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A new study released Wednesday in the Journal of Craniofacial Surgery said several factors, including gender and favorite head position, influence the severity of flat head syndrome in infants.

“We found a trend toward less flattening in infants who slept prone (face down), or in positions that were alternated,” Dr. Albert K. Oh, of Brown University, Providence, Rhode Island, noted in a prepared statement.

“Interestingly,” however, while sleeping supine (face up, on the back) has been a well established risk factor for the development of flat head deformity, “we were not able to demonstrate a logical correlation to indicate more severe flattening from the supine position,” Oh said.

The researchers came to the conclusion in the study of 434 babies with the condition known medically as deformational plagiocephaly.

The researchers also found that males with flat head syndrome outnumbered females 2 to 1 and that infants with flat head were apt to be born early, at around 36 weeks, on average, instead of the normal 40 weeks.

It’s noteworthy, the researchers say, that there was no association between the use of orthotic devices and the severity of head flattening, which calls into question the effectiveness of the use of these devices in the treatment of or prevention of flat head syndrome, they say.

The researchers also found a link between multiple-birth pregnancies and the degree of head flattening. In the study, infants with flat head syndrome who were the product of a multiple-birth pregnancy were disproportionately higher than in the general population and greater than in previous studies. This was the only pregnancy-related variable the researchers found to be associated with the severity of flat head syndrome.

For the Internet industry, the lingering global financial crisis has not been much dreadful, as most companies seem calmer in a time of real economy downturn.

Kai-fu Lee, vice president of Google, was optimistic about the company’s performance in the first quarter of this year. The company saw 6 percent growth in business volume in the first three months over the same period last year, according to Google’s quarterly report released Thursday.

“We’ve made significant profit despite slowing growth. The company is not severely damaged but only encounters deceleration in business expansion,” he said during the annual conference of Boao Forum for Asia (BFA) held in the scenic Boao town of south China’s Hainan Province.

The three-day forum ending Sunday, which attracted more than 1,600 politicians, business people and scholars and focused on the financial crisis, set a special section to discuss the Internet industry, which seemingly plays a more important role in combating crisis and stimulating the distressed real economy than before.

In the panel discussion “Another Winter for Internet? – Driving Growth Through Innovation”, industry insiders gave positive views that as the Internet market expands with technology upgrading, the industry is providing a platform for innovation that will pump energy into other fields and in turn accelerate economic recovery.

BETTER TECHNOLOGY, LARGER MARKET

In China, where the online population has exceeded 316 million, the market scale of the Internet industry has been expanding. The main sectors, such as online advertising, e-commerce and online games, are estimated to have surged by around 50 percent in 2008 over the previous year.

The government announced the details of a support plan for the information technology and electronics industry earlier this month, aiming to boost the industry by increasing state investment, credit support and export tax rebates.

The electronics and IT sector contributed 0.8 percentage points to China’s gross domestic product (GDP) growth last year, and is expected to contribute at least 0.7 percentage points to the annual economic expansion from 2009 to 2011, according to the detailed plan.

New technologies help scale up the market, as 117.6 million Chinese people have gained access to the Internet through mobile phones. 3G wireless Internet is also seen as the next goal of most Internet companies.

Baidu, the most popular Web search engine in China, is now in talk with the country’s mobile network operators for cooperation in the 3G business, the company’s CEO Robin Li said at the BFA conference.

The 3G wireless network, supported by China’s self-developed TD-SCDMA technology, is expected to effectively boost domestic demand for related technologies and products, expand the market and benefit the industrial chains as a whole.

Increasing orders for 3G mobile phones and mini notebooks have already boosted the recovery of China’s manufacturing industry, according to Xi Guohua, vice minister of industry and information technology.

Ding Lei, chief executive officer of Netease.com. Inc, believed the development in 3G business “would bring a splendid vision”.

“It means enormous opportunities for many Internet companies and would provide a platform that might give birth to even larger players in the industry,” Ding said.

