Politics
Chickenpox, Impetigo Or Hand, Foot And Mouth: How To Spot Difference
This article features expert advice from Dr Bisola Laguda, a paediatric dermatologist and spokesperson for the Skin Health Alliance.
With kids now getting extra protection against chickenpox as part of their routine childhood immunisations, it’s hoped fewer kids will end up struggling with the worst effects of the illness.
That said, kids might still catch it – albeit a milder version – and those who aren’t vaccinated against it (either because they’re too young or their parents opted out) will also be at risk.
But spotting chickenpox can be tricky, especially as the telltale sign is a rash – and other childhood illnesses like impetigo and hand, foot and mouth can look pretty similar.
To try and get some clarity on how to tell it apart from other illnesses, which is important so you know how to treat it (and how long they’ll need off school or childcare), we spoke to Dr Bisola Laguda, a paediatric dermatologist and spokesperson for the Skin Health Alliance.
What are the signs of chickenpox parents need to know?
Chickenpox is a very contagious infection caused by the varicella zoster virus. Data indicates that half of children will contract chickenpox by the age of four, and 90% by the age of 10.
Kids might initially experience flu-like symptoms, such as a high temperature and feeling sick and/or achy, said Dr Laguda.
“When the rash does manifest, it’ll be in the form of small red spots that blister and can become very itchy,” she said.
“These spots can appear in clusters anywhere on the body, but are commonly found on the arms, legs, chest and stomach, as well as the face, scalp and ears.”
It’s worth bearing in mind that new spots can appear around three to five days after the initial rash begins, too.
After a day or two, the blisters begin to burst and dry out, “with the crusting skin naturally falling off within two weeks”.
The dermatologist noted that whilst chickenpox can cause a lot of frustration and upset, children’s symptoms will often resolve themselves naturally.
But if the skin around the blisters becomes hot, red or painful; the blisters themselves get infected; or your child develops other symptoms such as dehydration, chest pain, or difficulty breathing, she said it’s best to contact your GP.
Never give ibuprofen to kids with chickenpox (unless told to by a doctor). Pharmacists can provide antihistamine medicine to try and ease any itching, while paracetamol can help with pain or discomfort.
How does chickenpox differ to hand, foot and mouth disease?
Hand, foot and mouth disease (HFMD) is another unpleasant illness kids tend to pick up in the early years.
The first stage of symptoms typically involves a sore throat, high temperature and not wanting to eat. A few days later, kids develop a raised rash of spots and/or mouth ulcers.
There are some key distinctions that can help parents tell the two viral infections apart, said Dr Laguda.
“Both manifest in rashes, but appear on different areas of the body and have visual discrepancies,” she explained.
“Where chickenpox can appear anywhere, HFMD rash patterns are most commonly found on the palms of the hands, soles of the feet and inside the mouth – though it is true that we are seeing more cases of HFMD around the face and genitalia, so worth keeping an eye on these areas too.
“Also, chickenpox rashes appear as small, itchy blisters, whereas HFMD is usually characterised by flat, red spots.”
The illness usually gets better on its own. If symptoms don’t go after seven to 10 days, speak to your GP.
And how does it differ from impetigo?
Impetigo is another contagious illness you probably won’t have heard of until your kids get it (I certainly hadn’t).
The skin infection starts off as red sores or blisters, which can then burst leaving crusty, almost cornflake-like golden brown patches. These can be itchy and/or painful.
Dr Laguda said it’s “important to be able to distinguish chickenpox from impetigo”.
“While impetigo is a bacterial infection and chickenpox is viral, both can cause itchy, blistery rashes. However, where chickenpox rashes are fluid-filled blisters potentially found across the entire body, impetigo appears as yellow-ish, crusty patches around the nose, mouth and limbs.
“It’s worth noting impetigo can develop secondary to chickenpox if blisters become infected after being scratched.”
Treatment typically involves hydrogen peroxide cream or antibiotic cream/tablets, so a trip to the pharmacist or your GP is warranted.
Fox News is … sounding the alarm?
Shortly after the conclusion of a Cabinet meeting Q&A at the White House on Tuesday, Fox News anchor John Roberts decided to zero in on one very disturbing thing President Donald Trump did: casually threaten to blow up Oman.
