The two child stars of "Slumdog Millionaire" are at risk of losing their monthly stipend and their trust fund if they don't attend school more regularly, a trustee for the fund said yesterday.

Azharuddin Mohammed Ismail, 11, and Rubina Ali Qureshi, 10, shot to fame after starring in the Oscar-winning movie.

Azhar played the hero's brother, Salim, while Rubina was cast as the young Latika, who grows up to become his love interest.

But these days, Azhar is only showing up at school 37 percent of the time, and Rubina has only a 27 percent attendance rate, the trustee said.

"It's pathetic," said Noshir Dadrawala, who helps administer the Jai Ho trust established by the filmmakers to provide an education, living allowance and housing for the young stars, who both grew up in Mumbai's real-life shantytowns.

Dadrawala blamed the children's busy schedule for their chronic truancy.

"They are constantly going to Paris and Cochin and Chennai," he said. "That's fine, but go over the weekend, not at the sacrifice of school."

The children's parents said the absences were due to deaths in the family and other problems and promised to get them to school from now on.

Dadrawala said the trust decided that if the children do not get their attendance above 70 percent they will lose their monthly stipend of about $120. If they fail to graduate, they will forfeit a lump sum payment set aside by the filmmakers to help the children, who grew up in one of Mumbai's more wretched slums, get a start in life.

Sotheby's is auctioning a self-portrait by Andy Warhol that was recently found after being forgotten in a closet in New York City for more than 40 years.

The painting belongs to Cathy Naso. She was 17 when she got a part-time job as a receptionist at Warhol's Factory.

Two years later, in 1967, Warhol gave her a self-portrait inscribed to her.

The Brooklyn resident displayed the painting briefly and then stored it in a closet. It remained there until this year.

It will be on display at Sotheby's New York offices starting Friday and will be auctioned at a Nov. 11 sale of contemporary art.

The auction house estimates it will sell for $1 million or more.

Madonna has promised electricity to a village in Malawi, the impoverished southern African country where she runs a charity organization and from which she has adopted two children.

Speaking in Mphandula, some 30 miles from Malawi's capital, Lilongwe, the singer said yesterday: "I know you work in darkness. I will bring you electricity."

Madonna's Raising Malawi charity already has donated $500,000 for a child care center in the village that feeds and educates 3,000 orphaned children.

Madonna arrived in Malawi on Sunday accompanied by her four children. On Monday she broke ground for her $15 million Raising Malawi Academy for Girls.

About 500,000 children in this nation of 12 million have lost a parent to AIDS.

Sting isn't a religious man, but he says President Barack Obama might be a divine answer to the world's problems.

"In many ways, he's sent from God," he joked in an interview, "because the world's a mess."

But Sting is serious in his belief that Obama is the best leader to navigate the world's problems. In an interview Wednesday, the former Police frontman said that he spent some time with Obama and "found him to be very genuine, very present, clearly super-smart, and exactly what we need in the world."

"I can't think of anyone better qualified because of his background, his education, particularly in regard to Islam," he said.

Well, well, well. Looks like you can teach old, press-hungry, reality-has-been, self-unaware, partner-hopping dogs new tricks. Or at least teach them to hire a better spin doctor.

In an exclusive statement to E! News, Jon Gosselin has apologized for, well, everything he's put the media-watching public through over the past few months. And that includes new promises to Kate Gosselin and their plus 8.

His epiphany came after bogus reports surfaced yesterday linking him to a reality project with the other Octomom.

"I am troubled to learn that the media has accepted as true the scurrilous rumor that I would appear in a reality television program with Nadya Suleman. This is utterly false. I do however accept that some of my previous actions have in some way lent credence to such outrageous stories."

He continues: "I am well aware that my behavior over the past few months has not always reflected my personal and religious values.

"I further accept that I have allowed myself to become somewhat severed from my own moral anchor and be carried away by the challenges of fame. It is for this reason that I have endeavored of late to reconnect with my deeper, more spiritual, more altruistic self with regular study sessions and counseling."

Gosselin says he will seek enlightenment with Rabbi Michael Shmuley, frequent Oprah couch-sitter and recent Michael Jackson secret-spiller, praising Shmuley's "morality-centered-and-values-based advice, coupled with his profound commitment to fatherhood and family."

Seems Jon Gosselin has more apologizing to do, too.

His girlfriend Hailey Glassman tells the syndicated television magazine show "The Insider" that the one-time reality TV dad takes out his anger on her. She says he throws "mantrums."

Adds the 22-year-old: "He's like Jekyll and Hyde. But I still love him."

YouTube's webcast of a U2 concert was watched by nearly 10 million people, the video site's largest streaming event ever.

The Google Inc.-owned site said that the concert was watched around the world. It was shown live from the Rose Bowl in Pasadena, Calif., on Sunday.

Chris Maxcy, head of music partnerships at YouTube, called the event "a big win" for the site.

The full 21/2-hour concert is available on YouTube. The rebroadcast video has been watched by more than 1.1 million viewers.

Mackenzie Carpenter's video program, "Omnivore," is available exclusively at PG+, a members-only web site of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. Our introduction to PG+ gives you all the details.