REAL ECONOMY BOOSTER

Actually, Internet companies have lent a helping hand to the real economy, especially to small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) with e-commerce and other innovative measures.

Alibaba, China’s business-to-business (B2B) e-commerce giant, started a loan program last year together with eight domestic banks in the country’s eastern Zhejiang Province where a great number of SMEs gather.

The loan support plan offers financing services to Alibaba’s SME members with a certain credit level, which was decided by online credit and trading volume statistics from Alibaba’s online trading platforms Taobao.com and Alipay.com.

The company has so far helped nearly 800 SMEs gain more than 1.5 billion yuan (about 219 million U.S. dollars) loans to overcome the impact of the global crisis, said Wei Zhe, CEO of Alibaba.

The survival rate of SMEs that have used e-commerce methods is four times higher than that of the rest ones, according to the company’s survey.

Meanwhile, some migrant workers who lost their jobs during the recession started their own businesses on online platforms such as instant messengers and web forums, said Liu Chiping, executive director of Tencent.com, one of China’s leading Internet companies.

He is confident that such innovative trend will continue as the government extends the construction of Internet-related infrastructure in the remote rural areas.

According to government’s plan, Internet will become accessible to every village in the next three years to boost rural economy.

The government also plans to enhance the integration of Internet industry and the real economy to avoid another Internet bubble, Xi said.

Some industry insiders point out that the Internet industry might not be the major drive in the economic recovery.

Now the Internet industry is seen as a new tool to counter recession, but the industry alone is not able to solve the crisis, Kai-fu Lee said at the forum.

His opinion was echoed by Wei of Alibaba. “What we are providing are not bullet-proof vests but thick jackets that might help weather the economic winter,” he said.

Japanese government approved a bill Tuesday on inspecting ships suspected of carrying banned cargo to and from the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK) and submitted it to the Diet or the parliament for deliberation, Kyodo News reported.

The bill, aimed at inspecting ships suspected of carrying missile or nuclear related materials, was to implement a new UN resolution adopted on June 12, following Pyongyang’s May 25 nuclear test and April rocket launch.

It designated the Japan Coast Guard as its primary agent to conduct inspection on the high seas and in Japan’s territorial waters and the Self-Defense Forces as a backup in special circumstances, such as the crew members on a suspect ship are equipped with heavy arms, Kyodo reported.

The bill said the inspecting agent has to get approval from a ship’s master to inspect cargo on the high seas and in the territorial waters. But if the master does not agree, the ship maybe ordered to go to a Japanese port, Kyodo said.

The consent of the country to which the ship in question belongs must also be obtained to inspect the vessel on the high seas or to order it to go to a Japanese port, it added.

The ruling coalition hopes to have the Diet pass the bill before July 28, the end of the current legislative session so Japan can lead the international community in enforcing the UN resolution.

The main opposition Democratic Party of Japan has expressed intention to cooperate in deliberating the bill. However, uncertainties still remain as the lower house may be dissolved by the end of the session.

China’s domestic auto prices were steady with a slight increase in June while imported vehicle prices rose at a faster rate, according to the price monitoring center under the National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC),China’s top economic planner.

Prices of domestic cars saw a month-on-month increase of 0.9 percent last month, while the year on year figure stood at 1.35 percent, said a report released on NDRC’s Web site Friday, based on a survey conducted in 36 large and mid-size cities in China.

Price of imported vehicles rose 1.22 percent from the previous month, with a year-on-year growth of 7.26 percent.

Passenger vehicle prices increased 0.93 percent month on month but dropped 2.77 percent year on year. Commercial vehicle prices maintained a upward trend, rising 0.98 percent month on month and 7.27 percent year on year.

Analysts had contributed the continual rise in auto prices to the increasing demand in the domestic auto market, which was boosted by government stimulus policies.

The surge in demand brought about increasing sales in the first half, said Liu Lixi, auto industry analyst from Northeast Securities.

China halved the purchase tax on passenger cars to 5 percent for models with engine displacements of less than 1.6 liters and started a rebate program for auto buyers in the rural area early this year.

