Mindblown: a blog about philosophy.
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A bloody siege ends Myanmar army control of western border
Arakan Army The insurgent Arakan Army posted video of their capture of the barracks The end, when it came for the BGP5 barracks, was loud and brutal. First, a crackly speaker calling out for their surrender; then, a thunderous barrage of artillery, rockets and rifle fire that tore chunks out of the buildings in which…
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Yung Filly charged with reckless driving while on bail for Australia rape charges
YouTuber Yung Filly is facing new charges of reckless driving, according to reports in Australia, where he is accused of raping a woman. The 29-year-old, whose real name is Andrés Felipe Valencia Barrientos, is accused by police of driving past a speed camera at 158km/h (98mph) on a Perth highway last month. It is alleged…
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Assisted dying now accounts for one in 20 Canada deaths
Medically-assisted dying – also known as voluntary euthanasia – accounted for 4.7% of deaths in Canada in 2023, new government data shows. The country’s fifth annual report since euthanasia was legalised in 2016 showed around 15,300 people underwent assisted dying last year after being successful in their applications. The median age of this group was…
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The first city to fall to Syrian rebels
BBC In Aleppo’s city centre, the huge billboard in the main square with a picture of President Bashar al-Assad, which used to be a feature in any Syrian town and village, was set on fire, then removed. The red, white and black national flags that decorated the lampposts were also taken away and replaced with…
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‘I wish he’d lived to see new Syria’: Crowds bury anti-Assad activist
Getty Images Mourners carried Mazen Al-Hamada’s coffin through the streets of Damascus on Thursday Warning: This article contains graphic details of torture “We gave our blood and soul to the revolution,” crowds chanted, as they carried Mazen Al-Hamada’s coffin through the streets of Damascus, draped in the green, white and black flag adopted by protesters…
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Nato must switch to ‘wartime mindset’, warns secretary general
The head of Nato has said it is time to “shift to a wartime mindset”, as he warned the military alliance’s members were not spending enough to prepare for the threat of a future conflict with Russia. Secretary general Mark Rutte said Moscow was “preparing for long-term confrontation with Ukraine and with us”, describing the…
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After Assad’s cruelty, Syrians seek dead loved ones
BBC Syrians have come to the hospital in Damascus looking to find missing loved ones On a painted wall outside Damascus’s Mustahed Hospital are photographs of the faces of dead men. A constantly changing crowd of people examine them, squinting against the low winter sun at men who look as if they died in great…
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Macron to announce new French PM in bid to restore stability
SERGEI GAPON/AFP Emmanuel Macron has vowed to serve out his second term as French president Emmanuel Macron has cut short a visit to Poland and flown back to Paris where he is expected to name a new prime minister in a bid to end political turmoil in France. Eight days after the French parliament ousted…
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Biden issues 39 presidential pardons and commutes 1,500 sentences
US President Joe Biden has issued presidential pardons to 39 Americans convicted of non-violent crimes, and commuted the sentences of nearly 1,500 other people. The White House described it as the most acts of presidential clemency issued in a single day. It comes after Biden made the decision to pardon his own son, Hunter Biden.…
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Assad was ‘arrogant’ but ‘polite’
Jeremy Bowen has returned to Bashar al-Assad’s presidential palace in Damascus, almost a decade after he interviewed the Syrian president in 2015. The BBC’s international editor recalls his impressions of the president following their conversation. The Muhajireen Presidential Palace has been vacated following the overthrowing of Assad by rebel groups, with Syrians in the capital…
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