Sri Lanka video shows executions, abuse of corpses (AP)

GENEVA – A U.N. expert called Tuesday for Sri Lanka to investigate and file charges against soldiers shown in a graphic video shooting bound, blindfolded prisoners and abusing corpses in the final days of the country's 26-year civil war.

The U.N. expert, Christof Heyns, reviewed the 5-minute, 25-second video frame by frame with a team of technical and forensic specialists to determine its authenticity, and concluded that the video suggests there is enough evidence to open a war-crimes case. Sri Lanka has claimed the video is fake.

In the video, several men lie on a muddy track, bound and motionless. The camera cuts and another man is shown being forced to sit upright by a soldier in camouflage carrying a rifle. Another soldier steps up behind the seated prisoner and shoots him in the back of the head, point blank. The prisoner slumps sideways as the camera pans across the road revealing nine bodies, most of them naked, with gunshot wounds clearly visible despite the grainy quality of the footage.

The uniformed men then force another blindfolded prisoner down into the dirt. A gunshot rings out and he, too, jerks and collapses. Later, the camera focuses on a young man, his skull blown open. Soldiers stand over the half-dressed corpse of a woman, gloating.

Heyns, a South African law professor who is also the U.N.'s independent investigator on extrajudicial killings, said the footage provides solid evidence for a prosecution case.

"It's very rare that you have actual footage of people being killed," the former lawyer told The Associated Press. "This is different from CCTV. This is trophy footage."

The Sri Lankan government says the video is staged, an attempt by pro-Tamil Tiger groups to undermine its hard-won victory in the country's 1983-2009 civil war.

"We have proven beyond any doubt that this is not authentic," the director general of the government's Media Center for National Security, Lakshman Hulugalla, said on Monday. The U.N. panel says it unpicked Sri Lanka's claims and found them to be unsupported.

Heyns says the video shows "definitive war crimes" — believed to have taken place in May 2009 — that require both domestic and international proceedings to be launched.

"There is a prima facie case and it should now go to the next level," Heyns told the AP before screening the video for the first time to reporters in Geneva. "So far we haven't seen any concrete results on the domestic level," he added.

If Sri Lanka resists outside pressure to conduct a credible criminal investigation, referral to the International Criminal Court would be possible, Heyns said. This is unlikely as it would require approval by the U.N. Security Council, where Sri Lanka has a strong ally in China.

The United Nations estimates that between 80,000 and 100,000 people were killed in the war.

The final months of fighting in Sri Lanka were almost completely hidden from public view and international scrutiny. The government barred journalists, aid workers and human rights organizations from the northern section of the country where the fighting raged. As reports of abuses and widescale civilian deaths leaked out, government officials denied them and insisted they were doing everything possible to protect innocent lives.

At one point, after a government doctor in the battle zone reported that people were dying of starvation, a top Sri Lankan official dismissed the statement as absurd because there was no official autopsy report from the battlefield clinic.

After the war ended, the government insisted it had not shed a drop of civilian blood in the last months of fighting. A partial U.N. count showed at least 7,000 ethnic Tamil civilians killed in the last five months of the conflict.

Numerous U.N.-appointed officials have since concluded that both sides committed atrocities, and that the death toll may have been in the tens of thousands.

A recent U.N. report said Sri Lankan government forces deliberately targeted civilians and hospitals, and blocked food and medicine for hundreds of thousands of civilians trapped in the war zone. It also accused the Tamil Tigers of recruiting child soldiers and using civilians as human shields.

Sri Lanka has categorically rejected calls for an independent international probe into the allegations. Instead, it has established a national panel to investigate. Meanwhile, the government continues to celebrate its battlefield victory, hosting a three-day international defense seminar in Colombo this week to show foreign experts how it won the war.

The latest footage was obtained by Britain's Channel 4, which has so far shown only brief excerpts and an earlier, shorter video of the same events. Ben De Pear, head of foreign affairs for Channel 4 News, said the station chose to broadcast the footage after the U.N. experts helped it conclude that it is genuine.

