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Madonna dazzled the Super Bowl crowd with an high-octane half-time show

INDIANAPOLIS, Indiana (AFP) - Madonna dazzled the Super Bowl crowd with an high-octane half-time show that started with an army of Roman gladiators and ended with plea for world peace written in lights.

The glittering 12-minute performance at Lucas Oil Stadium featuring several guest stars had legions of fans racing to Twitter to give their thumbs-up, with some going so far as to declare it one of the best in Super Bowl history.

"Now THAT was a halftime show!" said @michaelsette7 of Toronto in a typical tweet of approval. "All hail the queen. Bow down everyone, bow down!"

Entertainment Weekly critic Ken Tucker agreed, calling Madonna's performance "joyous, unironic, open-hearted ... She was both in full command and full of generosity towards her massive audience."

©AFP / Timothy A. Clary

Legions of fans gave their thumbs up to Madonna's Super Bowl show on Twitter

With a new album titled "MDNA" out March 26, the 53-year-old Madonna teamed up with choreographer Jamie King and Canada's Cirque du Soleil for the most-watched musical interlude of any major sporting event in the world.

Her challenge was to redeem last year's dismal showing by the Black Eyed Peas, whose futuristic performance failed to impress spectators already put out by Christina Aguilera botching the lyrics of the US national anthem.

With muscular spear-wielding gladiators in gold marching onto the field, Madonna -- styling herself as a Roman empress with a diamond-studded crown and kinky thigh-high boots -- kicked off the show with her 1990 dance hit "Vogue."

She then shifted into hip-hop mode, bringing out breakdancers -- and an impressive tight-rope walker -- for "Music" from 2008, accompanied by electro duo LMFAO who sampled their 2011 hit "Sexy and I Know It."

Rap queen Nicki Minaj and irreverent M.I.A. then joined Madonna for the just-released "Give Me All Your Luvin" set to a "Glee"-like cheerleader theme, complete with golden pom-poms and marching band.

©AFP/Getty Images / Christopher Polk

M.I.A. during her performance at the Super Bowl 46 half-time show

In a blink-and-you'll-miss-it moment, M.I.A. -- real name, Mathangi "Maya" Arulpragasam -- flipped a middle finger to the camera while singing a four-letter word that is part of "Luvin"'s original lyrics.

The image on the screen then scrambled just as briefly, suggesting that NBC television -- the official broadcaster of this year's Super Bowl -- was caught off-guard.

"We apologize for the inappropriate gesture that aired during halftime," NBC spokesman Christopher McCloskey said. "It was a spontaneous gesture that our delay system caught late."

For the finale, Madonna rolled out her 1989 hit "Like A Prayer" with crooner Cee Lo Green, a black-robed gospel choir and the stadium illuminated with thousands of tiny lights, concluding with the words "world peace" set against the darkness of the field -- and Madonna disappearing in a puff of smoke.

Half-time at the Super Bowl has been one of the most coveted gigs in American pop music since the late Michael Jackson performed with a 3,500-child choir in 1993, but hit a bump with his sister Janet Jackson's infamous "wardrobe malfunction" in 2004.

"This is a Midwestern girl's dream to be performing at the half-time show," said Madonna, a Michigan native, prior to Sunday's show.

Performing the national anthem before kickoff was "American Idol" winner Kelly Clarkson, with country stars Blake Shelton and Miranda Lambert adding to the patriotic mood with a duet version of "America the Beautiful."

©AFP/Getty Images/File / Dave Kotinsky

Paula Deen is the self-proclaimed "Queen of Southern Cuisine" famous for her dishes smothered in butter

WASHINGTON (AFP) - US cooking star Paula Deen, self-proclaimed "Queen of Southern Cuisine" famous for her dishes smothered in butter, has met a storm of outrage after revealing she has diabetes and is hawking a drug to treat the disease.

Deen, who famously showed off trademark high-fat, high-calorie meals including such creations as a hamburger wedged between a doughnut, was diagnosed with Type 2 diabetes three years ago -- but continued her show on the Food Network promoting what critics slammed as an outrageously unhealthy diet.

Detractors have lambasted the jovial cooking host in a country that is battling an obesity epidemic. According to recent studies one-in-three adults in America are obese, as are one-in-six children -- a grave, growing problem despite efforts to combat it with healthy eating campaigns.

Further sullying her image, however, 64-year-old Deen came out last month as a spokesperson for the pharmaceutical giant Novo Nordisk and its diabetes treatment Victoza, hawking the drug in a new campaign "Diabetes in a New Light."

Fellow US cooking celebrity Anthony Bourdain, a chef and host of Travel Channel show "No Reservations," took to Twitter to vent over Deen's decision.

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Anthony Bourdain has called Paula Deen "the worst, most dangerous person to America" due to her high-fat creations

"Thinking of getting into the leg-breaking business, so I can profitably sell crutches later," he quipped on the popular microblogging site.

Amid the US obesity crisis, Bourdain has laid into Deen before, due to her high-fat creations calling her "the worst, most dangerous person to America."

Known as "The Lady," Deen has become something of an institution for her heavy, no-apologies approach to cuisine, with a decade-long cooking show, 15 cookbooks, a well-known restaurant in Savannah, Georgia and a profitable lines of cooking wares sold in stores and online.

She has garnered a reputation for heavy, rich, fried southern dishes -- cooking up a combination of almost anything with the most butter, cream, sugar.

On savory dishes, she famously piles high the meat, heavily salted, drawing accusations of being in cahoots with giant meat firms that have in turn been blamed for rising cases of diabetes in the United States in recent years.

Her move to join "big pharma" and tout a diabetes drug has caused an uproar, not least because US authorities had approved the treatment Victoza in January 2010 despite evidence of a link to thyroid cancer. It also costs hundreds of dollars a month, compared to similar, less expensive options.

©AFP/Getty Images/File / Slaven Vlasic

Paula Deen's sons Jamie (L) and Bobby (C)

"I am here today to let the world know that it is not a death sentence," Deen said in announcing her diabetes diagnosis.

There was, however, little sympathy for her from fans and critics alike.

She had waited "three years before revealing she had developed diabetes -- three years of serving up ever-more carb-and-fat laden meals, dragging her legions down with her. And then, voila! She has the "magic bullet," ready for them to pop in their mouth," wrote one outraged viewer on an Internet forum.

Those closest to her meanwhile reportedly jumped ship over her decision to campaign for the dubious diabetes drug -- her publicist Nancy Assuncao Sanchez is said to have quit over the move.

Even her sons are apparently "furious" with her. The New York Post said Deen's children Jamie and Bobby -- the latter also hosts a cooking show called "Not My Mama's Meals" -- were worried that switching from a successful treatment to the new drug, for the sake of some millions of dollars in the endorsement deal, could endanger her health further.

Her defenders, however, pointed out the problem was not with Deen.

"She is not responsible for how people eat," insisted one commentator Gary Finger, on a blog for USA Today, saying she was simply geared towards giving people what they already wanted.