one koala has snuggled up to another and used her soft, furry head as a pillow for nap time. Willow was filmed cuddling up to Imogen at Symbio Wildlife Park in Helensburgh, New South Wales. Willow was perched behind Imogen with her arms around Imogen's neck, holding onto the branch of a tree. She was then seen resting her chin on Imogen's head and snuggling in to fall asleep.

A luxury hotel in Damansara, outside Kuala Lumpur, has been set up to offer pampered moggies the ultimate stay with services including playtime, grooming and dating for female felines on heat. Catzonia has four room types with the top end Very Very Important Cat (VVIC) bedrooms (top right and bottom right) featuring a mini playground, 24-hour temperature control and three beds so that pet families can stay together.

This giant bullfrog gave an unsuspecting cameraman a huge shock when he made a giant leap towards the camera. The bullfrog appeared to be relaxing in the recent rain fall when he was spotted by 29-year-old Jan-Hendrik Hanekom. Jan-Hendrick was driving a group of students through Namibia's Erindi Private Game Reserve during an Eco Training course when he came across the giant frog.