Mindblown: a blog about philosophy.

Teklemariam Bekit Editor, BBC Tigrinya AFP via Getty Images For many Eritreans, the hopes of the early days of the presidency of Isaias (left in 1994) have been dashed 30 years later Once hailed as part of a new generation of reformist African leaders, Eritrea’s president, who recently marked 32 years in power, has long…

Getty Images A part of a US national suicide prevention hotline that caters for LGBTQ young people says it will soon close, after the Trump administration cut its funding. The administration has accused the service of “radical gender ideology”. It says it will still fund the wider 988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline – of which…

The US joining Israeli strikes would cause “hell for the whole region”, Iran’s deputy foreign minister has told the BBC. Saeed Khatibzadeh said this is “not America’s war” and if US President Donald Trump does get involved, he will always be remembered as “a president who entered a war he doesn’t belong in”. He said…

US President Donald Trump will decide whether or not the US gets directly involved in the Iran-Israel conflict within the next two weeks, the White House has said. In a White House press briefing, Press secretary Karoline Leavitt delivered a message directly from Trump: “Based on the fact that there’s a substantial chance of negotiations…

Maxar Technologies/Handout via Reuters Satellite imagery showed a large whole in the Arak reactor building’s domed roof Israeli jets have bombed a nuclear reactor under construction in central Iran during a wave of air strikes on the seventh day of the conflict between the two countries. The Israeli military said it targeted the Arak heavy…

Lucy Williamson Middle East correspondent Reporting fromReporting from Beersheba AFP The Soroka hospital in Beersheba was hit by an Iranian strike on Thursday, although Iran denies targeting it Black smoke was still billowing from the middle of the Soroka Medical Center when we arrived, several hours after Iran’s attack on the building. Pieces of twisted…

Nick Thorpe BBC Budapest correspondent Getty Images The government has had Budapest’s Pride march in its sights for some time Police have banned Hungary’s annual Budapest Pride march later this month, prompting a defiant response from liberal Mayor Gergely Karacsony. “Budapest city hall will organise the Budapest Pride march as a local event on 28…

Donald Trump has approved plans to attack Iran, but has not made a final decision on whether to use them, the BBC’s US partner CBS reports. The US president held off from strikes in case Iran agreed to abandon its nuclear programme, an intelligence source said. Trump is reportedly considering strikes on the underground uranium…

Reuters Funerals continued on Thursday for Palestinians killed by the gunfire At least 12 Palestinians have been killed by Israeli forces while waiting for aid in central Gaza, according to rescuers and medics. Reports say the group was killed by gunfire near an aid distribution site run by the US- and Israeli-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation…

New Zealand has paused millions of dollars in funding to the Cook Islands over wide-ranging deals that its smaller Pacific neighbour had made with China. Wellington, the Cook Islands’ biggest funder, said it was blindsided by the deals that were struck in February, covering infrastructure, tourism, technology and perhaps crucially, deep-sea mineral exploration. Fresh funding…