Themed ‘Igniting passion blazing trails’ the 2008 world conference, of the Chartered Institute of Management Accountants, United Kingdom, is on at the Bandaranaike Memorial International  Conference hall in Colombo from the 28th to 31st May 2008.

A panel of distinguished speakers will address this international forum on Peace building, Innovation, Global branding and Leadership. John Hume of Northern Ireland distinguished recipient of the prestigious peace awards of the Nobel, the Martin Luther King award and the Gandhi award will lead the sessions on Peace building. The panel on Innovation, is headed by, Chairman Higher Education Commission of Pakistan, Dr Attar Ur Rahuman, Global branding is led by R. Ravimohan, Managing Director Regional Head South Asia Standard and Poor’s. Peter Vellapan, Project Director Vision Asia, credited with changing Asia’s attitude towards soccer and the world’s attitude to Asian soccer, is speaking on Leadership.

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Rotary (Sri Lanka) - Green Cover project,  implemented under Sri Lanka Tourism’s initiative to plant 10 million trees in five years is in the spotlight this weekend. The fashion, beauty and music industries come together at ‘Colombo Vogue Lifestyles Weekend’ in a bid to raise funds to plant trees, and to continue with the campaign of promoting the destination as a ‘Tourism Earth Lung: Carbon Clean Sri Lanka’.  

The ‘Green Cover’ project was launched in December 2007 with Michael Vaughn, Captain of the English cricket team and Paul Collingwood, Vice Captain, planting the first trees at the Asgiriya Cricket Grounds in Kandy. The programme was carried to the Southern Province with the English cricketers joining Sri Lankan counterparts Mahela Jayawardena and Kumar Sangakkara in planting trees at the Galle stadium. 
The tree planting campaign goes on with ‘Trees for Life’ an effort of Responsible Tourism Partnership Sri Lanka, the Travel Foundation UK and the Wild Life Conservation Society of Galle. For details contact Trees for Life Hiyare Reservoir Hiyare Galle; Tel 0091 773408398  or visit www.ResponsibleTourismSrilanka.org  or www.thetravelfoundation.co.uk 

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Harrison Ford speaks of his experiences in shooting Indiana Jones to Khaleej Times and on being asked of the location experience said “I loved shooting in Sri Lanka. That was the most extraordinary place. Venice was pretty amazing as well to have access to the streets and canals that we did in the third episode. I loved the culture of Sri Lanka……………..”

For full story click here

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Nature lover and avid photographer Gehan de Silva Wijeyeratne’s  passion and nose for exploring the extraordinary takes him out to sea and in his latest story Gehan speaks of the abundance with which Blue and Sperm Whales and Dolphin’s are sighted in Sri Lankan waters.  Sri Lanka Calling takes pride in further showcasing Gehan’s efforts to the world. For full story visit here

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At the Sri Lanka Heritage Exhibition held at the Sukara Esutasio Hall in Fukuoka Japan Sri Lankan Gems, Ceylon tea and handicrafts were showcased to visitors in a typically Sri Lankan atmosphere.

The presence of actress Yoshiko and singer Matsuoka speaking of the ‘Sri Lankan experience’ was a mega attraction which drew visitors from even distances as far as Osaka. Sri Lanka Calling takes this opportunity to thank the chief organizer Mr T. Okamoto, for taking the lead in organizing the event and for enabling Sri Lanka Tourism to present the destination to Japanese visitors eager to visit Sri Lanka.

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Shilpa Sayura  (Sea of knowledge) a project providing digital self learning for remote, rural students lacking educational resources and teachers was one of the winners of the Stockholm Challenge 2008.

The Stockholm Challenge promotes Information Communication Technology for development with a six category award. Shilpa Sayura, winning in the education category, was among seven winners from 158 projects representing six thematic areas of culture, environment, health, public administration, economic development, and education.

Congratulations on winning the prestigious award for a highly commendable cause.   

For full story visit http://event.stockholmchallenge.se

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World renowned Sri Lankan filmmaker Dr Lester James Pieris’, internationally acclaimed movie Gamperaliya filmed in 1964 was recently restored by Pierre Rissent of France in collaboration with the University of South Carolina, and earned the distinction of being screened at Cannes last week under the ‘Restored Classics’ segment bringing honour to Dr Peiris and Sri Lanka.  This film also had the distinction of winning the Golden Peacock at the Grand Prix International film festival in India and the Golden Head of Palenque in Mexico.

Sean Penn under special approval by Cannes organizers screened ‘The Third Wave’ shot entirely in Sri Lanka by Australian born Allison Thompson drawing attention to how individuals can make their contribution to alleviating suffering in catastrophic situations. Allison and her partner Oscar Gubernati who in the aftermath of the tsunami, with occasional help from organized donors of medicine or food, or from passers-by who left what cash they could, managed to rebuild 520 homes and bring normalcy to shattered lives of many people.

“It was giving hope and introducing normalcy” says one volunteer in the film. ‘Sri Lanka Calling’ thank Allison , Oscar and all those other unnamed volunteers who came to post tsunami Sri Lanka and helped affected Sri Lankans to rise out of  what was a desperate situation with a rapid recovery back to normalcy.