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Oxfam ‘can’t guarantee future’ of charity shops as it also reviews warehouse business

Oxfam is reviewing the operations of its three warehouses in Batley, Bicester and Milton Keynes and says it “cannot give guarantees” on the future of its high street shops in a “difficult economic climate”. The charity said it had no plans to close warehouses or shops but insiders fear that Batley, which houses Oxfam’s main textile recycling centre, will shut as part of a cost-cutting drive because the West Yorkshire site’s lease is up for renewal. All three warehouses together employ about 90 people. A source said Oxfam was considering closing up to 100 of its 500-plus UK outlets as sales at some were no longer viable. “Donations have dropped off,” the insider said, adding that the charity’s shops were also facing competition from online sellers of secondhand goods such as Vinted. “Oxfam is always more expensive, and that’s starting to have an effect,” the source said. Oxfam Activities is the charity’s arm that aims to raise money through its trade in new items for sale in shops, its textile recycling plant in Batley and the provision of stewards for festivals. However, it made losses of more than £2m in the year to March 2025 and in the prior year. Sales fell by 7% in the year to March 2025, driven by a slump in income from recycling. This division of the business does not include direct income from the stores. Lorna Fallon, chief supporter officer of Oxfam GB, said: “In [the last financial year], Oxfam GB’s shops, warehouses and online retail teams generated a £6.3m (net) contribution to our humanitarian work, as well as raising dedicated funds through emergency appeals to support crises in Venezuela, the Middle East and Ukraine. “As is standard practice, we keep all parts of our retail operations under review via regular meetings. While we cannot give guarantees in this difficult economic climate, we are confident in and positive about our current retail performance and do not have plans to close our shops or warehouses at this time.” Fallon said Oxfam had launched a new online rental service recently and had brought fulfilment of online orders back in-house, as well as opening a second superstore, in Manchester. “Next month our shops, warehouses and digital hubs will be leading Second Hand September, our annual campaign to tackle fashion’s environmental damage while raising funds for our global work on poverty and climate change,” she said. The review of Oxfam’s operations comes after job cuts and store closures at charities including the British Heart Foundation (BHF) and Cancer Research. The BHF closed 150 shops and cut jobs earlier this summer. It blamed rising costs and the shift to online shopping had made about a quarter of its high street locations commercially unsustainable. Cancer Research announced in October it would be closing 90 shops across the UK. Charities selling secondhand clothing have also faced increased competition for customers and donations from online sellers such as eBay and Vinted, while the price of “rag” – damaged or unwanted clothing and home textiles for recycling, which was once a key source of income – has fallen in recent years.

Trump threatens Iran’s trade partners, as military strikes make way for economic pressure

