Cynthia Nixon, the US actress who shot to international fame as workaholic lawyer Miranda on Sex and the City, is running for New York governor, unveiling Monday a progressive platform championing greater equality and eschewing big business.

The 51-year-old declared her candidacy with a two-minute campaign video posted on Twitter that showed her at home with her wife and children, riding the subway, taking her young child to school and speaking at liberal political causes.

The move confirmed growing speculation that Nixon intended to challenge incumbent Democratic state governor Andrew Cuomo, which went into overdrive last week when her wife, Christine Marinoni, stepped down from her job at the citys department of education.

I love New York, and today I'm announcing my candidacy for governor. Join us:

Cynthia Nixon (@CynthiaNixon)

The actress and liberal activist, who has campaigned for gay marriage, public schools and access to womens healthcare, threw her hat into the ring saying she was sick of politicians who care more about headlines and power than they do about us.

Our leaders are letting us down. We are now the most unequal state in the entire country with both incredible wealth and extreme poverty. Half the kids in our upstate cities live below the poverty line. How did we let this happen? she said on the video.

I love New York. Ive never wanted to live anywhere else but something has to change. We want our government to work again on health care, ending mass incarceration, fixing our broken subway.

Together we can win this fight, finished the New York born and raised Nixon, who said she grew up with her mother in what she called a one-bedroom, fifth-floor walk-up.

New York, the fourth most populous state in the United States, goes to the polls to elect a governor on November 6. But Nixon remains a left-field candidate with Cuomo very much the favored contender ahead of the Democratic Party primary on September 13.

Despite the stardom brought by her role alongside Sarah Jessica Parker and Kim Cattrall on the wildly successful television comedy Sex and the City, which aired on HBO from 1998-2004 and spawned two spin-off movies, the actress lags far behind in the polls.

A recent Siena College Research Institute poll found that Cuomo is overwhelmingly favored by Democrats over Nixon by 66 to 19 percent.

It remains unclear how much Cuomo may be damaged by the recent conviction of an aide for bribery. According to The New York Times, his name was mentioned 163 times during the eight-week federal trial.

Nixon worked for years as an actress before hitting the big-time with Sex and the City and won a Tony Award Americas most prestigious stage acting awards for her role last year in play The Little Foxes.

In addition to the video, Nixon has set up a campaign fundraising page that echoes some of the language used by 2016 Democratic Party presidential contender Bernie Sanders who electrified the left before ultimately losing to Hillary Clinton.

The page stipulates that Nixon wont be accepting any corporate contributions and that instead our campaign will be powered by the people.

The mother of three is far from the first US actor to venture into politics. Republican president Ronald Reagan got his political start after the world of entertainment as a two-term governor of California from 1967 to 1975.

Arnold Schwarzenegger, the Austrian-born body builder is another actor turned two-term California governor, who was in office from 2003-2011.

Former television comic Al Franken for whom Nixon once campaigned also served as Democratic senator of Minnesota from 2009 to 2018, until he was forced to step down over sexual misconduct allegations.

Source: NAN

Unseeded Naomi Osaka has won her first WTA title and simultaneously, she logged the record as the first Japanese player to win the Indian Wells final, routing Russian Daria Kasatkina 6-3, 6-2 on Sunday.

World number 44 Osaka rolled over Kasatkina, breaking her serve four times and winning the battle of the 20-year-old rising stars in just 70 minutes.

I just knew that she was going to fight for every point, too, said Osaka. So I couldnt afford to lose points based on nerves, and I had to keep making the right decisions.

Osaka captured the title on her first match point by blasting a backhand into the open side of the court.

The Japanese dynamo improved to 13-4 on the season two days after her biggest previous win, a dominating semi-final triumph over world number one Simona Halep.

She was only the fourth unseeded player to reach the Indian Wells final, with the most recent before her being Kim Clijsters in 2005.

The loss ends a brilliant run in the California desert by Kasatkina, who was playing in her second final in a row after a runner-up finish in Dubai.

She was much better today than me, so she really deserved to win, Kasatkina said. Of course, we were both nervous at the beginning, because the biggest finals so far.

But during the match, she was able to manage her nerves and stuff, and I was still a little bit tight during the match. So it is what it is.

Kasatkina was two points from defeat against Venus Williams in the semi-finals but rallied for the upset triumph.

Kasatkina, who wasnt even born when Williams first competed at Indian Wells, said she really felt the nerves getting to her on the big stage in the final.

She called her coach to come down from the stands for advice at one point but couldnt remember after the match what he told her.

I mean, I already forgot what he told me. I was so nervous, that I really forgot, she said.

Osaka blasted five aces, made three double faults and won 79 percent of her first-serve points.

I wasnt really trying to hit hard today, said Osaka, who was born in Osaka, Japan, but is a dual citizen after living in America since the age of three.

