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ICC T20 World Cup Trophy tour in Sri Lanka launched under President’s patronage
The official tour showcasing the ICC T20 World Cup trophy, which will be jointly hosted by India and Sri Lanka in 2026, was formally inaugurated on Wednesday (21) at the Presidential Secretariat under the patronage of President Anura Kumara Dissanayake.
The trophy will be displayed in several major cities across the island from Wednesday 21st until Saturday 24th, over a period of four days. Cricket fans will have the opportunity to see the golden trophy up close during the Sri Lanka vs England One-Day International match at the R. Premadasa International Stadium in Colombo.
Subsequently, plans are in place to take the trophy to the cities of Kandy, Dambulla and Jaffna, providing cricket enthusiasts in those regions as well with the opportunity to take commemorative photographs with the World Cup trophy and view it. The primary aim of this tour is to generate excitement and build spectator interest in the lead-up to hosting a World Cup tournament in the country.
The ICC Men’s T20 World Cup is scheduled to be held from 7th February to 8th March 2026 co-hosted by Sri Lanka and India. This World Cup is the largest tournament Sri Lanka will host since the T20 World Cup held in 2012.
The tournament schedule was revealed on 25th November 2025 in India, where the International Cricket Council (ICC) selected the R. Premadasa International Stadium in Colombo, the Pallekele International Stadium and the Colombo SSC Ground as the venues for matches in Sri Lanka.
Accordingly, 8 matches are scheduled at the R. Premadasa International Stadium, 5 matches at the Colombo SSC Ground and 7 matches at the Pallekele International Stadium.
Twenty countries are set to participate in this tournament. Twenty matches of the tournament are scheduled to be held in Sri Lanka, with all matches involving the Pakistan team to be played in Sri Lanka. Furthermore, a special feature is that if the Pakistan team qualifies for the semi-finals and the final, Sri Lanka will also host those two matches.
In that event, the final will be held at the R. Premadasa International Stadium in Colombo, increasing the number of matches scheduled for Sri Lanka to 22.
Apart from the host nations Sri Lanka and India, Test-playing nations England, South Africa, New Zealand, Pakistan, West Indies, Bangladesh, Ireland, Zimbabwe and Afghanistan will be represented in this tournament. Additionally, the United States of America, Canada, Italy, the Netherlands, Namibia, Nepal, Oman and the United Arab Emirates are the other contributing countries.
The T20 World Cup to be held in Sri Lanka at the beginning of 2026 can be considered an excellent opportunity to deliver effective value to the country’s economy, tourism industry, sports development, international promotion and society.
In particular, the arrival of teams, media groups and thousands of spectators, including foreign tourists, will generate significant foreign exchange earnings for the country. It is also expected to create short and long-term employment opportunities in various sectors including hotel and food & beverage businesses, transport services and technical and operational services.
By Sri Lanka hosting this tournament, long-term benefits such as increased opportunities for new investments as Sri Lanka is recognised worldwide as a tourist destination, the identification of Sri Lanka as a year-round sports tourism hub and the strengthening of Sri Lanka’s international profile leading to an enhancement of the country’s value, will be attained.
Minister of Youth Affairs and Sports, Sunil Gamage, Deputy Minister of Sports, Sugath Tilakaratne, Director General of Sports, S. Achchudan, Sri Lanka Cricket President, Shammi Silva along with the Executive Committee and a group including Sri Lanka’s T20 World Cup team captain Dasun Shanaka and Head Coach, Sanath Jayasuriya were also present at the occasion.
A South Korean court has found ex-president Yoon Suk Yeol guilty of masterminding an insurrection.
The 65-year-old has been sentenced to life in prison over his botched attempt in December 2024 at imposing military rule
Yoon’s order lasted just six hours but shook the country – it paralysed what was left of the government and cost his party the next election
It also polarised South Korea, and that is evident today as crowds of his supporters gathered to protest outside the court
Yoon is already serving jail time for another conviction over the martial law order. He still faces two more trials in relation to it
[BBC]
Peru’s Congress has voted to appoint former judge and left-wing lawmaker Jose Maria Balcazar as interim president, replacing the right-wing leader Jose Jeri a day after his removal.
Wednesday’s vote ushers in Peru’s ninth president in a decade. Balcazar’s term, however, will be short.
