Entertainment
Sri Lanka cricket team to continue Pakistan tour
The Sri Lanka Cricket (SLC) board on Wednesday confirmed that the ongoing Pakistan tour will continue as scheduled after several players expressed desire to return home over security concerns.
In a statement, the SLC clarified that if any player wants to return to Sri Lanka despite the assurance, he will be replaced in a bid to ensure the continuation of the ongoing series without interruption, but the player would have to undergo a formal assessment by the cricket board over his actions.
The statement comes after at least eight Sri Lankan cricketers expressed reluctance to continue playing the ongoing three-match ODI series, followed by a T20I tri-series against Pakistan and Zimbabwe, due to security concerns, a Sri Lankan official told AFP.
The players have expressed fears for their safety following Tuesday’s suicide bombing in Islamabad, which killed 12 and wounded 27 outside a court. The victims included lawyers and petitioners who came to the court.
The Sri Lankan cricket board, in the statement, said the team management had informed the board earlier in the day that some members of the national squad had requested to leave Pakistan.
The board said it had immediately engaged with the players, assuring them that all safety concerns were being addressed in close coordination with the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) and relevant authorities.
The board directed all players, support staff, and team management to remain in Pakistan and proceed with the tour as planned.
However, SLC clarified that if any player or team member still chose to return home, replacements would be sent promptly to ensure the series continues without disruption.
The cricket board also warned that any player or staff member who defies the directive would face a formal review after the tour’s conclusion, with disciplinary action to be decided accordingly.
Following the reservations expressed by the Sri Lankan cricketer, the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) said security around the visiting team had been increased following the attack.
To addresses the concerns, PCB Chairman Mohsin Naqvi, who is also the Interior Minister, is meeting the Sri Lankan team to brief them about the security arrangements in place, sources revealed.
Pakistan beat Sri Lanka by six runs in the opening one-day international in Rawalpindi on Tuesday, a game that went ahead despite the suicide attack in the twin city of Islamabad.
The remaining matches are scheduled to take place on Thursday and Saturday, also in Rawalpindi.
PCB chief meets Sri Lankan envoy
The development came hours after the Sri Lankan High Commissioner expressed satisfaction over the security of its national men’s team following a meeting with Naqvi in Islamabad.
The satisfaction was expressed during his meeting with Interior Minister and PCB Chairman Mohsin Naqvi, the cricket board said in a statement on Wednesday.
Both team managers, PCB Chief Operating Officer Sameer Ahmed, the Islamabad chief commissioner and the Islamabad police chief were also present on the occasion, according to the statement.
During the meeting, the chief commissioner and the IGP Islamabad gave a detailed briefing on the security being provided to the Sri Lankan team.
Speaking on the occasion, Naqvi said that the players of the Sri Lankan cricket team are “our state guests and all necessary measures have been ensured for their foolproof security.”
He emphasised that providing a safe environment to the visiting players is the top priority of the government.
The Sri Lankan high commissioner, in response, expressed solidarity with the government over the attack and conveyed heartfelt condolences to the bereaved families. He also expressed satisfaction over the security arrangements made for the team.
Princess Charlotte and Prince Louis enjoyed a lovely pre-Christmas day out in Norfolk with their mum, Princess Kate, it has been revealed.
On Tuesday, December 23, the Princess of Wales took Charlotte, 10, and Louis, 7, to watch the Christmas Spectacular at Thursford. However, the eldest Wales child and future heir to the throne, 12-year-old Prince George, was apparently not in attendance, nor was his father, Prince William.
The trio’s attendance was confirmed in an Instagram post made last week by Lloyd Hollett, who appears in this year’s production.
Alongside a photo of the blue-lit stage, he wrote, “What a day… Today we were honoured by the presence of Her Royal Highness The Princess of Wales, alongside Princess Charlotte and Prince Louis, who attended our matinee performance.”
No official photos were released of the royals inside the venue as it was a private family outing instead of a public engagement. The future queen and her children reportedly watched the show from a royal box.
