The price of gold has hit a record high as demand for the precious metal remains strong amid global economic uncertainty.

The spot gold price hit $3,508.50 per ounce early on Tuesday, continuing its upwards trend which has seen it rise by nearly a third this year.

The precious metal is viewed as a safer asset for investors during times of economic uncertainty, and its price rose earlier this year after US President Donald Trump announced wide ranging tariffs which have upset global trade.

Analysts say the price has also been lifted by expectations that the US central bank will cut its key interest rate, making gold an even more attractive prospect for investors.

Adrian Ash, director of research at BullionVault, told the BBC's Today programme that the rise in gold prices over the past few months is really down to Trump and "what he's done to geopolitics [and] what he's done to global trade".

"It was really the US election last year that really put a fire under it," he said.

Analysts also cite worries over the independence of the US central bank, the Federal Reserve, as another factor driving the gold price.

Trump has launched repeated attacks on the Federal Reserve's chair, Jerome Powell, and recently attempted to fire one of its governors, Lisa Cook.

Derren Nathan from Hargreaves Lansdown said it was Trump's "attempts to undermine the independence of the Federal Reserve Bank" that was "driving renewed interest in safe haven assets including gold".

On Monday, the head of the European Central Bank Christine Lagarde warned that if Trump were to undermine the independence of the Fed, it would represent a "very serious danger" to the global economy.

She said if the Fed was forced to respond to Trump's politics, it would have a "very worrying" impact on economic stability in the US, and therefore in the rest of the world as well.

Mr Ash added that when the price of gold surges because of investor interest, it was usually tempered by a slowdown in buying from China and India - two of the biggest markets for gold jewellery.

But this time, he said gold was continuing to find demand in China and India as, rather than exiting the market during times of high prices, jewellery buyers turn towards buying investment gold products such as bars or coins.

London Assembly member Zack Polanski has been elected leader of the Green Party of England and Wales by a landslide.

Polanski beat joint candidates, the Green MPs Adrian Ramsay and Ellie Chowns, by 20,411 votes to 3,705.

The result was greeted by whoops and cheers, with Polanski promising in his victory speech to "work every single day to grow this party" and paying tribute to his defeated rivals.

Polanski, a former actor who was the party's deputy leader, campaigned on an "eco-populism" platform and has promised to make the party "bolder" in its approach.

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Figures to be published on Tuesday are expected to show that Scotland remains the drugs death capital of Europe for the seventh year in a row.

In 2023, there were 1,172 drug misuse deaths in Scotland, bringing the total in a decade to 10,481, according to official figures.

Although experts expect that number to have dropped slightly for 2024, they are warning that any fall will almost certainly be a blip.

Kirsten Horsburgh, chief executive of the Scottish Drugs Forum says the arrival of deadly synthetic opioids known as nitazenes in the country is "a crisis on top of a crisis."

Suspected deaths early this year "are already higher than they were last year" she said.

How did we get here?

This is a crisis with deep roots in the social and economic changes which swept through Scotland in the latter half of the 20th Century as the country's economy shifted away from manufacturing.

When the shipyards, steel mills and collieries fell silent, they left a generation of men, whose pride and identity had been bound up with the things they made, struggling to adapt.

Society changed rapidly too. The old city slums were cleared, but many people were moved to damp, isolated tower blocks with limited amenities.

It was a recipe for joblessness, family breakdown and addiction.

In 1972, in a famous speech at the University of Glasgow, the trade unionist Jimmy Reid said Britain's "major social problem" could be summed up in one word - alienation.

Men, he said, viewed themselves as "victims of blind economic forces beyond their control" leading to a "feeling of despair and hopelessness that pervades people who feel with justification that they have no real say in shaping or determining their own destinies."

One way alienation found expression, said Reid, was in "those who seek to escape permanently from the reality of society through intoxicants and narcotics."

