As Kabul Sees More Bloodshed, Karzai Drops Another Bombshell (Time.com)

The streets of central Kabul's bustling open-air Mandavi market was cleared of shopkeepers and shoppers early this afternoon after Taliban suicide bombers and gunmen attacked a large police station on the area's main street. The three attackers killed five civilians, three policemen and an intelligence officer when they breached the gate of the compound and opened fire, the Interior Ministry confirmed in a statement, according to Afghan news sources agencies. The insurgents were killed when the police returned fire.

The attack came just hours after President Hamid Karzai addressed a youth conference in the capital, denying reports that his government was in negotiations with the Taliban and, instead, suggesting that Washington was secretly in talks with the Islamist militants. "From the government side, we don't have any negotiations with them [the Taliban], but the important part is negotiations with the Pakistanis, which are very important for us," Karzai said, foreign and Afghan media reported. "The negotiations have started with those people and, God willing, these talks will continue. But foreign military forces and especially America are continuing this process," Karzai said. His speech was loaded with criticism of American and NATO actions within the country. Its apparent bullishness seemed to contradict statements Karzai had made in the past regarding face-to-face dialogue with the architects of the Taliban insurgency. (See pictures of the battle against the Taliban.)

The US has never openly confirmed such negotiations and the Taliban have outright denied their existence. Karzai regularly takes a harder-line concerning both the presence of foreign military forces and the activities of the Taliban when speaking to his domestic audience. A U.S. embassy official in Kabul offered Washington's longstanding talking points when speaking to Reuters: "We must help create conditions necessary to enable a political settlement among the Afghan people. This includes reconciling those insurgents who are willing to renounce al Qaeda, forsake violence and adhere to the Afghan constitution." It is unclear what Karzai's speech today will mean to US-Afghan relations, but after a series of recent statements by Karzai - one tearfully demanding the cessation of NATO air strikes in the country - it is clear that the relationship between the two countries is becoming increasingly strained. Debate continues to swirl in the US over President Barack Obama's expected announcement next month about how many troops will be withdrawn as part of a plan to send troops home and hand over security to Afghan forces by 2014.

But today in the Afghan capital, few were thinking of US-Afghan relations - rather focusing on the grim security situation at hand. Shortly after the attack, the bodies of two of those killed in the fighting were left lying in the street as police tried to restore calm. The body and face of one of the attackers, a young man, were torn with bullet wounds and the Afghan National Army fatigues he had used to blend in and breach the compound were soaked in drying blood. The second body - possibly a civilian - lay halfway up the street, just near the entrance of the police compound, covered by a sheet. Afghan news agencies and Afghan journalists on the scene said civilians were killed when police returned fire. (See pictures of the U.S. Marines' offensive in Afghanistan.)

Bursts of machine gun fire and single shots continued to crack and echo off the taller buildings and mosques in the center of the city, sending pedestrians ducking and running, as police in pickup trucks mounted with machineguns cordoned off a large area packed with government ministries, business centers and banks and tried to bring order to a chaotic scene. As ambulances finally reached the area and carried off the dead and wounded - which included two policemen and ten civilians - police were already washing large pools of blood out of the station and into the road.

"I was cleaning a vehicle when armed men shot two policemen manning the police station gate and then entered the building," said Nazifullah, an employee at the Kabul Revenue Department, nearby, Afghan news agencies reported. Other reports said one of the attackers detonated a suicide vest at the gate, but minimal damage appeared to suggest the insurgents had used rifles in the assault. Zabihullah Mujahid, a Taliban spokesman, claimed responsibility for the attacks, Afghan media reported.

The president's statements and the gun battle took place just weeks before limited foreign troop withdrawals are due to begin in selected provinces and cities around the war torn country. This most recent attack was carried out in central Kabul - one of the areas that will see a full security handover to Afghan forces in July - and should cause both foreign politicians and Afghan residents of the capital to question whether the country is ready for the coming security transition and the troop drawdown Afghanistan's President has long sought.

See what it will take to finish the job in Afghanistan.

See the battle in Kandahar.

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Shooting video another blow to Pakistan's security forces (Reuters)

ISLAMABAD (Reuters) – The killing of an apparently unarmed man by paramilitary troops is likely to erode what little public confidence remains in Pakistan's security forces who have been on the defensive since Osama bin Laden was killed in a U.S. raid.

