The Respiratory Intensive Care Assembly of the European Respiratory Society gathered in Berlin to organise the third Respiratory Failure and Mechanical Ventilation Conference in February 2024. The conference covered key points of acute and chronic respiratory failure in adults. During the 3-day conference ventilatory strategies, patient selection, diagnostic approaches, treatment and health-related quality of life topics were addressed by a panel of international experts. In this article, lectures delivered during the event have been summarised by early career members of the Assembly and take-home messages highlighted.

There is conflicting evidence regarding the use of steroids in severe community-acquired pneumonia (CAP), with previous randomised controlled trials limited by small sample sizes. ESCAPe and CAPE COD are two recently published large trials on steroids in severe CAP. ESCAPe assessed the initiation of methylprednisolone within 72–96 h of hospital admission, while CAPE COD studied the use of hydrocortisone within 24 h of the development of severe CAP. ESCAPe did not show any differences in all-cause 60-day mortality or any of its secondary outcomes. CAPE COD showed that hydrocortisone improved all-cause 28-day mortality and reduced the risk of intubation or vasopressor-dependent shock. Important differences between the trials included the steroid regimens used, timing of steroid administration and baseline characteristics, with more diabetic patients included in ESCAPe. The results of CAPE COD support the initiation of hydrocortisone within 24 h of developing severe CAP, but more research is needed to evaluate long-term outcomes and optimum dosing regimens for steroids in severe CAP.

Stage III nonsmall cell lung cancer (NSCLC) represents a wide range of tumour (T1 to T4) and nodal (N0 to N3) components, requiring variable management and a multidisciplinary approach. Recent advancements in minimally invasive techniques, molecular biology and novel drug discoveries have accelerated the refinement of stage III NSCLC management. The latest developments in staging include the forthcoming update of the nodal component in the 9th TNM (tumour–node–metastasis) edition, which emphasises the critical role for endobronchial ultrasonography in mediastinal staging. Recent treatment developments include the use of immunotherapy and targeted molecular therapy in both the neoadjuvant and adjuvant setting, either in combination with other modalities or used alone as consolidation. Surgical and radiotherapy advancements have further enhanced patient outcomes. These developments have significantly improved the prognosis for patients with stage III NSCLC. Fast-changing recommendations have also brought about a challenge, with clinicians facing a number of options to choose from. Therefore, a multimodal approach by a multidisciplinary team has become even more crucial in managing stage III NSCLC.

Central sleep apnoea (CSA) is characterised by recurrent episodes of airway cessation or reduction in the absence of respiratory effort. Although CSA is less common than obstructive sleep apnoea, it shares similar symptoms. CSA can be secondary to various medical conditions, high altitude and medication exposure. CSA can also emerge during obstructive sleep apnoea therapy. There are a range of treatment options and selecting the right therapy requires an understanding of the pathophysiology of CSA. This review explores the aetiology, pathophysiology and clinical management of non-hypercapnic CSA.

The respiratory literature, both written and in online formats, is growing exponentially. Capturing quality content, to meet the learning needs of those working in all fields of respiratory medicine and delivering it in a palatable, accessible format is challenging but paramount. In this article we discuss ways to determine the information content and review different methods of delivering this content to those who need it.

Palliative care pertains to the holistic multidimensional concept of "patient-centred" care. It is an interprofessional specialty, primarily aiming to improve quality of care for cancer patients and their families, from the time of diagnosis of malignant disease, over the continuum of cancer care, and extending after the patient's death to the period of bereavement to support the patient's family. There are various complex and frequently unmet needs of lung cancer patients and their families/caregivers, not only physical but also psychological, social, spiritual and cultural. Systematic monitoring of patients’ symptoms using validated questionnaires and patient-reported outcomes (PROs), on a regular basis, is highly encouraged and recommended in recent guidelines on the role of PRO measures in the continuum of cancer clinical care. It improves patient–physician communication, physician awareness of symptoms, symptom control, patient satisfaction, health-related quality of life and cost-effectiveness. This implies that all treating physicians should improve their skills in communication with lung cancer patients/relatives and become more familiar with this multidimensional assessment, repeatedly screening patients for palliative care needs. Therefore, they should receive education and training to develop palliative care knowledge, skills and attitudes. This review is dedicated to lung cancer palliative care essentials that should be within the competences of treating physicians, i.e. pneumologists/thoracic oncologists.