Donald Trump has announced a new campaign to isolate Iran’s economy, threatening “tremendous economic consequences” on any country that helps or does business with Tehran, a move that could set up a fresh confrontation with China if implemented. “Today, I am announcing the most crushing economic operation ever taken against any country!” Trump wrote on Truth Social. “Any country that allows its financial institutions, businesses, airports, or government entities to provide any type of lifeline to Iran will itself face tremendous economic consequences.” His announcement however contained no detail on what actions would be taken or which countries could be affected, and comes as the war nears its six-month mark, with the president facing pressure over the cost of the conflict as the US midterm elections approach. Last month the US president paused attacks on Iran, after a fortnight of nightly strikes that had failed to bring officials in Tehran back to the negotiating table and reports that the war has run down US stockpiles of key munitions. Pentagon advisers reportedly told Trump last month that the US had nearly exhausted its list of targets in Iran and the military campaign had reached the limits of its effectiveness. The White House has signalled in recent weeks a shift in strategy to tightening pressure on Iran economically. US treasury secretary Scott Bessent said last week the US would begin ramping up efforts to isolating Iran economically. The US treasury has for months been carrying out an effort, called Operation Economic Fury, aiming to cut off Iran’s funding with targeted sanctions, while a naval blockade in the straight of Hormuz has sought to block Iranian ports from exporting oil vital to keeping the country’s economy afloat. Iran’s economy already faces a punishing array of US and western sanctions that have ground down the economy over years and curtailed its ability to sell oil. But experts say the country’s leaders have learned to adapt to the measures, including by exporting oil through a sophisticated network of shadow tankers. In his announcement on Wednesday, Trump listed several activities that he said needed to stop immediately, including “oil smuggling, swap lines, cash transfers, exchange houses, ship registries, front companies”. The wording of the president’s announcement suggested that he could be threatening secondary sanctions on country’s that buy Iranian oil, but experts say such a move could lead to direct confrontation with China – Iran’s biggest trading partner – at a time when the US is trying to establish a new trading relationship with Beijing. “Whatever new economic measures the US can use will need to be directed at Iran’s trading partners,” said Gregory Brew, a senior analyst at theEurasia Group, adding that it will be “hard for the US to direct such actions at China, the country that matters most to Iran’s economic future.” Chinese leader Xi Jinping is also expected to visit the US next month, further complicating any efforts to target Beijing’s imports of Iranian oil. Mohammad Mokhber, an adviser to Iran’s supreme leader, said on Tuesday that military pressure and sanctions would not break Iran’s resolve. He added that Iran remained open to dialogue ⁠with the US, but would not confuse negotiations with surrender, according to the semi-official Fars news agency. On Tuesday, the United Arab Emirates, announced it would suspend all trade activities, commercial exchanges and financial transactions with Iran, after it said it had detected two missiles launched from the country. Tehran dismissed the reports as baseless. Prior to the war, the UAE was one of Iran’s biggest trade partners, providing more than 30% of its imports. Earlier on Wednesday, Trump also claimed that vessels from Gulf countries allied with the US were continuing to move through the strait of Hormuz, despite the Iranian threat to shipping in the waterway. The president said the US military was aiding ships in the strait, saying “right now, a lot of boats are coming through.” Axios reported that US forces were facilitating the transit of 15 to 20 ships in and out of the Hormuz each night in recent weeks – carrying “roughly half the prewar volume” of daily oil shipments – while also continuing to blockade Iranian exports. Those volumes were disputed by some, with ship tracking data ‌from Kpler showing transits remained low. Referring to the Axios report, Danny Citrinowicz, the former head of the Iran branch of Israeli military intelligence, said it was an important operational development, but questioned how long the US government would be able to sustain such an operation. “More importantly, this will not force Iran to surrender or fundamentally change its negotiating position,” said Citrinowicz.

The boy behind the Baby Shark phenomenon: I used to hum it without even realising

“I just remember having fun dancing and playing on what felt like a huge set,” Geonroung Park says, recalling the day 10 years ago when he was filmed, aged seven, doing the hand movements to a children’s song about a family of sharks. That footage became Baby Shark Dance, now the most-watched video in YouTube’s history. It has racked up more than 17.2bn views and has held the platform’s global no 1 spot for 69 consecutive months. Despite becoming one of the most recognisable faces online, growing up as “the Baby Shark kid” was, Park says, mostly ordinary. Friends at school knew about the video and thought it was “cool”, but otherwise treated him much like everyone else. He remembers the song staying stuck in his head for a while after filming wrapped, catching himself humming it “without even realising it”. He found fame in a song, yet almost nobody has actually heard Park sing. The vocals belonged to another child performer. Now 17, Park is keen to change that. “Ten years ago, I was dancing next to Baby Shark,” he tells the Guardian. “Now, I want to share my own voice and the stories I’ve written myself.” Park makes his debut on Thursday as K-pop singer Baby Shark Boy, releasing his first single, Wave, featuring Joohoney of Monsta X, the same K-pop group whose members once performed the Baby Shark choreography during its viral peak. Wave opens with the familiar Baby Shark melody before shifting into an electropop sound, a structure Park says mirrors his own journey. “To me, Baby Shark Dance feels like the first wave that started 10 years ago”, he says. “That small wave grew into something much bigger than I ever could have imagined, and I feel like I’ve grown along with it. “I also thought there was something fun and meaningful about the idea of the little boy who once danced to the song growing up and now sharing a new song in his own voice,” he says. Baby Shark ‘isn’t a past I want to leave behind’ The clip he featured in simmered for about a year before exploding in 2017 via the #BabySharkChallenge in Indonesia. It then got a further push from a run of other K-pop stars, including Blackpink, Twice and Girls’ Generation, performing the choreography on television. By 2019 it had reached number 32 on the Billboard Hot 100 and no 6 on the UK singles chart, and had even become the walk-up song for a Major League Baseball team, the Washington Nationals, on their way to winning that year’s World Series. The song itself is much older than the video. Baby Shark is widely believed to date back to North American summer camps in the 1970s, a singalong chant with hand motions that existed long before Park was born. The company behind the video, then known as SmartStudy, uploaded an animated version in November 2015, then the choreography-led clip in June the following year, turning the folk tune into a catchy singalong with a K-pop-style beat. South Korea’s supreme court settled the question of ownership in August 2025, ruling against a children’s songwriter who had claimed the song copied his own arrangement, and finding his version had not been altered enough from the original chant to qualify for its own copyright protection. The Pinkfong Company, the South Korean children’s entertainment company that built Baby Shark into a global franchise of TV shows, films and merchandise, describes Park’s single as a real-life growth story, rather than a conventional idol launch. Park himself says it feels “more like a new beginning than a one-off project”. Park briefly reappeared last year in short-form video marking the song’s 10th anniversary, which drew more than 24m views, a sign the character never really left public memory. The teenager is keen to be known for more than a childhood clip and to “gradually find my own style as an artist” but is happy with the opportunity it has given him. “To me, being the Baby Shark boy isn’t a past I want to leave behind,” he says.

