French police are investigating the suspected poisoning of a Russian state TV journalist who denounced Vladimir Putin’s invasion of Ukraine live on air and later fell suddenly ill. Marina Ovsyannikova, who escaped Russia after her on-air protest and settled in France, reported feeling suddenly ill as she left her Paris apartment and was hospitalised after she called emergency services. She said she suspected she was poisoned, the Paris prosecutor’s office said, adding that they were examining her apartment and an investigation was underway. Ovsyannikova, who worked for Russian state television’s Channel One before the war began, drew international headlines in March 2022 when she appeared on screen in the background of a live broadcast by another news anchor and flashed a sign that said: "Stop the war, don’t believe the propaganda, they are lying to you here." She was fined 30,000 roubles (£460) for her protest but continued her opposition to the war. During a subsequent solo protest in Moscow, she held up a poster which read: “Putin is a murderer, his soldiers are fascists.” She was then arrested and put under house arrest in August before she fled along with her daughter in the dark of the night. Media watchdog Reporters Without Borders (RSF), which assisted Ovsyannikova in her efforts to escape a lengthy trial in Moscow and potentially a prison sentence, helped her settle in Paris. Christophe Deloire, director general of RSF, said he met Ovsyannikova after her malaise outside her Paris apartment. Deloire, writing on X, said the possibility Ovsyannikova had been poisoned had not been ruled out, though she was feeling better since the incident. “We have opened an investigation,” a spokesperson for the Paris tribunal prosecutor’s office said by telephone,” he said. “She said she had a malaise.” “All we have for the moment is what she said.” RSF said its team has been ‘’at her side" since she sought medical attention, though they have not disclosed any further details regarding the incident. Earlier this month, a Moscow court sentenced Ovsyannikova in absentia to eight and a half years in prison for spreading false information about the Russian military. Her sentencing was the latest example of Russia’s crackdown on dissenting voices in the country, which has intensified since Russia launched its invasion of Ukraine around 20 months ago. Russia has called its attack on Ukraine a “special military operation” and banned organisations or the media from referring to it as a war or invasion. Read More FA slammed over decision not to light up Wembley in Israel flag colours Russian state TV journalist who spoke out against war live on air recounts daring escape from country Could Putin be arrested? President to leave Russia for first time since international arrest warrant issued

Searchers raced to find a submersible diving vessel with five people aboard that went missing in the North

Jennifer Zanca, a former nurse, was having dinner with friends at the Schemengees Bar and Grille in Lewiston when she suddenly heard the gunshots

A Maine state trooper shot at a man's truck as he drove toward the Canadian border and refused to stop after the trooper observed a sign on the vehicle indicating the driver had an explosive inside, police say.

Transgender minors and some adults soon will be banned from accessing puberty blockers, hormones and gender-affirming surgeries under a bill signed by Missouri’s Republican governor

Chinese property developer Country Garden has warned it cannot meet deadlines to repay its debts

House Speaker Mike Johnson is expressing reservations about expelling Rep. George Santos from the chamber this week

A mother was killed and her two children critically injured after they were attacked with a hammer in their apartment in New York city. The police responded to a report of an assault in progress around 3pm on Wednesday, where they found the mother and her children in critical condition. The 43-year-old was pronounced dead after being shifted to NYU Langone hospital, said New York city police department chief of patrol John Chell. “The incident I’m about to describe to you is a horrific and senseless act of violence which took the life of a married mother of two,” Mr Chell told reporters. “I think I can speak for all New Yorkers when I say our community, all our prayers are with this family at this time.” “The 5-year-old son and 3-year-old daughter are fighting for their lives,” he said, without publicly divulging the identity of the people involved in the incident. “On behalf of New York City, everyone here, our hearts go out to this family.” While the suspect, a 47-year-old man, was arrested as he tried to leave the building at 52nd Street near 5th Avenue, it isn’t clear what charges he may face. Describing the accommodation as “tight quarters”, Mr Chell said: “Don’t know what the dispute was about but we’ll figure it out.” The victim along with her two children occupied a room in the three-bedroom apartment that she shared with the suspect and his nine-year-old son. The third room is occupied by a single person, said Mr Chell. Read More Police investigating claim that missing South Carolina woman was last seen with Gilgo Beach murders suspect Betty Tyson dies at 75, spent 25 years in New York prison before murder conviction was overturned Woman, 28, pleads guilty to fatally shoving Broadway singing coach, 87, avoiding long prison stay

MTN Group Ltd. expects Nigeria to overcome the short-term “pain” of President Bola Tinubu’s economic reforms by the

An overview of the media in Guadeloupe, including links to broadcasters and newspapers.