Imaging methods are fundamental tools to detect and diagnose lung diseases, monitor their treatment and detect possible complications. Each modality, starting from classical chest radiographs and computed tomography, as well as the ever more popular and easily available thoracic ultrasound, magnetic resonance imaging and nuclear medicine methods, and new techniques such as photon counting computed tomography, radiomics and application of artificial intelligence, has its strong and weak points, which we should be familiar with to properly choose between the methods and interpret their results. In this review, we present the indications, strengths and main limitations of methods for chest imaging.

A nudibranch from the midnight zone has fingers on its tail, collects food with a hood, and glows.

Writer-director partners Scott Beck and Bryan Woods dive into the biggest spoilers of their new Hugh Grant thriller.

New research shows that levels of overall and heavy drinking among Americans are still higher than they were in 2018.

The two robots, working alone and far apart from one another, are struggling on their respective treks along the Red Planet's rough terrain.

Tim Miller hopes Amazon's anthology series will help viewers appreciate the "blood, sweat, and tears" Firewalk Studios put into the scrapped game.

The head of one of the world's largest oil companies has had it with government flip-flopping.

New research shows that bystander CPR can substantially improve a person's odds of surviving a cardiac arrest while avoiding major brain damage, especially if given immediately.

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It will likely release in 2026 and feature Apple Intelligence, according to a reliable analyst.

There has been fallout. Speaker Nathan Cooper is said to have decreed guests will never again be seated inside the legislative chamber.

The post Edmonton activist protests climate crisis with demonstration in AB legislature appeared first on rabble.ca.

The current growth and consumption based economy is not sustainable. The world must move towards a circular economy and sustainability.

The post Degrowth, green energy, social equity, and circular economy appeared first on rabble.ca.

With 420,000 Quebec public sector workers on strike on Monday, and with little progress in negotiations, the Front Commun promises further strike action.

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In August, fellow reporter Jason Patinkin and I crossed on foot from northern Uganda into rebel-held South Sudan. Over the course of four days, we walked more than 40 miles through the bush, escorted by rebel soldiers, to shed light on one of the world’s most underreported conflicts.

Reporting on South Sudan’s war, which began in 2013, has always been a challenge due to the risk and logistical hurdles associated with accessing remote areas where fighting takes place. But over the past year, covering the war and its humanitarian fallout has become particularly difficult. Since the beginning of this year, South Sudan’s government has banned at least 20 foreign journalists in an apparent effort to silence reporters who had a track record of critically reporting on the government.

This systematic crackdown on the foreign press (South Sudanese journalists have long risked imprisonment and death for doing their work) coincided with two important developments. In November 2016, the United Nations warned that the violence being committed against civilians in the southern region of Equatoria risked spiraling into genocide. Then, in February, the UN declared a man-made famine, warning that 100,000 people were at risk of starving to death as a result of civil war.

Journalists seeking to cover these events were left with two equally unsavory options: self-censorship or a risky trip to rebel-held parts of the country. Only a handful of journalists have attempted the latter since fighting escalated in July last year. For us, this was our second embed with the rebels this year.

We set off from a town in northern Uganda at five in the morning, bouncing along a bumpy dirt track towards the South Sudan border. Crammed into our four-wheel drive were rebel commander Martin Abucha, a dual American and South Sudanese citizen who we planned to profile for our PBS NewsHour Weekend segment, a couple of guides, and several duffle bags stuffed with our tents, sleeping bags, emergency medical kits and provisions to last us four days.

Just as the sun began to rise above a distant range of hills that we aimed to cross later that day, our car came to a halt in front of a stream. Because of the rainy reason, it carried more water than usual. It was time to disembark and start walking, or “footing,” as South Sudanese tend to call it.

We took off our shoes and waded through the stream’s chilly waters. This was the first of a many rivers we’d have to cross along the way, either on foot or in small flimsy canoes dug out from tree trunks. Each time, we dreaded the idea of falling in with our camera gear.

The first part of our journey in northern Uganda felt very much like a hike through a national park. Passing beautiful landscapes and idyllic farming villages, one could almost forget we were headed into a war zone — but we were about to get a reality check.

We had just crossed into South Sudan when out of nowhere, two dozen armed men popped out of the tall grass and surrounded us at gunpoint.

“Stop! Who are you and where are you going?” a soldier called out in Juba Arabic from his hideout no more than 20 yards away, pointing his AK47 at us. Another one next to him had a rocket-propelled grenade propped on his shoulder, also unequivocally aiming it in our direction.

