Sir Elton John has had his appendix removed and is recovering well at home, his publicist has confirmed.
The star was forced to pull out of a series of shows after being diagnosed with appendicitis last month.
He underwent the operation at Monaco’s Princess Grace Hospital on Thursday and is understood to be recuperating at his home in Nice, France.
Last month the veteran musician said he felt “grateful to be alive”, revealing that he could have died at any time while struggling through his European tour unaware he was suffering from the condition.
Sir Elton, 66, told The Sun: “I was a ticking time bomb. I guess I could have died at any time. I feel so lucky and grateful to be alive.”
The chart star said he performed 10 concerts in pain, which he had thought was due to food poisoning, but was finally forced to walk off stage during a concert in Halle, Germany, on July 5.
Doctors advised him to cancel all the dates on his current tour, including a headline performance at London’s Hyde Park last month.
A statement on behalf of the singer said he had been diagnosed with an “appendix abscess surrounding retrocaecal appendicitis”.
He is expected to be well enough to attend an event in central London on September 2, at which he will perform and welcome a number of guests.
The Rocket Man and Your Song star is to be the first to be handed the Brits Icon Award.
Heavy rains lead to 14 deaths in Pakistan
Heavy rains have led to the deaths of at least 14 people in different parts of Pakistan, according to officials.
Latifur Rehman, a disaster management official in northwest Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, said that heavy rain caused about 120 houses to collapse in the province and killed at least eight people.
Police officer Hidayat Baluch said heavy rain caused the wall of a factory to buckle in the town of Hub in southwest Baluchistan province, killing six people, including four children. Three people were injured.
Tower topped out
A topping out ceremony has been held for China’s tallest building.
At 632 metres, the Shanghai Tower in the Pudong district of Shanghai is the world’s second tallest building, surpassed only by Dubai’s Burj Khalifa, which soars 829.8 metres.
Once completed next year, the Shanghai Tower, designed by US architectural firm Gensler, will have retail and office space, and a luxury hotel. It replaces the Shanghai World Financial Centre – completed in 2007 – as the country’s tallest building and is the last piece in a group of super-tall skyscrapers in Pudong.
Globe sale deal
The principal owner of the Boston Red Sox baseball team has entered into an agreement to buy the Boston Globe for $70 million.
The Globe said the impending purchase marks businessman John Henry’s “first foray into the financially unsettled world of the news media”. It said the deal will give Mr Henry the 141-year-old newspaper, its websites and affiliated companies.
The New York Times announced in February it was putting the Globe, bought for $1.1 billion in 1993, and related assets up for sale four years after calling off a previous attempt to sell it.
Mr Henry said the Globe’s “award-winning journalism” and “its rich history and tradition of excellence” have established it as one of the most well-respected media companies in the country.