children

WASHINGTON — It should have been the safest of political appearances — a group of kids gushing about their love of science and space exploration with Vice President Kamala Harris.

But for Harris, it became a controversy.

The children, it turned out, were paid actors. And the video, filmed on location at the White House and the vice president’s official residence at the Naval Observatory, was promoted on NASA’s YouTube Channel and Harris’ Twitter account last week without making that clear.

The fallout over the video, produced for YouTube’s original programming platform, is the second in recent weeks where a seemingly innocuous appearance by Harris has become modestly troublesome.

Late last month, Harris generated more serious consternation and criticism from pro-Israel Democrats and media for not pushing back when a student at a classroom encounter at George Mason University in Virginia accused Israel of “ethnic genocide.” Harris spent the next several days clarifying her longstanding support for Israel and reaching out to pro-Israel organizations, including the Anti-Defamation League.

Such stumbles have been featured extensively in conservative media, where Harris is a regular target. But they also reinforce concerns among Democrats that Harris has not yet found her political footing since taking office amid high expectations. The presumed front-runner to succeed President Biden on the Democratic ticket in 2024 or 2028, Harris recently enlisted two veteran Democrats to help stabilize her communications efforts.

Harris’ office and NASA would not discuss the decision-making process that led to her participation in the YouTube Original or the administration’s marketing of the special, which was produced by a Canada-based company called Sinking Ship Entertainment.

Harris’s office did not select the children who participated in the YouTube Originals special, a White House official said. A YouTube spokesperson said that “the casting process for this show was no different from typical unscripted kids’ shows across other networks and streaming platforms.”

The special debuted during World Space Week. It features NASA astronaut Shane Kimbrough giving five children the clues for a scavenger hunt that takes them to the U.S. Naval Observatory, where they not-so casually run into Harris, who welcomes them onto the porch of the vice presidential residence.

While sitting in a white chair alongside the children, Harris reminisces about going to the lab with her scientist mother during her childhood and says she is excited to chair the National Space Council. She offers advice to the children about showing their true selves.

“Never let anybody tell you who you are,” she tells them. “You tell them who you are.”

Like many online productions, the special has the feel of something between a kids’-oriented news segment and a scripted show. The children, who introduce themselves with their hometowns, act surprised and excited as they meet the real-life astronaut and the vice president.

Earlier this week, one of the children who appeared in the video described in detail his audition process to KSBW TV in Salinas, which sparked mockery online and news coverage. Harris’ appearance drew especially sharp critiques in conservative news outlets. Fox News, in its coverage, has tried to draw a comparison to the criticism unleashed on former President Trump after his 2015 campaign launch in which he paid people to act like supporters.

Appearing as a guest on Fox News host Tucker Carlson’s show, commentator Candace Owens falsely told viewers that Harris paid children to appear in the special.

White House officials have a long history of appearing as themselves in scripted shows, often with children. First Lady Nancy Reagan promoted her anti-drug message on the popular 1980s sitcom “Diff’rent Strokes,” and then-President Obama participated in a televised sketch alongside comedy duo Keegan-Michael Key and Jordan Peele during the White House Correspondents’ Dinner.

The difference this time was that the show’s format was ambiguous, and its presentation and promotion by Harris and NASA led commentators to believe it had been produced by the government.

Communications consultants said the vice president’s staff should have more thoroughly vetted the program and ensured it was clearly labeled as a reality show with paid actors when the U.S. government promoted it.

Ultimately, Harris’ staff let her down, they said.

“The vice president and the president can’t do their own vetting on things like this,” said Kevin Madden, who served in senior communications roles for Mitt Romney’s 2008 and 2012 campaigns.

Madden added that Harris should not have participated in the program with paid actors, especially “in an era where there is a very high quotient of fake news and misinformation, you have to expect this kind of scrutiny.”

“The criticism [here] becomes warranted,” he said.

As many as 20 million children in 21 countries have experienced online sexual abuse or exploitation each year, according to new findings from the United Nations children’s agency, UNICEF.

More than one in five children aged 12 to 17 in countries in Africa, Asia, Latin America and the Caribbean, and Eastern Europe have been targeted on digital platforms, according to the UNICEF report released on Thursday.

Researchers surveyed 21,000 children aged 12 to 17 who used the internet across 21 countries between 2020 and 2021, and then again between 2024 and 2025. They also conducted in-depth interviews with 100 young people who have experienced childhood abuse.

Social media facilitated more than half of the abuse cases, according to UNICEF, which cautioned that figures could be inaccurate due to underreporting by children. Less than 1 per cent of all abusive incidents were reported to authorities, the researchers found.