I felt like it would be better for her to take my pace.

So I wanted her to do whatever she wanted to do and I was going to sit back and see what she does.

Like Osaka, Kasatkina was playing in her first Indian Wells final. This was the first time both Indian Wells finalists were under age 21 since Serena Williams beat Clijsters in 2001.

The opening set was even until Osaka blasted two aces to take a 4-3 lead. She then broke Kasatkina to make it 5-3 and finished it off with another strong service game.

Osaka pounced on Kasatkina from the beginning of the second set, starting with an opening break of serve.

She also broke Kasatkina to go up 4-1 with another precision forehand winner down the line and never looked back.

Kasatkina is now 1-3 in WTA singles finals, winning in Charleston last year and finishing runner-up last year in Moscow and this year at Dubai.

*AFP

Source: NAN

The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) would soon commence an online registration to capture the old, new and returning members as part of its re-positioning.

The party was being repositioned to provide every member with equal rights, opportunities and privileges.

The National Publicity Secretary of the party, Mr Kola Ologbondiyan, said that with the proposed membership drive through the online registration, it is certain that the party was being returned to the people, whose financial contributions would make them the true owners of the PDP.

Ologbondiyan added that the PDP was also receiving new members from other political parties.

Ologbondiyan added that the party had since perfected a level playing ground as no individual or group can claim ownership or control of the party under the present leadership of PDP.

It is also obvious to all, that our great party, under the leadership of
Prince Uche Secondus, has since been thrown open to all Nigerians for equal and unhindered participation.

This is a development that has led to the renewed interest of Nigerians on our platform as the only true vehicle to return the nation to good governance.

Furthermore, we have already moved forward by inviting members, who had left the party and the responses, which we have received so far, have been very encouraging.

He said that the fears expressed by the former Minister of Niger Delta, Elder Godsday Orubebe, in his open letter were no longer obtainable in the repositioned PDP.

He described Orubebe fears as misplaced as the issues contemplated in his open letter were no longer obtainable in the repositioned PDP.

Ologbondiyan reassured that repositioned and rebranded PDP platform remains the best political vehicle to return Nigeria to the path of good governance and national unity.

He said that PDP had been aggregating opinions of its members and Nigerians at large on the way forward.

As a political party, with mass support of Nigerians and representing all across the six geo-political zones, the 36 states of the federation and the FCT, our new leadership has succeeded in bringing all our members on board.

He added that PDP leadership were now working together more than ever before, to rescue Nigeria from misrule.

Ologbondiyan urged all members to continue to propagate the ideals of PDP.

He also urged Nigerians to engage only in activities that promote unity and the tenets of democracy in line with the vision of our founding fathers and the overall interest of our dear nation.

Today, Nigerians across board are waiting on the PDP to navigate our
collective quest for a return to good governance, national cohesion and
economic prosperity and we cannot afford to disappoint them.

Orubebe in his open letter to Secondus, has said that the PDP was suffering from a post-traumatic stress disorder and would need sustainable ideas to bounce back to reckoning.

He said the party is now under the control of certain individuals, who are exhibiting dangerous levels of undemocratic behaviours.

PDP is still lost in depression and suffering from a post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD),p the platform has crossed the bridge from pride to shame, the letter read.

We have gone from a party of pride to a party of shame and gradually receding into the abyss of political reality.

For the simple reason that the nation is witnessing calls for the rise of a third force, we are fast becoming a shadow of ourselves.

One of the biggest challenges that the PDP faces is balancing its needs for funding with established egalitarian values and internal systems.

If the party continues to be held hostage by few major donors, it will continue to find it difficult to instil the values that will endear us Nigerians, Orubebe said. (NAN)

Source: NAN

Mr. Saif al-Islam Gaddafi, second son of ex-Libyan leader late Muammar Gaddafi, is set to launch his election bid for presidency,

Politically fragmented Libya goes to the polls later this year to get a leader that would unify the country.

Local media reports say Saif who had been detained by a militia in Libya until his release last year, will be joining the race to be the strife-torn country,

Saif who is reportedly inside Libya since his release will in a matter of days appear on television to pitch his presidential ambition before voters.

Saifs manifesto is reportedly revolving around a clarion call for administrative reforms, national reconciliation and the building of a modern state.

It is not known what Libyans made of his alleged presidential ambitions

The 45-year-old who was never part of his fathers administration had an arrest warrant from the International Criminal Court over his head over his alleged role in the bloody persecution of political opponents.

He was widely regarded as a potential successor to his father, a theory which he had severally attempted to debunk.

With Libya still blighted by a deadly civil war shortly after his father was killed, Saif was captured in the south of the country by militiamen originating from Zintan.