Instinctively, we threw our hands in the air and exchanged a baffled glance. Had we accidentally bumped into government soldiers? Or perhaps we had come onto the “wrong” rebels? Abucha’s group, called the Sudan People’s Liberation Army In Opposition, is the biggest but not the only armed group in Equatoria, an area rife with rival militia and bandits who exploit the security vacuum left by war.

To our relief, and only after Abucha answered a series of questions, this routine security check quickly gave way to a warm welcome. The platoon would be our escort for the next four days as we trekked to their base and to Loa, Abucha’s hometown.

Keeping up with the rebels was no easy task. Given the country’s pervasive lack of basic infrastructure, South Sudanese grow up walking for dozens of miles just to go about their daily lives. For sedentary Westerners, keeping the target pace of “two meters per second” (around five miles an hour) proved challenging amid 90-degree temperatures, all while filming and plowing our way through dense, itchy elephant grass.

The upside of the cumbersome terrain was that it kept us safe. During our four-day trip, we didn’t cross a single road, instead walking along a dizzying network of narrow bush paths the rebels seemed to know like the backs of their hands. An unwanted encounter with government troops, who tended to stick to roads and move around in vehicles as opposed to on foot, was highly unlikely.

The closest we got to government-controlled area was a visit to Loa, located just two kilometers away from a main road frequently patrolled by government soldiers. We couldn’t stay long, but the hour we spent on the ground offered us a glimpse into what villages must look like in many parts of Equatoria: burned mud huts, looted schools and clinics, fallow fields and – most strikingly – no civilians.

The war has had a devastating impact on South Sudanese communities like the one in Loa, but much of it has remained out of the limelight of international media. Our four-day venture into rebel-held South Sudan offered us a rare opportunity to report ground truths, and we are thankful for that.

The post Column: Why reporting from South Sudan is so difficult — and critically needed appeared first on PBS NewsHour.

At least 231 people were killed and hundreds more wounded after a massive truck bomb on Saturday struck Somalia’s capital city of Mogadishu.

The Somali government has blamed the al-Qaida-linked militant group al-Shabab for the attack, and called it the deadliest ever to hit the nation.

The blast took place outside the Safari Hotel, where rescue workers dug through the rubble of collapsed buildings overnight in search of survivors. Witnesses described a devastating scene with large-scale carnage, as doctors worked feverishly to attend to the dead and injured, many badly burned.

“The hospital is overwhelmed by both dead and wounded,” Dr. Mohamed Yusuf, the director of Medina hospital located near the blast, told the Associated Press. “We also received people whose limbs were cut away by the bomb. This is really horrendous, unlike any other time in the past.”

Photos and videos of the bombing, which took place on a busy street near a section of the city housing foreign embassies, showed collapsed walls, twisted metal, and sporadic fires spewing smoke. The Qatari government said its embassy was “severely damaged” in the strike.

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Family members searched through the wreckage and waited at local hospitals with the hopes of finding relatives who survived the bombing.

Somali President Mohamed Abdullahi Mohamed announced three days of mourning. The attacks received international condemnation, including from the United States.

The post Hundreds dead after massive truck bomb strikes Mogadishu appeared first on PBS NewsHour.

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The United Nations says South Sudan’s four-year-old civil war has left half of the nation’s population — 6 million people — in need of humanitarian aid. The conflict began when South Sudan’s army split between factions loyal to President Salva Kiir and former Vice President Riek Machar. The two men mobilized their respective tribes, the Dinka and the Nuer. The war has caused what is now one of the world’s worst refugee crises.

SIMONA FOLTYN: Civil war is emptying huge swaths of South Sudan. The violence has uprooted four million people, including two million who’ve fled to neighboring countries. In the last year, more than a million South Sudanese have poured into northern Uganda alone, crossing makeshift bridges like this one to flee fighting, hunger, and brutal attacks on civilians.

SEME LUPAI, REFUGEE: They started fighting very, very severely. So that made us to escape with our properties to this side.

SIMONA FOLTYN: When Seme Lupai’s family went to one of the refugee camps, initially, he stayed behind to look after the family’s most precious commodity — their cattle. He hid for a year to escape the violence. The refugees carry whatever they can salvage — mattresses, pots, clothes, notebooks — remnants of once peaceful lives turned upside down. At checkpoints, Ugandan soldiers search their belongings for weapons, before the refugees proceed to reception centers. After entering Uganda, the refugees sign in at small waystations. For many, it’s the first night spent in safety after walking for days to escape fighting. Levi Arike fled with his wife and four children.