Half a century after his speech, Scotland is still grappling with alienation and still struggling with the scourge of alcohol and drugs.

High unemployment in the 1980s was followed by cuts to public spending after the financial crash of 2007/8 and the skyrocketing cost of living this decade.

By 2023, people in the most deprived parts of Scotland were more than 15 times more likely to die from drug misuse than those in the richest areas.

For many years this was a particularly male problem.

In the early 2000s, men were up to five times more likely to die of an overdose than women although that gap has since narrowed considerably.

As demand for drugs rose, so did supply. From 1980, heroin from Afghanistan and Iran began to arrive in Scotland in large quantities, with deadly results.

The sharing of dirty needles by injecting drug users and the arrival of HIV led to a public health crisis which was graphically depicted in Irvine Welsh's 1993 novel, Trainspotting, and its film adaptation.

'Drugs are becoming normalised'

Drug overdoses are not the only evidence that Scotland is experiencing a crisis related to alienation. Other so-called deaths of despair are also high.

Scotland has a higher rate of suicide than other parts of the UK and some of the highest levels of alcohol-related deaths in Europe.

These too are often linked to poverty. In 2023, deaths directly caused by alcohol were 4.5 times higher in the most deprived areas of Scotland than in the least deprived.

Taken together, says Annemarie Ward, of the charity Faces and Voices of Recovery UK, Scotland has a "penchant for oblivion".

Illegal drugs, she argues, have become part of the national culture.

"It's become normalised," she said. "I don't think we have to accept that normality."

Of course, deprivation and despair are not unique to Scotland and do not on their own amount to a sufficient explanation for its crisis.

Various other theories have been put forward including the existence of a macho, hard-partying culture; a reluctance, especially among men, to seek mental health support; and even the country's long, dark winters.

Another suggestion is that years of substance abuse are now catching up with the ageing Trainspotting generation - although this is disputed.

Between 2000 and 2023, according to the National Records of Scotland, the average age of a drug misuse death increased from 32 to 45.

Another potential explanation is the ripple effect of trauma.

When more than 1,000 people are dying every year in a small country, the implications for their families and friends are enormous and potentially catastrophic.

Drugs have scarred whole communities with abuse of substances continuing from generation to generation.

Nearly "every person who seeks treatment has been traumatised in some way," says Dr Susanna Galea-Singer, chair of the Faculty of Addictions at the Royal College of Psychiatrists in Scotland.

Last year, Public Health Scotland published a review of all drug deaths in 2020 which revealed that 602 children lost a parent or parental figure to overdose in that year alone.

"You get social fragmentation when you have aspects of poverty, aspects of trauma," said Dr Galea-Singer.

"You burn bridges with families, it's just extremely difficult. It does fragment society."

Trauma might explain a high or even rising level of drug deaths but even it does not adequately account for a dramatic jump in the numbers a decade ago.

There appear to be two main reasons for the surge in deaths at that point.

First, in 2015, the Scottish government cut funding for alcohol and drug partnerships, which co-ordinated local addiction services around the country.

"We saw the start of a really sharp increase in drug-related deaths," said Kirsten Horsburgh of the Scottish Drugs Forum.

"There's no doubt that cuts to funding in this area reduces the amounts of services that people can access, reduces the staff that are able to support people and results in deaths."

Ministers later boosted resources as part of a five-year "national mission" to tackle the drugs emergency, only for funding to fall again in real terms in the past two years.

The 2015 cuts were "a disaster," said Ms Horsburgh. "Even with increased resource as part of the national mission, we can see it's still not enough.

"We can't just have small pilots of projects to address a public health emergency.

"We would not do that for any other public health emergency. We did not do that for Covid. We should not be doing that for the drug deaths crisis."

The second big change came around the same time as drug services were being cut.

It was the arrival on Scottish streets of dangerous benzodiazepenes known as street valium.

These blue pills were a fake and powerful version of the anti-anxiety medication, Valium, and they were deadly.