The incident, caught on video and broadcast on local television stations, triggered fresh criticism of Pakistan's human rights record and an unpopular government many say has failed to rein in the police and army, and who seem to act with impunity.

It also further dented the reputation of the powerful security establishment in this U.S. ally which has been deeply embarrassed by the fact that the al Qaeda leader was found and killed in Pakistan last month, and its subsequent failure to stop a small group of militants from besieging a key naval air base.

"It shows that our law enforcement agencies have truly become trigger happy and the brutalization of society that has come about as a consequence," Zohra Yusuf, head of the independent Human Rights Commission of Pakistan, told Reuters.

"It's very very disturbing and it's been happening too often."

In the footage, a plain-clothed man grabs the victim by the hair and drags him over to a group of paramilitary Rangers in the southern city of Karachi. He pleads for mercy, then one of the soldiers shoots him twice.

The man, identified as Sarfaraz Shah, falls to the ground and screams in pain. The soldiers stand beside him.

He collapses in a pool of blood beside a park named after late Pakistani Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto, who was seen around the world as a symbol of democracy.

The Rangers initially described the incident as an encounter with an armed criminal, a senior police official said.

A cameraman from Awaz television channel who shot the video has received death threats from unknown people, one of his bosses said.

News of the death was splashed across the front pages of newspapers beside photographs of Shah's grieving relatives. "Karachi extra-judicial killing shocks Pakistan," read one banner headline.

The video comes a few days after a prominent journalist who had reported that al Qaeda was behind the brazen Pakistani Taliban raid on the PNS Mehran air base was tortured to death.

Suspicion immediately fell on military intelligence, which said it played no role in the killing.

The Daily Times said the military, paramilitary forces, police and intelligence agencies "who confidently violate human rights" should be held accountable for their actions.

"The security and law enforcement forces that do not respect the law themselves are inviting anarchy, which arguably is already underway," it said in an editorial.

Last year, a video emerged of two teenage brothers believed to be robbers being beaten to death before being strung up on a metal pole in broad daylight. Several policemen looked on.

The prime minister said an inquiry would be launched after the Karachi incident and the culprits punished. But increasingly frustrated Pakistanis have little faith in the government.

"What we saw on television shows that now there is the law of the jungle in this country and no one is accountable for his action or deeds. This is pathetic," said Mohammad Sultan, a retired soldier who now works as a security guard.

(Additional reporting by Faisal Aziz in Karachi, Faris Ali in Peshawar and Asim Tanveer in Mingora, editing by Miral Fahmy)

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Another slain Syrian teen tortured?

(CNN) -- A second Syrian teenager has been returned to his parents -- lifeless, battered and, according to activists, a victim of torture.

A video released Thursday by activists includes a woman wailing as a body is unwrapped at the hospital in Daraa.

"My son, it's my son," the voice cries out. "This scar here, I swear its my son, I stitched this cut on him when he was little."

The boy was identified as Tamer Mohammed al Sharey, 15, who disappeared after an April 29 demonstration.

He was from the same village as Hamza Ali al-Khateeb, 13. Hamza's killing has enraged, mobilized and emboldened the country's opposition movement. Tamer was at the same demonstration Hamza attended, according to activists.

Tamer's body was one of 14, including those of other children, that arrived at the hospital.

In the video, voices curse Syrian President Bashar al-Assad. As several men clean Tamer's thin frame, a bullet wound beneath the knee is clearly visible.

As the camera moves to his head, a voice says, "look at the signs of torture."

The teen's face appears dark and discolored. An activist from Daraa told of marks on the boy's body. He said he believes Tamer was tortured, possibly electrocuted.

Children led Tamer's funeral procession carrying banners reading, "Tamer the martyred ... detained alive ... martyred after torture."

CNN cannot independently verify what happened to Hamza or Tamer, or verify the authenticity of videos allegedly showing their remains.

On a video posted on YouTube, the narrator points out multiple visible gunshots wounds to Hamza Ali al-Khateeb's torso. His head appears bloated and purple, and the voice says the teen's genitals were mutilated.

Family members say Hamza got separated from his father in the chaos during demonstrations around Daraa, when protesters marched on the city to break the Syrian military siege and force the delivery of important supplies, such as medicine and milk for babies.

