welcome to bbc news, i'm rich preston, very good to have you with us. our top stories: the new york times says it's obtained president trump's tax records dating back two decades, which it says reveal chronic losses and years of tax avoidance. he denies the claims. it's totally fake news. made—up. fake. we went through the same stories, you could've asked me the same questions four years ago, i had to litigate this and talk about it. totally fake news. fighting breaks out between armenia and azerbaijan in the disputed region of nagorno—karabakh, with casualties on both sides. tear gas and mass arrests as tens of thousands march in belarus against president lukashenko. and melbourne's controverial curfew has been lifted almost two months after it was first imposed following surging coronavirus cases.

the new york times says it's obtained donald trump's tax records stretching back more than two decades, which it says reveal chronic losses and years of tax avoidance. the newspaper reports mrtrump paid only $750 in federal income taxes in the year he won the presidency and paid no income tax at all in ten of the previous 15 years. speaking earlier at a white house news conference, the president dismissed the latest report has he has done in the past. it's totally fake news. made—up. fake. we went through the same stories, you could've asked me the same questions four years ago, i had to litigate this and talk about it. totally fake news. no, actually, i pay tax. but — and you'll see that as

soon as my tax returns are... it's under audit. they've been under audit for a long time. the irs does not treat me well. the treat me like the tea party — like they treated the tea party. they don't treat me well. they treat me very badly. you have people in the irs that very — treat me very, very badly. but they're under audit. and when they're not, i would be proud to show, but that's just fake news. the new york times try to — the same thing — they want to create a little bit of a story. a little bit of... they do anything they can. not only — that's the least of it. i mean, the stories that i read are so fake, they are so phony. our north america correspondent peter bowes says the times report could hint at why donald trump has been coy about publishing his tax returns. it is certainly a persistent story. the new york times says that it has managed to get hold of data of the president's tax affairs dating back decades, not only of his personal tax returns but the many businesses that make up the trump organization, and perhaps

crucially, the first two years during his time in the white house. and according to the paper, they say it shows that he paid just $750 in taxes, personal taxes, income taxes, the year that he was elected. another $750 in his first year in office, and no taxes at all for over 10 of the 15 years before he was elected. and the story because into some detail. it says that he managed to do that because quite simply his losses were greater than his gains, than his profits, during that time. and it talks about a "hollowness" but also a "wizardry" involved in how the president carried out his affairs that made him the billionaire businessman with that image that he certainly was when he entered the white house. earlier i spoke to richard lempert who's an emeritus law professor at the

university of michigan. i asked him what he thought the most incriminating aspects of the latest report into president trump's taxes were. i wouldn't say anything incriminating yet, but there is an awful lot to suggest there may be incriminating things. what trump seems to have done is come as close as he could to the lines between legal and illegal tax avoidance. nothing the times published to date establishes that his avoidance has been illegal, but there is an awful lot that suggests further exploration might indicate illegalities have occurred. for example, he claimed a $71 million tax deduction that seems to be based on losses he suffered when he gave up his interest in his atlantic city casinos, but that deduction is only allowed

if he held absolutely no interest afterwards and the times story suggests he held 596. times story suggests he held 5%. that's what the audit he is under has been all about. there's lots of information in this report from the new york times. various groups have been chasing president trump's tax records for many years, but people also looking for a smoking gun when it comes to links to russia, payments to his former attorney, michael cohen, and that is not there, is it? the times did not report they had found any information that suggests a smoking gun link to putin's russia. it does report in some business dealings in connections with, i guess, the miss universe pageant that was held in moscow, was highly profitable for him. and there's just weeks to go, of course, until the us presidential election. how is this latest news likely to play out with voters?

