Warning: this article contains details which some readers may find distressing.

Until that moment the war was something happening in other parts of Tehran.

It had not touched the lives of "Setareh" and her colleagues. Then she heard an ominous noise and vibrations reached into the office.

She called out to her workmates: "I think it's a bomb." They left their desks and climbed the stairs to the roof of the building.

"We saw smoke rising into the sky, but we didn't know what place had been targeted," she recalls.

"After that, everyone working in the company panicked. People were shouting and screaming and running away. For one to two hours the situation stayed like that complete chaos." That same day her boss shut the business and laid off his staff.

Despite strict state censorship, the BBC has been able to use trusted sources on the ground to obtain testimony from a range of Iranians in different parts of the country.

We cannot give Setareh's real name or say what kind of work she does - no detail that might possibly identify her to the regime's secret police. But we can say that she is a young woman from Tehran who loved going to work, where she could meet her friends, share stories of their lives and, of course, there was the guarantee of weekly wages.

Now the nightly bombing has stolen her ability to sleep naturally. She lies awake worrying about the present, and the future.

"I can honestly say I haven't slept for several nights and days in a row. I try to relax by taking very strong painkillers so I can sleep. The anxiety is so intense that it has affected my body. When I think about the future and imagine those conditions, I truly don't know what to do."

By "those conditions" she means economic hardship and her fear of future street fighting between the regime and its enemies. The war has cost Setareh her job and she is running out of money.

Millions of Iranians are in a similar position. Even before the war, the economy was in deep crisis, with food prices rising by 60% in the previous year. Setareh describes mounting desperation as people run out of resources to survive.

"We cannot afford even basic food. What's in our pockets does not match market prices... Iran has also been under sanctions for years, and the problems created by the Islamic Republic means that during this time we couldn't build any savings, at least enough to survive now or depend on something. To put it simply, the people I thought might have money to lend also don't have anything."

Economic hardship spurred the huge nationwide protests of late 2025 and early 2026, and Setareh believes it will happen again.

"I don't know how this massive wave of unemployment will be handled. There is no support system and the government will do nothing for all these unemployed people. I believe the real war will start if this war ends without any outcome." The outcome she wants is the end of the regime.

We received information from sources on the ground in six different cities. These were conversations with individuals from a cross-section of society - shopkeepers, taxi drivers, public sector workers and others.

All described growing economic pressure and most spoke of their hope that the war might bring about the fall of the government.

"Tina" is a nurse in a hospital outside Tehran and is worried about shortages of medicine.

"The shortage is not yet widespread, but it is starting," she says.

"The most important issue is that this war must not reach hospitals. If the conflict continues and infrastructure is targeted and medicines cannot be imported, then we will face very serious problems."

She is haunted by the images of war that she's witnessed in recent weeks. In the aftermath of bombings, bodies arrived at the hospital "that were not recognisable... some had no hands, some had no legs - it was horrifying".

A recurring memory is the pregnant young woman caught in an air strike early in the war.

"Because of bombardment in her area - her home was close to a military centre - their house was damaged. When they brought her to the hospital, neither the mother nor the foetus was alive.

"Both had died. She had been just two months away from giving birth but sadly neither she nor her baby survived. It was a very terrible situation."

It is an image made more poignant by stories from Tina's childhood. Her mother was pregnant with her during the Iran-Iraq war of the 1980s and told her of having to flee to bomb shelters as Iraqi missiles struck their city. Nearly a million people - Iranians and Iraqis, military and civilian - are estimated to have died in the conflict, with Iran suffering the greatest number of casualties.

The war's legacy made Tina want to work as a nurse.

"Hearing those stories always made me stop and think, to imagine myself in those circumstances and place myself in her situation. Now, I find myself in the same kind of situation my mother once faced. I cannot believe how quickly history repeats itself."

Any public show of dissent in Iran is extremely dangerous. The regime has deployed its internal security forces and loyal supporters to patrol the streets. There are arrests, torture and executions. Iranians have no doubt about the danger they face if they speak out.

During January's anti-government demonstrations, the regime killed thousands of its own citizens and "Behnam" - a former political prisoner - believes it would easily do the same again.

He keeps a supply of antibiotics and painkillers in his flat in case there is renewed street violence. He is still in hiding after being shot during the last protests. Holding up an X-ray of his torso, Behnam shows the metal fragments that remain lodged in his body.

"They ambushed us in one of the alleys - the alley leading to the square. They fired bullets and tear gas," he says.

"Once you see how easily your life can be threatened - that a simple incident or a twist of fate can mean death or survival - after that, your life no longer holds the same value for you. And that experience makes you care less about yourself."

