Following are excerpts of Pranab Mukherjee's interview by Karan Thapar on Devil's Advocate, telecasted on the CNN-IBN news:
Karan Thapar: Last week the Sri Lankan government announced that with effect from January 15 it intends to abrogate the ceasefire agreement with the LTTE. In your eyes is this a mistake or this, given the spate of LTTE attacks in recent months, is both understandable and perhaps also inevitable?

A group of Sri Lankan refugees on Nauru will be resettled in Australia next week following completion of final health and character checks.The Minister for Immigration and Citizenship, Senator Chris Evans, said today that 21 Sri Lankans currently housed at the Offshore Processing Centre in Nauru would travel to Australia as part of the humanitarian resettlement program. 'These people have been found to be refugees by my department under the Refugees Convention and will receive support through the Integrated Humanitarian Settlement Strategy to establish their lives in Australia,' Senator Evans said.

14 December 2007 was the first anniversary of the death of Anton Balasingham. By coincidence, it was also the day on which the first reading was passed of one of the most threatening ‘war budgets’ in Sri Lanka’s history. A near-bankrupt Government allocated a record 166 billion rupees (US $1.5 billion) for military spending – a 20% increase over last year’s record allocation to pay for the war. President Mahinda Rajapakse, who is also Minister of Defence and of Finance, has imposed several new indirect taxes and cut social spending, to finance the war against people who are citizens of the country – the Tamils in the North and East.

Full text of the Wall Street Journal article follows:
Rajapakse's Big Bet
January 11, 2008
Sri Lanka's civil war has been raging for more than two decades, but President Mahinda Rajapakse is now betting he can win it. After formally withdrawing from peace talks last week, his government commenced a major offensive in the Tamil Tigers' northern stronghold. This is a risky gamble, by many measures.Mr. Rajapakse is right to argue that it's well past time to end to the conflict. More than 70,000 people have died so far, with more than 5,000 perishing in the past two years. Last week's assassination of Thiyagarajah Maheshweran, a Tamil member of the opposition United National Party (UNP), plus a roadside bombing in Colombo on the same day, triggered the abrogation of the cease-fire.

Cast: Ajith, Nayanthara, Namitha, Sujatha, Rahman & others
Director: Vishnuvardhan
Production: L. Suresh Balaji
Music: Yuvan Shankar Raja
6:30PM Saturday, 26 January 2008
Venue: Schonell Theatre, University of Queensland , St Lucia

Sri Lankan Minister of Nation Building D. M. Dassanayaka, seriously injured in a Claymore blast near Ja-Ela junction, 18 km northeast of Colombo city, Tuesday around 10:35 a.m., succumbed to his wounds at Ragama teaching hospital, Police said. The driver of his pajero vehicle and a security guard also succumbed to their wounds while 8 others were wounded in the attack. Mr. Dassayanaka was on his way to the Sri Lankan parliament to take part in the first day of 2008 parliament session. Meanwhile, pandemonium reigned at the first meeting of the Sri Lankan parliament as main opposition UNP protested over the assassination of Tamil parliamentarian T. Maheswaran who was slain on New Year's Day.

TORONTO - The recent decision by the government of Sri Lanka to formally end the ceasefire agreement with the Tamil Tigers should not be ignored by the world community, Liberal Foreign Affairs Critic Bob Rae said today. “This is a formal indication that the country has once again descended into war, which can only result in a humanitarian disaster,” Mr. Rae said. “It is precisely when the parties seem most determined to find a military solution to this conflict that the world community – the United Nations, the Commonwealth, donor countries – should be doing more to find political solutions instead.”

The Australasian Federation of Tamil Associations (AFTA) condemns the assassination of Mr. T. Maheswaran, a Colombo district Tamil parliamentarian, in broad daylight while attending New Year religious ceremonies at a Colombo suburban Hindu temple. AFTA urges every one who believes in democracy, justice and human rights to condemn this heinous crime.  AFTA feels that Tamils in Sri Lanka have lost another democratically elected leader and human rights campaigner because of the inaction by the International Community when similar assassinations of other Tamil parliamentarians took place. This has indirectly encouraged the perpetrators of such heinous acts to continue to carry out such acts with impunity.

3rd year Ayyappa Pooja we are planning to do on 12th Jan. 08 (Saturday) at Siva Dhaam Temple Hall, 45 Clare Road, Kingston. Pooja will be started at 5.45pm. Please be there by 5.30pm and please bring the flowers or fruits by 5.30pm.