well, that's a really interesting question. there are two aspects of it that i think are likely to hurt trump. the first is he's trying to sell himself as a good manager of the economy and the report suggests that most of the businesses he has managed have done very poorly. the only thing he has actually managed well and made substantial profit from is the marketing of his image so that's going to hurt him, i think, when they talk about managing the economy. the other think is that the times report said that, when you take his tax refund into account, in” of 15 years, he did not pay any taxes. in the first two years of his presidency, 2016 and 2017, he paid only $750 each year. so these things taken together, not a good manager and pays almost no taxes even though, if you paid the average amount of taxes of people with his income level, he would be paying many, many, many times

what he in fact paid. let's get some of the day's other news. in the last hour, a federal judge in washington has blocked president trump's ban on downloading the chinese—owned video—sharing app tiktok. the reasons for the temporary injunction have not been made public. the white house has previously called the app a national security threat, alleging that its chinese parent firm is tied to the beijing government. france's president says he's ashamed that lebanon's politicians have failed to agree a new government. following the devastating blast in beirut in august, emmanuel macron led international efforts to persuade the ruling elite to quickly form a new administration, to help lebanon face its numerous problems, from the fallout of the explosion to an extremely fragile economy made worse by the coronavirus pandemic. india's president has signed three agriculture bills into law, despite large scale

protests by farmers. the laws will open up the indian farming industry to the private sector, a move the government says is much needed. but many farmers say the reforms remove support and protection, such as minimum prices for their produce. to the caucuses now, where there's been continued fighting between armenia and azerbaijan, in the disputed territory of nagorno—kara bakh. armenia's prime minister, nikol pashinyan, has warned of the risk of full—scale war after clashes with azerbaijani troops. officials in the breakaway region, which is controlled by ethnic armenians, say sixteen soldiers have been killed. azerbaijan has also reported deaths. both nations have now declared martial law and accuse each other of starting the fighting. the bbc‘s correspondent rayhan demytrie reports. bang. sunday morning, nagorno—karabakh. bang. heavy fighting using tanks, artillery, drones and helicopters broke over this territory disputed by azerbaijan and armenia for more than 30 years.

bang. both countries accused each other of reigniting the conflict. both sides reported casualties, including civilians. translation: it is no secret that the first fire, including artillery fire, was opened by armenia. and the first to die were azerbaijani servicemen. azerbaijan gave a decent response to the enemy and the enemy could not move an inch. the armenian prime minister urged the world community not to stay silent. translation: the outbreak of a large—scale war in the south caucasus, the brink of which we are standing now, could have the most unpredictable consequences. it could go out of the region's borders and take wider volumes and threaten international security and stability. turkey expressed its solidarity with azerbaijan. russia called for an immediate ceasefire. the mountainous kara bakh was an autonomous region within soviet azerbaijan, populated largely by ethnic armenians.

the two countries fought a war there in the early 1990s. armenia gained control over the territory and a number of adjacent azeri districts following a 1994 ceasefire. azerbaijan has repeatedly expressed its frustration with a lack of progress in the decades—long peace process. it is now resorting to a military solution to regain its territories. rayhan demytrie, bbc news. tens of thousands of opposition supporters in belarus have taken to the streets for the seventh consecutive sunday, in protest at president alexander lu kashenko's disputed re—election last month. police say they've detained around 200 people. the protests centred on the capital, minsk,

where the main event was a rally near the hero city monument. jonah fisher is in minsk and has this report. drumming. seven weeks after the disputed election, belarus‘ protests now have a certain rhythm. each sunday there's a big march, and today there were once again tens of thousands on the streets of the capital, minsk. with the passing weeks, the protesters‘ outfits have evolved, as have the jokes and the insults. why do you put a rat on a cross? it's our president. alexander lu kashenko claimed victory but is widely thought to have lost august's vote to the housewife svetlana tikhanovskaya. chanting. they chant for her, but a crackdown has destroyed the opposition leadership. sergei — a tractor factory worker and trade unionist is pretty much the only leader who's neither injail or in exile. and he's worried.

