Mindblown: a blog about philosophy.

Ana Faguy BBC News, Washington Getty Images President Donald Trump is considering an executive order that would shut down the US Department of Education – a long-cherished goal of conservatives. The move would deliver on a promise he made on the campaign trail. Trump plans to end some of the department’s programmes, while others would…

Annabelle Liang Business reporter Getty Images US prosecutors have charged 12 Chinese nationals for being part of an alleged hacking scheme, which sold data of US-based dissidents to the Chinese government. The “state-sponsored” operation also targeted government agencies including the Treasury, according to the Justice Department (DOJ). Hackers also allegedly targeted an American religious organisation,…

New Zealand has fired its most senior envoy to the United Kingdom over remarks that questioned US President Donald Trump’s grasp of history. At an event in London on Tuesday, High Commissioner Phil Goff compared efforts to end the war between Russia and Ukraine to the 1938 Munich Agreement, which allowed Adolf Hitler to annex…

North Korea has stopped tourists from visiting, just weeks after the first Western tourists entered the country for the first time in five years. North Korea sealed itself off at the start of the Covid-19 pandemic in early 2020, and started to scale back restrictions in the middle of 2023. It opened up to Russian…

An alleged thief in Florida swallowed stolen earrings worth more than half a million dollars moments before police took him into custody last week. Orlando police have accused the man, 32-year-old Jaythan Gilder, of lying to Tiffany & Co. employees in a Florida store by telling them he represented “a professional athlete”, which led employees…

Soutik Biswas and Nikhil Inamdar BBC Rajesh Kumar pulled out the bulk of his bank savings and and shifted to the stock market Two years ago, on his bank adviser’s suggestion, Rajesh Kumar pulled out his savings – fixed deposits included – and shifted to mutual funds, stocks and bonds. With India’s stock market booming,…

Samira Hussain BBC South Asia correspondent, Dhaka BBC Bangladesh’s interim leader says he felt “dazzled” when asked to take charge after long-serving prime minister Sheikh Hasina was driven from power last year. “I had no idea I’d be leading the government,” Muhammad Yunus told the BBC. “I had never run a government machine before and…

EU leaders are gathering in Brussels on Thursday for a special council on defence, as France’s President Emmanuel Macron warned that the continent was at a “turning point of history”. As well as rearmament, leaders are expected to discuss how the body can further support Kyiv in the face of US President Donald Trump’s announcement…

Getty Images Trump’s tariffs strike at the heart of China’s manufacturing juggernaut US President Donald Trump has hit China with a second tariff in as many months, which means imports from there now face a levy of at least 20%. This is his latest salvo against Beijing, which already faces steep US tariffs, from 100%…

The cleaners had scrubbed the debating chamber clean before MPs arrived for Wednesday’s session in Serbia’s National Assembly. Spent smoke bombs, smears of egg yolk and a dusting of white fire extinguisher powder had all been removed from the benches and tables after the mayhem of the previous day. The police had also been on…