American pop queen Madonna discreetly flew into Malawi on Monday with her adopted children from the southern African nation, an airport official said.

"I saw Madonna, her adopted two children David Banda and Mercy James, plus an entourage of 10, come through the VIP," Peter Botha, a spokesman for the Lilongwe airport police, told Agence France Presse.

Malawi police on Monday arrested 11 ex-ministers and senior government officials, including the former president's brother, for an alleged coup plot, sparking protests met with police tear gas.

The group are accused of trying to prevent then vice president Joyce Banda from coming to power last year, after the death of president Bingu wa Mutharika.

AIDS-ravaged Malawi, where over a tenth of the population is HIV positive, records on average 1,000 new cases weekly, a top government official said Saturday.

"It’s a great concern to us that despite efforts by government to prevent HIV and AIDS, the country continues to register about 1,000 new cases of HIV every week," Edith Mkawa, a senior health ministry secretary in charge of nutrition, HIV and AIDS, told reporters.

Malawi is to reprint thousands of presidential portraits to add "Doctor" to Joyce Banda's name, the government said Friday, raising eyebrows amid a tough austerity drive.

South Korea's Jeonju University last week awarded Banda an honorary doctorate for her no-nonsense reforms since taking office.

Malawi education authorities on Thursday challenged a claim by American pop queen Madonna that her charity last year built 10 new schools in the poor southern African nation.

"The schools Raising Malawi claims to have constructed were already in existence," Education Minister Eunice Kazembe said.

Former Material Girl Madonna has built 10 primary schools in Malawi this year, her charity announced Friday.

Two years after abandoning a $15 million girls academy, the pop diva said projects this year would educate 4,871 children in the tiny southern African country.

Prostitutes in the northern Malawian city of Mzuzu are accused of killing two clients by drowning them in a dam after they failed to pay for sex, police said on Tuesday.

"After a long time of drinking, the deceased had sexual intercourse with the sex workers and failed to settle the bill," police spokesperson Norah Chimwala told Agence France Presse.

Malawi President Joyce Banda will shun an African Union summit next month which was moved to Ethiopia from her country as she refused to host Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir, state radio said Sunday.

Banda said on state radio that Vice President Khumbo Kachali will now attend the July 9-16 summit in Addis Ababa.

Joyce Banda was on Saturday sworn in as Malawi's first woman president and told her supporters there was "no room for revenge" after the divisive Bingu wa Mutharika died in office.

Thunderous applause and joyous singing broke out as Banda completed her presidential oath. She then called for a moment of silence for the man she hailed as a father to the nation.

The Malawi government confirmed the death of President Bingu wa Mutharika on Saturday, two days after the leader of the impoverished southern African country died.

A brief statement from the Cabinet confirmed what doctors had reported on condition of anonymity earlier, that Mutharika died Thursday following a heart attack. The Cabinet declared 10 days of mourning.