Eyewitnesses at the time said that security forces indiscriminately opened fire on demonstrators. Dozens were killed and wounded, countless others detained, among them children.

Several weeks ago, the family received Hamza's body.

Razan Zaitouneh, a prominent activist in hiding in Syria who CNN reached via Skype, said she has no doubt that the YouTube video of Hamza is real. And she believes that the regime had a message in releasing the boy's body.

"They want the people to see this, they want the people to get scared," Zaitouneh said. "They want the people to know that there is no red line and anything, no matter how awful it is, could happen to their family members if they continue to participate in this revolution."

Syrian state TV recently ran a segment in which a person identified as the medical examiner in the case said the body's injuries were sustained when Hamza was alive, but there was no evidence on the surface of the body that the boy had been subjected to torture, violence or retaliation.

Syria TV also said al-Assad met with members of Hamza's family.

CNN's Salma Abdelaziz contributed to this report.

CNN

NYPD: Another financial figure accused of hotel sexual assault

New York (CNN) -- The chairman of a salt company who once headed an Egyptian bank was arrested Monday in New York, accused of sexually abusing an employee at a luxury hotel.

Mahmoud Abdel-Salam Omar is charged with sexual abuse, unlawful imprisonment, forcible touching and harassment, according to the New York Police Department.

The alleged incident took place Sunday -- a little more than two weeks after Dominique Strauss-Kahn, then chief of the International Monetary Fund, was accused of sexually assaulting and attempting to rape a housekeeping employee at another swank New York hotel. Strauss-Kahn's attorneys deny the allegations, and he has since stepped down from the IMF to focus on his defense.

Attorneys for ex-IMF chief say police leaks have tainted trial

Omar, 74, did not immediately make a public statement.

The New York Police Department said it was informed Monday of an incident at the Pierre Hotel in Manhattan. Police came to the hotel, where the alleged victim told them that at about 6 p.m. Sunday she went to Omar's room to drop off tissues he had requested. "Once inside the room the victim was sexually abused," police said.

A spokeswoman for Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus Vance said prosecutors would not release any information until after Omar's arraignment, which could take place Tuesday.

The Pierre Hotel released a statement saying, "The Pierre's priority is the safety of our guests and staff. We take all complaints very seriously and investigate thoroughly. This incident has been formally reported to the New York Police Department and is under investigation. And we will fully comply with the investigation as requested."

Omar is chairman of El-Mex Salines Co. On its website, the firm describes itself as a subsidiary of Chemical Industries Holding Co., a chemical production company. It is "one of the oldest international companies in (the) salt industry," the website says.

A spokesman for El-Mex Salines said that Omar was head of the Bank of Alexandria 15 years ago.

El-Mex Salines had no immediate comment on the arrest.

The Bank of Alexandria was established in 1957 as an Egyptian joint stock company, according to its website. It was privatized in 2006.

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At least 44 Syrians killed in another bloody Friday (Reuters)

AMMAN (Reuters) – Syrian security forces shot dead at least 44 civilians in attacks on pro-democracy demonstrations that erupted across Syria on Friday, the Syrian National Organization for Human Rights said on Saturday.

Prominent rights campaigner Ammar Qurabi, who heads of the organization, said more than half were killed in the northwest province of Idlib, where tanks deployed on Friday to crush large demonstrations against the rule of President Bashar al-Assad.

The protests broke out in defiance of a military crackdown that another rights group says has killed more than 800 civilians in the past nine weeks.

The 45-year-old Assad had largely dismissed the protests as serving a foreign-backed conspiracy to sow sectarian strife.

Syrian authorities blame most of the violence on armed groups, backed by Islamists and outside powers, who they say have killed more than 120 soldiers and police. They have recently suggested they believe the protests have peaked.

Syria said on Saturday armed groups killed 17 people on Friday in the provinces of Idlib and Homs to the south.

Echoing language used in previous similar statements, the state news agency said the civilians, police and security forces were killed after armed groups exploited the commitment of police forces to specific instructions by the Interior Ministry "not to shoot, to preserve the lives of civilians."

It said saboteurs burned public buildings and police stations in Idlib, injuring eight policemen.

Syria has barred most international media since the protests broke out two months ago, making it impossible to verify independently accounts from activists and officials.

