children

A fatal house fire that killed a mother and her three children was caused by a lithium-ion battery, the fire service has said.

Elisha Brabin, 36, and her children, Leo, 16, Ellis, eight, and Prudence, seven, died after a blaze “spread rapidly” inside a house on Stone Square in Bootle, Merseyside, in the early hours of 22 September.

Following an investigation with Merseyside Police, Merseyside Fire and Rescue Service (MFRS) said the fire was caused by an electrical event linked to a lithium-ion battery, which are used in e-bikes and e-scooters.

Kev Johnson, of MFRS, said: “This tragedy highlights the very real risks posed by lithium-ion batteries, which we confirmed as the source of the fire.”

Six fire engines were at the scene at the height of the blaze at the semi-detached property, at 03:45 BST last Tuesday.

MFRS said four people “showing no signs of life” had been found in an upstairs bedroom.

A fifth casualty was taken to hospital suffering from burns.

“This is a devastating incident, and our thoughts are very much with the family and friends of the mother and children who lost their lives and those who were injured,” said Johnson, head of prevention at the fire service.

He commended the efforts of staff and NWAS colleagues “who made every effort to provide a different outcome”.

“Sadly this was not the case due to the speed and intensity of the fire”.

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The family of a mother and three children who died in a house fire have said they are experiencing an “unimaginable” loss.

Elisha Brabin, 36, and her children, Leo, 16, Ellis, 8, and Prudence, 7, died after a blaze “spread rapidly” inside a house on Stone Square in Bootle in the early hours of Tuesday.

Paying tribute, their relatives said they had been left “heartbroken” and the loss would be “felt forever”.

The statement added that “Elisha was a devoted and loving mother” and “our beautiful babies, Leo, Ellis and Prudence, were loved beyond measure”.

The family said: “Our whole family is devastated by the loss of Elisha, Leo, Ellis and Prudence.

“Elisha was our beloved daughter, wife, mother, sister, aunty, niece and cousin.

“She was a devoted and loving mother who lived for her children. They were her whole world, and she meant everything to us.”

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Under a policy set to take effect Sunday, the U.S. government could strip young immigrants of their status as unaccompanied minors, causing them to lose special protections when they apply for asylum and making them more likely to be deported.

The plan is laid out in an internal memorandum sent May 31 by John Lafferty, chief of the asylum division at U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, and detailed in subsequent guidance, both obtained by The Times. The shift in policy involves when federal officials determine whether a young migrant is an unaccompanied minor.

According to the memos, an asylum officer with USCIS will have to assess whether the individual at the time of filing for asylum lacked lawful immigration status, was younger than 18 and had no parent or legal guardian in the United States available to provide care and physical custody.

Unaccompanied minors who are in federal custody are often released to sponsors in the United States such as a parent or close relative and could be living with them at the time they file their application — meaning that many may not be considered to be unaccompanied minors under this new policy. From October 2018 to May 2019, more than 46,000 minors were released to sponsors, according to the Department of Health and Human Services.

If the children are found no longer to be unaccompanied minors, they will not be entitled to certain special protections, including an asylum interview with a USCIS officer instead of having to make their case in an immigration court setting.

“USCIS continues to take actions to ensure that we carry out our duties in a manner that is fully in line with the letter of the law,” agency spokeswoman Jessica Collins said in a statement. “Ultimately, Congress must reform the law to address the underlying issues fueling the border crisis and encouraging unaccompanied minors to make the dangerous journey to the United States.”

In recent years, USCIS officers have considered an asylum applicant to be an unaccompanied minor if that was what Immigration and Customs Enforcement or Customs and Border Protection agents had determined when they first had contact with the migrant.

Under this new policy, which rescinds an Obama-era memorandum, USCIS officers will independently determine whether an individual was an unaccompanied minor when they filed their application.

USCIS is “basically relitigating whether or not a child at the time of filing was an unaccompanied minor or not,” said John Amaya, who served as the counselor to the director of USCIS from 2014 to 2015.

Judge Ashley Tabaddor, the president of the National Assn. of Immigration Judges, said that the new policy could potentially have “a profound effect on the children’s ability to seek asylum.”

“The asylum officer interview is a much less adversarial process that is thought to give the child a better and more comfortable setting,” she said.

U.S. border patrol agents attend to a minor who had just swam across the Rio Grande River from Mexico to Del Rio, Texas.