As a child, he listened to his parents' accounts of regime violence. Fear was the defining factor in their lives. There were stories of family members having fingernails pulled out by the Revolutionary Guards. He heard about the humiliation and agony of a male relative who had heavy weights tied to his testicles during torture.

"We all grew up knowing someone talented in our family - a cousin, an uncle, an aunt - whose future was destroyed just because another relative had been involved in banned political activity," he says.

"I will not heal until the day we are free and in a free world [can] look back on the suffering we endured in an unfree world, and in the end laugh at it. I am certain that day will come."

One month into the war, with US President Donald Trump threatening to bomb Iran "back to the stone ages" and regime repression tightening, the time of laughter seems very far away.

Additional reporting by Alice Doyard

Outgoing director general Tim Davie has ended his tenure at the BBC by saying it became "very clear" the former Radio 2 DJ Scott Mills had to be sacked, after the corporation received "new information".

The ex-radio Breakfast host lost his job earlier this week, after the BBC learned the alleged victim in a police investigation the presenter was involved in was under 16.

"We're trying to act fairly," Davie said when he was asked about Mills during an all-staff call. "It was new information quite recently that we received that made it very clear about the decision we had to make."

Davie, who became director general in September 2020, is replaced by Rhodri Talfan Davies for the next six weeks, before former Google executive Matt Brittin takes over permanently on 18 May.

Davie, who has spent nearly six years in the top job, said Mills' sacking "was a real shock to the organisation".

"When something happens where I think there's a lot of grief, there's a lot of shock, I think all I would say is we're trying to act as the leadership with kindness," he added.

BBC Breakfast's Sally Nugent questioned him about when the organisation had learned there was a problem.

He reiterated a statement from Wednesday, which stated the BBC was made aware in 2017 of the investigation into allegations of serious sexual offences, but that new information had recently come to light that led management to sack Mills last Friday.

"I think people need to look at the statement; we made [it] as clear as we can. We obviously have to be sensitive when you've got personal information, and we work carefully through it, but the statement is really clear," he said.

When asked if staff culture had changed during his tenure at the BBC, he said: "It'll never be fully fully fixed, but I think it's changing, I really do."

He added: "I think if you come in and behave in a way that some of this industry saw 20 years ago, it just would not be acceptable, you want to create an environment where it's just ludicrous to do that."

The executive said he felt "real progress" had been made, adding: " I think the industry is kinder.

He also talked about people in senior positions in the industry "who have had a lot of power - and if they misuse it, that has not been called out, let's face it".

"I do think we've reached a point where people behaving badly now, you can see we're not going to tolerate it," he added.

Davie, who took over from Lord Tony Hall, has faced a number of challenges and controversies during his time in the top job, including the BBC broadcasting a racial slur during last month's Bafta Film Awards.

It later said it was the result of a "genuine mistake", and is examining why it was not removed from iPlayer sooner.

The corporation also apologised last summer, after a livestream of Bob Vylan's Glastonbury set, in which chants of "death, death to the IDF (Israel Defence Force)" was available to watch on BBC iPlayer for more than four hours.

Davie was also in charge when Huw Edwards, one of the BBC's highest paid and well-known newsreaders, pleaded guilty to making indecent images of children.

Davie resigned in November 2025, alongside head of news Deborah Turness, after criticism that a Panorama documentary misled viewers by editing a speech by US President Donald Trump.

Trump is now suing the BBC for several billion dollars, for defamation over the way Panorama spliced together his speech, which he claims made it appear he had directly encouraged his supporters to storm the US Capitol on 6 January 2021.

In March, the corporation urged a Florida court to dismiss the lawsuit, using the defence that the documentary was not available to watch in the US.

Davie also spoke about how it felt to be at the centre of a BBC controversy or crisis.

"There are days when you're in the middle of a crisis, the snappers are outside your house… you do feel fear, and I'm not going to miss that. It's been hard," he said.

"Plus you've also got sometimes editorial mistakes - and they are mistakes, they're not people deliberately doing stuff - that can be really tough."

Davie steps down after more than 20 years at the corporation, having served as the 17th director general.

When asked what he was proudest of, he said it was "all the amazing creative work" produced by the organisation.

"The heartbeat of this operation is journalistic and editorially. I love the work, I love the fact this year we will be celebrating 100 years of David Attenborough - I've met a few [great people] in my job, but you meet David Attenborough and you go 'ok this is it, this is the beating heart'," he added.

A cancer research fund set up by Dame Deborah James has been hailed as an "incredible milestone" by the Prince of Wales after it hit the £20m mark.

The Bowelbabe Fund, set up in May 2022 shortly before Dame Deborah died of bowel cancer, has reached the milestone in less than four years, having initially aimed to raise £250,000.

