Good morning.

Kamala Harris and Donald Trump faced off in a presidential debate in Philadelphia on Tuesday, with Harris taking a series of blows after Trump spread bizarre lies about abortion and immigration.

“World leaders are laughing at Donald Trump,” the vice president said. “I’ve spoken to military leaders, some of whom have worked with you, and they say you’re a disgrace.”

A CNN poll found that voters thought Harris won the debate by a margin of 63% to 37%. Even a Fox News analyst declared Harris the winner, challenging Trump about people leaving his rallies early out of “boredom and exhaustion,” which clearly unnerved the former president, who fell into the trap again and again.

• What were the most memorable moments? After Harris concluded a remark with a dig at Trump’s crowd sizes, Trump began to ramble — about immigrants eating people’s pets. “In Springfield, they eat the dogs, the people that came in, they eat the cats,” Trump said. “They eat the pets of the people that live there.” ABC moderators interrupted the discussion to say that the city manager of Springfield, Ohio, had told the network that there had been no credible reports of specific allegations of pets being abused by individuals within the immigrant community.

• How did the moderators do? ABC moderators David Muir and Linsey Davis were largely praised for fact-checking Trump’s lies and steering discussions back to the questions. When Trump falsely accused Harris and her running mate, Tim Walz, of calling for abortions in the ninth month and “execution after birth,” Davis responded, “There is no state in this country where it is legal to kill a baby after it’s born.”

• Another boost for Harris: After the debate ended, Taylor Swift supported Harris on Instagram, calling the post “childless cat lady” in a dig at misogynistic comments made by Republican vice presidential nominee J.D. Vance.

In other news…

Stat of the day: Smoke from wildfires raging through the Amazon covers 60% of Brazil

Wildfires have been raging in Brazil’s Amazon rainforest for weeks, fueled by the region’s worst drought in 40 years. More than 340,000 people are said to have been affected, with all 62 municipalities in Amazonas state declaring a state of emergency. The effects of the fires and drought have spread as far as Rio and São Paulo, with an expert from Brazil’s Inpe space agency saying smoke from the fires now covered an area of ​​5 million square kilometres – about 60% of the country.

Don’t miss: The coal-fired power station and the ghost town

The Gavin coal plant in Ohio has been called the deadliest coal plant in the U.S., with the Sierra Club estimating that its pollution has caused about 244 premature deaths each year. Two decades ago, the plant destroyed something far worse: the entire town of Cheshire, Ohio. Hundreds of residents often complained about the plant’s toxic, blue-tinged haze of pollution. The solution: The company causing the pollution bought the entire town and began displacing people en masse.

“Instead of dealing with the source of the pollution, they thought it would be better to buy up a whole city and bulldoze it,” said Neil Waggoner, an Ohio campaigner with the Sierra Club. “It’s extraordinary. In many ways, it’s dystopian.”

…or this: Florida’s ‘draconian’ new anti-homelessness law

A Florida law criminalizing sleeping in public spaces set to take effect next month will do nothing to alleviate the state’s homeless crisis, Fort Lauderdale’s mayor has warned. In particular, a provision in the law set to take effect in January that would allow legal action against any municipality that fails to address street sleeping has Dean Trantalis worried about a “tsunami of lawsuits” hitting the city.

Climate check: hotel development threatens habitat of giant tortoise in Seychelles

Conservationists are concerned about plans for a luxury resort in the Seychelles, fearing the Qatari-funded hotel development will disrupt the habitat of the world’s largest population of giant tortoises. Developers of the resort on Assomption Island, just 17 miles from the UNESCO-protected Aldabra Atoll ecosystem, said they would follow world-class sustainability practices. But wildlife biologists say the project is being rushed through without adequate analysis of the risks to the island’s wildlife, which includes whales, tortoises and many bird species.

Last thing: How to get a better night’s sleep?

According to the Centers for Disease Control, one in three Americans sleeps less than the recommended seven to nine hours a night – a deficit that has serious health consequences. Behavioral experts spoke to the Guardian about some of the most common sleep mistakes people make, including using screens before bed and spending too much time awake in bed – as well as eating too much or too little and getting too little sleep on the weekends.

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