In just 53 days, on April 12, the country will head to the ballot box to vote for a new president. If no candidate gains more than 50 percent of the vote, a run-off will be held in June.
Traditionally, Peru’s president-elects are inaugurated on the country’s Independence Day in late July. That ceremony will mark the end of Balcazar’s leadership.
Balcazar’s short tenure is the latest sign of turbulence in Peru’s government. Of Peru’s last eight presidents, four have been impeached and removed from office, and two have resigned before their term’s end.
The last president to serve a complete term was Ollanta Humala, whose presidency ended in July 2016.
Balcazar’s ascent to the presidency, however, was marked by its own turmoil. In an initial round of voting, centre-right lawyer Maria del Carmen Alva, 58, and Balcazar, 83, came out ahead, with 43 and 46 votes respectively.
But they both fell short of the 59 votes needed to be president, so another round of voting was announced. The left-wing party Together for Peru, however, decided to boycott the second round.
Balcazar ultimately won after a tally of the 113 congressional votes cast. He received 60 votes.
The prospect of Balcazar’s victory in the vote sparked outrage and frustration among some right-wing politicians, who denounced him on social media.
(Aljazeera)
Rescue teams combing through the backcountry of California’s Lake Tahoe region say they have found the bodies of eight skiers who went missing in an avalanche on Tuesday.
The search for a final missing skier continues but that person is presumed dead, Nevada County Sheriff Shannan Moon said at a news conference on Wednesday.
Officials said one of the deceased was the spouse of someone on one of the search-and-rescue teams, making continued rescue efforts “challenging emotionally”.
Fifteen skiers were reported missing on Tuesday after a “football-field” sized avalanche came barreling down in the Castle Peak area around 11:30 PST (19:30 GMT). Six have been rescued.
“I want to offer my condolences to the family in this very trying time,” Placer County Sheriff Wayne Woo said on Wednesday.
The bodies of the eight dead skiers are still trapped in the snow and can’t yet be recovered due to “pretty horrific” conditions, officials said.
Since the avalanche, another 3ft (.9m) of snow has fallen on the area, Tahoe National Forest supervisor Chris Feutrier said.
“The hazard remains high,” he said.
Once the bodies are recovered, they will be transported to the Placer County morgue.
Families of the deceased have been notified. Authorities have not yet released any of their names.
Officials say the victims are seven women and two men.
Sheriff Woo said the rescue operation was a joint effort involving two teams and roughly 50 crew members who had to traverse “extreme weather conditions” using specialised equipment.
At 17:30 local time on Tuesday, search teams arrived to an area roughly two miles (3.2km) from where survivors were sheltering in make-shift tents, and had to ski in from there.
Two of the six survivors had to be carried back and “could not walk because of the injuries they sustained during the avalanche”, Sheriff Moon said. They were taken to hospital with non-life-threatening injuries.
Among the survivors, one was a guide and five were clients of the Blackbird Mountain guided tour.
The entire ski group consisted of a mix of 11 recreational skiers and four ski guides.
The avalanche on Tuesday occurred as they were making their way back at the end of a three-day trip.
California Governor Gavin Newsom’s office said in a post on X that state authorities were “co-ordinating an all-hands search-and-rescue effort” with local emergency teams.
Conditions on Wednesday remained dangerous, multiple officials said, with Woo describing the climate as “treacherous”.
“Avoid the back country,” he said. “Please allow us to focus all of our resources on continuing to recover these bodies for the family and bring them home.”
The avalanche that trapped the skiers was rated as a D2.5 on a destructive potential scale of D1 to D5, according to the Sierra Avalanche Center, which would mean it was over half a mile in length and would have a deposit of around 6.5ft (2 metres).
The Boreal Mountain Ski Resort, which is near where the accident occurred, has reported over 30in (76cm) of snowfall since Tuesday.
The resort decided to close on Tuesday because of high winds and low visibility.
The storm has also closed several highways, including Interstate 80 and Highway 50.
[BBC]
South Korea’s ex-president jailed for life for masterminding an insurrection
Old and new at the SSC, just like Pakistan
Peru appoints Jose Maria Balcazar as president, ninth leader in a decade
Ambassador of Switzerland to Sri Lanka pays courtesy call on PM
Suspected carbon-monoxide leak kills at least 30 miners in Nigeria, witnesses say
Eight skiers found dead after California avalanche
‘Dates have the highest sugar content to fight Coronavirus’
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