Quebec politician closes riding office indefinitely because of threats to safety

PESHAWAR, Pakistan (AP) — Militants attacked a health center used in an ongoing anti-polio campaign in northwestern Pakistan on Tuesday, triggering a shootout that left two police officers dead, local authorities said. Three of the attackers were also killed in the exchange of fire.

No one immediately claimed responsibility for the attack in Orakzai, a district in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province and a former stronghold of the Pakistani Taliban.

Local police officer Adnan Khan said the attack happened in the morning as health workers were gathering ahead of leaving for the door-to-door campaign along with police, who escort polio teams for their safety.

No polio worker was harmed in Tuesday’s attack but another police officer who was wounded later died at a hospital, Khan added.

The attack drew condemnation from the country’s top political leadership, including President Asif Ali Zardari and Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, who paid tributes to the slain officers for bravely responding to the attack.

Also Tuesday, militants stormed a health center in North Waziristan, another former stronghold of the Pakistani Taliban in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, snatched guns from officers and warned health workers who had gathered there not to take part in the anti-polio campaign, local police officer Shoib Khan said.

The attackers then left with the weapons they seized, he said, without offering more details.

Militants in Pakistan often target police and health workers during campaigns against polio, claiming the vaccination drives are a Western conspiracy to sterilize children.

Pakistan and Afghanistan are the only two countries in the world where the spread of polio has never been stopped.

In severe cases, polio can cause permanent paralysis and death.

Pakistan on Monday launched another nationwide polio drive to vaccinate 45 million children under age 5 after a surge in new cases. The campaign is the third this year.

Pakistan has recorded 41 cases across 71 districts so far this year, mostly in the southwestern Balochistan and southern Sindh provinces, as well as in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and eastern Punjab province.

In Afghanistan, local health authorities said Monday that vaccinations have started in 16 of the country’s 34 provinces. The campaign will last three days and target 6.2 million children under the age of 5, according to spokesperson Sharafat Zaman.

There have been 23 confirmed cases in Afghanistan this year, according to the World Health Organization.

Insurgents and separatists also target security forces and civilians in various parts of the country.

In the latest attack, gunmen on Monday night fatally shot five construction workers assigned to repair a dam in Banjgur, a district in the southwestern Balochistan province, according to a government statement. It provided no further details, and it was not clear who was behind the attack.

___

Associated Press writer Abdul Sattar in Quetta, Pakistan, contributed to this report.

The Canadian Press. All rights reserved.

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (AP) — A federal judge on Tuesday continued to block the head of Florida’s health department from taking any more steps to threaten TV stations that air commercials for an abortion rights measure on next week’s ballot.

U.S. District Judge Mark Walker extended a temporary restraining order, siding with Floridians Defending Freedom, the group that created the ads promoting the ballot question that would add abortion rights to the state constitution if it passes Nov. 5.

Walker handed down the decision from the bench after hearing arguments from attorneys for the campaign and state officials. The order extends a previous one that bars State Surgeon General Joseph Ladapo from taking any further action to coerce or intimidate broadcasters that run the commercials.

Walker said extending the temporary restraining order will give him more time to rule on the preliminary injunction that the abortion rights campaign is requesting.

The group filed the lawsuit after Ladapo and John Wilson, who was then the top lawyer at the state health department before resigning unexpectedly, sent a letter to TV stations on Oct. 3 telling them to stop running an abortion rights ad, asserting that it was false and dangerous. The letter also says broadcasters could face criminal prosecution.

The ad at issue features a woman named Caroline Williams who said Florida’s current law — which bans most abortions after six weeks — would have barred her from getting the procedure that her doctors said was needed to extend her life, after she was diagnosed with terminal brain cancer in 2022. Her providers wouldn’t go forward with her cancer treatment while she was still pregnant.

The decision Walker handed down on Tuesday extends an Oct. 18 order barring state officials from “trampling” on the free speech rights of those they disagree with.

“The government cannot excuse its indirect censorship of political speech simply by declaring the disfavored speech is ‘false,’” the judge said in the previous order.

He added, “To keep it simple for the State of Florida: it’s the First Amendment, stupid.”

Tuesday’s hearing is the latest development in an ongoing fight between advocates for abortion rights and officials in the administration of Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis, who has waged his own state-funded campaign to block the ballot measure.

If approved by 60% of Florida voters, the constitutional amendment would protect the right to an abortion until fetal viability, considered to be somewhere past 20 weeks. The measure would override current state law, which bans most abortions after six weeks, before many women know they’re pregnant.

In the weeks leading up to the election, DeSantis has held taxpayer-funded, campaign-style rallies with doctors and religious leaders to advocate against the proposed amendment. Four state agencies have set aside millions of dollars in public funds to create their own commercials railing against the abortion measure and another proposed constitutional amendment that would legalize recreational marijuana use in the state — a move that critics say violates a state law that bars government officials from using their public office for electioneering.

___ Kate Payne is a corps member for The Associated Press/Report for America Statehouse News Initiative. Report for America is a nonprofit national service program that places journalists in local newsrooms to report on undercovered issues.

The Canadian Press. All rights reserved.

TORONTO – Ontario taxpayers are set to receive $200 cheques in the mail early next year, a $3-billion plan the premier suggests is not tied to a possible early election.

Premier Doug Ford and Finance Minister Peter Bethlenfalvy made the announcement today, a day ahead of the province’s fall economic statement, which serves as a mini budget.

Ford says everyone who filed 2023 tax returns should expect to receive a $200 cheque, plus an additional $200 per child.

It comes as Ford has refused to rule out the possibility of an election sooner than the next fixed date of June 2026, and while he has said he will not call one this year, opposition parties are preparing for a possible spring contest.

Ford says his government has been looking for ways to save Ontarians money all along, including on transit fares, a gas tax cut and licence plate renewal fees.

Ford and Bethlenfalvy say the government can afford to send out $3 billion worth of cheques now because of higher-than-expected revenues, including due to the impact of inflation on provincial sales tax money in government coffers.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 29, 2024.

The Canadian Press. All rights reserved.