‘Like a miracle’: 84-year-old woman pulled alive from rubble three days after Indonesian quake

An 84-year-old woman has been discovered alive in the flattened remains of her home three days after a powerful earthquake hit eastern Indonesia, authorities have confirmed. The 7.7-magnitude quake struck off Indonesia’s Flores island on Saturday morning, killing at least 73 people, injuring more than 900 people and displacing nearly 60,000 others. A landslide triggered by the quake had blocked access to Nitunglea village where Paulina Pobi, 84, lived, leaving the elderly woman buried for three days under the collapsed bamboo walls of her home until Tuesday. Sikka regency police Bambang Supeno told local media the woman had now been safely evacuated and taken to the nearest health centre for treatment. “Because she was paralysed, she couldn’t move or speak, so it wasn’t until the fourth day that her family finally found her,” another local official, Rudolfus Riba, told Agence France-Presse. “She is in good health; there were no injuries at all. She was just a bit weak because she hadn’t eaten or drunk anything for days.” “It feels unreal, almost like a miracle.” Grocery stores, petrol stations and other shops have begun to reopen on the island, but debris still covers streets and searchers continue to dig in the rubble for possible victims. Indonesia’s disaster mitigation agency said 398 tons of aid, including food, tents, refugee shelters and donations from the public, have been transported to affected communities. But the distribution process has been slowed by Flores’ mountainous terrain and roads damaged by the shallow quake. The government has expanded the use of military aircraft, ships and personnel to support emergency operations in the remote areas, disaster agency spokesperson Berton Panjaitan said in a video statement. More than 3,000 aftershocks have been recorded since Saturday, at least 86 of them strong enough to be felt by residents, according to Indonesia’s geological agency. The tremors have made many too afraid to return to their damaged homes. Regional police chief inspector general Rudi Darmoko said displaced communities were traumatised by the disaster. “These refugees are not only physically injured, but they also have mental health issues that we must not ignore, especially for children,” he said. Indonesia frequently experiences earthquakes because it lies on the Pacific “Ring of Fire”, a zone of intense seismic and volcanic activity that stretches from Japan through South-east Asia and across the Pacific Ocean. In 2004, a powerful 9.1-magnitude earthquake off the coast of Sumatra triggered a tsunami that killed about 220,000 people across the region, including about 170,000 in Indonesia.

