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- Russian state owner says cargo ship blast was 'terrorist attack'
- 38 dead as Azerbaijani jet crashes in Kazakhstan
- Crisis-hit Valencia hire West Brom's Corberan as new boss
- Suriname ex-dictator and fugitive Desi Bouterse dead at 79
- 35 feared dead as Azerbaijani jet crashes in Kazakhstan
- Pope calls for 'arms to be silenced' in Christmas appeal
- Syria authorities say torched 1 million captagon pills
- Pope calls for 'arms to be silenced' across world
- 32 survivors as Azerbaijani jet crashes in Kazakhstan
- Pakistan air strikes kill 46 in Afghanistan, Kabul says
- Liverpool host Foxes, Arsenal prepare for life without Saka
- Japan FM raises 'serious concerns' over China military buildup
- Pope's sombre message in Christmas under shadow of war
- Zelensky condemns Russian 'inhumane' Christmas attack on energy grid
- Sweeping Vietnam internet law comes into force
- Pope kicks off Christmas under shadow of war
- Catholics hold muted Christmas mass in Indonesia's Sharia stronghold
- Japan's top diplomat in China to address 'challenges'
- Thousands attend Christmas charity dinner in Buenos Aires
- Demand for Japanese content booms post 'Shogun'
- As India's Bollywood shifts, stars and snappers click
- Mystery drones won't interfere with Santa's work: US tracker
- Djokovic eyes more Slam glory as Swiatek returns under doping cloud
- Australia's in-form Head confirmed fit for Boxing Day Test
- Brazilian midfielder Oscar returns to Sao Paulo
- 'Wemby' and 'Ant-Man' to make NBA Christmas debuts
- US agency focused on foreign disinformation shuts down
- On Christmas Eve, Pope Francis launches holy Jubilee year
- 'Like a dream': AFP photographer's return to Syria
- Chiefs seek top seed in holiday test for playoff-bound NFL teams
- Panamanians protest 'public enemy' Trump's canal threat
- Cyclone death toll in Mayotte rises to 39
- Ecuador vice president says Noboa seeking her 'banishment'
- Leicester boss Van Nistelrooy aware of 'bigger picture' as Liverpool await
- Syria authorities say armed groups have agreed to disband
- Maresca expects Man City to be in title hunt as he downplays Chelsea's chancs
- Man Utd boss Amorim vows to stay on course despite Rashford row
- South Africa opt for all-pace attack against Pakistan
- Guardiola adamant Man City slump not all about Haaland
- Global stocks mostly higher in thin pre-Christmas trade
- Bethlehem marks sombre Christmas under shadow of war
- NASA probe makes closest ever pass by the Sun
- 11 killed in blast at Turkey explosives plant
- Indonesia considers parole for ex-terror chiefs: official
- Global stocks mostly rise in thin pre-Christmas trade
- Postecoglou says Spurs 'need to reinforce' in transfer window
- Le Pen says days of new French govt numbered
- Global stocks mostly rise after US tech rally
- Villa boss Emery set for 'very difficult' clash with Newcastle
Republican senator proposes national 15-week US abortion ban
A prominent Republican senator introduced a bill on Tuesday that would ban abortion after 15 weeks of pregnancy in all 50 US states.
The proposed legislation, which has no chance of passage in the Democratic-held Senate, came under immediate fire from the White House and Democratic lawmakers.
Abortion rights have been in the spotlight since the Supreme Court struck down the constitutional right to the procedure in June, leaving the decision on whether to allow it to individual states.
The bill proposed by Lindsey Graham, a Republican senator from South Carolina, would make abortion illegal after 15 weeks nationally except in cases of rape, incest or to save the life of the mother.
Graham, an ally of former president Donald Trump, said such a law would "get America at a federal level that is fairly consistent with the rest of the world."
Graham's bill would leave in place, however, the even more severe restrictions on abortion enacted in about a dozen conservative states since the Supreme Court decision.
But it would restrict abortion in a number of Democratic-led states in which the procedure is currently allowed after 15 weeks.
Abortion rights have become a hot-button issue ahead of November's mid-term elections and Graham's move is an apparent attempt to strike a middle ground and quell a potential backlash against the Republican Party over its hardline anti-abortion stance.
Graham had previously said abortion should be decided by the states, and Senate minority leader Mitch McConnell told CNN on Tuesday that most Republican members of the body believed it should still be regulated at the state level.
Democrats, who have been using the abortion issue to mobilize voters in November, immediately condemned Graham's bill.
White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said it would "strip away women's rights in all 50 states" and was "wildly out of step with what Americans believe."
Nancy Pelosi, the Democratic speaker of the House of Representatives, said that "if Republicans get the chance, they will work to pass laws even more draconian than this bill -- just like the bans they have enacted in states like Texas, Mississippi and Oklahoma."
O.Johnson--AMWN