Tara McKelvey
BBC News, Washington

Image source, EPA

Melania Trump will speak at a Make America Great event in Atglen, Pennsylvania, on Tuesday afternoon, one of the rare times she has chosen to appear on the campaign trail without her husband.

In contrast Michelle Obama frequently spoke to crowds. Part of it is style: Mrs Trump is ethereal – on the campaign trail and in other settings too. During a visit at a children’s hospital in 2017, her aides whisked her from one room to the next. She spoke to almost no-one.

In contrast, Mrs Obama welcomed questions from people, including journalists, at events.

Mrs Trump’s appearance in Pennsylvania is significant, given how close the race is. Campaign aides hope she will fire up women in the battleground state, convincing them to cast their ballots. If she can convince even a small number of them to vote, she could tip the balance towards her husband.

Image source, Reuters

A federal judge has rejected a plan by the Department of Justice for the US government to replace President Donald Trump as the defendant in a defamation lawsuit.

Writer E Jean Carroll, who alleges that Trump raped her in the 1990s, brought the case against the president after he said she was "totally lying".

Trump has denied her allegations.

The judge ruled on Tuesday that the government could not step in, as the president would be considered a private citizen in the case.

The decision paves the way for the case against Trump to proceed.

Carroll, who is 75, is the 16th woman to have accused the president of sexual misconduct. He has denied all of the claims against him.

Image source, Reuters

Banners of presidential candidates and their running-mates are not unusual in the run-up to an important election.

But even though the village of Thulasendrapuram in southern India is thousands of miles away from the US, its residents are praying for the victory of their most famous descendent - Democratic vice-presidential nominee, Kamala Harris.

Harris's maternal grandfather was born in the village more than a century ago and almost a dozen banners have been erected in support of her White House bid, according to Reuters news agency.

“We are really hoping she wins,” the head of Thulasendrapuram’s village committee told Reuters, adding that he planned a special prayer at the local temple on election day.

“The village has received global fame because of her. She is our pride.”

Kamala Harris is the child of an Indian mother and a Jamaican father who emigrated to the US.

If Democratic candidate Joe Biden wins the November election, Harris will become the first female, first black and first Asian-American vice-president in US history.

Image source, Getty Images

Missed the big news, or curious about the more quixotic happenings on the campaign trail?

Today's edition of The Countdown, the BBC's daily election briefing, has got you covered.

The political events of Monday night and Tuesday morning can be summed up in four sentences:

• Amy Coney Barrett has become the third Supreme Court justice to be appointed by President Trump in his first administration. There was a party after the Monday night confirmation
• Joe Biden is blitzing through cornfields and peach groves - errrr, the states of Iowa and Georgia - in the final week of campaigning before election day
• Trump's son-in-law and White House adviser Jared Kushner is under fire for suggesting that African Americans are not interested enough in being successful. To be clear, Kushner is not black
• The Supreme Court has ruled that ballots received after election day in the key battleground state of Wisconsin cannot be counted

What does it all mean for the race for the White House? You can read our analysis - and see some bonus political dancing footage - here.

Millions of Americans are voting by mail for the first time.

But different deadlines and legal challenges will add to the uncertainty in the race for the White House this year.

Marianna Spring
Disinformation and social media reporter

With polling day a week away, Facebook will no longer be allowing any new political ads on its site.

But that will not stop all political disinformation and influence campaigns reaching your local Facebook group, Instagram Feed, Tik Tok For You page and WhatsApp chat.

Conspiracy theories, false claims about voting, and divisive content from interference operations have all featured in the build-up to this US Election. That could ramp up in the seven days before the vote.

Plus existing political adverts can still be promoted, and target your social media feeds.

It’s not just the next week, either. There are fears that political disinformation could have an impact in the days after voting.

How can you spot political disinformation online? Here are some top tips

Concerns were raised when it emerged a swearing-in ceremony would be held at the White House on Monday night, for the new Supreme Court Justice Amy Coney Barrett.

But exactly one month after a celebration of her nomination became a super-spreader event in the White House Rose Garden, there were visible changes in place.

Image source, EPA

The White House seemed to have learned some important lessons, with guests on Monday night largely seen wearing masks and sitting apart from each other.

Joe Biden had criticised the decision to hold the event, saying he understood why Trump wanted to celebrate, but that it was “not appropriate” given the number of coronavirus infections presently sweeping America.

Image source, EPA

US election campaigns can start years in advance and cost billions of dollars.

Due to coronavirus, this year’s cycle looks a little different, but huge sums are still being spent ahead of 3 November.

In 2016, the US election cost an estimated $6.5bn (£5bn).

Here BBC Reality Check breaks down who paid for it, and how much 2020 might cost.

Frank Gardner
BBC Security Correspondent

Image source, Reuters

Neither of the two US presidential candidates will be good for the Middle East and North Africa - so says a recent survey of Arabs in the region.