Prince William praised the "amazing legacy" of Dame Deborah, from Woking, Surrey, and her fund in a message on Instagram in which he wrote: "Deborah is in our thoughts today, as are all those who loved her."

Dame Deborah's mother, Heather James, added: "Deborah would be absolutely over the moon if she were here today to see this."

Heather James added: "She was so passionate about supporting research that would help give more people affected by cancer more time with their loved ones."

Speaking to BBC Breakfast, her father Alistair James said: "She set this up in the last few weeks of her life and if she knew we had managed £20.5m even Deborah with her energy probably wouldn't believe what happened."

A spokesperson for Cancer Research UK, which benefits from the fund, says the money raised had been used to support 16 research projects, including a "Bowelbabe vaccine" aimed at boosting immunity against bowel cancer.

'True testament to Deborah's legacy'

You, Me And The Big C podcast host Dame Deborah was given a damehood for her fundraising efforts, which soared past £1m in the first 24 hours.

The honour was personally conferred by Prince William, who joined her family for afternoon tea and champagne while she was receiving hospice-at-home care.

She died in June 2022 at the age of 40.

Michelle Mitchell, chief executive of Cancer Research UK, said: "Reaching this £20m milestone is a true testament to Deborah's incredible legacy.

"Thanks to research, more than half of people diagnosed with bowel cancer in the UK will survive the disease.

"But there is still much more to do."

Follow BBC Surrey on Facebook, on X, and on Instagram. Send your story ideas to southeasttoday@bbc.co.uk or WhatsApp us on 08081 002250.

The government in northern Cyprus has said it is launching an investigation after several British families told the BBC they believed they were given the wrong sperm or egg donors during their IVF procedures at local fertility clinics.

The Ministry of Health in the Turkish-occupied territory said their cases had been "taken into serious consideration" and they were investigating whether clinics had breached "laws and regulation".

The public will be informed of its findings, it added.

Northern Cyprus has become one of the most popular destinations for British nationals seeking fertility treatment abroad, experts say.

The privately-run clinics promise low prices, high success rates and a sunny holiday.

European Union laws do not apply, but it does have its own fertility legislation and its Ministry of Health oversees clinics.

However, unlike the UK, there is no independent fertility regulator upholding standards.

• Have you been affected by the issues raised in this story? Contact the BBC at: fertilityinvestigation@bbc.co.uk

The government announcement has come 48 hours after a BBC investigation revealed the parents of seven children believed the wrong sperm or egg donors were used during their fertility treatments at several clinics in northern Cyprus.

Most of the families have completed commercial DNA tests which appeared to confirm their fears.

One of those families discovered their two children were not biologically related after doing an accredited test, which can be used in UK courts.

Same-sex couple, Beth and Laura, were each the biological mother to one of their children and had asked their clinic, Dogus IVF Centre, to make sure the same donor was always used to ensure the children were blood relatives.

They had carefully selected a donor who had undergone extensive health and psychological screenings.

However, genetics expert Prof Denise Syndercombe Court of King's College London, concluded it was unlikely either child was related to the family's requested donor and confirmed that the two children came from different sperm donors.

Beth and Laura's doctor at the time, Dr Firdevs Uguz Tip, denies any responsibility, and Dogus IVF Centre has not responded to the BBC's questions.

The BBC investigation has caused outrage in northern Cyprus.

It has appeared on the front page of several newspapers there, with one outlet describing it as a "scandal".

Local MP Dogus Derya said the BBC's findings revealed "the lack of supervision of IVF centres operating in our country" which "has become a serious problem".

The Ministry of Health for northern Cyprus did not respond to the BBC's request for comment before the release of its investigation, but has since shared a statement.

"Following the publication of your report, the necessary legal review and investigation process has been promptly initiated," Health Minister Hakan Dinçyürek said.

"Our ministry remains fully committed to exercising the highest level of diligence throughout all stages of this process and to taking all necessary legal steps accordingly."

• Details of organisations offering information and support with infertility are available at BBC Action Line

A seven-month-old girl was shot and killed in while sitting in her pushchair in "broad daylight" in New York City's borough of Brooklyn, police have said.

Police believe the baby was the unintended victim of a suspected gang-related shooting.

Footage from the scene shows two men driving against the flow of traffic through the Williamsburg neighbourhood when a man sitting on the back of the motorbike takes out a gun and fires "at least two rounds", New York City Police Commissioner Jessica Tisch told a news conference.

The bike then crashed and the suspected shooter was apprehended, but a "massive" manhunt was under way for the driver, she said.

"A life that had barely begun was taken in an instant," New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani said.

