Amid the sound of bombs and distant gunfire, we heard church bells ripple through Beirut’s suburbs. Then we saw a large group of people congregate, all dressed in black. 

They had to come to a Maronite place of worship, Sacred Heart church, to commemorate the death of man called Sami Ghafari.

The 66-year-old had been killed in a drone strike in a village in south Lebanon.

Iran war latest: US strikes 16 ‘mine-laying boats’

The congregation was also commemorating the death of the village itself.

The community, Alma al Shaab, is home to some 200 Christian families who have all been forced to flee their homes.

The last group of evacuees, numbering 83, had been guided out of the area by UN peacekeepers that morning – the majority proceeding straight to the church.

We spoke to resident Elias Konsol as he got out his car. He said the past nine days had been “terrifying”.

“Every day that we sleep, we don’t know in the morning if we will be alive,” he said.

“Was there a moment,” I asked, “when you thought, ‘right, we need to leave?’”

“Yesterday, at midnight,” he replied. “We thought that they were coming inside.”

“Who, the Israelis?”

“Yes, [the Israelis] are coming to Alma,” said Elias. “What will we do?”

A cloud of sorrow hung over the church and we watched members of the congregation struggle to control their emotions. Many seemed completely exhausted.

On 1 March, the residents of Alma al Shaab rang the bells of the village church when they learnt the Israeli military had issued an evacuation order requiring them to leave.

But many refused to leave their homes.

When the Israelis started to bombard the village, residents brought their blankets and bedding and packed themselves into the hall beneath the church.

One villager, Joe Sayyah, told us they had tried to adapt.

“Every day at five or six, we went under the church to the hall. This is the time when the shelling and strikes would happen all around the village, even during the day,” he said.

“We could only check on our homes and come back. We couldn’t do anything else.”

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Iran war briefing: Day 11 with Sean Bell

‘We are not 83 martyrs to be’

It seems the death of Sami Ghafari was the final straw. He was killed, say residents, by an Israeli missile as he was watering vegetables in his garden

The mayor of Alma al Shaab is called Shady Saayah and he looked distraught. He has lost a friend, as well as his village.

“What is going through your mind?” I asked.

“Loss, the loss of our land, the loss of our dignity, Lebanon starts from Alma [al Shaab].”

Read more:
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What is crossing Strait of Hormuz?

The mayor said the remaining villagers had decided to flee when the local commander of the UN peacekeeping detachment (UNIFIL) said they could not protect them.

“He said you have the right to stay, but if you do we are not responsible. It is very dangerous. We asked the priest to contact the Vatican, [and they said] it is up to you, so everyone left us.

“So we decided we are not 83 martyrs to be.”

He then took off his jacket and showed me a tattoo of a cross and the patron saint of Lebanon on his left forearm.

“We believe in saints, not weapons,” he said. “All we want is peace.”

This gathering at the Sacred Heart church is one story of many – from little more than one week of war. But this conflict has created a humanitarian disaster that has turned a nation upside down.

Women Without Men by Shahrnush Parsipur is an innovative feminist story set in Iran. The story follows five women and the circumstances that make them leave their lives to start anew in a garden on the outskirts of Tehran.

Written in the late 1970s, it was immediately banned on publication. Shortly after, Parsipur was arrested and jailed for her frank and defiant portrayal of women’s sexuality. This groundbreaking book is now available for the first time in English, translated by Faridoun Farrokh.

Set against the backdrop of the 1953 CIA-backed coup in Iran, the story deliberately shifts the lens of history away from the big politics to focus on its impact on intimate, gendered spaces. In doing so, Parsipur frames national upheaval as something lived and inscribed upon women’s bodies and interior lives.

The novel insists that authoritarianism doesn’t begin in the halls of power; it begins in the household within layered patriarchal systems that confine women’s autonomy. Parsipur’s blending of realism and magical elements unsettles conventional narrative authority and mirrors the instability of a society in crisis. The personal and the political are inseparable: women’s silences, desires and acts of refusal become subtle yet radical forms of resistance.

What makes this novel enduring is its refusal to separate the personal from the political. The magical elements are not decorative; they expose emotion that realism alone cannot capture. The garden the women flee to is not an escape from reality, but a feminist space where reality is reimagined.

