Nation, world briefs 8/9/2015

Pennsylvania's top prosecutor arraigned

NORRISTOWN, Pa. -- Pennsylvania's top prosecutor barely spoke at her arraignment Saturday on charges including a felony count of perjury, but her attorney stressed afterward she has no plans to resign, despite growing pressure even among her fellow Democrats. Attorney General Kathleen Kane did not enter a plea during the brief proceedings via closed-circuit television and responded to the judge only with "yes" or "no." Magisterial District Judge Cathleen Kelly Rebar set a preliminary hearing for Aug. 24 and set bail for $10,000 unsecured bond. Kane is accused of leaking secret grand-jury information through an operative to a reporter as payback for a former state prosecutor she thought made her look bad, then lying about her actions under oath.

Thousands of Iraqis protest government

BAGHDAD -- Thousands of Iraqis braved summer heat to stage a huge protest in central Baghdad on Friday, calling on the prime minister to dissolve the parliament and fire corrupt government officials. Security forces and riot police sealed off Iraq's Tahrir Square and searched anyone who entered the area, but tens of thousands of men, women and children thronged the sprawling square, waving Iraqi flags. "In the name of religion, the thieves robbed us," they chanted long into the evening.

Father in West Bank arson dies of wounds

RAMALLAH, West Bank -- The father of a Palestinian toddler killed in a firebomb attack blamed on Jewish extremists died Saturday of wounds he suffered in the assault. In a predawn attack July 31, assailants hurled firebombs into a bedroom of the Dawabsheh family's home in the West Bank village of Duma. Ali Dawabsheh, 18 months, died in the flames, and his 4-year-old brother and parents were seriously hurt. Ali's uncle, Nasser, said the family received word early Saturday from Israel's Soroka Medical Center the toddler's father, Saed, had died. The funeral took place later Saturday with hundreds taking part in the processions, chanting "God is great" and waving the Palestinian flag, as well as flags of the rival Fatah and Hamas movements.

Law office of Harper Lee's father for sale

MONROEVILLE, Ala. -- Before Harper Lee's novel "To Kill a Mockingbird" made the fictional lawyer Atticus Finch one of the best-known names in American literature, the man who inspired the character -- Lee's father -- practiced law in an old bank building in her hometown. Long vacant, the two-story structure helped inspire a pivotal scene in Lee's recently released "Go Set a Watchman," according to a town historian. And for $125,000 or less, you could own it. The building that housed the law office of A.C. Lee on the courthouse square is for sale. In Lee's new book "Go Set a Watchman," Atticus' office provides the setting for a dressing-down of Finch, beloved for his sense of justice in Lee's "To Kill a Mockingbird" but revealed as a segregationist in "Watchman." A.C. Lee, who served in the Alabama Legislature, also was hesitant to embrace integration but became a supporter of civil rights before his death in 1962.

-- From wire reports