Singer Madonna has been granted permission to adopt twin girls from Malawi, it has been reported.

The 58-year-old star is said to have been present in the courtroom when the High Court made the ruling in the capital Lilongwe.

Following the ruling, she will now be able to take the two children back to the US.

In January, the Like A Virgin singer released a statement contradicting Mlenga Mvula, a judiciary spokesman in the African country, who was quoted as saying the singer had applied to a judge for permission to adopt two children.

She said "rumours of an adoption process are untrue", and she was in the country to pay a visit to the children's hospital while working with her charitable organisation Raising Malawi.

This is Madonna's third adoption after adopting son David Banda in 2006 and daughter Mercy James in 2009 from Malawi.

She also has a son, Rocco, from her marriage to Guy Ritchie, and a daughter Lourdes, from a previous relationship.