LEVI ARIKE, REFUGEE: When the gunshots started, we laid under a tree with the whole family, because there was nowhere else to hide. We waited for the fighting to stop, and then we got up and started walking to Uganda.

SIMONA FOLTYN: Uganda now shoulders most of the burden of Africa’s biggest refugee crisis, managing a constellation of camps which require food, water, healthcare, and policing. At Imvepi Camp, now home to more than 120,000 South Sudanese, new arrivals receive vaccinations, hot meals, and basic items such as soap and plastic tarps to build a house. The government also gives each refugee family a small plot of land, about a twentieth of an acre, where they can build a tent shelter and grow crops to eat or sell. But the land often proves too rocky for farming.

SIMONA FOLTYN, IMVEPI REFUGEE CAMP, NORTHERN UGANDA: After completing the registration process, the new arrivals will receive their plot, to start a new life as refugees in Uganda. While they are safe here, there are many challenges ahead, not least processing the trauma of what they experienced back home.

This woman, who we’ll call “Agnes,” agreed to tell us about her harrowing experience. She says four government soldiers from President Salva Kiir’s Dinka tribe stopped her as she was fleeing South Sudan and raped her right in front of her family.

AGNES (translated to English): When they started raping me, they told me not to raise alarm, otherwise they would shoot me. Still when I’m sleeping, I’m dreaming of the Dinka, that they are coming to rape me again.

SIMONA FOLTYN: How often do you have those dreams?

AGNES: Daily, every time I lie down, those dreams come.

SIMONA FOLTYN: A recent Human Rights Watch report on South Sudan found “…a clear pattern of government forces unlawfully targeting civilians for killings, rapes, torture…and destruction of property..” The victims are from ethnic groups suspected to support the rebels.

AGNES: They are doing it, because they know very well that those soldiers are our brothers. So they do it to punish them..

SIMONA FOLTYN: Although the rebels, known as the Sudan People’s Liberation Army In Opposition, purport to protect local communities, there are also reports of their fighters assaulting civilians near the Ugandan border. Josephine Yanya told us she didn’t feel safe in the presence of either side’s soldiers. Her family and neighbors fled their village after government soldiers killed her uncle.

They hid in the mountains only to find themselves under attack again, this time by opposition fighters from the Nuer tribe loyal to former vice president Riek Machar. Yanya says ethnic Nuer soldiers from the SPLA-IO rebel group raped a member of her group and stole her father’s’ cattle.

JOSEPHINE YANYA (translated to English): Before we were thinking that the rebels would protect us, but if they are lacking food, they just come and take things by force.

SIMONA FOLTYN: With nowhere left to hide, Yanya fled to Uganda with her son.
But instead of finding a place to rebuild their lives, they are in limbo. And aid groups don’t have enough food to distribute.

JOSEPHINE YANYA (translated to English):We are getting small food rations. I know it won’t be enough even for one month.

SIMONA FOLTYN: According to the United Nations, the international community has given less than a-third of the $1.4 billion dollars needed for the refugee response in South Sudan’s neighboring countries. These refugees foresee more hardship and have no idea when they might return home.

JOSEPHINE YANYA (translated to English): I’m always praying for peace in South Sudan, and until then, I’ll just stay here.

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WASHINGTON — Secretary of State Rex Tillerson says diplomatic efforts aimed at resolving the North Korean crisis “will continue until the first bomb drops.”

That statement comes despite President Donald Trump’s tweets a couple of weeks ago that his chief envoy was “wasting his time” trying to negotiate with “Little Rocket Man,” a mocking nickname Trump has given the nuclear-armed nation’s leader, Kim Jong Un.

“I think he does want to be clear with Kim Jong Un and that regime in North Korea that he has military preparations ready to go and he has those military options on the table. And we have spent substantial time actually perfecting those,” Tillerson told CNN’s “State of the Union” on Sunday. “But be clear: The president has also made clear to me that he wants this solved diplomatically. He’s not seeking to go to war.”

Recent mixed messaging from the top of the U.S. government has raised concerns about the potential for miscalculation amid the increasingly bellicose exchange of words by Trump and the North Korean leader.

