Mindblown: a blog about philosophy.

Students at the University of Maryland received encouraging words during their graduation ceremony from Kermit the Frog, who was this year’s commencement speaker. The last time Kermit the Frog delivered a commencement address was in 1996 to the graduating class of Southampton College of Long Island University. Jim Henson, the creator of the beloved frog,…

An outgoing state MP caused a scene in Western Australia’s parliament after he ended his valedictory speech with a shoey – the act of having a celebratory drink, typically alcohol, out of a shoe. Kyle McGinn ended his farewell address by cracking open a beer and drinking it from his removed shoe, which he says…

An Amazonian tribe has sued the New York Times (NYT) over a report about the community gaining access to high-speed internet, which it claims led to its members being labelled as porn addicts. The defamation lawsuit said the US newspaper’s report portrayed the Marubo tribe as “unable to handle basic exposure to the internet” and…

Actor Jussie Smollett has agreed to pay $50,000 (£37,000) to a charity in Chicago, settling a lawsuit the city had filed against him over accusations of lying about a hate crime. Chicago police had wanted Smollett to pay $130,000 to cover the investigation costs, but on Thursday, Chicago’s law department confirmed that the donation will…

Getty Images Civil defence teams carry a body after the strike in Khan Younis An Israeli air strike on Gaza hit the home of a doctor and killed nine of her 10 children, the hospital where she works in the city of Khan Younis says. Nasser hospital said one of Dr Alaa al-Najjar’s children and…

At least 14 people have been injured in a major Russian missile and drone attack on Kyiv, city authorities say. Russia launched 250 drones and 14 ballistic missiles against Kyiv, Ukraine’s air force said, causing fires in residential buildings. It was one of the biggest combined aerial assaults on the city since the war began.…

South Africa’s latest crime statistics debunk claims that a genocide is being committed against white people, the country’s police minister has said. The widely discredited allegation was amplified by US President Donald Trump on Wednesday, in an extraordinary meeting with his South African counterpart Cyril Ramaphosa. Trump told Ramaphosa that white farmers in South Africa…

A “really muscly” kangaroo “tried to drown” a man in Australia, after the two got into a punch-up. Don James is said to have found himself fighting for his life as the marsupial held him down in floodwaters which had pooled on the side of the road near Port Macquarie – only escaping after the…

Katya Adler Europe editor Reporting fromNorthern Norway and Svalbard BBC As soon as Magnus Mæland became mayor of a small town on Norway’s northern tip in late 2023, three delegations from China came knocking on his door. “It’s because they want to be a polar superpower,” he tells me. China might not instinctively spring to…

Steve Rosenberg Russia editor PAVEL BEDNYAKOV/POOL/AFP via Getty It’s 2:30am. Inside the Kremlin walls I’m wandering alone through the vast grounds trying – and failing – to find my way out. I spot a checkpoint, approach and show my passport. “Nyet vykhoda!” [“No exit!”] replies the guard. He points in the opposite direction. I walk…