While being held in Zintan, he was sentenced to death four years later by a Tripoli court in a trial in absentia.

He was released from custody in June 2017, and continues to live in Libya, although his exact whereabouts remain unknown.

Since the overthrow of his father in an armed uprising in 2011, Libya has been caught up in a struggle for control by two rival governments based in Tripoli and Benghazi.

A UN-funded election is expected to take place toward the end of 2018.

Confirming its involvement in January, the UN said it was encouraged by number of Libyans who had registered to vote in what would be the countrys first Western-style democratic election in decades.

Source:

Source: NAN

By Isaac Ukpoju

The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has handed over one of its staff in Nasarawa, to the Department of State Security Services (DSS), for interrogation over alleged sales of Continuous Voter Registration (CVR) forms.

INECs administrative secretary in Nasarawa Mr Opaleke Otolorin, said in a statement on Wednesday in Lafia.

Otolorin said the action followed a social media report indicating that one of its staffers in Karu Local Government Area (LGA) of the state was issuing the CVR forms to members of the public at a fee.

He said the case was promptly reported to the DSS for investigation, adding that the suspect was thereafter taken into custody for interrogation.

Otolorin said the suspect had already made statement to the service as investigation was ongoing in the matter to ascertain his level of involvement and possible prosecution.

He therefore advised members of the public to refrain from offering fees, gratification or inducement to INEC staff engaged in the registration.

Otolorin pointed out that inducement of staff of the commission contravenes the electoral laws, the CVR guidelines as well as the commissions ethics.

Source: NAN

The Federal Government said the number of Dapchi schoolgirls released on Wednesday has increased from 76 to 101, following the documentation of more of the freed girls by security agencies.

The Minister of Information and Culture, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, who gave the update in a statement issued in Abuja, said that the number could still increase as the documentation of the freed girls was ongoing.

Mohammed had in an earlier statement confirmed the release of 76 of the 110 abducted students of Government Girls Science and Technical College, Dapchi, Yobe on Feb. 19.

The minister said that the release of the schoolgirls was the outcome of the directive by President Muhammadu Buhari to all security agencies to do everything possible to secure the release of the schoolgirls.

He said the girls were released around 3 a.m. through backchannel efforts and with the help of some friends of the country, and that it was unconditional.

For the release to work, the government had a clear understanding that violence and confrontation would not be the way out as it could endanger the lives of the girls, hence a non-violent approach was the preferred option.

Within the period when the girls were being brought back, operational pause was observed in certain areas to ensure free passage and also that lives were not lost, he said.

Meanwhile, a Federal Government Delegation comprising Ministers of Information and Culture; Interior as well as Minister of State for Foreign Affairs are on their way to Maiduguri to meet with the freed girls

Source: NAN

Nigeria was obviously absent on Wednesday when African leaders signed the Largest Free Trade Agreement since the creation of the World Trade Organisation (WTO).

President Muhammadu Buhari had on Sunday cancelled his trip to Rwanda due to pressure by Labour union not to participate in signing the agreement.

A statement signed by the spokesperson, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Dr Tope Adeleye Elias-Fatile said the president cancelled his trip to Kigali, Rwanda to allow more inputs from Nigerian Stakeholders.

The trade agreement deal created a continental market of 1.2 billion people, with a combined gross domestic product of more than 3.4 trillion dollars.

A major goal in the agreement is to boost intra-African trade and rely less on the volatility ofthat affect many exports.

The aim is to have agreement, signed by 44 of the African Unions 55 member states, enter into force by the end of this year, said the chair of the AU Commission, Moussa Faki Mahamat.

He added that states must ratify the deal.

Our peoples, our business community and our youth in particular cannot wait any longer to see the lifting of the barriers that divide our continent, hinder its economic takeoff and perpetuate misery, even though Africa is abundantly endowed with wealth, Mahamat said.

He urged strong follow-up to confound those who, outside Africa, continue to think, with barely concealed condescension, that our decisions will never materialize.

And while Africas largest economies are expected to benefit most from the deal, some of them worry that more people from poorer countries will migrate their way.

But some of the continents strongest and fastest-growing economies, including Ghana and, signed the deal.

The major concerns remained that the president of, one of Africas largest economies, skipped the summit.

Source:

Source: NAN

A Federal Government delegation comprising Minister of Information and Culture, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, Minister of Interior, Lt. Gen Abdulrahman Danbazzau and Minister of State for Foreign Affairs, Khadijat Bukar Ibrahim, are on their way to Dapchi, Yobe State to meet with the freed schoolgirls.

They will arrive Maiduguri first before going to the Yobe town, said Segun Adeyemi, special adviser to Minister of Information.

The ministers had attended a Federal Executive Council meeting, presided over by President Muhammadu Buhari, before they left for Maiduguri.