while we're with him, his wife calls twice to make sure he hasn't been picked up. "at the moment, there is no organised opposition inside belarus", he tells me. "but if you call the people of belarus the opposition, then the opposition is stronger and more united than ever." the opposition‘s problem is that despite the protests, president lukashenko's security forces remain solidly behind him. so this is what we have seen repeatedly here in belarus. excuse me, sir. basically, these masked guys, nothing on them which says who they are, disrupting demonstrations — detaining people, taking them into vans. where are you taking these people? woman screams.

this was a women's march on saturday. what's happening to you? she says she was just standing outside a cafe. what's your name? we've showed you our name. no name. no name? why not? no name, no face. why don't you show your face? yeah, i am afraid. on europe's eastern flank, the men in masks are still very much in charge. jonah fisher, bbc news, minsk. stay with us on bbc news, still to come: high rise feeding in bolivia, how one woman eased her lockdown loneliness by befriending a trio of visiting birds of prey. in all russia's turmoil,

it has never come to this. president yeltsin said the day would decide the nation's destiny. the nightmare that so many people have feared for so long is playing out its final act here. russians are killing russians in front of a grandstand audience. it was his humility which produced affection from catholics throughout the world, but his departure is a tragedy for the catholic church. this man, israel's right—winger ariel sharon, visited the religious compound, and that started the trouble. he wants israel alone to have sovereignty over the holy sites, an idea that is unthinkable to palestinians. after 45 years of division, germany is one. in berlin, a million germans celebrate the rebirth of europe's biggest and richest nation.

this is bbc world news. the latest headlines: the new york times says it has obtained president trump's tax records stretching back two decades, which it says reveal chronic financial losses and years of tax avoidance. the united states hasjoined russia and the un in calling for an end to the worst violence in years in nagorno—kara bakh, the disputed region between armenia and azerbaijan. now, firefighters in california are battling a new wildfire that broke out in the state this weekend called the "glass fire". the blaze began early on sunday morning. the napa county sheriff's office issued an evacuation orderfor some parts of the area. cal fire said the blaze had a "dangerous rate of speed." the national weather service said low humidity, dry fuel and winds are causing "significa nt fire—weather concerns."

earlier i spoke to rob mayeda, who's a meteorologist for nbc bay area. i asked him to give us this update of the current weather conditions facing california and how it could impact on the wildfires. yeah, we are seeing a lot of those existing fires take on new life. all this critical fire danger caused by what are known here locally as "red flag" warnings, across most of northern california, including the bay area. and this is where we see these very hot temperatures, gusty, dry, offshore winds. and you can see what it's doing to the fire behaviour. we're seeing across california fires that are burning extremely quickly, the smoke and the embers staying low to the ground — that's the extreme rate of spread we're seeing on a fire down west of redding and, you mentioned, the glass fire there, off to the north of napa — just to give you a reference — that is part of the wine country, north of the san francisco bay area, and notice how the wind is keeping those smoke plumes very low to the ground. so we've got the gusty winds, very low humidity at times — 13% — and air temperatures in the mid—90s fahrenheit, roughly over 35 degrees celsius. these are the extreme conditions we were worried about developing this weekend, and all signs are that we could

see even hotter temperatures and, unfortunately, more air pollution problems, as these new fires erupt, coming back into the bay area. that is the two—front concern for both wildfires and the air quality issues we are going through again. evacuation orders issued covering hundreds of people, is it likely those will be broadened? that's quite possible, it's a great point. you know, we have been watching the temperatures very closely. today, we have seen temperatures that were near record highs today and in some cases, tomorrow, the map behind me shows you that we are going to be trending even warmer, on the order of about 20 degrees hotter than average. tomorrow it looks even hotter than the temperatures we saw today. that of course in fahrenheit, about 10 celsius warmer than the temperatures that we usually would see this so unfortunately, with the hot weather, that really inflates these fire rates of spread. we see fires moving twice or three times as fast and, just to give you a reference, so far this year, five of the six largest fires in california's history, all have occurred in 2020, and you notice that most of these have actually occurred in just the last four weeks