(Carolyn Cole / Los Angeles Times)

Federal asylum officers have been rushing to process as many unaccompanied minor applications as possible before the change takes effect Sunday, USCIS personnel told The Times, speaking on condition of anonymity to protect against professional retaliation.

The change is the latest in the Trump administration’s efforts to make it more difficult for immigrants, including children, to seek asylum.

It comes during a week in which the acting head of CBP announced his resignation amid reports that his agency held some 300 children in unsanitary conditions in a remote Border Patrol station in Clint, Texas. A photograph showing the bodies of a father and his nearly 2-year-old daughter lying face down in the Rio Grande along the border also has gone viral in recent days.

Migrant deaths have continued along the border this year with the number crossing illegally surging to nearly 600,000, more than half of them families.

Federal asylum officers themselves have criticized Trump, saying his policies are putting people, including children, at risk.

On Wednesday, a union representing officers filed a brief in support of a lawsuit against a Trump policy forcing asylum seekers back to Mexico to await their court proceedings in the United States. The policy “abandons our tradition of providing a safe haven to the persecuted and violates our international and domestic legal obligations,” the brief states.

USCIS acting Director Ken Cuccinelli, an anti-immigration hard-liner who often casts doubt on asylum seekers as engaging in fraud, slammed his own employees, saying the brief was “an attempt by the union to score short-term political points.”

Michael Knowles, president of the union, told The Times his members were “taking the risk” because “we’re being asked to do things that are wrong, as a matter of conscience, and our training as federal employees.”

The policy taking effect Sunday reverts to procedures implemented under the 2008 Trafficking Victims Protection Reauthorization Act. At that time, asylum officers made “independent factual inquiries” to determine whether individuals filing applications met the criteria to be designated as unaccompanied minors and were thus under the jurisdiction of USCIS.

Ur Jaddou, a chief counsel to USCIS under President Obama, said that new procedures in 2013 allowing USCIS to adopt prior determinations made by ICE and CBP were implemented because “it was a waste of time and confusing” for USCIS to make a decision on unaccompanied minor status after one was made by other DHS branches.

“This new memo goes backward,” Jaddou said.

Lafferty, who wrote the memo, presented the change as one in keeping with a October 2018 decision by the Justice Department’s Board of Immigration Appeals. The decision dealt with whether USCIS or an immigration judge has initial jurisdiction over the asylum application of an individual who was previously determined to be an unaccompanied minor but had turned 18 before filing their application. The board held that the immigration judge has jurisdiction to determine that the individual no longer qualified as a minor at the time of filing.

The new procedures may put legal clinics that work with these minors in a tough position. Patricia Ortiz, program director for the Esperanza Immigrant Rights Project, said some of their clients are released from federal custody very close to their 18th birthday, and attorneys may not have enough time to file their application before they become adults.

Unaccompanied minors are currently exempt from the standing one-year deadline to file asylum applications. Ortiz worries that if her clients are no longer considered to be unaccompanied minors, the fact they have not applied within one year would jeopardize their applications. She said some don’t apply within a year because they don’t have the support necessary to complete an application or may only be comfortable disclosing asylum facts after months of therapy.

Once they are no longer able to have their cases heard by asylum officers, she said, children could be kept in legal limbo with the rest of those whose cases are backlogged in immigration court. This wait could make it more difficult for them to give testimony that helps their cases.

“Children forget,” she said. “They forget details; they forget what happened.”

Miller reported from Los Angeles and O’Toole from Washington.

NOEL Fielding is back in the Bake Off tent as Series 17 gets under way with 12 new amateur bakers.

The comedian returns alongside Alison Hammond, Paul Hollywood and new judge Nigella Lawson for the latest run of the Channel 4 favourite.

Early life

Noel Fielding was born on May 21, 1973, in Westminster, making him 53 years old.

His parents were just 18 when he was born, and after they split he lived with his father and stepmum, Dianne.

He was also close to his grandmother, who helped raise him.

Noel said in an interview in 2013: “My dad was so young, you know when I was 10 he was only 28, 29, so, that’s mind- blowing.

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“When I was 20 he was only in his late 30s, he was my age now, so I’ve sort of had some brilliant years out of my mum and dad, and also they were quite young and tolerant and easy going and up for doing stuff.”

Tragically his birth mum, Yvonne Fagan, 30, died when Noel was just 17 in 1990.