The novel has sadly taken on an urgency and relevance in the face of the the US and Israel’s war on Iran. It reminds readers that foreign intervention often intensifies internal authoritarianism. By revisiting the legacy of the 1953 coup, the book encourages readers to see today’s crisis not as an isolated eruption. Instead, it is part of a deeper historical continuum, shaped by external intervention and power structures within Iranian society.

Through intimate storytelling, Parsipur invites readers to confront the cultural assumptions that have shaped women’s lives for generations. To read Women Without Men is to enter a layered narrative that is at once poetic, historical and contemporary. It bears to witness how deeply gender norms are embedded in everyday life, and how quietly, yet powerfully, women resist them.

Sexuality

In Women Without Men, virginity is an ideological construct by which a woman’s worth is regulated. Through the characters of Faezeh and Munis, we see how chastity functions as a mechanism of control long before any formal punishment is imposed.

Faezeh embodies internalised patriarchy, believing a woman’s honour depends entirely on social perception and reputation to survive. When she and Munis are sexually assaulted, the violence is overshadowed by shame.

The metaphor “watering the earth”, used by a man to describe sexual penetration, is chilling because it recasts violation as something natural and productive. It depicts a woman as if she were soil to be cultivated, rather than a person with agency.

By framing assault in agricultural terms, patriarchal language erases harm and presents male entitlement as biological inevitability, while placing the burden of “dishonour” on the woman’s body. This symbolic logic mirrors the broader Iranian legal and social framework in which virginity carries material and moral weight, reinforcing the idea that women’s bodies are sites of regulation rather than autonomy.

The Iranian Civil Code of 1931 codified male guardianship and authority in marriage and family matters. In this context, virginity becomes not only a cultural expectation but part of a larger system in which women’s bodies are governed by both family and state.

Zarrinkolah’s narrative offers one of the most unsettling critiques of patriarchal objectification in Women Without Men. Zarrinkolah is a prostitute who begins to see all of her clients as headless men. It is an attempt to “cure” this condition through an act of purification that leads her to abandon prostitution.

Zarrinkolah’s journey isn’t a simple redemption, but a reconfiguration of subjectivity. By shifting from being seen as nothing more than a body to recognising herself as a person with her own thoughts, emotions and agency, she disrupts the cultural logic that renders women’s bodies interchangeable and morally policed. Her withdrawal from prostitution is not a return to purity, but a refusal of the system that defined her solely through male consumption.

The stillness of marriage

Farrokhlaqa’s story reveals the psychological and social confinement of marriage. Her marriage was a “32-year-old habit of not moving”. Patriarchal expectations have infected her, and she has become self-policing. She does not need to be actively restrained; she restrains herself. However, she no longer experiences her lack of freedom as oppression but as natural and inevitable.

Her response to widowhood is not retreat but a shift from passivity to agency. She purchases the garden, transforming inherited wealth into spatial autonomy, creating space for “women without men”. Her liberation is, therefore, negotiated by unlearning the stillness marriage imposed. Through her, Parsipur suggests that domestic patriarchy is sustained not only by law but by cultural perceptions that normalise women’s obedience to husbands.

The garden functions as a feminist counter-public sphere outside patriarchal governance. Within its walls, women work, speak and rest without male supervision. Iranian women’s groups have created similar spaces of solidarity, which were fragile yet transformative. They demonstrated that collective awareness could exist even within repressive conditions before and after the Islamic Revolution.

Parsipur does not allow the garden to become utopia, however. The women do not remain there, most return to Tehran and reenter life. Liberation cannot survive in isolation from society, Parsipur tells us. This narrative choice mirrors Iranian women’s rights history: reforms have emerged through resistance, reversal, and renewed struggle – not through escape.

Women Without Men is not simply a novel about five women seeking refuge in a garden. It is about freedom, embodiment and the struggle for equal dignity. Shahrnush Parsipur gives us women who question, transform, challenge and resist.

This article features references to books that have been included for editorial reasons, and may contain links to bookshop.org. If you click on one of the links and go on to buy something from bookshop.org The Conversation UK may earn a commission.

The court filings claim that, on one occasion, Indyke took two cheques to a New York bank to withdraw cash – $7,500 from one of Epstein’s personal accounts and $4,000 from Indyke’s business account. He cashed one of the cheques and, the papers claim, said he would return the following day to cash the second in order to “avoid all the paperwork”.

