First Thing: Trump groped me in what felt like a ‘twisted game’ with Epstein, former model alleges

Stacey Williams says the ex-president, whose spokesperson denied the allegations, touched her in an unwanted sexual way in 1993. Plus, the Guardian endorses Kamala Harris

Good morning.

A former model has accused Donald Trump of groping and sexually touching her in 1993, in what she believed was a “twisted game” between him and Jeffrey Epstein, who she claims introduced them.

Stacey Williams, who was a model in the 1990s, said she first met Trump in 1992 after being introduced by Epstein. Williams said she and Epstein casually dated for a few months and that he and Trump were “really, really good friends and spent a lot of time together”.

Williams said that while on a walk with Epstein in early 1993, he suggested they stop by Trump Tower. Soon after they arrived, she alleges, Trump pulled Williams toward him and started groping her, putting his hands “all over my breasts”, waist and her buttocks. Williams said she froze and that she believed she saw the men smiling at each other.

How has Trump’s campaign responded? The press secretary denied the allegations, calling them politically motivated and “unequivocally false”.

Harris praises John Kelly for sending ‘911 call’ to the US and attacks Trump as a ‘fascist’

Kamala Harris praised Donald Trump’s former chief of staff for sending a “911 call” to voters about his unfitness for office and attacking her opponent as a “fascist”.

In a CNN town hall with undecided voters in Delaware county, Pennsylvania, Harris took questions on ranging from the cost of living to abortion access, while attacking Trump as “increasingly unstable, and unfit to serve”.

The event came a day after the Atlantic released a story quoting former Trump advisers’ accounts of the then-president saying he wanted “the kind of generals that Hitler had”. Trump’s campaign has denied these accounts.

Where was Trump? He was at an Atlanta rally hosted by Turning Point USA, a far-right youth group, where he made a rambling speech calling Harris “a low IQ individual”.

Israelis sign open letter calling for global pressure on Israel to force an immediate ceasefire

More than 2,000 Israelis have signed an open letter calling on the international community to use “every possible sanction” to secure an immediate ceasefire between Israel and its neighbors.

Published in 11 languages, the letter argues that “change from within is not currently feasible” due to the majority of Israelis supporting the continuation of the Gaza war.

What is the latest in the war? Israel’s assault on northern Gaza has forced the World Health Organization to postpone its polio vaccination campaign.

The Guardian US view on the election: We’re backing Kamala Harris

Kamala Harris represents a hopeful future, while Donald Trump will drag Americans back into a reactionary past, the Guardian’s editorial argues as it endorses the Democratic candidate.

This November, much more is at stake than party politics, the editorial maintains. Trump’s authoritarianism may be the end of US democracy, as he has pledged to pardon those convicted in the January 6 insurrection and suggested using potentially violent methods of repression against his enemies.

The Guardian’s view is that while Trump’s agenda threatens to roll back voting and minority and women’s rights, and Harris has disappointed those who have urged her to take a stand on US complicity in Israel’s bombing of civilians in Gaza and Lebanon, only a Harris presidency offers a chance to bring back good governance, create stable, prosperous jobs and embolden the US’s climate efforts.

In other news …

Biodiversity is faring worse within key protected areas than outside them, according to research that scientists say is a “wake-up call” amid this week’s Cop16 talks.

Canada’s prime minister, Justin Trudeau, has been pressured to step down by 20 representatives within his party, who say they have given him until 28 October to decide as his Liberal party faces likely electoral defeat.

Boeing workers have rejected the latest pay offer to end the strike that has swelled the ailing manufacturer’s losses after more than a month of industrial action.

Stat of the day: 25m early votes shatter records

Nearly 25 million Americans have already voted, shattering early voting records in North Carolina, Georgia and Wisconsin. This means, with under two weeks to go, roughly one in 10 eligible US voters have already cast their ballot. The surge in early voting appears to be being driven at least in part by Donald Trump encouraging his supporters to do so.

Don’t miss this: Can Rebecca Roberts become the strongest woman in history?

When Rebecca Roberts first learned about the sport of strongwoman eight years ago, the 29-year-old hated her body and felt broken by a series of traumas: the loss of her mother, years in the care system and a rape at knifepoint. But her rise has seen her smash through barrier after barrier to become the strongest woman in the UK Europe and the world. Roberts tells Kira Cochrane about how she got here, and about working towards her ultimate goal: to be crowned the strongest woman in history.

Climate check: Earth on the brink of passing the 1.5C climate target

The world is now approaching the threshold of overshooting the 1.5C target – the limit world leaders outlined in Paris in 2015, where they set out the aim of keeping the rise in average global temperatures at or below 1.5C. Even temporarily passing this limit will mean vast damage across the globe, potentially including such dire outcomes as a total collapse of the Greenland ice sheet, melting permafrost and dieback of the Amazon rainforest..

Last Thing: the sun-loving pigs raiding Spain’s beaches

Spain’s vacation hotspots have been in the news almost constantly this year as locals protest about overtourism. But drunk tourists and rising rents aren’t the only things they’re dealing with: herds of wild boars are raiding its southernly beaches. It’s not just Spain though: you may, joyfully, recall the nude bather in Berlin who chased after a family of boars who had stolen his laptop in 2020.

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