That's the broad conclusion reached by around half of all those questioned in the poll conducted jointly by the polling research group YouGov and the Saudi-owned newspaper Arab News.

A further 40% thought Joe Biden would be better for the region, while only 12% preferred President Trump.

The poll was conducted online last month across 18 countries, external under the heading of What do Arabs Want?

Just over 3,000 people took part. Neither the incumbent Donald Trump nor his Democratic Party challenger Joe Biden emerge as being popular candidates.

But Biden comes out slightly better, partly due to the unpopularity of President Trump's decision in December 2017 to move the US embassy in Israel to Jerusalem, something opposed by 89% of those polled.

However, the incumbent fared rather better in Iraq and Yemen, where majorities approved of his tough posture towards Iran, including sanctions.

Some 57% of Iraqi respondents said they approved of the US decision to assassinate the Iranian Revolutionary Guards leader General Qasem Soleimani earlier this year, while exactly the same percentage in Syria opposed it.

Read the full analysis here.

Image source, Reuters

Voters in Maryland turned out en masse for their first day of in-person voting on Monday - with record-breaking results.

Officials said more than 125,000 people had voted at 81 early voting centres by 17:00, compared to a previous peak of 123,623 in 2016.

Maryland has given people the option to vote early since 2010.

The state is far from alone in seeing a huge turnout of early birds: Americans have already cast a record-breaking 62 million early ballots, and they continue to pour in at an unprecedented pace.

More than 1,000 US religious leaders, scholars and faith advocates have signed a statement, external calling for “a free and fair election” and urging leaders to heed “legitimate election results” regardless of who wins.

The signatories include senior officials from the National Association of Evangelicals, two former faith advisers to President George W. Bush, and retired megachurch pastor the Rev. Joel Hunter, who supports Joe Biden.

“America is only as strong as its people’s commitment to our democracy and the freedoms and rights it ensures,” the joint statement says.

While the statement doesn't name either presidential candidate, President Trump has been criticised in recent weeks for refusing to commit fully to a peaceful handover if his rival wins the battle for the White House.

Image source, reuters

Image source, Reuters

President Donald Trump had already made two Supreme Court appointments in his first term in office, tilting the court's ideological balance to the right

Following Judge Amy Coney Barrett's confirmation on Monday night, many Democrats are worried the court's 6-3 conservative majority will have an impact on key issues for many decades to come.

But how have the nine judges - known as justices - voted during Trump's first term?

Recent cases involving abortion, LGBT rights and the insanity defence in courts have shown that justices are willing to cross ideological lines in making their judgements.

Find out more here

With a week to go until the US presidential election, more than 60 million Americans have already taken advantage of early voting, smashing all records.

But one of Donald Trump's key promises during the last election was to build a wall along the border with Mexico.

Will that pledge help or hinder him this year, as he attempts to win four more years in office?

Anthony Zurcher
BBC North America reporter

Image source, Reuters

Former President Barack Obama will campaign for Joe Biden in Orlando, Florida, today - after heading up a rally in Miami at the weekend.

The Sunshine State is a high priority for both the Biden and Trump campaigns - as our reporter Anthony Zurcher explains:

Florida. The mere mention of the state when talking about politics brings smiles to Republican faces and sends shivers down Democratic spines.

Florida is where liberal dreams are broken. It's the place where, in what was otherwise a Democratic wave election of 2018, the party narrowly lost the governorship and an incumbent Senate seat. It's where, in 2000, 537 votes delivered the White House to Republican George W Bush, instead of Al Gore.

Now in 2020, Florida is once again an electoral battleground that could decide the presidency. Polls, as they always seem to do here, show the state is close. And if the overall race is tight, Florida - with its 29 electoral votes - could once again be decisive.

Read Anthony's full analysis here

• President Donald Trump will hold events in Michigan and Wisconsin on Tuesday - states he won in 2016, but where current polling shows a clear lead for his rival Joe Biden. Trump will also visit Nebraska, which could see a close result in the election

• First Lady Melania Trump, meanwhile, is expected to hold her first solo campaign event in Pennsylvania. The two campaigns have been focusing their efforts on this battleground state, with both Trump and Biden visiting on Monday
• Vice-President Mike Pence will travel to North Carolina and South Carolina

• In the Democratic camp, Joe Biden will travel to Georgia - normally a Republican stronghold but currently showing only a very narrow lead for Trump
• Kamala Harris is set to visit another battleground state, Nevada, to hold rallies in Reno and Las Vegas

• Former President Barack Obama campaigns on Biden’s behalf in the key state of Florida, which may once again be pivotal to the election result.

Democratic candidate Joe Biden is currently ahead in the national polls - with 52% compared to President Donald Trump's 42%.

But in the US, the number of votes you win is less important than where you win them.

