Mindblown: a blog about philosophy.

High-profile supporters of President-elect Donald Trump clashed online over a visa programme intended to bring skilled tech workers to the US – a preview of possible tensions in the upcoming Trump White House. In a post on X Thursday, Vivek Ramaswamy, who was tapped by Trump to slash government spending, defended the H-1B visa system…

Watch: Israeli strikes hit Yemen airport and power station A Houthi political official says the group will continue attacking Israel in solidarity with the Palestinians despite the escalating Israeli air strikes in Yemen. Mohammed al-Bukhaiti told the BBC that the Houthis would “escalate our military targeting of Israel” until it stopped what he described as…

The US has imposed sanctions on Georgia’s former prime minister and billionaire founder of the Georgian Dream party, Bidzina Ivanishvili. US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said Ivanishvili and his party had “derailed Georgia’s Euro-Atlantic future”, leaving it vulnerable to Russia. Ivanishvilli is not an elected official but he has been described as the “honorary…

Watch: Survivors crawl and walk from crashed plane Azerbaijan’s transport minister has said the Azerbaijan Airlines plane that crashed on 25 December was subjected to “external interference” and damaged inside and out, as it tried to land in Russia’s southern republic of Chechnya. “All [the survivors] without exception stated they heard three blast sounds when…

South Korean cryptocurrency entrepreneur Do Kwon will be extradited to the United States from Montenegro over the collapse of two digital tokens – TerraUSD and Luna tokens. For months, the US and South Korea have been seeking Kwon’s extradition, alleging that fraud led to the failure of the company behind the tokens, which sunk some…

Nigeria has denied accusations from Niger’s military leader, Brig Gen Abdourahmane Tchiani, of colluding with France to destabilise the junta-led nation. In a Christmas Day interview, Gen Tchiani accused France of allying with militant groups in the Lake Chad region to undermine Niger’s security, allegedly with Nigeria’s knowledge. “Nigerian authorities are not unaware of this…

An Italian journalist has been under arrest in Iran for more than a week, Italy’s foreign ministry has said. Cecilia Sala works for Il Foglio newspaper and for podcast company Chora Media. The foreign ministry said it was following Ms Sala’s case with “utmost attention” since she was detained by Tehran police on 19 December.…

A man who killed dozens by driving his car into people exercising outside a stadium in southern China has been sentenced to death. Fan Weiqiu was accused of “endangering public safety”, according to a court statement. At least 35 people were killed and dozens more injured in the 11 November attack in Zhuhai, thought to…

One of northern Gaza’s last functioning hospitals has been forcibly evacuated by the Israeli military, medics say, after dozens of people were reportedly killed in Israeli strikes targeting the area around the healthcare facility. Eid Sabbah, head of the nursing department at Kamal Adwan hospital, told the BBC that at about 07:00 on Friday, the…

Estonian military The patrol boat Raju’s main task will be to protect the Estlink 1 power cable Nato has said it will enhance its military presence in the Baltic Sea, and Estonia has sent a patrol ship to protect its Estlink1 undersea power cable, after Russia was accused of sabotaging its main power link in…