Becoming an artist

Noel originally had plans to be an artist, and had no intention of getting into TV and comedy.

He trained at Croydon Art College and had his first solo exhibition, Psychedelic Dreams Of The Jelly Fox, in December 2007.

The comedian has held a number of different exhibitions since then,
including showing his video installation The Jelly Fox at the Saatchi Gallery in 2012.

His artwork remains an active part of his career, with pieces appearing at the London Original Print Fair in May 2026 and Jealous Gallery’s summer exhibition later that year.

In 2006, he told Left Lion: “I wanted to be a painter and went to art school.

“I just got sidetracked into comedy. It was a mistake… I’m trying to get out but I’m trapped!

Despite his success in the art world, Noel is most famous for his comedy and TV work.

Finding fame

Noel shot to fame after teaming up with Julian Barratt to create, write and star in surreal comedy The Mighty Boosh.

Just like in his stand-up routines, Noel played a whole host of different characters in show.

The comedy troupe began in the late 90s, with Noel’s brother Michael also a member of the group.

Some of his humorous alter-egos were flamboyant zookeeper Vince Noir, a cockney hitch-hiker called The Hitcher, and hermaphroditic merman Old Gregg.

The series also featured a number of famous faces, including Matt Berry and Richard Ayoade.

It aired from 2004 to 2007 and scooped the Shockwaves NME Best TV Award three times.

Following the success of The Mighty Boosh, Noel took his series to radio.

Finding love

Also appearing in The Mighty Boosh was Lliana Bird.

She is a writer, actress, author and former radio presenter on Radio X.

Noel and Lliana have been dating since 2010.

She has starred in various theatre shows, and has appeared as a guest commentator on Sky News and BBC Breakfast.

Lliana is also an author, publishing her first children’s book, Baboo the Unusual Bee, in 2023.

She is also a co-founder of charities Choose Love and The Kindly Collective.

Fatherhood

In early March 2018, The Sun exclusively revealed Noel and Lliana were expecting their first child together.

They welcomed their newborn, Dali, in April 2018, who is named after Noel’s favourite artist, the surrealist painter Salvador Dali.

The pair welcomed a second daughter, Iggy, in August 2020.

Opening up about their home life in an episode of Giovanna Fletcher’s Happy Mum Happy Baby podcast, Lliana described Noel as a “magical” father.

She said: “He kind of makes the silliest little moments, he makes having breakfast a real moment.

“I think I’ve just really leaned into that and just going like, ‘This is amazing.

“We’re getting to have porridge and it’s funny, and it’s fun. And we’re wearing silly hats, and we’re dancing. And that’s okay’.”

TV work

As well as working with Richard Ayoade in The Mighty Boosh, the pair both starred in The IT Crowd.

The popular comic is also known for his work on TV panel shows.

He remains a team captain on Sky’s revived Never Mind The Buzzcocks, whose fifth series aired in 2025, and has also made appearances on QI and The Big Fat Quiz of Everything.

He was also the series four winner of Taskmaster.

In 2024, Noel played Dick Turpin in Apple TV+ comedy series The Completely Made-Up Adventures Of Dick Turpin.

Bake Off

Noel gained a whole new bunch of fans when he began co-hosting The Great British Bake Off in 2017.

He presented firstly alongside Sandi Toksvig, then Matt Lucas.

Since 2023, he has fronted the competition with Alison Hammond.

At the time, he welcomed Alison to the tent by posting on Instagram: “Congratulations and Welcome to the tent lovely!! We are gonna have an absolute blast together.

“I can’t wait. I’m buzzing. Two naughty kids together… The bakers will love you x.”

Noel and Alison both return for Series 17, which begins at 8pm on Tuesday, September 22, 2026, with 12 new amateur bakers entering the famous tent.

Paul Hollywood is once again on judging duties, but for the first time he is joined by Nigella Lawson.

Nigella replaced Dame Prue Leith, who stepped down in January after nine series on the programme.

Music lover

And as if that is not enough, Noel is also a huge lover of music.

It will come as no surprise to his fans that he has made appearances in a number of music videos.

He can be spotted in the videos for Kasabian’s Vlad The Impaler and You’re In Love With a Psycho, as well as Razorlight’s In The Morning.

In November 2025, Pink Floyd also commissioned Noel to create a series of paintings inspired by Syd Barrett for the official video accompanying a new stereo mix of Shine On You Crazy Diamond.

