Melani Manel Perera

In Sri Lanka, 20 million lunch sheets, 15 million plastic bags and 10 million empty bottles end up in the environment every day. The only two companies that make plastic bottles earn huge profits. Hemantha Vithanage, founder and executive director of the Centre for Environmental Justice (CEJ), talks about the problem.

The older students give the new pupils welcome tags and lotus flowers to offer to Our Lady. The Catholic school’s task "is to create an environment that takes care” of students. Its “educational method stimulates curiosity, self-discipline, positive attitudes and compassion.”

A silent protest is held in front of the Ministry of Justice, targeting polygamy, child brides, and divorce. In 2009 a reform committee was set up to look at Islamic marriage. Women seek “justice and equality".

The ceremonies took place on Saturday and Sunday. The Catholics also brought to a close the Year dedicated to Saint Joseph Vaz. During the Anglican ceremony, Rev Priyantha Wijegoonewardene took office as the new general secretary of the Ceylon Bible Society.

Chinthaka Rajapakse is the moderator of the Movement for Land and Agriculture Reform. A review of agricultural policies of the last three years. Among the advances, the ban on herbicides. Among the critical aspects, the requisition of land and the approval of laws for the exclusive benefit of global financial institutions.

Rev Priyantha Wijegoonewardene is the 27th general secretary of the association that translates, publishes and distributes Bibles. He served the council of the Baptist Churches. Spreading the word of God to the ends of the earth is one of the latter’s objectives.

He was shot in broad daylight. The investigations are in the final phase. “Justice need be done not as a favour,” his brother said, but “to prevent a repetition.”

Legislation for the project will be presented in parliament in March. Construction of the first three 60-storey towers should start is June-July. This is the largest investment ever made in Sri Lanka.

More than five thousand complaints have been filed in first nine months of 2017, 1,174 of which against the police. Detention and torture during interrogations are singled out. Lack of resources slows the wheels of justice.

In Sri Lanka, about 150,000 families live from fishing. Although the government has adopted FAO guidelines, "no attempt was made to include such steps in national policy." The military still occupy lands seized during the civil war.

Sri Lankan Catholics look at the true meaning of the birth of Christ: sharing, giving oneself, recognising one's limits, and learning to be reborn. "Christ showed how to be tolerant, even in the most tragic moment on the cross, loving and forgiving those who had condemned him to death."

The State Festival was held in Trincomalee, where the civil war once raged. Its aim was to share the true meaning of Christmas. The streets of Colombo lit up for Christmas. The light of humanity always dawns with the Christmas, Sirisena said.