Reality Check

Image source, Getty Images

"(Vote for Trump)... I’m out," wrote 50 Cent to his 26 million followers on Instagram in a post that has been liked over 300,000 times.

His grievance: an increase in the top rate of tax under Joe Biden's tax plan that he says would result in him playing significantly more out of his earnings than under Trump.

Joe Biden has pledged to only impose higher taxes on those earning more than $400,000 (£308,000) a year - 1.5% of the US population. Assuming that 50 Cent's earnings are in the highest earning bracket, he could well be liable to an increase in his taxes under a Biden presidency.

As with any tax calculation, the consequences of Biden's plans are not straightforward, but according to a study by the Tax Policy Center (TPC), external they roughly check out for his planned income tax changes. The TPC also estimates that the effective tax rate on the top 1% of earners would rise to 39%.

50 Cent's post was accompanied by a screenshot from a CNBC television report on federal and state taxes, external carried out by the Tax Foundation for the very richest earners under Biden's tax proposals.

Vitaliy Shevchenko
BBC Monitoring

Russia may be trying to sway the outcome of the US election, but at home pro-Kremlin media have more important things to talk about than who is the better candidate.

Their main message to the people of Russia is that America is in chaos, that its democracy is failing and - most importantly - that it is in no position to teach others what is right and what is wrong.

Russia's most-watched TV station, official Rossiya 1, has compared the US to an ageing pastor who "starts turning up with his fly undone, tipsy and, wearing a lewd grin, pinches female members of his flock. Would you trust him?"

"They keep sticking their nose everywhere, but their nose is falling off!" sniggered a talk show host on state television’s Channel One.

Predictions of an impending civil war in the US are not unusual, and form a suitable backdrop to calming, positive reports about President Vladimir Putin.

Still, there is no doubt who Russian state media's vote would go to: Donald Trump. He occasionally gets a condescending chuckle here and there, but he is spared the amounts of ridicule reserved for Joe Biden, who is often presented as "too old" to govern.

The tumultuous debate between the two was held up as an example of the US political system’s collapse. But one thing Russian TV channels omitted to mention was that in his almost 20 years in power, Vladimir Putin has never once taken part in election debates.

The 2020 election marks the first time that Latinos will be the largest racial or ethnic minority in the US electorate. So it is no surprise they are being targeted with a tsunami of political advertisements.

America's Spanish speakers are not a homogenous bloc though but one with many differing interests. Our colleague Luis Fajardo from BBC Monitoring takes a look at how the Trump and Biden campaigns are targeting these voters.

Image source, EPA

People braved the weather and long queues to be among the first in Florida to cast their ballot in person on Monday, the first day of early voting in the state.

Florida is a key battleground in the election - in 2016, President Trump won the state by just under 113,000 votes. So no doubt it has been one of the main focus of both campaigns.

Before early voting kicked off, some 2.5 million residents of the Sunshine State had already sent in their votes by mail.

Democratic vice-presidential candidate Kamala Harris travelled to the University of North Florida in Jacksonville on Monday, where she told voters: "You guys are going to determine the outcome of this election."

Image source, Reuters

Image source, Reuters

Image source, Reuters

If you're just joining us, welcome to our special coverage about the US election. We're bringing you the latest developments as well as analysis from our correspondents and experts with a focus on "What the world wants from America".

Here's a look at what some of our colleagues have been talking about:

• From Beijing, John Sudworth asks: Who does China really want to win?
• Jenny Hill in Berlin explains why the vote matters so much to Germans
• Ángel Bermúdez looks at how the ghost of "socialism" is dividing the Venezuelan vote

Stay with us for more insights from around the world. And as always you can find everything you need to know about the US election on our dedicated page.

Image source, Reuters

ExxonMobil Corporation has denied its chief executive spoke to Donald Trump by phone, after the president mentioned the company while talking about campaign donations.

Speaking at a rally in Arizona on Monday, Trump said that as president, he could call the energy company's head and ask for donations in return for permits. He then added: "I would raise a billion dollars in one day if I wanted to. I don’t want to do that."

The company responded on Twitter: "We are aware of the President’s statement regarding a hypothetical call with our CEO… and just so we’re all clear, it never happened."

Democratic candidate Joe Biden announced a record-breaking month of fundraising in September, increasing pressure on the president's re-election campaign.

John Sudworth
Beijing correspondent

US presidential elections have long been a source of both intrigue and irritation for China's Communist Party rulers. As arguably the most consequential exercises in democracy on the planet, they are always closely followed, external by government officials in Beijing.

But as potential reminders of just how little choice 1.4 billion people are given over their own political future, media coverage in China is tightly controlled, external.