"Today is a devastating reminder of how much more work there is to be done to combat gun violence across this city."

Several adults and children, two of whom were in buggies, had been on a street corner when the shooting occurred.

The seven-month-old's parents ran for cover in a nearby corner shop, where they realised their child had been shot, the BBC's US partner CBS reported.

"All the kids started ducking in the corner. The family went to the store and the mom started screaming when she noticed the baby was bleeding from [her] head," witness Bernius Maldonado told CBS.

Emergency services were called at around 13:21 local time (17:21 GMT).

The child was taken to the nearby Woodhull Hospital where she was pronounced dead. Police reported no other people killed or injured in the incident.

"As a mother, I cannot imagine the pain that this family is feeling or the grief that they now carry with them," Tisch said. "It is unspeakable."

Footage seen by police showed the suspects crashing into a car shortly after fleeing the scene.

Both suspects were throw from the moped - but the rear passenger landed so hard he lost "both of his shoes", Tisch said.

An ambulance was called for the injured male and was brought to Brooklyn Hospital, where he was then taken into police custody.

Investigators believe he fits the description of the shooter, based on the clothing he was wearing and his appearance, but was taken into custody as part of an unrelated investigation.

Police are working to connect him to the shooting.

Donald Trump's prime-time Wednesday evening address on the war with Iran was intended to project control, but it also laid bare a central contradiction.

The US president declared Iran's military capabilities - its navy, air force, missile programme and nuclear enrichment infrastructure - largely destroyed, presenting the conflict as nearing its end.

Yet he coupled that with threats of further escalation in the coming weeks.

The result is a message that cannot quite decide what it is: victory declared, but not secured.

The rhetoric sharpened further with his warning that Iran would be bombed "back to the stone ages, where they belong".

That remark has had a tangible effect inside Iran, fuelling anger across social media - including among those opposition supporters who had previously viewed Trump as a potential agent of change.

Rather than encouraging internal pressure on the system, for some it has reinforced a sense of a country under siege.

Trump has also doubled down on the claim that "regime change" has effectively already taken place in Iran with the assassination of Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei along with many other top officials and commanders, producing what he called a "less radical and much more reasonable" leadership.

There is little evidence to support this.

Power in Tehran remains structurally unchanged. Authority still flows from the supreme leader's office, though how much direct control is exercised in practice, particularly under current conditions, is less clear.

But there has been no institutional rupture, no ideological shift. Masoud Pezeshkian remains president. Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf still leads parliament. Abbas Araghchi continues to shape foreign policy.

Commanders and many officials killed in strikes have been replaced by figures from the same ideological ranks who are, if anything, more hardened by wartime conditions.

This appears more like regime resilience than regime change. That resilience is not accidental.

Iran's war aim is not victory in the conventional sense, but endurance.

For years, Tehran has operated on a simple premise: survival against a superior military power constitutes success. In its enduring confrontation with Israel and the US, Tehran has always believed that conflict with one would draw in the other.

"Still standing" is not a fallback outcome - it is the objective. One month into the war, the Islamic Republic's command structures still function, its state apparatus holds, and its deterrent, though degraded, is not broken.

By that measure, Iran's position remains significant.

It retains leverage over critical energy routes, particularly the Strait of Hormuz, through which roughly a fifth of global oil supply passes. That alone gives Tehran disproportionate disruptive capacity, even under sustained attack.

For Washington, this creates a dilemma.

If the US disengages now, it risks validating Iran's core lesson: endurance works. If it continues, it faces mounting costs with no clear path to decisive victory.

Trump's speech reflects that bind. By claiming success while continuing the war, he is attempting to reconcile two competing imperatives: demonstrating strength while avoiding prolonged entanglement.

Against this backdrop, Pezeshkian's assertion shortly before Trump's speech that Iran has the "necessary will" to end the war reads as calculated signalling rather than concession.

His open letter to the American public, posted on social media on Wednesday, questioned whether "America First" was being served and whether the US was acting as a proxy for Israel.

It was aimed squarely at domestic US audiences already uneasy with the conflict - an attempt to widen political pressure in Washington without altering Iran's negotiating position.

Iran's red lines for ending the war appear unchanged. They are:

• Regime survival and sovereignty
• Credible guarantees against future US and Israeli strikes
• Meaningful, enforceable sanctions relief
• Retention of deterrence capabilities

So far, there is no sign that Iran is willing to compromise on these demands.

That could yet change as the US-Israeli bombing continues. There is no doubt that it is having a significant effect on Iran's military capabilities and on its economy, which was already in freefall before the war began.

If the regime survives the war, it will have to rebuild a country reeling from these crises.