During the Q&A, Trump rejected a plan to have Oman and Iran jointly control the Strait of Hormuz.
“The Strait is going to be open to everybody. It’s international waters,” Trump said. “We’ll watch over it, but nobody’s going to control it. Oman will behave like everybody else or we’ll have to blow them up. They understand that. They’ll be fine.”
“In the middle of all that — and it really kind of went unnoticed by the reporters,” the visibly flummoxed anchor said. “President Trump became the first American president that I know of to ever threaten to take military action against Oman, saying that they have to behave like everyone else or we’re going to blow them up. I’m not quite sure what that was all about.”
“Let’s go to our senior White House correspondent, Peter Doocy, at the White House. Peter, what were your takeaways from this, other than that not-so-veiled threat against the country of Oman, with which the United States has had a traditionally peaceful relationship?”
Doocy went on to highlight other moments from the meeting, but Roberts seemed to still be reeling.
“Well, there’s no question there is something going on in this town. For sure,” Roberts said.
The State Department seemed to double down on Trump’s remarks about Oman — a Middle Eastern country the US has shared a friendly relationship with for two centuries — by publishing a clip of his remarks on X Tuesday (below). You know, just so the threat doesn’t slip through the cracks.
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WASHINGTON — Three months into his “four to five week” war, President Donald Trump appears no closer to solving his purported goal of forcing Iran to give up its highly enriched uranium, a problem he himself created when he withdrew from the nuclear agreement negotiated by predecessor Barack Obama.
“They want very much to make a deal,” Trump said again at a White House Cabinet meeting photo opportunity on Wednesday. “But their navy is gone, as I’ve said a thousand times, their navy is gone, their air force is gone, everything’s gone, and they’re negotiating on fumes. But we’ll see what happens. Maybe we have to go back and finish it.”
Wednesday’s remarks came just four days after Trump claimed an agreement had been “largely negotiated” and that “final aspects and details of the deal are currently being discussed, and will be announced shortly.” While Trump and Iranian leadership both are unreliable narrators, reporting indicated Iran would only agree to “talks” about handing over its uranium.
Trump has repeatedly declared that the goal of the now 88-day-old war, which he began without consulting Congress or America’s traditional allies, is to stop Iran from getting a nuclear weapon, and there’s little indication Iran plans on giving ground on its HEU stockpile. What he neglects to mention is that Iran created every ounce of that material only after Trump tore up Obama’s Iran agreement.
Ever since the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, as the agreement was known, was signed in 2015 after two years of negotiations, Trump has falsely claimed that it actually gave Iran the permission and means to build nuclear weapons. He repeated that lie Wednesday: “It was the path for Iran to have a nuclear weapon very quickly. Years ago, they would have had a nuclear weapon.”
In fact, Obama’s agreement strictly limited Iran’s ability to enrich uranium and introduced an intrusive system of outside inspectors to monitor.
Iran’s leaders, who were eager for sanctions relief provided in return, were honoring the enrichment prohibition, something Trump’s first-term administration freely admitted. Trump, nonetheless, scrapped the agreement in 2018.
“The State Department and intelligence community had repeatedly confirmed that Iran was complying with the terms of the JCPOA when Trump unilaterally withdrew from it,” said Ned Price, a former CIA officer and a State Department official under former President Joe Biden.
Trump has claimed ever since he pulled out of the JCPOA that Iran wanted to make a “deal” with him. As he ran for reelection in 2020, he said repeatedly that Iran wanted one badly but was waiting for the start of his second term.
Then, as he ran to regain the White House after his Jan. 6, 2021, coup attempt failed, he claimed that he would strike a deal with Iran quickly after returning to office.
Instead, Trump attacked Iran twice, first in June 2025, and then on Feb. 28 — both times as productive negotiations were supposedly underway.
Now, almost three months into a war that has damaged the global and US economies, has spiked oil and gas prices, has increased inflation, and has left 13 Americans and at least 1,500 Iranians dead, Trump continues to claim that Iran badly wants “a deal,” even as its leaders appear to stall and drag things out.
