Mindblown: a blog about philosophy.

A state of exceptional natural disaster has been declared in Mayotte as the French Indian Ocean territory reels from the devastation of Cyclone Chido. At least 31 people are reported by French officials to have died, while thousands are still missing after the cyclone tore through the small islands on Saturday. It the first time…

Getty Images At least 100 North Korean soldiers have been killed in fighting in the Ukraine war since entering combat on the Russian side earlier this month, a South Korean MP has said. Lee Sung-kwon, speaking to reporters after parliament was briefed by the country’s National Intelligence Service, said another 1,000 had been injured. He…

Getty Images China’s United Front Work Department is an arm of the Communist Party The People’s Republic of China has a “magic weapon”, according to its founding leader Mao Zedong and its current president Xi Jinping. It is called the United Front Work Department – and it is raising as much alarm in the West…

A Google Street View image of a man loading a large white plastic bag into the boot of his car has helped unravel a murder case in a northern Spanish town, police say. The Google app allows users to see images of streets around the world – filmed by cars mounted with cameras. It captured…

BBC Crouched alone on the floor, in a tiny, windowless cell, Nasim could hear what sounded like other prisoners being tortured. The guard would bang on the door and say: “Can you hear that beating? Get ready, you’re next.” She was “interrogated for 10 to 12 hours every day” and repeatedly threatened with execution. The…

Lisa Louis French farmer Alix Heurtault worries that the trade deal could make it difficult for her to continue As the ink was drying on one of the world’s biggest trade deals, signed in Uruguay this month, and hailed as a milestone for the global economy, anger was brewing thousands of miles away in France.…

Getty Images Angelina Jolie plays opera singer Maria Callas in a new biopic Angelina Jolie is notoriously private. But in a new interview with BBC News, the Hollywood star spoke candidly about her experience of working on set with her eldest sons, saying they saw “the pain” she usually hides from them. The actress is…

CLEMENT MAHOUDEAU/AFP It was Gisèle Pelicot’s decision to open the case to the public that has given the trial international significance Judges in the French city of Avignon will hand down verdicts on 51 men on Thursday in a mass rape trial that has turned a 72-year-old woman into a feminist icon. For almost a…

Syria’s de facto leader, Ahmed al-Sharaa, said his country is exhausted by war and is not a threat to its neighbours or to the West. Speaking to the BBC’s Jeremy Bowen in Damascus, Sharaa said sanctions on Syria should be lifted and that his group, Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), should be de-listed as a terrorist…

France’s highest court has upheld a corruption conviction against former President Nicolas Sarkozy, brushing aside his appeal. Wednesday’s ruling by the Cour de Cassation means that Sarkozy – who was in power from 2007 to 2012 – must now wear an electronic monitoring bracelet for a year. Sarkozy, 69, reacted by saying he was not…