Mindblown: a blog about philosophy.

Dozens of bus passengers in Ethiopia have been abducted by armed men in the country’s largest region, Oromia, as they were were travelling from the capital, Addis Ababa. Details are only just emerging of the kidnappings which took place earlier this week. The incident happened in Ali Doro, which is near an area where around…

A French tourist detained by Iranian authorities for more than two years has been released and returned to France, President Emmanuel Macron has said. Olivier Grondeau, 34, is “free” and with his family, Macron wrote on X on Thursday, adding: “We share his family’s immense happiness and relief.” Mr Grondeau was arrested in southern Iran…

Yemen’s Houthi group has claimed responsibility for a missile fired at Israel, which was intercepted. The ballistic missile was fired toward Ben Gurion Airport near Tel Aviv, the group’s military spokesperson said in a televised statement. Sirens sounded in several areas of Israel, the Israeli Defense Forces said. No injuries have been reported and the…

The US government has defunded one programme and left another that both document alleged Russian war crimes in Ukraine. The Trump administration cut funding for Yale University’s Humanitarian Research Lab (HRL), which had detailed the mass deportation of Ukrainian children to Russia. It has also withdrawn from a multinational group meant to investigate the leaders…

Getty Images Ahead of PM Modi’s meeting with Trump in February, India cut tariffs on some US products India has usually turned to economic reforms in times of distress, with the most famous example being 1991, when the country embraced liberalisation in the face of a deep financial crisis. Now, with US President Donald Trump’s…

Megan Fisher and Emir Nader in London and Jerusalem Israel Defense Forces The IDF said it had begun “targeted ground activities” in Gaza Israel says it has extended its ground operations in Gaza, after launching a wave of air strikes that the Hamas-run health ministry says killed more than 430 people in two days. The…

Theo Leggett International Business Correspondent BBC “This has been our family car for three years, and it has been an absolute dream,” says Ben Kilbey as he shows me his gleaming pearl-white Tesla Model Y. Ben is a staunch electric car advocate. He runs a communications firm that promotes sustainable businesses in the UK. Yet…

Owen Pinnell BBC Eye Investigations BBC An iridescent film could be seen on the water surface in some places the BBC visited Colombian energy giant Ecopetrol has polluted hundreds of sites with oil, including water sources and biodiverse wetlands, the BBC World Service has found. Data leaked by a former employee reveals more than 800…

Getty Images Strangers are about twice as kind as people think, a study looking at happiness across the globe suggests. This year’s World Happiness Report – released on Thursday – measured trust in strangers by deliberately losing wallets, seeing how many were returned and comparing that with how many people thought would be handed in.…

Nicole Kolster and Gustavo Ocando Alex BBC Mundo in Venezuela Nicole Kolster/BBC Mundo Myrelis Casique López insists her son is innocent and not a gang member Bernd Debusmann Jr BBC News, at the White House In a poor neighbourhood of the Venezuelan city of Maracay, the mother of 24-year-old Francisco José García Casique was waiting…