The Apprentice, along with endorsements and other income that sprang from his growing fame, brought Donald Trump US$427.4 million. Photo / Richard Perry, The New York Times
With crosstalk and mockery, Trump tramples decorum in debate with Biden
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.
President Trump and Joe. Biden faced off in the first presidential debate. Photo / Doug Mills, The New York Times
How to be hilarious: Can anyone learn to be funny?
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.
David Brent taught us office banter can be a bad idea. But what if it could actually work in you favour? Photo / Supplied
Ski, party, seed a pandemic: Travel rules that let Covid-19 take flight
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.
The village of Ischgl, Austria, is the gateway to one of Tyrol's most popular ski resorts. Photo / Andrea Mantovani, The New York Times
As Covid-19 closes schools, the world's children go to work
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.
Rahul, 11, collecting plastic to sell to a recycler in southern India. His teacher said he has a high I.Q. and was doing well in school until it closed in March. Photo / Atul Loke, The New York Times
Gaining ground on a serial killer
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.
The police searched for human remains near Long Island's shoreline in 2011. Photo / Robert Stolarik, The New York Times
Teen producer with TikTok hit brings NZ to the world
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 685's TikTok sensation was an international arrival for siren jams, a recent youth culture phenomenon in Pasifika communities in New Zealand. Photo / Cornell Tukiri, The New York Times
'The Russians did not create the things that divide us - we did that'
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.
Alex Younger, Chief of the Secret Intelligence Service - known as MI6, stayed on for an extra year to maintain stability after Brexit. Photo / Getty Images
Inside eBay's cockroach cult: The ghastly story of a stalking scandal
Cockroaches, pornography, physical surveillance and the weaponisation of late-night pizza.
In 2019, prosecutors say, a campaign to terrorise a blogger crawled out of a dark place in the corporate soul. Photo / Kako, The New York Times
The new gold rush: Western investors offset soft eastern demand
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.
Interest from Western investors has triggered a rise in the price of gold. Photo / Getty Images
An NBA season like no other: 'One of the worst, strangest years'
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.