But survival would have a deeper consequence: deterrence itself. For years, the implicit threat of a large-scale US or Israeli attack acted as a constraint on Iran. If it emerges intact after direct confrontation, the credibility of future threats diminishes.

That shift is already shaping regional calculations.

Some Arab states, initially opposed to the war, are now reportedly urging Trump to see it through rather than risk leaving behind a more confident Iran.

From their perspective, an inconclusive end may prove more destabilising than the conflict itself. They, more than Washington, will bear the consequences, they fear.

The US is therefore caught in a familiar but acute dilemma. Leaving risks validating Iran's model of endurance. Staying risks deeper entanglement in a war with no clear endpoint.

So far, a new Iran has not emerged.

If that is still the case when the war ends, the question will be whether Washington can align its claims of success with a reality in which the adversary it sought to transform remains, fundamentally, the same.

A coalition of about 30 nations are to discuss plans to reopen the vital Strait of Hormuz shipping lane in the Middle East, at a virtual summit hosted by the UK on Thursday.

The virtual summit is expected to consider what diplomatic and political steps could be taken to reopen the important shipping route, though the US was not set to attend.

Iran has attacked several vessels in the strait in response to the war waged against it by the US and Israel, severely disrupting energy exports and sending global fuel prices soaring.

On Wednesday, US President Donald Trump said it was for other nations to "build up some delayed courage" and reopen the route.

Trump said allies "should have done it" earlier, adding: "Go to the Strait and just take it. Protect it. Use it for yourselves."

Washington has repeatedly accused allies of not doing enough to secure the shipping route or to support its war effort, leaving the UK and other nations weighing how to contribute to securing the strait without becoming involved in the wider war.

• US and Israel continue war against Iran - follow live

Foreign Secretary Yvette Cooper is set to chair Thursday's virtual meeting.

The summit was expected to involve governments which signed a joint statement in mid-March calling on Iranian forces to halt attacks against commercial ships.

That statement was supported by some Gulf nations, as well as France, Germany, Japan, Australia and others.

The statement says: "We express our readiness to contribute to appropriate efforts to ensure safe passage through the Strait.

"We welcome the commitment of nations who are engaging in preparatory planning."

The talks come a day after Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer said the UK was "exploring each and every diplomatic avenue that is available" to reopen the route.

He also said British military planners would consider what could be done in the future to "make the Strait accessible and safe after the fighting has stopped".

At the same time, governments around the world are weighing how to respond to cost-of-living pressures triggered by rising energy prices.

About a fifth of the world's oil and gas passes through the Strait of Hormuz.

The price of a barrel of Brent crude, the global benchmark for oil prices, has jumped from $73 (£55) to well over $100 in recent weeks.

The Iran war requires a "serious" approach that does not change every day, Emmanuel Macron has said, in an apparent reference to US President Donald Trump's seemingly contradictory remarks about the conflict.

"This is not a show. We are talking about war and peace and the lives of men and women," the French president told journalists upon arrival in South Korea for a state visit.

"When you want to be serious you don't say every day the opposite of what you said the day before," Macron added.

"And maybe you shouldn't be speaking every day. You should just let things quieten down."

Macron was answering questions on the US-Israel war in Iran, which has now entered its second month. France and other European countries have supported some of the US operations in the region, but have so far resisted getting dragged into the war.

Trump and his administration have so far offered mixed messages on the conflict, at various times suggesting that a ceasefire was near, that the war had already been won or that the US was going to fight on.

Macron also addressed Trump's recent comments in which the US president said he was reconsidering his country's membership of Nato.

"Alliances like Nato are valuable because of what is unspoken – meaning the trust behind them," Macron said, arguing that casting doubt on one's commitment to the organisation emptied it of its substance.

Partners sign agreements and show up if issues arise, Macron added, "rather that commenting on them every day to say that you will or will not respect them".

"I feel like there is too much chatter, it's all over the place," he said.

He added he was unwilling to comment on an operation that the US and the Israelis "decided on by themselves", Macron said. "They then lament that they are alone in an operation they decided on alone. It's not our operation."

Macron also mentioned the US strikes on Iran in June 2025, which Trump said had "obliterated" Iranian nuclear facilities.

However, in the wake of the February 2026 war the US president said it was the "last best chance to strike at Iran's nuclear weapons programme".

"I remind you that six months ago were told that everything had been destroyed and all had been sorted out," Macron noted.

He argued that international observers were needed to check the nuclear development situation in Iran, and a framework to prevent further enriching.

"You still have today and you'll still have in the future people who have the know-how, hidden laboratories, etc. So it's not targeted military action even lasting a few weeks which can sort out the nuclear problem for good."

