The President of Sri Lanka Cricket (SLC), Shammi Silva has tendered his resignation from the post with effect from today (29), SLC said in a statement.

The officer bearers and members of the Executive Committee have also submitted their resignations from their respective posts.

The decision has been formally communicated to President Anura Kumara Dissanayake and Minister of Youth Affairs and Sports Sunil Kumara Gamage, SLC added.

The other common denominator: President Donald Trump.

Britain’s BBC is reeling this week following the resignations of its director-general, Tim Davie, and news chief Deborah Turness amid accusations of bias in the editing of last year’s documentary, “Trump: A Second Chance.” The BBC admitted filmmakers spliced together quotes from different sections of the speech Trump made before the Jan. 6, 2021, storming of the U.S. Capitol to make it seem like he was directly urging violence.

Trump sued CBS’ parent company over a “60 Minutes” edit of Kamala Harris’ interview, resulting in this summer’s settlement, and the complaints of his Homeland Security secretary, Kristi Noem, about her “Face the Nation” interview in August caused a policy change.

In a different time, the BBC episode would likely have led to a quick admission of a mistake, a correction, apology and everyone would have moved on, said Mark Lukasiewicz, a former NBC News executive and now dean of Hofstra University’s School of Communication.

“But in an era where every editing decision taken in a newsroom is now under a microscope and can be weaponized for political purposes,” he said, “it’s got to be something that is causing real caution in newsrooms all over the world now.”

Editing decisions were once largely behind the scenes

Questioning edits is another tool for the president to strike back at journalists who displease him. He has restricted access by The Associated Press after its decision not to follow his lead in renaming the Gulf of Mexico, sued outlets like The New York Times and Wall Street Journal and stripped funding for public broadcasting because he doesn’t like its news coverage.

Much like print reporters who search through notebooks for the perfect quote, video editors often labor to identify footage that will advance a story.

Sometimes the perfect image does not exist, or a quote isn’t as succinct or sharp as a medium under constant time constraints demands. That can lead to the temptation to rearrange or even manipulate.

NBC News got in trouble more than a decade ago for a story about George Zimmerman — who fatally shot Trayvon Martin, a young man who was in his Florida gated community. It quoted Zimmerman talking to a police dispatcher about Martin, saying “this guy looks like he’s up to no good. He looks Black.”

In reality, Zimmerman’s description of Martin’s activities last longer, and his speculation about Martin’s race was a direct response to a police dispatcher’s question about it. Zimmerman sued NBC News for libel, a case later thrown out by a judge. NBC apologized to its viewers.

Katie Couric apologized in 2016 when an editor for her “Under the Gun” documentary inserted an eight-second pause after footage of Couric questioning guns right activists about background checks. The activists actually responded right away.

Quotes artificially compressed in BBC documentary

In the BBC edit, different parts of Trump’s 2021 Capitol speech are edited to appear as a single quote: “We’re going to walk down to the Capitol and I’ll be there with you. And we fight. We fight like hell.”

But the second two sentences of that quote were actually said nearly an hour later than the first sentence, and part of his speech where he said he wanted supporters to demonstrate peacefully was omitted.

In an interview that aired Tuesday on Fox News, Trump said, “I guess I have to” sue the BBC. “Because I think they defrauded the public and they’ve admitted it.”

In teaching video editing to students at Syracuse University, Jamie Hoskins said she repeatedly emphasizes the need not to be misleading. She’s a former news producer who worked in New York City, Washington, D.C. and Buffalo, New York.

“I talk about that in every class at every level,” she said. “You don’t want to mischaracterize what people are saying or change their meaning by piecing things together.”

The proliferation of video — ever shorter, ever snappier — on TikTok and Instagram adds to pressure placed on journalists. The ability of AI to manufacture completely false video is yet another complication. Fake, racist video of Black food assistance recipients complaining about missing benefits due to the government shutdown spread online; a Fox News digital story linked to some of the videos earlier this month and had to be corrected.

“We live in a world now where people can get content from everywhere,” Hoskins said. “There is a difference between content and journalism.”

A new way to protect against complaints

At the root of Trump’s complaint about “60 Minutes” was an exchange between correspondent Bill Whitaker and Kamala Harris, the president’s opponent in last year’s election. CBS aired two different reports — on “60 Minutes” and “Face the Nation” — depicting Harris giving two different answers to a Whitaker question about the war in the Mideast.

CBS News said both responses were part of Harris’ long-winded answer to the same question. But to people who saw both broadcasts, the effect was jarring; other news outlets say they have a strict policy, when they show an interviewer posing a question, that the immediate, direct response is aired.

CBS News defended it as routine editing. But it gave Trump an opening to charge that it was done to benefit Harris’ campaign.

“I don’t think the practices and standards are worse today than they were a few years ago,” Lukasiewicz said. “I think the consequences of mistakes are more serious than perhaps they used to be,” he said, because of the ability and willingness of politicians to seize on them.