The best hand blenders (sometimes called immersion blenders or stick blenders) don’t just help you make delicious soups and smoothies: many have attachments that can whisk, chop, grate and mash your way to lump-free sauces, smooth baby food, creamy mash and crunchy slaws.

Blitzing multiple ingredients is a great way to up your healthy eating game and reach the 30 plants a week target. Fussy kids need never know you’ve hidden extra veggies in their pasta sauce if a hand blender can whizz them into a smooth, soft texture. More compact than a full-sized blender, a hand blender should be easier to store in your kitchen drawers or cabinets.

Hand blenders can be as basic or as sophisticated as you need, whether you’re a keen home cook or just want to whizz up a few smoothies. I tested hand blenders from under £50 to over £200 by leading brands including Morphy Richards, Bosch, Kenwood, Braun and more. You can read my full reviews below, followed by answers to some of the most frequently asked questions. But if you’re in a hurry, here’s a quick look at the top five:

The best hand blenders: At a glance

How to choose a hand blender

Chef Ben Palmer, 2024 winner of the BBC’s Great British Menu, regularly uses a hand blender in his kitchen. “I choose it over similar gadgets because it doesn’t take up much space, plus it’s quick and easy,” he says. Here are a few of the most important factors to consider, according to Palmer.

Basic features
Palmer says you should look for a wide range of controllable speeds, from slow to fast. “For anything that needs aerating, such as batter or a roux, I use a high speed at a tilted angle. But if you’re making mayonnaise, it’s not always good to go fast: a moderate speed is better. Anything with lumps, such as soups, should be started at a slower speed and speeded up towards the end.”

Size
Options range from simple compact hand blenders with the blending leg only, to multifunctional hand blenders that transform into choppers for chopping veg, crushing nuts and making dips, to food processors for slicing, dicing and grating and hand mixers for beating and whisking. Which is best for you partially depends on your budget but also how ambitious you want to be in the kitchen.

Power
Essentially, the higher the power, the more easily it can blend hard or tough ingredients. The hand blenders in this test ranged from 200W to 1200 W. Rechargeable cordless hand blenders are available and we tested a few, but mains-powered models are still the most common.

How we test hand blenders

References to Britain’s most notorious paedophile were discovered in FBI case files apparently recording an interview with a witness in 2021.

Jimmy Savile has been linked to Ghislaine Maxwell and other close Jeffrey Epstein associates in disclosures unearthed in the Epstein files.

References to Britain’s most notorious paedophile were discovered in FBI case files apparently recording an interview with a witness in 2021, reports the Mirror. The interview subject claimed that Savile had a partnership with a false nails brand – which she described as a “cult.”

The file reads: “People brought “sex slaves” to the trade shows and parties. They called themselves that. Everybody talked about sex slaves and laughed.”

She told agents they had attended a cosmetics industry trade show in New Orleans – thought to have taken place in 1998 – at which Savile was the “entertainment”. The event was “full of adults and men in attendance including Jimmy Savile,” one file reads. “[redacted name] described Savile as a sexual deviant”.

The file continues: “[Redacted name] went to a lot of trade shows and did a lot of international travel. [Redacted name] heard a conversation in Switzerland that children flew to the United States. The people she heard this conversation from were the same people that were having parties with Savile.” She said she couldn’t remember their names, and never saw “anything gross.”

The unnamed source claimed Maxwell was at the conference, and claimed pictures she supplied to investigators showed her wearing a red leather jacket.

She wrote in an email: “GM in red leather coat. I thought they were spying on us, I kept seeing them around.” She added: “I’m guessing they were all there. I think that was New Orleans the Jimmy Saville [sic] event. That trade show was during Marci Gras.”

In the interview, the witness described the event as “pretty disgusting”, explaining that it was “a room full of perverted men.” Hedge fund manager Glenn Dubin and investor Leon Black, both of whom had close ties to Epstein were also at the event, she claimed.

The same witness claimed Epstein had been her substitute teacher at Brooklyn’s George Washington High School in the 1970s.

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Cleo Gray was delivered by her dad, Matt, with the umbilical cord wrapped around her neck

A dad has delivered his baby after a “panicked” midwife fled the hospital room during a high-risk labour.

Cleo Gray was born on February 21, at the John Radcliffe Hospital Women’s Centre in Oxford. She was delivered by her dad Matt after a “panicked” midwife left the room. The umbilical cord wrapped around Cleo’s neck.

