Image source, Getty Images

Kellyanne Conway is due to speak later tonight, only days before she leaves the White House.

Conway served Trump as his third campaign manager in 2016, becoming the first female campaign manager in US history to lead a successful presidential campaign.

But she announced on Sunday she would leave the White House, where she has served as senior counsellor to Trump, by the end of August to spend more time with her family. Or as she put it - "less drama, more mama".

Her husband George Conway, an outspoken critic of Trump, simultaneously announced that he would step back from his political activism.

Read more: The Trump whisperer: Conway's key moments

We're about 15 minutes away from the start of this evening's events, so just a reminder that you can watch a live stream of proceedings at the top of this page. In the meantime - you've still go time to brush up your knowledge with our really simple guide to the US election.

Jessica Lussenhop
North America Reporter, BBC News

One of tonight's speakers is South Dakota Governor Kristi Noem, a rapidly rising Republican star. However, her response to a massive Covid outbreak at a meatpacking plant in Sioux Falls also garnered criticism. Noem was one of a tiny handful of US governors who never issued a shelter-in-place order, even as cases began to surge at a Smithfield meatpacking plant in April and ultimately became the largest hotspot in the country.

Advocates for the workers said they'd asked to speak with her office for weeks, and for the state to put pressure on the company to enforce CDC guidelines within the plant, but got no response. More than one in four of the plant's 3,635 employees became infected. Ultimately, Noem wrote Smithfield a letter, asking them to shut down and let workers quarantine at home for two weeks. She also sought to shift the blame from the plant to the workers themselves. "We believe that 99 percent of what’s going on today wasn’t happening inside the facility,” she said at one point.

It wasn't until early August that Noem arranged a two-hour long call with workers who are still fearful of further outbreaks.

Read the full story of the outbreak at Smithfield.

Less than an hour before Republicans take the stage, the Wisconsin Attorney General has identified the Kenosha police officer who shot and injured 29-year-old Jacob Blake on Sunday, sparking days of unrest.

Officials say that Rusten Sheskey - a seven-year veteran with the Kenosha Police Department - fired seven shots at Blake, while holding his shirt. Blake had told officers that he had a knife, according to investigators.

Police had been called to the scene after a female caller reported that her boyfriend was present and not supposed to be on the premises.

Blake was shot as he leaned into his car, as his young children watched. He is now recovering in hospital, but his lawyers say he is paralysed and that it will take "a miracle" for him to walk again.

Speaking this evening, Kenosha District Attorney Michael Graveley called for patience in the ongoing investigation. Independent investigators with the state Department of Justice will conduct the probe, before turning findings over to Gravely's office, which will determine if charges are laid.

"I endorse and applaud all the methods of peaceful protests," Graveley said, adding that violence and destruction of property "does a disservice to this moment in history".

Read more: Police officer in Kenosha shooting named

Helier Cheung
BBC News

Image source, RNC/Reuters

You might have noticed a visual difference between the Republican and Democratic conventions - Biden made a point of being photographed in a mask, while Trump, so far, has not.

Face coverings have been a politically divisive issue this year - with many anti-lockdown protesters refusing to wear masks, claiming it is an infringement on their freedoms.

In fact, RNC officials were told off by local county health directors, after some of their attendees didn't wear face masks, according to The Hill, external.

But actually - the divide seems to be narrowing - more Republicans have also taken to wearing masks recently, and 95% of Democrats, and 74% of Republicans, external, now say they wear a mask some or all of the time outside of their homes.

This is down to increased evidence that masks can play a role in reducing transmissions - and also a growing acceptance that the pandemic could be here for a long time - making masks a useful tool to lower risks as schools and businesses reopen. The proportion of Americans who say they always wear a face mask outside their home has rocketed from 19% in April to 72% now, according to surveys, external.

For Republicans, it probably also doesn't hurt that Trump said last month that wearing a mask is patriotic.

