Sophie Kinsella, the author of the bestselling Shopaholic series of novels, has died aged 55, her family have announced.

The writer, whose real name is Madeleine Sophie Wickham, was diagnosed with an aggressive form of brain cancer in 2022.

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Liberal Democrat leader Sir Ed Davey has urged the prime minister to stand up to Donald Trump, describing the US president's new national security strategy as "deeply alarming".

The document, which was published last week, warns Europe faces "civilisational erasure" and says US policy should prioritise "cultivating resistance to Europe's current trajectory".

Sir Ed called on the PM to "make it clear to President Trump that any attempts to interfere with our democracy are totally unacceptable".

In response, Sir Keir Starmer avoided criticising the US President, instead saying he would always stand up for Europe's "longstanding values of freedom and democracy".

The US strategy calls for an end to mass migration and criticises European policies on the issue for "creating strife".

It also raises concerns about "censorship of free speech" and "loss of national identities and self-confidence".

"It is far from obvious whether certain European countries will have economies and militaries strong enough to remain reliable allies," the document states.

Trump continued to attack European leaders in an interview with Politico on Tuesday, when he branded them "weak" and said they had failed to control migration or take decisive action to end the war in Ukraine.

The strategy also adopts softer language towards Russia, blaming the EU for blocking US efforts to end the conflict and saying the US must "re-establish strategic stability with Russia".

The Kremlin has welcomed the document, calling it "largely consistent" with Moscow's vision.

Raising the US strategy during Prime Minister's Questions, Sir Ed told the House of Commons: "Quite apart from the irony of President Trump accusing others of trampling on basic principles of democracy, it repeats far-right tropes of civilisational erasure and threatens that the US government will cultivate resistance in Europe.

"No wonder Vladimir Putin has welcomed that strategy. So will the prime minister pick up the phone and make it clear to President Trump that any attempts to interfere with our democracy are totally unacceptable?"

Sir Keir replied: "On the question of Europe and President Trump's comments, what I see is a strong Europe, united behind Ukraine and united behind our longstanding values of freedom and democracy.

"And I will always stand up for those values and those freedoms."

Sir Ed hit back: "I didn't hear about standing up to President Trump."

The PM has sought to build a close relationship with Trump and the government has pointed to a deal on trade as among the positive results of this.

Meanwhile, Downing Street has defended the Labour mayor of London, Sir Sadiq Khan, after he was branded a "disaster" and "incompetent" by Trump.

The US president's latest remarks in his long-running feud with the London mayor came during his Politico interview, where he also claimed Sir Sadiq was elected "because so many people have come in".

On Wednesday, the prime minister's press secretary told reporters Trump's comments were "wrong".

She said the mayor was "doing an excellent job in London", adding: "The prime minister is hugely proud of the mayor of London's record and proud to call him a colleague and a friend."

It comes after Downing Street was forced to deny it was failing to stand up for Sir Sadiq on Tuesday, when a No 10 spokesman declined to criticise the president's attack on the mayor.

Instead the spokesman had said: "The prime minister has a strong relationship with the US president and a strong relationship with the Mayor of London and on both is committed to working together to deliver stronger outcomes for the British people right across the country."

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A couple who had a brief encounter on a late-night train have got engaged on the same service one year later.

Steve Higgs, 56, from Leighton Buzzard, Bedfordshire, set up the surprise proposal to Payal Pandya, from Harrow, London, after a train company got on board with the plans.

He said he first met Ms Pandya, 49, on the 23:09 London Northwestern Railway (LNR) service from Euston towards Milton Keynes in November 2024.

To mark their anniversary the couple boarded the same service and Mr Higgs got down on one knee to ask Ms Pandya to marry him - and wedding plans are now moving full steam ahead.

Mr Higgs contacted LNR to plan the moment to ensure that nothing derailed it.

When the couple were on the train home from a night out in the capital, the conductor made a special announcement hinting at the forthcoming proposal, which gave Mr Higgs the cue to get down on one knee.

Mr Higgs said: "I first met Payal when I offered her my seat after I'd been out for a few drinks with friends.

"I'm always up for chatting with people when I'm travelling and so I struck up a conversation.

"I remember she mentioned she'd just been on a first date where – luckily for me - sparks had failed to fly.

"Although we were only speaking for 20 minutes or so, I knew I wanted to see her again."

Ms Pandya said by the time she had got off the train last year, her fiancé had found her dating profile and sent her a message.

"We set up our first date not too long after and the rest is history," she said.

"We always joke that the 23:09 LNR service marks our 'encounter-versary' – the moment we first met.

"I can't believe Steve asked me to marry him on that same service and managed to get the conductor involved without me knowing!"

