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President Joe Biden's pick to be US Ambassador to China called for a continued commitment to the longstanding "One China" Policy but defended the United States' right to increase security assistance to Taiwan amid Beijing's aggression towards the island. Testifying at his Senate confirmation hearing Wednesday, Nicholas Burns said reports indicating that China could be building up its nuclear arsenal are concerning, and called on Beijing to halt its "genocide in Xinjiang, its abuses in Tibet, its smothering of Hong Kong's autonomy and freedoms, and its bullying of Taiwan." If confirmed, Burns would fill the ambassador role -- which has been vacant for a year -- amid ongoing tensions between Washington and Beijing, a relationship he called "complicated and consequential." "Beijing's recent actions against Taiwan are especially objectionable," he said. "The United States is right to continue to adhere to its one-China policy. But we're also right to support the peaceful resolution of disputes in this region, and to oppose unilateral actions that undermine the status quo and undermine the stability of the region." Under the "One China" Policy, the US acknowledges China's claim of sovereignty over Taiwan. However, Burns also spoke of the continued adherence to the Taiwan Relations Act, a 1979 law that underpins the US' unofficial relationship with Taiwan, including the government's ability to provide weapons to the self-ruled island. Burns, a former career diplomat, said the US has "enormous latitude -- Congress and the executive branch -- under the Taiwan Relations Act to deepen our security assistance to Taiwan." "Given what China's done, given China's frankly objectionable statements towards Taiwan, I think the Congress and the executive branch have every right to continue to deepen our security cooperation, to expand our arms provisions to Taiwan, that's the most important thing we can do," Burns told Senate Foreign Relations Committee lawmakers. In recent weeks, Beijing has sent dozens of warplanes near into Taiwan's Air Defense Identification Zone (ADIZ), and Chinese President Xi Jinping has said that "reunification" between China and Taiwan was inevitable. Stressed importance of US military presence in Asia Burns emphasized the importance of maintaining a US military presence in Asia as a means to deter Chinese aggressions. "Maybe the most important thing we can do is maintain the American military position in Japan, in the Republic of Korea, in that first island chain but also out to our Anderson Air Force Base in Guam," he said, describing that presence as an "effective deterrent to keep the peace." Burns also said that reports indicating that China is pursuing a build-up nuclear arms, as well as reports about its novel delivery systems, are concerning. The Financial Times reported that China in August tested a nuclear-capable hypersonic missile. China has denied the report, saying it was a "routine spacecraft experiment." "What I think has to bother all of us is the attitude of the Chinese government. They don't believe that they should be constrained in any way shape or form by arms control. The United States submits to that; Russia submits to that, at least did in the past. Our other nuclear allies, the United Kingdom and France do," he said. "I know the Trump administration made an effort to do this, and was right to do it, to push the Chinese to think about their obligations. And I think it's very important that we do that on a bipartisan basis. But certainly these are troubling developments," Burns added. The Trump administration tried without success to get China to participate in trilateral talks with the US and Russia with the aim of achieving of three party nuclear arms control agreement. Burns, a former under secretary of state for political affairs and US ambassador to NATO and Greece, also underscored that the US should seek to cooperate with China in areas "where it is in our interest, including on climate change, counternarcotics, global health, and nonproliferation." "CNN"

The zoo said it has been vaccinating big cats, great apes, red pandas, goats, giraffes, river otters, skunks, bearcats and some domestic dogs and cats. The Cincinnati Zoo said 80 of its animals have received two doses of a Covid-19 vaccine designed for veterinary use. In a news release, the zoo said Monday that it has been vaccinating big cats, great apes, red pandas, goats, giraffes, river otters, skunks, bearcats and some domestic dogs and cats. The zoo said that technicians and handlers worked for weeks to get the animals "comfortable with everything that they would see and feel when they got the injections" and that most were administered without anesthesia. The vet techs at the Cincinnati Zoo worked double duty the last six weeks to vaccinate 80 animals against Covid-19. The zoo's director of animal health, Dr. Mark Campbell, said in the release, "We were concerned that the fresh memory of the first injection would make animals less willing to offer a shoulder or thigh for the second round, but they did!" Campbell said the success "is 100% due to the strong relationships these animals have with care staff and our animal health team." The remaining animals will get their second doses in the next two weeks, the zoo said. Since the start of the coronavirus pandemic, Covid has spread among certain mammals, like big cats, great apes and minks, in zoos and farms around the world. Late last year, Denmark culled 17 million minks after outbreaks and viral mutations were reported at more than 200 fur farms. Last month, the National Zoo in Washington, D.C., found that nine of its big cats were infected with the coronavirus after they displayed symptoms like coughing, sneezing and lethargy. It said at-risk animals would soon be vaccinated. Zoo Atlanta reported an outbreak among a troop of western lowland gorillas last month. The experimental veterinary vaccine being used in Cincinnati and at other U.S. zoos is made by Zoetis, one of the largest animal pharmaceutical manufacturers in the country. Christina Lood, a spokesperson, said scientists at the company "immediately" began working on a veterinary coronavirus vaccine after Hong Kong reported infections in dogs early in the pandemic. "The USDA