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World renowned forensic expert Henry Lee has called for global efforts to fight against crimes which are posing increasing threats through the use of new technologies.

In a recent interview with Xinhua, Lee suggested that an automatic weapons date system be established in the United States to track the illegal movement of firearms and a global integrated ballistics identification system be set up to identify firearms used in a crime.

An international weapons tracing center should also be established to exchange information, and to trace weapons from manufacturer to dealer and from exporter to owner, he said.

Lee, who has worked on the O.J. Simpson case, post 9/11 forensic investigations and the Washington, D.C. sniper shootings, noted a new trend in global crime, or transnational crime.

There are problems in drug trafficking, prostitution, illegal firearms and other crimes in almost every state in the United States, which were regarded as local crimes before, but after several years of investigation, people have now realized that they are not local, he said.

Drugs are imported to the United States from other countries, he said. The problem cannot be solved by arresting some drug dealers in the United States. It is more important to locate the source of the drugs, and most often they are from abroad.

He also mentioned other serious problems like human trafficking and money laundering which have become increasingly international.

Lee said there are invisible organizations committing crimes all over the world.

“To solve the problem, we need to have transnational cooperation,” he said.

Lee, who serves as the chief emeritus for the Connecticut Department of Public Safety Division of Scientific Services, is paying close attention to global computer crimes.

He cited one example in which a South African stole a credit card file from a California company, but the hacker was hired by people in Sydney, Australia.

Lee pointed out some changing threats in the computer age. He said virus writing is no longer about “hacker ego” or fame, it is about money.

Criminal groups write sophisticated codes to attack multinational specific companies, tools that were once specialty tools are now easy to download and easy to use on Windows PCs, and computer ascrime is even more international in its nature, he said.

Him Kouri, vice president of the National Association of Chiefs of Police in the U.S., expressed similar views in a recent article.

He said intelligence and police officials believe that global crime will be more dangerous in the years ahead as its perpetrators grow more sophisticated and take advantage of new technologies.

U.S. President Barack Obama has issued a directive identifying international terrorism, narcotics trafficking, proliferation of weapons of mass destruction and international organized crime as threats to national security.

Lee stressed that it is important for law enforcement agencies and citizens to get organized and work together to fight against the increasing crimes facing local communities and the world.

China on Friday claimed “phase progress” in containing the influenza A/H1N1 virus but remained alert for the transmission risks it faced.

Mao Qun’an, a spokesman with the Health Ministry, said the country had so far been successful in preventing the virus from spreading into its mainland, and well handled emergencies arising from a flu-affected Mexico City-Shanghai flight.

However, “China still faces great risks,” he warned.

Chinese health authorities had previously put under a week-long quarantine all those on board the same AM098 plane with a Mexican man who was later confirmed in Hong Kong to be infected with influenza A/H1N1. On Thursday evening, the 128 passengers who remained on the Chinese mainland were released from quarantine after showing no flu symptoms, and having testing negative to the virus.

Mao said Chinese medical experts had studied and analyzed the epidemic situation. Although the interpersonal transmission has so far been confined to north America and the development trend was not yet clearly determined, the experts believe the epidemic is still going on with more infected cases and larger infected areas.

“So China still faces great risks of the disease’s spreading into the mainland,” he said.

The European Union (EU) and China should work together to ward off potential surge of protectionism amid the global economic slump, Chinese Vice Premier Wang Qishan said on Thursday.

“China and the EU should stand firm against any form of protectionism for the sake of a global economic recovery,” Wang said in an opening remark at a high-level economic and trade dialogue between the EU and China, two major trading powers in the world.

The EU is now China’s largest trading partner, while China is the second largest of the EU. Trade volume between them grew to 425.58 billion U.S. dollars in 2008, an increase of 19.5 percent over the previous year despite the impact of the financial crisis, according to figures from China’s customs authorities.

Wang said the two sides have every reason to avoid protectionism, either for the urgent need to work out of the current crisis or due to the irreversible trend of globalization.