The couple said they hope to get married next year.

Jonny Wiseman, LNR's customer experience director, said: "When Steve got in touch with our customer relations team, we knew we had to help with his request for a special announcement.

"Their story is a brilliant example of the way the railway can connect people, not just to where they need to go, but to the people they're travelling with too."

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María Corina Machado, the winner of this year's Nobel Peace Prize, is "safe" and will come to Oslo, but will not be able to make the awards ceremony scheduled for 12:00 GMT on Wednesday, the Nobel Institute has said.

The Nobel Institute awarded the Venezuelan opposition leader the prize for "her struggle to achieve a just and peaceful transition from dictatorship to democracy" in her home country.

There has been much speculation about whether Machado, who has been living in hiding, would be able to defy a travel ban to attend the ceremony in Norway's capital.

Organisers said her daughter would accept the award in her stead.

In an audio recording shared by the Nobel Institute, Machado said "I will be in Oslo, I am on my way."

However, the director of the Nobel Institute, Kristian Berg Harpviken, said that Machado was expected to arrive "sometime between this evening and tomorrow morning" - too late for the ceremony.

In her mother's absence, Ana Corina Sosa is expected to give the speech Machado had prepared.

Earlier on Wednesday, the Nobel Institute had said they were in the dark about Machado's whereabouts, triggering concern among her supporters.

Two of her children and her mother are in Oslo, hoping to be reunited with Machado after being separated for more than a year.

Machado went into hiding shortly after Venezuela's disputed presidential election in July 2024.

The last time she was seen in public was on 9 January when she spoke to her supporters at a rally protesting against the swearing-in of Nicolás Maduro to a third term as president.

The elections were widely dismissed both by the opposition in Venezuela and on the international stage as rigged, and sparked protests across the country.

Around 2,000 people were arrested in the crackdown which followed, among them many members of Machado's opposition coalition.

Machado, who had managed to unite the bitterly divided opposition ahead of the election, went into hiding for fear of arrest.

She continued to give interviews and uploaded videos onto social media urging her followers not to give up.

The announcement that she had been chosen as this year's Nobel Peace Prize winner galvanised her supporters and triggered immediate speculation as to whether she would be able to travel to Oslo.

Total secrecy has surrounded her travel plans and it is not know how she managed to leave her place of hiding or by what means she has reached Europe.

Sporadic gunfire and explosions have been reported as M23 rebels advance towards a key city in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo, in an offensive that has forced thousands to flee across the border into Burundi.

Residents and military sources said soldiers were fleeing the assault on Uvira, the last government-held city in the mineral-rich region.

US President Donald Trump brokered a peace deal last week between DR Congo's President Félix Tshisekedi and Rwanda's Paul Kagame to end the long-running conflict.

Shops and schools have closed, with terrified residents staying indoors amid fears that rebels had taken control of some government buildings.

But South Kivu Governor Jean-Jacques Purusi dismissed reports that the rebels were in the city as "completely unfounded rumours".

Residents told local media that the rebels were patrolling central Uvira under the cover of darkness on Tuesday night, while the city remained deserted early on Wednesday.

A local rights official told AP news agency that there was a "risk of a massacre" if the remaining soldiers mounted strong resistance.

"It's chaotic, nobody's in charge. Uvira is done for," a Burundian officer told AFP news agency.

"Three bombs have just exploded in the hills. It's every man for himself," a resident told AFP, while another added: "We are all under the beds in Uvira - that's the reality."

Military and security sources said the rebel fighters advanced from the north, near the Burundian border.

In an interview with UN-backed Radio Okapi, Purusi denied Uvira had fallen to the M23, saying the city remained under the control of government forces.

The US, European Union, and eight European nations have accused Rwanda of supporting the rebel offensive, and have called for an immediate halt to the fighting

In a joint statement, they voiced "profound concern" about the violence, and said it had a "destabilising potential for the whole region".

Rwanda has denied any involvement in the fighting, accusing DR Congo's government and its ally, Burundi, of violating a ceasefire.

UN experts say Rwanda's army is in "de facto control of M23 operations".

About 200,000 people have fled their homes in eastern DR Congo since the latest round of fighting started early this month, the UN says.

It said at least 74 people had been killed, mostly civilians, and 83 admitted to hospital with wounds.

A Burundian administrative source told AFP that he had recorded more than 8,000 daily arrivals over the past two days, and 30,000 arrivals in one week.

The latest offensive comes nearly a year after the M23 rebels seized control of Goma and Bukavu, the other two main cities in eastern DR Congo.