Matt, a former ambulance technician, was able to unwrap the umbilical cord from baby Cleo’s neck, the Sun reported.

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Matt’s wife Jo was cradling their little one when staff returned to the room. Jo was seething and told the Banbury Guardian: “It is terrifying. It could have gone so wrong.”

Cleo is the couple’s fourth child and the labour was expected to progress quickly. The birth was deemed high-risk, as Jo has several medical conditions.

The Oxford University Hospitals Trust (OUH), which runs the hospital, apologised to the family.

Jo went to the John Radcliffe Hospital Women’s Centre after going into labour two weeks early. She said she had a “lovely” midwife initially, but a replacement came to attend to the birth after the initial midwife was needed elsewhere.

“It went downhill from there; it was really bad,” Jo said.

She said the new midwife seemed less experienced and was not communicative or reassuring.

Jo said went into delivery shortly after. She added that the midwife kept moving her and that the baby’s heart rate kept changing but it was after every contraction, which is considered normal.

“But she started panicking, which in turn, made me panic,” Jo added.

Jo said the midwife told her that the baby’s heart rate was dropping and it was getting dangerous. Jo added that she was going into a panic attack because she had a traumatic birth prior and nearly lost her son.

“Before we knew it, she’d left the room. We were left on our own.”

Matt ran out to fetch the midwife, who returned, but who left again shortly after.

They claim she was gone for 10 to 15 minutes.

“After she ran out a second time, I realised we were going to have to deliver the baby ourselves. I put some gloves on and minutes later, baby’s was born,” Matt said.

“Once she was out, I saw the cord was actually around her neck. I managed to unwrap it but wasn’t able to get rid of the mucus.”

“I cleaned her and dried her and gave her to Jo. They came in about two minutes afterwards and told me it was good that I’d put on gloves!” Matt said.

The couple said they could not reach the call button behind Jo’s bed to get help.

Jo said the staff did not apologise at the time, telling the couple the incident “was very unfortunate but everything was OK.”

A formal complaint with OUH and the Care Quality Commission.

A spokesman for OUH said the issues are being taken seriously and a full investigation into what occurred will be carried out.

“We are unable to provide further detail while that investigation is underway but are committed to openness and transparency when sharing our full findings with Jordan and Matthew once the process has been completed.”

The OUH maternity unit is one of the 12 being investigated in the National Maternity and Neonatal Investigation.

An interim report found deep-rooted issues in NHS maternity care.

In a statement, the force said: “The decision to ban it this year is purely based on a risk assessment of this specific protest and counter-protests – we do not police taste or decency or prefer one political view over another, but we will do everything we can to reduce violence and disorder.”

James Atkinson, a trumpet player from Wales, died after being struck by a speeding BMW as he crossed the road

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The family of a trumpet player from Wales who was killed on his way to band practice say that he was a “true gentleman” who “lived for his music”. James Atkinson died aged 81 after being struck by a speeding BMW while crossing the road, having been walking to a social club in order to enjoy his “favourite past time”.

Fellow band members were later left “calling and messaging him, wondering where he was”, not realising that he had been fatally injured. But, in a fitting tribute, his instrument has now been donated to the organisation that “meant everything to him”.

A trial at Liverpool Crown Court heard that driver David Brown, of Malvern Road in Tranmere, Wirral, was travelling along Teehey Lane in Bebington in his BMW 1 Series shortly after 7.30pm on March 4 2024 when he struck Mr Atkinson as he crossed the road. The area was said to have been busy with fellow motorists and pedestrians at this time during dark and rainy conditions.

Robert Dudley, prosecuting, described how Brown had earlier been forced to slow down as he approached the junction with Village Road due to cars ahead of him having been waiting to turn right into this street. The 25-year-old then accelerated away “at considerable speed” along the 30mph route, overtaking parked cars and crossing into the opposite carriageway.

Mr Atkinson was meanwhile crossing the road as he walked to the Royal British Legion, having parked his own car on nearby Roland Avenue. Having taken eight steps into the carriageway, he was then struck by the driver’s side of the BMW.

After being rushed to Aintree Hospital with fractures to his neck, skull, ribs and facial bones, as well as “catastrophic” bleeding on the brain, Mr Atkinson, who lived in North Wales, was later transferred to the Walton Centre. However, he was pronounced dead at 5.05pm on March 6 as a result of his injuries.

