Jennifer Banks, a tenured violinist with the Gewandhaus Orchestra in Leipzig, died on June 30 at age 42 following a battle with behavioural variant frontotemporal dementia (bv-FTD). Banks, an Alexandra-born musician, rose from local Suzuki method lessons to global stages, including the National Youth Orchestra and the New England Conservatory in Boston, before the neurodegenerative … Read more
What Happened in the Tunchanok Donhomla Case? Simon Peter Carman, a 45-year-old man from Ballarat, Australia, is accused of murdering 17-year-old Tunchanok Donhomla in Pattaya, Thailand, then hiding her body in a suitcase and disposing of it. According to police, Carman allegedly strangled Donhomla during a payment dispute, claiming it was self-defense. However, an autopsy … Read more
Victor Willis, the founding lead singer of the Village People, died on Tuesday, June 30, 2026, following a short and aggressive illness. Born in Dallas on July 1, 1951, Willis rose to global fame as the “policeman” of the disco-era group, helping craft enduring hits like YMCA that remain cultural fixtures decades later. The Origins … Read more
Hannah Kidd and Simon Farrell-Green, the founders of architecture magazine Here, have acquired Auckland’s Metro magazine from Still Group. The acquisition marks a strategic pivot for the publication, which is moving away from regular print production to focus on digital content, newsletters, and events due to the tightening economics of the print industry. Why is … Read more