The M23 is not part of the US-brokered peace deal, and is in separate talks with DR Congo's government in mediation efforts led by Qatar.

In a national address on Monday, Tshisekedi accused Rwanda of "deliberate violations" of the peace accord.

"This is a proxy war aimed at challenging our sovereignty over a highly strategic area, rich in critical minerals and economic potential that is crucial to the future of our nation," Tshisekedi said.

For its part, Rwanda accused the armies of DR Congo and Burundi of bombing villages near its border, forcing more than 1,000 civilians to flee into its territory.

Eastern DR Congo has been wracked by conflict for more than 30 years, since the 1994 Rwandan genocide. Several peace deals going back to the 1990s have collapsed.

Numerous armed groups have competed with the central authorities for power and control of the potential fortune in this vast nation.

More about the DR Congo conflict:

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Two US fighter jets were tracked circling the Gulf of Venezuela on Tuesday as tensions continue to escalate between the two countries.

The F/A-18 Super Hornets appeared on flight tracking sites near Maracaibo, Venezuela's second-largest city, at around 13:00 (17:00 GMT), before circling the gulf for about 40 minutes.

A US defence official told the Associated Press the F/A-18 jets had conducted a "routine training flight" in the area.

The incident comes amid a wave of US strikes against boats in the Caribbean Sea, which the White House said were trafficking drugs to the US from Venezuela. Experts have raised questions over the legality of the strikes, which have killed more than 80 people.

Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro has accused the US of using the strikes to destabilise the country and oust him from power.

In an interview conducted with Politico the day before the jets approached Venezuela's coastline, Trump declared that Maduro's days in power were "numbered", and declined to comment on whether US troops could be deployed to the country.

A separate jet, an EA-18G Growler, also appeared just before the F/A-18s on the tracking site FlightRadar24. Data shows the jet flew loops just north of Venezuela's coast.

They are the latest in a number of unusual US air force activities that have been tracked since September. B-52 Stratofortress and B-1 Lancer bombers previously flew up to and along the Venezuelan coast.

But the F/A-18s, which are capable of engaging targets both on the ground and in the air, appear to be the first to approach the Venezuelan coastline so publicly in recent months. The F/A-18s came within 20 nautical miles of the coastline, flight tracking data showed.

Neither the F/A-18s or the Growler showed a point of origin or a destination on FlightRadar24, and all three aircraft only turned on their transponders when they arrived near the Venezuelan coastline. Justin Crump, head of the risk consultancy Sibylline, suggested the move was intended to "support the administration's signalling and put pressure on the [Venezuelan] leadership".

The F/A-18s - which operated under the callsigns RHINO11 and RHINO12 - flew six loops up and down the Gulf of Venezuela. Meanwhile, the Growler jet - flying under the codename GRIZZLY2 - also flew circles along the coast.

Greg Bagwell, a former RAF air marshall and president of the Air and Space Power Association, told BBC Verify that the flights appeared to be "probing" Venezuelan defence and trying to check for responses such as radio traffic and encrypted signals related to defence systems.

"The Growlers would have been listening for [signals intelligence], whilst the Super Hornets would have been providing air defence cover for the Growlers," Baswell said. He said the Growlers would also detect "active missile sites".

"It could be construed as the early gathering of intelligence for subsequent operations, or just a warning of such," he added.

Crump said the jets also had the capacity to test out "jamming capabilities", adding: "This also helps send a message, when successful, potentially indicating to Venezuela's leadership that these systems cannot or should not be relied upon," he said.

The US has deployed troops, ships and jets to the Caribbean in recent months, which officials have said is to combat drug trafficking in the area.

On Tuesday the US Southern Command published photos of an F/A-18 operating from the USS Gerald Ford, the world's largest aircraft carrier, which has been sent to the Caribbean.

Analysis of satellite images and ship tracking websites by BBC Verify has made it possible to identify at least nine military vessels that have been deployed to the region over recent weeks.

Satellite images also show that an airbase in Puerto Rico, which was closed in 2004 by the Pentagon, has been re-activated. Repairs have been carried out to the runway at Roosevelt Roads base and F-35s - America's most advanced fighter - have been sent to the base.

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Four Afghan men were ordered to report to the Taliban government's department of vice and virtue for dressing in costumes inspired by the TV series Peaky Blinders.

The friends were told that their clothing was "in conflict with Afghan and Islamic values", a Taliban spokesman told the BBC, adding the values in Peaky Blinders went against Afghan culture.

In videos posted online, the men, who have been released, can be seen posing in flat caps and three-piece suits similar to those worn in the series set in England soon after World War One.

Since the Taliban seized power in 2021, they have imposed a number of restrictions on daily life in accordance with their interpretation of Islamic Sharia law.