Trump has been on the offensive against France, which he accuses of failing to help in the war on Iran.

At a private lunch on Wednesday, Trump mocked Macron by imitating a French accent and saying that his wife Brigitte "treats him extremely badly" and that Macron was still "recovering from the right to the jaw".

Trump was likely referring to a 2025 video which showed Macron being shoved in the face by Brigitte.

Macron dismissed the comments as "neither elegant nor up to standard".

"I won't respond to them, they don't deserve a reply," he said.

The comments on Macron's marriage have been exceptionally bad received in France, where even staunch Macron critics came to his defence.

"For Donald Trump to speak to him like that and to speak of his wife in such a manner - I find that absolutely unacceptable," said Manuel Bompard of hard-left France Unbowed party.

Tehran has retaliated to the strikes on its territory by closing the Strait of Hormuz, a key waterway which enables the passage of a large proportion of the world's energy supply. In the absence of a quick resolution to the closure, Trump has said the countries most affected by the disruption should solve the problem themselves.

Macron pushed back against the idea of a military operation to liberate the strait, saying it was "unrealistic" because it would take too long and be too dangerous.

"It would expose anyone crossing the strait to coastal threats from the [Iranian] Revolutionary Guards, who possess significant resources, as well as ballistic missiles, [and] a host of other risks," he said.

When Margo Oakley, now 59, was introduced to her older sister's new boyfriend her first impressions of the "po-faced" and "judgey" young man were not great.

And for Mark Blythen, 67, his feelings about his girlfriend's "loud and wild" younger sibling were mutual.

But more than 40 years later the pair became the first set of in-laws to compete on Race Across the World - the BBC show that offers a £20,000 cash prize to the first of five duos to reach the finish line without the aid of phones, internet or air travel and with a limited budget.

They told the BBC the decision to enter the intense TV contest together followed the "last wishes" of Mark's wife and Margo's sister Julia, who died from the rare blood cancer myelofibrosis in 2022.

Mark, from London, met Julia, from Liverpool, while they were both students at Huddersfield Polytechnic, even though initially she was dating one of his flatmates.

"She hit him over the head with a brolly and then about three weeks later I went out with her," he said.

Mark revealed the one thing he and Margo agreed on in those early days was that Julia was "out of my league".

"It took us 23 years to get married but as soon as I met Julia, she was the person I knew I wanted to be with," Mark said.

"She was gregarious, she was funny and she was just everything I wanted in someone, a partner."

His first introduction to Margo came during a weekend visit to Liverpool.

"He wasn't what I imagined her going out with," Margo said.

"He was quite po-faced about me and my friends. We were young, we were having fun. He seemed judgey."

"I was very judgey," Mark agreed.

The pair said they "rubbed along" over the years since then, with occasional "eruptions".

But Julia was "the glue that held us together", they said.

And one thing Margo never doubted was Mark's commitment to her sister.

"I have to say, he was a good husband. He was very, very devoted to her. He couldn't have been more," she said.

"I mean, in a way, and that's part of really the story of the race, in a way he put a lot of who he was aside just because he worshipped her so much."

After decades of not seeing eye-to-eye, Mark and Margo's relationship developed a new dimension in 2019 when Julia became ill.

She had a particularly aggressive form of the disease, and despite undergoing a stem-cell transplant, her condition deteriorated.

As Mark cared for his wife, he said he came to value Margo's visits for the impact they had on her mood.

"One of the things about caring for somebody is that it's very easy to just get lost and focus on caring for someone," he said.

"People that are being cared for, they need to have fun and Margo provided that fun. I think that's what kept Julia going for so long, that Margo would come down and raise her spirits."

Margo said she noticed the toll Julia's illness was taking on Mark.

"When he was caring for Julia, he didn't even know, realise how much it was taking from him," she said.

"We had different roles, but also as well, I knew Mark, like every carer, needed support."

While their relationship had been strengthening anyway, Julia explicitly told them she wanted them to remain close after she was gone.

"It was Julia's last wishes, and it was literally last wishes, that the friendship that Margo and myself had formed continued and we strengthened and we didn't lose it."

Margo said that while her sister had wanted their relationship to continue, how they went about it was an open question.

"You don't really have any blueprint for it, you know, it's an unusual relationship for all those years of friction," she said.

Both Mark and Margo said Julia was a big fan of Race Across the World, but "would never have gone on it" herself.

The inspiration to apply hit Margo suddenly.

"I saw the race advertised and I just thought 'that really speaks to me'. I was looking for adventure because I have a lot on in my life in Liverpool because I care for my mum.

"As soon as I saw the race advertised, just something, I have no idea, spoke to me and said, ask Mark. A voice kind of told me, ask Mark...

