NPR 2011-04-17

Another air traffic controller was found asleep on the job; this time in Miami. The Federal Aviation Administration says it has suspended the controller in Miami who fell asleep early this morning. The FAA also announced today it will ban scheduling practices that are likely to result in fatigued 1 controllers and end the practice of scheduling only one controller on overnight shifts. The Miami incident is the latest in a string of cases of controllers falling asleep on the job, alarming regulators, safety advocates and the flying public.

The Deep South is cleaning up today after deadly storms swept through the region this weekend, killing 2 a total of 17 people. Yasmin August of the Alabama Emergency Management Agency says parts of her state were devastated 3.

"Some of the hardest-hit areas are Autauga County. You know, they have three fatalities 4. The Washington County, they also have three fatalities. Marengo County has one fatality 5. So we've had seven fatalities total so far for the state."

At least 30 homes were destroyed in Alabama, and it's believed several tornadoes 6 touched down. A National Weather Service meteorologist estimates the tornado's winds reached 140 to 150 miles per hour. Tornadoes also touched down in Oklahoma and Arkansas.

Egypt's state news agency reports that former President Hosni Mubarak will be transferred to a military hospital, and then to prison when his health improves. NPR's Deborah Amos reports from Cairo that Mubarak collapsed 7 during a recent corruption 8 investigation 9.

The trial of a former Arab president moved a step closer as Egypt's state prosecutor 10 declared that Mubarak will join his two sons in prison. A 15-day detention 11 order is likely to be extended, says Hani Shukrallah, editor of the state news outlet 12 AL-Ahram Online. The interim 13 government will now have to produce hard evidence of corruption and misuse 14 of power. "All of Egypt will be watching," he says, "all this fuss, and then you release them because you don't have enough evidence. Then you really lose the legitimacy 15. It becomes a fuss, and you've got millions back in the streets, and you are the target now. So, they have to take it to the end." Taking it to court is the demand of a protest movement that can still call on massive Egyptians to the streets. Deborah Amos, NPR News, Cairo.

Pakistan's prime minister says his country stands strongly behind efforts to make peace with the Taliban and says while the US is involved in the reconciliation 16 process, Kabul should set the perimeters 17 for talks to end the war. Pakistan's Yousuf Gilani appeared today in a news conference with Afghan President Hamid Karzai, who also promoted the peace process.

"Both countries are suffering from terrorism, and both countries can only bring peace to one another and to the region by closer, deeper cooperation."

Any solution to the war will require the support of Pakistan and its security forces, some of whom are believed to have strong ties to insurgents 18 in Afghanistan.

From Washington, this is NPR News.

An Egyptian court has ordered today that Mubarak's political party be dissolved. The move meets a major demand of pro-democracy protesters whose movement ended the 30-year rule of Mubarak. The military council is detaining Mubarak and his family for questioning.

An earthquake has shaken the Australian state of Queensland. As Stuart Cohen reports from Sydney the rare quake struck in the heart of the same region devastated by a powerful cyclone 19 in February.

The 5.2-magnitude quake struck about 75 miles southeast of Queensland's coastal 20 city of Townsville, the tourist gateway 21 to the Great Barrier Reef. The area is far from the seismically 22 active Pacific Ring of Fire, and the last time a strong quake hit Queensland was more than 70 years ago. Seismologist David Jepsen is with Geo Science Australia.

"And fortunately it's in a very sparsely 23 populated part of Queensland * cut the real coastal strip. It's off the coastal strip, which is good."

Just a couple of hours after the Queensland quake, another 5.2-magnitude tremor 24 struck the New Zealand city of Christchurch, knocking out power to parts of the city. It's just one of several aftershocks since a powerful quake hit Christchurch in February, killing nearly 200 people and flattening 25 a third of the city's buildings. For NPR News, I'm Stuart Cohen in Sydney.

A top Iranian military official says experts have confirmed that the US and Israel were behind a mysterious computer worm known as Stuxnet that hurt Iran's nuclear program. The official says investigations 26 by Iranian experts show the worm originated in Texas and Israel hitting a number of centrifuges at Iran's main uranium enrichment facility.

The group of 20 nations meeting in Washington had put together a new monitoring process. It's intended to halt the tides of destabilizing economic influences that pave the way to the economic meltdown.