Mindblown: a blog about philosophy.

At least three people have died in floods caused by heavy rainfall and storms which have battered southern France since Monday. The bodies of an elderly couple were found in the seaside resort town of Le Lavandou, while another person died after becoming trapped in a car in Vidauban, local authorities reported on Tuesday. The…

Getty Images Thousands of protesters took to the streets in the Canary Islands complaining of over-tourism The Spanish government has called for the removal of the listings of nearly 66,000 properties on rental platform Airbnb on the grounds that they breach regulations for tourist accommodation. The clampdown comes as protests against over-tourism have begun ahead…

Hugh Schofield Paris correspondent FRENCH PROSECUTOR’S OFFICE The contraband phones are the size of a cigarette lighter French authorities have launched a nationwide hunt for thousands of tiny Chinese-made telephones used by convicts to continue criminal activities from inside prison. The telephones, no bigger than a cigarette-lighter, are almost entirely plastic, and have a reputation…

Reuters Joe Biden’s announcement that he has been diagnosed with prostate cancer has revived questions about what health issues the former US president was dealing with while he was in the White House. In a statement on Sunday, Biden’s office said the 82 year old had received the diagnosis on Friday after seeing a doctor…

Iran’s Supreme Leader has expressed doubt that nuclear talks with the US will lead to a new agreement, saying it had made “excessive and outrageous” demands on uranium enrichment. “We don’t think it will lead to any outcome. We don’t know what will happen,” Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said. US President Donald Trump said last week…

Love Taupō Some have called it an “eyesaur”. Many more have described it as “fabulous”. But one word Boom Boom, a seven-metre tall stainless steel dinosaur sculpture in New Zealand, could never be associated with is “boring”. Just days after the sauropod statue was installed in Taupō Sculpture Park, in the scenic centre of New…

Parts of the southern Indian city of Bengaluru, often called India’s Silicon Valley are under water after heavy rainfall. The city is on high alert for more pre-monsoon showers on Tuesday due to cyclonic formations over the Andaman Sea, according to authorities. Three people, including a 12-year-old boy were killed in rain-related incidents on Monday.…

A UN humanitarian chief has said 14,000 babies in Gaza could die in the next 48 hours if lorries of aid do not reach communities in the Strip. Speaking to the BBC’s Radio 4 Today programme, Tom Fletcher said thousands of trucks of aid were “ready to go”, adding that the lorries contained “baby food…

Rushdi Abualouf Gaza correspondent James Chater BBC News, London Reuters Israel has intensified its offensive on Gaza in recent days At least 38 Palestinians were killed in a series of Israeli air strikes across the Gaza Strip during a half-hour period overnight, according to Palestinian medics. Israeli warplanes struck several locations, including a school in…

Getty Images Yuri Grigorovich’s productions of Ivan the Terrible and Romeo and Juliet redefined Soviet ballet Acclaimed Russian ballet choreographer, Yuri Grigorovich, has died aged 98. Described as one of the greatest choreographers of the 20th century, he was artistic director of the Bolshoi Ballet from 1964 to 1995, which he is said to have…