Hundreds of thousands of children returned to in-person classes in Gaza on Saturday for the first time in nearly three years, filing into damaged school buildings, makeshift classrooms and tents amid a severe shortage of basic supplies.

The United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) says 98 percent of schools in the Gaza Strip were destroyed or damaged during Israel’s genocidal war on the enclave, while local education officials estimate about 660,000 students have been deprived of regular, in-person learning.

The reopening is a fragile milestone in a territory where about 22,000 students and more than 770 education workers, including 532 teachers, have been killed, according to Ibrahim Ramadan, director of education for eastern Khan Younis.

“The last time I have been to school was three years ago,” said student Moayed Abu Mustafa in Khan Younis. “Now, we are starting the school year; it is year of joy, happiness and success. Despite all of this, we will learn, we will learn even in a tent.”

Moayed has no proper shoes, notebook or pen, and will sit on the floor in a sweltering tent.

Across Gaza, the Ministry of Education, backed by aid agencies, has set up dozens of temporary schools from tarpaulins, sheet metal and wood. Some classrooms consist of a few mattresses and a blackboard; others still shelter displaced families.

“We studied on phones, and we haven’t seen our teachers. Now, we are back pursuing our dream … from one tent to another,” said 15-year-old Samar Abu Salmi, who lives in a tent with her family and can no longer afford school supplies that were cheap before the war.

Stationery trader Khaled Aliyan said Israeli import restrictions have driven prices up fivefold. “All stationery items are expensive,” he said.

Israeli forces still control more than 60 percent of Gaza despite an October 2025 “ceasefire” that halted large-scale fighting but left the underlying conflict unresolved.

The Trump administration has ordered caregivers for migrant children to stop reporting human trafficking concerns directly to the office created to help victims, a change that critics say could make some vulnerable minors easier to deport.

The directive, in a Sept. 10 memo reviewed by the Associated Press, could mean that some victims would be denied services and face tougher odds of obtaining asylum and visas allowing them to stay in the United States.

“This is going to harm children,” said Jean Bruggeman, co-executive director of Freedom Network USA, a coalition that advocates for human trafficking survivors. “This makes it more likely they will be deported before they get the services they need and put back into harm’s way.”

The order added another plank to the Trump administration’s hard-line immigration agenda that has forged the most restrictive policies toward immigrants in more than a generation. Some of those efforts have been stopped by courts but many others have taken root.

The memo said the change would “streamline the reporting, tracking and referral of trafficking-related concerns.” An administration statement said the change was an effort to reduce the high number of claims that did not rise to the level of criminal human trafficking but nonetheless triggered the award of benefits and relief.

But Democratic Sen. Ron Wyden of Oregon said the change requires children and their advocates to report human trafficking to the same agency that is holding them in custody. “This move to sideline human trafficking experts is more evidence that the Trump administration will deport kids to score political points rather than actually protect them,” he said.

Office has helped thousands of trafficking victims

The change applies to 1,800 children who are in federal custody after arriving in the United States without parents or being arrested with parents who were not legally present, and others who have been released but remain under supervision.

Under longstanding policy, caregivers are required to conduct an initial screening of unaccompanied children for potential labor or sex trafficking within five days of admission to a facility or shelter. If they suspect the child is a victim, they have been required within 24 hours to notify the Office of Trafficking in Persons, which was created in 2015 to prevent human trafficking and protect victims.

If the office certifies the claim, the minors become eligible for a program that gives them greater freedom by allowing them to move out of short-term housing, placing them in foster care and allowing them to attend public school. It does not protect them from deportation immediately, but they can use the determination to pursue visas for victims of trafficking or asylum claims. It also grants eligibility for nutrition, housing and other public benefits once they are released from federal custody.

Thousands of unaccompanied minors have benefited from the office’s determinations. They are particularly susceptible to labor and sex trafficking, including in their home countries, on their way to the U.S. and after they arrive, and that’s why Congress has given them protections, Bruggeman said.

Administration says change will target improper claims

Under the change ordered last week by the administration, federal employees and care providers were told to no longer report labor and sex trafficking claims involving the minors to the Office on Trafficking in Persons.