“There’s a tendency, especially when it comes to the Middle East, to be dismissive of American diplomacy and to assume that most problems require the use of military force. Many critics of the JCPOA were under the misimpression that the Iranian nuclear challenge would melt away once we struck its nuclear sites,” Price said. “Trump’s decision to test that proposition has proven that this was always pure folly and, ironically, underlined the enduring advantage of a diplomatic resolution.”
Robert Kagan, a top State Department official in Ronald Reagan’s administration and now a foreign policy analyst at the Brookings Institution, said Trump’s repeated false claims that a deal was close only serve to hide the truth of the war, noting Iran engaged US forces on Monday.
“The fact that the Iranians felt emboldened to target American ships shows they are not afraid of a resumption of war because they know Trump has no good military options and that he wants out,” he said. “The war was over in March. The US lost. Everything since then has been aimed at covering this up.”
He said the worst outcome of the war will be Iran’s newfound control over the Strait of Hormuz and one-fifth of the world’s oil traffic.
“Iran was deterred from closing the strait by fear it would invite this kind of attack which could pose a threat to the regime’s very existence,” he said. “Now they have proven they can survive an extended bombing campaign and still do unacceptable damage to the region, including control of the strait. Having driven Iran to prove this, we are now living in that world and there can be no return to the status quo ante.”
As for the enriched uranium, Iran can win on that point, as well, said John Bolton, one of Trump’s first-term national security advisers and a longtime advocate for attacking Iran to change its regime.
“Iran is playing for time. Trump is still desperate for a way to claim victory. Most importantly, there’s no real deal, just an extension of the cease fire and opening the strait,” he said. “Iran wins by kicking the nuclear issue down the road.”
President Donald Trump bragged that if Iran doesn’t give the US what it wants amid negotiations for a potential agreement to end hostilities — then Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth is going to “finish ’em off.”
Trump made the remark during a Cabinet meeting at the White House on Wednesday after a reporter asked him to describe where the talks with Iran are at in football terms, asking him, “What yard line would you be on?”
Opting to skip the football analogies, the president responded, “They are starting to give us the things that they have to give us, and if they do, that’s great. And if they won’t, then the man on my left is gonna finish ’em off.”
Trump was referring to Hegseth, who was seated on his left.
“Is there a time frame in your mind?” the reporter followed up.
Noting that it “happens quickly,” Trump said, “The problem is, every time I mention a time frame — for instance … we’ve been doing this for a few months. Vietnam lasted 19 years. Korea lasted eight years. Afghanistan lasted many years. They were all many, many years. And we’re into it for a few months.”
Trump then referenced the American troops who were killed during Operation Epic Fury in Iran and across the broader Middle East.
“We lost 13 souls, 13 great people. [I] met the parents, great people. It’s a terrible thing, but 13. If you look at the war casualties and the deaths and wars for Vietnam and all that, they lost hundreds of thousands of people in numerous of these wars.”
Trump added, “We’re very cognizant of that. We want to lose very few, we want very few to be injured. We’re very careful, but war is war. War is dangerous.”
Elsewhere in the meeting, the president said that he is “not satisfied” yet with the terms of the deal being negotiated with Iran. Claiming that Tehran is “very much intent” on reaching an agreement to end the conflict, he added, “So far, they haven’t gotten there.”
Listen to Trump’s remarks from the Cabinet meeting below (skip to the 1:08:57 mark.)
Subscribe to Commons People, the podcast that makes politics easy. Every week, Kevin Schofield and Kate Nicholson unpack the week’s biggest stories to keep you informed. Join us for straightforward analysis of what’s going on at Westminster.
In January 2025, I signed with Swift Press, a great independent publishing house, to write a book called The Rise of Reform. It would be an examination of Nigel Farage’s upstart party and how it might grow from where it was already into an organisation capable of governing Britain. I was excited to take it on. However, there were several immediate issues I faced after signing the agreement: for a start, I didn’t have a single contact within Reform UK.
The other dilemma was that I am a very liberal sort of person who lives in London and would ideally like it if the United Kingdom rejoined the European Union. In other words, I am not someone who you would have pegged as a possible Reform convert. Yet I was determined not only to get under the skin of the party, but also to report back on it in the most objective way possible. I vowed to simply write about whatever I found out there, beyond the M25, in the most honest way I could.
