Good afternoon. Here’s all the news you need to know this lunchtime.

Set against an entertainment-driven campaign, tonight’s US presidential debate offers a critical opportunity to ask some hard-hitting questions, writes Kathryn Cramer Brownell.

Republicans have a history of recruiting celebrities into the party ranks going back 60 years, but find themselves at a crossroads with Donald Trump — who is using his celebrity power to attack rather than to revive the Grand Old Party, writes Kathryn Cramer Brownell