The extended video will be part of an hourlong program examining atrocities committed by both government forces and Tamil Tiger fighters that Channel 4 plans to screen for the first time Friday at the United Nations in Geneva.

___

Ravi Nessman in New Delhi contributed to this report. Frank Jordans can be reached on Twitter at: http://twitter.com/wirereporter

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Explosion at China iPad factory shows supply risks (AP)

BEIJING – An explosion at one of two factories that make Apple's new iPad 2 highlights the risks of a global manufacturing strategy that has cut costs but concentrates production in a few locations.

Foxconn Technology Group, the contractor that manufactures Apple's iPhones and iPads, said Friday's blast in the western city of Chengdu killed three employees and injured 15. The Taiwanese company said production was suspended but did not respond to questions Monday about how supplies of iPads might be affected.

Foxconn said the blast was caused by combustible dust in a workshop that polished products. It said operations in workshops that do similar work at its other factories in China would be suspended pending an investigation.

Estimates by industry analysts of the impact on iPad production ranged from minimal to up to 2.8 million units in lost output. That is equal to just over half the number sold in the first three months of this year but Apple says sales are so strong it already is struggling to keep up with demand.

"There probably is going to be no impact" if production resumes as expected in the next few days, said Citigroup analyst Kevin Chang in Taipei. "If this safety inspection drags on for two or three weeks, then there will be an impact on production."

Coming as global auto and electronics makers struggle with parts shortages caused by Japan's March 11 tsunami, the disaster emphasized the pitfalls for companies whose global sales depend on one or two factories.

"If you are trying to do as much as you can in one place to reduce the risks of an overextended supply chain, then you are very dependent upon the safety of those one or two factories," said David Dayton, owner of Silk Road International Inc., which manages purchasing and manufacturing in China for foreign customers.

Electronics makers such as Foxconn have flocked to China, drawn by a low-cost workforce and good infrastructure, making it the global manufacturing center for computers and consumer electronics.

All of Apple's iPads are produced at Foxconn factories in Chengdu and Shenzhen, near Hong Kong, said Chang. But he said that is not overly concentrated in an industry in which a contractor with a single factory might supply a laptop computer sold worldwide.

Foxconn, a unit of Hon Hai Precision Industry Co., is a leader in a contract manufacturing industry that helps global electronics brands hold down costs. Chinese factories produce 80 to 90 percent of the world's notebook computers and 50 to 60 percent of mobile phones.

Foxconn illustrates the complex web of trade and investment ties between China and Taiwan, the self-ruled island that Beijing claims as its territory.

Taiwanese companies have invested tens of billions of dollars in the mainland, despite their government's lack of formal ties with Beijing. They make clothing, toys and other goods and are moving into higher-value electronics and computer chips.

Foxconn delivers savings for Apple, Hewlett-Packard Inc. and other customers by operating on a vast scale. It employs an estimated 1 million to 1.1 million people on the mainland in a half-dozen sprawling campuses the size of small cities.

The potential pitfalls of such massive concentration were driven home when Japan's tsunami forced thousands of factories to shut down, abruptly cutting off supplies of key auto and electronics components. Auto factories as far away as Louisiana were forced to suspend production.

Industry analysts said the shock was likely to prompt manufacturers to reconsider supply strategies that can depend on a handful of producers in distant locations.

Contract manufacturers find China so appealing that "clients really would have to pay them extra to leave China and set up production elsewhere," said Citigroup's Chang.

In China, potential supply chain problems can be traced in part to companies' decisions over the past decade to use fewer suppliers both to save money and to be able to monitor them more closely.

Customers get lower prices by placing giving more business with one company and want to watch suppliers carefully following a string of scandals over shoddy or toxic Chinese-made toothpaste, tires and other goods.

Dayton said some of his customers that buy millions of dollars worth of Chinese goods each year choose to deal with only one or two suppliers.

"The major problem is quality and consistency," he said. "If we diversify the number of factories we work with, we are just adding headaches and adding that many more opportunities to get lesser-quality products."