I got lucky and landed some interviews with high-ranking Reform people, right off the bat. Richard Tice agreed to speak to me; I thought I would get 20 minutes tops with him, and then he gave me an hour and a half of his time. It was a fantastic interview as well, with some great anecdotes sprinkled in.
Yet the real eye-opener in my research was speaking to the party’s footsoldiers, the Reform activists on the ground in places like Hartlepool, Lincoln and Runcorn. Those who were standing locally for the party, or if not, giving up their weekends to knock on doors or deliver Reform leaflets. And these people were nothing like what I expected. Nothing at all.
I will admit that my liberal, metropolitan assumptions made me feel certain that I would meet a lot of racists (closeted or otherwise), conspiracy-theory nuts and just general far-right yobs when seeking out the Reform Party in the wild. Yet I found none of those things while meeting and chatting with Reform activists in places like Bootle or Spalding. What I found, every time, were groups of very normal, down-to-earth, mostly working-class British people who felt let down by a system that frankly, it was easy to see why they felt let down by. I heard nothing racist or homophobic or fascistic in all my travels around the country, speaking with hundreds of Reform candidates and activists. In one sense, they were all disappointingly well-behaved and lovely.
I even met some ethnic-minority Reform candidates, some of whom were immigrants. One who sticks out for me was Ahmed Ibrahim, a man who had come to Britain from Egypt 17 years ago. He was standing for Reform in Tower Hamlets. I asked Ahmed what attracted him to the party. He told me:
‘For me, in my mind at the time, there was no way to be with Nigel Farage. But then I said, okay, why don’t I listen to the guy? I was just rejecting him because of assumptions. Then, I listen, and Nigel makes sense… I attended a couple of branch meetings here in Tower Hamlets. And I didn’t see any racism at all. Like normal people, yes, some of them, they have a stronger view. But I’m telling you, I have stronger views than them, even on immigration!’
The best anecdotes from my travels in Reform-land came via the great British public, those people I encountered while watching Reform activists knocking on constituents’ doors. That experience gave me a whole new insight into the country on its own.
The folks who answered their doors to Reform activists broadly fell into one of three categories. The first were those who were either enthusiastically going to vote Reform or were at the very least heavily leaning towards Farage’s crew. Some of you reading this may be sad to note that I encountered a hell of a lot of people who fit into this group out there.
The second bunch were those who would rather drink sulphuric acid than even consider voting Reform.
The final category involved those I found most depressing – the people who said they weren’t voting at all. They had decided they weren’t going to take part in any elections, not in a resigned or embarrassed way – no, these people were not going to be voting for anyone as a statement of intent. They were proud to be non-voters. Their non-voting was a political statement, ironically enough.
‘They are all crap, all the parties, total crap’, a man told the Reform activists I was with on his doorstep one afternoon. I stepped in and asked him, ‘Okay, but if you had to pick one party that you thought was the most crap of them all, which one would it be?’. He looked intrigued by the question and took a moment to think before answering. ‘Wouldn’t choose between them, they are all the same.’
A lot of people said things so negative (and possibly libellous) about Keir Starmer, I couldn’t possibly reprint any of them here. ‘Starmer should be in prison for what he’s done to this country already!’, which I heard from a man in north Wales, was probably the most vanilla. There was also a lot of anger directed at the Labour Party more generally. ‘I was a proud trade-union member before I retired’, said one man in an impoverished part of north-west England to the Reform canvassers who had knocked on his door. ‘I have voted Labour all my life. But couldn’t do it again. They aren’t the same party now.’
Almost no one, in any of the places I visited, mentioned the Conservatives – at all. It was like they didn’t exist, even in places where they had been dominant for decades.
Of course, the people who hated Reform really, really hated Reform, often expressed with a viciousness that was shocking. The way that Reform activists dealt with these outbursts made me like them even more. ‘Thank you for time, have a good rest of the day’, they would say to someone who had just called them a fascist and told them to ‘fuck off and die’ for good measure. The way Reform activists behaved in these situations was always reassuringly British to me.