You can read more about why attitudes to face masks have changed here.

Image source, Reuters

Vice-President Mike Pence is due to accept his place on the 2020 Republican ticket with a speech at Fort McHenry, a Baltimore landmark that inspired the words of a poem adapted to become the US national anthem.

In 1814, about 1,000 US soldiers withstood a British naval bombardment at the fort, successfully defending Baltimore Harbour from invasion.

Francis Scott Key witnessed the attack, and the survival of the American flag after days of fighting, and wrote the words to what eventually became the Star-Spangled Banner.

Image source, Getty Images

The fort was used as a US base through both world wars and was designated as a US national park in 1925.

Ahead of Mr Pence's visit, watchdog group Coalition to Protect America’s National Parks reported that a forklift had damaged a historic walkway at the fort during preparations for the vice-president's speech. They tweeted a photo showing the damage.

Critics have also called it inappropriate for Pence to use US government property for political purposes, with similar complaints levelled at the campaign over plans for Trump to accept his nomination on Thursday night from the White House.

Marianna Spring
Disinformation and social media reporter

Over the coming weeks, we’ll be hearing a lot about policies, speeches and debates.

But there’s a subterranean campaign going on as well. You might call it the “rabbit hole election” - full of conspiracy theories and breadcrumb trails of misinformation that spread like wildfire on social media.

Millions are tuning into this alternative election online - and what happens on social media will no doubt bubble up into the mainstream.

Take, for example, QAnon – a wide-ranging, unfounded conspiracy theory that says that President Trump is waging a secret war against elite Satan-worshipping paedophiles in government, business and the media.

It’s bonkers - but gaining steam.

Then there’s the foreign interference campaigns, particularly from Russia, that were talked about after the 2016 election. Will they make their mark again - and how?

We’ve started to see the drip of disinformation online, for instance amid the furore over postal ballots.

Social media sites are trying to grapple with misinformation - but critics argue they are still not ready for the tsunami of bad information on its way.

Image source, Getty Images

Since becoming Trump's right-hand man in 2016, Mike Pence has stayed largely out of the headlines, diligently following the president's lead, defending his policies and demonstrating the sort of public loyalty his boss values. But there are a few notable times he has stepped onto centre-stage during the last four years. Anyone remember this, for instance?

There's much more here: The rare times Mike Pence hit the headlines

Image source, Getty Images

Ron Christie, a former advisor to President George W Bush, has been sharing his thoughts about the convention with BBC News.

"What we're going to see tonight is the changing of the guard," said the Republican political strategist.

"Kellyanne Conway on the way out the door, and of course two rising stars: Dan Crenshaw, a congressman, a former Navy Seal, and Elise Stefanik, a young member of Congress from New York state, who are going to take the torch in the next direction," he added.

Image source, Getty Images

On the third night of the Republican National Convention, Vice-President Mike Pence will take centre-stage with the headline speaking slot.

The evangelical Christian will offer a robust defence of the Trump administration, but he also may make a pitch for himself. He's one of the top Republicans expected to vie for party leadership once Trump's tenure is over.

Before Pence takes the stage, we'll hear from Congressman Dan Crenshaw, a first term lawmaker from Texas. The former Navy Seal is a rising star in the party, taking to Fox News frequently to speak up for Republicans.

Senator Marsha Blackburn will also speak tonight. Her 2018 election drew the attention of fellow Tennessean Taylor Swift, who spoke out against Blackburn and campaigned for her opponent. Since taking office, Blackburn has been a staunch defender of President Trump - and has been rewarded with speaking time at this year's convention.

The new White House press secretary Kayleigh McEnany will also appear, along with key Trump adviser Kellyanne Conway, who announced she would be stepping down at the end of this month.

Zhaoyin Feng
BBC Chinese, Washington DC

Image source, Getty Images

Among speakers at the RNC tonight, Chen Guangcheng’s name stands out. He is the first exiled Chinese dissident to speak at a US presidential convention and his presence is perhaps another sign that China has emerged as a significant foreign policy issue in this US election.