In the handful of states likely to decide to outcome of the election (known as battleground states), things still look good for Biden, with polls suggesting big leads in Michigan, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin - three industrial states his Republican rival won by margins of less than 1% in 2016.

However, it's the battleground states where Mr Trump won big in 2016 that his campaign team will be most worried about. His winning margin in Iowa, Ohio and Texas was between 8-10% back then, but it's looking much closer in all three at the moment.

Find out more in our guide to the latest polling here.

Laura Trevelyan
BBC World News America presenter

The BBC's Laura Trevelyan joined an early voting queue yesterday. Here's what she found:

It’s 06.45, and it’s still dark - on a cold and wet Monday morning in downtown Brooklyn. But the line of people outside the New York City College of Technology snakes down the block and beyond - all waiting patiently to vote.

After a turbulent four years in US politics, the voters want to be heard. It’s my first time voting in a presidential election as a US citizen, and I’m excited to be exercising my constitutional right alongside my fellow Americans.

What brings you here so early, I ask my neighbour in line, a young white woman. Can I be honest, she asks me? Go ahead, I say. I’m here to get Donald Trump out, because he’s a white supremacist, comes the reply.

Just behind her in the line is a black man, who says he has had enough of the chaotic Trump presidency and he’s here to vote for Biden/Harris because democracy is on the line.

As I vote, the atmosphere is festive, almost carnival-like. Voting isn’t the same as in Britain - instead of the cross by your candidate, you must shade in an oval. Then I feed my ballot paper into the counting machine and the bar code is scanned. I’ve voted! I get a sticker from an election volunteer, and feel like I’m at school again, where good civic behaviour is encouraged.

Afterwards, I leave Brooklyn and head to Staten Island where early voting is also under way. This is the only New York City borough which Donald Trump won in 2016, and turnout is brisk here too.

Support for the President is still strong. I don’t like what’s happening in my country and I voted for a man named Trump, declares a middle-aged white woman as she leaves the polling booth.

Another woman who is supporting Donald Trump tells me she wants him to restore the economy and end racism.

Brooklyn and Staten Island are only a few miles apart, but it’s like they inhabit different political universes - mirroring the political divide in America. I head for home through the rain, pleased to be part of what looks to be a record turnout in a US presidential election.

Image source, Reuters

Hers is the name on countless lips this morning, but who is the newly confirmed Supreme Court judge Amy Coney Barrett?

She's a mother of seven and a committed Catholic - though she has repeatedly insisted her faith does not compromise her work.

She's also a long-term academic, and formerly an appeals court judge, who lives in South Bend, Indiana.

Amy Coney Barrett's confirmation opens up potential new rulings on abortion, gay marriage and Obamacare, as the Supreme Court now has a solid majority of conservative justices.

Donald Trump - who as sitting president gets to select nominees - reportedly once said he was "saving her" for this moment: when elderly Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg died and a vacancy on the nine-member court arose.

Judge Barrett's record on gun rights and immigration cases implies she would be as reliable a vote on the right of the court, as Ginsburg was on the left.

Want to know more? We've got a full profile of Judge Barrett here

President Donald Trump's decision to appoint a new Supreme Court justice so close to a presidential election has angered Democrats.

The party's presidential nominee, Joe Biden, described Amy Coney Barrett's confirmation as "rushed and unprecedented", adding that it "should be a stark reminder to every American that your vote matters."

Biden's running-mate Kamala Harris said Justice Barrett's confirmation was "a disgrace, not only because of what she will do when she gets on the bench, but because of the entire process".

Democrats argued for weeks that it should be up to the winner of the 3 November election to pick the nominee for the Supreme Court vacancy.

They fear Judge Barrett's confirmation to the lifelong post will favour Republicans in politically sensitive cases that reach America's top court, for potentially decades to come.

But Republican Senate leader Mitch McConnell said on Monday: "We don't have any doubt, do we, that if the shoe was on the other foot, they'd be confirming. You can't win them all, and elections have consequences."

Back in 2016, Republicans refused to hold hearings for a Supreme Court nominee appointed by then-President Barack Obama, arguing the decision should not be made in an election year.

Monday was a key night for the Supreme Court, with Judge Amy Coney Barrett confirmed by the Republican-controlled Senate.

Democrats made speech after speech to try to delay the vote, but their unified opposition was not enough to stop Barrett's appointment, which was passed with 52-48 votes. Only one Republican voted against.

Democrats had argued that any vote on a new Supreme Court justice should be delayed until after the election.

Barrett's lifetime appointment will seal a 6-3 conservative majority on the nine-member Supreme Court, potentially tilting its ideological balance for decades to come.

But she stressed that as a Supreme Court judge, she would remain independent in her views: "A judge declares independence not only from the Congress and the president, but also from the private beliefs that might otherwise move her."

Barrett is the third justice appointed by Donald Trump since he became president.