Whether you agree with Reform UK on policy or not (and I still have many reservations in this department myself), you shouldn’t confuse that with your feelings about the party’s activists. Calling them fascists and racists simply doesn’t work for liberals, as May’s election results clearly demonstrate. This assertion about them just isn’t true either, as I found out for myself.
Now that I have finished writing The Rise of Reform – due for release in September – it makes me feel a little sad that I have no more cause to spend time with groups of Reform activists, in a pub after a day of canvassing, somewhere in the north of England or the Midlands. I will miss them.
That’s why I am hoping Restore does not spoil things for Reform in the upcoming Makerfield by-election. Here is a chance for a true working-class movement to bring down the Labour Party, an organisation established to represent the working class in Britain that has clearly lost its way. A lot depends upon Reform winning this by-election. I wish them the best of luck.
Nick Tyrone is the author of The Rise of Reform, published by Swift in September 2026.
England’s World Cup training camp will be subject to unprecedented security measures in the US amid growing fears of drone spying operations or sabotage attempts aimed at players and fans.
The US authorities and the FA have decided to turn the squad’s camp in Kansas City into something resembling a fortified base, the Sun reported.
The daily newspaper revealed that specialised “hunter-catcher” aircraft, which are anti-drone aircraft capable of shooting down any unlicensed aircraft through special nets, in addition to electronic jamming devices and advanced monitoring systems, will be deployed.
England players protected by systems able to disable drones
It’s alleged that police will establish ‘no-fly zones’ over the England team’s headquarters at the Swap Soccer Village base. They will also provide security units with systems capable of disabling drone control signals or forcing them to land in specific locations, in anticipation of any attempts to breach the airspace during training or matches.
Security experts believe that drones have become one of the most prominent threats associated with major sporting events, given their low cost and the difficulty of detecting them compared to traditional threat methods.
The Sun quoted former FBI drone countermeasures expert, Tom Adams, as saying that the biggest challenge is not just detecting drones but quickly determining their intentions, whether for sabotage, political, or even sports espionage purposes.
Adams stressed that the security system adopted to protect the England team will be similar to the technologies used during the American Super Bowl.
British concern over potential espionage
This month, the Guardian revealed that German coach, Thomas Tuchel, had expressed concerns about the possibility of “football espionage”.
The newspaper also confirmed that the FA is working to enhance the privacy of England’s World Cup training camp to prevent rival teams, the media, or any external parties from monitoring training sessions or picking up tactical information that could give England’s opponents an advantage.
Warnings about security concerns during the 2026 World Cup highlighted the potential targeting of transportation networks, disrupting infrastructure, or using drones near fan zones and stadiums.
$14 million to enhance World Cup security systems
As part of the extensive preparations for the 2026 World Cup, US authorities have allocated huge security funding to Kansas City to develop anti-drone systems and secure the airspace during the tournament.
Missouri has received more than $14 million to enhance protection systems related to the World Cup.
These moves reflect the seriousness of the security threat surrounding the upcoming football tournament, which will be held for the first time in three countries: the US, Canada and Mexico.
Organisers expect record crowd attendance and the largest security monitoring in the tournament’s history.
Featured image via Rob Carr/ Getty Images
By Alaa Shamali
President Donald Trump speaks about prescription drug prices in the South Court Auditorium in the Eisenhower Executive Office Building on the White House campus, Monday, May 18, 2026, in WashingtonAlthough Donald Trump has previously hinted about running for an unconstitutional third presidential term in the United States, he suggested on Wednesday that he had another job in mind: prime minister of Israel.
Trump made the trollish suggestion during a Wednesday press gaggle after a reporter asked him what he’d said toIsrael’s current prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, about holding off on strikes on Iran.
“He’s fine,” Trump said. “He’ll do whatever I want him to do. He’s a very good man. Uh, he’ll do whatever I want him to do. And he’s a great guy. To me, he’s a great guy. Don’t forget: He was a wartime prime minister, and he’s not treated right in Israel, in my opinion.”
Trump then inexplicably pivoted from praising Netanyahu to suggesting that Israelis might prefer him as their leader.
“I’m right now at 99% in Israel. I could run for prime minister, so maybe after I do this, I’ll go to Israel and run for prime minister,” Trump said. “I had a poll this morning — I’m [at] 99%, so that’s good.”