Chen is expected to criticise Beijing’s human rights records and endorse President Trump’s hardline China policy.

Chen, a self-trained legal activist who has been blind from a young age, rose to prominence for exposing China’s harsh family planning policies.

In 2012, he sparked a diplomatic crisis between the US and China. Against all odds, he made a dramatic escape from house arrest in Shandong to the US Embassy in Beijing, and was later granted asylum in America.

The then-Secretary of State Hillary Clinton is believed to have played a key role in negotiating with Beijing about Chen’s fate, an account that Chen has contradicted. Since the 2016 election, Chen has become a vocal Trump supporter.

Trump's China policy has contributed to tensions between Washington and Beijing, while simultaneously attracting the support of people angry with Beijing, including dozens of high-profile overseas Chinese dissidents like Chen.

Around 18 million people tuned in to the Republican National Convention last night, according to TV ratings agency Nielsen.

The data covers viewers on three broadcast networks and three cable news channels, between 22:00 to 23:15 ET.

During this time slot, we saw speeches from First Lady Melania Trump and Secretary of State Mike Pompeo. President Trump also participated in a naturalization ceremony with several immigrants at the White House.

While the data is preliminary for now, it's nearly a 13% jump from TV viewing figures on Monday's opening night - good news for President Trump, who is a close watcher of Nielsen ratings.

But it's important to remember that these figures don't include people who watched live streams of the convention on platforms like Twitter and YouTube - a method that's becoming increasingly popular.

Kerry Allen
BBC Monitoring, Chinese Media Analyst

If there’s been one story that’s ignited interest in China amid the Republican National Convention, it’s the investigation launched by House Democrat, Rep Joaquin Castro, into whether Secretary of State Mike Pompeo might have violated federal law, external, by speaking from Jerusalem.

China doesn’t have a lot of love for Mr Pompeo, and in recent months have branded him “the king of lies” and even “evil”. Communist mouthpiece People’s Daily, external has today picked up on him referring to Covid-19 as the “China virus” – and not for the first time - in his speech, and has accused him of “insisting on spreading a political virus”. It says his speech “sparked public outrage” and renewed accusations of racism.

Last week, at the Democratic convention, Chinese media were keen to highlight the “divisions” that had sprung up between ethnic communities under Trump’s leadership.

Communist Party media have partly put this down to schoolboy taunts thrown by the Trump administration and have been keen to highlight and ridicule nicknames thrown by Trump supporters, including Donald Trump Jr calling Mr Biden “Beijing Biden”.

Image source, Getty Images

All NBA games scheduled to be played tonight have been postponed after teams refused to play in protest of police shootings and racism.

The Milwaukee Bucks, which play nearby to Kenosha, Wisconsin, where the shooting of Jacob Blake, an unarmed black man, has sparked nights of protests, were the first to boycott their playoff game.

Alex Lasry, a vice president for the Bucks franchise, wrote: "Some things are bigger than basketball. The stand taken today by the players and org shows that we’re fed up. Enough is enough. Change needs to happen. I’m incredibly proud of our guys and we stand 100% behind our players ready to assist and bring about real change".

This evening, the Los Angeles Lakers had been due to face the Portland Trail Blazers, and the Oklahoma City Thunder was scheduled to play the Houston Rockets, but the league has announced that the games would all be rescheduled.

Basketball superstar Lebron James cheered the decision, writing on Twitter: "WE DEMAND CHANGE. SICK OF IT"

Earlier, the Toronto Raptors had been in discussion with the Boston Celtics to boycott their game on Thursday night in protests of the Blake shooting.

With just over two months until the 2020 presidential election, the BBC has been asking young Republicans what they think is Trump's biggest achievement in office.

Some are fervent supporters of the president - one told the BBC he would "crawl through broken glass to vote for Trump".

