WASHINGTON, April 21 (UPI) -- U.S. government officials warn of possible identity theft after the Social Security numbers of 63,000 people were posted on a public Web site.

The officials said Friday the U.S. Census Bureau posted the Social Security numbers thousands of recipients of federal farm loans in an apparent violation of federal law, The Washington Post reported Saturday.

We take full responsibility for this and offer no excuses for it, said Terri Teuber, a spokeswoman for the U.S. Department of Agriculture. We absolutely do not think it was appropriate.

The data, which was posted as part of a U.S. Census Bureau loans database, was removed from the Web site April 13 after an Illinois farmer stumbled on it while searching the Internet and alerted officials. However, the issue was not revealed to the public until Friday because, officials said, information security officials needed time to wipe the information from mirror sites and contact people whose numbers were posted.

However, a watchdog group said the delay was the result of the government attempting to cover up its error.

The bottom line is the government screwed up, said Gary Bass, executive director of OMB Watch. What's really important is that they now try to rectify the problem. Thousands of research groups have copies of this site.

BOAO, China, April 21 (UPI) -- Asian countries will continue to prosper if they focus on peace and regional cooperation, leaders at a business summit in China said Saturday.

The annual Boao Forum for Asia began Saturday in southern China's Hainan Province. More than 1,400 politicians and business leaders are attending the conference, including Microsoft Chairman Bill Gates, Xinhua reported.

To prosper, Asian countries must cooperate with each other to promote peace, accelerate scientific and technological innovations, conserve resources and protect the environment in Asia, the conference leaders said.

In his address, Gates stressed that investment in Asia has brought great opportunities for innovation. Microsoft plans to dedicate 60 percent of its research and development resources to Asian countries, Gates said.

Asia's gross domestic products grew by more than 6 percent annually in the past seven years, contributing to 20 percent of the world economic growth, organizers of the conference said.

LONDON, April 21 (UPI) -- London's Heathrow airport may be in chaos this weekend as its air traffic controllers move to a new control tower.

The new $100 million tower replaces one built in 1955 at Heathrow, the world's busiest international airport.

Passengers were warned of delays and flight arrivals have been cut 10 percent to scale back the workload on the controllers as they learn the new equipment, said airport operators.

That said, it's going to be awful, an unidentified airline official told the Independent Saturday.

TROLLHATTEN, Sweden, April 21 (UPI) -- Union officials expect up to 1,400 jobs to be cut at a Saab car plant in western Sweden, it was reported Saturday.

The jobs are to be cut at the Trollhatten plant, despite plans for that plant to build the new Astra, a car designed by Saab's parent company, General Motors, said union official Paul Akerlund.

It's clear that there won't be any new jobs in the future, said Akerlund. We will produce the same number of cars as today ... but with fewer workers."

Most of Saab's 4,000 workers are based at the Trollhatten plant, which is one of four plants tapped to begin building the new Astra after 2010, The Local said.

Throughout Europe, GM may cut up to 4,500 workers by 2010, said Peter Scherrer, who heads the European Metalworkers' Federation. Saab spokesman Christer Nilsson called those figures theoretical.