U.S. CRITICISM

The unrest has posed the gravest challenge to Assad's rule. In response, he has lifted a 48-year state of emergency and granted citizenship to stateless Kurds, but also sent tanks to several cities to suppress the protests.

Friday's violence came a day after the United States, which had at first muted its criticism Assad's handling of the unrest, told him to reform or step down.

"The president can still try to redeem himself by doing what a few leaders in Eastern Europe did, which is leading immediate transformation to a democracy and running himself in a fair elections if he wants," opposition figure Walid al-Bunni said.

"With all the blood the regime is spilling the protests have been growing and expanding in geographical scope ... The Syrians have been humiliated and they will no longer shut up," he added.

The main weekly Muslim prayers on Fridays are a rallying point for protesters because they offer the only opportunity for large gatherings, and have seen the worst death tolls.

Activists said protests broke out this Friday in the Damascus suburbs, Banias and Latakia on the Mediterranean, the oil producing region of Deir al-Zor, Qamishli in the east and the southern Hauran Plain.

Syrian human rights lawyer Razan Zaitouna said on Friday at least 12 civilians were killed in Maaret al-Numan, in Idlib province, after tanks entered the town to disperse protesters. She said 11 were killed in the central city of Homs, while seven died in Deraa, Latakia, the Damascus suburbs and Hama.

Rights campaigners said Idlib, a relatively prosperous agricultural province, took the brunt of the crackdown on Friday, during which hundreds of Syrians were arrested.

They said those killed included at least five protesters shot by security forces while they were marching from the town of Ariha to join other protests in Idlib.

"They took their dead and went back to Ariha and burned security and Baath Party headquarters and a Syriatel office," said one rights campaigner in the area.

Syriatel, Syria's largest mobile phone operator, belongs to Assad's cousin Rami Makhlouf, who has expanded his control on various sectors of the economy since Assad succeeded his late father 11 years ago.

SLOGAN

Security forces arrested 12 members of the Assyrian Democratic Party, from Syria's Christian minority, in a raid on their headquarters in Qamishli on Friday, rights activists said.

Two witnesses said security forces fired at demonstrators and chased them in the streets of the Barzeh district of Damascus. Plain clothes police conducted house to house arrests, a resident said.

Security forces also fired live ammunition at a night demonstration in the besieged hill town of Zabadai west of Damascus, a rights campaigner in the area said, adding tanks had deployed at the southern entrance of the nearby town of Madaya.

Activists reported shooting in Banias and the Damascus suburb of Saqba on Friday. Both were subjected to security sweeps earlier this month aimed at crushing dissent.

A witness said security forces fired teargas on protesters in Hama, where around 20,000 had gathered in two separate areas. They also used teargas to disperse around 1,000 protesters in the town of Tel, just north of Damascus, another witness said.

Some protesters called on Friday for freedom, activists said. Others demanded "the overthrow of the regime," the slogan of uprisings which toppled leaders in Egypt and Tunisia.

(Writing by Dominic Evans and Yara Bayoumy; Editing by Alison Williams)

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Sony Fixes Another Security Vulnerability on Web Site (NewsFactor)

As the Sony networks slowly come back online, a security issue that could have led to another break-in has been fixed. The company said the vulnerability was on the page where users had to reset their passwords for Sony's PlayStation Network and Qriocity music service.

The security hole enabled any user with the date of birth and e-mail address of an account holder to reset the password. Birth dates and e-mail addresses of up to a hundred million users were among the unencrypted data that Sony believes may have been stolen in the original break-in.

Accounts 'Unsafe'

After the first network breach, the company was criticized by industry observers and some members of Congress for not quickly revealing that users' personal data may have been taken. The initial breach was noticed by Sony on April 19, the PlayStation Network was shut down on April 20, and users were notified of the breach and possible loss of personal information on April 26.

A gaming site, nyleveia.com, first brought the most recent security issue to light in a posting on May 17. It said that "despite the methods currently employed to force a password change when you first reconnect to the PlayStation Network, your accounts remain unsafe."

The site reported that a hack exploiting this weakness was "currently doing the rounds in dark corners" of the Internet. By Thursday, Sony reported it had fixed the problem.

In a video recently posted on the PlayStation Blog, Sony executive Kazuo Hirai noted that, as a new security feature, all customers are required to change their passwords.

