Mindblown: a blog about philosophy.

A forensic expert, three police officers and a music impresario have been jailed for covering up the 2015 murder of Venezuelan rapper Canserbero. Canserbero, who had been named best Spanish-language rapper by Rolling Stone magazine, was drugged and stabbed to death by his manager, Natalia Améstica. Améstica and her brother then threw his body from…

BBC Geir Pedersen said the international community was ready to help and support Syria’s new leadership It is vital that Syria’s new leadership keeps its promises to respect the rights of all the country’s diverse religious and ethnic groups, according to UN Special Envoy Geir Pedersen. Mr Pedersen, speaking to the BBC in Damascus, said…

Reuters Tens of thousands of people are still without access to water in Mayotte after the French Indian Ocean territory was devastated by Cyclone Chido, as rescuers race to find missing people. Preliminary figures from France’s interior ministry report 22 people have died, but Mayotte’s prefect has warned the toll could rise to thousands. Health…

A puzzling flurry of apparent drone sightings along the US east coast is “nothing nefarious”, says President Joe Biden. The sightings in recent weeks have occurred in New Jersey and a number of neighbouring states, sometimes around air bases. The phenomenon has prompted a number of conspiracy theories about foreign involvement. Authorities have not given…

Nasa says that the astronauts stuck on the International Space Station will have to wait even longer to get home. Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams were due to be back after just a week when they blasted off in June. Their stay was extended to February next year because of technical issues with the experimental…

A Nigerian man who has spent 10 years on death row for stealing some hens and eggs has been promised a pardon by the governor of the south-western Osun state. Segun Olowookere was 17 years old in 2010 when he was arrested along with his accomplice, Morakinyo Sunday. They were said to have attacked the…

Caver Ottavia Piana has been airlifted to hospital after a painstaking rescue deep underground in a cave system in the Bergamo area of northern Italy. Piana, 32, had been exploring an uncharted area of the Abisso Bueno Fonteno cave on Saturday afternoon when a rock gave way beneath her feet and she fell 5-6m (16-19ft),…

Honda and Nissan are understood to have held exploratory talks about a potential merger to help them compete against electric vehicle (EV) makers, particularly in China. In March, the two Japanese car makers agreed to explore a strategic partnership for EVs. The firms responded to the BBC with identical statements, which said: “As announced in…

Russia’s security service says a 29-year-old Uzbekistan citizen has been detained over the killing of senior general Igor Kirillov and his assistant in Moscow. Lt Gen Igor Kirillov, head of the Nuclear, Biological, Chemical Defence Forces (NBC), was outside a residential block early on Tuesday when a device hidden in a scooter was detonated remotely.…

Reuters Hayat Tahrir al-Sham brought some semblance of stability to Idlib in 2017 after years of civil war The road to Idlib, a remote corner in north-west Syria, still has the signs of the old front lines: trenches, abandoned military positions, rocket shells and ammunition. Until a little more than a week ago, this was…