Mindblown: a blog about philosophy.

Parents in China are being offered 3,600 yuan (£375; $500) a year for each of their children under the age of three in the government’s first nationwide subsidy aimed at boosting birth rates. The country’s birth rate has been falling, even after the ruling Communist Party abolished its controversial one-child policy almost a decade ago.…

Christal Hayes & Rachel Hagan BBC News Watch: NYPD say officer killed in the line of duty was a ‘hero’ A gunman wielding an assault-style rifle has stormed a skyscraper in the heart of New York, killing four people before shooting himself dead. The attacker, 27-year-old Shane Tamura of Las Vegas, walked into an office…

Thailand has accused Cambodia of “deliberately” violating a ceasefire the two countries had agreed on Monday to end border clashes that have killed at least 33 people and displaced thousands. It’s a shaky start for the ceasefire, which was meant to bring an end to five days of bombardment and rocket attacks along the shared…

Five people were killed in a mass shooting at a food market in Bangkok on Monday. The suspect in the attack at Or Tor Kor Market took his own life, police in Thailand’s capital confirmed. Four of those killed were security guards and the fifth worked at the market. Two other market sellers were injured,…

Greece and Turkey are among the countries battling wildfires as temperatures spike in southern Europe. It reached 42.4C in central Greece on Sunday and neighbouring Turkey recorded its highest ever temperature, 50.5C, in the south-eastern city of Silopi, the country’s, environment ministry said. Videos also show firefighters tackling blazes in Bulgaria Albania, and Italy over…

Kidnappers in Nigeria have killed at least 35 people they abducted from a village in northern Zamfara state despite ransoms being paid for their release, a local official told the BBC. In recent years, criminal gangs in the region, known in the country as bandits, have taken to kidnapping people as a means to raise…

Russia’s national airline, Aeroflot, said it had cancelled dozens of flights after pro-Ukrainian hackers claimed an attack on the carrier’s IT systems. A statement from hacking group Silent Crow said it carried out the attack with the help of a Belarusian group Cyberpartisans. Silent Crow said on Telegram that its “prolonged and large-scale operation… completely…

Bernd Debusmann Jr BBC News, Washington Getty Images Donald Trump has faced criticism from Democrats and Republicans alike for accepting the Qatari 747-8 aircraft Preparations are under way to refit a Qatari jumbo jet that is expected to serve as Air Force One for President Donald Trump, CBS, the BBC’s US news partner, reports. The…

Emir Nader BBC News, Jerusalem Reuters B’Tselem and Physicians for Human Rights-Israel presented the findings at a news conference in Jerusalem Two leading Israeli rights organisations have said Israel’s conduct in the war in Gaza constitutes genocide against the Palestinian population. B’Tselem and Physicians for Human Rights-Israel released separate reports on Monday based on studies…

David Gritten BBC News, Jerusalem Reuters Tom Fletcher, UN humanitarian chief, said most of the UN’s food lorries were looted by desperately hungry Palestinians after entering Gaza on Sunday There is “real starvation” in Gaza, Donald Trump has said, after Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu insisted there was no such thing. Asked if he agreed…