HuffPost attempted to find the poll that cited Trump’s whopping popularity in Israel, but was unsuccessful. The White House did not immediately respond to a request for the poll Trump cited.
A Jerusalem Post poll from February says 73% of Israelis consider Trump a better-than-average US president where Israel is concerned, and 49% call him one of the best in history for Israel.
Although Trump was likely not making a serious suggestion, he’s blustered about leading other foreign nations before.
Last month, he suggested that he might run for president in Venezuela after toppling the country’s leader, dubiously claiming he was “polling higher than anybody has ever polled” there.
Trump isn’t currently eligible to be Israel’s prime minister anyway: Israeli law requires a prime minister to be, among other things, a member of the country’s parliament, and citizenship is required for that.
Still, lots of people encouraged Trump to pursue the idea.
Maybe you should go do that now. Or maybe, in a sense, you’re already doing that, serving Israel as their leader instead of ours.
— Cenk Uygur (@cenkuygur) May 20, 2026
Get the fuck out of here and move to israel you bitch. https://t.co/t5CcUWqwzL
— Michael Rectenwald, Ph.D. (@RecTheRegime) May 20, 2026
Why wait? https://t.co/xmCElztWvH
— Rick Wilson (@TheRickWilson) May 20, 2026
Others claimed the idea would be a mere formality.
I mean Netanyahu is already the U.S. president so just swap spots officially https://t.co/ViZel1NICB
— Mac (@GoodPoliticGuy) May 20, 2026
I’m so tired of this Israel thing. We know they own us. They know we know they own us.
Annex us, change the flag, and let’s be done with it. https://t.co/SxD9Kf792S— James Li (@5149jamesli) May 20, 2026
And some people were just flabbergasted that a US president would even make such a comment.
american right wingers be like: yeah i voted for a guy who wants to leave the country to be the prime minister of another country. he's a real patriot, you see https://t.co/bZFU7IMJsw
— ♡ mari/cohe ♡ (@noinconsistency) May 20, 2026
Impeach.
Remove.
Prosecute for high treason. https://t.co/AgFKz0lCvz— Kentucky Statesman (@ky_statesman) May 20, 2026
America – is this what you want in a president? https://t.co/Pgv7RmFFKp
— Daniel McAdams (@DanielLMcAdams) May 20, 2026
Subscribe to Commons People, the podcast that makes politics easy. Every week, Kevin Schofield and Kate Nicholson unpack the week’s biggest stories to keep you informed. Join us for straightforward analysis of what’s going on at Westminster.
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Harry Styles on stage in Amsterdam last weekHarry Styles has confirmed his team is currently in the process of making tweaks to his current tour after fans complained about not being able to see him.
Last week, the Aperture singer kicked off his Together, Together world tour with the first series of shows in his 10-night residency at Amsterdam’s Johan Cruijff Arena.
Unfortunately, once the concerts got underway, many fans standing on the floor felt that the layout of the elaborate stage meant that, for much of the show, they weren’t able to see Harry or his opening act, Robyn.
On Wednesday afternoon, Harry released a statement which read: “We’ve heard concerns from some fans regarding sightline obstructions on the floor. We want every person in the room to have the best experience possible, and we are actively working on making adjustments to improve visibility, while keeping everyone’s safety a priority.”
Addressing the planned changes more specifically, the statement continued: “Beginning Friday, the front bridges will be altered in Amsterdam and London. For future venues, we are working as quickly as possible to make adjustments that also fit within safety code and local compliance.
“In the meantime, temporary barricade adjustments have been made to the left and right front [general admission] puts for [Wednesday’s] show to improve stage visibility.”
“Thank you for your patience, understanding and for being part of the Together, Together tour with us,” the statement concluded. “We love dancing with all our friends.”
Harry Styles will be making adjustments to his stage layout for his Together, Together tour following complaints regarding visibility. pic.twitter.com/9Qrnkj9RYm
— Pop Base (@PopBase) May 20, 2026
Harry’s latest tour is in support of his fourth album Kiss All The Time. Disco, Occasionally, which reached number one on both sides of the Atlantic earlier this year.
