Barroom brawlers

Los Angeles – Former Miss USA Shanna Moakler was involved in a nightclub fracas with Paris Hilton early Wednesday morning.

Travis Barker, the drummer for Blink-182 who filed for divorce in August from Moakler, was apparently videotaped last month kissing Hilton.

Then Hilton encountered Moakler at the Hyde club in Hollywood on Tuesday night.

Hilton says Moakler walked up to her, “used the most vile of language” and then punched her in her jaw.

Moakler contends she exchanged mere profanities with Hilton, at which point Hilton’s ex-boyfriend, Stavros Niarchos, emerged from the entourage, bent Moakler’s wrists, poured a drink on her and shoved her down some stairs.

Hilton, 25, and Moakler, 31, both filed police reports alleging battery.

Mission of mercy, perhaps motherhood

Blantyre, Malawi – Madonna plans to adopt a child in Malawi, government officials said Wednesday, as the pop star arrived in the southern African nation on a mission to help AIDS orphans.

Madonna’s publicist, Liz Rosenberg, confirmed that the singer was in Malawi on a private visit and said she had not adopted a baby, although it was not clear whether there could still be plans in the works to do so.

“She is building an orphanage and child care center and is involved in other initiatives geared toward helping children orphaned by Aids thru the Raising Malawi organization. She has not adopted a baby despite reports that she has,” Rosenberg told Us Weekly.

Rosenberg did not immediately return e-mails from the AP asking about the reported adoption plans.

Protest against Potter

Atlanta – A suburban county that sparked a public outcry when its libraries temporarily eliminated funding for Spanish-language fiction is now being asked to ban Harry Potter books from its schools.

Laura Mallory, a mother of four, told a hearing officer for the Gwinnett County Board of Education on Tuesday that the popular fiction series is an “evil” attempt to indoctrinate children in the Wicca religion.

Board of Education attorney Victoria Sweeny said that if schools were to remove all books containing reference to witches, they would have to ban “Macbeth” and “Cinderella.”

In June, the county’s library board eliminated the $3,000 that had been set aside to buy Spanish-language fiction in the coming fiscal year. One board member said the move came after some residents objected to using taxpayer dollars to entertain readers who might be illegal immigrants.

Days later, the board reversed its decision amid accusations that the move was anti-Hispanic.