A series of statements were read out on behalf of Mr Atkinson’s family during yesterday’s sentencing hearing. One, from his brother Donald, said: “Jim was my big brother, and I miss him dearly. Jim was the brightest out of the three of us, although I do remember one time when Jim encouraged our youngest brother to jump off an air raid shelter using a sheet for a parachute, resulting in a broken arm.

“Jim learned to play the trumpet and cornet as a child, and he played in the boys’ brigade. Music became such a big part of Jim’s life, and he formed a band with a few friends. He was a police cadet before working in the same factory as our dad in Warrington. Jim worked on the gas rigs in the North Sea. He soon started travelling the world as an accomplished engineer, working on gas installations, spending a lot of time in Saudi Arabia.

“Jim lived for his music. He would spend hours transposing music to make it into something his band could play. It was a Glenn Miller type of band. Every Wednesday, he would go to the British Legion in Bebington to play with his band. He loved going there, so much so that he would often go on other nights.

“After Jim’s death, I went to the British Legion and the landlady showed me where Jim would sit. They all knew him. She said Jim would sometimes go and not even have anything to drink. He just went to chat to everyone, and it was a long drive for him. It was where he was going the night of the collision.

“In the year before Jim died, he had been diagnosed and successfully treated for lung cancer. It made his breathing difficult, and so he was unable to play the trumpet. Jim would still go to the British Legion and watch his beloved band.

“He loved that place so much that we decided to have his wake there. We heard so many lovely things about Jim. Two days after the collision, Jim was due to be at the British Legion for the weekly Wednesday night band meeting. The other members were calling and messaging him, wondering where he was and checking to see if he was ok, not realising that Jim had sadly passed away.

“I usually spoke to Jim once a fortnight, and once he got into conversation he was quite bright and chatty. As people do, we always planned to arrange a get together.

“The memory of seeing Jim on the ward on life support will stay with me forever. Jim couldn’t speak, but we talked to him anyway. I think he knew we were there. We had a meeting with the doctors, and the decision was made to switch off the support. An hour later, surrounded by family, he quietly and peacefully passed away.

“We have donated Jim’s trumpet to the band. They were grateful, and we think this is what Jim would have wanted. His music and the band meant everything to him. I didn’t think it would affect me as much as it has. I get so upset. I find it hard to sleep. I cry and I am overcome with anxiety.

“This whole incident is so upsetting for everybody involved, and we do often think about the driver and hope he is coping. As a parent, I can’t imagine what he and his family are also going through. But to finish with Jim, my big brother. I wish we could have arranged that get together.”

Mr Atkinson’s other brother John said in his own statement: “It has been two years since my eldest brother, Jim, was mowed down and killed on that night. My brother was on the way to his favourite past time of listening to and watching the big band sounds. This is what has constantly been in my head for the two year period and is all I have been able to think about.

“We had to make the very difficult decision to turn off the machines, and we had to go in and watch Jim take his last breath. This is a thought that remains in my head every day, even nearly two years later.

“Now the trial has finished, I can finally start the grieving process and again start to close the part of a scarring memory and begin to finally move forward. I realise that the court process has had to happen, and any sentence would not bring my brother back and it will never allow him to have his retirement back, which he so thoroughly enjoyed.”

Son Stephen, who suffers from Huntington’s disease, meanwhile added: “I miss my dad deeply. I miss him being able to visit me and I miss going out with him together. We used to enjoy spending time together, and I have many happy memories with him growing up. These memories mean even more to me now.

“I have had my own struggles with my health, and preparing this statement is incredibly difficult for me. I am determined to let you all know about the sense of loss that I am feeling. My dad was always there to look after me and has always shown that he loves me. I will miss him always, and his loss will have a lasting impact on me.”

Brown was said to have briefly slowed following the collision but then drove onwards to his mum’s flat before returning to the scene of the accident in her company. She was said to have approached a police officer who had arrived in the area in the interim before the defendant told him: “I didn’t even see him, I just didn’t see anything at all.”

Under interview, Brown went on to tell detectives that he had been working with his dad in the Tranmere area and was driving to his mother’s for tea. The mechanic added: “Obviously, I haven’t seen the fella in the middle of the road. It was dark as I have come up the road. My mirrors just flew off the car, like something has been on my driver’s side, but I have not seen him because he has been in my blind spot.