In Noem’s pretaped talk with “Face the Nation” moderator Margaret Brennan this summer, the Homeland Security secretary complained CBS News had “shamefully edited the interview to whitewash the truth.” The network had shortened the interview, removing some accusations Noem had made about Kilmar Abrego Garcia, the immigrant deported by the Trump administration.

In response, the network said that it would only air interviews on “Face the Nation” that were conducted live or, if taped in advance, would have to air in full.

More often, networks are defusing potential editing controversies by posting online full, unedited transcripts of key interviews, Lukasiewicz said. CBS News did that immediately when it aired a pre-taped edited interview with Trump on Nov. 2, along with video. The network didn’t release a transcript of its Harris interview for more than three months — not until Trump had sued and the FCC launched an investigation of the news division.

The Trump transcript release created its own issues, with dozens of amateur editors comparing the transcript to the shorter, edited interview that aired on “60 Minutes” to see what producers had decided to leave out.

This time, though, Trump had no complaints.

President Anura Kumara Dissanayake emphasized that no crime should be concealed by the passage of time and that time will never be an obstacle in bringing criminals to justice. 

He assured that the incumbent government is determined to punish crimes without any discrimination, regardless of when or where they were committed.

The President made these remarks while addressing the 159th Police Day celebrations held this afternoon (03) at the Thimbirigasyaya Police Stadium, under the theme “Let’s Protect the Law – Let’s Value Peace.”

Highlighting the grave responsibility of the Police Department in curbing the drug menace and crimes committed using illegal weapons—both of which pose major social challenges today—the President affirmed that the government will safeguard police officers who perform their duties diligently. 

He further urged officers to carry out their responsibilities fearlessly.

President Dissanayake also addressed the challenges faced by police officers and the Sri Lanka Police Department. 

He reiterated the government’s commitment to strengthening the force by increasing its personnel, enhancing salaries and allowances, and developing a modern, technologically advanced police service.

In a candid remark, the President noted that while most police officers perform their duties with dedication, a small minority have failed to uphold their responsibilities.

“It must be said, even if reluctantly, that a handful have neglected their duty. I urge those officers to abandon such practices. Otherwise, they should resign. If not done voluntarily, we are prepared to remove them from service. We must re-establish the respect that every department rightfully deserves,” he emphasized.

Four senior officials with the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention announced their resignations in recent days, citing what they described as growing political interference in the agency’s scientific work, particularly regarding vaccines.

Two of those — Dr. Debra Houry, the CDC’s Chief Science and Medical Officer, and Dr. Demetre Daskalakis, who led the National Center for Immunization and Respiratory Diseases — stepped down on Wednesday, hours after the White House announced the firing of CDC Director Susan Monarez.

Monarez, confirmed by the Senate in late July, was removed less than a month into her tenure. White House spokesman Kush Desai said Monarez “was not aligned with the President’s agenda of Making America Healthy Again.” Monarez’s attorneys argue the dismissal is unlawful, asserting that only the president can remove a Senate-confirmed director.

On Thursday, deputy secretary of Health and Human Services Jim O’Neill was chosen to serve as acting CDC director, several White House officials confirmed to CBS News. And in an internal email sent to CDC staff Thursday evening, Secretary of Health and Human Services Robert F. Kennedy Jr. confirmed O’Neill as the acting CDC director, but did not address Monarez’s departure.  

“I am committed to working with you to restore trust, transparency, and credibility to the CDC,” Kennedy told CDC employees, later writing that “President Trump and I are aligned on the commonsense vision for the CDC: Strengthen the public health infrastructure by returning to its core mission of protecting Americans from communicable diseases by investing in innovation to prevent, detect and respond to future threats.”

Houry and Daskalakis said they had become increasingly uneasy about how vaccine policy was being handled. Both pointed to preparations for the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices meeting, which recommends vaccine schedules.

Houry said they feared “some decisions had been made before there was even the data or the science to support those. We are scientists, and that was concerning to us.”

Daskalakis added that he was “very concerned that there’s going to be an attempt to re-litigate vaccines that have already had clear recommendations with science that has been vetted,” which he warned could undermine public trust. “If you can’t attack access, then why not attack trust? And that’s what I think the playbook is,” he said.

Both officials cited instances in which evidence reviews were altered or withdrawn. A CDC analysis of thimerosal, a vaccine preservative, was briefly posted before being taken down at HHS’s direction. “If there’s something that doesn’t line up with the recommendations, then that information will be taken down, and it’s not there for the public to see for openness and transparency,” Houry said.

The two also criticized what they described as a lack of direct communication between CDC scientists and HHS leadership. Daskalakis said his team was never invited to brief Kennedy on topics ranging from measles to COVID.

When asked about Kennedy’s calls for “radical transparency,” Houry and Daskalakis described learning about changes to the COVID vaccine schedule for children not through internal channels but via social media.

