'Kill Bush' rappers rapped by US

The US embassy takes threats against the president very seriously

A Norwegian rap group that criticised US President George W Bush by setting up a website whose name means "Kill him now" is in trouble with US authorities.

Washington's embassy in Oslo has reported hip-hop artists Gatas Parlament to the police, accusing them of threatening the president.

Their website argued for shooting the US president and urged readers to pay money towards a bounty on his head.

Gatas Parlament, or Street Parliament, has defended the exercise as a satire.

Oslo police has since taken the site, www.killhim.nu, off the internet.

In its place now is a copy of the police order closing down the site.

'Political campaign'

The .nu suffix appears at the end of several addresses for web sites based in Scandinavia.

However, it also sounds similar to the Norwegian word for "now" - leading to the suggestion that Gatas Parlament's website was calling for President Bush's immediate assassination.

Oslo police said they planned to interview the rap group to find out whether they should be charged with threatening the president.

If found guilty, the charge could lead to a fine or a maximum prison sentence of two years.

A member of the band, Aslak Borgersund, told a Norwegian newspaper it was "pretty obvious to everyone who does not work for the American embassy or the police that this wasn't about killing anyone".

He described the website as a political campaign.