here in california. rob mayeda. to australia now, and melbourne has awoken to eased coronavirus restrictions as the number of covid—19 cases continues to fall. the premier of the state of victoria, daniel andrews, announced the next stage in the plan to ease the city's strict lockdown measures on sunday, with the dusk till dawn curfew now lifted. the eased measures will also see more than 120,000 people able to return to work, while primary school students will return to the classroom from october 12. a short time ago i spoke to our sydney correspondent, phil mercer, who said many in the city would be looking forward the getting out of their homes. well, the city of melbourne as australia's second most populous city, it has been living under some of the world's strictest coronavirus lockdown measures. and melburnians, there are 5 million of them, are now tasting some of the freedoms that they have not had since the city went back into lockdown in early july. that night—time curfew is now

over, tens of thousands of people will be allowed back to work. and as you say, all primary schools will be reopened in a couple of weeks' time. still, there are restrictions in melbourne. you have to have one of four reasons to leave your house, including work and study and caregiving, and also there are restrictions on gatherings, too. but the authorities and victoria say that the number of daily new coronavirus cases have fallen so much that more restrictions could be eased well ahead of schedule. the aim, a "covid—normal christmas", according to the government. phil mercer. now, a refugee camp where there are no cinemas in war—ravaged syria seems an unusual place to celebrate movie—making but that's what's been happening at a film festival in a camp the north of the country. more than 50 features have been included in the festival

billing which organisers hope will encourage people to embrace art instead of violence. jiyar gol from the bbc‘s persian service has this report. showcasing films in war—torn syria for refugees who have been living in camps for years. leloun international film festival is one—of—a—kind. kurdish syrian film—makers, who themselves are internally displaced persons, have organised the festival. last week, on the international day for peace, the festival started with performances and music in a camp in northern syria. in a week of the film festival, 58 local and international films had been showcased. singing why this festival?

why now? why there? translation: the residents of these camps, before their cities were occupied, had many cultural and art centres. we are hoping that this festival will help them, even for a moment, to forget about their trauma and their losses. most of the displaced people in these camps are kurds from northern syria. once there was a vibrant art and cultural community, and women were active members. this woman is from afrin. she has been living in this camp since turkish proxies captured her city three years ago. translation: i'm happy happy this festival is taking place in this camp, and the world will see it. we continue our struggle until we return to afrin. i don't want to stay here. i would like to go back to my

forefathers' home and farm. they fought the islamic state and defeated the extremists. but later lost their cities and villages to islamic militants backed by turkey. these people have lost their homes, their movie theatres, culture centres, their loved ones, to the extremistjihadists. yet these people still show this resilience and hope they have through cinema, and they want to share this message with the world. most of the stories showcased in the leloun film festival are about war, extremist brutality, and human rights violations. something the people of this camp have experienced through their body and souls. jiyar gol, bbc news.

residents in the us city of lake jackson in texas have been warned not to use their tap water because it might be contaminated with a deadly brain—eating amoeba. an investigation into the city's water supply began after a six—year—old boy contracted the microbe and died earlier this month. on friday, eight places in texas were warned not to use their water supply for any reason except to flush toilets. the warning was lifted on saturday for everywhere except lake jackson, which is home to 27,000 people. finally, one silver lining to being locked inside for months during the pandemic is that some of us have formed unlikely friendships with other people, or animals, or even birds. and one relationship in bolivia has ruffled a few feathers as paul hawkins reports. waiting to be served — 18 floors up in the bolivian capital, la paz, this is the southern crested caracara, or carancho, a species of falcon from south america and, thanks to lockdown, they've struck up a friendship with elba and her son, rudolpho.