said, 'OK, now we want a vaccine for mink potentially, so we kind of pivoted to mink last fall, and the San Diego Zoo was kind of watching all this," she said. After an outbreak among gorillas in San Diego early this year, the zoo requested experimental access to the Zoetis vaccine. Lood said that Zoetis donated its leftover doses from previous safety studies and that the zoo administered them to nine of the great apes in March. The vaccine has been universally well tolerated by animals, Zoetis reported, but the coronavirus has continued to spread among zoo animals in San Diego and around the world. In July, the San Diego Zoo reported that an unvaccinated snow leopard had tested positive for Covid after it displayed symptoms. By summer, after more coronavirus outbreaks among zoo animals, Zoetis said it had received even more requests for access to its experimental vaccine, and it manufactured a new batch, the first of which went to the Oakland Zoo in late June, Lood said. Isabella Linares, a marketing associate with the Oakland Zoo, said that of the more than 100 animals designated "at-risk" by specialists — including primates, large cats, river otters and bears — 37 have yet to be vaccinated. One reason not all animals have been vaccinated is that participation is "voluntary," Linares said. "The tigers are trained voluntarily to present their backside to us so we can give them the vaccine," she said, saying most are already trained to do so from previous vaccinations. But she said some animals, like one of the zoo's leopards, need more time to learn. Just one animal at the Oakland Zoo, a brown bear, had post-vaccination side effects — tenderness at the injection site — and none of its vaccinated or unvaccinated animals have tested positive for the coronavirus. "NBC"

No drivers, no problem for driverless cars on the famed Indianapolis Motor Speedway, with the winner taking home $1 million. On October 23, for the first time in Indianapolis 500 history, cars will participate in a special 20-lap race minus drivers, open to the public, with a $1 million prize for the winner. The autonomous vehicles, entered by student groups from nine countries, will be controlled by numerous computer systems, cameras, and lidar sensors. Teams will program the cars to run laps around the Indianapolis Motor Speedway using artificial intelligence. Indianapolis Motor Speedway is the most legendary racetrack in the world, known for sheer speed and unadulterated horsepower. This Saturday, nearly a dozen modified Dallara II-15 Indy Lights chassis will take to the 2.5-mile oval and reach three-digit speeds in a special 20-lap race. But with one exception. Make that one major exception. For the first time in IMS history, the cars will be missing one of the most vital components any type of motorsport event must have. Namely, drivers. That's right, there will be no humans behind the wheel. In fact, none of the vehicles even has a driver's seat, as IMS plays host to the first-ever Indy Autonomous Challenge, presented by Indianapolis-based nonprofit Energy Systems Network (ESN). After nearly two years of development and testing, 10 teams made up of students from 21 universities and from nine different countries will match wits and technological expertise in The Challenge for a $1 million top prize. "In many ways, [Saturday] is about showcasing the culmination of two years of work by dozens of universities that have been advancing the state of the art in software to pilot autonomous vehicles, and then validating that over a period of months in the real world with 60-plus days of track practices at [nearby] Lucas Oil Raceway and IMS," ESN president/CEO Paul Mitchell told Autoweek. "What you're going to see is high-speed, autonomous race cars circling the Indianapolis Motor Speedway at speeds in excess of 100 miles an hour. And that, in and of itself, is going to be both a record in the sense that no one's done it before, but also . . . [there is] this extra level of shock and awe that there's nobody driving the car." While the cars will look and feel like race cars, the technology being used will likely be seen much sooner on regular cars we drive on the streets. But at the same time, that's not to say some of the technology on display Saturday won't find its way into IndyCar, NASCAR stock cars, and other motorsports vehicles sometime in the future. "We are interested in it because of the city and state's benefits, because of the opportunity to remind people that this is a place where innovation has occurred historically, and maybe we'll learn something from this technology development which could be helpful and relevant to IndyCar drivers in the future," said Mark Miles, president and CEO of Penske Entertainment, which owns IMS, the IndyCar Series, and other entities. But, Miles emphatically pointed out, no matter how far advanced the technology goes forward in coming years, one thing is for certain. "This has nothing to do with taking drivers out of cars," Miles said. "It's very easy for people to not understand or to not know how to juxtapose an autonomous racing vehicle being on the IMS track. On the one hand, it’s our absolute commitment to driving, drivers, and cars." This content is imported from Twitter. You may be able to find the same content in another format, or you may be able to find more information, at their web site. "So we're not talking about taking drivers out of cars. And we're not interested in some kind of ongoing autonomous racing. Again, every time I explain that, I'm careful to make sure people understand that that's a way to assist drivers. It's not to replace them." Like other autonomous vehicles, the cars are controlled by numerous computer systems, cameras, and lidar (similar to radar) sensors. Teams will program the cars to run laps around IMS using artificial intelligence. Indiana politicians and celebrities including Gov. Eric Holcomb, U.S. Senator Todd Young, Indianapolis mayor Joe Hogsett, as well as officials from major original equipment manufacturers, and more than 400 high-school students from across Indiana will be on hand to view the proceedings. And parts of The Challenge, most notably the actual race itself, are open to the public. Tickets are $10 but must be purchased online by Friday. COVID-19 protocols will also be