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Artists find fans and creative outlet as they flock towards crowdfunding sites

Coronavirus crisis has forced musicians and others to adapt, says founder of platform

Musicians, artists and writers have turned to crowdfunding sites to make up for lost opportunities in lockdown, and their audiences have followed them, leading to a rise in contributions through platforms such as Patreon.

Since mid-March more than 70,000 extra creators have joined Patreon, which allows fans to give monthly payments to artists in exchange for exclusive content or simply out of a desire to support someone whose work they appreciate.

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Tom Hunt's recipe for tin-can curry: five-minute dal | Waste not

Tinned food is an invaluable back-up, and can be transformed into a nutritious meal at the drop of a hat

Tinned food has a best-before date of about three years, but is still likely to be good to eat decades later, making it an invaluable back-up. It also helps you prevent food waste by letting you be more sparing with perishable purchases – though, as with fresh food, it’s a good idea to rotate the cans in your cupboard, bringing short-date items to the fore, so you can build them into the week’s meals.

As well as helping to reduce food waste, tinned food is a good choice compared with other packaged food, because cans are made from a relatively low-impact material that actually gets recycled, unlike most plastics and Tetrapak. It’s also worth noting that, no matter how new it is, if a tin has a dent or is rusty, it is safest to compost the contents to avoid the deadly bacteria Clostridium botulinum.

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The Quarantine + Pandemic Survival Map: 'It's escapism, with a lot of humour'

No longer able to walk hundreds of miles to create his hand-drawn maps, the Beijing-based artist Fuller is charting his thoughts – and the global crisis – while stuck indoors

I’m interested in the psychology of a place and how it makes you feel. So I don’t really see myself as a map-maker – even though I draw maps. It’s about the process of travelling through a place to capture a sense of it. First, I walk for hundreds of miles and make all sorts of notes, and then take thousands of photos to use as triggers for my memory.

I walked more than 840 miles around Beijing when researching the map that became part of my Purposeful Wandering series. I circumnavigated the city and then walked around each ring road. Beijing (where I’ve lived for three years) is built on a Central Axis, and the map is, too. A lot of the drawing is literal, but I also built in personal experiences, references, visual puns and semiotics.

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My happy place: readers' travel tips

Memories of beaches – in the UK or further afield – as well as village bars, sunrise views and days out with tea and cake are sustaining readers during lockdown

A day out in Whitby. Morning tea and fruit cake with Wensleydale at Bothams. Walk to the sea, and out onto the pier. Walk up the beach, climb up the cliff and then back to the town past the whale’s jaw. Fresh crab sandwiches for lunch, then climb the 199 steps to the Priory. Back down, just enough time for afternoon tea and cake before crossing back over the river for a fish supper at the Magpie. Drive back over the beautiful North Yorkshire moors; the end of a perfect day, in perfect weather every time.
Nigel Goddard

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Judi Dench becomes British Vogue's oldest cover star

85-year-old Oscar-winner appears in the magazine’s June issue

Judi Dench has become British Vogue’s oldest cover star, securing her first front page for the style arbiter at the age of 85.

The Oscar-winning actor was photographed just before lockdown for the magazine’s June issue, but the accompanying interview explores her experiences self-isolating at home in Surrey.

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‘It makes me feel human’: 11 women share their lockdown beauty regimens

We’re interacting less with the outside world – and the societal pressures that come with it. Are some women still wearing makeup every day?

The shutdown feels like a good opportunity to examine an age-old feminist question: when women put makeup on, can they ever truly be doing it for themselves?

We will probably never have an answer. The pressure imposed on women to look good is such a part of our existence that we might never get rid of it – even “dressing up for oneself” can be traced back to self-hatred fueled by a beauty-obsessed culture.

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Why Normal People has the makings of a fashion classic

If Sally Rooney is the first great millennial novelist, then Marianne Sheridan is the first great millennial TV style icon

Would it make a person really shallow if their favourite thing about the TV adaptation of Normal People was Marianne’s wardrobe? Asking for a friend.

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From album dressing to Percy Pig ice-cream: this week's fashion trends

What’s hot and what’s not in fashion this week

Kaia As in Gerber, who joins the likes of Alexa and Jane Birkin – she now has a bag named after her, by Saint Laurent. Style icon status: confirmed.