Last week, US social media giant Meta agreed to a landmark $18bn settlement in a major US federal case accusing the company of endangering children. Meta has faced an avalanche of legal cases this year, most arguing that it has deliberately designed its platforms to be addictive and that they have harmed children. The company has now agreed to make major changes to the features of its social media platforms.

What are the key findings of the UNICEF report?

The report estimated that in the periods studied, more than 15 million children were exposed to unwanted sexual content, nine million were asked to engage in sexual conversations or share sexual images against their will, and four million children had sexual images of themselves shared without their consent.

UNICEF said the issue is compounded by the fact that children often don’t recognise abuse or know who to report it to, and fear repercussions if they do. Formal systems can feel distant, complex or intimidating, the report noted.

“The report reveals a painful reality. More than 20 million children across the countries studied were subjected to unwanted explicit sexual content or exploitation online, often in the digital spaces where they learn, play, and connect with friends,” said UNICEF Executive Director Catherine Russell. “These experiences cause profound emotional and mental distress. Many children suffer in silence, unsure where to turn for help. We cannot look away.”

Where was data collected?

Information for the report was based on nationally representative survey data collected between 2020 and 2025 from approximately 21,000 internet-using children from the following countries:

• Eastern and South Africa: Ethiopia, Kenya, Mozambique, Namibia, Tanzania and Uganda 
• Southeast Asia: Cambodia, Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Thailand and Vietnam
• Latin America and the Caribbean: Brazil, Colombia, the Dominican Republic and Mexico 
• Eastern Europe: Armenia, Montenegro, North Macedonia and Serbia
• South Asia: Pakistan

Where are children being abused?

Abuse often begins in public spaces, such as in schools or local neighbourhoods, before moving to digital spaces which can further facilitate harm.

Social media and messaging platforms enable different stages of abuse, “including initial contact, relationship-building, sexual solicitation, image-sharing, coercion, blackmail and the continued circulation of sexual content”, the report said.

Sometimes abuse takes place solely online.

According to the report’s findings, more than 60 percent of cases occurred on social media platforms, with the majority on Facebook (50 percent), WhatsApp (29 percent), Instagram (24 percent), SnapChat (13 percent) and TikTok (12 percent).

Do children report abuse?

Most children do not seek help if they are being abused. Less than one percent of cases are reported to the police, a social worker or a helpline, while more than four in 10 cases not being disclosed to anyone at all.

“Children are not failing to report; they have correctly worked out that there is nowhere to report to,” Nighat Dad, executive director of the Pakistan-based Digital Rights Foundation, told Al Jazeera.

Dad, whose NGO works to provide safe online spaces in Pakistan, noted that incidents repeatedly occur online because of a “design problem – the message request, the move to a private chat, the reshare, the ability to return after being blocked”.

Many children minimise their experiences or do not recognise when they’ve been abused, she said.

Even when children do speak out, to a close friend, sibling, or parent, doing so may not necessarily stop the abuse or bring perpetrators to account.

UNICEF emphasised that its research interviews were the first time many of the children it interviewed had spoken to someone about the abuse they were subjected to.

Dad also cautioned that Pakistan, for example, is a “low-disclosure country” where notions of family “honour” and other cultural barriers prevent children from disclosing the harm they’ve experienced.

“A girl who speaks risks her phone, her schooling and sometimes her safety, and a boy is expected to cope in silence,” Dad said.

How does gender factor into online abuse?

Perpetrators often play on gender norms when exploiting children. Stigma and blame are used against girls to keep them silent, while boys are expected to cope alone, or threatened by perpetrators.

“Peer cultures and harmful norms around gender or masculinity can further normalise behaviours that cause significant harm, making abuse harder to recognise and address,” UNICEF noted.

What kind of impact does online sexual abuse have on children?

The repercussions are severe, UNICEF said: Children exposed to technology-facilitated sexual abuse and exploitation are four times more likely to have suicidal thoughts and to self-harm, along with higher levels of anxiety.

In Mexico or North Macedonia, for example, the risk of suicidal thoughts or behaviours was more than eight times higher among children who experienced abuse, while in Pakistan the risk of self-harm was more than seven times higher than average, the report found.

Abuse extends well beyond the digital sphere, seeping into children’s everyday lives, schooling and relationships.

What should be done about this?

UNICEF said the onus to protect children online must be placed on governments and technology companies, which must change how online spaces are designed and regulated.

It also highlighted that while children often take steps to protect each other, societies, schools and families must work to shift the burden of protection away from children.

