Benito Mussolini, the fascist ruler of Italy, during World War II, said that his brand of fascism ‘should be more appropriately called Corporatism, because it is a merger of state and corporate power’. Compare this with the dictionary definition of capitalism: ‘A system in which a country’s business and industry are controlled and run for ...

World famous photographer Shahidul Alam expresses his views on resistance and furthering the social movement through the medium of photography Colombo Art Biennale has taken the city by storm this week and while attending one of the ‘Art Talks’ sessions titled ‘Building Bridges – The South Asian Context’ held in the picturesque setting of Nuga ...

Contrary to Government assurance of minimal impact from the unprecedented fuel hike of Sunday, a set of upward price revisions including on bus fares and electricity will become reality from today. Striking private bus operators yesterday won their demand with the Government agreeing to let fares up by 20% with minimum ticket priced at Rs. ...

Fuel hike fires up fresh crisis Unprecedented rise to rocket cost of living; Opposition says hike anti-poor; subsidy scheme impractical Import bill in 2011 first 11 months at $ 4.1 b far above 2010 full year figure of $ 3 b Experts urge country to go back to automatic monthly price revision Hike likely to ...

This is the 14th article in the Daily FT’s fortnightly series titled ‘Business of Sports,’ focusing on the back office of the various sports administered and played in this country. Readers are invited to share their views and express their opinion via email to editor@ft.lk

Economic Development Minister Basil Rajapaksa is charging that UNP MP and its Chief Economic Spokesman Dr. Harsha de Silva’s outburst and criticism over growing economic cooperation between Sri Lanka and China was in bad taste and made with dangerous political twist. “He (de Silva) is trying to pit China against Sri Lanka’s friendly nations such ...

Hon. D.E.W. Gunasekera Chairman, Committee on Public          Enterprises (COPE) Parliament of Sri Lanka Sri Jayawardenepura Kotte. Dear Chairman, Action on COPE and other reports? Reference the aforementioned, I attach the following: 1.Daily Mirror front page News Report of Saturday, 21.1.2012 headlined ‘Bribery, CID Officers to be summoned by COPE. D...

Country records second successive year of over 20% growth in exports; 2011 full year value tops $ 10 b; when ICT exports included total figure to rise to $ 11 bConfirming resilience and an   improved competitive mindset amidst global and local difficulties, Sri Lanka’s exports sector has concluded its second year of over 20% growth. ...

Part 3: Inalienable power is in the people, exercised in trust by the organs – the legislature, executive and judiciary – and prohibits transfer of power from one organ to anotherIn the public interest to create awareness of the issues involved, the FT will continue to publish extracts adapted from the Petition filed by public ...

Renowned expert Dr. Howard Nicholas will share some key insights to the current status of global economy at a seminar on 20 January organized by the Ceylon Chamber of Commerce and supported by the Daily FT as print media sponsor. Dr. Howard Nicholas is known for his early warnings on the Asian

EFC says if the Govt. is serious about fund returns to employees, it should be exempted; urges holistic look at pension funds and calls for better governance  By Uditha Jayasinghe As opposition political parties ready to do battle over the proposed amendments to the Employees Provident Fund (EPF) that will be presented in Parliament today, ...

Part 2 – UN Universal Declaration of Human Rights? Judiciary entrusted with task of keeping every organ of the State within the law? In the public interest to create awareness of the issues involved, the Daily FT will continue to publish extracts from the petition filed by public

LTTE rump groups and pro-LTTE organisations are trying hard to achieve their separatist ideology in the countryDefence Secretary Gotabaya Rajapaksa on Tuesday said that there is a possibility of the re-emergence of the LTTE in Sri Lanka, as LTTE sympathisers abroad are still struggling to achieve the LTTE’s separatist ideology in the country. He made ...

The Daily FT’s exclusive expose of Aitken Spence Plc’s pullout from Sri Lanka’s biggest ever FDI project – the upcoming US$ 500 million Colombo South Container Terminal sent shock waves in corporate, shipping, political and diplomatic circles yesterday whilst investors found

Post-war rebounding Sri Lanka has entered for the first time the Most Valuable Nation Brands ranking compiled by UK-based Brand Finance debuting at number 76 with a value of $ 23 billion. A world renowned specialist in the subject Brand Finance’s 2011 ranking reveals brand ‘Sri Lanka’ is worth $ 23 billion (Rs. 2.6 trillion) ...