in place for spectators. There are also a number of well-known advisors for the Challenge, including former race car driver Lyn St. James, MythBusters host Jamie Hyneman, SEMA vice president of technology John Waraniak, Google self-driving team founder Sebastian Thrun, and several others. Juncos Hollinger Racing, which competes in IndyCar, Indy Lights and Indy Pro 2000, is also heavily involved, providing assembly, service and maintenance of the vehicles. The Challenge is only the second time such a large-scale event of its type has been held. Back in 2004, the forerunner of today’s autonomous vehicles, the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) Grand Challenge, was held in the California desert. In a sense, this weekend’s Challenge is designed to take AI and autonomous vehicles to the next level, with race cars as the platform to be utilized. What makes things even more challenging for teams taking part is they only have one car to utilize; unlike IndyCar or NASCAR, teams cannot go to a backup car if a mishap occurs. "I think if we would have done it without a venue like the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, we might have gotten some universities participate, but we wouldn't have gotten 41 universities from 11 countries to answer that call," Mitchell said. "There's something about the compelling idea of developing technology and showcasing it at the most prestigious venue in that industry in the motorsports industry. That's important. "The level of technology, the kind of supercomputers, the 360-degree perception systems, the data that is coming off of these vehicles, and then the robust AI and machine learning algorithms that are making decisions on these vehicles is far beyond what you have in today's traditional motorsports app competitions. So there's a lot of interest because, frankly, some of this technology, it's not just about making a driverless car, or going around the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, it's about making commercial vehicles that we drive and perhaps vehicles that are in motorsports competitions, like Indy cars, safer at faster speeds. "If you're going to get a future where IndyCar drivers can go 250 or 300 miles an hour, they may need some help from a 360-degree perception. Humans can only perceive things that they can see or sense, right? You don't have eyes in the back your head. How many times have race-car drivers said over the years, 'Boy, I wish I had eyes in the back of my head'? Well, our cars do that. They can see and perceive everything around them." Another reason for holding The Challenge is especially noteworthy in today's world, particularly with the emphasis on reducing global carbon emissions and climate change. According to The Challenge organizers, "the efficiency gains of automation could reduce overall vehicular energy consumption by 60 percent." Gallery: The Cars Are the Stars of the Indy Autonomous Challenge Another key element is potentially reducing deaths and injuries from crashes, particularly in the United States. "With 94 percent of the more than 40,000 annual automotive deaths in the U.S. caused by 'human factors,' advancements in vehicle automation have the potential to save tens of thousands of lives," material from organizers states. The one-day Challenge includes several symposiums and meetings prior to the main event, a 20-lap race, which will wrap up the day’s eight-plus hours of activities. Granted, IMS is known for having some of the racing world's most spectacular crashes over the years. Mitchell was asked how the teams will essentially keep their vehicles off IMS's unforgiving walls. "Our approach to it really is not that different than the approach that that the IndyCar Series or Indy Lights Series takes in the sense that these cars really don't wreck all that differently," Mitchell said. "If they go into the wall, they go into the wall. One thing I will say is we're not yet pushing 230 miles an hour like IndyCar. So you get a little bit of a benefit that if they get the wall at 100 mph, or even 120 mph, it's a little different than 230 mph. "I mean, if you're not getting some level of accidents, you're not pushing the envelope of what's possible and the teams aren't progressing. Luckily, we haven't had a lot of these things happen, maybe less than a handful. And so on race day, we've got race control, first of all. If there's something that they're not seeing, that's not looking correct, if the cars starts wobbling in weird ways, the team can communicate with race control, they're seeing something. We basically have a red button, if you will, that we can press that will shut the vehicle down and bring it to what we call safety stop. "The car's ability to follow race control commands, we tried to approach it very much similar to a race control interaction with a human driven vehicle. The nice thing is if there is an accident, there's really no risk of a human being injured, or certainly no risk of loss of life and those kinds of things." Several racing organizations are adapting various technological improvements in their own race vehicles. NASCAR will debut its state-of-the-art Generation 7 car next season. IndyCar debuts its "hybrid" race car in 2023. NHRA drag racing is also developing its own version of hybrid vehicles, particularly those that may someday operate solely on electric/battery power. Miles has long had an interest in autonomous vehicles and potential application of that technology to motorsports. He was speaking at a symposium at Stanford University a couple of years ago when the idea of The Challenge came up. Miles quickly offered up IMS as the host facility and has been significantly involved in the planning of The Challenge. "I love the idea because I really do relish the fact of history that Indianapolis Motor Speedway was founded and created to be a place where innovations could be developed," Miles said. "It's not about me, but we've all been involved here and things which brought different sectors of the community together, not-for-profit, economic development, state/city to advance the economy of the region." While it’s unlikely The Challenge will become a yearly event at IMS, it will serve as a stepping-off point to potentially have additional smaller competitions either in the U.S. or