translation: because of the pandemic, we paid more attention and we saw them more. for me, it was like a visit. i said, i have three lovely visitors because every time that they come they bring us happiness. i feel very happy to see them and, with the issue of fires, with so many animals being lost and birds disappearing, i felt very useful to be saving these three birds. they're known as opportunistic raptors, so they don't miss a treat. this was the only restaurant that stayed open through lockdown, serving fruit and corn, but, after a bit of internet research, the family discovered their visitors were actually meat eaters. so now, they get mince. translation: they come and we give them food, right to their beaks, and they eat it. there are three of them and they are always together. lately, it seems that, since it is spring and mating season, a couple formed and one comes alone, but the three always come.

three's a crowd, supposedly, but not in this case. paul hawkins, bbc news. the american football icon joe montana and his wife have rescued their nine—month—old grandchild from a kidnapping attempt. the la county sheriff's department said the couple confronted a woman who entered their home and grabbed the child from a playpen. officials said the couple was able to retrieve the child after a tussle. the hall of fame quarterback took to twitter, thanking everyone who has reached out and saying that it had been "scary but thankfully everybody is doing well." you can reach me on twitter. i'm @richpreston. you can catch up on all of the news on our app and website. much more to come, later. stay with bbc world news.

good morning. some potentially turbulent weather on the way, later in the week, and that's after what is a fairly placid but also pretty cold start. many of you starting the day with a frost around. temperatures well below freezing through some parts of northern england and south—east scotland. it's in this zone where we saw the best of the sunshine, yesterday, from eastern scotland down through towards parts of, say, wiltshire, somerset. it's here where there'll be a frost the ground. mainly the countryside but some of the suburbs as well. sunshine overhead to begin with. cloudy start in east anglia and the south—east, again, and cloud will be thicker across northern ireland. outbreaks of rain through the first part of the morning. brightening up though from mid—morning onwards. that rain and cloud will spread into western scotland through the morning, and during the afternoon to eastern scotland, through wales and the western

fringes of england. many on either side of it all will see some sunshine and, at long last, the winds ease as the sun comes out across east anglia and the south—east, and it will feel warmer than recent days. now then, bringing about the change is this weather front which, through monday night into tuesday, will be pushing its way eastwards, to take us into the start of tuesday. it mayjust become confined across east anglia and the south—east, producing some cloud, outbreaks of rain, but not the strong winds we saw through the weekend. elsewhere, a bit of patchy frost around, not as cold as monday morning, but it really a dry and sunny day for many. quite pleasant in the sunshine. temperatures on monday and tuesday around levels they should be for this stage in september. but then the first turn to something more turbulent. as we go through tuesday night into wednesday, a deep low centred towards the south of iceland. more in the way of active weather fronts spreading its way in and stronger winds. winds could touch gale force with the heavy rain which is across ireland and into the western fringes of the uk first thing, only slowly pushing its way eastwards. some eastern areas start

the day dry and bright, and some will stay dry through daylight hours, but rain will spread through as we go into wednesday night. starting to feel that bit cooler, of course, with the cloud, the wind and the rain. a cooler feel still as we go into thursday, and then, as a jet stream really fires up towards the end of the week, we start to see this develop — a potentially stormy area of low pressure. exact position of that will be crucial to who sees the wettest and the windiest conditions, but there is the risk that we'll see some disruption. so after a bright and frosty starts, it's cool through the week. that midweek spell of wind and rain and then potential for storms to watch out for as we head towards the weekend. bye for now.

this is bbc news. the headlines:

the new york times says it has obtained president trump's tax records stretching back two decades, which it says reveal chronic financial losses and years of tax avoidance. the newspaper reports that mr trump paid only $750 in federal income taxes in the year he won the presidency. the president has dismissed the claims as fake news. the united states hasjoined russia and the un in calling for an immediate ceasefire between armenia and azerbaijan in the disputed territory of nagorno—karabakh. sunday saw the worst clashes in the region for many years with deaths from both sides. police say they've detained around 200 people following a seventh consecutive week of anti—government protests in belarus. tens of thousands of opposition supporters took to the streets of capital in minsk to oppose the regime of president alexander lukashenko. now on bbc news, hardtalk.