Thousands of reservists have begun reporting for duty as the Israeli military presses ahead with its offensive to conquer Gaza City.

Ground forces are already pushing into the outskirts of Gaza's largest urban area, which the military has said is a stronghold of Hamas.

The city is also coming under heavy Israeli aerial and artillery bombardment, with local hospitals saying that more than 50 Palestinians have been killed there since midnight.

The military has ordered residents to evacuate and head south immediately. The UN says an estimated 20,000 have done so over the past two weeks, but almost a million remain.

UN humanitarian officials have warned that the impact of a full-blown offensive would be "beyond catastrophic", not only for those in the city but for the entire Gaza Strip.

Last month, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said about 60,000 reservists would be called up ahead of "Operation Gideon's Chariots II" – the next phase of the ground offensive that it launched in May and has seen it take control of at least 75% of Gaza.

It also extended the service of 20,000 reservists who had already been mobilised.

On Tuesday, an Israeli military official said thousands had begun reporting for duty.

Israeli media said many of the reservists would be deployed to the occupied West Bank and northern Israel to free up active-duty personnel for the offensive.

They also reported that some combat units were seeing lower turnout than for previous call-ups, with reservists who had already served several tours during the 22-month war requesting exemptions for personal or financial reasons.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced that Israel would conquer all of Gaza after indirect talks with Hamas on a ceasefire and hostage release deal broke down in July.

At a government meeting on Sunday, he said the security cabinet had agreed the IDF's objectives were "defeating Hamas and releasing all of our hostages".

The armed group is currently holding 48 hostages, 20 of whom are believed to be alive.

The hostages' families fear the new offensive will endanger them and are demanding the prime minister negotiate an agreement that would secure their release.

"Stop the war and bring all the hostages home in a deal - the living and the dead alike - some for rehabilitation in their families' embrace, others for proper burial on Israeli soil," said the daughter of Ilan Weiss, one of the two hostages whose bodies were recovered by Israeli troops in Gaza last week, at his funeral in Kibbutz Be'eri on Monday.

The IDF's Chief of Staff, Lt Gen Eyal Zamir, has urged Netanyahu to accept a current proposal from regional mediators that would see about half of them released during a 60-day truce. However, the prime minister has said Israel will only accept a comprehensive deal that would see all the hostages freed and Hamas disarmed.

There were reportedly angry exchanges between Zamir and ministers at a meeting on Sunday.

The general warned that their Gaza City plan would put the hostages at risk and lead to Israel establishing a military government there, according to Israeli media. One unnamed senior minister was quoted by the Ynet website as saying that the general "did everything to convince against the plan, but made it clear several times that he would carry it out".

In an address to reservists at Nachshonim base in central Israel on Tuesday, Zamir declared that the IDF was preparing for nothing less than "decisive victory".

"We are going to increase and enhance the strikes of our operation, and that is why we called you," he said. "We will not stop the war until we defeat this enemy."

On the ground in Gaza on Tuesday, hospital officials said Israeli strikes and fire had killed at least 95 Palestinians since midnight.

Al-Shifa hospital in Gaza City reported 35 of the deaths, including nine people who were killed in an air strike in the southern Tal al-Hawa neighbourhood and seven others killed in a strike on a house in the northern neighbourhood of Sheikh Radwan.

The UN has warned that forcing hundreds of thousands of people to move further south is "a recipe for further disaster and could amount to forcible transfer", which would be a war crime.

Global food security experts have confirmed that a famine is occurring in Gaza City and projected that it will expand to the central city of Deir al-Balah and the southern city of Khan Younis by the end of September.

The UN has also said tent camps for the displaced in the south are overcrowded and unsafe, and that southern hospitals are operating at several times their capacity.

In Khan Younis on Tuesday, Nasser hospital said it had received the bodies of 31 people killed by Israeli fire, including 13 who died in two strikes in al-Mawasi and Khan Younis camp.

Medics in the hospital's emergency department told the BBC that most of the casualties being treated were children and elderly.

"We can't deal with any more cases due to high pressure on us and lack of supplies. The CT [scanner] is now broken down, so we are working blindly," one doctor said. "The current situation is catastrophic."

Gaza's Hamas-run health ministry meanwhile said that 13 Palestinians, including three children, had died as a result of malnutrition across the territory over the past 24 hours. That increased the total reported during the war to 361, including 185 in August alone, it added.

The UN has said the famine is a "man-made disaster" and said Israel is obliged under international humanitarian law to ensure food and medical supplies for Gaza's population.

Israel has said there are no restrictions on aid deliveries and has disputed the health ministry's figures on malnutrition-related deaths.

The Israeli military launched a campaign in Gaza in response to the Hamas-led attack on southern Israel on 7 October 2023, in which about 1,200 people were killed and 251 others were taken hostage.

At least 63,633 people have been killed in Gaza since then, according to the territory's health ministry.

Rescuers on helicopters are searching the ruins of remote villages in eastern Afghanistan for survivors of a powerful earthquake that has killed 800 people and injured 1,800 others.

Many are feared trapped under the rubble of their homes after the magnitude 6.0 earthquake struck on Sunday near the country's border with Pakistan.

Authorities searched by air for the second day on Tuesday as roads blocked with debris and the mountainous terrain in the affected areas made land travel difficult.

The Taliban government has appealed for international help. The UN has released emergency funds, while the UK has pledged £1m ($1.3m) in aid.

Sunday's earthquake was one of the strongest to hit Afghanistan in recent years. The country is very prone to earthquakes because it is located on top of a number of fault lines where the Indian and Eurasian tectonic plates meet.

