Mindblown: a blog about philosophy.
-
Could RFK Jr’s move to pull mRNA vaccine funding be a huge miscalculation?
Getty Images mRNA vaccines were heralded as a medical marvel that saved lives during the Covid pandemic, but now the US is pulling back from researching them. US Health Secretary Robert F Kennedy Jr has cancelled 22 projects – worth $500m (£376m) in funding – for tackling infections such as Covid and flu. So does…
-
Trump-Modi ties hit rock bottom with new tariffs on India over Russian oil
Vikas Pandey BBC News, Delhi Reuters Donald Trump has accused “good friend” India of funding Russia’s war against Ukraine by purchasing its oil Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi was one of the first world leaders to visit Washington weeks after US President Donald Trump started his second term. He called Modi his “great friend” as…
-
Payout for mother wrongfully jailed over babies’ deaths ‘inadequate’
Once branded “Australia’s worst mother” but now considered the victim of one of its greatest miscarriages of justice, Kathleen Folbigg has been offered A$2m (£975,580, $1.3m) in compensation for 20 years of wrongful imprisonment. Ms Folbigg was convicted over the deaths of her four babies in 2003, but freed in 2023 after a judicial review…
-
Myanmar’s figurehead president Myint Swe dies after long illness
Myanmar’s figurehead president who came to power after a 2021 coup, Myint Swe, has died, the South East Asian nation’s military leaders said. He was 74. Before his death, Myint Swe had been on medical leave for over a year due to declining health. Junta leader Min Aung Hlaing has been performing Myint Swe’s largely…
-
Trump’s sweeping new tariffs take effect against dozens of countries
US President Donald Trump’s sweeping new tariffs on dozens of countries around the world have come into effect. “IT’S MIDNIGHT!!! BILLIONS OF DOLLARS IN TARIFFS ARE NOW FLOWING INTO THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA!,” Trump said on social media minutes before the midnight deadline in Washington, DC. Earlier, the president hit India with a 50%…
-
Hamas still pays out salaries and rewards supporters
After nearly two years of war, Hamas’s military capability is severely weakened and its political leadership under intense pressure. Yet, throughout the war Hamas has managed to continue to use a secret cash-based payment system to pay 30,000 civil servants’ salaries totalling $7m (£5.3m). The BBC has spoken to three civil servants who have confirmed…
-
Ghana helicopter crash kills ministers of defence and environment
Ghana’s ministers of defence and environment have died in a military helicopter crash in the central Ashanti region, along with six other people, a government spokesperson says. Defence Minister Edward Omane Boamah and Environment, Science and Technology Minister Ibrahim Murtala Muhammed, 50, were killed in the crash, which Chief of Staff Julius Debrah described as…
-
Italy gives final approval for world’s longest suspension bridge to Sicily
Rome has given final approval to a €13.5bn ($15.6bn) project to build the world’s longest suspension bridge, connecting the island of Sicily to the region of Calabria, on the tip of Italy’s boot. The designers claim the bridge – which is due to be built on one of the most seismically active areas in the…
-
More than 400 indirect deaths linked to LA wildfires, study says
Watch: Hazy skies return to US as wildfires rage in Canada More than 400 additional deaths are estimated to be linked to the wildfires that ravaged Los Angeles earlier this year, according to a new study. The figure, published on Wednesday in the medical journal JAMA, looks at deaths that have been attributed to factors…
-
Twenty killed after trucks overturn in Gaza, Hamas-run civil defence says
Twenty people have been killed and more than 30 injured in central Gaza after four trucks overturned on a crowd, the Hamas-run civil defence agency says. Crowds rushed to the vehicles on a road south east of Deir al-Balah on Tuesday evening. They climbed on top of the trucks, causing the drivers to lose control,…
Got any book recommendations?