A VIDEO showing a boy of 12 beheading a militant has been circulating in Pakistan.

In a high-pitched voice, the youth denounces the bound, blindfolded man as an American spy. Then he appears to behead the captive, to cries of “God is great!”

The alleged victim is Ghulam Nabi, a Pakistani militant accused of betraying a top Taleban official who was killed in an air-strike in Afghanistan in December.

The video, obtained by a news agency in the border city of Peshawar, appears authentic and is unprecedented in jihadist propaganda because of the youth of the executioner.

Captions mention Mullah Dadullah, the Taleban’s top commander in southern Afghanistan, though he does not appear in the video. The soundtrack features songs praising the Taleban’s supreme leader, Mullah Omar, and “Sheikh Osama” - an apparent reference to Osama bin Laden, who is suspected to be hiding along the Afghan-Pakistan border.

Wall Street Awaits Intel, Citi Earnings Wall Street Awaits Earnings From Intel, Citigroup Amid Slew of Corporate Economic Data By TIM PARADIS The Associated Press

NEW YORK - Wall Street’s fixation on economic data turns into a craving for profit news and forecasts this week as a slew of corporate earnings reports arrive.

Investors will receive their first big batch of reports from the final quarter of 2006 and try to determine whether the robust profits that have propelled stocks to new heights will continue.

While market forecasters expect profit growth to slow in 2007 amid what is seen as a decelerating economy, investors are nonetheless anxious to gain a better sense of how companies fared in the fourth quarter. The quarter and overall year saw enormous gains in stock prices, justified in part by double-digit earnings growth.

Gains continued last week, with the Dow Jones industrial average rising 1.27 percent to a record close Friday. The Standard & Poor’s 500 index advanced 1.49 percent and the technology-laden Nasdaq composite rose 2.82 percent.

Though earnings season had its unofficial start last week with Alcoa Inc.’s better-than-expected results, the real action begins Tuesday, when the week shortened by the Martin Luther King Jr. holiday starts and investors hear from Intel Corp.

While investors will keep tabs on earnings, economic readings will still hold great sway over the mood on Wall Street. The week brings a slew of data, including figures on inflation and regional manufacturing.

Wall Street has reacted to recent economic reports with a mix of concern, enthusiasm or indifference as it struggled to determine whether the economy is slowing adequately or headed toward recession. It is hoped a gradual slowdown would protect corporate profits and allow the inflation-wary Federal Reserve to lower short-term interest rates.

ECONOMIC DATA

Investors returning to work Tuesday will be greeted with a snapshot of regional activity from the New York Fed, which is expected to release its Empire State manufacturing survey for January.

Wednesday brings a flurry of data, including the U.S. Fed’s beige book, which summarizes regional economic activity across the country. Release of the report precedes the central bank’s first meeting of the year at the end of the month.

Also due is the Labor Department’s December Producer Price Index, a measure of inflation at the wholesale level. The Fed is also expected to release its report on industrial production and capacity utilization for December.

On Thursday, Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke testifies before the Senate Budget Committee on the long-term fiscal challenges facing the United States.

Thursday is also a big day for economic data, with readings on inflation at the consumer level. The Labor Department’s Consumer Price Index as well as the core CPI are due that day. The core figure excludes food and energy costs, whose volatility can distort readings.

The Commerce Department is expected to weigh in with figures on December housing starts and permits. And a report from the Philadelphia Fed on regional manufacturing is also expected Thursday.

Rounding out the week is the University of Michigan’s preliminary consumer sentiment reading for January on Friday.

EARNINGS

Intel is expected to earn 25 cents per share when it reports fourth-quarter results Tuesday. The chipmaker, which has traded between $16.75 and $26.52 in the past 52 weeks, closed at $22.13 Friday.

On Wednesday, Wall Street expects to hear from American Airlines parent AMR Corp., which is seen as reporting a fourth-quarter loss of 7 cents per share. The stock reached a new 52-week high of $38.10 Friday, topping its earlier high of $38. The stock, which closed Friday at $37.56, traded as low as $18.25 in the last 52 weeks.

