Mindblown: a blog about philosophy.

Hasan Jedi/Getty Images Successive heatwaves added to the many pressures faced by the almost two million people displaced by the conflict in Gaza Climate change has brought record-breaking heat this year, and with it extreme weather, from hurricanes to month-long droughts. This year is expected to be the hottest on record, and new research shows…

Aamir Peerzada/BBC This “reconciliation centre” in Damascus is run by rebel group HTS On the night of 6 December, Mohammed el-Nadaf, a soldier in the Syrian army, was at his position in Homs. As rebels led by Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) pushed into the city, days after they had seized control of Aleppo and Hama…

A video captured the moments before a plane carrying 181 passengers crashed while landing in an airport in South Korea. The Boeing 737-800 flight – operated by airline Jeju Air – was arriving at Muan Airport from Bangkok, Thailand. Two survivors, both members of the flight crew, have been pulled from the debris. Follow live…

NICOLAS TUCAT/AFP The UK government has been involved in a lot of shuttle diplomacy with the EU since Labour won the UK election Early in 2025, Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer has been invited to an informal summit of EU leaders. It’s the first such invitation for the UK since the bitter days of the…

Getty Images Boris Yeltsin (L) announced he would be resigning immediately and handing over presidential powers to Vladimir Putin on 31 December 1999 I will never forget New Year’s Eve 1999. I was working as a producer in the BBC’s Moscow bureau. Suddenly there was breaking news: Russia’s President Boris Yeltsin had stepped down. His…

USGS A geologist checks a webcam located on the rim of the caldera A Hawaii national park has issued a new warning to tourists after a toddler was grabbed “in the nick of time” from falling off the rim of an erupting volcano. The little boy wandered off from his family and “in a split…

Thousands of Georgian protesters have formed a human chain in the capital, Tbilisi, ahead of a political showdown as the new president prepares to be sworn in. The inauguration of a new president – former Manchester City footballer Mikheil Kavelashvili, who is seen as an ally of the ruling Georgian Dream party – is due…

Footage shows moments after fatal plane crash in South Korea A plane carrying 181 passengers has crashed at an airport in South Korea, killing at least 47 people, the country’s fire service has said. The aircraft came off the runway and crashed into a wall at Muan International Airport in the south west of the…

BBC Nearly half the world’s population – 3.6 billion people – had major elections in 2024, but it was also a year that saw the slowest rate of growth in female representation for 20 years. Twenty-seven new parliaments now have fewer women than they did before the elections – countries such as the US, Portugal,…

Getty Images South Korean pop bands like Blackpink are a big hit globally – and among the country’s best-known cultural exports Evan Barringer was 14 years old when he stumbled onto Full House, a South Korea romcom where two strangers are forced to share a house. Sitting in his house in Memphis, he hit play…