Instead, the memo said those claims should be submitted only to the Office of Refugee Resettlement, which oversees the housing of unaccompanied minors. That office will now investigate the claims and decide which ones should be forwarded to the Office on Trafficking in Persons for further review, the memo said, warning that providers “must respond promptly to requests for information.”

In a statement, the Office of Refugee Resettlement said the change was driven by a review last year that found 95% of more than 9,000 reports “were determined not to be viable trafficking leads” for criminal investigators.

“The vast majority of the reports detailed instances of alleged abuse or neglect, not forced labor or commercial sex as defined in human trafficking statutes,” the statement said.

Even so, 58% of reports from shelter employees and case managers qualified for trafficking-related benefits. The change in reporting will “strengthen integrity, reduce improper referrals, reduce fraud, and ensure that children who may have experienced trafficking receive immediate support,” the statement said.

Former official questions rationale

Jen Smyers, who served as deputy director of the Office of Refugee Resettlement during the Biden administration, said the claim that the change will streamline reporting is questionable. She said ORR already gets the human trafficking reports but has no special expertise in evaluating them, unlike the office created for that purpose.

The fear is that legitimate claims will get delayed or missed during the new layer of review, and career employees will face political pressure to refer fewer cases, she said.

“It’s the opposite of streamlining,” Smyers said.

Smyers noted the change comes after what she called an “ onslaught ” of Trump administration policies that have undermined the ability of unaccompanied minors to gain legal status, including making it harder to leave federal custody, arresting sponsors in the middle of the release process, and cutting their legal representation.

“What they are trying to do is deport as many as possible. What interferes with deporting children is if they are eligible for protections Congress has given them,” she said.

Foley writes for the Associated Press.

DUBAI: Britain will “no longer stand by” while Israel kills Palestinian children in Gaza, First Secretary of State Louise Haigh said on Tuesday, pledging to increase pressure on Tel Aviv over the war and illegal settlement expansion in the occupied West Bank.

Speaking at the Trades Union Congress in Brighton, Haigh said Prime Minister Andy Burnham was right to acknowledge that Britain had been “too slow” in its response to the situation in Gaza and the West Bank.

“At a time when it has never been more important to remind the world who we are, we hesitated,” Haigh said.

“We will no longer stand by while innocent Palestinian families are torn apart, while innocent children are killed in Gaza, and while the hope of a two-state solution evaporates before our eyes,” she added.

Haigh said sanctions announced last week by Foreign Secretary Ed Miliband were intended to “change course,” adding that Britain was “purposefully targeting the illegal settlements” and increasing pressure on the Israeli government.

The measures include sanctions targeting individuals and companies linked to Israeli settlement expansion, as well as a ban on imports from settlements in the occupied West Bank.

“The Israeli people are not responsible for the actions of their government,” Haigh said. “We will stand against injustice. We will stand up for peace.”

She added that Britain would work with international partners to “speak with one voice” and help preserve the prospect of a two-state solution.

LONDON — Prince Harry and his wife, Meghan, have moved their two children to a new school over security concerns, a spokesperson said Tuesday, just weeks after the family returned to the U.K. to make a fresh start.

“The decision for the children to move school was taken following a discussion with the family’s security team about the practicalities of their current arrangements,” the spokesperson said in a statement.

Prince Archie, 7, and Princess Lilibet, 5, had only just started the new school year in England after the family relocated from California in late August.

British media reported that the distance of the school run and the heavy traffic on the route were among the concerns raised by the couple and their security team. The family is living at a private, non-royal residence outside of London.

“This decision should in no way be interpreted as a reflection on the school or the exceptional care the children have received there,” the statement added.

The news followed reports that Harry and Meghan were awaiting a new risk assessment from the government committee that reviews protection of VIPs, including a decision on whether the family should be entitled to publicly funded security now that they live in the U.K.

Harry and Meghan gave up their royal duties and moved to California more than six years ago, saying they wanted to earn their own living. They later signed lucrative contracts with Netflix and Spotify.

Although relations with the rest of the royal family have soured since then, Harry has recently expressed an interest in reconciliation so he could spend more time with his father, King Charles III.

Harry has fought a long-running battle with Britain’s government for the restoration of publicly funded police protection, which was canceled when the couple gave up their royal roles.

He had previously said he couldn’t “see a world in which I would be bringing my wife and children back to the U.K.” without a security guarantee.