Demand for iPads is so strong that Apple's chief operating officer, Tim Cook, said last month the Cupertino, California-based company was working through "the mother of all backlogs" on orders.

Still, Apple's market position is so strong that it can easily ride out potential supply disruptions, said David Wolf, a technology marketing consultant in Beijing.

"A few issues on the supply chain aren't going to hurt it now," said Wolf, CEO of Wolf Group Asia. But he said Apple could face challenges from products such as Google Inc.'s tablet computer.

"They've got competitors who are running very hard to catch up," Wolf said. "So these aren't issues today but that will not always be the case."

___

Associated Press writer Debby Wu in Taipei contributed.

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Info from Osama raid shows interest in U.S. trains

WASHINGTON (AP) — Some of the first information gleaned from Osama bin Laden's compound indicates al-Qaida considered attacking U.S. trains on the upcoming anniversary of the Sept. 11 attacks. But counterterrorism officials say they believe the planning never got beyond the initial phase and have no recent intelligence pointing to an active plot for such an attack.

Osama Bin Laden speaks to a selected group of reporters in mountains of Helmand province in southern Afghanistan in 1998.

As of February 2010, the terror organization was considering plans to attack the U.S. on the 10th anniversary of the 9/11 attacks. One idea outlined in handwritten notes was to tamper with an unspecified U.S. rail track so that a train would fall off the track at a valley or a bridge, according to a joint FBI and Homeland Security bulletin sent to law enforcement officials around the country Thursday. The al-Qaida planners noted that if they attacked a train by tilting it, the plan would only succeed once because the tilting would be spotted the next time.

The warning, obtained by The Associated Press, was marked for "official use only."

Information on the train plot appears to be the first widely circulated intelligence pulled from the raid this week on bin Laden's secret compound in Pakistan. After killing the terror leader and four of his associates, Navy SEALs confiscated a treasure trove of computers, DVDs and documents from the home where U.S. officials believe the al-Qaida chief had been hiding for up to six years.

Other intelligence information gathered at the compound represented a terrorist wish list but has revealed no specific plan so far, a U.S. official said. He said documents indicated a desire to hit the U.S. with large-scale attacks in major cities and on key dates such as anniversaries and holidays. But there was no sign those plans were anything more than ambitions. The U.S. official spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss intelligence matters.

Intelligence analysts have been reviewing and translating the material, looking for information about pending plots and other terror connections. Even before the raid, intelligence officials for years have warned that al-Qaida is interested in attacking major U.S. cities on holidays, anniversaries and other dates that are uniquely American.

"While it is clear that there was some level of planning for this type of operation in February 2010, we have no recent information to indicate an active ongoing plot to target transportation and no information on possible locations or specific targets," the warning Thursday said.

The FBI and Homeland Security told local officials to be on the lookout for clips or spikes missing from train tracks, packages left on or near the tracks and other indications that a train could be vulnerable.

Homeland Security spokesman Matt Chandler said, "This alleged al-Qaida plotting is based on initial reporting, which is often misleading or inaccurate and subject to change." He said the government has no plans to issue an official terror alert because of it.

An official with the Association of American Railroads said the organization has received warnings from the federal government and is sharing the information throughout the railroad network. "We are always making sure that the system is run as safely and securely as possible," the organization's spokeswoman, Patricia Reilly, said.

U.S. officials have disrupted other terror plots that targeted rails, including a 2009 plan to blow up the New York City subway system.

On Monday the FBI and Homeland Security warned law enforcement officials around the country that bin Laden's death could inspire retaliatory attacks in the U.S., and terrorists not yet known to the intelligence community could be operating inside the country. The transportation sector — including U.S. rails — remain attractive targets for terrorists.

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Bin Laden killing shows off agency cooperation

WASHINGTON — The U.S. intelligence community that was accused of failing to connect the dots before the 9/11 attacks in 2001 was lauded Monday for finding and finishing off its No. 1 target with pinpoint accuracy.

Navy SEALs, at sea aboard the USS Oscar Austin in a 2002 drill. A SEAL team completed the mission against Osama bin Laden.

