President Donald Trump’s name has been removed from the facade of the Kennedy Center, but inside the renowned performing arts venue, a difficult financial picture is forcing tough choices. A federal judge is demanding the center continue to operate during renovations. But plummeting ticket sales, artist withdrawals, political controversies and a diminished staff have made restarting a full-scale programming schedule a challenge, multiple sources familiar with the operation told CNN. The historic arts center on Friday asked the judge for more time to comply with deadlines in an ongoing lawsuit as its board explores avenues for renovation.
https://edition.cnn.com/2026/06/19/politics/kennedy-center-renovation-options-lawsuit-deadlines
This weekend, Elizabeth Hall, a 15-year wedding planning veteran and the proprietor of Elizabeth Hall Events for nine years, is putting on a wedding at the Ocean House resort in Rhode Island. Unfortunately, a lot of people seem to think it’s Taylor Swift’s wedding. “Taylor Swift is not getting married at the Ocean House this weekend,” Hall said. “We do have a wonderful couple getting married there, and they’re very excited, but it is not Taylor and Travis’s wedding.”
https://edition.cnn.com/2026/06/19/entertainment/taylor-swift-wedding-ocean-house
A new generation of Ukrainian mid-range drones is severely disrupting the Russian military’s supply lines to the southern front lines, striking bridges, trains and fuel trucks – and giving Kyiv a chance to derail Moscow’s plans for a summer offensive. Video and images of about 150 strikes against Russian fuel tankers, trucks and other vehicles have been geolocated and analyzed by French open-source analyst Clément Molin and the volunteer-run OSINT group Geoconfirmed, as well as CNN’s OSINT team. It’s likely that many more strikes have gone unrecorded.
https://edition.cnn.com/2026/06/20/europe/ukraine-mid-range-drones-russia-logistics-intl-cmd
As a barrage of Ukrainian drones descended on Moscow in the early hours of Thursday, Russia’s response appeared more like a scramble, and less like a well-planned strategic defense. Videos from the streets of the capital showed glimpses of the ensuing chaos. Footage verified by CNN and analyzed by experts shows soldiers firing portable, shoulder-mounted air-defense systems from a busy highway, as traffic cautiously passes by. People run for safety as a drone, probably downed by Russian air defenses, plummets into a building in a sprawling marketplace. In another video, what appears to be a Russian defense missile likely misses its target and instead hits an oil storage tank on the outskirts of Moscow. One weapons expert from the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute told CNN that it was “a Russian own-goal,” ending in a mushroom cloud of smoke and the huge top of the tank blasting into the air.
https://edition.cnn.com/2026/06/19/europe/ukraine-broke-through-russias-air-defenses-intl
US President Donald Trump’s comments to an Italian media outlet about the country’s Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni have sparked a fresh diplomatic incident. Italian Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani announced Friday that he was canceling a planned trip to the United States, where he was slated to meet with Secretary of State Marco Rubio, in response to Trump’s reported remarks. Tajani called Trump’s claims “offensive,” while Meloni said they were “completely fabricated.” It is the latest dip in the deteriorating relationship between the once-close leaders and a further fracture between the US and its European allies, coming after signs of repair at the G7 summit this week in France.
https://edition.cnn.com/2026/06/19/politics/italy-trump-meloni-tajani