Today marks Christmas day. Christmas Day is an annual festival commemorating the birth of Jesus Christ observed on December 25 th as a religious and cultural celebration among billions of people around the world. In the ancient Iraqi Christian town of Bartella Christmas was celebrated for the first time in more than two years on Saturday following it’s liberation from ISIS Bartella’s displaced Christian had been forced to flee when their hometown was overrun by the Islamist terror group.It was taken back from ISIS in late October. Pope Francis ,during a high-security Christmas Mass at the Vatican said that the true meaning of Christmas is being drowned out by materialism. The head of the Roman Catholic Church also denounced the continuing suffering of children. He also mentioned those who faced hunger, danger on migration routes and bombing in Syrian cities such as Aleppo.     More than 20 Nigerian “Chibok girls” who were released by the Islamist group Boko Haram in October rejoined their families for Christmas. It is the girls’ first return home since they were kidnapped from their school in Chibok in April 2014.

• Inquiry into Organic Fertilizer Imports
• FM meets UNDCO Regional Chief
• World Bank details funding for Sri Lanka so far
• Minister meets CEB Engineers
• Special Probe by HRCSL on 9th May Violence