By Michael W. Pendergrass, AP

Navy SEALs, at sea aboard the USS Oscar Austin in a 2002 drill. A SEAL team completed the mission against Osama bin Laden.

Though there were enough apparent heroes in the operation that led to Osama bin Laden's demise ? from two presidents to a team of daring Navy SEALs ? part of the credit went to an obscure law passed in 2004 and a decade's effort to coordinate the work of military and intelligence agencies that used to compete.

"I think this clearly demonstrates the new intelligence community after 9/11 and their ability to find and reach out anywhere in the world and take care of people who threaten the United States," said Rep Mike Rogers, R-Mich., chairman of the House Intelligence Committee.

That's an about-face from some of the assessments given the nation's civilian and military intelligence capabilities in the wake of the 9/11 attacks and, two years later, the failure to find weapons of mass destruction in Iraq that intelligence officials said were there.

Those failures were blamed both on a "need-to-know" culture within the nation's intelligence structure that prevented information-sharing and the absence of laws requiring cooperation. "That culture had to change," says Lee Hamilton, who co-chaired the 9/11 Commission that recommended scores of changes in 2004.

After the panel's scathing report and passage of the Intelligence Reform and Terrorism Prevention Act of 2004, Hamilton says, "it was forced ? it was required ? that they share information."

The law created the office of the Director of National Intelligence and the National Counterterrorism Center and set up a joint command structure across 16 agencies. It's been a work in progress since then, but "this is real evidence that, though imperfect, the law worked," says Jane Harman, top Democrat on the House Intelligence Committee at the time and now director of the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars.

The intertwined relationship between the U.S. military and intelligence community may have been on display last week when President Obama nominated CIA Director Leon Panetta as his next Defense secretary and Afghanistan commander Gen. David Petraeus his next CIA director. But there's nothing like an actual joint operation to turn words into action.

So when Navy SEALs acted upon intelligence community leads to kill bin Laden and escape by helicopter with his body, it completed a turnaround from the post-9/11 days.

By Monday, intelligence officials were participating by telephone in the Pentagon's initial briefing on bin Laden's capture and killing, and members of Congress were singing their praises.

"From everything we can determine, every element of our government ? military, intelligence, homeland security ? worked together as a team," said Sen. Joe Lieberman, I- Conn., who was the top Democrat on the Senate Intelligence Committee after the 9/11 attacks.

The operation even silenced criticism that it took too long to find the al-Qaeda leader and 9/11 plotter, who had nearly been captured in 2001 in the mountainous region of Afghanistan near Tora Bora.

"I think you've got to hand it to bin Laden," says Lawrence Korb, a former Pentagon assistant secretary in the Reagan administration. "Everybody assumed he was in a cave near the border. He was basically hiding in plain sight."

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Obamas Earned $1.7M in 2010, Tax Report Shows, Paid, $453K in Federal Taxes

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WASHINGTON -- President Barack Obama and his wife, Michelle, reported income of $1.728 million for last year, much of it from the sale of the president's pre-presidency books. They paid federal taxes totaling $453,770 after receiving a $12,334 refund.

The Obamas paid their taxes at lowered Bush-era rates, even as he campaigns to end them for households with adjusted gross incomes above $250,000 -- a category into which the first family clearly fits.

Joining the flocks of Americans filing their taxes near the end of the federal filing period, the Obamas made withholding and other payments to the Internal Revenue Service last year totaling $466,104. That was an overpayment, so they got their refund. The president and first lady reported donating $245,075 -- about 14.2 percent of their adjusted gross income -- to 36 different charities.

The largest single gift was a contribution of $131,075 to the Fisher House Foundation, a charity that offers a scholarship fund for children of soldiers who die or are disabled.

The Obamas' adjusted gross income for 2010 of $1.728 million was well below the $5.5 million they reported for the year before, both totals mostly driven by royalties from books written earlier by Obama. They included his 1995 memoir "Dreams From My Father" and his 2006 political book, "The Audacity of Hope."

The White House released the returns on the day that federal tax returns are due this year, although Obama signed his 1040 form last Tuesday. Michelle Obama signed the tax return on Wednesday.