'Welcome Back'

Hirai said "aggressive actions" were being taken to address the vulnerabilities that led to the unprecedented network outage. The actions, he said, include advanced security technology, increased levels of encryption, additional firewalls, and early warning systems.

Some Sony watchers have contended that the company failed to keep up with the most recent software, leading up to the initial break-ins. The hacker collective Anonymous, some of whose members may have been involved in the attack -- although the group has denied responsibility -- has distributed server scan logs from Sony's networks.

The logs reportedly show that the company used version 4.4 of the OpenSSH software instead of the most recent version, 5.7. Additionally, Sony was apparently using an older version of the Apache server software.

The company has initiated a Welcome Back Appreciation Program in North America for all registered PSN and Qriocity users. Two free games will be available for 30 days after the PlayStation Store is restored and "can be kept forever," the company said on its PlayStation blog. The PlayStation Store is expected to be back online by May 24.

Five titles are offered for PSN, and four for PSP. Other features of the package include 30 days of free PlayStation Plus membership for non-Plus subscribers, 100 free virtual items, and other benefits.

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Another Gadhafi regime official defects (AP)

By DIAA HADID and BOUAZZA BEN BOUAZZA, Associated Press Diaa Hadid And Bouazza Ben Bouazza, Associated Press – 11 mins ago

TRIPOLI, Libya – Forces loyal to Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi shelled villages and towns to try to take control of the high ground in a western mountain range as NATO widened its campaign of bombings and leafletting to persuade government troops to stop fighting.

Libyan rebels said on Wednesday that Gadhafi's forces were shelling communities in the western mountains. BelJassem, a citizen-turned-fighter from a village near Yafrin, said Gadhafi forces were using Grad missiles and rocket launchers in their nearly monthlong siege, leaving residents trapped and cut off from food and medical supplies.

"We dig trenches and hide in there at night," says BelJassem, who gave only his first name for fear of reprisals.

Yafrin, which is 75 miles (120 kilometers) southwest of Tripoli, is one of the biggest cities in the Nafusa mountain range, home to the ethnic Berber minority.

Medghamas Abu-Zakhar, a rebel based in Yafrin, said Gadhafi forces were shelling villages toward the top of the Nafusa range in an attempt to capture the high ground.

Yafrin is home to some 250,000 Berbers, said Fathi Abu-Zakhar, who is among the city's residents who fled the fighting. He said that two of his sons stayed behind.

"They are living under siege," he said in a telephone interview. "No food and no medicine can get in. Even the injured have no way to get treatment since the only hospital has been shut down."

Farther to the West, Libyan shelling forced the closure late Tuesday of the so-called Wazen passage, which is the route people fleeing Libya use to get to neighboring Tunisia.

Jaber Naluti, a volunteer who has been trying to assist people in the area, said Gadhafi forces shelled the route, killing seven Libyan rebels. Some of the shells fell on the Tunisian side of the border.

Naluti said the shelling forced Tunisian authorities to close the passage. Tunisian jet fighters flew over the area but didn't fire. The passage appeared to be functioning normally on Wednesday.

Gadhafi, who has ruled Libya for more than 40 years, has been using his military and militias to try to put down an uprising that began in February. The protests are aimed at ousting him from power.

The reports from Yafrin came a day after NATO said it would step up psychological warfare operations to try to persuade troops loyal to Gadhafi to abandon the fight.

Wing Cmdr. Mike Bracken, speaking in Naples, Italy, said NATO planes have been dropping leaflets and broadcasting messages to Libyan forces urging them "to return to their barracks and homes."

Bracken said the messages also have advised pro-regime troops "to move away from any military equipment" that could be targeted by NATO's strike aircraft.

He did not provide further details on the psychological operations. But the U.S. has been using a specially modified Air Force C-130 transport to broadcast messages to Libyan forces in AM, FM, high-frequency radio, TV and military communications bands.

NATO is operating under a U.N. Security Council mandate to maintain a no-fly zone and to take other actions to protect civilians from attack by Gadhafi's forces. In recent days, NATO attacks have concentrated on military and logistics hubs in Tripoli.

There was no formal reaction from the government to reports that Shukri Ghanem, the Libyan oil minister and head of the National Oil Co., defected earlier this week and left the country for Tunis. The defection was confirmed by Abdel Moneim al-Houni, a former Libyan Arab League representative who was among the first wave of Libyan diplomats to defect.