globally as the development of technology and AI continues to evolve. This content is imported from YouTube. You may be able to find the same content in another format, or you may be able to find more information, at their web site. "First and foremost, we want to get through the 23rd and see what happens," Mitchell said. "These are $1-million-dollar-plus race cars, if you look at the amount of money that's invested in each one of them. And the teams have put two years into the development of their autonomous technology. So, I don't think it's a one-and-done type of thing. I don't think you run these vehicles one time at IMS, and then put them in a museum somewhere on the college campuses. "I think there's a lot of desire from our teams, our sponsors, the industry, frankly, to find ways to showcase these vehicles into the future, whether that's in other venues, whether that's back at IMS. [It's all] to be determined, but it's definitely something that we're going to put some thought to on October 24, the day after this competition. "No one's really looking at, hey, let's do an autonomous racing series. That's not what we're looking to do coming out of this. It's about validating this technology in a motorsports platform, and perhaps transitioning it to human driven cars. Because, really, where some of these technologies are the most beneficial is when they're combined with human capabilities on top of robotic capabilities." "CarandDriver"

Last December, as the first of several worrying Covid-19 variants ripped through the United Kingdom, Prime Minister Boris Johnson made the unwelcome decision to cancel Christmas plans for millions of Brits. "We are sacrificing our chance to see loved ones this Christmas, so we have a better chance of protecting their lives so we can see them at future Christmases," Johnson said, taking a potentially career-defining step that he had ruled out just days earlier. Ten months later, the UK's attitude towards Covid-19 has changed beyond recognition. Virtually all of England's restrictions were lifted in July, with the events and hospitality sectors returning to full capacity as Johnson urged Britons to "begin to learn to live with this virus." But the Delta variant -- more transmissible still than the Alpha strain which wrecked last year's festivities -- has not gone away. The country has quietly endured stubbornly high cases, hospitalizations and deaths when compared to the rest of Europe. Britain has registered nearly half a million cases in the past two weeks -- and almost 50,000 on Monday -- more than France, Germany, Italy and Spain combined. The UK reported 223 deaths on Tuesday, the highest daily figure since early March. Johnson has strayed from much of the European Union in his approach; while a number of countries on the continent have introduced vaccine passports, England halted its original plan to do so. Mask-wearing and social distancing and other measures are no longer required by law in Britain. That contrasts with far stricter measures in several European nations, where proof of vaccination or a negative test are needed to visits bars and restaurants or work in several fields, including healthcare. Hospitals in Britain are now close to buckling once again under the strain of new admissions. And the country's early vaccination success risks being undone by a stuttering rollout of booster shots and shots for children. "Exceptional policies lead to exceptional outcomes," Deepti Gurdasani, an epidemiologist at Queen Mary University in London, told CNN. "It's very predictable. This is a consequence of opening everything up." "We're approaching winter, and things are only going to get worse," she added. Some things may yet shut back down; Johnson's spokesperson admitted on Monday that a "challenging" winter lies ahead, and the Prime Minister has refused to rule out a return of mask mandates or stronger restrictions to protect the country's National Health Service (NHS) in the coming weeks. But experts -- including Johnson's own health care chiefs -- are clamoring for a more urgent change in approach. The NHS Confederation, which represents providers of the service, urged the government on Wednesday to move to its "Plan B" raft of measures, which would include European-style vaccination passes and more mask mandates. But the government has ruled out that move for now, only insisting it was closely watching the case figures. "There's a whole series of ways (in which) we're out of line with western Europe and the rest of the world," said Martin McKee, professor of European Public Health at the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine. "We've seen in other European countries that collective measures make a big difference," he said. "We should be asking ourselves: Are we right? (Because) there's no evidence that we are." A Diners in London after the UK's restrictions were lifted this summer. stuttering vaccine rollout The driver behind Britain's renewed optimism in the new year was its vaccination program, which outpaced most countries in its initial scale and set the narrative for what Johnson portrayed as Britain's triumphant emergence from the pandemic. But the country is struggling to repeat those early successes as it attempts to vaccinate adolescents and roll out booster shots to elderly and at-risk people. "England's booster rollout is failing to keep pace with the rollout of first and second vaccine doses," John Roberts, a consultant at the Covid-19 Actuaries Response group which tracks vaccination figures, warned in a statement on Monday. More than a month after booster shots began, less than half of twice-vaccinated over-80s have received a top-up. "It's clear that accelerating the booster rollout is vital to reduce the pressure on health services and minimise Covid-related deaths this autumn and winter," he said. The group estimated that, at current pace, the 22 million people that make up the country's higher-risk groups won't be triple-vaccinated until late January, despite initial government promises that the program would protect people for the winter. Teenagers in England must wait to be vaccinated at school, which has hampered the rollout Vaccines continue to reduce the number of Covid-19 patients who need hospital treatment, but waning immunity makes the pace