"I didn't think twice. And very quickly I asked him and immediately he said 'yes'."

The pair did not want to reveal too much about what went on during filming to avoid spoilers - but said the "magical" journey towards the final destination - Mongolia - featured "real highs and really big lows".

"I don't think that's a spoiler to say, that's the nature of the race. Even the lows, there was absolute magic and alchemy in them," she said.

"Some of the lows, that's where the absolute gold is wasn't it?"

"You find the treasure at the bottom", Mark agreed.

Margo said she believed the excitement and joy in taking part in the race and the sadness of losing Julia would be relatable for people who have experienced loss.

"There's beauty in holding both those things, of sadness and joy of life and honouring her," she said.

The new series of Race Across the World begins at 21:00 BST on Thursday 2 April on BBC One and BBC iPlayer.

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The Iran war requires a "serious" approach that does not change every day, Emmanuel Macron has said, in an apparent reference to US President Donald Trump's seemingly contradictory remarks about the conflict.

"This is not a show. We are talking about war and peace and the lives of men and women," the French president told journalists upon arrival in South Korea for a state visit.

"When you want to be serious you don't say every day the opposite of what you said the day before," Macron added.

"And maybe you shouldn't be speaking every day. You should just let things quieten down."

Macron was answering questions on the US-Israel war in Iran, which has now entered its second month. France and other European countries have supported some of the US operations in the region, but have so far resisted getting dragged into the war.

Trump and his administration have so far offered mixed messages on the conflict, at various times suggesting that a ceasefire was near, that the war had already been won or that the US was going to fight on.

Macron also addressed Trump's recent comments in which the US president said he was reconsidering his country's membership of Nato.

"Alliances like Nato are valuable because of what is unspoken – meaning the trust behind them," Macron said, arguing that casting doubt on one's commitment to the organisation emptied it of its substance.

Partners sign agreements and show up if issues arise, Macron added, "rather that commenting on them every day to say that you will or will not respect them".

"I feel like there is too much chatter, it's all over the place," he said.

He added he was unwilling to comment on an operation that the US and the Israelis "decided on by themselves", Macron said. "They then lament that they are alone in an operation they decided on alone. It's not our operation."

Macron also mentioned the US strikes on Iran in June 2025, which Trump said had "obliterated" Iranian nuclear facilities.

However, in the wake of the February 2026 war the US president said it was the "last best chance to strike at Iran's nuclear weapons programme".

"I remind you that six months ago were told that everything had been destroyed and all had been sorted out," Macron noted.

He argued that international observers were needed to check the nuclear development situation in Iran, and a framework to prevent further enriching.

"You still have today and you'll still have in the future people who have the know-how, hidden laboratories, etc. So it's not targeted military action even lasting a few weeks which can sort out the nuclear problem for good."

Trump has been on the offensive against France, which he accuses of failing to help in the war on Iran.

At a private lunch on Wednesday, Trump mocked Macron by imitating a French accent and saying that his wife Brigitte "treats him extremely badly" and that Macron was still "recovering from the right to the jaw".

Trump was likely referring to a 2025 video which showed Macron being shoved in the face by Brigitte.

Macron dismissed the comments as "neither elegant nor up to standard".

"I won't respond to them, they don't deserve a reply," he said.

The comments on Macron's marriage have been exceptionally bad received in France, where even staunch Macron critics came to his defence.

"For Donald Trump to speak to him like that and to speak of his wife in such a manner - I find that absolutely unacceptable," said Manuel Bompard of hard-left France Unbowed party.

Tehran has retaliated to the strikes on its territory by closing the Strait of Hormuz, a key waterway which enables the passage of a large proportion of the world's energy supply. In the absence of a quick resolution to the closure, Trump has said the countries most affected by the disruption should solve the problem themselves.

Macron pushed back against the idea of a military operation to liberate the strait, saying it was "unrealistic" because it would take too long and be too dangerous.

"It would expose anyone crossing the strait to coastal threats from the [Iranian] Revolutionary Guards, who possess significant resources, as well as ballistic missiles, [and] a host of other risks," he said.

A seven-month-old girl was shot and killed in while sitting in her pushchair in "broad daylight" in New York City's borough of Brooklyn, police have said.

Police believe the baby was the unintended victim of a suspected gang-related shooting.

Footage from the scene shows two men driving against the flow of traffic through the Williamsburg neighbourhood when a man sitting on the back of the motorbike takes out a gun and fires "at least two rounds", New York City Police Commissioner Jessica Tisch told a news conference.

The bike then crashed and the suspected shooter was apprehended, but a "massive" manhunt was under way for the driver, she said.