Others who have defected include Foreign Minister Moussa Koussa, one of Gadhafi's earliest supporters; Interior Minister Abdel-Fatah Younes; Justice Minister Mustafa Abdul-Jalil, and Ali Abdessalam Treki, a former U.N. General Assembly president. A number of ambassadors and other diplomats also have resigned.

The defections suggest Gadhafi's political structure is fraying, but it's unclear whether there is enough internal strife to seriously undermine his ability to fight rebel forces as NATO airstrikes pound Libyan military targets. Gadhafi appears to retain the backing of his core of military commanders.

Still, support for Gadhafi seems to be waning in the capital, Tripoli. Pro-regime demonstrations are sparsely attended, even when heavily advertised in advance.

And rebel forces have reported some gains in recent days. In Misrata, the main battleground in western Libya, opposition fighters claim they have driven back government troops from key access points and tried to push pro-Gadhafi gunners out of rocket range for the city.

The International Committee of the Red Cross said Tuesday that fighting in Misrata and other cities is denying medical aid to civilians and causing casualties among health personnel. It cited reports by the Libyan Red Crescent that three of its ambulances were hit over the past four days. A nurse was killed and a patient and three volunteers were wounded, it said.

Also Tuesday, the U.N. refugee agency said Libyan authorities appeared to be encouraging African migrants to board unseaworthy boats bound for Europe.

Melissa Fleming, a spokeswoman for the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees, told reporters in Geneva that the Libyan conflict has opened up a route for migrants that was closed for two years because of an agreement between Libya and Italy.

Already some 14,000 people — mostly from sub-Saharan Africa — have used Libya as a springboard to reach Europe, and thousands more are poised to make the treacherous sea journey in the coming weeks as weather conditions in the Mediterranean improve.

"The authorities (in Libya) are not discouraging, at all, in fact there may be signs that they are encouraging these boat journeys," she said.

Some are migrants fleeing the fighting in Libya, but others appear to be crossing into Libya from elsewhere in Africa because it is easier to get onto smugglers' boats there.

___

Associated Press reporters Maggie Michael contributed to this report from Cairo, Egypt, and Michelle Faul from Benghazi, Libya.

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Chinese lawyer freed, another missing

Teng Biao is freed after 70 days in custodySoon after his release, another lawyer is seized by unknown people "We've seen a serious backsliding in human rights," a top U.S. diplomat says

Beijing, China (CNN) -- Chinese authorities freed a prominent lawyer held for more than two months shortly after a U.S. official called for his release, a rights group said.

Teng Biao was released Friday after 70 days in custody, according to a U.S. Embassy spokesman.

China Human Rights Defenders also confirmed that he was no longer detained.

His release comes after two days of talks between the U.S. and China in Beijing.

"We've seen a serious backsliding in human rights," said Michael Posner, assistant U.S. secretary of state for democracy, human rights and labor.

During his meetings with Chinese officials, Posner highlighted the lawyer's case along with a host of other activists, artists and religious groups.

Posner said Thursday that relations between the United States and China could suffer as a result of the crackdown on activists following calls for a revolution in February.

However, celebration of his release was quickly muted when another lawyer was taken into custody soon after.

Li Fangping was seized by unidentified people while leaving an office building in Beijing and has been out of contact since then, according to China Human Rights Defenders.

Li has represented several high-profile individuals, including lawyer Chen Guangcheng, who remains under house arrest in Shangdong Province following his release from prison.

He also defended Zhao Lianhai, an outspoken food safety activist and parent of a child contaminated by melamine-tainted milk powder in 2008.

China Human Rights Defenders said Li told his wife by phone on Friday that "I may be gone for a period of time ... can't talk more."

Attempts to contact Li since then have gone unanswered.

"Releasing Dr. Teng is welcoming news, but China cannot continue to play this game of letting one go and taking another in if China wants to be seen as a responsible international partner," Bob Fu, founder of the nongovernmental organization China Aid, said in a statement.

Calls to Chinese officials for comment were not returned.

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Another air traffic controller suspended for sleeping

STORY HIGHLIGHTSNEW: The head of the controller's union says fatigue and scheduling must be addressed It is the seventh apparent incident of sleeping at work this year disclosed by the FAAThere was no operational impact, the FAA says Washington (CNN) -- The Federal Aviation Administration suspended Saturday yet another air traffic controller for sleeping on the job, the seventh apparent incident this year the agency has disclosed.