“And then obviously I didn’t know what I hit, panicked, went straight down to my mum’s and my mum brought me straight back up. I just knew I had hit something, then I have just carried on going. I just went to my mum’s, and my mum has run me back to sort it all out.”

Brown also estimated that he was travelling at “maybe 30, just over 30” at time, although investigations subsequently found that he had been driving at between 39 and 42mph. He has no previous convictions, having held his licence since 2017 and had three penalty points which have since expired.

Trevor Parry-Jones, defending, told the court on Monday: “Your honour had the advantage of being able to see the defendant during the course of the trial. He did not portray a robustness. In my submission, he perhaps did not show the maturity of his age, rather an immaturity. That could well be, firstly, as a result of his dyslexia and, secondly, his learning, which was limited. But he had worked throughout his life, when he was able to.

“There is one shining member of the family, and that is his mother. At the time, he was not living with her. She finds it too upsetting to come to court. But his mother was the person who immediately took him back to the scene. Your honour will recall, at the scene, he was in tears. He was extremely upset.

“While he could not come to terms himself with the conviction, he was remorseful and wished that he could put the clock back, as many people do. In this case, I am going to submit that is genuine. He accepts that his driving caused the injury.

“It has affected him. His doctor refers to depression. This is a young man that custody is going to come very hard to. When he is serving his sentence, it will be much harsher for him than those who are more robust.

“This case brutally brings home the effects of such accidents. The family is devastated. Whatever happens today will not bring the situation back to the way it was before. It has brutally brought the situation home to him as well. He will not be able to see his young daughter.

“This is not a case of someone driving at 70mph. It was excessive. The jury have found that it was dangerous. But, in that sliding scale, it was not overly great. Secondly, it was for a short duration.”

Brown was found guilty of causing death by dangerous driving by a jury and admitted failing to stop after an accident. Appearing in the dock wearing a navy blue suit over a white shirt and blue tie this morning, he was jailed for four years.

Sentencing, Judge Anil Murray said: “You have maintained throughout that your driving was neither dangerous nor careless, and you still do. Mr Atkinson was 81 years old. He had worked all of his life. He travelled the world. He was a talented musician. He shared his talents for the entertainment of others. He want to the club every week and would play his trumpet and see his friends.

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“You liked cars. Your car, a BMW 1 Series M Sport, you said, was faster and more powerful than most cars. You were on your way to see your mother for dinner. It seems that you felt frustrated and accelerated sharply.

“You drove in the centre of the carriageway and did not return to the left hand lane. The only reason for not returning to the correct lane can be the one suggested by the prosecution, that you wanted to open up the oncoming left hand bend to take it faster than normal.

“This was a built up area. Mr Atkinson was walking slowly across the road. You failed to see him. When Mr Atkinson had walked across more than half of the road, he was at the driver’s side of the car. He had walked right across the path of your car.

“Had you kept a proper lookout and been going at a reasonable speed, you would have seen Mr Atkinson and the collision and resulting death would have been avoided. Had you returned to the correct side of the carriageway, the collision would have been avoided. You then drove off without stopping to check how Mr Atkinson was.

“The behaviour of your mother in this case has been faultless. She has behaved honourably throughout. This situation must be really difficult for her. When you arrived at her house and told her there had been a collision, she almost immediately took you back to face your responsibilities. She followed that up by making a statement and giving evidence for the prosecution.

“This case must be agony for her, as it must be for those who Mr Atkinson left behind. No sentence I pass can bring back James. You have never had a custodial sentence, and it will be difficult for you. I accept that. You will be separated from your daughter. Mr Parry Jones says that you have demonstrated immaturity. I accept that.

“This will be your first prison sentence, and probably your last. There is nothing in your case that makes me think you will trouble the courts again, but you have committed a really serious offence and you have not taken responsibility for it or owned up to blame. The pre-sentence report says that you are remorseful. The problem with that is, you continue to deny your guilt and say the collision was not your fault.”

Brown was also banned from driving for seven years and will be required to pass an extended retest before being allowed back on the roads. Mr Atkinson’s family issued a further tribute following the hearing, saying in a statement: “Jim. A loved eldest brother, father and grandfather. A talented musician and true gentleman who will be sadly missed.”

Emergency services were called to Peterhead Harbour after the alarm was raised at around 5.40pm on Tuesday.

Fire crews have raced to a huge blaze at a harbour in Aberdeenshire.