The country’s auto sales topped 1.14 million units in June, up 36.48 percent over the figure a year earlier, the fourth month in a row surpassing the 1.1 million units mark, according to the China Association of Automobile Manufacturers (CAAM).

The government stimulus plan for the automobile industry would maintain the balance between supply and demand in the auto market, therefore auto prices would maintain steady with little fluctuation in the second half of the year, the NDRC report predicted.

China unveiled a 4-trillion-yuan (585 billion U.S. dollars) stimulus package last November and 10 specific industry stimulus plans for autos, iron and steel, petrochemicals and other sectors this year to shore up the Chinese economy.

Costa Rica confirmed the country’s fifth death case caused by the A/H1N1 flu on Sunday.

The dead, a 25-year-old woman, was 22-week pregnant with a pair of twins, Costa Rican Deputy Health Minister Ana Morice told local media.

She miscarried a few hours before she died Saturday at a hospital in the capital, Morice said.

Costa Rica has confirmed 351 cases of flu infections so far, and the government was worried about the rising trend of spreading, said Morice, noting that the authorities would strengthen preventive measures consequently.

Costa Rica reported its first A/H1N1 flu death on May 9.

Zhong-guo, the two characters for China in Chinese, are written using 12 brush strokes as a Beijing primary student learns, whereas his counterpart in Taipei has to write 15 strokes to complete the word.

The Chinese language, with the same pronunciation in Mandarin, has largely two written forms, simplified and traditional, which are used by people in the mainland and Taiwan respectively. Many overseas Chinese people also use traditional characters.

Now a debate is going on about how to bridge the gap between the traditional and the simplified.

Traditional characters were used in all parts of China before the Kuomintang (KMT) troops fled the mainland in 1949. After that, the mainland developed a simplified set of characters in a number of reforms over the years, with fewer strokes and simpler design, while overseas Chinese and the KMT-occupied Taiwan island continued using the old style.

Taiwan leader Ma Ying-jeou suggested in early June that the island and the mainland should reach an agreement on language — people may write simplified ones but should be able to read traditional characters.

In response to his remarks, the Beijing-based State Council Taiwan Affairs Office supported discussion between experts on both sides on how to make communication easier in the field of linguistics.

Some mainland linguists’ views coincided with Ma’s proposal, and a few moved even further. At the annual March session of China’s top political advisory body, a political adviser Pan Qinglin proposed the mainland should use traditional characters again.

Pan argued that many simplified characters lose delicate cultural connotation and, in the information age, many people use input software for computers based on pronunciation, through which traditional characters are no longer a barrier for learning and use.

Dong Kun, a senior researcher with the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences (CASS) Institute of Linguistics, supported the idea of Chinese reading traditional characters, as an effort to pass on the tradition.

“Characters are part of Chinese culture instead of simply a tool to express the culture. The design of Chinese characters reflected our ancestors’ understanding of the universe and history,” he told Xinhua in an interview.

Dong said calligraphy, an ink-brushing skill that shows aesthetic structures and implications of traditional Chinese words, is also a very important part of Chinese art.

In addition, he said, today’s readers are kept away from ancient books, written in traditional characters. “It’s a great pity. Chinese is a rare continuous language, with which people can read books written two thousand years ago.”

Dong, however, held that the trend to simplify the Chinese written language is irreversible and started long before 1949. In the early 20th century, the Chinese had already tried simplification to facilitate international exchanges. The KMT government, then ruling the country, adopted the policy but failed to implement it.

“After 1949, the mainland simplified Chinese characters mainly in a bid to improve literacy,” Dong said. “Fewer strokes would facilitate farmers and workers who did not go to school from a young age.”

“It is not practical for mainland people to use traditional characters again,” he said.

Marvin C. Ho, founder of Taipei Language Institute, told Xinhua, “Today, many people in Taiwan write simplified characters as well. Thanks to frequent exchanges across the Strait, we are quite familiar with simplified ones.”