This time round though, in a US election defined by a still spiralling pandemic, a shattered economic landscape and deep political polarisation, China senses that something has changed.

It is not Chinese authoritarianism but western democracy that suddenly seems to be facing a crisis of legitimacy. The world's freest and wealthiest economy, once thought to be so much better placed to fight the virus with its tools of transparency and accountability, has fallen well short.

While China, despite an initial cover-up thought to expose its inherent weaknesses, has gone on to use the sweeping powers of a unitary, surveillance state to test and quarantine people at will, en masse and to great effect.

The sense that something fundamental is at stake, with the disparity now bringing into sharp relief not the weaknesses of China's political values but their superiority, goes right to the very top.

President Trump's handling of the coronavirus pandemic has become a central talking point in the presidential election campaign. The US has recorded nearly 220,000 deaths linked to Covid-19 - the world's highest official death toll - while more than eight million cases have been confirmed in the country.

In a campaign conference call on Monday, Trump branded Dr Anthony Fauci - the top US infectious disease expert - "a disaster" and suggested that other infectious disease scientists were "idiots".

Fauci has served as the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases since 1984, and has become one of the most visible figures in the government's coronavirus response. Read more on our profile.

And you can also follow our latest updates on the pandemic.

Image source, Reuters

A poll worker in Tennessee has been fired after turning away voters who were wearing Black Lives Matter clothing. A witness reported the incident to officials, who dismissed the man on Friday, Shelby County Election Commission spokeswoman Suzanne Thompson said.

Under Tennessee law, voters cannot wear items bearing the name of a candidate or political party at a polling station. But the slogans worn by the voters - which included "Black Lives Matter" and "I Can't Breathe" - do not violate the rule, Thompson said.

The Black Lives Matter movement gained prominence earlier this year following the death of George Floyd, an African-American man, while in police custody. Footage of his death, which showed him repeatedly say he could not breathe, led to protests in the US and abroad.

Mina al-Lami
Jihadist media specialist, BBC Monitoring

Donald Trump's years in power have had a marked influence on jihadists around the world, with influential groups like Islamic State and al-Qaeda exploiting his controversial views on Muslims, immigration and Israel to bolster their narrative that Islam is under attack.

Jihadists have also closely followed America's domestic troubles, such the Covid-19 pandemic and Black Lives Matter protests, portraying them as signs from God of a new era where the US is weak and engrossed in its internal problems.

Trump's administration helped oust Islamic State from its last stronghold in Syria, killing the group's leader and spokesman in 2019, and killing the leader of al-Qaeda in Yemen this year.

But its plan to reduce America's involvement in conflicts overseas may also have benefited jihadist groups. The Taliban got the US to promise to pull out its troops when it agreed to a peace deal. This has inspired other jihadist groups in Syria and Africa to seek similar agreements.

Jihadist groups have so far said little about the upcoming elections. They hope the poll will further polarise US politics and communities. It would be a golden opportunity for them to make gains and distract from the fight against them.

Almost 176,000 voters in Nevada have already returned their postal ballots, more than double the number in the entire last election, according to the Associated Press news agency., external

The figures are based on party affiliation, as ballots cannot be counted until election day in Nevada.

In previous years, people in the state have largely opted for early, in-person voting, with 62% of voters choosing to take part in this way in 2016.

In August, Nevada joined a number of states which decided to automatically send postal ballots to voters due to the pandemic.

President Trump has repeatedly criticised increased postal voting in this year's election and claimed it causes fraud, but numerous studies over the years have not revealed evidence of major, widespread fraud.

President Donald Trump and Joe Biden are both busy preparing for the election - but in very different ways today.

Trump will spend the day campaigning: first at a town hall event at the White House Rose Garden, before a rally in the key battleground state of Pennsylvania.

Biden, however, is taking a break from the campaign trail to prepare for the presidential debate on Thursday night.

PS: First Lady Melania plans to make her first public appearance since recovering from Covid-19 at the Pennsylvania rally, but it is still not clear if she will address the president's supporters.

Early voting is already under way in the US, but it is not the first country to go to the polls since the coronavirus pandemic began.

So what can the country learn from other nations that have held elections over the past few months? Our colleague Nabihah Parkar takes a look.

Nomsa Maseko
Southern Africa correspondent

Africa is fixated on the race to the White House between Donald Trump and Joe Biden. This will determine if the US will become a foe or an ally for Africa going forward.

But the disinterest of the Trump administration in Africa cannot be ignored. With cutbacks in trade relations and foreign aid, it is clear that Africa is no longer a priority for America.

The reproductive health of hundreds of thousands of women in Africa has been significantly affected by the Trump administration's policy that restricts funding to NGOs providing or advocating for abortions.

