Mindblown: a blog about philosophy.

Jeremy Bowen International editor BBC The president of Poland, Andrzej Duda, has repeated his call for the US to base nuclear weapons on Polish soil. In the presidential palace in Warsaw, he told me that it would make Poland stronger and safer, as it faces Russia. Viewed from Poland, President Putin’s Russia is a clear…

Laura Gozzi and Paul Kirby BBC News Watch: Putin responds to US ceasefire proposal Russia is ready for a halt in fighting, says Vladimir Putin, but “there are nuances”. Those nuances that he laid out ahead of talks with US envoys at the Kremlin are so key to his thinking they could scupper any hope…

Vladimir Putin has said he agrees the fighting in Ukraine must end, but added any ceasefire plan must lead to an “enduring peace”. Speaking at a news conference on Wednesday in Moscow, the Russian president thanked US President Donald Trump for his intervention in the conflict. He said while we was open to the US…

Annabel Rackham Culture reporter Getty Images Donatella Versace pictured last week at the Vanity Fair Oscars party Donatella Versace is to step down from her creative director role at fashion house Versace, after nearly 30 years. She has held the position since 1997 and took over after the murder of her brother Gianni. Versace has…

Jonathan Beale Defence correspondent, BBC News Reporting fromEastern Ukraine BBC Ukrainian soldiers on the battlefield say they don’t expect to see the war end any time soon While Moscow considers a temporary ceasefire, its military machine continues to press its advantage on the front line. Diplomatic negotiations can be slow and difficult. But on the…

Reuters The rise is attributed to increasing scepticism about immunisation The number of measles cases in the European region doubled last year to reach the highest level in 25 years, health officials say. A joint report by the World Health Organization (WHO) and the UN children’s fund, Unicef, said children under the age of five…

Belgian police have raided several locations in the country as part of an investigation into corruption within the European Parliament. Prosecutors said the alleged corruption was “under the guise of commercial lobbying”, and that several people had been detained for questioning. According to officials, an address in Portugal was also searched by local police in…

Southern African leaders have announced they will pull their troops out of eastern Democratic Republic of Congo where they have been helping the government fight rebel forces. The decision to start a “phased withdrawal” was made during a virtual summit of the 16-member Southern African Development Community (Sadc) on Thursday. The troops were sent two…

Germany’s foreign intelligence service believed there was a 80-90% chance that coronavirus accidentally leaked from a Chinese lab, German media say. Two German newspapers say they have uncovered details of an assessment carried out by spy agency BND in 2020 but never published. The intelligence service had indications that the Wuhan Institute of Virology had…

The Australian prime minister has criticised a US influencer after she stole a baby wombat from her mother. “Take a baby crocodile from his mother and see how you go there,” he told journalists during a news conference. Sam Jones, who describes herself as an “outdoor enthusiast and hunter” on Instagram, was filmed picking up…