Trump told the U.N. General Assembly last month that if the U.S. is “forced to defend itself or its allies, we will have no choice but to totally destroy North Korea.” Trump also tweeted that Korea’s leadership “won’t be around much longer” if it continued its provocations, a declaration that led the North’s foreign minister to assert that Trump had “declared war on our country.”

Tillerson acknowledged during a recent trip to Beijing that the Trump administration was keeping open direct channels of communications with North Korea and probing the North’s willingness to talk. He provided no elaboration about those channels or the substance of any discussions.

Soon after, Trump took to Twitter, saying he had told “our wonderful Secretary of State, that he is wasting his time trying to negotiate with Little Rocket Man … Save your energy Rex, we’ll do what has to be done!” Trump offered no further explanation, but he said all military options are on the table for dealing with North Korea’s nuclear and missile programs.

Analysts have speculated about whether the president and his top diplomat were playing “good cop, bad cop” with North Korea, and how China might interpret the confusing signals from Washington. Beijing is the North’s main trading partner, and the U.S. is counting on China to enforce U.N. sanctions.

“Rest assured that the Chinese are not confused in any way what the American policy towards North Korea (is) or what our actions and efforts are directed at,” Tillerson said.

Asked if Trump’s tweets undermined Tillerson, the secretary said: “I think what the president is doing is he’s trying to motivate action on a number of people’s part, in particular the regime in North Korea. I think he does want to be clear with Kim Jong Un and that regime in North Korea that he has military preparations ready to go and he has those military options on the table and we have spent substantial time perfecting those.”

He added that Trump “has made it clear to me to continue my diplomatic efforts, which we are, and I’ve told others those diplomatic efforts will continue until the first bomb drops.”

North Korea has launched missiles that potentially can strike the U.S. mainland and recently conducted its largest ever underground nuclear explosion. It has threatened to explode another nuclear bomb above the Pacific.

The post Rex Tillerson says continue diplomacy with North Korea ‘until first bomb drops’ appeared first on PBS NewsHour.

TOKYO — U.S. and Japanese diplomats agreed Tuesday to maximize pressure on North Korea to resolve tensions over its nuclear program, while citing the need to be prepared for the worst if diplomacy fails.

U.S. Deputy Secretary of State John Sullivan, after meeting his Japanese counterpart, Shinsuke Sugiyama, told reporters that the focus at the State Department is still on diplomacy to solve the problem and eventually denuclearize the Korean Peninsula.

“We must, however, with our allies in Japan and South Korea and elsewhere, be prepared for the worst should diplomacy fail,” he said. The U.S. must be prepared to defend itself and its allies, he said.

Sugiyama, briefing reporters separately, reiterated Japan’s support for President Donald Trump’s policy of keeping all options open, but stressed the need for a diplomatic solution by bolstering cooperation among Japan, U.S. and South Korea, as well as via cooperation with China and Russia.

The two diplomats will join their South Korean counterpart in Seoul for further talks Wednesday on North Korea.

READ MORE: Rex Tillerson says continue diplomacy with North Korea ‘until first bomb drops’

The talks come as the U.S. and South Korea hold joint naval drills this week. They regularly conduct joint exercises, though North Korea condemns them as an invasion rehearsal.

North Korea’s deputy U.N. ambassador warned on Monday that the situation on the peninsula “has reached the touch-and-go point and a nuclear war may break out any moment.”

Kim In Ryong told the U.N. General Assembly’s disarmament committee that North Korea has been subjected to a direct nuclear threat from the United States and has the right to possess nuclear weapons in self-defense.

He pointed to military exercises and what he called a U.S. plan to stage a “secret operation aimed at the removal of our supreme leadership.”

Kim’s speech follows increasingly tough U.N. sanctions. Russian President Vladimir Putin said his country is curtailing economic, scientific and other ties with North Korea in line with U.N. sanctions, and the European Union announced new sanctions as well.

The post U.S., Japan agree to maximize diplomatic pressure on North Korea appeared first on PBS NewsHour.

Watch President Donald Trump and the Greek prime minister’s joint news conference in the player above.

WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump says the U.S. stands with Greece as they recover from their economic crisis. He is speaking with Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras at the White House in a joint news conference.

The U.S. president says the two leaders have discussed defense, energy, commerce and trade.

Trump is praising Greece for its defense spending under NATO and is noting a potential sale to Greece to upgrade its F-16 aircraft, which he says would be worth up to $2.4 billion and generate thousands of U.S. jobs.

