Five top tips to solve dry winter skin

Winter feels like it’s well and truly here, bringing with it knee-high boots, an excuse to cuddle up on the sofa watching reality TV on a Saturday night and Christmas presents. And also, for many of us, an emergency skincare regime to mend skin ravaged by the cold, humid weather and the annual switching on of the central heating.Special attention to your skin in winter can help solve common problems including dry, flaky skin and breakouts …

“Cold snaps and central heating can all contribute to a break down in the barrier function of the epidermis,” explains Dr Darren Mckeown. “The epidermis is the top layer of skin and its main function is to act as a safety barrier between us and the rest of the world. When it gets broken down, it doesn’t retain water properly and the result is dry, flaky skin.

“It also means bacteria and pollutants can affect the skin more, creating redness and breakouts.”
To prevent this happening, winter skin needs a little extra care and a lot of extra moisture.

The tricks that mean I'm £1,382.64 better off this year

Over the past year I have employed a number of savvy exercises which have left me £1,382.64 better off so far.

Here’s how I managed it.

Fighting the tax man: £113

Sadly I wasn’t one of the 3.5million taxpayers that got a rebate at the beginning of the tax year.

Instead in April I got an assessment through the post informing me I had underpaid tax by £113 during 2010-2011 on £560-worth of Jobseeker’s Allowance (JSA) and would be put onto a new tax code that would reclaim this amount.

The problem was that I didn’t claim this benefit in 2010-2011; instead I worked throughout that year. The only claim I made was during 2009-2010 in the first few months after graduating. And this amount was well under the personal limit allowance anyway.

Chrystia Freeland: Where are the super-rich women?

F Scott Fitzgerald, chronicler of the wealthy and dysfunctional, declared in a short story of 1924: “Let me tell you about the very rich. They are different from you and me.”

Almost a century later, former Financial Times deputy editor, Chrystia Freeland, has come to the pretty much the same conclusion in her new book, Plutocrats , charting the rise of the global super-rich - and the fall of everyone else.

Drawing comparisons with the nineteenth century Gilded Age when great wealth followed rapid industrialisation, Freeland argues that our second ‘gilded age’ of advancing technology has helped create a new class of phenomenally wealthy individuals - the 0.1pc - who can exert significant influence over politics and policy.

Analysts at Credit Suisse last year noted that the number of super-rich individuals has surged, with 29,000 people owning net assets worth more than $100m. Living international lifestyles that take them from homes in New York to business meetings in Asia via conferences in Davos, the existence of these ‘ultra high net worth individuals’ is in stark contrast to the subsistence of many living on lowly or stagnating wages.

How Aldi makes money and stays cheap

The last couple of years have been tough for the high street but there’s one type of retailer that’s seen boom times: The discount supermarket, especially Aldi.

Last month German retailer Aldi posted a 200% increase in UK profits. The UK business made a profit after tax of £57.8 million in 2011, having made a loss of £56 million in the previous year.

The privately owned chain opened 29 new stores last year and plans to invest £181 million opening 40 new stores by the end of 2013. This will take the number of Aldi stores in UK to 500 and create 4,500 jobs.

But how has it turned its fortunes around in such challenging trading conditions?

Facebook Row Erupts Over Users' Privacy Vote

Furious Facebook users have launched a campaign to stop changes to the website's privacy policy.

Site bosses have proposed ending the practice of letting users vote on privacy changes and replacing it with a "more meaningful" system of monitored comments and reviews.

In an email to users , Facebook said the voting system had "incentivised the quantity of comments over their quality."

But the proposal has angered users, who have started a campaign to keep the vote.

Sri Lanka factory planned by Pakistan cement firm: report

Pakistan-based Lucky Cement Ltd, is planning a 500,000 metric tonnes a year grinding plant in Sri Lanka as part of its overseas expansion drive, a media report said.

Bloomberg newswires quoted chief executive Muhammad Ali Tabba as saying that the firm has sought state land to build a 20 million US dollar factory.

Sri Lanka Supreme SAT satellite on Chinese rocket

Sri Lanka's Supreme SAT is launching its first Satellite on a Chinese rocket which can be used for direct to home broadcasts and communications, the state investment promotion agency said.

Sri Lanka's Board of Investment said the firm was operating in co-operation with China Great Wall Industry Corporation. Supreme SAT is a joint project between Supreme group, a Sri Lankan firm and China Satellite Communications Company Ltd, the BOI said.Supreme group has interests in commodity trading including urea, coal, bitumen, PVC and iron ore, the BOI said.

