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Good morning, I’m Tim Walker with today’s headlines. If you’d like to receive this briefing by email, sign up here.

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Top story: Woman says she was offered cash to smear Mueller

The office of special counsel Robert Mueller has asked the FBI to investigate a suspected attempt to smear the man examining Russia’s interference in the 2016 election. Several journalists received an email on 17 October, purporting to be from a woman who claimed she was offered money to make sexual misconduct accusations against Mueller. The woman said the man behind the scheme was called Jack Burkman – the name of a rightwing radio host with links to Donald Trump’s former deputy campaign chairman, Rick Gates.

Co-conspirator? Jacob Wohl, 20, a conservative hedge funder and prominent Trump fan, has also been accused of involvement in the bungled smear plot.

Thousands protest Trump’s Pittsburgh visit

Facebook Twitter Pinterest Trump go home: protesters in Pittsburgh. Photograph: Brendan Smialowski/AFP/Getty Images

The organisers of a Pittsburgh march, held to remember the 11 victims of Saturday’s shooting at the Tree of Life synagogue, said Donald Trump had emboldened “a growing white nationalist movement”, as the president visited the city on Tuesday. Trump had ignored pleas from Jewish groups and city officials to stay away, while several Washington lawmakers – including Pennsylvania’s Republican senator Pat Toomey – declined an invitation to join him on the trip.

Death penalty. Federal prosecutors are seeking the death penalty for Robert Bowers, the alleged gunman in the Pittsburgh shooting.

Birthright citizenship. Trump has suggested he will move to end the constitutional right to birthright citizenship, falsely claiming the US is the only country to endow such a right.

Midterm early voter turnout surges in several key states

Facebook Twitter Pinterest An early voting location in California. Photograph: Mike Blake/Reuters

On the first day of early voting in Georgia, three times as many people cast a ballot as in 2014. In Florida, more than 2.7 million have already voted: a record high for a midterm election. In 11 states, more votes have been cast already, with a week left to election day, than the total early votes in 2014. If the trend continues until 6 November, turnout could beat 49%, the record for a midterm, set more than 50 years ago in 1966.

Mass trans. Activists in Massachusetts are campaigning against a ballot question that could revoke a state law protecting people from transgender discrimination.

Nation’s first. Idaho Democrat Paulette Jordan is hoping to beat the odds and become America’s first indigenous governor.

Kanye West ‘distancing himself from politics’

Facebook Twitter Pinterest West Wing: Kanye meets Trump. Photograph: Saul Loeb/AFP/Getty Images

Kanye West says he will distance himself from politics and “completely [focus] on being creative” after falling out with the prominent black conservative Candace Owens. The rapper, who recently embraced Donald Trump during a visit to the Oval Office, tweeted that he had been “used to spread messages I don’t believe in”, after Owens credited him with creating the logo for a line of “Blexit” merchandise designed to encourage black voters to leave the Democratic party. West denied such involvement.

Common sense. On Tuesday, West said on Twitter he supports prison reform, common-sense gun laws and compassion for people seeking asylum.

Crib sheet

The FBI is investigating the apparent murder of the Boston gangster Whitey Bulger , who has been found dead in prison aged 89.

The Trump administration has unveiled a UN-backed peace plan to end the war in Yemen , with the Saudi-led coalition and Houthi rebels expected to meet for talks in Sweden following a ceasefire.

The state of Utah is offering its public employees $500 and a round trip to Mexico to buy reasonably priced prescription drugs , so as to sidestep the soaring costs of medicine in the US.

The People’s Bookstore, the last bookshop in Hong Kong to sell titles banned by the Communist party in mainland China, has closed.

Must-reads

Facebook Twitter Pinterest Pastor Doug Pagitt, on the road with Vote Common Good. Photograph: Logan Cyrus/The Guardian

The evangelicals stumping for the Democrats

After the 2016 election, the Minneapolis pastor Doug Pagitt was shocked to learn more than 80% of his fellow white evangelicals had voted for Trump. Now he leads a group of progressive evangelicals travelling the country to spread the word: that you don’t have to vote Republican to be a Christian.

Why tech companies are trying to bust ‘ghosting’

Two dating apps have announced plans to crack down on ghosters: people who eagerly begin an online conversation, only to go silent without warning. A cynical ploy to keep users active, or “a revival of kindness and respect”? Alex Hern reports.

How has Shepard Smith held on as a Fox News host?

This week, Shepard Smith devoted a segment of his Fox News show to debunking Donald Trump’s fearmongering about the Honduran migrant caravan. Smith consistently contradicts Fox’s pro-Trump line, yet he has just renewed his contract for another three years. Gavin Haynes asks how the “voice of reason” is still on the air.

The podcast telling ‘mind-blowing’ stories about illness

When Jeremie Saunders was diagnosed with cystic fibrosis, his parents were told he would not live long past his 20th birthday. Now 30, Saunders is one of the three hosts of Sickboy, a frank, funny and surprisingly popular podcast about chronic and terminal illness.

Opinion

Finnish researchers have started producing food independent of animals or plants, using electricity in place of photosynthesis. So-called “electric food” may sound like sci-fi, says George Monbiot, but it could help slow the destruction of the natural world.

According to the researchers’ estimates, 20,000 times less land is required for their factories than is needed to produce the same amount of food by growing soya. Cultivating all the protein the world now eats with their technique would require an area smaller than Ohio.

Sport

Simone Biles is a world champion for the 11th time after leading the US women’s team to victory at the World Gymnastics Championships in Doha, Qatar – despite suffering severe pain from a kidney stone during the competition.

Santiago Solari, the man appointed as Real Madrid’s interim coach following a dismal start to the season under Julen Lopetegui, has said the team is “in pain” after being routed 5-1 by rivals Barcelona on Sunday.

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