of the rollout particularly important. The majority of over-40s in Britain were originally vaccinated with the partially homegrown Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine, whose efficacy against the Delta variant has been shown to be lower than Pfizer and Moderna's shots. A preprint of a study by Public Health England (PHE) found that the shot's protection against infection fell from 66.7% to 47% after 20 weeks, compared to a drop from 90% to 70% for the Pfizer vaccine. Separate PHE research found that AstraZeneca's efficacy against hospitalization from Delta slipped from just above 90% to just under 80% after 140 days, while its efficacy against death remained close to 90%. Pfizer remained above 90% in both metrics. Many experts blame the lack of momentum in the UK's vaccination drive on months' worth of positive reassurances from Johnson's government. "All of the government's messaging and actions suggest that we're out of danger," Gurdasani said. "There's been a lot of messaging that the pandemic is essentially over, so a lot of people are thinking: "why bother?" added McKee. There are concerns too at the other end of the age spectrum, as the NHS works to vaccinate over-12s and avoid a repeat of the rampant transmission in schools that disrupted much of the summer term in June and July. That program suffered a false start amid conflicting early advice from the country's scientific bodies; whereas France, for example, began vaccinating under-18s in June, the British government only green lit the move in September. 1.2 million teenagers have now been given one dose of a vaccine and just 260,000 have seen two doses in England. "The problem is not that adolescents don't want to take it. There are many who are desperate to get it, but are not being offered it at school yet," Gurdasani said. Schools have complained about a lack of vaccinating staff, and England's delay in allowing adolescents to visit national vaccine centers has seen it fall behind Scotland in inoculating the age group. "There's a loss of direction here," McKee said. "It's not clear who's in charge." Britain's hospitals brace for a bleak winter Britain's Covid-19 rates soar above much of Europe's, but its mitigation measures remain minimal. "The government is totally dependent on the vaccination program, which is now going on in a very half-hearted way," McKee said. "There really needs to be an urgent review of where we are different from other countries, and an assessment: should we be different? What is the rationale?" McKee joined many experts in calling for a package of measures that mirror the continent. Several European countries, including France and Italy, have rolled out Covid-19 passes and required vaccination for healthcare workers, while many more still employ mask mandates in crowded spaces that the UK does not. Johnson, by contrast, has walked back initial plans to introduce similar measures. "Vaccine passes have an important role to play; the French and the Italian experience show that they do," McKee said. Cases have remained low in both countries since the measures were introduced. Health care is devolved in the UK and vaccine passes have been announced in Wales and Scotland. Johnson is meanwhile keeping them in reserve under its "Plan B" scenario for England -- but with such high infection rates every day, many wonder why Plan A is still in effect. "We have extremely high infection rates in children (and) they've spilled over into the elderly po[CENSORED]tion," Gurdasani said. "We're approaching winter, and things are only going to get worse." Covid fatigue amongst the public is another challenge. Mass events are underway with no vaccination requirements and little trace of the pandemic still remains on British high streets during busy periods. Just 40% of Britons still regularly practice social distancing, compared to 62% in mid-July and 85% in April, according to the Office for National Statistics. The same recurring study has also found a gradual decline in mask-wearing. For some, that trend is alarming. "We've had 30 to 40,000 cases every day for months now. There's no other country that's tolerating that ... (but) it's been normalized" in the UK, Gurdasani said. The steady stream of hospitalizations has not dramatically surged in the past two months, but has not noticeably declined either; official figures show more than 700 new patients entering facilities every day. That leaves hospitals, already struggling to work through a backlog of treatments that were delayed during the pandemic, anxiously awaiting another winter surge. Last week, NHS England said more people were waiting for treatment than at any time since it started keeping records -- 5.7 million -- while health care staff battled the busiest September on record this year. "There is no doubt the NHS is running hot, with the highest ever number of patients seen in A&E in September, 14-times as many covid patients in hospital compared to the same month last year and record 999 ambulance calls," Professor Stephen Powis, the NHS national medical director, said of the figures. Which direction the winter takes is still not inevitable. "There's so many unknowns," McKee said, noting that previous anticipated spikes in infections this year have not materialized. But experts and hospital staff fear a further strain. "It's not a place where most healthcare workers want to be," added Gurdasani. "It really scares me that we're in this place ahead of the winter." And, as the year winds down, the nature of Britain's second pandemic Christmas remains unclear. "CNN"

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Live Performance Title: Signer Name: Justin Bieber Live Performance Location: MTV VMAs Official YouTube Link: Your Opinion About the Track (Music Video): 10/10

Musician Name: Desiigner Birthday / Location: May 3, 1997. Brooklyn, New York, U.S. Main instrument: Vocals Musician Picture: Musician Awards & Nominations: WatsUp TV Viewers Choice Award, Top Streaming Song (Video), Top Rap Song. Best Performance:- Other Information: is an American rapper, singer, and songwriter. In December 2015, his debut single "Panda" reached number one on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100. In 2019, he was released from Def Jam and is currently an independent artist.