Citing Meta’s recent settlement, Dad acknowledged that design changes, such as better age verification and parental controls, can and should happen.

“For years those of us working outside the US were told these defaults would break the product. Meta has now shown the product can change.”

A spokesperson for Meta told Al Jazeera, “This report is based on surveys from as far back as 2020, before we introduced the protections UNICEF recommends, like automatically defaulting teens into private accounts and preventing adults from messaging teens they’re not connected to.

“While the report doesn’t provide any specific evidence of abuse, we’ll continue to fight child exploitation aggressively across our apps and support law enforcement in prosecuting the criminals behind it.”

The spokesperson also pointed out that Meta-owned WhatsApp is a private messaging service rather than a social media platform. “We don’t have algorithms that make a piece of content more or less likely to be viewed, and you need someone’s phone number or exact username to connect with them for the first time.”

Snapchat and TikTok have not responded to requests for comment for Al Jazeera.

Farah, Mohammed and Jawad are getting ready for the new school year in Masafer Yatta in the southern occupied West Bank.

The children, aged 17, 8, and 7 respectively, attend Shaab al-Butum school in a village with the same name. But the building they’ll return to will be missing two administrative rooms and a storage room after Israeli forces demolished them on August 4.

According to the United Nations, Israel justified the demolitions by saying that the structures were constructed without Israeli-issued building permits. These are nearly impossible for Palestinians to obtain in the Area C of the occupied West Bank, which is under Israeli administrative and military control.

The rest of the school isn’t safe either – it has also been threatened with demolition, with a court case scheduled for September 15.

The children’s return to education is now uncertain, as they worry about losing the village’s only school completely, and more confrontations with Israeli forces.

Constant fear

The start of the academic year at the beginning of September is supposed to mean a return to learning, but enthusiasm in Shaab al-Butum has now been mixed with anxiety.

Farah explained to Al Jazeera that the school was the only one she had ever attended, and was fearful about what would now happen.

Mohammed echoed that fear and said that he was worried Israeli forces would “return to demolish what remains” of the school. Jawad, meanwhile, spoke of his sadness at seeing the school damaged and said he hoped it could “return as it was”.

For Nidal Younis, the head of the Masafer Yatta local council, those concerns reflect a much wider threat facing education across the area, which has repeatedly been targeted by the Israeli state and settlers over the years. Masafer Yatta was declared part of a closed Israeli military firing zone in the 1980s, which has been used as justification in repeated attempts to force local Palestinians out.

“It is a test renewed with every school year, amidst unprecedented escalation by the occupation authorities,” Younis told Al Jazeera.

“This year comes amid the tightening of the occupation’s policy of demolishing schools, and rampant settler violence that targets everything in these villages,” he added.

That violence, Younis said, follows children throughout their daily lives, targeting “students going to their schools, students while in class, and even inside the home”.

According to Younis, all seven schools in the wider Masafer Yatta area are now threatened with demolition.

“We do not know whether these schools will survive to the end of this academic year, let alone still be standing when the next one begins,” he said, stressing the determination of local Palestinians to stay “despite the pain and [Israeli] barbarism”.

Settler violence

Activist and teacher Tariq Hathaleen said the uncertainty surrounding demolitions, coupled with the continued expansion of settlement outposts, had deepened the sense of insecurity among residents.

“The occupation authorities do not usually tell the residents or the school administration in advance when the bulldozers will arrive,” Hathaleen told Al Jazeera.

Hathaleen added that settlers had stormed Ras Ein al-Auja school in the Jordan Valley the previous academic year, assaulting staff and students.

The attack and the demolition confirmed that schools are “no longer immune from attack”, Hathaleen said.

“[Israel’s actions] do not target merely one aspect, but affects education, housing, freedom of movement and livelihoods,” Hathaleen explained.

Hathaleen described the targeted schools – built by the Palestinian Ministry of Education to serve marginalised areas – as “more than just educational buildings”.

Systematic pattern

Figures from the Colonization and Wall Resistance Commission underscore the scale of the threat, with 84 Palestinian schools serving nearly 13,000 students currently facing Israeli demolition or stop-work orders.

Amir Dawoud, a senior official with the commission, said the schools facing the most immediate legal threats were concentrated in the southern Hebron area, particularly Masafer Yatta, as well as at al-Walaja school near Bethlehem, which Israel says lacks a building permit.

“These are not schools that can simply be closed and their students easily transferred elsewhere,” Dawoud told Al Jazeera.

