Tracey Emin has opened up about “totally accepting death” when she was diagnosed with an aggressive form of bladder cancer in 2020. In June 2020, visual artist Emin was diagnosed with cancer, and subsequently underwent a series of major surgeries, including a full hysterectomy, as well as the removal of her urethra, bladder, lymph nodes, and part of her vagina and intestine. In April 2021, she shared that the cancer was “gone” after the surgery. In a new interview with The Times, Emin, 60, explained that upon her diagnosis, she was told that there was no guarantee the surgery would be successful in removing the cancer. At the time of her diagnosis, Emin said that she had feared being “dead by Christmas”. As a result, the Turner Prize nominee explained: “I totally accepted death – absolutely, totally.” “I think accepting death on such a profound level was what’s kept me alive,” she said. “I thought, you know what? Death looks after itself. We all die – now I’ll look after living. “I realised that my life has never really been living. I’ve been just dying. I’ve been so nihilistic. I thought, this is gonna change – if I get through this I want to look forward to things and I want to be present.” Emin, 60, now has a stoma (an opening on the abdomen connected to the urinary system allowing waste to be diverted out of the body) and uses a urostomy bag, which she will need to use for the rest of her life. On International Women’s Day in March, Emin penned a powerful personal essay in The Independent about her relationship with her body after surgery. Here, the artist admitted that she “hated” her bag, “but most days I’m philosophical; knowing that it keeps me alive”. She recalled: “One of my greatest golden moments was when my entire bag came off in Chanel on Bond Street: a tsunami of p*** cascading down my body crashing to the champagne-carpeted floor. Everyone was lovely and understood, Chanel even sent me a beautiful bouquet of flowers.” For the article published in The Independent, Emin created an exclusive acrylic on canvas artwork, titled “Marriage to Myself”. She also shared a candid photograph of herself standing in front of a full-length mirror with her white urostomy bag visible. While Emin works almost exclusively in the paint medium now, in June she unveiled three bronze doors that she secretly worked on for the re-opening of the National Portrait Gallery following a substantial £44m redevelopment. Etched in individual panels on the doors are 45 female faces, which Emin explained were inspired by facets of her “soul”. Emin said that her arrangement with the National Portrait Gallery was that she was not paid for the work (the gallery only paid the production fees), in exchange for total creative freedom. “It wasn’t a commission,” she explained. “I did it for free. I think the gallery wants to push the idea of portraiture in a different way. “There’s so many different ways to experience somebody’s, let’s say, soul. It doesn’t just have to be what they look like. It could be a portrait of the soul, for example. It could be lots of different things. So I think they wanted it to move away from the idea of classic portraiture. To stretch it.”

Ukrainian soldiers fighting off Russian attacks in the eastern battlefield achieved “partial success” in the past 24 hours while troops in southern Ukraine inflicted over a hundred Russian casualties, officials said as the war was close to clocking 600 days. The troops secured partial success near Andriivka, a small Ukrainian village captured last month along with the nearby locality of Klishhiivka, said Ilia Yevlash, a spokesperson for Ukraine‘s eastern group of forces. "We are repelling constant attacks near Klishchiivka and Andriivka,” the spokesperson told national television. "Every day we are making headway in the Bakhmut sector. We are talking about hundreds of metres at a time that we are liberating from our enemies and strengthening our positions. It is, however, too early to talk about achieving concrete goals,” he said. The “partial” headway in territorial advance was also reported in southern Ukraine by general Oleksandr Tarnavskyi, commander of forces in the south. “We have partial success west of Verbove. During the past 24 hours, the enemy carried out eight airstrikes, 18 combat encounters, and also launched 455 artillery barrages,” the top military official said on his Telegram channel. Verbove is one of the cluster of villages that Ukraine is targeting, with the larger town of Tokmak as the next large target. The Ukrainian units of rocket troops and artillery from the Tavria Air Defence Forces launched 795 fire missions during the day, he said. “The total losses of the enemy amounted to 147 people,” he said but did not give details about the injuries, deaths, and capture of Russian soldiers as prisoners of war. Three Russian ammunition depots were also bombed, along with two tanks and an artillery system, he said. This comes amid first signs of deterioration in battlefield conditions due to weather as Russian military bloggers said rainfall has worsened visibility in southern Ukraine. Experts monitoring the war said changing weather conditions will hinder the reconnaissance drone operations on both sides. “One Russian milblogger claimed that the ground has become muddy and obstructs tracked vehicle movement, though another milblogger claimed that the ground has not yet become muddy enough to inhibit vehicle movement,” said the Institute for the Study of War in its latest assessment on Monday. It added that exact conditions likely vary along the frontline, though weather conditions are generally worsening.It cited Yevlash’s report stating that the Russian forces are relying less heavily on aviation and drone activity in the Kupiansk-Lyman direction due to heavy rainfall. The Russian accounts of fighting claimed its forces thwarted Ukrainian attacks near Bakhmut and inflicted heavy casualties in strikes on Ukrainian positions outside the city. Now on the edge of entering its fifth month, Ukraine’s counteroffensive aims to secure control of areas around Bakhmut in order to recapture the town, which was seized by Russian forces in May after months of heavy battles. Read More Ukraine-Russia war – live: It is in Russia’s interests to inflame war in the Middle East, says Zelensky Zelensky says Russia trying to incite war in the Middle East Satellite images show spike in border activity as North Korea ‘supplies weapons to Russia’ for Ukraine war Ukraine repels Russian attacks on five fronts as Putin resorts to old weaponry and reserves Russia reports coolant leak in backup line at space station and says crew not in danger

