This just in from my publishers Hurst: the ebook versions of my book ‘To End A Civil War‘ are now live globally across all platforms. Apparently the easiest way to find them is through Kindle stores (via Amazon). N. America: Amazon.com www.amazon.com/Kindle-Store/b?ie=UTF8&node=133140011 UK: www.amazon.co.uk/Kindle-Store/b/?ie=UTF8&node=341677031

Chief of aid donor group urges funding boost Erik Solheim, chair of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development’s Development Assistance Committee, speaks at the University of Ottawa on Jan. 13. Kristen Shane Wednesday, 01/20/2016 The leader of a main group of aid donors says Canada’s new government should set a path to boost aid to reach international standards. Erik Solheim, chair of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development’s Development Assistance Committee, said the new Liberal government should continue with the former Conservative government’s focus on leveraging private-sector investment in developing countries, and go further. If Britain’s Conservative government… More

https://twitter.com/TamilGuardian/status/687738075682856960?s=04 Tamil Guardian ‏@TamilGuardian Live tweeting from the @AtlanticCouncil event on foreign intervention in #srilanka with @SolheimDAC and @marsal61 Panel begins @AtlanticCouncil with Bharath Gopalaswamy BP: Intl involvement in #srilanka faced challenges, from lack of local support to questions of sovereignty Mark Salter begins remarks with an excerpt from his book, reflecting on visiting LTTE leader Pirabakaran’s bunker. He speaks of Army’s decision to blow up Pirabakaran’s bunker, once visited by tourists @marsal61 gives credit to Richard Armitage for working to get U.S. to talk to “terrorists”, which was absolutely needed at the time @marsal61 #srilanka failed to secure bipartisan… More

Interview with Erik Solheim and myself at the 14 January Toronto launch of my new book. Solheim Calls On Diaspora To Work For Peace by Ranjit Bhaskar in Toronto The Sri Lankan civil war holds many a lesson for the island-nation’s diaspora community in Canada and the world in general, according to Erik Solheim, former Norwegian Minister for International Development and for the Environment. Solheim’s name is synonymous with peacemaking in Sri Lanka. “My biggest sorrow was that thousands of Tamils died unnecessarily due to lack of vision from both the Sinhala and Tamil leadership,” he said in Toronto this week,… More

Excellent BBC interview with in-the-news Israeli authoress Dorit Rabinyan in which she gives a concise, clear – and in my view truthful – account of the reasons the Israeli Education Ministry has moved to stop her new novel, Borderlife, entering the national curriculum. Like thousands of others, I will definitely be buying the book once the English translation comes out. All power to her! http://bbc.in/1RcdK5H

Time Out Tel Aviv’s great video response to the Iaraeli Education Ministry’s recent book ban. Go for it, guys n’ gals! <iframe src=”https://embed.theguardian.com/embed/video/world/video/2016/jan/07/jews-arabs-israel-kiss-book-video” width=”560″ height=”315″ frameborder=”0″ allowfullscreen></iframe>

For details of the book launch event scheduled for next Wednesday (13 January) in Ottawa visit the links (English and French) below. As at the other North American launch events, speakers will be myself and Erik Solheim. The launch will be held 4-6pm at Fauteux Hall, located at the Human Rights Research and Education Centre. https://cdp-hrc.uottawa.ca/en/jan-13-book-launch-end-civil-war https://cdp-hrc.uottawa.ca/fr/13-jan-lancement-du-livre-end-civil-war

Here the link to the film of my new book’s late-October 2015 London launch, held at the School of African and Oriental Studies (SOAS). Also in attendance were Erik Solheim, the former lead Norwegian negotiator in Sri Lanka, Vidar Helgesen, Deputy Foreign Minister during a crucial period in the Norwegian engagement in Sri Lanka, and Dr. Sutha Nadarajah, a senior lecturer at SOAS with strong past connections to the former chief LTTE political advisor, Anton Balasingham, who died in 2006. 1 1/2 hours may be pushing it a bit so suggest you can pick and choose your favoured bits! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sLnJ3S1stB8

Share on Twitter Here are the details of next Thursday (14 January)’s launch event for my new book on Sri Lanka, at the Atlantic Council building. All present in the vicinity very welcome!  http://www.atlanticcouncil.org/events/upcoming-events/detail/1-foreign-intervention-in-south-asia-a-case-study-from-sri-lanka

Here’s a recent interview I did on the Tamil IBC TV channel. The subject was – unsurprisingly – my new book on the Norwegian peace effort in Sri Lanka. Equally unsurprisingly, they’ve seized on the most controversial topic covered for a title . . . . . http://www.ceylonews.com/2016/01/01/rajapaksa-wanted-a-closed-door-deal-with-prabhakaran/