A new case of A/H1N1 influenza was confirmed Wednesday in Shiga Prefecture, bringing to 196 the total number of new flu infections, local media reported.

The patient, a man in his 20s, became the first case of the new flu detected outside Osaka and Hyogo prefectures.

According to the Shiga prefectural government, he visited Kobe in Hyogo Prefecture from Friday to Sunday.

Of the 196 patients, three Osaka high school students and their teacher, who were confirmed as the first cases of the new flu at Narita international airport upon their arrival from Canada via the United States, have been discharged from hospitals.

On Tuesday, health authorities decided to drop quarantine inspections aimed at detecting cases of A/H1N1 influenza aboard flights arriving in Japan from North America as early as the end of this week.

The government will shift from trying to shut the flu out of the country to limiting the domestic spread of the virus in line with the trend of the flu’s domestic transmission.

China’s coal output rose 6.8 percent year on year to 827 million tonnes in the first four months of 2009, an industry association official said here Friday.

The global economic slowdown has taken a toll on the coal industry, Jiang Zhimin, deputy director of the China Coal Industry Association, said at the 5th China Energy Strategy Summit in Beijing.

“Weak demand has resulted in a clear trend for overcapacity,” he said.

The industry faces challenges of eliminating out-dated production facilities and the building of more modern and large coal mine groups, Jiang said at the two-day event, which ends Saturday.

Around 70 percent of the 80,000 coal mine producers in China are small. They each have an annual production of 300,000 tonnes, Jiang announced at the two-day event which ends Saturday.

China has 24 coal mine groups which each have an annual output of more than 10 million tonnes. In 2008, those groups produced a total of 840 million tonnes, he said.

The Chinese government has been encouraging mergers and acquisitions to build more large mining groups for efficiency and work safety.

Weak demand creates conditions for transforming the extensive growth mode of the industry, Jiang stated.

“While we tackle the financial crisis, we should eye the long-term development of the coal industry,” he said. “We should consider building more internationally competitive coal mine groups and increase spending to curb major colliery accidents.”

China’s coal demand is estimated to reach more than 3.5 billion tonnes in 2020, he said.

Last year China produced 2.72 billion tonnes of coal, up 7.65 percent from 2007. It consumed 2.74 billion tonnes, up 3 percent.

Chinese shares continued a downward trend for the second consecutive trading day and lost 0.48 percent Friday on profit taking, dealers said.

The benchmark Shanghai Composite Index sank 0.48 percent, or 13.35 points, to close at 2,753.89 points Friday.

The Shenzhen Component Index went down 0.62 percent, or 66.61 points, to 10,667.11.

Losses outnumbered gains by 501 to 343 in Shanghai and 434 to 305 in Shenzhen.

Combined turnover shrank to 234.52 billion yuan (34.32 billion U.S. dollars) Friday from 263.54 billion yuan on the previous trading day.

Chinese shares opened slightly higher Friday with the Shanghai Composite Index gained 0.6 percent to 2,783.86, echoing the overnight Wall Street rally, but profit taking reversed the early gains.

The Shanghai Composite Index has gained 3.2 percent this week as of Friday boosted by the heartened investor confidence and rising commodities prices.

Chinalco advanced 0.73 percent to 12.47 yuan, after Australian mining titan Rio Tinto scrapped the proposed 19.5 billion U.S. dollars of investment by Chinalco and forged a joint venture with BHP Billiton. Rio Tinto will pay a break fee of 195 million U.S. dollars to the Chinese top aluminum maker.

Nonferrous shares continued to gain ground, boosted by a rally in oil and other commodities prices, dealers said. Shandong Gold Mining soared 7.73 percent to 57.84 yuan, while Jiangxi Copper Corp. added 0.99 percent to 32.78 yuan.

Property shares dragged down the index as investors cashed in hefty gains. China Vanke, the largest property developer by market value, lost 1.57 percent to 10.69 yuan, while Poly Real Estate, another major developer, sank 1.13 percent to 24.55 yuan.