"Even jeans would have been acceptable, but the values in the Peaky Blinders series are against Afghan culture," Saiful Islam Khyber, a spokesman for the Taliban government's provincial department of Vice and Virtue in Herat city told the BBC.

The men, all in their early twenties, come from the town of Jibrail in Herat province. They were ordered to report to the Taliban's "morality police" on Sunday, and presented themselves for questioning in Herat the following day.

"They were promoting foreign culture and imitating film actors in Herat," Khyber wrote on social media, adding that they had undergone a "rehabilitation programme".

The were not formally arrested, "only summoned and advised and released", Khyber told the BBC's US partner CBS News.

"We have our own religious and cultural values, and especially for clothing we have specific traditional styles," he said.

"The clothing they wore has no Afghan identity at all and does not match our culture. Secondly, their actions were an imitation of actors from a British movie. Our society is Muslim; if we are to follow or imitate someone, we should follow our righteous religious predecessors in good and lawful matters."

The men could be seen thanking officials for their advice and saying they were unaware they had violated any laws in a video released by the ministry after they were questioned - though it is unclear under what circumstances the interview was recorded.

"I have innocently been sharing content that was against Sharia which had many viewers," one said in the recording.

He said he had been "summoned and advised", and would no longer do "anything like this".

In an interview with YouTube channel Herat-Mic uploaded at the end of November, before they were summoned, the friends said they admired the fashion displayed in the series, adding that they had received positive reactions from locals.

"At first we were hesitant, but once we went outside, people liked our style, stopped us in the streets, and wanted to take photos with us," one of the men said, according to a translation by CBS News.

The US has imposed sanctions on a network it says is recruiting former Colombian soldiers and training individuals to fight in Sudan's civil war.

Eight entities and individuals - primarily of Colombian nationality - have been aiding the Sudanese paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF), the US Treasury's Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) said on Tuesday.

Its statement added that hundreds of Colombian mercenaries have travelled to Sudan since 2024, including to serve as infantry and drone pilots for the RSF.

Last year, Colombian President Gustavo Petro said those who "spill young blood for money in foreign countries must be punished criminally".

The participation of soldiers - both former and active - in foreign conflicts dates back decades to the US wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, in exchange for American military aid in Colombia's war on drugs and armed groups.

"This created an even greater number of Colombian soldiers who, two decades later, are beginning to retire without a sufficient source of income," a retired military officer turned academic told BBC Mundo.

Alfonso Manzur explained that as a result, "we see more Colombian ex-soldiers on missions abroad".

Retired Colombian soldiers are commonly recruited under false promises of low-risk work, before appearing on the frontlines, such as in the current conflict between Russia and Ukraine, and in Sudan.

In 2024, the Colombian foreign ministry said it was aware of citizens being deceived by what it called "sophisticated human trafficking networks", and becoming mercenaries in international conflicts.

On Tuesday, the US Treasury's OFAC said it was targeting a network for recruiting fighters for the RSF, which has been battling the Sudanese army since April 2023.

"The RSF has shown again and again that it is willing to target civilians - including infants and young children," said John Hurley, the Treasury's under-secretary for terrorism and financial intelligence.

"Its brutality has deepened the conflict and destabilized the region, creating the conditions for terrorist groups to grow."

The State Department has said the group and its allied militias have attacked civilians, systematically killed men and boys and deliberately targeted and raped women and girls.

Earlier this year, it determined that RSF members had committed genocide, although both the paramilitary group and the army have repeatedly been accused of war crimes.

The transnational network accused of aiding the group consists of four entities and four individuals, including a dual Colombian-Italian national who is a former military officer, now based in the United Arab Emirates, a country repeatedly accused of arming the RSF. It denies the allegations.

"All property and interests in property of the designated or blocked persons... or in the possession or control of U.S. persons are blocked and must be reported", the Treasury said.

The US has accused the primarily Colombian network of recruiting mercenaries to serve with the RSF, providing "tactical and technical expertise", and even training children to fight.

According to its statement, Colombian fighters were involved in "numerous battles across Sudan" including in the capital Khartoum, Omdurman, Kordofan, and el-Fasher.

On the ground, the RSF has been making gains, most notably seizing the city of el-Fasher in October, after a 500-day starvation siege.

It is estimated that more than 5,000 people were killed as the paramilitary rampaged through the army's last stronghold in Darfur.

The three states that make up Kordofan, home to almost eight million people, and situated between Khartoum and Darfur, has recently become a major frontline.

On Monday, at least 114 people, including 63 children, were killed in strikes on a kindergarten and hospital in South Kordofan, the World Health Organisation said.

