Vocal music

An 85-year-old man has killed his 76-year-old wife in Istanbul after an argument over his social media activity that made her "jealous." 

Aretha Franklin, the undisputed "Queen of Soul" who sang with matchless style on such classics as "Think," "I Say a Little Prayer" and her signature song, "Respect," and stood as a cultural icon around the globe, has died at age 76 from advance pancreatic cancer.

"People say I'm controversial," Madonna, who turns 60 on Wednesday, told an audience of music-industry peers in 2016. "But I think the most controversial thing I have ever done is to stick around."

From a career spanning decades, these are just a few of her most inconic, her most controversial and her most inventive moments.

Battling ageism

Thirty years ago an all-female folk choir set up in Bulgaria became the darling of Western audiences with its tradition-steeped a cappella singing, before the fall of communism threatened its survival.

Vassiliki Psevedourou heard a loud bang and in horror saw flames dancing menacingly outside her living room window at Neos Voutzas, east of Athens.

A major blaze east of the Greek capital, which has killed at least 60 people in one of the country's worst fires in recent years, reached her home in an area of pine forest much faster than she expected.

Marko Perkovic ‘Thompson’, a nationalist who has sung for war crimes defendants, partied with Croatia’s footballers on their homecoming bus and was invited to sing during celebrations of their World Cup second-place success.

Groundbreaking Greek director Angela Brouskou presents a bold stage production adapted from Luis Bunuel's 1962 surrealist film "The Exterminating Angel" at the Greek Festival's Pireos 260 venue.

Terrified circus-goers were forced to abandon their seats when an elephant toppled into the audience mid-performance in Germany. 

Video footage of the incident shows three elephants suddenly being spooked. 

The trio, carrying female performers, start running from the centre of the ring into the crowd.

Like "fake news," the concept of "overtourism" has started to creep into our language. Although still in their "teething" stage, these two terms need time to be described fully in dictionaries.

The Ninth International Istanbul Opera Festival, organized by the State Opera and Ballet General Directorate, will kick off on June 21 with the world famous prima donna Kristine Opolais's gala concert.