But it is not just women's health that has been affected by President Trump's decisions. America is looking to end the Africa Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA), a successful trade initiative that has played a major role in reviving Africa's textile industry. If the trade agreement is not renewed, many people face the possibility of losing their jobs.

While Americans choose who will lead their country, the major question for Africa is whether the upcoming elections will produce fundamental changes in US foreign policy towards the continent.

With two weeks to go until the election, Joe Biden has a commanding lead nationally in opinion polls. However, he has a smaller lead in the handful of key US states that will ultimately decide the outcome.

The first day of early voting in Florida, a crucial battleground state, saw long queues that promise a hard-fought election to come. And we may not even get a winner on election night.

With nearly 30 million votes already cast nationwide, the candidates are scrambling to make their last pitches to voters across the country.

Who is ahead in the polls - and does it matter? We break down all the most recent key data.

We told you a bit earlier that the candidates' microphones will be muted during parts of their final debate on Thursday. But, unsurprisingly, that is not the only source of friction between the campaigns.

President Trump's side has accused the organisers of helping his Democratic challenger by leaving out foreign policy as a topic. The Biden camp shot back that Trump was trying to avoid questions about his response to the coronavirus pandemic.

The topics were announced by moderator and NBC News correspondent Kristen Welker last week: American families, race in America, climate change, national security and leadership.

The 90-minute debate structure will be divided into 15-minute segments. At the start of each new topic, both candidates will have two minutes of uninterrupted time - during which the opponent's microphone will be off.

Image source, Reuters

The state of Pennsylvania will be allowed to count postal ballots that are sent by the end of election day, even if they arrive up to three days later, the Supreme Court said on Monday.

The Republican party had tried to overturn a ruling by a lower court. But the Supreme Court was evenly split on the decision, meaning that the extension for postal votes remains in place.

Democratic lawyer Marc Elias welcomed the decision, which he described as "GREAT NEWS for voting rights and voters in Pennsylvania".

However, a senior legal adviser to President Trump, Jenna Ellis, responded that the decision was a "loss for voters and for election integrity".

Millions more Americans are expected to vote by post this year because of coronavirus, meaning a delay in counting all the votes is highly likely across the country.

Here's a look at why we might not get a result on election night.

Andrew Walker
World Service economics correspondent

Getting the trade deficit down was a high priority for President Trump. It has not happened. In the year before his inauguration the deficit was $481bn (£372bn in current figures). In 2019 - the most recent full year and one in which economic activity was not yet distorted by the pandemic - it was $577bn. That was slightly lower than the year before but it was still well above the level he inherited.

A growing economy does tend to do more trade, so how does the deficit look in comparison to the size of the economy, GDP? Taking a slightly wider measure, the current account deficit (which adds in some financial flows including money sent home by foreign nationals) last year’s figure of 2.2% was little changed from 2016.

The trade war with China did lead to a decline in the bilateral deficit last year as imports fell more than exports. But that was partly offset by increases in goods coming from many other countries. It is another question whether a trade deficit of that scale matters as much as President Trump thinks it does, or whether trade policy can reduce it much.

Many - though not all - economists think it is not such a problem, and many say that a deficit is not the result of other countries trading unfairly - it is what you get when a country saves less than it invests.

You may still remember the first debate between Donald Trump and Joe Biden last month - perhaps more for its chaos than for its content.

To prevent a repeat of that heated encounter with its frequent interruptions - particularly by President Trump - new rules have been introduced that will mute the candidates' microphones during their second and final presidential televised debate on Thursday in Nashville.

Both Trump and Biden will be given two minutes to make their remarks, without interruption from the other candidate, the debate's organisers have announced. Microphones will then be unmuted for questions.

"We realize, after discussions with both campaigns, that neither campaign may be totally satisfied with the measures announced today. One may think they go too far, and one may think they do not go far enough," the non-partisan Commission on Presidential Debates (CPD) said in the statement.

"We are comfortable that these actions strike the right balance and that they are in the interest of the American people, for whom these debates are held."

The president told reporters he was still planning to take part in the event, but said of the rule: "I just think it's very unfair."

Good morning if you're joining us in the UK, and hello to all of you joining us around the world. Welcome to our live coverage of the US election campaign as we enter its final fortnight.

And today, in between the news and views from the campaign trail, we are focusing on "What the world wants from America".

We will have special reports from BBC correspondents and experts in the US, the UK and around the world, looking at how things have changed under President Trump, and how people across the planet see their future relationship with America after the election.

Here's a taster: Who does China really want to win the election? Our colleague in Beijing, John Sudworth, says China senses that something has changed - it is not Chinese authoritarianism but western democracy that suddenly seems to be facing a crisis of legitimacy.