Emergency services were called to Peterhead Harbour after the alarm was raised at around 5.40pm on Tuesday. The Scottish Fire and Recue Service said they were alerted to the incident on Farmer’s Lane.

The fire is affecting a sign-making business in the Aberdeenshire town, which has been closed until further notice. Images from the scene show the building engulfed in flames with smoke seen billowing up into the sky.

The fire service said: “Seven appliances and a high-reach vehicle are currently at the scene of an incident on Farmer’s Lane, Peterhead. “Firefighters are working to extinguish a fire affecting a commercial building.

“We were alerted at 5.38pm on Tuesday, March 10. There are no reported casualties, and members of the public are asked to avoid the area.”

A sign-making company called Imagineering, which has been open since 2005, said it was shut because of the fire. A post on social media said: “Due to an ongoing fire at our premises we will be closed until further notice.”

North East Radio also posted on social media, saying they were off air as the power was out in the area.

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LOS ANGELES (AP) — Rihanna, her partner A$AP Rocky, their three children and her mother were all at home when a woman now charged with attempted murder and many other felony counts is alleged to have fired at the property, a prosecutor said Tuesday.

Ivanna Lisette Ortiz, 35, of Orlando, Florida, was charged with attempting to kill Rihanna, along with 10 counts of assault on a person with a semiautomatic firearm and three counts of shooting at an inhabited vehicle or dwelling, authorities said. No one was injured.

The singing superstar and her rap star partner were together in a trailer on the property at the time of the Sunday afternoon shooting, while other family members and staffers were in the Beverly Hills-area home, Los Angeles County District Attorney Nathan Hochman said outside a court hearing.

Inside court, Deputy Public Defender Jamarcus Bradford, Ortiz’s attorney, at first entered a plea of not guilty on her behalf, but then withdrew it in favor of postponing arraignment until March 25. She was ordered held on $1.8 million bail. Ortiz wore blue jail clothes with her blond hair in braids and spoke to the lawyer through a glass divider.

Bradford didn’t talk to reporters outside court.

The LA County Public Defender’s Office said in a statement that it could not comment on the pending case against Ortiz.

“As in every case, we will work to ensure that our client receives the full protections guaranteed under the Constitution,” the statement said.

Ortiz could get life in prison if convicted on all charges. All 14 counts against her are felonies. The three counts of firing at a dwelling were for Rihanna’s house, her trailer, and a neighbor’s house, prosecutors said. The 10 assault counts were for Rihanna and family, two staffers and two people in the neighboring house.

“LA based celebrities should not be additionally worried because of this,” Hochman said, “in large part because of the response of the police.” He praised officers for arresting Ortiz soon after the shooting, several miles (kilometers) to the north in the suburb of Sherman Oaks.

Judge Theresa McGonigle issued a protective order for Ortiz to stay away from Robin Fenty and Rakim Mayers –- the legal names of Rihanna and A$AP Rocky –- and their home. McGonigle also said Ortiz is not allowed to possess any firearms or ammunition along with several other conditions.

The hearing was held in a courtroom a few floors from where Rocky went through a trial where he was acquitted just over a year ago. Rihanna was often in attendance, sometimes with their sons.

And the lead prosecutor in the new case is Alexander Bott, the deputy district attorney who successfully prosecuted rapper Tory Lanez in a trial where he was convicted of shooting hip-hop star Megan Thee Stallion in the feet.

Hochman would not say where any of the bullets landed, would not say how long Ortiz had been in California, or discuss her motivation or any connection to Rihanna, saying all were under investigation.

Public records show her most recent address was in Orlando and that she has been a licensed speech pathologist for more than a decade.

AP also sent emails seeking comment from Rihanna’s publicist and manager.

In 2018, a man was accused of breaking into another home belonging to Rihanna in the Hollywood Hills and spending 12 hours there. The man pleaded no contest to felony counts of stalking and vandalism and a misdemeanor count of resisting arrest in 2019. He was sentenced to probation.

A nine-time Grammy Award winner, Rihanna has 14 No. 1 hits on the Billboard Hot 100, including “We Found Love,” “Work,” “Umbrella” and “Disturbia.” She founded the makeup brand Fenty Beauty in 2017.

She and A$AP Rocky announced the birth of their third child, a girl named Rocki Irish Mayers, in September.

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Associated Press Writer Christopher Weber contributed.