The impact of demolition orders, he said, begins long before any building is actually destroyed, creating uncertainty and disruption for students, teachers, and their families.

“The psychological and educational impact begins before the bulldozer arrives,” he said.

“It is a systematic pattern that transcends individual cases,” Dawoud added, noting that it starts with planning restrictions, accompanied by road restrictions and settler attacks.

“It does not only threaten school buildings,” he said. “It targets the ability of Palestinian communities to survive.”

One mum says her family was unable to use the pool because of the tactics used to grab all the spaces

A mum says sunseekers recruited their children to sprint over and claim sunbeds at a Spanish hotel – leaving her family unable to sunbathe onsite for half of the holiday. Cait Fennel, from Liverpool, set off to Salou, Spain, with her husband Matty Fennel, 34, and five-year-old son Ralphy Fennel for a week-long holiday.

After arriving at Hotel Best Oasis Park, Cait noticed there were no free sun loungers. The 42-year-old said holidaymakers would begin queuing outside the pool area at around 8:45am, despite the doors not opening until 10am.

The mum-of-one said the second the doors opened, holidaymakers would ‘charge’ towards the sunbeds, with speedy children apparently ‘unleashed’ to get there first. Cait said guests would leave their beach bags in a queue to reserve their place and would even ‘sneak’ in through the hotel gym to get to the pool first.

After three days of being unable to bag a sunbed, Cait conceded defeat and eventually joined the early queues – but didn’t run. The administration worker posted footage of the sunbed wars online, with the caption: “The sunbed wars are wild! Pool doors open at 10am – it’s survival of the fittest!”

Footage shows kids sprinting to the sunbeds while adults speedwalk behind, chucking towels onto the loungers. Photos also show desperate sunseekers dumping their beach bags in the hour-long queue.

Cait said: “The door opened at 10am and people started queuing at 8.45am. It was kids and adults every day, some were queuing inside as well. They’d leave their bags in the queue – there was a queue of beach bags.

“The second they opened the doors they would charge. They definitely enlisted the kids to run and get the sunbeds. It was madness. I’ve been on a lot of holidays and never experienced anything like that.

“There was a gym in the hotel and what people were doing was sneaking in the gym and as soon as the doors opened they would come out. That was the lengths people went to.”

Cait said the situation became so chaotic that her family avoided the pool altogether for the first three days of their holiday. Cait said: “The first three days we didn’t go to the pool for that reason. We saw how busy it was and never got beds. We had to get involved to an extent. We actually went down and attempted to get a bed, we didn’t run. The rest of the time we spent our time on the beach.”

Cait said the daily scramble took the relaxation out of their £3,000 holiday and believes the hotel could have done more to prevent the chaos. Cait said: “It’s not what you’re on holiday for, you go on holiday to relax. It was chaos, it was stressful. There were beds you had to get yourself and there were people running to the beds stacked up, which contributed to the chaos.

“It is just madness, it made no sense. The holidaymakers did what they had to do. We didn’t want to get involved in the chaos but we ended up having to queue.”

Cait’s post racked up more than 27,000 views with commenters slamming the situation. One wrote: “Worst nightmare.”

Another commented: “Sad people.” One added: “It is absolutely embarrassing.”

Best Oasis Park has been contacted for comment.

BBC star Hamza Yassin hopes to inspire the younger generation with his new film about the birds of prey he discovered in Africa, amid fears children know more about the Kardashians

Strictly Come Dancing winner Hamza Yassin believes natural history is so important that he’d like to see every child studying it in school.

The BBC wildlife cameraman, who has a new BBC special called Hamza Yassin: African Birds of Prey, said that if he was in charge he’d put the subject on the national curriculum.

‘“I’d rather a kid tell me about five different names of trees than the five Kardashians,” he declared. “If I was Prime Minister, I would make it compulsory that we educate the children of this nation about the natural history that we have here in this country and around the world.”

In the documentary, he says he would not make it another subject to be tested on, but something children could experience and discover for themselves. His hope is that the audience, particularly younger viewers, develop the same sense of wonder that has driven his own career.

“The moment that someone knows information about natural history is the moment they will start caring about it. If they know they’re damaging something, they’re more likely to not do it. So yes, 100%, kids need to learn more, and then I can stop being Prime Minister.”

At the heart of Hamza’s film is an emotional journey through Kenya, as he spends six weeks travelling more than 5,000 kilometres and bringing audiences extraordinary access to some of Africa’s most elusive and spectacular birds of prey.