“The radical transparency manifested itself by a Twitter post, which is how Dr. Houry and I learned that the secretary had mandated the change in the children’s vaccine schedule for COVID,” Daskalakis recalled. “What is the background that led to that decision? And we were denied access to that information. So, I don’t think that that’s radically transparent,” Daskalakis said.

CBS News reached out to HHS for comment on some of the allegations made by Houry and Daskalakis, but did not immediately hear back. 

Both officials said they had no jobs lined up when they resigned. Houry described the decision as an effort to raise the alarm about the direction of the agency.

“For us, this was really sending out a bat signal,” Houry said. “We were the very senior scientists and career leaders at CDC. We thought this was the time to stand together and try to do what we could to raise the alarm around public health in our country.”

Daskalakis said remaining at CDC under current conditions would have made them complicit in what he called the “weaponization” of public health. 

“The safety has already been compromised…We are flying blind in the U.S. already. If we continued…we would be complicit and would be facilitating the ability to go from flying blind to actively harming people,” he said.

Houry emphasized the severity of the moment by noting that she left without a backup plan. 

“My leaving without a job was really just showing how dire the circumstances had become,” Houry said. 

Daskalakis said his decision was also shaped by his medical oath. 

“As a physician, I take the Hippocratic oath: first, do no harm. I am seeing ideology permeating science in a way that is going to harm children and adults…I think we are seeing things that are happening that are making our country less prepared to be able to respond to the everyday pathogens …but also … to the next big thing.”

Both also expressed concerns for their personal safety in the current climate. 

“The environment we live in… stoked by misinformation, especially from people considered by some to be health authorities, makes me worried for all of us in public health,” Daskalakis said. “I am concerned, but that’s part of our job…to be brave and continue to speak the truth even when we are outside of the CDC.”

The resignations came weeks after a shooting outside the CDC’s Atlanta headquarters, which law enforcement linked to COVID misinformation.

Houry said the White House response to the shooting was muted. Kennedy toured the site but later gave an interview expressing distrust of experts. “That was after the attack. It was based on COVID misinformation. So this is when we were trying to build trust,” she said.

Daskalakis added that while Kennedy later described mass shootings as a public health crisis, he believed the secretary should address misinformation as a root cause. “The misinformation about the COVID vaccine that has been documented by the Georgia bureau of investigation as the reason for the shooter at CDC. I would really recommend that the secretary actually do take his own advice and actually address the core problem that led to that shooting as well,” he said. He also noted that CDC’s own gun violence prevention programs had been sharply reduced. “We talk about violence as a public health problem. It is, and there’s things we can do to prevent it. Unfortunately, the majority of that program, the staff are terminated.”

The firings and resignations have sparked calls for oversight. Independent Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont called for a bipartisan investigation, Democratic Sen. Patty Murray of Washington urged Kennedy’s removal, and Republican Sen. Bill Cassidy of Louisiana — who voted to confirm Kennedy’s appointment as HHC secretary — said the developments would “require oversight.”

The events come as the Food and Drug Administration narrowed eligibility for updated COVID-19 vaccines to older adults and people with risk factors for severe COVID.

The spate of resignations continued at Gensol Engineering as two independent directors, Harsh Singh and Kuljit Singh Popli, stepped down from their positions. This came a day after promoters Anmol Singh Jaggi and Puneet Singh Jaggi offered to step down.

The resignations come as the regulator barred the promoters from the securities market, citing serious financial misconduct.

Both the directors mentioned that recent events have pained them immensely and it is unfortunate that they had to resign in such difficult circumstances.

In an interim order, Sebi said there is a “complete breakdown” of corporate governance at Gensol, a renewable energy and electric vehicle (EV) firm.

The regulator accused the promoters of treating the listed company like a “personal piggy bank,” diverting funds for luxury purchases, including a high-end apartment in Gurgaon’s DLF Camellias and a Rs 26 lakh golf set.

The regulator’s probe, triggered by a June 2024 complaint, found that Gensol misused Rs 977.75 crore in loans from IREDA and PFC, meant for buying 6,400 EVs. Only 4,704 vehicles were purchased, leaving over Rs 207 crore unaccounted for.Funds were allegedly funneled to promoter-linked entities like Go-Auto and Capbridge Ventures, with some used for personal expenses.Gensol Engineering said it will fully cooperate with the forensic audit to be conducted at the behest of Sebi. The regulator will appoint a forensic auditor to thoroughly examine the books of accounts of the company and its related entities.

The turmoil at Gensol threw the spotlight on corporate governance in India, where Sebi chief Tuhin Kanta Pandey Thursday said it is essential to protect shareholder interests, particularly those of minority shareholders.

Speaking at a CII conference, Pandey said for listed companies, robust governance mechanisms are essential for enhancing investor confidence through transparent disclosures, board independence, and effective oversight.

Pandey further noted that Sebi will continue to expect a higher bar on governance, but the true and lasting change must come from within the corporate boardrooms.