They also released their Illinois income tax returns showing they paid $51,568 in state income taxes for last year.

Vice President Joe Biden and his wife, Jill, reported more modest earnings, a combined adjusted gross income of $379,178, on which they paid $86,626 in federal taxes for 2010. The Bidens' withholding and earlier payments came to just $79,446 -- so they had a tax bill of $7,180 to settle.

The Obamas paid 26 percent of their adjusted gross income in federal income taxes. The Bidens paid 23 percent.

The Bidens paid $14,479 in Delaware income taxes and $3,515 in Virginia income taxes. Jill Biden is an adjunct professor at Northern Virginia Community College. The Bidens contributed $5,360 to charities.

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Canvass shows Wis. incumbent Justice Prosser has won re-election

A canvass of Wisconsin county vote results shows that conservative state Supreme Court Justice David Prosser has won re-election over his liberal challenger. The results aren't yet official, and a recount is expected.

Prosser defeated state Assistant Attorney General JoAnne Kloppenburg by 7,316 votes out of nearly 1.5 million votes cast, the Wisconsin State Journal reports. She has until Wednesday to ask for a recount.

State election officials won't begin an official review of today's results until after an expected request by Kloppenburg.

Last week, County Clerk Kathy Nickolaus announced that she had failed to report a city's 14,000 votes in initial totals. The revised tally gave Prosser a lead of about 7,500 votes over Kloppenburg, who until then held a slim lead.

State election officials have announced that they will investigate vote irregularities in predominantly Republican Waukesha County stretching back at least five years.

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Weight loss improves memory, research shows

mostly gastric bypass surgery, which creates a smaller stomach and bypasses part of the small intestine. The other 41 obese patients did not have surgery.

After 12 weeks, all participants took the same set of memory tests a second time. Findings:

The surgery patients, who had lost an average 50 pounds, showed improvement in multiple cognitive abilities, including memory and executive functioning, which includes organization skills.

Normal lapses vs. warning signsThough everyone occasionally blanks, some lapses are more cause for concern.

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Audit shows Ariz. sheriff Arpaio's staff misspent $100M

Infamous Arizona Sheriff Joe Arpaio's staff misspent $99.5 million from restricted jail funds over eight years, Maricopa County officials announced today, The Arizona Republic reports.

Budget officials said a six-month review revealed that "discrepancies existed for years between sheriff's employees' actual duties and the duties reported in county payroll records," the paper writes. "As sheriff's employees were transferred around the agency, the payroll records were not always updated, creating a massive financial problem that will have to be confronted in coming years."

New systems are in place to prevent future misspending, officials said.

"Taxpayers are looking at us and saying, 'How in the hell did it happen?' " Supervisor Mary Rose Wilcox said at a news conference that the law-and-order Arpaio -- dubbed "America's Toughest Sheriff" -- did not attend. She suggested Arpaio, who has gained notoriety for his crackdown on illegal immigrants, had not been truthful when he vouched that his budgets were balanced.

No immediate comment from Arpaio.

"I don't think this was all an unfortunate mistake, but I think those people will be dealt with if there was intentional misconduct," said Supervisor Andy Kunasek.

The U.S. Attorney's Office confirmed it is working on the investigation.

the Republic writes that it's "unclear how the repayment could impact other county agencies still reeling from years of budget cuts, layoffs and, now, an increase in tens of millions of dollars in new state-mandated payments."

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Weight loss improves memory, research shows

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According to new research substantial weight loss improves brain health.

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According to new research substantial weight loss improves brain health.

Scientists know that overweight and obese people are at a greater risk for memory problems and other cognitive disabilities, but the latest study is one of the first to indicate that substantial weight loss improves brain health.

John Gunstad, an associate professor of psychology at Kent State University, and a team of scientists from several research centers analyzed memory tests taken by 150 people who weighed an average of 300 pounds. Many had several health problems, such as high blood pressure, type 2 diabetes and sleep apnea.

Of that group, 109 of them then had bariatric surgery

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