The Christmas Spectacular is a three-hour festive show featuring a mix of singing, dancing, and more. With a high production value and a cast of 130 performers, the show is one of the largest and most beloved Christmas events in Europe.
The event runs annually from November 8 to December 23, which means that Kate, Charlotte, and Louis managed to catch the final show.
By Washington Post book critic Ron Charles
2025 offered a feast of great books. To help build your never-ending reading list, here are five titles we particularly enjoyed over the past 12 months:
Simon & Schuster
Lucas Schaefer’s debut novel, “The Slip” (Simon & Schuster), won this year’s Kirkus Prize for Fiction. The story takes place in and around a boxing gym in Austin, Texas, where two lonely teenagers are eager to remake their identities wherever that might lead them.
This sweaty comic masterpiece tackles our most pressing social debates, and delivers a knockout.
Read an excerpt: “The Slip” by Lucas Schaefer
“The Slip” by Lucas Schaefer (Simon & Schuster), in Hardcover, eBook and Audio formats, available via Amazon, Barnes & Noble and Bookshop.org
Sourcebooks Landmark 
Susie Dent’s debut novel, “Guilty by Definition” (Sourcebooks Landmark), introduces a dictionary editor in Oxford who begins receiving strange messages about her sister’s long-ago disappearance.
As she follows these clues, she is led into literary puzzles and unresolved parts of her past. Readers who savor wordplay as much as suspense should look up this clever mystery.
Read an excerpt: “Guilty by Definition” by Susie Dent
“Guilty by Definition” by Susie Dent (Sourcebooks Landmark), in Hardcover, eBook and Audio formats, available via Amazon, Barnes & Noble and Bookshop.org
Riverhead Books 
“Black Moses: A Saga of Ambition and the Fight for a Black State” (Riverhead Books), by Caleb Gayle, traces the rise of Edward McCabe through Kansas and the Oklahoma Territory as Black migrants pursued land, safety and power in the Jim Crow era.
Confronting hostile politics and violent resistance, McCabe fought for community and self-determination, and Gayle lays out this charged landscape to reveal a crucial but long-obscured chapter in the struggle for freedom.
Read an excerpt: “Black Moses” by Caleb Gayle
“Black Moses: A Saga of Ambition and the Fight for a Black State” by Caleb Gayle (Riverhead Books), in Hardcover, eBook and Audio formats, available via Amazon, Barnes & Noble and Bookshop.org
calebgayle.com (Official site)
Knopf 
Karen Russell’s “The Antidote” (Knopf) is a dazzlingly original novel that hovers between fable and history.
This wild tempest of a tale set in Depression-era Nebraska follows a prairie witch and a high school girl swept up into a tumultuous western epic about the tragedies and ambitions of Manifest Destiny.
Read an excerpt: “The Antidote” by Karen Russell
“The Antidote” by Karen Russell (Knopf), in Hardcover, eBook and Audio formats, available via Amazon, Barnes & Noble and Bookshop.org
Crown 
Rick Atkinson’s “The Fate of the Day: The War for America, Fort Ticonderoga to Charleston, 1777-1780” (Crown), the second book in his planned trilogy, delivers a chronicle of the American Revolution with irresistible narrative drive.
Moving between battles and diplomacy, he brings Washington, Franklin and their rivals to life while tracing the nation’s fight for independence. The result is an immersive work of history just in time for America’s 250th anniversary.
Read an excerpt: “The Fate of the Day” by Rick Atkinson
“The Fate of the Day: The War for America, Fort Ticonderoga to Charleston, 1777-1780 (Volume Two of the Revolution Trilogy)” by Rick Atkinson (Crown), in Hardcover, eBook and Audio formats, available via Amazon, Barnes & Noble and Bookshop.org
Historian Rick Atkinson (Official site)
Rick Atkinson on how the U.S. Army was born – and a free nation realized (“Sunday Morning”)
That’s it for the Book Report. It’s been great fun to talk to you about good books over the past year. Here’s to many more in 2026.
I’m Ron Charles. Until next time, read on!
For more info:
For more reading recommendations, check out our library of previous Book Report features from Ron Charles:
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