In the Nation

TROY, Mich. - Friends and family of Dr. Jack Kevorkian stood behind his flag-draped coffin Friday and remembered him as a modest and courageous champion of physician-assisted suicide.

More than 150 people attended the chapel service at White Chapel Memorial Cemetery in a Detroit suburb before Kevorkian, 83, was laid to rest. He died last Friday.

Mayer Morganroth, Kevorkian's friend and attorney, said celebrities and the less fortunate were fascinated by him. He said people from all over the world sent thousands of letters to Kevorkian over the years, including some with checks that were always returned. "He couldn't care less for any kind of wealth," Morganroth said of a man who bought his clothes and furniture from the Salvation Army. - AP

HILLSBOROUGH, N.C. - John Edwards says that protection against self-incrimination in his campaign-finance prosecution should allow him to delay testifying in a separate case involving a purported sex tape made with his mistress.

In filings this week in a North Carolina state court, the former presidential candidate said a scheduled June 20 deposition should wait until after the federal criminal case against him concludes.

Edwards is entitled to the stay "to protect his constitutional rights to due process, a fair trial and against self-incrimination," the filing states.

Edwards is the star witness in a privacy lawsuit that Rielle Hunter, with whom he had an extramarital affair and a child, filed against former Edwards campaign aide Andrew Young. Hunter alleges that Young improperly took from her sensitive materials, including a reputed sex tape showing Edwards. She wants the items returned. Young's attorneys did not immediately respond to efforts to reach them for comment. - AP

WILMINGTON - Rep. Anthony Weiner, who has been under fire after admitting to sending graphic photos to women online, acknowledged Friday that he had online contact with a 17-year-old girl in Delaware but said the communications were "neither explicit nor indecent."

New Castle County police confirmed that officers interviewed a high school junior Friday afternoon at her family's home north of Wilmington about the New York Democrat.

"They were made aware of an alleged contact between Congressman Anthony Weiner and an area teen," said Officer Tracey Duffy, a New Castle County police spokeswoman. "The teen has been interviewed and disclosed no information regarding any criminal activity." - AP

A huge wildfire in eastern Arizona that has claimed more than 30 homes and forced nearly than 10,000 people to evacuate is likely to spread soon into New Mexico, threatening more towns and possibly endangering two major power lines that carry electricity from Arizona to West Texas. The fire has now burned 639 square miles of forest, officials said Friday.