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How to dress in lockdown | Jess Cartner-Morley

The latest trends may not matter any more, but there is a whole new set of influences on what we wear

I know, I know – there are more important things to think about than clothes at the moment. I get that. On the other hand, I don’t see that me squinting at graphs or scrolling through headlines is going to make a vaccine come any quicker. So thinking about clothes is no less constructive than pondering logarithmic scales or contact tracing approaches, really.

I have pretty much checked out of fashion, in the sense of trends, during the period universally known as This Difficult Time. For those of us fortunate enough not to be at the sharp end of the crisis, lockdown is a little like living in a freeze-frame, and the “spring trends” that were scheduled to be happening in our wardrobes now – Bermuda shorts, crochet dresses, waistcoats – feel like outfits for a party that got cancelled. Fashion in the this-week’s-must-have sense feels like a radio station that’s still broadcasting, but with no one tuning in.

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What animal is a sarcastic fringehead? The Weekend quiz

From Matilda the Hun to the first fleet, test your knowledge with the Weekend quiz

1 Which South American was the world’s first female president?
2 What was the destination of the First Fleet?
3 Who lived at 308 Negra Arroyo Lane, Albuquerque?
4 Which epic poem is based on the Battle of Roncevaux?
5 What animal is a sarcastic fringehead?
6 What German car was last made in Mexico in 2019?
7 Pollex is the medical name for what part of the body?
8 Thomas Neuwirth won Eurovision under what stage persona?
What links:
9
Norwich; Newlyn; St Ives; Camden Town; Bloomsbury?
10 Platypus and four species of echidna?
11 Renren; QQ; Sina Weibo; WeChat?
12 Sydenstricker; Stearns; Staples; Surajprasad?
13 Colonel Ninotchka; Mt Fiji; Zelda the Brain; Matilda the Hun?
14 Harmost; satrap; voivode; bey; subahdar?
15 Ridley Scott; James Cameron; David Fincher; Jean-Pierre Jeunet?

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  • Life and style

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Roy Horn of Siegfried & Roy Dies of Coronavirus at 75

Roy Uwe Ludwig Horn, whose collaboration with Siegfried Fischbacher created the well-known animal training and magic duo Siegfried & Roy, died of complications from COVID-19 Friday in Las Vegas. He was 75. Horn had revealed on April 28 that he had tested positive for coronavirus. “Today, the world has lost one of the greats of […]




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Film News Roundup: Kaniehtiio Horn Romantic Comedy ‘Tell Me I Love You’ Lands at Vision Films

In today’s film news roundup, romantic comedy “Tell Me I Love You” finds a home; the Canadian government gives COVID-19 relief funding to the Canada Media Fund and Telefilm Canada; and the cancelled Sun Valley Film Festival gives out awards. ACQUISITION Vision Films has acquired Los Angeles romantic comedy film “Tell Me I Love You,” […]




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‘Kubrick by Kubrick’: Tribeca Film Review

In the last 10 years, there’s been an ever-widening niche of documentaries about Stanley Kubrick. Every one of them has been fascinating, one or two (like “Stanley Kubrick’s Boxes”) are as idiosyncratic as the director himself, and the most artful and memorable — “Filmworker” (2017), a portrait of Kubrick’s monkishly devoted gofer and right-hand assistant, […]




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Chris Meloni Lists Ozzie and Harriet’s Haunted House

After just over five years of ownership, versatile TV and film actor Christopher Meloni (“Oz,” “Law & Order: SVU,” “The Handmaid’s Tale,” “Wet Hot American Summer,” “Happy!”) and his longtime wife Sherman Williams have punted their historic Hollywood Hills home back onto the open market, where it’s landed with a nearly $6.5 million thud. The […]




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Andre Harrell, Music Executive Who Discovered Sean ‘Puffy’ Combs, Dies at 59

Andre Harrell, a veteran music executive best known as the founder of Uptown Records, where Sean “Puffy” Combs got his start in the business, who later went on to head Motown Records, has died. He was 59. The cause of death is as yet unclear. DJ D-Nice revealed the sad news while spinning on Instagram […]




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Law Firm Representing Lady Gaga, Madonna, Bruce Springsteen, Others Suffers Major Data Breach

Grubman Shire Meiselas & Sacks, a large media and entertainment law firm, appears to have been the victim of a cyberattack that resulted in the theft of an enormous batch of private information on dozens of celebrities, according to a data security researcher. The trove of data allegedly stolen from the New York-based firm by […]




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Google, Facebook Extend Work From Home Policies Until 2021

