Strengthening journalism to advance democracies; Information as a public good
The Sri Lanka Press Institute (SLPI) marks World Press Freedom Day on May 3, 2021 in concurrence with UNESCO’s commemoration of 30 years of the Windhoek Declaration under the theme “Information as a Public Good”. The completion of 30 years of the landmark Windhoek Declaration for the development of free independent and pluralistic press also [...]
Book on Criminal Procedure Code
Upali Senaratne PC, has authored a publication consisting of foreign judgments related to the existing Criminal Procedure Code of Sri Lanka. The book was presented to Chief Justice Jayantha Jayasuriya, Supreme Court Justice Yasantha Kodagoda and Court of Appeal President Justice Arjun Obeysekera recently. The new book also contains the recent amendments to the Criminal [...]
“Archiving Architecture” presentation postponed
RIBA Members Sri Lanka, together with JAT Holdings Limited, postponed the Presentation titled “Archiving Architecture” by Architect Channa Daswatte, which was scheduled to be held on Saturday, April 24, at 5:30 pm at the Shangri-La Hotel Colombo, due to the new developments of the Covid-19 pandemic in the country. This postponement was decided by the [...]
The day the UN buried its report focusing on apartheid in Israel
UNITED NATIONS (IPS)— When the UN’s Beirut-based Economic and Social Commission for Western Asia (ESCWA), released a landmark 2017 report focusing on “apartheid” in Israel, the United Nations disassociated itself with the study and left it to die — unceremoniously and unsung. According to a March 2017 report in Foreign Policy Journal, both the Israeli [...]
Breakdown in law and order: So, what do we do?
The articles widely written on law and order in the Sunday Times (ST) have evoked responses in various ways. One is a venerable perceptive gentleman from Kurunegala. He asks: So, what do we do? The question is at once discerning and of concern. This question resounds to the tone of Poet TS Elliott who said: [...]
Is Sputnik Russia’s political weapon?
Russia’s Sputnik V vaccine has yet to win EU regulatory approval and is likely to play little part in the bloc’s rollout, but it has already achieved what some observers say is one of its objectives – sowing division among, and within, member states. “Sputnik V has become a tool of soft power for Russia,” [...]
India’s COVID tsunami
NEW DELHI – It is humbling when a columnist must retract his words soon after penning them. Just two months ago, after India rushed millions of doses of COVID-19 vaccines to over 60 countries, I praised the country’s “vaccine diplomacy.” India’s aspirations to be recognised as a global power had been given a real boost. [...]