Mindblown: a blog about philosophy.

The Thales missile factory in Belfast is to supply 5,000 air defence missiles to Ukraine, the Prime Minister has announced. The deal is worth up to £1.6bn and will involve recruiting 200 additional staff. Thales is a French-owned company which one of Europe’s biggest arms manufacturers. The order is for lightweight multirole missiles (LMMs) which…

Mixue Ice Cream and Tea may be unfamiliar to many of us but the Chinese firm has more outlets than McDonald’s and Starbucks. On Monday, the bubble tea chain’s shares jumped by 40% as they started trading on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange. The company raised $444m (£352m) in the financial hub’s biggest initial public…

Anora sweeps the Oscars with five awards including best picture and best actress for star Mikey Madison. In one of the most unpredictable races in years, Adrien Brody wins best actor for The Brutalist, Zoe Saldaña gets best supporting actress for Emilia Pérez, and Kieran Culkin is named best supporting actor. Video produced by: Jack…

EPA UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer has announced a four-point plan to work with Ukraine to end the war and defend the country from Russia. The UK, France and other countries will step up their efforts in a “coalition of the willing” and seek to involve the US in their support for Ukraine, he said.…

Australian Red Cross Lifeblood James Harrison with his grandson, Trey, in an earlier picture One of the world’s most prolific blood donors – whose plasma saved the lives of more than 2 million babies – has died. James Harrison died in his sleep at a nursing home in New South Wales, Australia on 17 February,…

Despite growing international pressure, the Democratic Republic of Congo is standing firm on its decision not to have direct talks with the M23 rebel group that has made major advances in the east of the country in recent months. Last week, the UK government added to calls for the group to be part of an…

Reuters “Bruised but motivated,” was how one of Volodymyr Zelensky’s entourage described how they had been feeling, as a small group of journalists crammed into what felt like an even smaller room at Stansted Airport. The British state had done its best to give the Ukrainian president “all bells and whistles” when he arrived in…

Several Arab states and the UN have condemned Israel for blocking the entry of all humanitarian aid into the Gaza Strip. Egypt and Qatar said the Israeli move on Sunday violated a ceasefire deal, while UN humanitarian chief Tom Fletcher described it as “alarming”. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said his country acted because Hamas…

Imogen Foulkes Geneva correspondent, BBC News Badrutt’s Palace Hotel Swiss hotels, such as Badrutt’s Palace in St Moritz, attract the world’s wealthiest people The world is a very insecure place right now – conflict, climate change, and fears of recession dominate the headlines. But for some people, things are going rather well – the wealthy.…

President Zelensky has told the BBC the minerals deal between the US and Ukraine remains “ready” to sign despite the public showdown between him and the Trump administration on Friday. He was asked about the future of the deal, which would grant the US access to Ukraine’s rare mineral reserves, by Laura Kuenssberg. “It is…