WHO director-general Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus described the attack as "senseless" as he repeated calls for a ceasefire.

The RSF also claimed control of Sudan's largest oil field, Heglig, in what the paramilitary group hailed as "a turning point for the liberation" of the country.

Last month, US President Donald Trump pledged to "start working on Sudan" with Egypt, Saudi Arabia and the UAE, posting on social media that "tremendous atrocities" were taking place.

Nearly 12 million people have been driven from their homes with famine conditions in parts of the country.

Additional reporting by BBC News Mundo correspondent José Carlos Cueto.

A daughter of South Africa's former President Jacob Zuma has been sworn into parliament, less than a fortnight after her half-sister was forced to step down.

Brumelda Zuma became one of South Africa's newest MPs on Wednesday, representing uMkhonto weSizwe (MK), the opposition party led by her father.

Her half-sister, Duduzile Zuma-Sambudla, resigned from parliament following allegations that she had tricked 17 men into fighting for Russia as mercenaries in Ukraine. Zuma-Sambudla has denied these accusations.

Brumelda Zuma's appointment suggests the former president intends to ensure his family is represented in parliament.

She was sworn in alongside three other MK members, who, the party said, "bring a wealth of experience and dedication" to parliament.

She said she would focus mostly on ensuring that South Africans had "good public services" because "that is what I studied".

MK said Brumelda Zuma had a degree in public administration.

Brumelda Zuma has not previously had a national profile, unlike her half-sister who had represented South Africa in the Pan-African Parliament.

MK previously said it was Zuma-Sambudla's decision to resign as she wanted to focus her efforts on ensuring the return of those trapped in Ukraine's war-torn Donbas region.

She was implicated in the Russia recruitment scheme after South Africa's government revealed it had received distress calls from more than a dozen citizens who had joined mercenary forces.

The men are aged between 20 and 39 and are trapped in Donbas.

One of Zuma-Sambudla's most prominent accusers is another half-sister, Nkosazana Zuma-Mncube.

Zuma-Mncube filed a criminal complaint against Zuma-Sambudla and two other people, accusing them of luring the men to Russia "under false pretences" and then handing them to a Russian mercenary group "without their knowledge or consent".

She said that eight of them were her relatives.

Police have confirmed they are carrying out an investigation.

Working as a mercenary or fighting for another army is illegal under South African law, unless the government authorises it.

Zuma-Sambudla has said in an affidavit that she thought the men were going to Russia for "lawful" training.

She is currently also on trial on terrorism-related charges over social media messages she posted during deadly protests in 2021. She has denied the charges.

Jacob Zuma formed MK in 2023 after a massive fall-out with current President Cyril Ramaphosa.

The MK party came in third place in South Africa's general election last year, and became the main opposition party in parliament after the second-biggest party joined a coalition government led by Ramaphosa.

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South Korea has lodged a complaint with the Chinese and Russian defence attaches based in the country, a day after their warplanes entered its air defence zone.

Seoul said it sent up fighter jets to "take tactical measures in preparation for any emergencies" after seven Russian and two Chinese military aircraft "briefly entered" the zone on Tuesday, but noted they "did not violate" South Korea's airspace.

Some countries delineate air identification defence zones, wherein they require foreign planes to identify themselves. These are not part of sovereign airspaces under international law.

In March this year, Seoul also deployed fighter jets after several Russian warplanes flew into the zone.

The Russian aircraft entered Korea's Air Defense Identification Zone (Kadiz) near Ulleung Island and Dokdo, while the Chinese aircraft entered near Ieodo, a Joint Chiefs of Staff official said, according to South Korean media.

Both sides' aircraft then regrouped in the airspace near Japan's Tsushima Island, the official said.

"Our military will actively respond to aircraft activities from neighbouring countries in the Kadiz in compliance with international law," South Korea's defence ministry said on Wednesday when lodging the complaint.

Both Japan and South Korea have laid claims to the Dokdo island grouping, as has North Korea.

Ieodo - a submerged rock above the South Korean island of Jeju - is a point of dispute between Seoul and Beijing, each of whom have included it in their air defence zones.

China on Wednesday confirmed that its air force had conducted a joint patrol with Russia in the East China Sea and Western Pacific airspace.

The exercise was part of an "annual cooperation plan" between Beijing and Moscow to "address regional challenges and maintain regional peace and stability", said a national defence spokesman.

China and Russia have entered South Korea's air defence zone without notification on several occasions since 2019, often during similar exercises.

Russia does not recognise South Korea's air defence zone, describing it as "unilaterally" established and saying it should therefore not create any legal obligations for other countries.