Artist: Tyga Real Name: Micheal Ray Nguyen-Stevenson Birth Date /Place: November 19, 1989. Compton, California, U.S. Age: 31 y.a Social status (Single / Married): Single Artist Picture: Musical Genres: Rap, Hip Hop Awards: MuchVIBE Hip-Hop Video of the Year Top 3 Songs (Names): Wait for a minute, Bubble Butt, The Motto. Other Information: known professionally by his stage name Tyga (a backronym for Thank you God always), is an American rapper.[4] After a number of independent releases, Tyga signed a recording contract with Young Money Entertainment, Cash Money Records and Republic Records in 2008.

Music Title: Yeah Signer: Mac Miller Release Date: 5 days ago Official YouTube Link: Information About the Signer:- Your Opinion About the Track (Music Video):-

Happy birthday bro❤️

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Colin Powell, the first Black US secretary of state whose leadership in several Republican administrations helped shape American foreign policy in the last years of the 20th century and the early years of the 21st, has died from complications from Covid-19, his family said on Facebook. He was 84. "General Colin L. Powell, former U.S. Secretary of State and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, passed away this morning due to complications from Covid 19," the Powell family wrote on Facebook, noting he was fully vaccinated. Powell had multiple myeloma, a cancer of plasma cells that suppresses the body's immune response, as well as Parkinson's, Peggy Cifrino, Powell's longtime chief of staff, confirmed to CNN. Even if fully vaccinated against Covid-19, those who are immunocompromised are at greater risk from the virus. "We have lost a remarkable and loving husband, father, grandfather and a great American," the family said. Powell was a distinguished and trailblazing professional soldier whose career took him from combat duty in Vietnam to becoming the first Black national security adviser during the end of Ronald Reagan's presidency and the youngest and first African American chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff under President George H.W. Bush. His national po[CENSORED]rity soared in the aftermath of the US-led coalition victory during the Gulf War, and for a time in the mid-90s, he was considered a leading contender to become the first Black President of the United States. But his reputation would be forever stained when, as George W. Bush's first secretary of state, he pushed faulty intelligence before the United Nations to advocate for the Iraq War, which he would later call a "blot" on his record. Bush said in a statement Monday that Powell was "a great public servant" who was "such a favorite of Presidents that he earned the Presidential Medal of Freedom -- twice. He was highly respected at home and abroad. And most important, Colin was a family man and a friend." Though Powell never mounted a White House bid, when he was sworn in as Bush's secretary of state in 2001, he became the highest-ranking Black public official to date in the country, standing fourth in the presidential line of succession. "I think it shows to the world what is possible in this country," Powell said of his history-making nomination during his Senate confirmation hearing. "It shows to the world that: Follow our model, and over a period of time from our beginning, if you believe in the values that espouse, you can see things as miraculous as me sitting before you to receive your approval." The Point: The Colin Powell Republican no longer exists in the Republican Party Later in his public life, Powell would grow disillusioned with the Republican Party's rightward lurch and would use his political capital to help elect Democrats to the White House, most notably Barack Obama, the first Black president whom Powell endorsed in the final weeks of the 2008 campaign. The announcement was seen as a significant boost for Obama's candidacy due to Powell's widespread po[CENSORED]r appeal and stature as one of the most prominent and successful Black Americans in public life. Powell is survived by his wife, Alma Vivian (Johnson) Powell, whom he married in 1962, as well as three children. Alma Powell, who is fully vaccinated against the virus, also tested positive for Covid-19 this month, but only exhibited mild symptoms, a source close to the family told CNN. She was sent home after treatment at Walter Reed National Military Medical Center. Cifrino told CNN Powell was vaccinated early on and received his second shot in February. He was scheduled to get his booster shot this past week but that was when he fell ill so he wasn't able to receive it. Covid-19 vaccines are a highly effective tool in preventing severe disease and death, but no vaccine is 100% effective. More than 7,000 breakthrough cases of Covid-19 that have resulted in death have been reported to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention through October 12. By that time, more than 187 million people in the US were fully vaccinated. That's one out of every 26,000 fully vaccinated people who has died of Covid-19, or 0.004%. Of those breakthrough cases resulting in death, 85% were among people age 65 and older and 57% were among men, according to the CDC. CDC data also show that the risk of dying from Covid-19 is more than 11 times higher for unvaccinated adults than it is for vaccinated adults throughout August. Among seniors, who are more susceptible to severe Covid-19, that gap is smaller. Among those 80 and older, the risk of dying from Covid-19 in August was about five times higher among unvaccinated people than among fully vaccinated people. Leaders mourn a "trailblazer and role model" Powell's death was met with an outpouring of grief from former and current leaders, including President Joe Biden who described Powell a "dear friend" and a dedicated public servant who broke barriers. "Colin embodied the highest ideals of both warrior and diplomat. He was committed to our nation's strength and security above all. Having fought in wars, he understood better than anyone that military might alone was not enough to maintain our peace and prosperity. From his front-seat view of history, advising presidents and shaping our nation's policies, Colin led with his personal commitment to the democratic values that make our country strong. Time and again, he put country before self, before party, before all else -- in