Also that day, Apple Inc. is expected to report fiscal first-quarter results. The computer maker last week reached an all-time high after it unveiled plans for a mobile phone. Apple is seen earning 78 cents per share. The stock, which closed Friday at $94.62, traded between $50.16 and $97.80 in the past 52 weeks.

On Thursday, Continental Airlines Inc. reports fourth-quarter results. Wall Street expects the carrier will post a loss of 13 cents per share for the period. The stock hit a 52-week high of $50.26 Friday, topping a previous high of $49.57. The shares have traded as low as $16.77 in the past 52 weeks and closed Friday at $49.66.

Merrill Lynch & Co. is expected to report a fourth-quarter profit of $1.88 per share when it reports Thursday. The investment bank reached a fresh 52-week high of $97.22 Friday, surpassing a previous high of $96.48. The stock, which has traded as low as $64.58 in the past 52 weeks, ended Friday at $97.02.

Friday brings a report from Citigroup Inc. The financial-services company is expected to earn $1.03 for its fourth quarter. The stock has traded from $44.81 to $57 in the past 52 weeks and closed Friday at $54.38.

Gourmet sodas are hot properties these days: Think Jones Soda (http://www.businessweek.com/ticker/), Hansen’s Natural (http://www.businessweek.com/ticker/), and SoBe. The latest small beverage outfit to hit the big time is Reed’s Ginger Brew (http://www.businessweek.com/ticker/), which has 34 employees and started trading its stock over the counter late last year. The Los Angeles company’s chief executive officer and founder, Chris Reed, took a circuitous route to success, from brewing his spicy Jamaican ginger beers in 1987 to selling shares directly to his customers in 2006.

The bearded, t-shirted Reed says he wouldn’t recommend that other entrepreneurs follow his exact process, but he has learned some valuable tips along the way to his company’s recent initial public offering, which raised $8 million. He spoke to Smart Answers columnist Karen E. Klein. Edited excerpts of their conversation follow.

When did you first think about taking Reed’s public?

We contemplated it way back in 1991. But the people I was involved with at the time scared me. They showed up with bags of money and started telling me that we’d need $2 million worth of assets to list on the NASDAQ. They wanted me to give up a third of my company, and they were going to put up the money based on oil and gas leases. I ran in the other direction.

Instead of going public at that time, you bootstrapped the firm. What did that involve?

We had a little money infusion from some angel investors and my dad. My family put in some money in 2000, and we purchased Virgil’s, a private company that makes root beer and cream soda. Then we raised $400,000 from 200 people through a SCOR—a small corporate offering registration—that I basically did myself. I paid $5,000 to get legal help, and for about $20,000 total I put neck tags on our bottles in 10 Western states. They call that a “tombstone”—it’s an announcement saying we’re raising money. It was very organic, and it was the inspiration for going to the next level.

You didn’t really go the traditional growth route.

No. It’s hard to find people you trust when you’re a hippie from California. And you know, Ben and Jerry funded their ice cream company with a tombstone underneath the lid of their cartons, and Samuel Adams did the same with an announcement in their six-pack holders. Still, it’s a pretty sketchy way to do it, but I couldn’t bring myself to just put my stock in the hands of Wall Street.

I’d rather have it in the hands of my true-believing customers. They’re the best shareholders because they’re owner-advocates. They e-mail me and say, “Hey here’s a store you should be in!” They ask their storekeepers to stock our products. Now they can support their stock shares and their habits.

After the SCOR, you decided to pursue an IPO, again using the direct-to-consumer appeals. How did that come about?

I got the idea after watching Jones and Hansen’s go through the roof in 2004. Also, bootstrapping is boring, slow, and we’ve been doing it for a bunch of years. All this opportunity was out there. We decided to go back at it, doing the neck tags again, and we got more people calling in. We got more leads but it still was not really happening.

I didn’t have a clue about going public. I actually cold-called brokerage firms that had done small deals, and let me tell you, that’s as bad an experience as you can get. Eventually I found a group called the National Investment Banking Assn. (www.nibanet.org), and I went to a trade show they put on and did a PowerPoint presentation in front of a room full of investment brokers. It was a great way to engage these people, being there in person, instead of being a disembodied voice on the phone.

Then I met a guy at a birthday party. He was in the investment business, and I told him what we were doing. He was between gigs and volunteered to visit our office. He really took over the process.