China cracks down on iPhone-smuggling housewives

Reuters: Suppliers for what was one of China’s largest online iPhone stores have been hauled to court for allegedly evading taxes by smuggling Apple Inc’s iPhones and iPads into the country, official media reported on Friday.
On Wednesday, 26 suppliers of Lanyou Shuma.com were tried in a Shenzhen court as part of five rings that smuggled more than 162,000 mobile phones worth over 500 million yuan from Hong Kong over the past two years, the Beijing News said.

SAP introduces slew of new innovations

SAP AG last week announced a series of new innovations at sapphire Now + SAP TechEd, held as a co-located event in Madrid.
Offering unparalleled insights and networking opportunities to help businesses innovate now and enable long-termprofitable business growth, the event showcased the latest developments in analytics, database and technology mobile, and cloud solutions, with applications that are specific to every industry.

SAP introduced its latest innovations as the convergence of mobile, social, big data and cloud enables businesses to deliver a next-generation customer experience.This convergence, combined with core business applications and analytics, is also leading to the creation of new business networks and new ways to collaborate.
Driven by advances in its flagship in-memory platform, SAP HANA, the innovations are enabling SAP and its partner ecosystem to redefine the real-time enterprise by changing the way we consume technology and information.
Among the news releasedat sapphire Now + SAP TechEd were new SAP 360 Customer Solution to bring organisations closer to their customers and enable personalised customer engagement anywhere, on any device.

Asian Alliance buys Rs. 34 m worth HNB shares from Chairman Pathirage

Asian Alliance Insurance Plc yesterday bought Rs. 34 million worth of HNB shares held by its Chairman Ashok Pathirage.

Nations Trust Bank opens sixth Nations business centre in Ratnapura

With the objective of supporting the small and medium enterprises in the country, Nations Trust Bank PLC added another one stop shop for SMEs in Ratnapura with the opening of their sixth Nations business centre recently.

4 Steps to Overcoming Procrastination

rocrastination is a very serious issue for  some people. Indeed, there are days when I don’t feel like getting work done, and I procrastinate. We all have those days, but for some of us, procrastination is a chronic problem — something that occurs far more often than we would like.

If you procrastinate regularly, it’s a good idea to take steps to overcome it. Putting of something relative unimportant on occasion is one thing; constantly failing to meet your obligations, or putting things off so long that getting them done on time requires a rush and a decrease in quality, is something else altogether.

Procrastination can result in problems with productivity, as well as causing issues in other parts of your life. If you want to overcome procrastination, here are 4 steps you can take:

Arjuna Gunaratne has been appointed as the Chairman of Nations Trust Bank

Arjuna Gunaratne has been appointed as the Chairman of Nations Trust Bank (NTB) with effect from 1 November, succeeding Ronnie Peiris who has resigned following the completion of nine years on the Board in compliance with Central Bank rules.

Dialog consolidates performance with strong 3rd quarter

Dialog Axiata said yesterday it has consolidated its performance in FY12 with a strong third quarter.It said the Group recorded strong revenue growth across Mobile, International, Digital Pay Television, Tele-infrastructure and Fixed line businesses to record a consolidated revenue of Rs. 41.5 b for the nine months ending 30 September 2012, demonstrating a significant growth of 24% YoY.
Group revenue for Q3 2012 was recorded at Rs. 14.5 b, reflecting growth of 3% QoQ. Group EBITDA (Earnings before Interest, Tax, Depreciation and Amortisation) for the first nine months of 2012 was recorded at Rs. 14.2 b, a significant increase of 21% relative to the corresponding period in 2011.
Group EBITDA margin for the nine months ended 30 September 2012 declined marginally by one percentage point on a YoY basis to 34%. Group EBITDA for Q3 2012 was recorded at Rs. 4.9 b up 5% QoQ. The Group EBITDA margin improved by one percentage point QoQ to reach 34%.
Non-operational performance below EBITDA for the first nine months is characterised by noncash translational foreign exchange losses amounting to Rs. 2.5 b, and a one-off write back of the company’s deferred tax provision of positive Rs. 2.3 b.

Sri Lanka Dialog Axiata 'AAA(lka)' rating confirmed

Fitch Ratings has confirmed an 'AAA(lka)' rating with a stable outlook citing support from its Malaysia-based parent and said its stand alone credit profile had improved to 'AA 'AA+(lka)' from 'AA(lka)'.

"Dialog's standalone credit profile is strong, and has improved between 2010 and 2012, helped by a benign competitive environment and improving usage across most service segments," Fitch said."The agency expects Dialog's standalone profile to continue to improve over the medium term, driven by the company's ability to fund its capex from strong operating cash flows."

Fitch said Dialog foreign and local currency cashflows were strong enough to cover upcoming repayments.