Nicola Sturgeon, who was First Minister at the time, would later admit that her SNP government had taken its "eye off the ball" as deaths rose.

How to tackle the issue now remains contentious.

Many public health experts support a harm reduction approach involving the provision of substitute drugs such as methadone, clean needles, and a drug consumption room which has been set up in Glasgow.

"Harm reduction has to be the core of any effective evidence-based drugs policy approach," said Ms Horsburgh of the Scottish Drugs Forum.

She is among those calling for decriminalisation of all drugs while others argue for a transfer of related powers from Westminster to Holyrood.

Harm reduction

Annemarie Ward of Faces and Voices of Recovery UK agreed that harm reduction should be part of the mix but said the balance needed to tilt towards rehabilitation.

"When government ministers talk about treatment in Scotland, what they're talking about is harm reduction," she said.

"When the general public hears the word treatment, they're thinking detox, rehab, people getting on with their lives."

Ms Ward also wants a shift away from NHS provision of drugs services in favour of organisations, such as her charity, which focus on rehabilitation and recovery.

"Our treatment system is delivered through the public sector, which means it's incredibly bureaucratic. So you can't just walk into a service and get seen that day, for instance, the way you can in England."

Ms Horsburgh and Ms Ward may have different priorities for tackling the crisis but both agree that it is almost certainly about to get worse.

"Nitazenes are a whole new ball game," warns Ms Ward.

"These are the synthetic opioids that are 100 times stronger than your average hit of heroin, and they're also ending up in the coke supply."

She predicts an exponential rise in deaths "unless we start to help people get clean and sober again."

If that is the case, it appears Scotland has not yet got to grips with this emergency.

The causes of the drug deaths crisis are multiple and complex.

But the fear is that they are producing a cumulative and compounding effect from which it is proving almost impossible to escape.

The price of gold has hit a record high as demand for the precious metal remains strong amid global economic uncertainty.

The spot gold price hit $3,508.50 per ounce early on Tuesday, continuing its upwards trend which has seen it rise by nearly a third this year.

The precious metal is viewed as a safer asset for investors during times of economic uncertainty, and its price rose earlier this year after US President Donald Trump announced wide ranging tariffs which have upset global trade.

Analysts say the price has also been lifted by expectations that the US central bank will cut its key interest rate, making gold an even more attractive prospect for investors.

Adrian Ash, director of research at BullionVault, told the BBC's Today programme that the rise in gold prices over the past few months is really down to Trump and "what he's done to geopolitics [and] what he's done to global trade".

"It was really the US election last year that really put a fire under it," he said.

Analysts also cite worries over the independence of the US central bank, the Federal Reserve, as another factor driving the gold price.

Trump has launched repeated attacks on the Federal Reserve's chair, Jerome Powell, and recently attempted to fire one of its governors, Lisa Cook.

Derren Nathan from Hargreaves Lansdown said it was Trump's "attempts to undermine the independence of the Federal Reserve Bank" that was "driving renewed interest in safe haven assets including gold".

On Monday, the head of the European Central Bank Christine Lagarde warned that if Trump were to undermine the independence of the Fed, it would represent a "very serious danger" to the global economy.

She said if the Fed was forced to respond to Trump's politics, it would have a "very worrying" impact on economic stability in the US, and therefore in the rest of the world as well.

Mr Ash added that when the price of gold surges because of investor interest, it was usually tempered by a slowdown in buying from China and India - two of the biggest markets for gold jewellery.

But this time, he said gold was continuing to find demand in China and India as, rather than exiting the market during times of high prices, jewellery buyers turn towards buying investment gold products such as bars or coins.

Chinese President Xi Jinping and his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin have kicked off bilateral talks in Beijing, on the eve of a massive military parade in the Chinese capital.

Putin hailed relations between both countries saying they were on an "unprecedented level", adding that their "close communication reflects the strategic nature of Russian-Chinese ties."