How long will work-from-home last? Most Google and Facebook employees likely will not be going back to the office full time until 2021. The tech industry’s two biggest internet companies have told employees to settle into home-office routines through the end of the year amid the COVID-19 crisis. Both Google and Facebook this week said […]




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Little Richard, Flamboyant Rock and Roll Pioneer, Dies at 87

Flamboyant singer-instrumentalist Little Richard, whose high-voltage, keyboard-shattering R&B singles supplied lift-off for the ’50s rock ‘n’ roll revolution, has died. The musician, whose birth name was Richard Penniman, was 87, although some sources say he was older. His death was confirmed by his son, Danny Jones Penniman, who told the New York Times the cause […]




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TV Throws Its Biggest Ad Pitch at a Madison Avenue Filled With Roadblocks

Linda Yaccarino, the hard-charging ad-sales chief of NBCUniversal. will soon be running into uncharted territory. In recent years, Yaccarino has railed against Nielsen and taken a public swipe at Facebook. She has urged advertisers to consider running fewer commercials on NBC and to  work to make the ones that remain more ambitious and interesting. On […]




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Nurse offers advice on caring for those with coronavirus at home – video

Many people will get coronavirus at some point during this pandemic and in the majority of cases will be able to manage the illness themselves. Emma Hammett, a nurse and founder of First Aid for Life, offers some advice on how to look after people who have mild or moderate symptoms at home.

If you're looking after loved ones whose  symptoms are severe or getting worse, you should seek medical help immediately – particularly if they are in a vulnerable group

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Thousands lose last hope of having a baby as lockdown closes IVF clinics

Women tell of ‘bereavement’ because they will be too old for fertility treatment when the coronavirus shutdown ends

Coronavirus – latest updates

See all our coronavirus coverage

Thousands of couples may have missed their last chance of conceiving via IVF as fertility clinics shut their doors to patients on Wednesday. Some women who are only just young enough to be eligible for treatment will be too old in a few months’ time.

The Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority (HFEA), which regulates Britain’s fertility industry, has ordered private and NHS clinics to stop treating patients who are in the middle of an IVF cycle by 15 April. All new treatments have already been banned, a decision which is likely to prevent the births of at least 20,000 desperately wanted babies if it remains in place for 12 months.

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Poorer expectant mums lose over £4,000 through ‘unfair’ anomaly in benefits

System treats maternity allowance as unpaid income, skewing the amount of universal credit paid out

Pregnant women on the lowest incomes are being denied vital financial support during the Covid-19 crisis, according to unions and women’s support groups, who are calling for urgent reforms to universal credit.

An anomaly in the way universal credit differentiates between pregnant earners has created an unfair system, it is argued. Universal credit treats maternity allowance, which is paid to the lowest-earning women and those who are self-employed, as “unearned income”, which means it is deducted from their benefit payments.

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Chef Pete Evans exits Seven's My Kitchen Rules amid ratings slump

Celebrity TV chef from MKR has been repeatedly criticised by scientific and medical groups over his views on health and nutrition

The controversial reality TV chef Pete Evans will exit My Kitchen Rules, Seven’s defining show of the decade which slumped badly in the ratings this year.

Evans, a self-styled health guru held one of the most lucrative jobs in television despite a series of controversies related to his views on health and nutrition.

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World cities turn their streets over to walkers and cyclists

From Berlin to Bogotá there are new footpaths and bike lanes – but not in London

A growing number of cities around the world are temporarily reallocating road space from cars to people on foot and on cycles to keep key workers moving and residents in coronavirus lockdown healthy and active while socially distancing.

Limited urban park space and leisure trails are under increasing pressure, with many closed to prevent the spread of coronavirus, further limiting urban dwellers’ access to outdoor space. While traffic has dropped around the world, and with it nitrogen dioxide levels, there are widespread concerns over a rise in speeding drivers endangering those walking and cycling.

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'Bicycles are the new toilet paper': bike sales boom as coronavirus lockdown residents crave exercise

Australia’s peak representative body for cyclists has called on governments to transform roads into cycleways to ease traffic on bike paths

Australian bike retailers are struggling to keep up with the boom in sales since coronavirus restrictions came into force last month.

“We’re the new toilet paper and everyone wants a piece,” Grant Kaplan, manager of Giant Sydney, a bike store in Sydney’s CBD, tells Guardian Australia.

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Ten reasons now is a great time to start cycling

As lockdown eases, travelling by bike will be a safe, healthy and potentially addictive option

There are many reasons you might want to think about cycling for commuting or other transport when the coronavirus lockdown starts to ease, particularly if you live in a city.

