MUMBAI, India — Madonna visited a crowded Mumbai slum yesterday, where impoverished residents showered her with rose and marigold petals.

Millions of people live in makeshift huts in slums along railway lines and roads in Mumbai, India's financial and entertainment center.

In a black jacket, T-shirt and jeans, the vacationing 49-year-old spent about 45 minutes in the downtown shanty area, accompanied by her husband, Guy Ritchie, and Australian author Gregory David Roberts, who made the slum his home in the early 1980s.

Roberts worked for the city's crime bosses and set up a free clinic in the slum when he took refuge in Mumbai after escaping from an Australian high-security prison.

The slum features prominently in convicted bank robber Roberts' best-seller "Shantaram," which is being adapted into a film starring Johnny Depp and directed by Mira Nair.

BONO IN PARIS TO RAISE AID MONEY

PARIS — Rock star Bono pressed French leader Nicolas Sarkozy yesterday to increase aid to developing nations, the aid advocacy group DATA said.

The organization, co-founded by Bono, has urged France to raise development assistance to 0.7 percent of its gross national income by 2012 as agreed earlier. In 2006, French aid stood at 0.31 percent of gross national income, DATA said.

"The president admitted it would be very, very hard, but France would keep her word," DATA quoted Bono as saying.

DATA cited an October parliamentary report that France's estimated overseas development assistance would be 0.35 percent of gross national income in 2007 and would remain at 0.35 percent in 2008.

RAPPER SAID TO HAVE GONE ROTUND

Tell me it ain't true, Eminem!

www.TMZ.com says the 35-year-old hip-hop star, who was rushed to a Detroit-area hospital over the holidays with severe pneumonia, has gained so much weight, he's pushing 200 pounds.

The Motor City rapper's rep, Dennis Dennehy, confirmed yesterday that Marshall Mathers was treated at a local hospital for "complications due to pneumonia." Denny said Em "has since been released and is doing well recovering at home."

Denny did not address the weight issue.

— Advertiser News Services

WAILUKU MAN ON 'DEAL' TONIGHT

Brad Falcon of Wailuku, Maui, continues in his shot at winning the big bucks on tonight's episode of "Deal or No Deal" (7 p.m. on NBC).

The popular game show allows contestants to pick from a number of briefcases, each containing an undisclosed amount of cash. An anonymous "banker" attempts to strike deals with the players, the results of which could go either way — strike the wrong deal and go home empty-handed, or play the game well and go home with a fistful of cash. Deal or no deal?

Falcon was the second contestant to play on Monday's episode, with his game concluding tonight. He's still in the running for $1 million.

The show ended Monday with the banker making an offer the Maui resident might not be able to refuse. The catch? Falcon must shave his goatee.

— Advertiser Staff