BLANTYRE (Reuters) - Madonna has asked a Malawian court to delay a hearing to finalize her adoption of a boy from the southern African nation, a lawyer close to the case said.

The singer's law firm in Malawi filed an application requesting the High Court in Lilongwe to hear her adoption of David Banda on May 15 instead of April 22, as originally scheduled, the lawyer said, speaking on condition of anonymity.

Madonna's need to travel to the United States for business reasons was cited as the reason for the delay, the lawyer said.

Court officials refused to confirm the application.

"Adoption is a confidential matter and we separate adoption files from the regular case files," Thomson Ligowe, assistant registrar in the High Court, told Reuters.

Malawi's government recommended earlier this month that the court approve the adoption of Banda.

The pop diva met the boy in an orphanage in 2006 and began adoption proceedings soon after. He has been living with Madonna and her film director husband Guy Ritchie in London since shortly after the adoption process began.

The adoption has been controversial, with critics accusing the government of skirting laws that ban non-residents from adopting children in Malawi, one of the countries in Africa hardest hit by AIDS.

The epidemic has left an estimated one million orphans in the country.

(Reporting by Frank Phiri; Editing by Paul Simao and Caroline Drees)

Madonna on Britney

NEW YORK - Madonna wants the media to leave Britney Spears alone. "They need to step off," she told the "Yo on E!" satellite radio show. "For real ... Let's go save her."

Madonna, 49, said her daughter, Lourdes, 11, feels the same way.

"She knows Britney, (but) she doesn't really watch TV or read gossip stuff," the pop star said in the interview. "I think she sort of gets the drift of what's going on, and I think she feels very protective of Britney."

Madonna and husband Guy Ritchie have a son, Rocco, 7, and are raising a Malawian boy they want to adopt.

"He's the life of the party," she said of David, who she brought home from Africa in 2006. "He loves music, he's an amazing dancer. ... He's a character."

She said caring for David is no different from her raising her biological children: "I thought it was gonna be, but it feels the same to tell you the truth."

As for speculation that her marriage is on the rocks, Madonna said: "It is ridiculous. ... I don't pay much attention to it."

The singer's spokeswoman Liz Rosenberg recently dismissed media reports that the Ritchies have split up, saying they "remain happily married." Rosenberg said that Madonna and filmmaker Ritchie, 39, were "joyfully back together at home in London" after living in separate countries for work purposes.

Madonna, whose new album "Hard Candy" arrives April 29, told "Yo on E!" that she plans to spend the summer in New York, and that she might kick off a tour this fall.