"Dear friend, both I and the entire Russian delegation are pleased to meet once again with our Chinese friends and colleagues," Putin told Xi, according to a video published on the Kremlin's official Telegram messaging app.

"Our close communication reflects the strategic nature of Russia-China relations, which are at an unprecedentedly high level."

"We were always together then, and we remain together now," Putin added.

Xi told Putin that "China-Russia relations have withstood the test of international changes" - adding that Beijing was willing to work with Moscow to "promote the construction of a more just and reasonable global governance system".

Xi is set to host China's largest-ever military parade on Wednesday, which will mark the 80th anniversary of the surrender of the Japanese in China at the end of World War Two.

It comes at a time when Xi seeks to project Beijing's power on the international stage - not just as the world's second-largest economy, but also as a diplomatic heavyweight.

He has emphasised China's role as a stable trading partner while US president Donald Trump's tariffs have upended economic relationships.

Xi is now hosting Putin in Beijing while a deal with the Russian leader to end the war in Ukraine continues to elude Trump.

Xi and Putin criticised Western governments during the summit on Monday, with Xi slamming "bullying behaviour" from certain countries - a veiled reference to the US - while Putin defended Russia's Ukraine offensive and blamed the West for triggering the conflict.

The two leaders met in the Great Hall of the People in Beijing on Tuesday, Chinese state broadcaster CCTV reported.

The stage is set in the heart of Beijing for a grand display of power and military might that has been choreographed by President Xi Jinping.

Eight huge Chinese flags flutter and flank the portrait of Mao Zedong, the founder of Communist China, which sits on top of the Gate of Heavenly Peace overlooking Tiananmen Square, one of the largest public squares in the world.

Below are rows of seats reserved for 26 foreign heads of state, including Russia's Vladimir Putin and North Korea's Kim Jong Un, whose attendance is a diplomatic win for Xi.

Across the road, near the Great Hall of the People, two huge floral arrangements commemorating the end of World War II rise up alongside seating for around 50,000 invitees.

On the last day of preparations - Monday - Chang'an Avenue, the multi-lane road that cuts through the square was once again open to the public. Drivers and cyclists held their phones aloft trying their best to capture the scene.

Ostensibly the parade marks 80 years of Japan's surrender in the war, and China's victory against an occupying force. But it's so much more than that for President Xi.

This is a big week for him, with quite a few firsts. He enticed Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi to visit China over the weekend for the first time in seven years, rebooting a key economic and strategic relationship.

More than 20 world leaders attended the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) summit, which just concluded - its largest ever gathering.

And a North Korean leader will attend a Chinese military parade for the first time since 1959.

The Chinese leader is having his moment in the spotlight.

The SCO summit in Tianjin has allowed him to project power and offer a vision of a new world order which he hopes will challenge the United States. Now attention turns to the parade in Beijing, which will showcase his country's growing ability to rival the US in any conflict.

The leaders of Iran, Malaysia, Myanmar, Mongolia, Indonesia, Zimbabwe and central Asian countries will witness the precise troop formations and get a glimpse of what authorities say will be new hypersonic weapons and unmanned underwater drones. The only western leaders on the guest list are from Serbia and Slovakia.

Kim Jong Un is a surprise addition - his attendance was only announced at the end of last week - and his armoured train and usual motorcade flanked by bodyguards will add to the spectacle.

Xi is expected to have both Kim and Putin by his side which will inevitably lead to western headlines or analysts describing them as the "axis of upheaval".

While the parade is a show of China's strength and Xi's influence as a world leader, there is also a clear domestic message: pride and patriotism.

China describes World War II as the "people's war of resistance against Japanese aggression", although much of the resistance was not from the Communist Party, but from the nationalists who later lost the civil war to Mao and his forces, and have been largely scrubbed from national memory.