But some no longer feel that he represents the best interests of the party.

Jon Sopel
BBC North America Editor

The appalling shooting of Jacob Blake in Wisconsin has stirred a pot that was in no need of further agitation. As I sit and write this, there has been zero discussion so far at the Republican convention of whether there is a problem of systemic racism in the police. No one has raised the question of why it is that excessive force often seems to involve white police officers and black victims. The president has said nothing about Blake being shot in the back seven times. Nor the vice-president.

In fairness to the first lady, Melania Trump, she did discuss questions of racial justice in a calm and measured way last night. And maybe when Mike Pence speaks this evening, and the president winds up the convention tomorrow, some of these wider issues will be addressed. But at the moment everything is seen through the prism of the violence and disorder that has followed, as if the two can be entirely decoupled.

The caricature that Republicans draw of Democrats is that they are only interested in defunding and demonising the police and making excuses for the rioters. And the reverse is that Republicans don’t care what happens to black people they just want to shout "law and order" and warn that a Democrat president will lead to mob rule.

Isn’t there the political space for the leaders of this country to say that shooting someone seven times in the back is wrong; and that setting light to people’s cars and businesses is intolerable too.

Marianna Spring
Disinformation and social media reporter

Twitter has suspended a number of accounts for sharing a viral message claiming to be a Black Lives Matter protester who's now planning to vote for Donald Trump's Republican Party.

The message was shared by a seemingly inauthentic account using a profile picture of a male model.

Since then, it has been copy and pasted multiple times by Republican supporters and others who say they are "not Russian bots, [they] just like memes". .

A Twitter spokesperson told the BBC the accounts violated its rules "on platform manipulation and spam".

Read more:Twitter suspends accounts sharing poll message

Image source, Getty Images

This is a development that will really resonate: The Milwaukee Bucks basketball team have refused to take the court for their fifth game of the NBA playoffs in protest against the police shooting of Jacob Blake in Kenosha, Wisconsin. The shooting occurred around 40 miles (65km) from the Bucks' base in Milwaukee.

This is the first NBA basketball game to be boycotted over calls for racial justice. Officials have not yet made a ruling on whether the match against the Orlando Magic will be replayed later.

Read more: Black Lives Matter and basketball’s role in discussion on racism

Trump has made "law and order" crackdowns one of his re-election campaign themes, and regrettably this Republican convention has coincided with unrest in Kenosha, Wisconsin - sparked by the police shooting of a black man, 29-year-old Jacob Blake.

Protests have been ongoing for several nights, and on Tuesday, two people were shot dead and another was injured. A teenager has now been charged with murder. President Trump has said federal law enforcement will be sent to Kenosha, tweeting today that, external "We will NOT stand for looting, arson, violence, and lawlessness on American streets".

It remains to be seen whether speakers at tonight's convention event will talk about the situation. Trump campaign communications director Tim Murtaugh said earlier only that a lot of convention speakers had already addressed the violence around peaceful protests.

Democratic presidential challenger Joe Biden has spoken out on the issue in the last few hours.

Hello and welcome to our live coverage of day three of the Republican National Convention, when Mike Pence steps into the limelight - formally accepting the party's nomination to run as vice-president and speaking from Baltimore's historic Fort McHenry - the site where a battle inspired the writing of the US national anthem, The Star-Spangled Banner.

Tonight's theme is "Land of Heroes" - so expect a lot of talk about the military and law enforcement from a long list of speakers - more of which shortly. Trump's loyal number two is expected to highlight the administration's record - focusing, we're told, on Trump's achievements on the economy and foreign policy.

We'll be live streaming the event on this page and bringing you rolling text coverage of every significant moment. Expect insight from the BBC's correspondents in the US and beyond, reaction from real America and all the context you need to make sense of this year's unconventional convention.

We're a few hours out from the main event itself - starting at 20:30EST, 00:30GMT - so settle back as we build up to the action.