Mindblown: a blog about philosophy.
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Will Serena Williams’s weight-loss admission help shed stigma of anti-obesity drugs?
Serena Williams, one of the most successful athletes of all time, has spoken out about using weight loss drugs – she says, to lift the “stigma” around using such medication. Will her outspoken comments instil a new sense of confidence in those using the drugs? And could her honesty quieten the critics? The 43-year-old tennis…
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How Israel’s policies created famine in Gaza
Emir Nader BBC News, Jerusalem Reuters Famine is taking place in Gaza – just a short drive away from hundreds of trucks of aid sitting idly outside its borders. How did we get here? The Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC), backed by the United Nations, is the world’s leading hunger monitor. Its assessment that…
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Famine confirmed in Gaza City is ‘failure of humanity’, UN chief says
Getty Images The United Nations chief has described the famine confirmed in Gaza City and its surrounding areas as a “failure of humanity”. Antonio Gutteres said the situation was a “man-made disaster” after a UN-backed body, which identifies hunger levels around the world, raised its food insecurity status in parts of the territory to Phase…
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UK agrees to pay Kenyans affected by Lolldaiga fire
The UK government has agreed to pay compensation to thousands of Kenyans who were affected by a fire caused by a British military training exercise four years ago. The out-of-court settlement follows a lengthy legal battle in which 7,723 claimants said they had lost property and suffered health complications because of the 2021 fire in…
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Canada to drop many of its retaliatory tariffs on the US
Canada’s Prime Minister Mark Carney said on Friday that his country will drop some of its billions of dollars in retaliatory tariffs on US goods, though it will keep levies on autos, steel and aluminium. It comes a day after he and President Donald Trump spoke over the phone for the first time since the…
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Gaza mother blames famine for halving daughter’s weight
A mother has told the BBC her five-year-old daughter has lost almost half of her body weight due to the famine in Gaza City. Lamia Hijjeh, whose family has been displaced several times during the war, has lost 8.5kg and cannot walk, according to her mother Rida. On Friday, the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification…
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New bodies found near Shakahola Forest
Nine bodies have been exhumed from fresh graves suspected to be linked to Kenya’s notorious starvation cult. In one of the worst ever cases of cult-related mass deaths, more than 400 bodies were found in 2023 in the remote Shakahola Forest, inland from the coastal town of Malindi. It is believed they were followers of…
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‘My youngest child doesn’t know what fruit tastes like’
Anadolu via Getty Images Residents of the Gaza Strip have described to the BBC the effects that a lack of food is having on their bodies, after a UN-backed report confirmed famine in the territory for the first time. Reem Tawfiq Khader, 41, a mother of five from Gaza City, said: “The declaration of famine…
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Proposed Ukraine land concessions are Putin’s trap, EU top diplomat tells BBC
The top diplomat of the European Union (EU) has warned against pushing Ukraine to give up territories to Russia as part of a future peace deal. Speaking in her first UK interview since EU leaders joined Donald Trump’s White House peace talks with Ukraine, Kaja Kallas told the BBC’s Today programme that letting Russia keep…
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US will review 55 million visa holders for potential violations
The US is reviewing the records of more than 55 million US visa holders to assess if they have broken conditions for entry or stay in the country. People with US visas will be under “continuous vetting”, a state department spokesperson told the Associated Press news agency. Visas will be revoked if there are indications…
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