"A life that had barely begun was taken in an instant," New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani said.

"Today is a devastating reminder of how much more work there is to be done to combat gun violence across this city."

Several adults and children, two of whom were in buggies, had been on a street corner when the shooting occurred.

The seven-month-old's parents ran for cover in a nearby corner shop, where they realised their child had been shot, the BBC's US partner CBS reported.

"All the kids started ducking in the corner. The family went to the store and the mom started screaming when she noticed the baby was bleeding from [her] head," witness Bernius Maldonado told CBS.

Emergency services were called at around 13:21 local time (17:21 GMT).

The child was taken to the nearby Woodhull Hospital where she was pronounced dead. Police reported no other people killed or injured in the incident.

"As a mother, I cannot imagine the pain that this family is feeling or the grief that they now carry with them," Tisch said. "It is unspeakable."

Footage seen by police showed the suspects crashing into a car shortly after fleeing the scene.

Both suspects were throw from the moped - but the rear passenger landed so hard he lost "both of his shoes", Tisch said.

An ambulance was called for the injured male and was brought to Brooklyn Hospital, where he was then taken into police custody.

Investigators believe he fits the description of the shooter, based on the clothing he was wearing and his appearance, but was taken into custody as part of an unrelated investigation.

Police are working to connect him to the shooting.

A 2,500-year-old golden helmet considered one of Romania's greatest treasures has been recovered more than a year after it was stolen during a raid on a Dutch museum.

It and two golden bracelets dating back to about 450BC were unveiled as having been returned to the museum on Thursday, secured behind a glass case with two armed police guarding them. A third bracelet has not yet been found.

The theft of the Coțofenești helmet and bracelets by an armed gang who broke into the Drents Museum in Assen caused outrage in Romania and raised questions about security for priceless artefacts on loan to other countries.

"It's a long-awaited result," Romanian prosecutor Daniela Buruiană told journalists.

"We are happy that we are now witnessing here the recovery of the Romanian artefacts," she added.

The treasures, which date from the Dacian era - an Iron Age civilisation that existed roughly where Romania is now - had been on loan from Romania's national history museum when they had been stolen.

Their theft prompted a spat between the two governments that led to the Dutch government paying a reported €5.7m (£5m; $6.5m) in insurance compensation.

Romanian officials refused to discuss what would happen to that money now.

Robert van Langh, director of the Drents Museum in the northern Netherlands, said the helmet had been slightly dented but could be restored. The bracelets remained in perfect condition, he said.

Romanian prosecutor Rareș-Petru Stan spoke of the "major impact" that the theft had had in his home country, and praised his Dutch colleagues for their "hard work and keeping the faith".

"We are continuing the investigation to find the last bracelet," he added, "and we are grateful that we will be able to return this treasure to the Romanian people."

Dutch public prosecutor Corien Fahner revealed that the helmet and bracelets were handed over to authorities on Wednesday following negotiations involving lawyers for the three suspects.

Two men in their mid-30s and one aged 21 will face trial later this month.

The suspects were arrested within days of the gang using explosives to break into the museum, but by then there was no trace of the priceless items.

Art experts have suggested that the helmet and bracelets were stolen to order by a criminal gang.

Several Dutch provincial museums have been targeted in recent years because of the difficulty in providing adequate security for priceless artefacts. The helmet and bracelets were in a glass case that provided little resistance to the armed group.

In 2024, two works by Andy Warhol were stolen from a gallery in the southern Netherlands, and six years ago a Frans Hals painting called Two Laughing Boys was stolen from a small museum in the central town of Leerdam.

The former head of the national history museum in Bucharest, Ernest Oberländer-Târnoveanu, faced considerable domestic criticism for loaning the gold objects abroad and lost his job within days of the theft.

He spoke of his relief that the helmet had been retrieved.

"This is a unique item in European and even global cultural heritage," he told RTL Nieuws. "The helmet is an important social and political symbol of Dacian civilisation."

Four children have been "brutally stabbed and killed" at a school in the Ugandan capital, Kampala, the police have said.

"The suspect has been apprehended, and the motive behind the killings is still under investigation," Uganda's police force added in a brief statement on X.

The school has been named as the Ggaba Early Childhood Development Program school in the capital's Makindye Division.

More details will be provided later, it added.

Uganda's Daily Monitor newspaper is quoting local residents as saying that the suspect posed as a parent to get into the school and then after talking to the administrator attacked the children. The victims were between the ages of two and three, the newspaper adds.

Videos of the aftermath being shared on social media show images of crowds of angry and distressed people.

The suspect was quickly apprehended to "prevent him from being lynched", local journalist Erich Mboowa has reported on X.

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