Before their departure, Mohammed told media men, that the number of the Dapchi schoolgirls who were released on Wednesday has increased from 76 to 101, with the documentation of more of the freed girls by the security agencies.

In a statement issued in Abuja on Wednesday, the Minister said the number could still increase, as the documentation of the freed girls is ongoing.

He said the release of the schoolgirls is the outcome of the directive by President Muhammadu Buhari to all security agencies to do everything possible to secure the release of the 110 Dapchi schoolgirls, who were abducted 19 Feb. 2018.

The Minister said the girls were released around 3 a.m. through back-channel efforts and with the help of some friends of the country, and that it was unconditional.

For the release to work, the government had a clear understanding that violence and confrontation would not be the way out as it could endanger the lives of the girls, hence a non-violent approach was the preferred option.

Within the period when the girls were being brought back, operational pause was observed in certain areas to ensure free passage and also that lives were not lost, he said.

Source: NAN

Yobe governor, Ibrahim Gaidam and several members of his cabinet are away in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, as his state erupted in joy over the release of 101 out of 110 schoolgirls abducted by Boko Haram on 19 February.

Gaidam was in Malaysia to receive a Gold Merit Award conferred on him by the Lincoln University College of Malaysia, based in Petaling Jaya near Kuala Lumpur.

The award was conferred on him today, coinciding with the release of the schoolgirls abducted from Dapchi Government Girls Science and Technical College.

The governors absence may explain why the three ministers sent to Dapchi by President Muhammadu Buhari, are calling in Maiduguri first, instead of going straight to Damaturu, the Yobe capital.

Buhari had visited Damaturu and Dapchi on 14 March and vowed to do everything possible to rescue the Dapchi schoolgirls.

According to the university, Gaidam was recognised for working hard to improve education and security in Yobe State despite the ongoing, nine-year old Boko Haram insurgency.

The award was conferred on him at the Universitys 2018 Convocation Ceremony which took place at the Putra World Trade Centre in the Malaysian capital, Kuala Lumpur.

Lincoln Universitys Vice Chancellor Dr. Amiya Bhaumik said the university was impressed that despite the insurgency in Yobe State, Governor Gaidam had forged ahead to rebuild, expand, and equip schools, including some of those earlier destroyed by the Boko Haram insurgents.

Governor Gaidam has lived the philosophy of Abraham Lincoln of working for the good of humanity. He is not only working hard to nip the Boko Haram insurgency in the bud by partnering with the security forces in Nigeria, he is also working to provide education to boys and girls and, in conjunction with the federal authorities, to make sure that those girls that have been kidnapped are returned safely to their parents.

For all the contributions toward the development of mankind in the field of education and the promotion of peace and harmony, Lincoln University College today honours Gov. Gaidam, the Vice Chancellor said.

The Pro-Chancellor of the University, Prof. Datuk Bibi Florina Abdullah also lauded the governor, saying as an institution that is going global, Lincoln University was pleased to honour the governor.

Gaidam said he was humbled to be so recognised with the gold merit award.

I am humbled by the fact that this award is a recognition of my contributions, which you have assessed, to the promotion of security, peace, well-being and educational development of my State, Yobe State of Nigeria I wish to say that this event has no doubt helped to further bring to light what we in Yobe State of Nigeria have been doing for the development of education and security, he said.

The governor, who spoke about specific actions that he took to re-position the education sector, said his administration is willing to establish partnership with Lincoln University, especially given their renowned excellence in the field of medicine.

There is the need for collaboration between this University and the Yobe State University fully established and funded by our administrationThe Lincoln University College can also assist us with expertise in the running of our State University Teaching Hospital, Damaturu and the full take-off of the College of Medical Sciences in the Yobe State University, he said.

Gaidam said following the sad abduction of schoolgirls at GGSTC Dapchi, he was initially disinclined to receive the award.

The sad incident in Dapchi is very devastating. And although the offer letter from Lincoln University came well before the Dapchi incident, I was disinclined to receive the award with what has happened with our girls in Dapchi. But since serious efforts are underway to get the girls back and we are confident they will be released Insha Allah I decided not to be discourteous to the University after having initially accepted the honour, he said.

Providing context to the award conferred on the governor, the Provost of the Atiku Abubakar College of Legal and Islamic Studies, Nguru Dr. Abba Idriss, who was present at the ceremony, said Lincoln University picked Yobe State as an area of research interest following a conference paper he delivered under the title Boko Haram Insurgency and its Effects on Education in Nigeria: The Case of Yobe State in Pahang, Malaysia in April, 2017.

The occasion was the 2nd International Conference on Humanities, Language, Culture and Business. Many Malaysian Universities were represented at the conference, Lincoln University among them. After I delivered my paper, Lincoln University decided to show interest by checking some of the issues I raised.

Source: NAN