Image source, Reuters

Debate-day has dawned in the US, and here are the biggest stories Americans are waking up to:

• As the world's coronavirus death toll crosses 1m, multiple US outlets report that top White House officials pressured the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to downplay the risk of the virus to children in order to hasten the reopening of schools, external.
• The New York Times dropped the second installment, external of its report on President Donald Trump's taxes, laying out how hosting The Apprentice may have shored up his faltering real estate empire.
• The Kentucky Attorney General will release transcripts, external of the secret grand jury proceedings in the Breonna Taylor case after one of the jurors sued.
• At least three are dead, external and thousands have fled their homes as two fast-moving wildfires continue raging across California.

Joe Biden has been ahead of Donald Trump in national polls for most of the year. He has hovered around 50% in recent months and has had a 10-point lead on occasions.

Check out our poll tracker

Anthony Zurcher
BBC North America reporter

Donald Trump is a known quantity. He seeks out and dominates in the public spotlight, and his strengths and weaknesses are familiar to most Americans. That's why the presidential debates will be much more focused on how Joe Biden performs in the spotlight.

Biden's task will be to post a sure and steady performance. He needs to make Americans, at least enough of them to win in November, comfortable with the thought of him in the Oval Office. He needs to dispel concerns about his age and mental alacrity and avoid the kind of verbal stumbles that have bedevilled him in the past.

Trump's job, on the other hand, will be to trip his opponent up. As Hillary Clinton and his primary opponents can attest, he is a destabilising, unpredictable presence on the stage - and if he can fluster Biden, it might sow the seeds of doubt in the minds of the Democrat's less devoted supporters. While doing so, he will also have to be prepared for Biden's counterattacks - including criticisms about how he has handled the coronavirus pandemic, the economy and the duties of the presidency.

It has the makings of a raucous encounter.

The first of three presidential debates is taking place on a campus in Cleveland, Ohio, shared by Case Western Reserve University and the Cleveland Clinic.

Coronavirus-control efforts mean the debate hall will be sparse, with around one tenth of the usual in-person audience attending. Candidates will also skip the customary handshake.

It will be a 90-minute, advert-free war of words.

Fox News host Chris Wallace will moderate, with six separate segments each debated for 15 minutes.

The subjects chosen by Wallace are:

• Supreme Court
• Trump and Biden’s records
• Coronavirus pandemic
• Race protests and violence in cities
• Election integrity
• Economy

We'll have primers and Reality Check analysis on all the key issues throughout the day.

And you can read more about the debate itself here.

Hello and welcome to our live coverage of the first of three debates between the candidates for president in the 3 November US election. By now they need no introduction, but let’s do one anyway: in the red corner will be the sitting Republican President Donald Trump, and in the blue corner, former Vice-President Joe Biden for the Democrats.

Tens of millions of people tune in for these political showpieces – so well done to you for getting here early. Tonight’s debate starts at 21:00 EST (that’s from 02:00 on Wednesday if you’re in the UK, or 01:00 GMT) but we have loads to offer you over the intervening hours.

Firstly we’re going to be answering a whole lot of your questions – stuff you’ve been asking us, or searched Google for, external – or maybe some things you hadn’t thought about asking yet – the “unknown unknowns” as an important person once said, external.

Then there’s the build up – the players and the pundits weighing in and assessing the battle ahead, you, the voters or interested onlookers having your say, all the latest news from the campaign trail and beyond.

We have plenty more to share with you. Serious and useful things – like our amazing all-you-need-to-know guide to the presidential debates, and fun stuff too, like our Predict the President game. So settle back, enjoy the build-up and see you later for the debate!