WORLD BRIEFS

EGYPT: Dismissed prosecutor balks

Prosecutor General Abdel-Maguid Mahmoud defied President Mohammed Morsi's order Thursday to step down to defuse public anger over acquittals in a case of brutality against protesters during last year's uprising that toppled the Mubarak regime. Mahmoud was quoted by the official news agency as saying he would remain in his post. Morsi had ordered him to leave his position as prosecutor general and become ambassador to the Vatican. Ahmed el-Zind, the head of the powerful association of judges, said the judges would not bow to Morsi's decision.

LEBANON: We did it, Hezbollah says

Hezbollah leader Sheik Hassan Nasrallah claimed responsibility Thursday for launching the drone aircraft that entered Israeli airspace earlier this week, a rare and provocative move by the Lebanese militants. Israeli warplanes shot it down. Hezbollah had been the leading suspect because of its arsenal of sophisticated Iranian weapons. "This is not the first time and will not be the last," Nasrallah said in a televised address. "We can reach any place we want" inside Israel, he said.

NORTHERN IRELAND: First abortion clinic to open

A family planning charity plans to open the first abortion clinic in Ireland, challenging decades of legal confusion over the extremely limited access to pregnancy terminations here and in the republic. Officials at the Marie Stopes facility, due to open next week in Belfast, capital of this British territory, said Thursday they plan to offer nonsurgical abortions to women whose pregnancies are less than nine weeks in gestation. They expect protests and have declined to reveal the clinic's street address. Women will receive medication that causes a miscarriage only if doctors determine that continued pregnancy would jeopardize their physical or mental health. Such abortions are supposed to be legal already, but lawmakers have failed for decades to clarify the situation, leaving hospitals and doctors fearful of lawsuits if they're identified as an abortion provider.