Mindblown: a blog about philosophy.

Getty Images Dozens of people have reported seeing drones over New Jersey since 18 November Mystery continues to swirl over nearly a month of drone sightings over New Jersey, sparking fear among residents and furious debate about what the flying objects are – and if they are drones at all. US authorities have been unable…

Syrians made peace signs, waved flags and danced at a rally in central Aleppo to celebrate the end of the Assad regime. Mass rallies are taking place across the country to mark the end of five decades of authoritarian rule, after former President Bashar al-Assad fled to Russia. Aleppo witnessed, and was ravaged by, intense…

Consulting firm McKinsey has agreed to pay $650m (£515m) to settle criminal charges related to its role in the US opioid crisis. The company “knowingly and intentionally” conspired with pharmaceutical firm Purdue Pharma to “aid and abet the misbranding of prescription drugs… without valid prescriptions”, according to the US Department of Justice. McKinsey faced charges…

Israel’s defence minister has instructed troops to prepare to stay for winter on the peak of Mount Hermon, which sits on the border between Syria, Lebanon and a UN demilitarised buffer zone in the Golan Heights. The announcement comes after Israel seized control of the zone on 8 December after the fall of Syrian President…

EPA Umayyad Square in Damascus had a party-like atmosphere with music and celebrations Thousands of Syrians have thronged the streets of the capital, Damascus, and other cities to celebrate the fall of the regime of Bashar al-Assad. In Damascus people gathered at the iconic Umayyad Mosque for prayers before the jubilant rallies called by the…

The former coach of the Chinese national men’s football team has been sentenced to 20 years in jail for bribery, state media reported. Li Tie, who also played for Everton in the English Premier League, confessed earlier this year to fixing matches, accepting bribes, and offering bribes to get the top coaching job. The case…

Reuters Emergency workers have been working to restore the energy plants Russia has launched a huge attack on Ukraine’s energy infrastructure, which authorities said was the twelfth large-scale attack on energy facilities this year. Ninety-three missiles and more than 200 drones were used – but 81 of the missiles were shot down, according to President…

Getty Images François Bayrou has long been a centrist ally of President Macron President Emmanuel Macron has named centrist leader François Bayrou as France’s next prime minister, in a bid to end months of political turmoil. Bayrou, 73, is a mayor from the southwest and leads the MoDem party. Ahead of the announcement, he spent…

Getty President Macron has turned to a fellow centrist, and one of France’s most experienced politicians, to extricate the country from its crisis of government. But if François Bayrou commands plenty of respect across the political spectrum, it is hard to see how he can avoid the same man-traps that felled his predecessor Michel Barnier.…

Getty Images The Gyanvapi mosque in Varanasi city is at the centre of a dispute in court India’s top court is hearing a number of petitions challenging a decades-old law that preserves the character and identity of religious places as they existed at the time of the country’s independence in 1947. The law, introduced in…