The Department of Justice warned Texas on Thursday it plans to sue over the state’s decision to install a floating wall in the middle of the Rio Grande river, which forms the international border between the US and Mexico. “The State of Texas’s actions violate federal law, raise humanitarian concerns, present serious risks to public safety and the environment, and may interfere with the federal government’s ability to carry out its official duties,” the DoJ wrote in a letter to state officials, which was obtained by CNN. The letter says US law “prohibits the creation of any obstruction to the navigable capacity of waters of the United States, and further prohibits building any structure in such waters without authorization from the United States Army Corps of Engineers (“Corps”).” “Texas has the sovereign authority to defend our border, under the U.S. Constitution and the Texas Constitution,” Texas governor Greg Abbott said in a statement on twitter on Friday. “We have sent the Biden Administration numerous letters detailing our authority, including the one I hand-delivered to President Biden earlier this year.” (The governor claimed last year he is authorised under the US Constitution to carry out military-style actions along the border because of a clause concerning states under “invasion,” though legal scholars have said this is not an accurate interpretation of the provision.) The warning from the federal government is the latest challenge to the governor’s plan to install a 1,000-foot long aquatic wall of buoys and netting across the river at Eagle Pass, Texas, a busy border-crossing site. As The Independent reported, a local kayak guide has also sued the state, arguing that Texas doesn’t have jurisdiction to build an impediment along an international borderline. Mexico has also said it is investigating whether Texas broke international law with the barriers. “You’ve taken a beautiful waterway and you’ve converted it into a war zone,” Jessie Fuentes, a kayak guide who works on the Rio Grande, told The Independent. Migrant advocates have also strongly criticised the buoys. They argue such installations don’t actually slow down immigration, but rather will push migrants towards ever more remote places to cross the border, increasing the likelihood they will face a perilous and potentially lethal crossing. An estimated 250 people died crossing the Rio Grande last year, and that was before Texas installed what amounts to a giant net in the river. “It’s been proven time after time that these so-called prevention through deterrence strategies don’t work,” Fernando García of the Border Network for Human Rights told The Independent. “They have not stopped immigration flows, but what they have done is they have put immigrants at risk.” “All of this is death by policy.” Criticisms have also come from the inside. A Texas Department of Public Safety (DPS) trooper, one of countless state officers deployed to the border under Mr Abbott’s Operation Lone Star, wrote in a message to superiors that the obstacles at the border, as well as alleged orders from the state to push migrants back into the water, showed that Texas has “stepped over a line into the inhumane.” The medic also detailed multiple instances in June and July in which military-style barriers along the Rio Grande caused migrants to suffer severe injuries and medical issues. He described a man who lacerated his leg on razor wire attached to a buoy while trying to rescue his son, a 15-year-old who broke his leg trying to avoid the floating barrier, and a 19-year-old who had a miscarriage while trapped in razor wire. “We need to operate it correctly in the eyes of God,” Trooper Nicholas Wingate told the Texas DPS. “We need to recognize that these are people who are made in the image of God and need to be treated as such." Texas officials have denied ordering troopers to push migrants into the water, and the claims from the trooper are under investigation. Read More Buoys, razor wire, and a Trump-y wall: How Greg Abbott turned the Rio Grande into an immigration ‘war zone’ White House condemns ‘abhorrent’ reports of Texas troopers being told to push migrant children into Rio Grande Border Patrol fails to assess medical needs for children with preexisting conditions, report says Trump demands cameras in courtroom for potential election fraud case Trump probe ‘subpoenaed CCTV from Georgia 2020 ballot counting centre’ DeSantis says charging Trump for Jan 6 is ‘criminalising political differences’

Bryan Kohberger, 28, was accused of murdering Kaylee Goncalves, Madison Mogen, Xana Kernodle, and Ethan Chapin in November 2022 in Idaho