The incident occurred at the Miami Air Route Traffic Control Center during the midnight shift early Saturday morning, two days before the FAA is expected to conduct meetings on air traffic control safety and professionalism, the FAA reported.

According to a preliminary review of air traffic tapes, the controller did not miss any calls from aircraft and there was no operational impact, the agency said in a statement. The incident was reported to a manager by another controller, the FAA said. There were 12 controllers and two managers on duty.

Last week, Hank Krakowski resigned as the head of the FAA Air Traffic Organization amid revelations that several controllers fell asleep on the job this year.

All the incidents occurred during the midnight shifts, but the similarity ends there. Some occurred at local control towers, one occurred at a regional radar facility and the latest at a high-altitude center. In at least one incident, the FAA has said the controller deliberately went to sleep, while some of the others appear to have been accidental.

Prior to the start of the midnight shift at the Miami facility, all the controllers were given a briefing on professionalism and the importance of reporting to work fit for duty, the FAA said.

The controller who fell asleep has been suspended, the agency said.

Other incidents of sleeping controllers have been reported in Washington, D.C.; Knoxville, Tennessee; Seattle, and Reno, Nevada. There have been two suspected cases in Lubbock, Texas.

FAA Administrator Randy Babbitt disclosed the latest incident in a statement saying he is prohibiting scheduling practices that may be contributing to fatigue. The changes will be effective within 72 hours, Babbitt said.

Paul Rinaldi, head of the controller's union, said Saturday his union and the FAA agree that fatigue and scheduling must be addressed.

"This latest incident earlier today is of great concern, as it is never acceptable when we don't provide the level of service expected and required of us on every shift. We take our responsibilities very seriously and believe fatigue is a significant factor in these instances," he said.

Babbitt and Rinaldi on Monday will begin a cross-country tour of air traffic control facilities. Their first stop will be at an Atlanta-area regional radar facility.

"We are taking swift action to ensure the safety of our aviation system," Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood said in a statement Saturday. "There is no excuse for air traffic controllers to be sleeping on the job. We will do everything we can to put an end to this."

On Thursday, Krakowski, resigned amid the furor caused by the controversy. David Grizzle, the FAA's chief counsel, was named acting chief of the unit during a search to fill Krakowski's post.

Saturday morning, Grizzle briefed LaHood and Babbitt about the latest incident.

"We are taking important steps today that will make a real difference in fighting air traffic controller fatigue," Babbitt said. "But we know we will need to do more. This is just the beginning."

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Super jumbo jet clips another plane at JFK airport

By Daniel Acker, Bloomberg

An Air France Airbus A380 approaches John F. Kennedy International Airport on Nov. 20, 2009. The giant jet clipped a smaller plane on the tarmac Monday night.

EnlargeCloseBy Daniel Acker, Bloomberg

An Air France Airbus A380 approaches John F. Kennedy International Airport on Nov. 20, 2009. The giant jet clipped a smaller plane on the tarmac Monday night.

There were no injuries when the Air France super jumbo jet touched the other plane at 8:09 p.m., Federal Aviation Administration spokesman Jim Peters said.

Air France Flight 7, bound for Paris, was taxiing on a runway when its left wingtip struck the tail of Comair Flight 6293, which had just landed from Boston and was taxiing to its gate at Kennedy, one of the nation's busiest airports, Peters said.

Both jets were being towed to a ramp area for inspection, Peters said. The extent of the damage was unknown.

The FAA didn't immediately say how many people were on the double-deck Airbus A380, which can carry 525 passengers in a three-class configuration or more than 850 in a single-class configuration. Air France didn't immediately return a telephone message seeking comment.

The Comair CRJ 700 Regional Jet was carrying 62 passengers and four crewmembers, said Betsy Talton, a spokeswoman of Atlanta-based Delta Air Lines Inc., for which Comair operates regional flights. All the passengers were taken off the plane and into a terminal, she said.

The most serious safety scare for the world's largest and newest jetliners occurred last year, when a Rolls-Royce engine on a Qantas A380 disintegrated shortly after takeoff from Singapore, prompting Qantas to temporarily ground its fleet. A preliminary report blamed the massive engine failure on an oil leak.

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