Connect with us

Published

on

British artist Tracey Emin is recovering after her “small intestine nearly exploded” while she was in Thailand.

The 60-year-old said she had suffered “horrible complications” brought on by an infection while travelling.

Emin, who is best known for headline-grabbing works in the 1990s such as Everyone I Have Ever Slept With and My Bed, was diagnosed with bladder cancer in 2020 and underwent major surgery.

Artist Tracey Emin sits by her work My Bed, which is on the market for the first time offered for sale at Christie's in central London to benefit the Saatchi Gallery's foundation in 2014
Image:
Tracey Emin pictured with her famous work, My Bed

In November, she wrote a first-person article for the Evening Standard saying she was in Australia after suffering a bad bout of E.coli.

She shared the news of her latest recovery to her 200,000 followers on Instagram – her first post since regular updates in October.

“I’ve had shows, I’ve been travelling and I’ve been very unwell,” she wrote. “Not cancer but horrible complications with my intestines bought on by an infection, scar tissue and made a million times worse by flying. My small intestine nearly exploded.”

Emin said that “luckily” she was in Thailand when she became unwell, during her journey back from Australia, and had spent several days in a “very good hospital… and now recovering in luxury”.

She told her followers she had been placed on a special diet and would return to the UK once she was well enough, and thanked Bangkok Hospital and a retreat on the island of Phuket for looking after her.

“Apart from using up another one of my nine lives… I’d say I was very lucky,” she wrote.

Emin was one of the so-called Young British Artists who emerged in the 1990s, along with Damien Hirst, and remains one of the most well-known British artists of her generation.

She is famous for her autobiographical and confessional work, including My Bed – a notorious installation including empty vodka bottles, cigarette butts, stained sheets and used underwear – that was shortlisted for the Turner Prize in 1999.

Continue Reading

Entertainment

Rageh Omaar says he was ‘determined to finish presenting programme’ after becoming unwell live on air

Published

on

By

Rageh Omaar says he was 'determined to finish presenting programme' after becoming unwell live on air

ITV News broadcaster Rageh Omaar has said he was “determined to finish presenting the programme” after returning home following hospital treatment.

Viewers expressed concern about the 56-year-old presenter after he appeared to fall “unwell” live on air during News At Ten on Friday night.

In a statement shared by ITV News, Omaar said: “I would like to thank everyone for their kindness and good wishes, especially all the medical staff, all my wonderful colleagues at ITV News, and our viewers who expressed concern.

“At the time, I was determined to finish presenting the programme. I am grateful for all the support I’ve been given.”

An ITV News spokesperson said he was recovering at home with his family following medical treatment at a hospital.

This breaking news story is being updated and more details will be published shortly.

Please refresh the page for the fullest version.

You can receive breaking news alerts on a smartphone or tablet via the Sky News app. You can also follow @SkyNews on X or subscribe to our YouTube channel to keep up with the latest news.

Continue Reading

Entertainment

Om Fahad: Iraqi social media influencer shot dead by gunman on motorbike who posed as food delivery rider – report

Published

on

By

Om Fahad: Iraqi social media influencer shot dead by gunman on motorbike who posed as food delivery rider - report

A well-known Iraqi social media influencer has reportedly been shot dead in her car by a gunman on a motorbike.

Om Fahad, whose real name is Ghufran Sawadi, was killed outside her home in Baghdad’s Zayouna district on Friday, according to the AFP news agency, citing security officials.

It appears the unidentified attacker pretended to be delivering food to the victim, one security source said.

Om Fahad, who has nearly half a million TikTok followers, became famous for posting light-hearted videos where she dances to Iraqi music.

Six days ago, she shared footage of herself driving in a car and also posing in front of a mirror. They have each been watched hundreds of thousands of times.

The influencer was sentenced to six months in prison in February last year for sharing videos that a court ruled contained “indecent speech that undermines modesty and public morality”.

A campaign was launched in 2023 by the Iraqi government to clamp down on social media content which broke the country’s “morals and traditions”.

The interior ministry set up a committee to look for “offensive” clips on platforms such as TikTok and YouTube, with several influencers being arrested.

“This type of content is no less dangerous than organised crime,” the ministry declared in a promotional video which asked the public to help by reporting such content.

“It is one of the causes of the destruction of the Iraqi family and society.”

Follow Sky News on WhatsApp
Follow Sky News on WhatsApp

Keep up with all the latest news from the UK and around the world by following Sky News

Tap here

Speaking last year, interior ministry spokesman Saad Maan argued the morality campaign has “nothing to do with freedom of expression”.

Read more:
Injuries after explosion at Iraq military base
UK soldiers ‘exposed’ to toxic chemical in Iraq must get answers

In 2018, gunmen in Baghdad shot dead Tara Fares, who was a model and influencer.

After years of war and sectarian conflict following the 2003 US invasion that overthrew dictator Saddam Hussein, Iraq has returned to some semblance of normality despite sporadic violence, political instability and corruption.

But civil liberties, particularly among women and sexual minorities, are still constrained in a conservative and male-dominated society.

Continue Reading

Entertainment

R Kelly loses appeal to overturn 20-year sentence for child sex abuse

Published

on

By

R Kelly loses appeal to overturn 20-year sentence for child sex abuse

R Kelly’s challenge against a 20-year sentence for child sex convictions has been quashed by an appeals court. 

The singer was correctly sentenced to 20 years in prison, a Chicago court ruled on Friday.

He was convicted in 2022 on three charges of producing child sexual abuse images and three charges of enticement of minors for sex.

In his appeal, Kelly, 57, argued Illinois’ old statute of limitations – which required prosecution of child sex crime charges within 10 years – should have applied, rather than the current law permitting charges while an accuser is still alive.

The appeals court rejected this, labelling it an attempt by Kelly to elude the charges entirely after “employing a complex scheme to keep victims quiet”.

He also argued that charges involving one accuser should have been tried separately from the charges tied to three other accusers due to video evidence that became a focal point of the Chicago trial.

Prosecutors have said the video showed Kelly abusing a girl. The accuser, only identified as Jane, testified for the first time that she was 14 when the video was taken.

The three-judge panel from the appeals court noted jurors acquitted Kelly on seven of the 13 counts against him “even after viewing those abhorrent tapes”.

Read more on Sky News:
Newsreader ‘receiving medical care’ after on-screen behaviour worries fans
Actress Emma Stone says she ‘would like to be’ called by her real name

Follow Sky News on WhatsApp
Follow Sky News on WhatsApp

Keep up with all the latest news from the UK and around the world by following Sky News

Tap here

In a written statement, Kelly’s attorney Jennifer Bonjean said they plan to seek a US Supreme Court review of the decision and “pursue all of his appellate remedies until we free R Kelly”.

“We are disappointed in the ruling, but our fight is far from over,” she said.

Continue Reading

Trending