Tsipras says his country has made economic strides and is “leaving behind the economic model that led to the crisis.” He says Greece’s relationship with the U.S. is “more important than ever.”

The post WATCH: Trump and Greek prime minister hold joint news conference appeared first on PBS NewsHour.

U.S.-backed Syrian Democratic Forces announced Tuesday that they had captured the city of Raqqa from Islamic State militants.

“Everything is finished in Raqqa, our forces have taken full control of Raqqa,” SDF spokesman Talal Sello told AFP. A formal declaration would be announced after operations to clear any remaining sleeper cells and to remove landmines in the city were completed, Sello added.

The move is a major setback for the Islamic State which considered Raqqa the de-facto capital of its self-declared caliphate. It comes on the third anniversary of the global effort to defeat ISIS.

Raqqa was the first provincial capital to fall from government control in March 2013 after it was captured by a rebel army. The army included both Syrian opposition groups and more hard line  parties including al-Nusra and the Islamic State.

A civilian government  that was established in the city divided two months later, and less than a year later ISIS recaptured Raqqa and named the the capital of their caliphate.

About 900 civilians have been killed since the the start of the five-month operation, including 570 people in coalition air raids, according to the Syrian Network for Human Rights. The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights put the civilian death toll at 1,130 people. American journalist James Foley was beheaded in the mountains south of the city.

SDF fighters pulled down the Islamic State’s black flag from the city’s National Hospital near the city’s stadium, according to a Reuters report.

Special presidential envoy for the Global Coalition to Defeat ISIS Brett McGurk said in August that the U.S. would attempt to perform a “stabilization” in Raqqa — including demining, removing rubble from major pathways to allow trucks and equipment through, and “basic electricity, sewage, water, the basic essentials to allow populations to come back to their home.”

It is not clear when the 300,000 civilians who have fled Raqqa since April during the operation will be able to return.

The post U.S.-backed Syrian forces recapture Raqqa from Islamic State group appeared first on PBS NewsHour.

Secretary of State Rex Tillerson speaks at the Center for Strategic and International Studies on Wednesday.

WASHINGTON — Secretary of State Rex Tillerson is condemning reported atrocities committed against Rohingya Muslims in Myanmar, and he says those responsible — perhaps the country’s military — will be held accountable.

Tillerson says accounts of the suffering of the Rohingya are “heartbreaking” — and that if those reports are true, then “someone is going to be held to account for that.”

Tillerson — who’s set to visit South Asia next week — is urging the Myanmar government to improve humanitarian access to the population in western Rakhine state.

Amnesty International has accused Myanmar’s security forces of killing hundreds of men, women and children during a systematic campaign to expel the Rohingya. More than 580,000 refugees have fled to neighboring Bangladesh since late August.

“We really hold the military leadership accountable for what’s happening,” Tillerson said at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, a Washington think tank. “What’s most important to us is that the world can’t just stand idly by and be witness to the atrocities that are being reported in that area.”

He also called Wednesday for the U.S. and India to expand strategic ties. He pointedly criticized China, which he accused of challenging international norms needed for global stability.

He said the world needed the U.S. and India to have a strong partnership. The two nations share goals of security, free navigation, free trade and fighting terrorism in the Indo-Pacific, and serve as “the eastern and western beacons” for an international rules-based order which is increasingly under strain, he said.

Both India and China had benefited from that order, but Tillerson said India had done so while respecting rules and norms, while China had “at times” undermined them. To make his point, he alluded to China’s island building and expansive territorial claims in seas where Beijing has long-running disputes with Southeast Asian neighbors.

“China’s provocative actions in the South China Sea directly challenge the international law and norms that the United States and India both stand for,” Tillerson said in an address at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, a Washington think tank.

He added that the U.S. seeks constructive relations with China but “won’t shrink” from the challenges it poses when it “subverts the sovereignty of neighboring countries, and disadvantages the U.S. and our friends.”

U.S.-India relations have generally prospered in the past decade, in part because of their shared concerns about the rise of China. While President Donald Trump has looked to deepen cooperation with China on addressing the nuclear threat from North Korea, he’s also sought a closer relationship with India, which shares U.S. worries on Islamic extremism.

“In this period of uncertainty and angst, India needs a reliable partner on the world stage. I want to make clear: with our shared values and vision for global stability, peace and prosperity, the United States is that partner,” Tillerson said.