“It is a natural and right direction to simplify the language. In this multi-media age, words have to compete with more user-friendly images. The language used by more than 1.3 billion people can’t stay unchanged or it will lag behind,” said Ho, who was attending the fifth Cross-Strait Economic, Trade and Culture Forum in central Hunan Province capital Changsha on the weekend.

During the process of simplification, people may have different opinions and need to discuss them, he said.

Ho said, “We have to face the reality that, after six decades of estrangement, the two sides have a difference in language use.” He said that besides different characters, there are also differences in vocabulary.

As an example, he said, pineapple is called “bo luo” in the mainland but “feng li” in Taiwan.

As a solution, Taiwan’s Ma proposed to work out a traditional-simplified Chinese dictionary. In fact, a dictionary like this has already been edited by the Beijing Language and Culture University and Taipei Language Institute. It was published in the mainland in 2003 and in Taiwan in 2006.

In a proposal presented to the forum at its closing ceremony on Sunday, participants suggested the two sides should gradually reduce the difference in language. They should work together on dictionaries and to standardize the use of language, such as terms and translations.

“With encouragement from the authorities on both sides, more expertise will be included to make a more complete dictionary, which is a meaningful task,” said KMT Chairman Wu Poh-hsiung at a press conference after the forum.

Ho had an interesting find when working on the 2006 dictionary — the words that the mainland has and Taiwan does not, or vice versa, only account for 4 percent of the total words in the dictionary.

“The difference is not as big as people thought,” he said. “Language is a typical example on how the two sides share the same tradition.”

The same cultural origin was repeatedly addressed at the forum by both mainland and Taiwan participants.

“People on both sides have the same ancestors, speak the same language, and follow the same custom and philosophy. These are treasures we share,” said Prof. Xin-min Chu with the Taipei-based National Chengchi University, also attending the forum. “Politics cannot change or damage it.”

Prof. Yu Dan, a mainland intellectual who became famous by lecturing Confucianism on TV, said, “It is not a problem to use either traditional or simplified characters. The key is how to pass on our cultural tradition together.”

In the face of modernization and industrialization, the Chinese turn to ancient wisdom for advice, which made scholars like Yu celebrities.

Shanghai is well and truly back on track after being caught up in the fallout from the global economic crisis.

The city delivered a much better than expected economic performance in the second quarter, with improved data related to fiscal income, investment and trade.

The city’s fiscal income last month rose a significant 14.9 percent from a year earlier. The growth returned to black in May after posting negative figures for six straight months.

Fixed-asset investment in Shanghai expanded 15.7 percent year on year in June which set growth in the first half at 9.6 percent, compared with a rise of 7.8 percent in the first five months.

The value of Shanghai’s outbound investment more than tripled from a year earlier to US$715 million in the first half, surpassing the total amount in 2008.

Shanghai’s trade, the hardest-hit sector in the crisis, had its downward momentum halted last month. The trade volume stood at US$43.1 billion, down 15.1 percent from a year earlier but expanding 13 percent from the previous month.

Shanghai’s exports fell 19.9 percent on an annual basis to US$25.8 billion last month. However, they advanced 8.1 percent compared with the volume in May.

Imports also decreased 6.6 percent year on year but jumped 21.1 percent from May to settle at US$17.3 billion, the Shanghai Customs said.

“The city felt the blow of the global financial crisis earlier than other places and has suffered more deeply,” Xinhua news agency said yesterday in a report releasing some figures ahead of the regular disclosure by the Shanghai Statistics Bureau.

“However, a series of key economic data shows that Shanghai’s economy has bottomed out and has staged a stable recovery.

“The city has played the role of leading other areas to counter the global financial crisis.”

Weng Jianhua, deputy chief economist at the Shanghai Municipal Development and Reform Commission, attributed the city’s fiscal achievement to its tremendous efforts to boost the economy in difficult times.

“The Shanghai government has adopted many unusual ways to stimulate the economy,” Weng said.