Barbara Corcoran relaxed on a chaise in style, wearing a white one-piece swimsuit and a shawl made of orange satin

Joe Manganiello and Sofia Vergara filed for divorce in July after being married for 7 years

Yet another social media challenge has resulted in the tragic death of a young person, with the company behind by the viral ‘One Chip Challenge’ now confirming it is taking its product off US shelves. Harris Walobah, 14, told a school nurse last week that he had bad stomach ache after eating the chip given to him by a classmate – according to his mother Lois, who shared details of the incident with NBC10 Boston. In a description on its website, manufacturer Paqui states the chip – which comes in a coffin-shaped box – is seasoned with the Carolina Reaper and Naga Viper peppers, with the former holding the Guinness World Record for the hottest pepper at an average of 1.5 million Scoville heat units (SHU) and up to 2.2 million SHU. After going home, Harris reported feeling better, but his brother yelled at 4:30pm that his sibling had passed out, with Harris taken to a nearby hospital where he was pronounced dead. The family of the Massachusetts teenager claim he died from “complications” caused by the viral ‘One Chip Challenge’, though a post-mortem is yet to be carried out. A GoFundMe set up to help the family with funeral expenses stands at more than $34,000 at the time of writing. On the fundraiser, Harris’s cousin Tashia Roberts describes her relative as an “intelligent, quirky and incredibly talented young man” who “loved video games and playing basketball”. Now, Paqui have updated their page on this year’s challenge to stress: “The Paqui One Chip Challenge is intended for adults only, with clear and prominent labelling highlighting the chip is not intended for children or anyone sensitive to spicy foods or who has food allergies, is pregnant or has underlying health conditions.” They continued: “We have seen an increase in teens and other individuals not heeding these warnings. “As a result, while the product continues to adhere to food safety standards, out of an abundance of caution, we are actively working with our retailers to remove the product from shelves.” Meanwhile people who have already purchased the single-serve One Chip Challenge product can call a helpline for refunds. Sign up to our free Indy100 weekly newsletter Have your say in our news democracy. Click the upvote icon at the top of the page to help raise this article through the indy100 rankings.

The charges were earlier dismissed by prosecutors in New Maxico, citing new evidence in the case

By Kanishka Singh Advocates hoped that California's bill passed by the state legislature to ban caste discrimination would

Las Vegas Aces player Riquna Williams has been accused of felony domestic violence involving a person authorities say is her spouse

A Greek shipper has pleaded guilty to a charge over it smuggling sanctioned Iranian crude oil and agreed to pay a $2.4 million fine

The Republican-led House Oversight Committee subpoenaed a bank for Hunter Biden's records and obtained two wire transfers from Chinese nationals to Hunter Biden in 2019 that listed President Joe Biden's Wilmington, Delaware, home as the beneficiary address, the panel announced Tuesday.

The long fractious ties between Kosovo and Serbia are once again on edge after one of the worst outbreaks of violence in years.

The Democratic governor in Kansas is defending changes in the sex listings on transgender people’s birth certificates in federal court