With physical distancing remaining in place for some time to come, capacity on public transport will be limited. If more people drive it will create gridlock.

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My partner left me before lockdown and I can't get over him

With so much time on our hands, it’s easy to dwell on loss, says Mariella Frostrup. Try distracting yourself with online dates, box sets and classic novels

The dilemma Several months ago my partner of five years left me very suddenly. He’d gone abroad to work, but as far as I knew everything was fine. I even had flights booked to go and visit. The break-up was a huge shock that left me in a low place. After a few weeks I felt I was beginning to come out of the fog and start moving on with my life, going out and seeing friends, going to classes, etc, but then the lockdown was imposed. Being shut away in my flat all day, alone with my thoughts, I seem to be going backwards.

I’m very aware that we are in the middle of a global crisis and it’s awful for everyone. Luckily, I’m in a good position regarding pay and I’m not paying rent, so I really don’t have any reason to complain. However, all I can think about is my ex. It’s driving me a little bit mad. Do you have any advice on dealing with non-Covid-related troubles during this crisis? Talking to others about it is hard, and I don’t want to make it all about myself.

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I am used to living alone. Why has lockdown made me feel invisible? | Annalisa Barbieri

When life is necessarily small, the more negative feelings we’ve managed to keep in abeyance can loom large, says Annalisa Barbieri

I had adjusted to living alone after I was widowed six years ago, and since the lockdown friends have telephoned frequently and I chat to neighbours at a distance.

Although I feel I am one of the lucky ones and should be fine, I miss, above all, hugs and physical closeness. I have also started to resent people with partners, children or cuddly pets (which I have not done before).

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Patterns of pain: what Covid-19 can teach us about how to be human

We can expect psychological difficulties to follow as we come out of lockdown. But we have an opportunity to remake our relationship with our bodies, and the social body we belong to. By Susie Orbach

When lockdown started, I was confused by bodies on television. Why weren’t they socially distancing? Didn’t they know not to be so close? The injunction to be separate was unfamiliar and irregular, and for me, self-isolating alone, following this government directive was peculiar. It made watching dramas and programmes produced under normal filming conditions feel jarring.

Seven weeks in, the disjuncture has passed. I, like all of us, am accommodating to multiple corporeal realities: bodies alone, bodies distant, bodies in the park to be avoided, bodies of disobedient youths hanging out in groups, bodies in lines outside shops, bodies and voices flattened on screens and above all, bodies of dead health workers and carers. Black bodies, brown bodies. Working-class bodies. Bodies not normally praised, now being celebrated.

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Cheating a hangover is one of life's gems

Waking up without a hangover after a night of getting plastered is the world saying: here, have one on me

Brace yourself. That is the first thing that enters one’s head after a heavy night out, before the eyes are even open. Sometimes, listing nausea or a banging in the brain is what wakes us in the first place. We all know that if someone invented a cure for hangovers – and boy, have they tried – that person would be very rich indeed. Or worshipped as a deity. Most likely both.

It doesn’t matter if it has been one too many after work drinks or cracking open a second bottle of wine with one’s partner… the consequences of over-indulgence patiently lie in wait.

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How to have fun during lockdown | Oliver Burkeman

Ask yourself Carl Jung’s question: what did you do as a child that made the hours pass like minutes?

I hesitate to suggest what anyone else ought to be doing to stay on an even keel, psychologically, in these frightening times – partly because I don’t always manage it myself, but also because any such advice tends to turn into yet another item for the to-do list. You’ve noticed, for example, how quickly all those online yoga classes and Zoom cocktail gatherings, intended to add some lightness to lockdown, began to feel vaguely like a chore. (You’re not imagining “Zoom fatigue”: experts say video conversations really are more tiring.) Likewise, “self-care” practices easily turn into new duties, so people end up forcing themselves to be kind to themselves, which doesn’t make much sense.

This is why what I think we probably ought to be doing, to whatever extent possible, is having more fun. Not meditation or gratitude journalling or jogging (unless you find those fun). Not things you think are supposed to be fun. I mean the things you actually find fun. This distinction matters, partly for the aforementioned reason that self-care, however important, isn’t synonymous with fun. But it’s also because in the modern attention economy, all sorts of things – celebrity memoirs, bad new TV dramas, expensive consumer goods – want you to believe they’re the funnest thing you could be doing. Conceivably, for any given person, they might be. But true fun – “deep fun”, as the fun scholar Bernie De Koven called it – is a subtle and personal thing, and not necessarily in anyone else’s commercial interests.