“The city showed signs of a slowdown earlier but also recovered earlier. It is like a race against a storm and the outcome is encouraging, thanks to efficient and effective government measures.”

Since the beginning of the year, Shanghai has lowered the threshold level for starting a company, reduced taxes for small and medium enterprises, provided subsidies for buyers of cars, television sets and air-conditioners to encourage consumption, and launched a series of policies to accelerate construction in a bid to turn the city into a global financial center.

Shanghai created 67,000 jobs in the first six months, “a rare gain” in recent years, Xinhua said. Among them, about 25,000 came from the 5,540 small and medium enterprises that were established under the supportive government policies.

The disposable income of city residents increased 7.6 percent during the period.

Shanghai’s service industry expanded 13 percent in the second quarter and accounted for more than 60 percent of the city’s total economy. This was a record high and illustrated an improved economic structure, Xinhua said.

Montessori Style Activities Parents and Children can Complete Together!

Talk Me Through It!

By Dr. Marlene Barron of Etonkids International and Bilingual Kindergartens

Your child can be a great assistant, and she’ll also learn valuable lessons along the way!

Before you Begin: As with most parents, in addition to the job of raising your kids, you’ve got errands to run, chores to do, and work to finish. Remember that there’s a small child-assistant at your elbow eager to help! Take a minute to think of more than one way to involve your child in the job at hand. Here are some ideas on how to make any daily activity meaningful to your child.

What You’ll Need: Simply one of your daily activities.

What to Do:

Step 1: Pick something you’re going to do today and talk about it with your child, explaining to them why you’re doing this task or activity. Tell her the steps involved in this activity. Discuss your choices regarding time, materials and actions. For example, suppose you need to buy some cleaning supplies, you might say: “It’s important we get the right size trash bags to fit our trashcan.” “We want to buy the large container of hand soap so that it will last longer.” “We should check a few stores to see if there are any specials or sales on the things we need.” “We should check around the house first to see if we have any of these items left so we don’t buy to many!”

Step 2: Now go do it! Involve your child in all the steps you can by talking to her about what you’re thinking, doing, and deciding. “I think this size trash bag is the right size, what you do think?” Make sure you explain the reasoning behind decisions as simply as you can.

Step 3: Give your child jobs that are part of the process. Have her help you identify, measure, count, and carry.

Step 4: Each step of the way, remind your child of the steps that came before and what steps come after.

Step 5: Finish the job, and talk things over with your child. Which part did she find most interesting? How does she feel about the way things turned out?

(This process will help develop: understanding of process, cause and effect, and verbal expression areas.)

Follow-up Activity: Encourage your child to talk to other people about what you did together, to describe the process, and be proud of her role in it! “Tell everyone what we did today!”

What’s happening? : You’re making your child your apprentice in the chores of everyday life as you explain, demonstrate, and actively involve her. The importance of your child understanding the “what and why”- the process- of events cannot be understated. What’s more through this activity, you’re giving your child a rich language experience: she’ll hear and use new vocabulary, she’ll gather information about talking to people in different businesses, and she’ll use words with you to discuss it all!

Moving Ahead: Ask your child to draw or write about her experience of working with you to meet your goal. By doing this, she’ll go over the process in her mind, communicate it, and gain an understanding of reporting and writing about something that really happened.

Helpful Hint: Make a list of the steps you need to follow. Talk about the steps aloud, then write them down (or have your child write them) Lists are great tools for understanding!

For more information early education or healthy tips for your infant or toddler, visit

Hong Kong’s Standard Chartered Bank (Hong Kong) Limited here Tuesday alerted its customers of a fraudulent internet website under the name of “Standard Chartered Bank” at the uniform resource locator of

The fraudulent website attempts to provide financial services using a similar name to Standard Chartered and uses elements of the Standard Chartered website content including the bank’s name, colors and logo, said the bank in a statement.

The site also includes a hyperlink to a login page, which requests customers to input their on-line banking user ID and password.

The bank has reported the fraudulent website to the Hong Kong Monetary Authority and is actively pursing the controllers of the site to secure its removal or discontinuation.

