Mindblown: a blog about philosophy.

Tessa WongAsia Digital Reporter and Kelly Ng Reuters Jin Mingri, seen here in a 2018 file photo, is one of 30 Christians arrested in China last weekend Last Friday Grace Jin Drexel received a text from her father in China, the prominent pastor Jin Mingri, telling her to pray for another pastor who had gone…

Orla GuerinSenior International Correspondent, in Syria BBC/Goktay Koraltan Human remains have been unearthed at this site in Eastern Ghouta, outside Damascus A burly bearded man in a blue tunic moved swiftly through grassy stubble on a windswept road in rural Damascus, collecting bones with his bare hands. He added a jaw to the pile, before…

Paul GlynnCulture reporter British Library Board The date of Oscar Wilde’s death, 30 November 1900, has been used as the new card’s expiry date The British Library has honoured late Irish writer Oscar Wilde by reissuing a reader’s card in his name, 130 years after his original was revoked following his conviction for “gross indecency”.…

Kevin Nguyen, Phil Leake and Merlyn Thomas BBC The controversial US and Israeli-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF) has confirmed it suspended operations in Gaza after the ceasefire deal between Israel and Hamas came into effect on 10 October. Despite being funded until November, the organisation said its final delivery was on Friday. The GHF has…

Gustavo Ocando AlexReporting from Maracaibo, Venezuela for BBC News Mundo Gustavo Ocando Alex Wilder Fernández is a young fisherman in the west of Venezuela who is concerned by the US military presence in the Caribbean Wilder Fernández has caught four good-sized fish in the murky waters of a small bay north of Lake Maracaibo. The…

Reuters Putin and Trump met in person at a US base in Alaska in August 2025 US President Donald Trump says “great progress” was made during a phone call with Russian President Vladimir Putin on Thursday, with the pair agreeing to face-to-face talks in Hungary. He said the call, the first with Putin since mid-August,…

The most prominent Palestinian prisoner, Marwan Barghouti, was beaten unconscious by Israeli prison guards on 14 September, his family has said. The 66-year-old – serving life for planning deadly attacks against Israelis – was allegedly assaulted by eight guards during a transfer between Ganot and Megiddo prisons. The Israel Prison Service told the BBC: “These…

Getty Images Greece’s parliament has approved a contested labour bill that would allow 13-hour workdays, despite fierce opposition and nationwide strikes. The government said it will modernise Greek labour laws, but a spokesperson for the left-wing opposition Syriza party called the bill a “legislative monstrosity”. Under the new law, annual overtime is also capped at…

The number of people killed by bears in Japan this year has reached a record high, the country’s environment ministry has said. Seven people have died since April – the highest since 2006 when data was first recorded – with fatalities mostly in north-eastern regions and the northern prefecture of Hokkaido. A 60-year-old man cleaning…

Israel’s prime minister has told a memorial for victims of the Hamas-led attack on 7 October 2023 that he is “determined” to secure the return of the dead hostages still inside Gaza, and that the country will continue to fight terrorism with “full force”. Benjamin Netanyahu made the comments hours after Hamas returned the bodies…