Signs of Alzheimer’s were everywhere. Then his brain improved
Blood biomarkers of telltale signs of early Alzheimer’s disease in the brain of his patient, 55-year-old entrepreneur Simon Nicholls, had all but disappeared in a mere 14 months.
Chad held its long delayed presidential election on Monday following three years of military rule under the interim president, Mahamat Deby Itno, a vote that analysts widely expected the incumbent to win.
Deby Itno seized power after his father, who spent three decades in power, was killed fighting rebels in 2021. His government announced it was extending the 18-month transition for two more years, which provoked protests across the country.
The oil-exporting country of nearly 18 million people hasn't had a free-and-fair transfer of power since it became independent in 1960 after decades of French colonial rule. There were 10 candidates on the ballot, including a woman. More than eight million people are registered to vote, in a country of more than 17 million people, one of the poorest in the world.
Analysts say Deby Itno is likely to win the vote. A leading opposition figure, Yaya Dillo, the current president's cousin, was killed in February in circumstances that remain unclear. The main other front-runner in the race is a former opposition leader who recently returned from exile to serve as prime minister in January, Succes Masra.
Chad is seen by the U.S. and France as one of the last remaining stable allies in the vast Sahel region following military coups in Burkina Faso, Mali and Niger in recent years. The ruling juntas in all three nations have expelled French forces and turned to Russia's mercenary units for security assistance instead.
Earlier this year, Niger's junta ordered all U.S. troops out, meaning Washington will lose access to its key base in Agadez, the center of its counterterrorism operations in the region. The U.S. and France still have a military presence in Chad, which consider it to be an especially critical partner.
The West also fears that any instability in Chad, which has absorbed more than a half-million refugees from Sudan, could increase the number of migrants moving north towards Europe.
"These are all the reasons the West is staying relatively quiet about the democratic transition in Chad," said Ulf Laessing, head of the Sahel program at the Konrad Adenauer Foundation. "Everybody just wants this vote to pass so Deby Itno gets elected so they continue to work with him and preserve the stability of the region," he added.
The vote, which began Sunday for the military and nomads, was marred by a number of incidents of violence that led to at least two deaths, according to local journalists. In Moundou, a major city to the south of the capital, a voter was shot dead by security forces for reasons that were unclear. In the country's eastern city of Abeche, a civilian fatally stabbed a soldier, also according to local journalists there.
Over the weekend, several civil society groups issued a joint statement to say that many of the 2,900 observers that had requested accreditation to monitor the vote had been denied.
Along with the arrival of refugees from Sudan, Chad is also dealing with high food prices partly caused by the war in Ukraine and a renewed threat from the Boko Haram insurgency spilling over from its southwestern border with Nigeria.
In March, an attack the government blamed on Boko Haram killed seven soldiers, reviving fears of violence in the Lake Chad area after a period of peace following a successful operation launched in 2020 by the Chadian army to destroy the extremist group's bases there. Schools, mosques and churches reopened and humanitarian organizations returned.
"For years now, we've had to cope with the high cost of living, without any solution," Adoumadji Jean, a teacher at a state secondary school in Moyen-Chari province, said in an interview with The Associated Press. "We want a change this year through this election."
Boko Haram, which launched an insurgency more than a decade ago against Western education, seeks to establish Islamic law in Nigeria's northeast. The insurgency has spread to West African neighbours including Cameroon, Niger and Chad.
Human rights groups have called for an investigation into the killing of Chad's main opposition figure, Dillo. The government has said Dillo was killed during an attack on the the National State Security Agency by his group, known as The Socialist Party Without Borders. But a photo of Dillo showed that he was killed by a single bullet wound to the head.
Human Rights Watch said the killing raised serious concerns about the environment for the election.
According to the U.S.-based Armed Conflict Location & Event Data Project, known as ACLED, Chad experienced almost 270 incidents of political violence, leading to the deaths of more than 1,000 people.
"With his most significant opponents either co-opted or eliminated, and critical electoral institutions stacked with his supporters, Deby Itno's victory is all but certain," wrote Michelle Gavin for the Council of Foreign Relations, a Washington- based think tank.
Votes will be first counted at polling stations, but preliminary results will be announced three weeks later on May 21. If no candidate wins outright, a runoff will be held on June 5.
------
Jessica Donati contributed to this report from Dakar, Senegal.
Blood biomarkers of telltale signs of early Alzheimer’s disease in the brain of his patient, 55-year-old entrepreneur Simon Nicholls, had all but disappeared in a mere 14 months.
An invasive moth species is on the rise in Canada and, if you've planted a certain shrub, it could stand to ruin your garden.
Passengers heading from Montreal to Lyon, France on Friday were forced to return home and depart the next day after a pressurization indication was detected in flight.
The Edmonton Oilers avoided elimination from the NHL playoffs Saturday night, beating the visiting Vancouver Canucks 5-1 in Game 6 of their second-round series.
Ottawa's ultra luxury housing market is blooming like the tulips this spring, with a significant increase in the number of homes sold worth more than $2 million.
A contractor working on the Coastal GasLink pipeline has been denied more than $333,000 worth of tax rebates because pieces of machinery it purchased – and claimed were not trucks – were deemed sufficiently truck-like in B.C. Supreme Court.
Fishery and border service officers seized more than 100 kilograms of unauthorized elvers at the Toronto Pearson International Airport on Wednesday.
Oleksandr Usyk defeated Tyson Fury by split decision to become the first undisputed heavyweight boxing champion in 24 years.
May long weekend is finally here, and with the extra time off you may be getting the itch to head out to your garden and plant. However, the old debate whether you should plant now, or wait, is still ever-present.
A B.C. woman says her service dog pulled her from a lake moments before she had a seizure, saving her life.
A Starbucks fan — whose name is Winter — is visiting Canada on a purposeful journey that began with a random idea at one of the coffee chain's stores in Texas.
Members of Piapot First Nation, students from the University of Winnipeg and various other professionals are learning new techniques that will hopefully be used for ground searches of potential unmarked grave sites in the future.
ALS patient Mathew Brown said he’s hopeful for future ALS patients after news this week of research at Western University of a potential cure for ALS.
When Adam Kirschner wrote 'Slap Shot,' he never imagined the song would be embraced by his favourite team.
A team is ready to help an entangled North Atlantic right whale in the Gulf of St. Lawrence.
A $200 reward is being offered by a North Vancouver family for the safe return of their beloved chicken, Snowflake.
Two daughters and a mother were reunited online 40 years later thanks to a DNA kit and a Zoom connection despite living on three separate continents and speaking different languages.
Mother's Day can be a difficult occasion for those who have lost or are estranged from their mom.