In the run-up to the anniversary, several films have been released depicting this struggle, some of which have been box office hits. State media has been publishing reports to "foster a right view of WWII history".

The campaign has caused some friction with Japan. Last week, Beijing lodged a protest with Tokyo over reports that Japan had asked European and Asian governments not to attend the parade.

All of this appears to be part of a rallying cry to the nation, as China struggles with a sluggish economy, youth unemployment and plummeting house prices. Demand is weak and the most recent data suggests Trump's tariffs are hitting factory output. And the "anti-corruption" drive continues, with reports of high-ranking officials being investigated.

There is discontent, even disillusionment, especially among young people and it has seeped through, even on the tightly-controlled Chinese internet.

The fear that this could spill into the real world is partly what has been driving the extra-cautious preparations, which have become a demonstration of the Party's control of a capital city home to more than 21 million people. The city has grown quieter as the parade draws closer.

Airport security scanners have been installed in some office entrances. All drones are banned and international journalists have been visited at home, some on multiple occasions, to ensure they get the message.

Guards have been stationed 24 hours a day at the entrances to overpasses and bridges to prevent any protests, some of them in army uniforms.

Three years ago, when the Party chose Xi as its leader for a historic third term, a protester unfurled a banner over a major highway bridge criticising Xi and calling for his ouster. He was taken away instantly and we still don't know what happened to him.

But that is a moment the Party does not want to relive.

Communist Party officials have spent months planning and preparing for their first military parade in six years. More than 200,000 flags have been put up across the capital.

More floral arrangements depicting China's fight against Japan sit proudly on prominent roadsides and roundabouts. There's even a new city "lightscape" to brighten buildings in the business district.

Officials from the Parade Command Office have said "the overarching principle... is to avoid disturbing the public as much as possible".

But for those living in Beijing, the parade has upturned life.

Tanks could be heard rolling down the streets during weekly overnight rehearsals and the sounds of marching echoed far beyond the parade route.

People living near Chang'an Avenue, which leads to Tiananmen square, were told to stay off their balconies to ensure the rehearsals could be held in secrecy.

Schools, businesses and hotels along the parade route will be closed for the next two days. There are multiple road diversions and subway line closures, which have effectively paralysed transport into and out of the city centre.

Even getting hold of a shared city bike, often the best way to get around Beijing, can now be troublesome. Usually there are hundreds of them lined up outside subway stations, and along pavements. But recently city workers have been scooping them up to move them further away from the parade route. Trying to hire the odd one left behind is not an option: the bike will not move.

There have been reports in the past that China has used its air force to ensure there are blue skies for the parade. The aircraft can manipulate weather to trigger rain through cloud-seeding one or two days in advance, to make sure it's clear afterwards.

It's hard to know if this tactic has been used this year, but forecasters are predicting clear skies. Officials in Beijing are taking no chances on President Xi's big day.

A landslide has killed at least 1,000 people in the remote Marra Mountains in western Sudan, according to the rebel group The Sudan Liberation Movement/Army.

Days of heavy rain triggered the landslide on Sunday, which left just one survivor and "levelled" much of the village of Tarasin, the group said in a statement.

The movement has appealed for humanitarian assistance from the United Nations and other regional and international organisations.

Many residents from North Darfur state had sought refuge in the Marra Mountains region, after war between the Sudanese army and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) forced them from their homes.

Civil war that broke out in April 2023 between the Sudanese army and the RSF has plunged the country into famine and has led to accusations of genocide in the western Darfur region.

Estimates for death toll from the civil war vary significantly, but a US official last year estimated up to 150,000 people had been killed since hostilities began in 2023. About 12 million have fled their homes.

Factions of the Sudan Liberation Movement/Army, which controls the area where the landslide occurred, have pledged to fight alongside the Sudanese military against the RSF.

Many Darfuris believe the RSF and allied militias have waged a war aimed at transforming the ethnically mixed region into an Arab-ruled domain.