1. President Ranil Wickremesinghe promises to depoliticize & revolutionize Cricket in SL by 2030: emphasizes need for an independent trust to oversee the financial administration & development of school cricket, backed by a substantial budget allocation.
2. State Investment Promotion Minister Dilum Amunugama says the Govt has to now act on IMF advice: also says even the price of a bottle of alcohol is decided by them: laments some people complain the tax burden is too high: mentions if the leader who did not raise even 1% of taxes was driven home after protests, then paying taxes is the only answer for people.
3. Luxury cruise ship “Mein Schiff” arrives at the Colombo Port carrying 2,365 passengers and 967 staff: Cruise Ship “Vasco Da Gama” also arrives at the Colombo Port.
4. CEB to conduct a special investigation to determine reason for yesterday’s sudden island-wide power outage from around 5.30pm to around 9.30pm.
5. Lotus Management Company CEO Prasad Samarasinghe says the world’s highest “sport jumping” from a multi-facility tower from a capital city from a height of 185 metres will be introduced at the Lotus Tower from March’24; also says they will also soon sign up for the first casino to be operated in the Lotus tower.
6. CEB Spokesman Deputy General Manager Noel Priyantha says the newly-gazetted Sri Lanka Electricity Bill will be re-gazetted to address “mistakes”.
7. SL Podujana Zoological Garden Employees’ Union President Krishantha Christopher alleges a female giraffe at the National Zoological Gardens in Dehiwala that died on Thursday, had actually been “killed”.
8. Search operation by the SL Navy near the Baththanangunduwa Island leads to the recovery of a parcel with over 4kg of gold from the depths of Puttalam Lagoon: suspicion abounds that this valuable cache of gold has been intentionally sunk by smugglers.
9. Foreign Minister Ali Sabry says SL will seek more information on foreign ships visiting SL, following geopolitical concerns & questions over permitting Chinese research ships to dock.
10. SL Women’s cricket skipper Chamari Athapaththu remains ‘unsold” at the Indian Women’s Premier League auction: Athapaththu came into the auction after a prolific run at the Women’s Big Bash League where she topped the league-phase run charts.
