M.I.A. banned from the US

[3rd Worlder]

Brit rap star M.I.A. (Maya Arulpragasam) banned from US
25-05-2006

Critically-acclaimed British rapper M.I.A. has been barred from entering the US to work on her new album, it has been revealed.

The star - whose real name is Maya Arulpragasam - posted a message on her website explaining that she had been due to work with top American hip hop producer Timbaland, but was now having to make the record elsewhere. Arulpragasam, the daughter of a Tamil Tiger fighter, grew up in Hounslow, west London after fleeing Sri Lanka with her mother aged 11. Her debut album Arular, which saw her nominated for a Mercury Music Prize last year, features controversial lyrics about revolution.

In her most recent single, Sunshowers, she sings: "Like PLO I don't surrender." Pull Up The People contains the line: "I've got the bombs to make you blow." Arulpragasam, 28, does not explain in the website posting why she has been denied a visa. But numerous messages of support posted by fans suggest it is related to the political content of her songs.

Her artist's message, under the headline "They try to shut my door!" reads: "Roger roger do you here me over the US immigration won't let me in!" She adds: "Now I'm strictly making my album outside the borders" and asks fans to spread the word using the internet. Her UK record company, XL Recordings, would not comment on why she had not been able to get into America.

As a refugee with barely any English, Maya learnt the language from music and TV before eventually landing a place at the prestigious Central St Martin's College of Art and Design in London. She got involved in the music scene after Justine Frischmann, the one-time frontwoman of Britpop band Elastica, asked her to design an album cover and film the group's 2001 US tour.

:thumbsdow

[3rd Worlder]

Her website ain't working either

haha, Fukking Bush and NSA done shut down MIA.

:mad:

More news
http://www.ballerstatus.net/news/read/id/55813414/

[Danny Banton]

girl too ugly to get passport photos, forget what you heard.

[3rd Worlder]

EU puts Sri Lanka's Tamil rebels on terror list

BRUSSELS (AFP) - The
European Union put Sri Lanka's Tamil Tigers on its list of terrorist groups, despite a warning from the rebels that the move could force them back to war.

The EU ban, agreed in principle on May 18, was made official at a meeting of ministers from the 25-member bloc to discuss competition issues.

It will deprive the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) of some of the vital funds they collect from members of the Tamil diaspora in Europe.

As well as freezing rebel funds, the move, which came at the urging of the United States and the Sri Lankan government, also provides for special EU cooperation measures to combat the group.

The separatist ethnic conflict in Sri Lanka has claimed more than 60,000 lives since 1972. More than 200 people died last month despite a four-year truce between government forces and the rebels, brokered by Norway.

Sri Lanka had hoped a ban would force the rebels to the negotiating table, and the EU move comes just as the rebels have accepted an invitation to take part in talks in Norway next month.

An EU diplomat, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the LTTE had brought the ban on itself.

"If they had been serious at the negotiating table we could have thought about another way, we would have set up a virtuous circle, instead of this vicious circle that we're in at the moment," he said.

According to the pro-rebel Internet site, Nitharsanam.com, the Tigers will send representatives for a two-day meeting in Norway starting June 8 to discuss the role of the Sri Lanka Monitoring Mission.

The safety of Scandinavian truce monitors will be high on the agenda.

Government sources have said that Colombo was not averse to the meeting in Norway, but had been waiting for a signal from the Tigers before announcing their intention to participate.

It is unclear what affect the EU ban will have on the talks.

In Sri Lanka, there was no immediate comment from the Tigers or the government over the ban.

However, in remarks published in the pro-rebel Tamilnet.com website, the LTTE's political wing leader S. P. Thamilselvan said an EU-wide ban could affect the work of Scandinavians monitoring a truce in Sri Lanka.

Three of the five Nordic countries constituting the Sri Lanka Monitoring Mission (SLMM) are from EU member countries.

"The EU's ban will conflict with the objective functioning of monitors from EU countries, and will damage the trust and good will Tamil people had in the EU countries," Thamilselvan said.

For its part, the Colombo administration had said that it expected the ban to encourage the Tigers to return the negotiating table it left in April 2003.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20060529/ts_afp/srilankaunresteu_060529204550