Ukraine war briefing: Russia running on imported gasoline, government confirms

Russia has ⁠begun importing fuel, its government has confirmed, as a shipload of gasoline arrived from India. A fuel exporter in peacetime, Russia has been forced to turn to imports after ⁠Ukrainian strikes on its refineries and depots in response to the Russian invasion. The campaign by Kyiv’s military has been a major success, causing fuel shortages across Russia and in illegally occupied Crimea. At least one cargo of gasoline from India has just entered ⁠Russia’s domestic market, three ⁠industry sources told Reuters and shipping data showed. Russia is also arranging rail imports of gasoline from Belarus and Kazakhstan, and has placed a ‌ban on fuel ‌exports. Reuters reported last week that Russia had also begun shipping in diesel from Asia. An Oman-flagged tanker loaded about 68,000 tonnes of gasoline at the Port Said anchorage in a ship-to-ship transfer from the tanker Agni, which had been loaded ‌at India’s Vadinar port, sources told Reuters. The tanker unloaded at Russia’s Arctic port of Vitino in early August, shipping data showed. India has been one of the keenest customers of Russian oil held at low prices by war sanctions. The importation of refined Indian products is a reversal of the flow that speaks to the toll of the war on Russia’s own processing capabilities. According to industry data, at least two more gasoline cargoes from India ‌are expected to arrive at Russian ports within the next two weeks. Russian deputy prime minister Alexander ⁠Novak acknowledged on Wednesday that imports had begun but did not give details on the ⁠volumes or sources. Fuel stations in Moscow have reimposed purchasing limits, according to Reuters ⁠witnesses and fuel suppliers. State-owned Rosneft, Russia’s biggest oil company, said petrol purchases were restricted to 30 litres at all its stations across the country. At least five people died in Kyiv during Russian strikes early on Thursday, local officials and the military reported. A heavy attack with missiles hit residential areas and warehouses, said the Kyiv mayor, Vitali Klitschko. “The upper floors of a nine-storey residential block have collapsed and a fire has broken out,” he said. “At another address, people are trapped inside a residential block.” Ukraine’s air force warned that Russia had fired Kalibr missiles at the capital. On Wednesday a Russian drone hit a minibus in Kherson, killing four people, said Ukrainian prosecutors, while at Zhytomyr in central Ukraine a Banderol drone-missile hit the police headquarters, killing two officers and wounding at least 20 others, the police service said. In Russia’s border regions of Belgorod and Bryansk two people were killed when drones hit cars, said Russian officials. Volodymyr Zelenskyy has fired a senior aide amid a fresh corruption investigation, Dan Sabbagh writes. Iryna Mudra, a presidential deputy chief of staff, was dismissed by decree after multiple reports in Ukrainian media that her house was being searched by officials investigating an alleged money-laundering scheme. The Nabu anti-corruption agency said it was investigating a criminal conspiracy that involved “the participation of high-ranking officials from the office of the president” and several others. A Ukrainian man has been arrested in Croatia as part of an investigation into the 2022 bombing of the Nord Stream gas pipelines between Germany and Russia. Prosecutors identified the suspect only as Vladimir Z, but he is understood to be the same man arrested by Poland last year, then released after a Polish court ruled against executing a European arrest warrant issued by Germany. He was identified in that court as Volodymyr Zhuravlev. Prosecutors allege the trained scuba diver was directly involved in the explosions. Berlin will seek the man’s extradition to face trial at the federal court in Karlsruhe, in Germany. The German prosecutor’s office said the suspect “belonged to a group of people, including the separately prosecuted Serhiy K, who planted explosives near the island of Bornholm in September 2022 on the Nord Stream 1 and Nord Stream 2 gas pipelines”. The UN’s humanitarian chief has visited Kherson, where he saw the impact of Russian drones and described the situation as chilling, with civilians and aid efforts targeted. Marked vehicles of aid workers had been hit despite being protected under international law, Tom Fletcher said. Particularly exposed were the local organisations carrying out aid missions on behalf of Ukraine’s humanitarian fund. “They’re the ones who are saying most loudly to us, we’re not protected.” Russia and Ukraine exchanged 103 prisoners of war each, officials from both sides said on Wednesday. Ukrainian intelligence said another swap was ‌expected before the end of August.

‘Like a seagull in a stiff breeze’: what it’s like flying into Wellington, the world’s windiest city

