## Washington National Opera bows out of Kennedy Center

Authored by apnews.com

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Washington National Opera announced Friday that it will move performances away from the Kennedy Center in another high-profile departure following President Donald Trump’s takeover of the U.S. capital’s leading performing arts venue.

The opera said it will seek to end its affiliation with the Kennedy Center through an “amicable transition” and will return to operating independently.

Though Congress still formally calls it the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, the building’s exterior and website now refer to it as the Trump Kennedy Center.

Ric Grenell, a Trump aide serving as the Center’s interim executive director, said the venue has spent millions to support the Washington National Opera but it continues to operate at a deficit.

The December rebranding as the Trump Kennedy Center led to a new wave of cancellations.

Opera officials said the Center’s new business model requires productions to be fully funded in advance, which it said is “incompatible with opera operations.”

Late Friday, WNO productions of “Treemonisha,” “The Crucible” and “West Side Story” were still listed on the Kennedy Center website. »

### 'More Than 200 Reported Dead' in Tehran as Regime Opens Fire

Authored by time.com

A Tehran doctor told TIME on condition of anonymity that just six hospitals in the capital had recorded at least 217 protester deaths, “most by live ammunition.”

Human rights groups on Friday reported much lower death tolls than the physician, though the discrepancy might be explained by differing reporting standards.

The D.C.-based Human Rights Activist News Agency, which tallies only victims who have been identified, reported at least 63 deaths since the start of the protests, including 49 civilians. »

### Luigi Mangione a ‘model prisoner’ in notorious Brooklyn lockup: source

Authored by pagesix.com

After a sketchy, unverified image showing accused assassin Luigi Mangione happily hanging with a group of inmates at the notorious Metropolitan Detention Center in Brooklyn was released — sources tell Page Six that Mangione is indeed a “model prisoner” who’s mentoring other inmates.

5 Accused killer Luigi Mangione has been a “model prisoner” in custody, a source says.

5 Mangione retained Harvey Weinstein’s prison consultant to learn the ropes in jail. »

### The Venezuela Raid Has Russian Heads Spinning

Authored by thebulwark.com

The national channels were limited to regular news coverage, which never comes without a dose of commentary on Russian television.

But that commentary, notes expatriate Russian journalist Ilya Shepelin, has been oddly tentative, suggesting that the Kremlin is still getting its talking points figured out.

Other Russian propagandists saw the lessons of Trump’s “special operation” in Venezuela very differently. »

### The Xbox Developer Direct will feature a secret fourth game

Authored by videogameschronicle.com

The upcoming Xbox Developer Direct will feature a currently unannounced fourth game.

VGC can corroborate this and understands that the fourth game is a smaller-scale original game from one of Xbox Game Studios’ first-party developers.

The Xbox Developer Direct will also include “the first in-depth look” at Beast of Reincarnation, the new game from Game Freak. »

## In pictures

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