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Murray Hill calls himself "Mr. Showbiz."In addition to playing Fred Rococo in the HBO series, Somebody Somewhere, Hill hosted drag king shows, queer cabarets and comedy shows — and he performs his own act. "I started producing and creating shows because this is my mantra … if you don't see yourself represented, go out and represent yourself," Hill says.

Does "the third time's the charm" apply to prestigious literary awards? Edwidge Danticat will have the opportunity to find out. She's now a three-time finalist for a National Book Award, which were announced Tuesday morning. Danticat's novel, Dèy, is about a woman who witnesses a violent gun attack in a Miami mall. Danticat's short story collection Krik? Krak! was a finalist for the prize in 1995, and her book Brother, I'm Dying, was a non-fiction finalist in 2007.

Avengers: Endgame has reclaimed the number one spot on Hollywood's all-time worldwide box office chart. The superhero epic, in which dozens of Marvel superheroes oppose Thanos, a supervillain who has erased half the universe's population, first became the highest grossing film in history in 2019. Its $2.799 billion total eclipsed that of James Cameron's sci-fi epic Avatar (2009), which had held that title for ten years.

NEW DELHI — Protests have spread across India in the past week as opposition parties and civil society groups demand the resignation of the country's election chief over alleged manipulation of voter lists. The campaign has been led in part by India's "Cockroach" youth movement, which previously organized street protests that forced the education minister to resign in July.

HANOI, Vietnam — Police in Vietnam's Ho Chi Minh City arrested 12 men suspected of operating a citywide ring that stole and resold about 2,700 cats for meat, Vietnamese state media said. Police identified 39-year-old Luu Thanh Binh as the alleged leader of the network. He and 11 others were being investigated for theft, state media said Monday. Investigators said Binh bought stolen cats, kept them at a facility in the city's north and resold them for meat.

A version of this essay first appeared in the Up First newsletter. Subscribe here to get the news you need to start your day — plus a little fun — every weekday and Sunday. Four weeks from now, the midterm elections will help decide the balance of power in Congress. And ahead of Election Day, Morning Edition will be traveling to six states with some of the most competitive races to hear what voters say is shaping their decisions. We already have some clues about where voters stand.

President Trump recently underscored his desire to have his name appear on the facade of the Kennedy Center with a threat. "Frankly, if we don't do that, it's going to close," Trump told reporters. "It'll end up being ripped down." Trump or his supporters have called for the president's name to appear on everything from naval battleships to airports.

STOCKHOLM — Francis Halzen won the Nobel Prize in physics on Tuesday for his contributions to the IceCube Neutrino Observatory and his discovery of high-energy neutrinos of astrophysical origin. "Francis Halzen has led an international team of researchers and engineers who have provided us with a fantastic instrument. His tenacity and scientific vision has paved the way for a new kind of astronomy," Mark Pearce, chair of the Nobel Committee for Physics, said in a news release.

A federal court in Washington, D.C., is to play host to a legal battle Tuesday morning pitting the Walt Disney Co. against the nation's chief broadcast regulator over just how far First Amendment protections can go during the presidency of Donald Trump. President Trump has repeatedly called for Disney's ABC TV to fire late night comedian Jimmy Kimmel, who has consistently mocked the president. Trump has also routinely denounced ABC's The View, accusing it of being liberal and unfair.

Olivia Sanderfoot stands on a flower-freckled hillside in Amherst in Western Massachusetts. She listens for a moment — and a volley of birdsong flutters forth. An Eastern Wood-Pewee. A goldfinch. A downy woodpecker. "It's just magical," she says with an air of reverence. There are birds foraging among the flowers. Fluffy fledglings are darting about, learning the ways of the world. "Every day that I get to start birding is a good day," she says.