It had been a smooth late-July flight from Auckland, until the plane started its descent into Wellington. Then the bumps and swaying began. “The more we went down, the rockier it got,” says Laura, a Wellington resident who wished to give her first name only. “There was one point where we must have got a horrible cross-wind and it felt like the plane was about to flip over. At that point, the entire flight screamed.” “I genuinely felt like I was about to die, which was pretty awful … and I had eaten a horrible burger before going on the plane – that all came back up.” The plane lurched back up into the sky. The pilot announced the weather was set to worsen and the plane returned to Auckland. “We often call it a ‘Welly welcome’ when you get a bumpy landing, but this was a different level of scary, and obviously the pilots knew that because they didn’t land and didn’t try to do it again,” Laura says. Anyone who has frequently flown into New Zealand’s capital has a story to tell. Wellington is the world’s windiest city, with an annual average wind speed of 29km/h. The city sits on the Cook Strait, a passage between New Zealand’s North and South Islands, making it prone to high winds that can compound around the airport, which is flanked by hills. This year’s “super” El Niño, a label assigned when sea surface temperatures climb by at least 2C, will be the strongest of the century, and that could intensify Wellington’s winds, as the city heads into spring – the windiest season. “There were some El Niños in the past where it’s ended up being very windy in Wellington … so we expect it to be windier and more westerly than normal,” says Dr Richard Turner, a research meteorologist at Earth Sciences. “I think those landings are probably going to be a little bit bumpy for the next few months.” ‘You think about your life a little bit as it comes down’ For many, the descent into Wellington can feel akin to sitting in a tiny boat as it’s thrown around on an angry sea. It is not uncommon to hear passengers gasping, praying or vomiting. Occasionally the plane might be metres from touchdown before suddenly and rapidly ascending back into the sky to reattempt a landing. When wheels do eventually reach the tarmac, and come to a strained halt, the cabin often breaks out in applause. On particularly bad days, local TV crews will wait at the airport, ready to interview passengers who emerge from a plane looking haunted and pale. For more seasoned flyers, the notoriously bumpy ride is all part of the fun of flying into New Zealand’s capital. “It’s like a rollercoaster, it’s a real adrenaline rush,” says Kevin Eagles, a Wellingtonian who has carved out an online following by livestreaming Wellington airport’s take-offs and landings. “It’s well-known you really swirl about, you think about your life a little bit as it comes down, and then you’re slammed down on the tarmac and wait for the moment the reverse thrusters kick in and there is a big roar – you’re just holding on really.” His videos of the choppy flights attract the highest number of views. “You know what it’s like for those passengers in there to experience that and you feel empathy for them but at the same time it’s incredibly thrilling,” Eagles says. On social media, people frequently relay their experiences flying into Wellington after another bumpy video emerges. “That was me on that plane years ago trying to land like a seagull in a stiff breeze. Hyperventilating into the sick bag, while you could have heard a pin drop,” writes one commentator. “Best pilots in the world. That bay landing is brutal,” says another. An analysis by Earth Sciences New Zealand shows Wellington airport has a higher percentage of strong winds compared with other parts of the city, due to its exposed location on the South Coast. Strong gusts over 96km/h are relatively frequent there, it said. “There tends to be a funnelling effect through the strait,” Turner says. Wellington can be windy year-round, but spring tends to bring low pressure systems that can intensify gusts. “The storms in the southern ocean barrel along and in front of them are these fronts that have these very strong pressure gradients at those times of the year,” Turner says. But experienced Air New Zealand pilot captain Jake Snelgrove assures passengers the bumps are always more pronounced towards the back of the plane, and pilots are highly trained to deal with Wellington’s wind. “We only go in there when we know it’s safe,” Snelgrove says. “You go in there with a lot of respect for Wellington and what the weather can do … and tend to make early, proactive decisions.” Snelgrove says no Wellington weather would ever be strong enough to compromise the structural integrity of the plane, and pilots have a warning system that alerts them to wind shear – a phenomenon when two different wind speeds are interacting and creating a turbulent environment. Where wind shear is present, pilots have a particular manoeuvre for the approach, or will conduct a go-around, to avoid landing. “While it sometimes doesn’t feel comfortable, it is still safe,” he says, adding the pilots are usually having a more enjoyable day in windy situations than passengers because it is “challenging”. Additionally, he says flights may be cancelled not because it is dangerous for the planes, but because airport staff are unable to move cargo or people if there is strong wind on the ground. On the days where Wellington’s wind does settle, passengers are in for a remarkable journey, Eagles adds. “Your anxiety is replaced by beautiful views,” he says. “You fly over Wellington city and you see the stadium and the harbour sparkling, and you think, wow.”