Financial large-caps that gained momentum during the previous two trading days fell across the board Friday. China Construction Bank lost 1.22 percent to 4.84 yuan, with Bank of China down 0.81 percent to 3.69 yuan.

Chinese shares continued a downward trend for the second consecutive trading day and lost 0.48 percent Friday on profit taking, dealers said.

The benchmark Shanghai Composite Index sank 0.48 percent, or 13.35 points, to close at 2,753.89 points Friday.

The Shenzhen Component Index went down 0.62 percent, or 66.61 points, to 10,667.11.

Losses outnumbered gains by 501 to 343 in Shanghai and 434 to 305 in Shenzhen.

Combined turnover shrank to 234.52 billion yuan (34.32 billion U.S. dollars) Friday from 263.54 billion yuan on the previous trading day.

Chinese shares opened slightly higher Friday with the Shanghai Composite Index gained 0.6 percent to 2,783.86, echoing the overnight Wall Street rally, but profit taking reversed the early gains.

The Shanghai Composite Index has gained 3.2 percent this week as of Friday boosted by the heartened investor confidence and rising commodities prices.

Chinalco advanced 0.73 percent to 12.47 yuan, after Australian mining titan Rio Tinto scrapped the proposed 19.5 billion U.S. dollars of investment by Chinalco and forged a joint venture with BHP Billiton. Rio Tinto will pay a break fee of 195 million U.S. dollars to the Chinese top aluminum maker.

Nonferrous shares continued to gain ground, boosted by a rally in oil and other commodities prices, dealers said. Shandong Gold Mining soared 7.73 percent to 57.84 yuan, while Jiangxi Copper Corp. added 0.99 percent to 32.78 yuan.

Property shares dragged down the index as investors cashed in hefty gains. China Vanke, the largest property developer by market value, lost 1.57 percent to 10.69 yuan, while Poly Real Estate, another major developer, sank 1.13 percent to 24.55 yuan.

Financial large-caps that gained momentum during the previous two trading days fell across the board Friday. China Construction Bank lost 1.22 percent to 4.84 yuan, with Bank of China down 0.81 percent to 3.69 yuan.

Agricultural workers have the highest incidence of leukemia of all New Zealand occupation groups, probably because of their exposure to chemicals, the Massey University’s public health specialists have found.

And women agriculture workers are even more at risk than men, according to the Centre for Public Health Research.

The center has just released analysis of a study started in 2003-04, when researchers interviewed 225 cancer patients aged 25-75 and 471 randomly selected participants from the general population.

They found elevated leukemia risk four or five times greater among market gardeners and nursery growers compared to the general population. Market farmers and crop growers, and field crop and vegetable growers, also all experienced varying degrees of elevated risk.

The study builds on research published by the center last year, which showed those working in plant nurseries were four times more likely to develop non-hodgkin’s lymphoma, while vegetable growers and those in general horticulture production have a two-fold risk of developing that disease.

Lead researcher for the latest study Dave McLean said on Tuesday that market farmers and growers face a risk 1.8 times greater than the average population, probably due to exposure to pesticides. The overall risk appeared to be up to 3.4 times greater in women than men.

“It is not clear why this gender difference exists, but it has been hypothesized that it may be due either to the different tasks (and therefore potential for exposure) traditionally performed by men and women in horticultural occupations, or to the fact that some of the chemicals are endocrine disrupters that affect women in a different way than they do men,” he said in a press release.

Such trends had also been detected in previous studies of workers in horticultural occupations in Italy, and in workers with occupational exposure to agricultural chemicals, such as fungicides and insecticides, in the United States and Italy.

Elevated risk was also found to be associated with ever having worked as a rubber and plastics products machine operator and also in the plastic product manufacturing industry, with the chemical 1.3 butadiene, a chemical used in their manufacture a likely suspect.

An increased risk of contracting leukemia was also suggested for other occupations including electricians, blacksmiths and toolmakers, slaughterers along with those working in textile bleaching, dyeing or operating dyeing and with cleaning machines.

