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  Argentina's lower house approves draft legalizing abortion By ALMUDENA CALATRAVA © Provided by Associated Press Abortion-rights activists rally outside Congress as lawmakers debate a bill on its legalization, in Buenos Aires, Argentina, Thursday, Dec. 10, 2020. The lower house is expected to vote on a legal abortion bill presented by President Alberto Fernández. (AP Photo/Natacha Pisarenko) BUENOS AIRES (AP) — Lawmakers in Argentina’s lower house on Friday passed a bill that would legalize abortion in most cases, a proposal from President Alberto Fernández in response to long-sought demands from women's rights activists. The bill, which needs approval from the country’s Senate in a debate expected before the end of the year, allows for voluntary abortions to be carried out up to the 14th week of pregnancy. The proposed law was approved in a 131-117 vote with six abstentions after a marathon debate that extended from Thursday into the early hours of Friday morning. Demonstrato

  Killer of Lebanon's Hariri sentenced to life by UN court © Mahmoud ZAYYAT Slain Lebanese Prime Minister Rafiq Hariri, seen on a billboard in his hometown of Sidon in August 2020 An international court on Friday sentenced a fugitive Hezbollah member to life imprisonment for the 2005 assassination of former Lebanese prime minister Rafic Hariri and 21 other people. Salim Ayyash, 57, was found guilty in absentia of murder and terrorism on August 18 by the Netherlands-based Special Tribunal for Lebanon over the suicide bombing that killed the Sunni billionaire politician and injured 226 others.  Ayyash remains on the run, with Hassan Nasrallah, the head of the Shiite Hezbollah movement, refusing to hand him over, alongside three other defendants who were eventually acquitted. "Mr Ayyash participated in an act of terrorism that caused mass murder," chief Judge David Re told the UN-backed court. "In the circumstances, the trial chamber is satisfied that it should impose t