Mindblown: a blog about philosophy.

  • China and US are at each other’s throats on tariffs, and neither is backing down

    China and US are at each other’s throats on tariffs, and neither is backing down

    Stephen McDonell BBC China correspondent Reuters Neither Donald Trump nor Xi Jinping looks like they are going to back down on tariffs soon American companies looking to sell into the huge Chinese market have just taken a big hit. A 34% price increase on all US goods entering the country will knock some out of…

  • Journalist arrests fuel fears for democracy

    Journalist arrests fuel fears for democracy

    BBC Yasin Akgul, a photojournalist for AFP, was arrested at his home It was early morning on 23 March when the police came to Yasin Akgul’s door in Istanbul – while his children were still in bed. Just hours before, the Turkish photojournalist had returned home from covering mass anti-government protests. Now he was a…

  • Trump’s agenda grapples with political and economic reality

    Trump’s agenda grapples with political and economic reality

    Getty Images Donald Trump, in announcing his sweeping new tariffs on US imports on Wednesday, promised that the history books would record 2 April as America’s “liberation day”. After two days of stock market turmoil, however, this may also be remembered as the week the president’s second-term agenda ran headfirst into economic – and political…

  • Rubio dismisses criticism over US response to Myanmar earthquake

    Rubio dismisses criticism over US response to Myanmar earthquake

    “There’s a lot of other rich countries in the world, they should all be pitching in. “We’re going to do our part. We already have people there. We’ll have more people there. We’ll help as much as we can [but] it’s not the easiest place to work… they have a military junta that doesn’t like…

  • Agoa trade deal’s future in question

    Agoa trade deal’s future in question

    Anne Soy BBC deputy Africa editor, Nairobi AFP Lesotho’s garment workers face an uncertain future once President Donald Trump’s 50% import tariff kicks in Thursday was a “terrible” and “devastating” day for people involved in Lesotho’s textile sector as they digested the news that the country’s exports to the US would be hit by a…

  • Spain tackles housing ‘social emergency’ as rents double

    Spain tackles housing ‘social emergency’ as rents double

    Guy Hedgecoe Business reporter BBC Blanca Castro, who rents an apartment in central Madrid, says she is being forced out by her landlord Blanca Castro puts on a builder’s helmet before opening the door to her kitchen. Inside it, the ceiling has a large hole that is dripping water and it looks as if it…

  • Worst week for US stocks since Covid crash as China retaliates

    Worst week for US stocks since Covid crash as China retaliates

    Natalie Sherman BBC News, New York Getty Images Stock market turmoil deepened on Friday, as China hit back at tariffs announced by US President Donald Trump, raising the likelihood of an extended trade war and damage to the global economy. All three major stock indexes in the US plunged more than 5%, with the S&P…

  • Videos show Israeli strike on school-turned-shelter in Gaza

    Videos show Israeli strike on school-turned-shelter in Gaza

    On Thursday at least 27 Palestinians were killed in an Israeli air strike on a school-turned-shelter in northern Gaza, according to the Hamas-run health ministry. The Israel Defense Forces said it was targeting “prominent terrorists” inside a Hamas command and control centre in the area. BBC Verify’s Jake Horton explains what we know about the…

  • Children among 16 dead in Russian attack on Zelensky’s home city

    Children among 16 dead in Russian attack on Zelensky’s home city

    A Russian missile attack on the central Ukrainian city of Kryvyi Rih has killed at least 16 people and left dozens wounded, Ukrainian officials have said. Six of the dead were children, said President Volodymyr Zelensky, who grew up in Kryvyi Rih. The head of the city’s defence, Oleksandr Vilkul, said a ballistic missile had…

  • Judge rules US must return man deported to El Salvador in ‘error’

    Judge rules US must return man deported to El Salvador in ‘error’

    Jennifer Vasquez Kilmar Abergo Garcia was deported last month along with hundreds of alleged gang members A federal judge has ordered the Trump administration to return a Maryland man who was mistakenly deported to a prison in El Salvador. Kilmar Abergo Garcia, who was was expelled last month along with hundreds of alleged gang members,…

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