Tillerson said the U.S. wants to help improve India’s military capabilities, and also improve security cooperation among the region’s major democracies, which included Japan and Australia.

Tillerson said the U.S. and India were leading regional efforts on counterterrorism. He called for India’s archrival Pakistan “to take decisive action against terrorist groups based within their own borders that threaten its own people and the broader region.”

The post Tillerson: ‘Heartbreaking’ reports of suffering in Myanmar appeared first on PBS NewsHour.

More than 500,000 Rohingya Muslims have fled their homes since August to escape systematic violence at the hands of government soldiers in Myanmar. The U.N. has called the actions taken by Myanmar forces against the group “a textbook example of ethnic cleansing.”

A report released by Amnesty International on Wednesday documents widespread rape, killings and burnings of Rohingya across the Rakhine State in Myanmar. The report includes extensive interviews of Rohingya refugees who tell stories of live burnings, sexual violence and mass shootings at the hands of soldiers.

To escape persecution, Rohingya refugees are fleeing in droves to neighboring Bangladesh, a country described by some as a reluctant host for the thousands of refugees behind its borders. Conditions within Bangladesh show refugee camps beyond capacity, as organizations struggle to keep up with humanitarian aid.

Find out more: Rohingya Muslims have been denied citizenship in Myanmar since 1982, though they’ve lived in the area since the 12th century. They are not considered one of the country’s official ethnic groups. As such, their lack of official identity bars them from government services and travel.

Officials from Myanmar, a majority Buddhist state, claim Rohingya are actually immigrants from Bangladesh to justify their exclusion of the group. This most recent burst of violence comes from Myanmar’s crackdown following clashes with the Arakan Rohingya Salvation Army (ARSA). After the government declared ARSA a terrorist organization, the retaliation escalated into hundreds of Rohingya villages.

Where to give: BRAC, a top-ranked NGO based out of Bangladesh, is scaling up humanitarian efforts for clean water, health, sanitation and child care for refugees from Myanmar. You can learn more about their efforts here.

An emergency appeal was made by the Disasters Emergency Committee for immediate crisis relief funds. DEC distributes funds to 13 member aid organizations.
UNHCR, UNICEF and Save the Children have donation pages dedicated to the crisis, as does the International Rescue Committee. CNN’s Public Good page provides a user-friendly resource to find NGOs that match your giving goals.

To give to starvation relief, try Action Against Hunger or the World Food Programme.

Be sure to research organizations receiving your financial contributions, not only to find the best organization aligned with your goals, but also to avoid potential scams. For the latest information on aid organizations and charities, visit GuideStar or Charity Navigator to ensure your donations are going in the right direction.

The post As Rohingya refugees continue to flee from persecution, here’s how you can help appeared first on PBS NewsHour.

Andrey Bogut’s knee injury has potentially sidelined him for the NBA playoffs and casts doubt on his role for the Boomers.

Bryce Cartwright admits he has something of a split personality in his first NSW State of Origin camp.

Paul Garrard has no plans to walk away but has urged Geoff Gerard to resign if he has lost his desire to fight.

Queensland captain Cameron Smith says Laurie Daley’s attack on the referees gave NSW an excuse they didn’t deserve.

Pressure from 10 clubs could change the AFL’s competitive balance mechanism.

Legendary Tiger Maurice Rioli was posthumously inducted into the Australian Football Hall of Fame last night.

ROLLING UPDATES:Malcolm Turnbull heads into tomorrow’s Liberal Party campaign launch with the economy and stability firmly front and centre.

BILL Shorten believes Labor can still win next Saturday’s election despite new opinion polling predicting his party will struggle.

LEADING Aboriginal academic Marcia Langton has blasted Bill Shorten over his claim Labor could sign a treaty with Indigenous Australians.

UPDATES: Senator Nick Xenophon said it doesn’t make sense for the agreement between the Liberal and National parties to be kept as a private secret.

The Scotch whisky distiller has announced a major change

A national review of social work in Scotland has been launched in a bid to address ‘systemic racism’ within the sector.

"I look forward to any contest, where of course it will be for branch members to select those they wish to represent them in Holyrood in the 2026 Scottish Parliament elections.”

Ministers must follow the UK Government and extend rates relief for businesses in Scotland, Anas Sarwar has said.

NATWEST has moved to reduce the UK Government’s stake in the bank after buying back a significant tranche of shares from the Treasury in what it described as a “another important milestone”, it was announced this morning.