He works with local conservation rangers, scientists, communities and Maasai people who understand how important the wildlife and land are. Hamza, who moved to the UK From Sudan as a child with his family, in 1998, said: “I’m just a guest in their world. It’s Kenyans looking after Kenyan birds. That, for me, is the hope.”

There is also a moving visit to the Soi Sanbu Raptor Centre, where Hamza sees birds being rehabilitated after accidents and injuries, many caused by human intervention, including electrocution and collisions with power cables.

The film take viewers up close to rarely seen and spectacular birds, including African fish eagles, martial eagles, owls, vultures and the elusive African crowned eagle, which the team eventually find on the final day of filming.

One of Hamza’s most memorable encounters is with a young martial eagle known as K9, which had already fledged and needed to be briefly caught so scientists could fit it with a tracking tag.

For me, it was phenomenal to be able to get the chance to hold this chick. Everyone might have held a chicken before. Times it by about four or five. This thing’s huge,” he explained.

The 36-year-old became a household name after winning Strictly with pro partner Jowita Przystał in 2022. He says they are still friends. “I still dance with Jowita every now and then – whenever we get the chance,” he said.

“I’m very busy, but we’re constantly chatting and whenever we meet up she goes, ‘Do you remember the dance?’ I’m like, ‘I think I do.’ ‘You do the counting, I’ll do the steps.’”

– Hamza’s African Birds of Prey, Sunday 30th August, 7pm, BBC1

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Imogen says she had already complained that the accommodation had not been properly cleaned

A mum claims she fled a ‘nightmare’ holiday park after her children found loose prescription tablets in the bedroom of her caravan. Imogen’s children, aged six and seven, allegedly found the medication inside a low bedside cupboard at Littlesea Holiday Park, near Weymouth, Dorset.

The 30-year-old said the youngsters opened the cupboard themselves before screaming for her. Pictures taken inside the caravan appear to show several loose white tablets, including a large capsule-shaped pill bearing the imprint “XR 1000”.

Imogen immediately removed the tablets, photographed them and handed them to staff at the park reception. She said: “Finding those tablets made my blood run entirely cold. If either of my children had mistaken those white pills for sweets and swallowed them, it could have caused a catastrophic medical emergency.

“As a mother, knowing how close my babies came to being poisoned is a living nightmare.”

The “XR 1000” marking is used on some 1,000mg extended-release metformin products. UK medicines guidance says a large metformin overdose can cause lactic acidosis, a medical emergency requiring hospital treatment.

Imogen said she had already complained through the Haven app about dead insects, cobwebs, a dirty fridge, debris on the floor and marks across the cupboards. A cleaner was subsequently sent back to the accommodation. Imogen also reported a broken kitchen kickboard, bin lid, curtain rail and gate. She said one maintenance worker attended on the Friday but was unable to repair the gate, before another employee returned and fixed it the following day.

The mum said her son also developed a rash on his neck during the holiday. She said: “Beyond the drugs, the accommodation was neglected and thoroughly filthy upon arrival.

“We had to waste our precious holiday time waiting around because they had to send a cleaner back to the caravan. The hygiene standards were so appalling that my son broke out in a physical skin rash on his neck.”

Imogen said she initially received an apology when she handed the tablets to reception. She claims she heard nothing further about the medication until speaking to a manager the next day.

She claims that when she asked for the discovery to be formally recorded as a health and safety incident, the manager replied: “I won’t be doing that as I don’t need to.”

Imogen said she felt “cornered” into accepting an offer of a 50 per cent refund during the discussion. She said she later wrote to Haven rejecting the suggestion that the complaint had been resolved.

The mum left the park at approximately 4.15pm on Sunday, 16 August, earlier than planned.

She said: “I fled the park to protect my family’s health. I have completely lost all faith in Haven Holidays.”

Mateusz Dolata, general manager of Littlesea, subsequently apologised to Imogen in an email He wrote: “A prescription tablet should never have been left in a holiday home and I am truly sorry for this.”

Mr Dolata said the tablets were disposed of appropriately and the incident was later logged on the company’s system so it could be investigated. He said Imogen accepted a 50 per cent refund worth £320 and remained at the park until Sunday evening.

Mr Dolata said Friday had been exceptionally hot and cleaning teams had been working in “very challenging conditions”. He added that this may explain the missed check but was “not an excuse”.

He said the matter had been followed up with the relevant employee and would be used to reinforce the importance of checking every part of the company’s holiday homes. Mr Dolata added: “I am genuinely sorry for the distress and worry caused and I completely appreciate why finding medication in your accommodation would have been particularly upsetting as a parent.”

Haven has been approached for further comment.