The New York Times Times obtained Donald Trump's tax information extending over more than two decades. Photo / Doug Mills, The New York Times
Welcome to the weekend.
Settle down with a cuppa and catch up on some of the best content from our premium international syndicators this week.
Happy reading.
Donald Trump paid $750 in federal income taxes the year he won the presidency. In his first year in the White House, he paid another $750.
He had paid no income taxes at all in 10 of the previous 15 years — largely because he reported losing much more money than he made.
The tax returns that Trump has long fought to keep private tell a story fundamentally different from the one he has sold to the American public.
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• Tax records reveal how fame gave Trump a $427 million lifeline
President Donald Trump and Joe Biden clashed over health care and abortion rights in the opening minutes of their first debate this week. Soon after it had descended into name-calling and hectoring with derisive attacks that were extraordinary even by the standards of Trump's presidency.
Interrupting Joe Biden nearly every time he spoke, Trump made little attempt to reassure swing voters about his leadership.
The New York Times examines the first US presidential debate.
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• 'Decline of democracy': US debate prompts world shock, despair and, in China, glee
• Analysis: Of course the debate was always going to be about Trump
• Trump wants to discredit the election. This nerd could stop him
As David Brent taught us, office banter is a bad idea. So why is humour on the syllabus at Stanford Business School?
It seems that finding the funny side makes us appear more competent and confident, strengthens relationships, unlocks creativity, boosts our resilience and, very simply, makes us more likeable.
Emma Broomfield of the Times has a masterclass with the experts who claim funny gets you promoted.
They came from across the world to ski in the most famous resorts of the Austrian alps.
They knew in late February and early March that the coronavirus was spreading in nearby northern Italy and across the other border in Germany, but no one was alarmed. Austrian officials downplayed concerns as tourists crowded into cable cars by day and après-ski bars at night.
Then they all went home, unwittingly taking the virus with them. Infected in Ischgl or in surrounding villages, thousands of skiers carried the coronavirus to more than 40 countries on five continents.
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• The virus sent droves to a small town. Suddenly, it's not so small
• Vilified early over lax virus strategy, Sweden seems to have scourge controlled
In many parts of the developing world, school closures put children on the streets. Families are desperate for money. Children are an easy source of cheap labour.
UN officials estimate that at least 24 million children will drop out and that millions could be sucked into work. Ten-year-olds are now mining sand in Kenya. Children the same age are chopping weeds on cocoa plantations in West Africa. In Indonesia, boys and girls as young as 8 are painted silver and pressed into service as living statues who beg for money.
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• 'It's not in my head': They survived the coronavirus, but they never got well
• Study of Covid-19 cases in India finds children do spread virus
More than an unsolved mystery, the case of the Long Island serial killer has been an investigation with next to no visible movement for years.
It began with the discovery, 10 years ago, of four bodies wrapped in burlap and discarded on a desolate stretch of Ocean Parkway near Gilgo Beach. All the victims were women, and all had been escorts on Craigslist.
This was only the first of several grisly discoveries. Within months, the remains of as many as 16 victims had been found. And yet for a decade, the police have announced not a single suspect or person of interest. Months passed, then years, with no comment from the department about the case.
Now, as The New York Times reports, the case has a new sense or urgency.
During the early months of pandemic isolation, there were few distractions as cathartic and cheering as the Culture Dance challenge on TikTok, set to the squelchy, loping Laxed (Siren Beat), by Jawsh 685.
While his song was soundtracking a worldwide feel-good session, Jawsh 685 was at home in Manurewa finishing up his last of high school from home, a bedroom producer stuck in his bedroom.
Jawsh talks to The New York Times about creating a global pop smash from his NZ bedroom.
Britain's spymaster, Sir Alex Younger, is stepping down. His tenure as head of SIS extended from the usual five years to six to maintain stability after Brexit.
Cockroaches, pornography, physical surveillance and the weaponisation of late-night pizza.
Read the full story behind one of the most lurid scandals in Silicon Valley history.
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• Pasta, wine and inflatable pools: How Amazon conquered Italy in the pandemic
Warren Buffett always mocked people who invested in gold, calling it a useless metal that "gets dug out of the ground in Africa, or someplace" and a way of "going long on fear". This year, however, the "sage of Omaha" joined investors including the world's largest hedge fund Bridgewater Associates in buying into the latest gold rush, which helped push prices to a record high.
Nothing about the 2019-20 NBA season was normal. There were tragedies and triumphs, setbacks and highlights. When play finally resumed in July after a four-month hiatus brought on by the coronavirus pandemic, it began in a so-called bubble: a self-contained, spectator-free campus at Walt Disney World near Orlando as the league — at no small cost — fought to the finish line.
Firefighters are battling bushfires in both West Victoria and New South Wales. Video / AFP