A French senator has been handed preliminary charges for drugging another lawmaker with the aim of rape or sexual assault, according to the Paris prosecutor’s office, and has been suspended from his party. Joel Guerriau, a 66-year-old representing the Loire-Atlantique region in western France, was detained for 48 hours and given preliminary charges Friday, the prosecutor’s office said in a statement. He is suspected of putting ecstasy in a glass of Champagne he served parliament member Sandrine Josso, who left after she started feeling sick, according to French media reports. The incident occurred Tuesday evening in the senator’s apartment. His lawyer said Guerriau didn’t intend to drug Josso to abuse her and has apologized to her. In a statement, lawyer Remi-Pierre Drai said ‘’it was a handling error’’ that caused the lawmaker to fall ill. He did not elaborate. ‘’Joel Guerriau is not a predator,’’ the lawyer said. “He is an honest, respected and respectable man who will restore his honor and that of his family however long it takes.’’ Guerriau was given preliminary charges of use and possession of drugs, and of secretly administering a discernment-altering substance to commit a rape or sexual assault. He was released under judicial supervision and barred from contact with the victim and witnesses while the investigation continues. Preliminary charges under French law mean investigating magistrates have strong reason to suspect wrongdoing but allow more time before determining whether to send a case to trial. After the charges were announced, the center-right Horizons political group on Saturday announced his suspension, saying that it ‘’will never tolerate the slightest complacency toward sexual and sexist violence.'' Horizons is allied in parliament with President Emmanuel Macron's Renaissance party. Josso, a member of the lower house of parliament representing the Loire-Atlantique region with the centrist Modem party, has not spoken publicly about the investigation. Read More Moldova's first dog nips Austrian president on the hand during official visit Daisaku Ikeda, head of global Japanese Buddhist organization Soka Gakkai, dies at 95 Gaza communications blackout ends, giving rise to hope for the resumption of critical aid deliveries

Ukraine’s capital was hit by a missile barrage overnight, the 19th such attack in the last month. While

Rex Heuermann said at the court that he was able to review the evidence while behind bars 'two or three hours' at a time

An official of Vladimir Putin’s party has been killed in a car explosion in the Ukaine’s Kherson on Saturday, the regional governor has said. Vladimir Malov, executive secretary of of Russia‘s governing United Russia party in Nova Kakhovka, died in hospital, Vladimir Saldo said in a post on his Telegram channel. He said it had been a “terrorist attack”, meaning one orchestrated by Ukraine. “The law enforcement officers will do everything necessary to punish the perpetrators of the crime,” Mr Saldo posted on Telegram. There was no immediate comment from Kyiv. On the battlefield, Ukrainian forces have gained ground near Bakhmut as Volodymyr Zelensky condemned Russia’s strike on a funeral service “inhuman” and “a completely deliberate act of terrorism”. According to the latest report from The Institute for the Study of War (ISW), Ukrainian military sources reported a successful offensive south of Bakhmut near Andriivka and advanced in western Zaporizhia Oblast on 6 October. It comes after a village where a Russian missile killed at least 52 civilians in one of the deadliest attacks in the war had no military targets, according to Ukraine’s defence minister. Read More Russian missile strike kills more than 50 Ukrainians gathered for wake – in deadliest such attack in months Ukraine village reels after deadly missile strike: ‘Everything was burning’ Russia plans to reverse global nuclear test ban, announces envoy

Donald Trump is set to appear in Michigan on Sunday evening as he looks to reclaim territory that helped propel him to the White House but slipped from his grasp four years later

The Houston Cougars fired football coach Dana Holgorsen on Sunday, a day after finishing his third losing season in five years, according to a person familiar with the move

The Justice Department says it has begun turning over evidence to former President Donald Trump as his lawyers prepare a defense to charges that he illegally retained classified documents

From doctored photos making small crowds big to posts praising government accomplishments that never were, WhatsApp has become the channel of choice for disinformation in...

The East Timorese community are voting in their country's elections at a polling station in Dungannon.

President Joe Biden will meet with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky at the NATO summit on Wednesday, an official familiar with the meeting has confirmed.

NEW YORK Eighteen people were taken to hospitals with non-life-threatening injuries after a double-decker tour bus collided with

After getting criticism for her 'ridiculous' photoshop error, Kyle Richards deletes the image