uniform and out -- and it earned him the universal respect of the American people," Biden said. Former Vice President Dick Cheney, who served alongside Powell under Bush said he was "deeply saddened to learn that America has lost a leader and statesman. General Powell had a remarkably distinguished career, and I was fortunate to work with him," Cheney said in a statement, adding that Powell was a "trailblazer and role model." Former Secretary of State Madeleine Albright, Powell's predecessor at the department, remembered him on Monday as "a wise and principled man, a loyal friend, and one of the kindest people I have ever met." "Although we grew up in different contexts, we bonded over our family's immigrant stories, our deep love of America, and our belief in the importance of public service," she said in a statement. Condoleezza Rice, who succeeded Powell at State following his retirement in 2005, said on Monday that he "was a trusted colleague and a dear friend through some very challenging times," adding in her own statement that "much of his legacy will live on in the countless number of young lives he touched." And Antony Blinken, the current officeholder, said Monday that Powell "gave the State Department the very best of his leadership, his experience, his patriotism." Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said in remarks on Monday that in Powell he "lost a tremendous personal friend and mentor." "He always made time for me and I could always go to him with tough issues. He always had great counsel. We will certainly miss him," said Austin, who himself made history earlier this year as the first Black Defense secretary. Professional soldier Colin Luther Powell was born April 5, 1937, in Harlem, New York, to Jamaican immigrants. After growing up in the South Bronx, Powell attended school at the City College of New York, where he participated in ROTC, leading the precision drill team and attaining the top rank offered by the corps, cadet colonel. "I liked the structure and the discipline of the military," Powell said, according to a CNN profile of him in the early 2000s. "I felt somewhat distinctive wearing a uniform. I hadn't been distinctive in much else." He entered the US Army after graduating in 1958, and later served two tours in South Vietnam during the 1960s, where he was wounded twice, including during a helicopter crash in which he rescued two soldiers. He stayed in the Army after returning home, attending the National War College and rising in leadership. He was promoted to brigadier general in 1979, appointed as Reagan's final national security adviser in 1987 and was tapped by the elder Bush in 1989 to head the Joint Chiefs of Staff. Powell's tenure in the elder Bush's administration was marked by his involvement in some of the most notable American military actions of the late 20th century, including the 1989 Panama operation, the 1991 Gulf War and the US humanitarian intervention in Somalia, though he retired from the Army days before the disastrous Battle of Mogadishu. Although Powell was initially reluctant to commit US troops when Iraq invaded Kuwait in 1990, he became one of the administration's most trusted spokesmen when the assault on Saddam Hussein's army finally came. "First we're going to cut it off. Then we're going to kill it," Powell famously said at a news conference at the time, referring to the Iraqi army. Following the assault, Powell became something of a national hero, enjoying a 71% favorability rating in the first few years after the war. His efforts during the war also earned him two prominent awards: a Congressional Gold Medal in March 1991 "in recognition of his exemplary performance in planning and coordinating" the US response to Iraq's invasion, and a Presidential Medal of Freedom. As the elder Bush presented Powell with the award at a White House ceremony in 1991, he said the general's "deep compassion for every one of the thousands of men and women under (his) command will always be remembered." During Powell's time in the military, which lasted until 1993, he also received a number of other notable awards, including the Bronze Star and two Purple Hearts. He received his fourth star in 1989, becoming the second African American to rise to that rank. In addition to the military awards, Powell also received the President's Citizens Medal, the Secretary of State Distinguished Service Medal, and the Secretary of Energy Distinguished Service Medal, as well as a second Presidential Medal of Freedom, awarded with distinction, from President Bill Clinton. Top diplomat during turbulent time With a prominent national profile, Powell was floated as a potential presidential candidate in the 1996 election. But in a highly anticipated decision, he declined to participate in the race, citing a lack of "passion" for electoral politics. "Such a life requires a calling that I do not yet hear," he told reporters in 1995. "And for me to pretend otherwise would not be honest to myself, it would not be honest to the American people." Powell was again encouraged to run in the 2000 presidential election, but rebuffed calls for him to mount a bid. He instead endorsed George W. Bush, delivering a speech at the Republican National Convention in which he argued that the then-governor of Texas would "help bridge our racial divides." He was Bush's first Cabinet selection when he was announced as the 43rd President's nomination for secretary of state, and with his expertise in foreign policy and widespread po[CENSORED]rity, he was unanimously confirmed by the Senate. He shared Bush's reluctance to project military strength across the globe, a view that was quickly displaced by the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001. As Bush's top diplomat, he was tasked with building international support for the War on Terror, including the Afghanistan War, but it was his involvement in the administration's push for intervention in Iraq, over the concerns of many of America's longtime allies, for which his tenure at State would become best known. In February 2003, Powell delivered a speech before the United Nations in which he presented evidence that the US intelligence community said proved Iraq had misled inspectors and hid weapons of mass destruction. "There can be no doubt," Powell warned, "that Saddam Hussein has biological weapons and the capability to rapidly produce more, many