In brief: Prosecutor to fight Mubarak verdicts

CAIRO – Egypt’s top prosecutor is appealing the verdicts in the trial of Egypt’s ousted president and others, acquitting Hosni Mubarak and his two sons on corruption charges and clearing senior police officers of complicity in killing protesters, an official said on Sunday.

Under Egyptian law, the prosecutor must appeal the entire verdict, which also included convictions and life sentences for Mubarak and his former security chief for failing to stop the killing of protesters in the uprising that ousted him last year.

Six top police commanders, who faced the same charge of complicity in killing protesters, were acquitted for what the judge said was lack of concrete evidence.

Drone strike in Pakistan kills 8

ISLAMABAD, Pakistan – A drone strike in Pakistan’s tribal areas killed eight suspected militants early today, Pakistani officials said, as the U.S. pushes ahead with the controversial drone program despite Pakistani demands to stop.

The strike was the seventh in less than two weeks and highlights the importance that Washington places on the drone program as a way to combat al-Qaida and Taliban fighters who use Pakistan as a base for attacks against American and NATO forces in Afghanistan.

In the most recent attack, three Pakistani intelligence officials say four missiles were fired at a suspected militant hideout in a village near the town of Mir Ali in North Waziristan early this morning.

Doomsday cult member arrested

TOKYO – One of the two remaining fugitive members of the doomsday cult behind the 1995 nerve gas attack on Tokyo subways was arrested Sunday, Japanese media reports said.

Former senior Aum Shinrikyo cult member Naoko Kikuchi, 40, had been spotted in Sagamihara city, 20 miles southwest of Tokyo, and acknowledged who she was when approached by police, according to NHK TV and other media reports, citing investigative sources. She was wanted on charges of murder in the 1995 attack.

Police declined to confirm the reports.

Cult members, who had amassed an arsenal of chemical, biological and conventional weapons in anticipation of an apocalyptic showdown with the government, released the nerve gas sarin in Tokyo’s subways, killing 13 people and injuring more than 6,000.

Nearly 200 members of the cult have been convicted in the gas attack and dozens of other crimes. Cult guru Shoko Asahara is still on death row.