The police are currently investigating the case. Several similar cases were reported in Hong Kong recently.

Xu Wei may be one of Chinese mainland’s biggest music stars but he didn’t look the part as he stepped on to the stage to announce his concert tour, The Day, which kicks off at Beijing Workers Gymnasium tomorrow. Sitting around in black T-shirt, jacket and jeans, Xu answered questions in leisurely fashion and only warmed up when he picked up his guitar and started singing some of his hits, like Journey and Blue Lotus. The chilly, cramped room suddenly felt more like an arena.

As it happens, Xu, 41, doesn’t need to talk too much - tickets were sold out about a month ago. Back in 2005 when he held his second solo concert, Forever Youth, his guitar skills and classic songs delighted 30,000 fans, who sang along on a glorious summer evening.

Xu is totally relaxed about how it will go at the same venue this time.

“I feel comfortable and relaxed because for me the concert is much more like a friends’ gathering,” he says. “All I need to do is sing for them and they will join in.”

Born and raised in Xi’an, Shaanxi province, Xu’s love affair with rock ‘n’ roll began when he got his first guitar at the age of 14 and since that is more than 20 years ago, his lyrics tell of a rebellious youth, courtships and yearning for lost romance. What lifted him to his lofty pedestal, though, was the heartfelt music that echoes in people’s hearts.

Mainland singer Pu Shu, a guest performer tomorrow night, says: “His songs are my life. I remember sitting in my bedroom, listening to his albums and thinking ‘How does he know what I’m going through better than I do?’”. The two are longtime friends and share similar tastes in music but surprisingly, tomorrow will be their first time on stage together.

Xu has his own band called Fly, made up of like-minded friends from Xi’an. They joined the rebellious teenager in 1992 and hit the road to pursue their dreams, singing at clubs and small venues to make ends meet.

The gloomy music scene then meant times were tough and even a music contract with Red Star, an independent rock label in Beijing, didn’t improve his living conditions.

Patience paid off, though, and a two-year wait for the release of his debut album, allowed him to reflect. It also brought him high-profile collaborations, like the singles he made for Tian Zhen and Faye Wong.

In 1994, he released his first single, Two Day but it was not until his debut album Elsewhere three years later that he made his name in Beijing. Produced by Zhang Yadong, the album is commonly regarded as a rock classic which sold 500,000 copies.

People identified with his struggle between dreams and reality, both embracing and escaping the material world. But he was deflated by Red Star’s collapse and he retreated to his hometown’s slower pace of life.

Xu made his second album That Year in 2000 with a small indie music label. He wrote, composed and produced all of the songs and the album sold almost 300,000 copies without any promotion.

The year 2002 looked like being his biggest year yet. He returned with the album Time, Roam under EMI and its blend of modern drum machines and traditional bamboo flute was testament to a profound change. People sensed in the album a much more peaceful and light-hearted mood.

His fifth album, Love like Youth, which came out in last October, carried a message that life may pass us by but the feelings and memories of our youth never fade. From the rhythmic tone of Story to the funky bass and steady drum beat on Four Seasons, each track is different but his fans have found all of them easy to relate to.

“The albums are like a reminder of what’s happened to me the past few years and the way my life and thoughts have changed,” he says.

Hailed as a modern-day poet, Xu says the pressure to be a great music figure became too much for him to handle. “The good thing is I don’t have to worry about my next meal now,” he jokes.

Songs from three of his albums reached No 1 on the capital’s radio charts. The mainstream music station even had a “Xu Wei Day” in 2005, broadcasting all of his popular songs since 1995 and inviting people of different fields, writers, actors, singers, students and office workers, to share their feelings and experiences relating to his music. “That was the first such event in the station’s history and we received lots of feedback, more than 100,000 text messages that day,” says event organizer, Zheng Yang, a veteran DJ on Music Radio in Beijing. “We have witnessed how his songs touched listeners all these years and we are looking forward to his next 10 years.”