Related: No spare time in lockdown? That's not such a bad thing

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  • Life and style
  • Health & wellbeing

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Living alone but feeling connected | Letter

Jill Wallis says she has never had so much contact with family and friends as she has had since the lockdown began

You have published many articles about the challenges of isolation, most recently your long read (Patterns of pain: what Covid-19 can teach us about how to be human, 7 May). But there is one interesting outcome you may not have considered.

Many of those of us who always live alone are finding we are much more in contact with loved ones than previously. I’ve lived alone since being widowed 16 years ago, and I’ve never had as much contact with my family and even my friends than I’ve had since the lockdown began.

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DOJ Will Drop Case Against Ex-Trump Adviser Michael Flynn

After months of wrangling following the Russia probe, prosecutors will not go ahead with the case against Michael Flynn based on the former national security adviser's false statements to the FBI.




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Minnesota Gov. Walz Says More Testing Is Needed Before Many Businesses Can Reopen

Gov. Tim Walz is hesitant to reopen businesses until his state's daily testing rate dramatically increases. "You can't flip it like a switch and say you're open if you don't have testing," he says.




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Michael Flynn Pleaded Guilty. Why Is The Justice Department Dropping The Charges?

Fate and politics have rewarded decisions made by the former national security adviser and his legal team, ultimately delivering him from legal jeopardy after a years-long odyssey.




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Lawmakers Want To Get Americans More Relief Money. Here's What They Propose

A trio of Senate Democrats wants to give $2,000 per month to individuals through the end of the health emergency. One Senate Republican suggests covering payroll for companies that rehire workers.




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Supreme Court Puts Temporary Hold On Order To Release Redacted Mueller Materials

The procedural move gives attorneys for House Democrats until May 18 to respond. They say they're owed access to confidential evidence and other materials. No, argues the Trump administration.




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Pence Spokeswoman Katie Miller Tests Positive For Coronavirus

The case is the second confirmed by the White House this week. President Trump said Miller hasn't come into contact with him but has "spent some time" with the vice president.




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Attorneys: Watchdog Wants Coronavirus Scientist Reinstated Amid Probe

Rick Bright, a top scientist working on a vaccine, says he was reassigned for not focusing on treatments favored by President Trump, even though they lacked "scientific merit."




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The Biden Campaign Is Trying To Reach Voters Virtually

President Trump and Vice President Pence have made official visits to battleground states this week, while the Biden campaign tries new ways to reach voters in key states virtually.




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Civilian Coronavirus Corps Aims To Get Pennsylvania Back To Work

Gov. Tom Wolf hopes a New Deal-inspired plan will help get the state's more than 1.7 million unemployed residents working again.




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More Census Workers To Return To Rural Areas In 9 States To Leave Forms

The Census Bureau says it plans to continue its relaunch of limited 2020 census operations on May 13, when the next round of workers is set to resume hand-delivering paper forms in rural communities.




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Top 5 Moments From The Supreme Court's 1st Week Of Livestreaming Arguments

From a mysterious toilet flush to Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg speaking from the hospital, here are the highlights — including audio clips — from a historic week for the high court.




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Reopening After COVID: The 3 Phases Recommended By The White House

President Trump wants businesses to start reopening after the coronavirus forced shutdowns. Here's what the White House task force recommends for states.




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Anti-Vaccination Activists Join Stay-At-Home Order Protesters

Among those rallying against state shutdown orders are anti-vaccination activists. They see these protests as a way to form political alliances that promote their movement.




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Week In Politics: U.S. Jobs Report, DOJ Drops Criminal Case Against Michael Flynn

NPR's Ron Elving talks about the historic U.S. unemployment rate, and the Justice Department's move to drop its criminal case against former national security adviser Michael Flynn.




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Mike Pence aide tests positive for coronavirus, 2nd case in White House complex

The White House was moving to shore up its protection protocols to protect the nation's political leaders.




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Windsor, Ont., health-care workers to get gift cards from U.S. Consulate as thanks

"Your support to vulnerable Americans during this crisis is deeply appreciated," said U.S. Consul General Greg Stanford.




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Top White House officials ordered U.S. CDC coronavirus reopening guide buried, docs show

The files also show that after reports that the guidance document had been buried, the Trump administration ordered key parts of it to be fast-tracked for approval.