The world jaunt consists of longer residencies at select venues around the globe, including 12 nights at London’s Wembley Stadium and a staggering 30 dates at New York’s iconic Madison Square Garden spread out across August and October.
READ MORE:
The US government has dropped all federal charges against Ori Solomon, who is now free to leave the US and return to Israel.
Solomon’s hidden, illegal biolab in a rental lock-up left neighbours and the police who entered it “deathly ill”. However, the only charges he now faces relate to illegal waste disposal.
The official story now is that the lab was making unlicensed “medical testing kits”. Those, however, do not commonly make people “deathly ill”.
US operates revolving door of impunity
The US has a track record of turning a blind eye or dropping cases in order to allow Israelis to return to the colony. Notably, senior cyber-spy Tom Alexandrovich was allowed to flee to Israel in 2025 after meeting several US intelligence officials while in custody.
Alexandrovich had been caught in a paedophile sting operation as he arranged to meet a child for sex. The pro-Israel US law official who allowed him to flee has a history of genocidal comments. Israel is harbouring well over 2,000 accused or convicted paedophiles and refuses extradition requests.
It has also assisted a number of accused war criminals to flee back to the colony when they were pursued by justice groups for their crimes in Gaza.
False flags
Solomon’s arrest in February came as Israeli and pro-Israeli mouthpieces raised fears of supposed Iranian chemical or biological attacks on US soil. They attempted to pressure the US into attacking Iran, as it ultimately did.
The occupation has a long and confirmed history of ‘false flag’ attacks for political gain.
Featured image via X/ Las Vegas Locally
By Skwawkbox
One in five girls say they first experienced unwanted physical or sexual harassment before age 12. That’s the finding of new research from girls’ rights charity Plan International UK.
It sits alongside another recent report, which focussed on the pervasive impact of online misogyny.
Opinium Research polled 1,000 nationally representative girls and women in the UK aged 16-24. The findings highlight the vast majority (87%) have received unwanted comments about their appearance, such as catcalling and intrusive remarks.
As a result, many young women say they are adapting their behaviour, with nearly three in five (58%) saying they change how they dress in order to feel safe when they are out in public.
UK girls and young women face hidden inequalities
The alarming findings come as Plan International UK launches its new campaign, The Fine Print, which highlights the hidden inequalities and expectations girls and young women face.
As part of the campaign, the charity is unveiling a giant clothesline created in collaboration with artist Annie Frost Nicholson: oversized clothing hanging from a monumental washing line above the Thames, with each garment symbolising the inequalities stitched into girls’ lives.
Plan International UK previously commissioned a sand artwork on Blackpool beach, illustrating the lack of progress on gender equality.
Ealaf, 17, member of Plan International’s Youth Advisory Panel, said:
I first was followed by a boy at the age of 10. And because he was one of my peers it wasn’t taken very seriously unfortunately. I honestly can’t remember a time where I did not experience unwanted comments about my appearance, which is really disheartening to look back on my experiences, especially at institutions like school.
I study ‘Women in Literature’ for my A-Level topic and a lot of the themes that come up from texts from over 200 years ago aren’t too dissimilar from what I experience or see today!
The rise of far-right and anti-female rhetoric has actually begun to scare me in terms of the accomplishment for gender equality. It is really disheartening to see when so much work has been put into achieving so many of the freedoms we as women have begun to achieve today.
Girls surveyed also cited the ‘unwritten rules’ they are being expected to accept, including:
- Being polite or likable to avoid conflict (54%).
- Being more mature than boys (52%).
- Accepting unwanted comments or behaviour as ‘normal’ (46%).
Concern is also hitting across generations. Nearly two-thirds (64%) of parents say they are worried about raising a daughter in today’s climate, pointing to wider anxieties about safety, equality, and the environment girls are growing up in.
Rose Caldwell, CEO at Plan International UK, said:
Girls are often told that gender equality has been achieved, or even gone too far. Today’s findings tell a very different story, exposing the daily reality of inequality that girls and young women still face.
What is particularly concerning is how normalised this has become. Many girls told us harassment begins as early as primary school, which shapes how they dress, behave and move through the world from a young age.
