Mindblown: a blog about philosophy.

A Houthi missile strike has injured more than a dozen people in Tel Aviv, Israel. The Israeli military said attempts to shoot down a projectile launched from Yemen had been unsuccessful and it landed in a public park early on Saturday. A Houthi military spokesman said the group hit a military target using a hypersonic…

A US primary schoolboy has been hailed as a hero after he saved his classmate from choking on a grape. Thomas Conley, eight, was sitting next to Isaiah Rodriguez in the cafeteria of Porter Elementary School when he noticed the medical emergency. Video footage from the hall in Mesa, Arizona, shows Thomas performing the life-saving…

US immigration authorities last year deported the largest number of undocumented immigrants in nearly a decade, surpassing the record of Donald Trump’s first term in office. More than 271,000 immigrants were deported from the US over the last fiscal year, according to a report released by the US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agency on…

BBC Jamil Hassan, one of the most feared men in Bashar al-Assad’s Syrian regime, wanted for the torture and killing of civilians, was shaking as he walked down the stairs of his apartment block. Outside, the 72-year-old climbed into a car in a small convoy with his family and a handful of security guards, just…

BBC/Ed Habershon Zinedane Mohamed’s family “lost everything” during in Cyclone Chido On the night Cyclone Chido hit the French Indian Ocean territory of Mayotte, Zinedine was in his home, a small house made of corrugated iron and wood where he lives with eight of his relatives. Zinedine had received a warning from the authorities about…

Danai Nesta Kupemba / BBC At London’s famous Hyde Park at around 11:00 on a crisp Saturday morning, runners gather at some benches – some tall and lean, others broad and sturdy, a few logging into the Strava app, but one common thread unites them – most of them are Nigerians of Igbo extraction. This…

This week, Yang Tengbo was identified as the 50-year-old Chinese businessman and alleged spy banned from the UK. It has triggered questions on an issue multiple UK governments have grappled with – the UK’s relationship with China. As the UK’s chancellor prepares to visit China in the new year, the BBC’s Analysis Editor Ros Atkins,…

Getty Images Hideko Hakamata, 91, fought half her life to free her brother – the world’s longest serving death row inmate When a court declared Iwao Hakamata innocent in September, the world’s longest-serving death row inmate seemed unable to comprehend, much less savour the moment. “I told him he was acquitted, and he was silent,”…

Siin experience Syria has a thriving electronic music scene and many now wonder what comes next In the midst of the scramble for a new Syria, the country’s musicians are warily eyeing the Islamist rebel leadership and hoping to build on hard-won achievements made during the almost 14-year civil war. The conflict gave energy and…

Getty Images It was one of the worst weeks of his political career, and Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau was ringing in the season. At the Liberal Party’s annual holiday gathering, Trudeau put on his party face, despite being blindsided the day before by the snap resignation of one of his most trusted allies, Finance…