Earlier this month, the king reiterated that Harry and Meghan remain non-working members of the royal family and would continue to refrain from using formal royal titles, such as his royal highness and her royal highness, as they have done since 2020. The couple said they were surprised by the way the monarch issued that statement because they were given little time to review it.

NHS worker Francesca Longhurst says the fine is worth it as they wouldn’t have been able to afford the holiday when schools break up

A couple who were fined £640 for taking their children out of class for a Disney World adventure say they have no regrets as the fee was still far cheaper than splashing out for a trip during the school holidays. NHS worker Francesca Longhurst, 32, and plasterer Liam Longhurst, 37, worked hard and saved for years to take their children Lily, 11, and George, six, on their dream vacation.

With steep pricing during school holidays, they say they had to pull the kids out during term time or not travel at all. Wanting to give their kids life-long memories, the hard-working pair decided on the former – and were subsequently punished. Francesca and Liam were handed fines of £160 per parent per child – leaving them with a total bill of £640 for a two-week absence.

But they say they would still do it all over again. The pair say going during term time likely saved them £9,000 minimum.

“It was a holiday we have dreamed of for years but never thought we’d be able to afford it as it’s so expensive,” said Francesca, from Sandwell, West Midlands. “We put every but of money we had spare into this trip and works extra hours and days to be able to afford it. To be able to take our kids on this once-in-a-lifetime trip was so magical.

“They thank us everyday for taking them and letting them experience it. We went in term time in June because the price is triple the cost to go during the holidays. I priced up for Easter holidays and the holiday was coming to £12,000 just for the flights and hotel – and that’s without park tickets on top.

“It’s the same for every holiday you look at even those in England at caravan parks and holiday camps.”

In the end, the family splashed out a total of £7,500, including £3,000 on flights and accommodation and £4,500 for theme park tickets.

They received their penalty notices on August – around two months after returning home. Although the couple were able to afford the £640 fine because they had budgeted for it, Francesca worries such “ridiculous” penalties could cause financial hardship for other families.

She said: “We knew we would have to pay this when we come back. The fines are ridiculous but what’s more atrocious is that if we did this again within a three-year-period we could be prosecuted and sent to prison for child neglect, when all we have done is taken our children on holiday.

“Every child deserves a holiday but not every parent can afford to go during school time. The amount is what it is – it’s a small price to pay compared to what we saved by going in the school holidays, but I’d love to know where the money goes to.

“You have real criminals out on the streets yet you are sending innocent families to prison for taking their kids out of school. The whole system is a joke.”

The parents deliberately waited until Lily had completed her SATs before travelling and believes neither child missed any essential learning. Francesca said: “While we was away, she missed out on two school trips, one to Alton Towers and the other to the Black Country museum, which we have been to many times.

“She also missed out on sports day. We were walking 20,000 plus steps a day. It was the holiday of a lifetime and we went to some of the best theme parks in the world but it was also very educational.

“We swam with dolphins, fed alligators, learned about wildlife and they tried different foods. What they learned in those two weeks I can guarantee was more than they learn in the last few weeks of the school year when everything starts to die down.

“The school was also closed or open partially due to the heatwave so we are being fined for our kids being off school when others were allowed because it was too hot. Both of my children are either excelling or exactly where they need to be in regards to education and have an excellent attendance other than when we go on holiday.”

While Francesca says she understands why attendance rules exist, she believes parents should be allowed a limited number of authorised holiday days each year. She added: “We unfortunately cannot take our children on holiday again during school time due to the risk of being prosecuted.

“I work for the NHS – this would mean me losing my job as you cannot have anything on your DBS. Myself and my husband have always worked and work hard and we don’t have fancy jobs.

“Any holidays we go on, we have to save hard for. It could really put families under financial strain. We live in a cost of living crisis, you can have a good week one week and a bad one the next.

“If you’re having a bad week or month when these fines come through with a date stating it must be paid by a certain date or you will be prosecuted, this could worry people, put them into debt and affect their mental health. I’m not saying I don’t agree with the fines completely, but I do think every child should be entitled to say 10 authorised days from school a year.

“After this then yes, send the fines out because education is important.”

A Sandwell Council spokesperson said: “We recognise that there is financial pressure on families and term-time holidays may be tempting. But attendance at school is vitally important for children to reach their potential, and to gain the skills and qualifications that will give them the best start in life and the best future.

“Like all councils across the country, we work with schools to implement Government policy on unauthorised absence.”

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.