There has been important progress, including the criminalisation of public sexual harassment which came into force this year after years of campaigning. But far more must be done to protect girls and young women, particularly from online harm.
Against a backdrop of political uncertainty, we are facing a perfect storm that threatens to stall, or even reverse, hard-won gains. Together we can change the conditions girls are born into. It’s time to take gender inequality seriously and ensure we don’t lose the progress that has already been made.
Challenges facing UK girls and young women are impacting attitudes towards the future, with more than half (56%) aged 16–24 saying they do not believe gender equality will arrive in their lifetime. One in five also say they feel they have had to lower their ambitions because of their gender.
Featured image via Christopher Furlong / Getty Images
By The Canary
Colombian mercenaries are being hired, trained and moved into Sudan by the United Arab Emirates (UAE), a new report warns.
The east African nation is locked into a civil war between the Sudanese government and the UAE-backed Rapid Support Forces.
Human Rights Watch (HRW) reported this week:
Colombian private military contractors, apparently hired by a United Arab Emirates (UAE)-based company, transited through UAE military bases before being deployed to Sudan to support the abusive Rapid Support Forces (RSF).
This is further evidence indicating that the UAE is assisting or otherwise substantially contributing to the Rapid Support Forces’ capacity to commit war crimes.
More information can be found in HRW’s From Bogotá to El Fasher report.
Sudan war began in April 2023
The three-year war has killed thousands and displaced millions. The RSF, backed by the UAE, is fighting the Sudanese government, with gold interests and regional influence at stake.
Numerous foreign actors, including the UK, have caused the war to fester through active participation and/or outright passivity. Israel, too, is a major player in the war.
The war in Sudan is theoretically between the Arab-majority RSF and the Sudanese government. But foreign states pursuing their own interests are backing the combatants.
Egypt backs the government, alongside Russia, Turkey, Iran, Saudi Arabia, and Qatar. Israel has backed both sides at different times.
The RSF has killed Sudanese civilians in vast numbers. Some estimates say 150,000 people have died and more than 10 million civilians have been displaced by fighting.
British links to Colombian mercs?
Britain is the former colonial power in Sudan and there are reports it is still enabling the violence today. The Guardian revealed “connections between the mercenaries hired to overrun El Fasher and addresses in the UK capital” last December.
The investigation stated Zeuz Global, a business registered at a Tottenham flat, was “set up by two individuals named and sanctioned last week by the US treasury for hiring Colombian mercenaries to fight for the RSF”.
Journalists added:
The firm is active. The day after the US treasury announced sanctions on those behind the Colombian mercenary operation – 9 December – Zeuz Global abruptly moved its operation to the very heart of London. On 10 December the firm shared “new address details”. Its new postcode matches One Aldwych, a five-star hotel in Covent Garden.
Now, new evidence uncovered by HRW links the Colombian mercenary operation to the UAE too.
Evidence collected by Human Rights Watch indicates that, since 2024, an Abu Dhabi-based security company–which is licensed to work for the Emirati government and has links to the ruling family and senior United Arab Emirates (UAE) officials–has appeared to hire Colombian private military contractors (PMCs) who were deployed to Sudan to fight alongside the RSF.
A witness to the RSF’s October 2025 massacre in the southern Sudanese city of El Fasher told HRW:
…those doing the killing were Arab Sudanese, but standing next to them were white people, who she said were shorter than the Sudanese fighters, and, unlike them, wore fatigues and helmets.
“They had sniper rifles…small weapons with silencers…They were wearing something around their chest, short sleeves, and insignia.”
The report claims that the “white uniformed fighters” the female witness described “were most likely Colombian PMCs, who stood by while RSF fighters killed men and women, including people with disabilities”.
The UK has substantial links to the UAE, including Manchester City football club. The Gulf state is a major buyer of British arms. Furthermore, a recent report even suggested that the UK downplayed and downgraded the genocide in Sudan in order to avoid “pissing off” the Emiratis.
The UK appears complicit in not one but two active genocides, in Sudan as well as Gaza. Sudan is a criminally under-reported war. This suggests an absolute disregard for African lives who recall the most vicious days of the empire.
Featured image via UNHCR
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