more." Inspectors, however, later found no such weaponry in Iraq, and two years after Powell's UN speech, a government report said the intelligence community was "dead wrong" in its assessments of Iraq's weapons of mass destruction capabilities before the US invasion. But the damage was already done -- to both Iraq, which the US went to war with just six weeks after Powell's speech, and to the reputation of the once highly po[CENSORED]r statesman, who was reportedly told by Cheney before the UN speech: "You've got high poll ratings; you can afford to lose a few points." Powell, who left the State Department in early 2005 after submitting his resignation to Bush the previous year, later called his UN speech a "blot" that will forever be on his record. "I regret it now because the information was wrong -- of course I do," he told CNN's Larry King in 2010. "But I will always be seen as the one who made the case before the international community." "I swayed public opinion, there's no question about it," he added, referring to how influential his speech was on public support for the invasion. In his 2012 memoir, "It Worked for Me," Powell again acknowledged the speech, writing that his account of it in the book would likely be the last he publicly made. "I am mad mostly at myself for not having smelled the problem. My instincts failed me," he wrote, referring to the report he used that contained faulty evidence of supposed Iraqi WMDs. "It was by no means my first, but it was one of my most momentous failures, the one with the widest-ranging impact." "The event will earn a prominent paragraph in my obituary," Powell wrote. Shifting politics After leaving the Bush administration, Powell returned to private life. He joined the renowned venture capital firm Kleiner Perkins in 2005, where he worked as a strategic adviser until his death. For a time, he gave speeches at "Get Motivated!" business seminars, and he authored the 2012 memoir. Though the large majority of Powell's time as a public servant was spent in Republican administrations, the later years of his life saw him supporting Democratic presidential candidates and harshly criticizing top Republican leaders. By 2008, the longtime Republican's coveted presidential endorsement went to another party when he announced his support for Obama's White House bid. At the time, he touted Obama's "ability to inspire" and the "inclusive nature of his campaign," while criticizing attacks on the Illinois senator by Republican presidential nominee John McCain's campaign as "inappropriate." He was later named an honorary co-chair of Obama's inauguration and endorsed him again in 2012. Powell went on to vote for Hillary Clinton in 2016 over Donald Trump, whom he had strongly condemned as a "national disgrace and an international pariah." In an extraordinary move that year, three presidential electors in Washington state cast votes for Powell rather than Clinton, resulting in state fines that were later upheld by the Supreme Court. He again snubbed Trump in 2020 during the President's second campaign, announcing his support for Joe Biden in June of that year while blasting Trump's presidency. "We have a Constitution. And we have to follow that Constitution. And the President has drifted away from it," he told CNN, adding that he "certainly cannot in any way support President Trump this year." The retired general later delivered an address in support of Biden during the Democratic National Convention. And after Trump incited a deadly insurrection at the US Capitol in early January 2021, Powell told CNN that he no longer considered himself a Republican, with the longtime grandee of the GOP saying he was now simply watching events unfold in a country he long served. "I can no longer call myself a fellow Republican. I'm not a fellow of anything right now," he told CNN's Fareed Zakaria on "GPS." "I'm just a citizen who has voted Republican, voted Democrat throughout my entire career. And right now, I'm just watching my country and not concerned with parties." "CNN"

Australia's University of the Sunshine Coast announced it is enrolling 400 koalas in a trial to see whether a vaccine can prevent infection. A koala is vaccinated against chlamydia at the Australia Zoo Wildlife Hospital in Queensland, Australia, on Friday. Scientists at an Australian university hope to help make the island's dwindling and beloved koala po[CENSORED]tion healthier with a chlamydia vaccine for the marsupials. The University of the Sunshine Coast said this month that it had started the third phase of a clinical trial for an experimental vaccine. Chlamydia can be deadly for the animals. It causes complications similar to those in humans if left untreated, including pinkeye, genital pain, discharge and cysts. According to a 2019 study in the journal Scientific Reports, about half of the koalas in one geographic area of Australia tested positive for the infection, and many of those that tested positive were also infertile. Since 2018, Australia has lost an estimated 30 percent of its koalas because of wildfires, drought, heat waves and land clearing, the Australian Koala Foundation said last month. The vaccine has proven to be safe in the first two phases of the University of the Sunshine Coast's trials, Peter Timms, a professor of microbiology, said in a statement, adding that the study involved around 200 wild and captive koalas. The next phase will involve 400 koalas, including those that live in sanctuaries, as well as animals that enter the hospital for treatment, he said. They will be divided into two groups: 200 will get the single-shot vaccine, and 200 will be in a control group. "While this vaccination will directly benefit each of the animals, the trial will also have a focus on the protection provided by vaccination," Timms said in a statement. "All koalas will be microchipped, and the hospital will record any animals that return for any reason over the following 12 months." Timms said his team was working with vaccine manufacturers and government regulators to speed the release of a vaccine in case the trial results are positive. A clinical trial is also underway in the U.S. for a human vaccine for chlamydia. A Phase 1 trial testing the safety and immunogenicity of a human chlamydia vaccine, which began in 2019, is expected to be complete next year, according to the National Institutes of Health. "NBC"