M.I.A.: Don't Call My Baby 'Ickitt'

To those Internet reports claiming M.I.A. named her 3-week-old boy Ickitt, the rapper responds: Ick!

In a humorous message on her MySpace Celebrity Blog, the "Paper Planes" songstress shot down the rumors while poking fun at a few of the more unique names bestowed upon certain celebrity kids.

"MY BABY IS NOT CALLED ICKITT, PICKIT OR LICKIT THANK YOU VERY MUCH, " she writes. "HES A BABY, HE DONT NEED PRESS!"

Explaining that she doesn't consider her son's name to be newsworthy information, M.I.A., 31, says she'll be back with something for her fans soon. "TILL THEN GO PICK ON APPLE, SATCHEL AND MOON UNIT," she suggests.

Her son, born Feb. 11, is the first child for M.I.A., whose given name is Mathangi Arulpragasam, and her musician fiancé, Benjamin Bronfman.

Memorably performing while pregnant at the Grammys last month, M.I.A. was also nominated for an Oscar for her song "O Saya," from Best Picture Slumdog Millionaire.

M.I.A. and the Sri Lankan Foreign Secretary

Three weeks ago hip hop artist, M.I.A. spoke about the on-going situation in Sri Lanka. M.I.A. spent much of her youth there as a member of Sri Lanka's minority Tamil population, which she says is the victim of "systematic genocide." Sri Lanka's Foreign Secretary, Dr. Palitha Kohona, who took exception to M.I.A.'s remarks.



AND CONGRADS TO M.I.A on her newborn son!!


M.I.A., who performed at the Grammy Awards last Sunday despite experiencing labor contractions, has given birth to a baby boy, she said on her MySpace page.

The unnamed baby was born on Wednesday, and is "healthy, fine, beautiful and the most amazing thing ever on this planet," according to her Web posting on Saturday.

The baby's father is musician Benjamin Brewer, son of Canadian liquor scion Edgar Bronfman, chairman and CEO of Warner Music Group. The location was not disclosed.

M.I.A., 31, whose real name is Mathangi "Maya" Arulpragasam, was born in Britain but raised in Sri Lanka, where her father agitated for an independent Tamil state. She achieved fame with her second album "Kala," a cross-cultural mishmash of beats, slogans and lyrical drama. Her ubiquitous single "Paper Plane," which incorporates elements of an obscure Clash track, received a Grammy nomination for record of the year.

Actor slits his own throat as knife switch turns fiction into reality

An actor slit his throat on stage when the prop knife for his suicide scene turned out to be a real one.

Daniel Hoevels, 30, slumped over with blood pouring from his neck while the audience broke into applause at the "special effect". Police are investigating whether the knife was a mistake or a murder plot. They are questioning the rest of the cast, and backstage hands with access to props; they will also carry out DNA tests.

Things went wrong at Vienna's Burgtheater as Hoevels' character went to "kill himself" in the final scene of Friedrich Schiller's Mary Stuart, about Mary Queen of Scots, on Saturday night

It was only when he did not get up to take a bow that anyone realised something had gone wrong.

Though bleeding profusely, Hoevels survived because the knife missed the carotid artery as it sliced into his neck. Wolfgang Lenz, a doctor who treated him, said: "Just a little bit deeper and he would have been drowning in his own blood."

One officer told Austrian TV news: "The rumours are wild, with some claiming that he was the victim of jealous rival.

"We don't know anything for sure yet; we have to work through everyone."

The knife was reportedly bought at a local shop; one possibility is that the props staff forgot to blunt its blade. "The knife even still had the price tag on it," an investigator said.

After emergency treatment at a hospital, Hoevels declared that the show must go on, and returned to the stage on Sunday night with a bandage tied around his neck, ready to once again meet his mock demise.