The Guardian reports that charity shops are being swamped with soiled items and low-quality fast fashion, leaving some donations unsellable. At St Raphael’s Hospice charity shop in Cheam, south London, the commercial manager says the store receives 30 to 50 bags a day, and sometimes more than 100. The article says donation habits shifted during Covid as people sold their best items on Vinted.
The Guardian reports that a calendar phishing scam is growing exponentially. The scam places appointment or renewal reminders in victims’ calendars with links that lead to fake Google, Microsoft or PayPal login pages, where victims may hand over their credentials.
Economist Isabella Weber argues that making life’s essentials affordable can help address poverty, inequality and fascism. In a Guardian interview, she says economists should seek practical solutions rather than cling to ideological purity, and warns that extreme inequality and corporate concentration threaten democracy.
NHS England has issued new guidance saying trans patients should use single-sex hospital spaces according to their biological sex, rather than their gender identity. The BBC reports the guidance covers hospital wards or bays, while The Guardian says it also applies to toilets and changing rooms.
The Guardian’s John Crace writes that ITV revealed more racism and bigotry within Reform just as Nigel Farage was planning a press conference. Crace portrays ITV’s report as an unwelcome interruption to Farage’s reappearance.
The Guardian reports that games arcades are having a rebirth as players rediscover more focused gaming experiences after years of sprawling, constantly updated games. Its article asks whether a new wave of independent arcades could bring back gaming’s social side.
The UK economy grew 0.1% in August, according to the Office for National Statistics, despite falling consumer spending, The Guardian reports. Growth beat economists’ forecast of a 0.1% contraction and was slower than July’s 0.4% rise, The Guardian says. The BBC reports that John Healey called the surprise growth a 'sign of resilience' ahead of the Budget.
The Guardian previews a hands-on demo of Nintendo’s Switch 2 remake of The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time, the 1998 game. The preview describes a prettified Hyrule and newly orchestrated soundtrack, along with changes including sprinting, manual jumping, a free-rotating camera and a scrolling inventory bar; it says Link feels strikingly different to control.
The UK’s immigration and asylum bill could deny survivors of sexual violence recognition and support as human trafficking victims under its credibility tests, the independent anti-slavery commissioner has warned. Eleanor Lyons called the measures fundamentally unfair and said they could affect people who allege abuse by Mohamed Al Fayed.
More than two years after Thames Water was flagged as a potential crisis for the incoming Labour government, its financial crisis remains unresolved, with a creditor-led recapitalisation, special administration or another solution still under consideration. The Guardian’s Nils Pratley says sector-wide reform is also moving slowly and argues that any delay over public control should be clarified quickly because continued uncertainty could be costly.
The Guardian’s review says Castlevania: Belmont’s Curse creates a vivid, haunting gothic world in demon-swarmed Paris, but takes too long to reveal its most imaginative elements and does not always make for an enjoyable experience. It praises the frenetic combat and demanding boss fights, while noting that the shift toward twitch-based action and away from role-playing elements may annoy purists.
Lion Green Road, a council housing development in Coulsdon, Croydon, has won the RIBA Stirling Prize as Britain’s best new building. Designed by Mary Duggan Architects with Ruff Architects, the project delivered 157 homes after being asked for 80, The Guardian reports. The award spotlights council-led housebuilding and the legacy of Croydon’s housing company Brick by Brick, whose work was halted in 2020 after the council went bankrupt.
Women in the UK are again facing shortages of some HRT products, which could persist for weeks, The Guardian reports. Experts say alternatives should deliver the same dose of oestrogen by the same method; BBC News reports that women in Northern Ireland were warned after shortages there.
At Russell Brand’s rape and sexual assault trial, a woman told Southwark Crown Court that he made her take half-naked photos of him before allegedly raping her in a hotel room at a Labour party conference. Brand denies attacking her. The Guardian previously reported that prosecutors described him as “ruthless and calculated” as the trial began.
Argentina President Javier Milei’s chief adviser, Santiago Caputo, cited the election of Sagal Abdi-Wali to the UK parliament as evidence of Britain’s Islamisation and as a reason for Argentina to seek sovereignty over the Falkland Islands, The Guardian reports. In a social media post, Caputo suggested taking the islands was necessary to prevent interference by an Islamic state in the region; The Guardian says he is reportedly taking a key role in Argentina’s Falklands strategy.
The Guardian reports that the US government could spend about $335,000 on research and advertising in South Africa to investigate why fewer white Afrikaners than expected are applying to the US refugee program; an August proposal said officials knew little about the reasons. Its live coverage also reported that Donald Trump returned to Washington amid midterm campaigning as polls showed voters concerned about the US economy.
Indonesia is testing dry ice dispersed by plane over South Sumatra to tackle fires and the toxic haze they produce, The Guardian reports. The country had already tried cloud seeding and water bombing and sent army personnel to fight the fires; the haze has drawn the ire of regional neighbours, according to the report.
One Nation has proposed a $2,000 baby subsidy for new parents in Victoria, a day after Labor and Liberal agreed to cover out-of-pocket costs for abortion care. The Guardian reports that Victorian deputy leader Colleen Harkin announced plans to remove those costs for pregnant women using the public healthcare system and offer a $2,000 subsidy for private maternity care; she said the party would not touch state abortion laws. This follows earlier reports that Victoria was set to become the first state to make abortions free after the Coalition matched Labor’s pledge.
At an inquest into the 2022 death of eight-year-old Elizabeth Struhs, the Queensland coroner heard that her child-protection case was not prioritised or handled intensively because the assigned worker was very busy. The court also heard the worker may have been overly influenced by the presentation of Struhs’s upper-class home, with cases believed to pose a more immediate risk taking precedence. This follows earlier reports that doctors recommended an involuntary mental-health assessment for her mother and that a child-safety officer assessed Struhs as safe the day after she was admitted to hospital in a coma.
Guinea-Bissau's health minister says the country has not approved a Danish-led hepatitis B trial in newborns, which would be funded by the US government and private partners, The Guardian reports. The study would track broader outcomes such as mortality and neurodevelopment rather than vaccine safety or effectiveness; the report says it has been championed by US health secretary Robert F Kennedy Jr.