More than 100 dead after goldmine collapses in Central African Republic

More than 100 people have died after an artisanal goldmine at a small village in western Central African Republic (CAR) caved in due to a landslide, local officials and aid workers said on Wednesday. The landslide happened on Tuesday afternoon in the village of Zamboye, about 50km (31 miles) from the town of Baboua and close to the border of Cameroon. Footage on social media appeared to show an avalanche of sand descend on a group of people, likely the miners, and cover them. A statement by a local public prosecutor said many others were trapped under the deluge. It did not mention the number of fatalities. However, Gervais Ganagoroh, a Red Cross volunteer involved in the relief effort, told the Associated Press news agency on Wednesday that more than 100 bodies had been recovered from the collapse and ⁠a senior official at a local mining association confirmed that number to Reuters. Local media in CAR reported that authorities had launched an investigation into the incident. A second prosecutor from Baboua told the press that the incident is believed to have been caused by “the collapse of several underground tunnels in which miners were operating”. “The ground completely collapsed and buried people,” Cedric Mbango, a miner at the site, told the AFP news agency, describing the incident as “catastrophic”. Rescuers are racing to retrieve the bodies of victims and find survivors among the miners, believed to be nationals of CAR and Cameroon. Authorities in Cameroon’s Eastern region said at least three of its citizens have been identified as victims in the incident. Grégoire Mvongo, the region’s governor told state-owned radio on Wednesday that he was “working in close collaboration with our Central African colleagues to deal with the aftermath of this tragedy”. Bertrand Be Yangué, a member of the Zamboye youth council, said that “finding them alive would be a miracle.” He added: “We are saddened and heartbroken to see young men and women perish after coming to the mines to save their families from despair.” The toll is expected to rise as the rescue efforts continue, added Yangué. The Central African news website Corbeau News reported that heavy machinery, including tractors, was being used in the retrieval mission and could jeopardise the rescue of those still alive under the landmass. The exact number of people who were in the mine at the time of the cave-in remains unknown. Small scale artisanal mines are common in different parts of Africa, despite regulations criminalising them, as unemployment continues to drive able-bodied men to abandoned or unused mines, to eke a living. The mining sites often operate with weak safety standards leading to repeated incidents: at least 40 people have died in several mining incidents in CAR this year alone.

Kim Jong-un’s sister casts doubt on Trump’s claims of secret US-North Korea talks

Donald Trump has said he is planning to meet North Korea’s Kim Jong-un later this year, though the reclusive leader’s younger sister cast doubt on their communications and dampened hopes of a diplomatic breakthrough between them. Trump, who also claimed North Korea had 57 nuclear weapons, had suggested he and Kim were holding secret negotiations on Tuesday after announcing the US would downgrade its participation in military exercises held by South Korea, a US ally. Asked whether Kim had responded to his request for a conversation, Trump said: “Yeah, he has.” The Wall Street Journal reported on Tuesday that Trump was pushing aides to set up an in-person meeting with Kim, potentially during a trip to Asia in November for the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit in Shenzhen, China. But on Wednesday Kim Yo-jong, the powerful sister of North Korea’s supreme leader, said she knew “absolutely nothing” about the supposed communications, and that while Trump and Kim had an excellent relationship, the US remained an enemy of Pyongyang. “The United States’ hostile policy toward the DPRK has not changed, and the United States and its followers are vigorously carrying out hostile military activities against the DPRK even at this very moment,” she said in a statement carried by North Korean state media. Journalists questioned Trump further about his talks with Kim in front of Marine One on Wednesday. He declined to say whether or not he was in direct contact, but asked whether he was planning to meet Kim later this year, he said: “Yeah, I will be.” “I know Kim Jong-un very well and he’s gonna be fine,” Trump said. “As long as we have a smart president, he’s gonna be fine. If we have a dumb president, then he’s probably not going to be so fine.” Trump also made the unusual disclosure that North Korea had 57 “very powerful nuclear weapons”, revealing exact intelligence that may not ordinarily be made public. He added that Iran should not be allowed to possess a nuclear weapon. In her statement, Kim’s sister lauded the relationship between him and Trump, saying he had “personally good memories and feelings” toward the US president. She cast doubt on whether her brother had secretly been in communication with Trump. “Perhaps it is the only matter I do not know about in relation to our supreme leadership’s foreign policy,” she said. She denied claims by Ukraine’s president, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, that North Korea planned to deploy tens of thousands of troops to fight for Russia.