Angelina Jolie adopts Vietnamese boy

HOLLYWOOD actress Angelina Jolie has left a Vietnamese orphanage with her
new son, whom she has renamed Pax Thien Jolie. Officials said the adoption of the boy from the Ho Chi Minh City orphanage would be final once US consular and embassy officials gave approval.

The boy had been registered at Tam Binh orphanage under the name Pham Quang Sang.

Angelina Jolie and her child were driven from the orphanage to the Justice Department in the city centre to sign adoption documents. Her car was seen leaving the underground parking area 30 minutes later.

"It is lucky for him. It's wonderful to be adopted by someone really famous. You can have a good life," said Nguyen Thi Thuong, 39, who was at the office with her British husband to register their child's birth certificate. The boy adopted by Angelina Jolie is aged between 3 and 4.

Angelina Jolie has three other children - an adoptive son and daughter and a biological daughter with Hollywood actor and partner Brad Pitt. Angelina Jolie flew into Ho Chi Minh City late yesterday from Japan on a chartered plane, accompanied by her son and daughters.

The boy, described by adoption authorities as healthy, had been abandoned at a local hospital in 2003 and cared for since at the orphanage. Senior officials said Jolie's adoption had been speded up, partly due to her celebrity status.

The actress, 31, filed adoption papers in early March through an unidentified American agency without Pitt. Under Vietnamese law, a single person may adopt a child but an unmarried couple
may not. In Vietnam, adoptions can take as little as one month if background checks are quickly completed along with confirmation the adopting family can support a child.

Angelina Jolie and Pitt Brad visited Ho Chi Minh City last November and met children at the orphanage. The couple say they have no plans to marry but are committed to raising their
children together.

Their biological daughter, Shiloh Nouvel, was born last year.

Angelina Jolie adopted Maddox from Cambodia and Zahara from Ethiopia before her relationship with Pitt Brad, who has now become their adoptive father.

The couple starred in the 2005 movie Mr & Mrs Smith.

They are also working together on the film A Mighty Heart about the killing of a US journalist by Pakistani militants.