POST-war Sri Lanka has entered yet another New Year and come May, the nation will be celebrating three full years since the end of the conflict or fight against terrorism. The Chief Executive of the country President Mahinda Rajapaksa in his message to the nation on New Year sounded emphatic: “Embracing all the victories we ...

Special communiqué listing actions taken issued to travel and hotel trade as a confidence building measure Working closely with the defence authorities to ensure greater protection for tourists in possible vulnerable areas Both tourism and law enforcement authorities have thus far successfully handled the unfortunate gruesome attack on a tourist couple in Tangalle over the ...

By Cheranka Mendis The tea industry anticipates mixed signals as the year closes on a high amidst Middle Eastern turmoil which spells evil in the coming year. The industry which is likely to close the year with export revenue exceeding the previous year’s number and breaking the record production volume of 2010, is expected to ...

By Chamitha Kuruppu Sri Lanka’s largest and one of the oldest political parties, the UNP for the first time in its history will hold an election today to elect its leadership. The decision to fix the dates for the much hyped election was taken by the working committee on Sunday. The working committee had decided ...

Plastic crates: Universally used in agri markets In 2002, the writer had a chance of visiting a few farms in Czech Republic, some 200 kilometres away from its capital, Prague. They were all medium sized farms owned by private individuals producing such products as vegetables, fruits and honey. At the time of the writer’s visit, ...

The right to privacy is our right to keep a domain around us, which includes all those things that are part of us, such as our body, home, thoughts, feelings, secrets and identity. The right to privacy gives us the ability to choose which parts in this domain can be accessed by others, and to ...

Hutch Lanka is investing US$ 65 million to upgrade and expand its services in the coming year says a top official, with plans to become the latest entrant into the 3G sphere. Hutchison Telecommunications Lanka better known as Hutch launched in 2004 and to date has maintained a consistent but largely unaggressive presence in the ...

Prof. Yunus of Grameen Bank fame in Sri Lanka to promote social business By Uditha Jayasinghe In order to promote inclusive and sustainable development, the flaws of capitalism must be fixed, said Nobel Laureate Prof. M. Yunus, who landed in Sri Lanka last afternoon ahead of a corporate seminar today. Creating and implementing the idea ...

Extracts from Nihal Sri Ameresekere’s Fundamental Rights Application on the ‘Expropriation Law’: Part 2 1.In my D.C. Colombo Case No. 3155/Spl instituted on 13.9.1990 vis-à-vis the major fraud perpetrated on HDL and the Government, as its Guarantor, the Defendants were very politically powerful and influential parties. District Judge, P. Wijeyaratne demonstrating the indepen...

By Cheranka Mendis Sunquick Sri Lanka, the much loved super concentrated fruit quash will today bring home the prestigious Co-Ro Best country award also known as the Global Sunquick best awards. The award is an annual presentation by the brand owners of Sunquick, Co-Ro Food A/S, a Danish Company awarded for the country that marks ...

 Mahinda urges brokers to venture overseas, market post-warSri Lanka among foreigners;  reach out and educate rural investors Cautions against pump and dump, thereby avoid sharp pricefluctuations endangering innocent investors Brokers say ASI dropping 2,000 points, PE down to 13 times from 26 create conducive environment for relaxed rules President Mahinda Rajapaksa stresses a point duri...

Mere news of Presidential meeting with brokers boosts stock market Benchmark index ASI up near 4%, highest daily gain in 15 months Market’s value swellsby Rs. 79 b Second tier and speculative stocks first to rebound with retail play; blue chips gain moderately The mere news of President Mahinda Rajapaksa meeting brokers, as exclusively reported ...

No unanimity on exchange rate movement A front page headline news item in this paper on last Saturday had reported on an apparent division of opinion between the two top policy makers of the country, namely the Treasury Secretary Dr. P.B. Jayasundera and the Central Bank Governor Ajith Nivard Cabraal, on the depreciation of the ...

With reference to the Daily FT 14 November 2011 article ‘Basil bats for revival bill,’ Colombo Hilton promoter and former Chairman of Hotel Developers Lanka Plc Cornel Perera has sent the following rebuttal:The article contained the full speech by Economic Development Minister Basil Rajapaksa

President Mahinda Rajapaksa presents development-oriented fiscal programme for 2012 and medium-term policy framework with support for almost all key segments of society and economy In their initial takes, overall welcome tone from private sector, though a few express concerns on select proposals President and Finance Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa yesterday presented what the Government described as ....