Occupational cancers account for more than 300 deaths in New Zealand each year, with the National Occupational Health and Safety Advisory Committee estimating that 30 deaths annually from leukemia are attributable to occupational exposures.

Oxford University Press, on behalf of the International Epidemiological Association, has published the Center’s findings.

After closing for a holiday of the 12th anniversary of Hong Kong’s return to China on Wednesday, local stocks gained sharply at the beginning and ended low at 18, 178.05 on Thursday.

The Hang Seng index went down 200.68 points, or 1.09 percent, trading between 18,780.96 and 18,053.10. Turnover totaled 68.38 billion HK dollars (8.83 billion U.S. dollars).

Although the economic conditions in Chinese mainland and elsewhere seems coming up, there would be few rooms for further gains in near term due to high pressure of profit-taking as expected by analysts.

The benchmark Shanghai Composite Index Thursday closed at 3060.25, up 1.7 percent, its highest level since June 10, 2008.

Hong Kong shares initially rose sharply in the morning session, lifted by Chinese manufacturing activity data Wednesday showing the fourth straight month of expansion in June.

China’s official Purchasing Managers Index, issued by the China Federation of Logistics and Purchasing, rose to 53.2 in June from 53.1 in May.

A number above 50 indicates expansion. Before March the index was under 50 for five consecutive months.

The latest statistics seem to suggest a clear recovering trend, according to brokerage ICEA on Thursday.

Still, the brokerage said it expects further upside in the Hang Seng Index to be limited, and projects a near-term trading range of between 17,000 and 19,000 points.

Property developers were among the biggest blue-chip decliners, with Swire Pacific falling 6.6 percent to 73.05 HK dollars, Hang Lung Properties down 4.5 percent at 24.50 HK dollars, and Wharf Holdings 4.3 percent lower at 31.45 HK dollars.

Sun Hung Kai Properties fell 1.0 percent to 95.80 HK dollars, ignoring comments from Morgan Stanley that the company is the best all-around play in the city’s property market.

Heavyweight HSBC was also down, losing 2.6 percent to 63.95 HK dollars.

Thailand’s southern resort of Phuket expects to see the recovery of its tourism, which has been sluggish for the past months, following the relieving signal conveyed by the ongoing meetings of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), local tourism executives said.

The Thai News Agency quoted Sethaphan Buddhani, chief of the Tourism Authority of Thailand Phuket office, as saying that foreign tourists will now find Phuket and Thailand are safe destinations, since the regional high-level meetings have been arranged there.

Phuket is hosting the 42nd ASEAN Ministerial Meeting (AMM), the Post Ministerial Conferences (PMC) and the 16th ASEAN Regional Forum (ARF), which kicked off last Friday (July 17) and runs through Thursday (July 23).

Somboon Jirayus, chairman of the Phuket Tourism Association, anticipated that the tourism business in the resort island is to pick up again as hotels along the beach have been fully booked by participants and journalists covering the ASEAN meetings, and at least four charted flights from China are to land in Phuket weekly starting this Friday, to bring Chinese tourist here.

According to Somboon, the island only saw 40 percent of hotel room occupancy before the ASEAN meetings.

The famous resort island of Thailand has been suffering a sluggish trend of tourism for the past three or four months, as the whole kingdom sees its tourism industry going downward due to the global economic crisis, domestic political turmoil and the ongoing A/H1N1 flu pandemic.

Thai Tourism and Sports Minister Chumpol Silpa-archa earlier made known his plan of going to meet his Chinese counterpart next month to discuss tourism promotion between the two countries, after he said the flu pandemic is expected to continue for months and will add to the burdens of the country’s tourism sector, which has been suffering from the global financial meltdown.

The tourism sector, generating about 540 billion baht (about 15.4 million U.S. dollars) annually for Thailand, makes up more than 6 percent of the country’s gross domestic product (GDP) and 7 percent of its workforce.