The broadcaster Rageh Omaar has carried out his first foreign dispatch for ITV since he was taken to hospital last year after falling ill while presenting the News at Ten.
The ITV News international affairs editor, 57, featured in a prerecorded package on west Africa on ITV’s News at Ten on Friday evening.
It is understood to be the first foreign assignment he has undertaken for the programme since an incident last April when he appeared shaky and had difficulty reading the news fluently.
He was taken to hospital and given “medical treatment” for an undisclosed condition.
The incident caused widespread concern from viewers on social media and a rerun of the news programme was pulled from ITV’s +1 channel.
In a statement, Omaar said at the time: “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.”
Omaar is understood to have been gradually returning to work over the past few weeks, appearing on online platforms such as ITVX.
A video released on ITV News’s YouTube account on Friday showed Omaar interviewing Ivorian businessman Tidjane Thiam, the leader of PDCI-RDA, the main opposition party in Ivory Coast.
Omaar covers major news stories across the world, and presents ITV’s current affairs programme On Assignment.
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He joined ITV in 2013 as a special correspondent and presenter for ITV News, having begun his career as a print journalist in 1990 at the Voice newspaper in London before moving to Ethiopia as a freelance foreign correspondent.
He became a household name during the 2003 invasion of Iraq while reporting for the BBC from a hotel rooftop in Baghdad, winning a best TV news journalist prize at the Ethnic Multicultural Media Academy that year.
Source: theguardian.com