In 2023, more than 1,400 people died after a series of 6.3-magnitude earthquakes hit western Afghanistan, near the city of Herat.

Survivors of Sunday's earthquake were brought to a hospital in Jalalabad, which has been overwhelemed with hundreds of patients daily even before the disaster.

Mir Zaman told the BBC that he pulled his dead children out of the rubble by himself.

"It was dark. There was no light. Someone lent me a lamp, and then I used a shovel and pick axe to dig them out. There was no one to help because everyone was affected. So many people died in my village. Some are still buried. Whole families have died," he said.

Two-and-a-half-year-old Maiwand suffered head injuries and blood loss.

"You can see his situation. It's so tragic. The earthquake was deadly. I want the doctors to treat him, to cure him," said the child's uncle, Khawat Gul.

The most recent earthquake hit Afghanistan when it is reeling under severe drought and what the UN calls an unprecedented crisis of hunger.

The country has also experienced massive aid cuts especially from the US this year which is further reducing the aid that many of these people could have got. This disaster couldn't have come at a worse time.

Britain's Foreign Secretary David Lammy said aid from the UK will be "channelled through experienced partners", the UN Population Fund (UNFPA) and the International Red Cross.

India delivered 1,000 tents to Kabul, its foreign minister Subrahmanyam Jaishankar wrote on X after speaking to his Taliban counterpart Amir Khan Muttaqi.

The Indian mission is also helping to move 15 tonnes of food from Kabul to Kunar province, which has been badly hit by the earthquake, he said, adding that India would send more relief items.

China and Switzerland have also pledged support.

Survivors will need housing, shelter and blankets, said Amy Martin, who leads the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) in Afghanistan.

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un has left Pyongyang for China, where he will be attending a military parade in the capital Beijing, media reports say.

The "Victory Day" parade, which takes place on Wednesday, will see Kim rub shoulders with China's President Xi Jinping, Russia's Vladimir Putin and other world leaders - making it his first multilateral international meeting.

Kim left the North Korean capital on Monday evening onboard his armoured train, which is said to include a restaurant car serving fine French wines and dishes like fresh lobster.

The train's heavy protection means it travels slowly, and Kim's journey is expected to take up to 24 hours, according to South Korea's Yonhap agency.

Kim's attendance marks the first time a North Korean leader has attended a Chinese military parade since 1959. He will be among 26 other heads of states - including leaders from Myanmar, Iran and Cuba - in attendance.

His attendance is an upgrade from China's last Victory Day parade in 2015, when Pyongyang sent one of its top officials, Choe Ryong-hae.

The reclusive leader rarely travels abroad, with his recent contact with world leaders limited to Putin, who he's met twice since Russia's invasion of Ukraine.

He last visited Beijing in 2019 for an event marking the 70th anniversary of diplomatic ties between the countries. That trip also saw him travel by train.

The tradition of travelling via train was started by Kim's grandfather Kim Il Sung - who took his own train trips to Vietnam and Eastern Europe.

Kim's father, Kim Jong Il, travelled by train as well as he was reportedly afraid of flying.

According to one South Korean news outlet, the armoured train has around 90 carriages, including conference rooms, audience chambers and bedrooms.

Tens of thousands of military personnel will march in formation through Beijing's historic Tiananmen Square on the day of the parade, which will mark the 80th anniversary of Japan's surrender in World War Two and the end of the conflict.

The 70-minute parade is likely to feature China's latest weaponry, including hundreds of aircraft, tanks and anti-drone systems - the first time its military's new force structure is being fully showcased in a parade.

Most Western leaders are not expected to attend the parade, due to their opposition to Russia's invasion of Ukraine, which has driven the sanctions against Putin's regime.

But it will see leaders from Indonesia, Malaysia, Myanmar and Vietnam in attendance - further proof of Beijing's concerted efforts to ramp up ties with neighbouring South East Asia.

Just one EU leader will be attending - Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico - while Bulgaria and Hungary will send representatives.

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un has left Pyongyang for China, where he will be attending a military parade in the capital Beijing, media reports say.

The "Victory Day" parade, which takes place on Wednesday, will see Kim rub shoulders with China's President Xi Jinping, Russia's Vladimir Putin and other world leaders - making it his first multilateral international meeting.

Kim left the North Korean capital on Monday evening onboard his armoured train, which is said to include a restaurant car serving fine French wines and dishes like fresh lobster.

The train's heavy protection means it travels slowly, and Kim's journey is expected to take up to 24 hours, according to South Korea's Yonhap agency.

Kim's attendance marks the first time a North Korean leader has attended a Chinese military parade since 1959. He will be among 26 other heads of states - including leaders from Myanmar, Iran and Cuba - in attendance.

His attendance is an upgrade from China's last Victory Day parade in 2015, when Pyongyang sent one of its top officials, Choe Ryong-hae.

The reclusive leader rarely travels abroad, with his recent contact with world leaders limited to Putin, who he's met twice since Russia's invasion of Ukraine.

He last visited Beijing in 2019 for an event marking the 70th anniversary of diplomatic ties between the countries. That trip also saw him travel by train.

The tradition of travelling via train was started by Kim's grandfather Kim Il Sung - who took his own train trips to Vietnam and Eastern Europe.

Kim's father, Kim Jong Il, travelled by train as well as he was reportedly afraid of flying.

According to one South Korean news outlet, the armoured train has around 90 carriages, including conference rooms, audience chambers and bedrooms.

Tens of thousands of military personnel will march in formation through Beijing's historic Tiananmen Square on the day of the parade, which will mark the 80th anniversary of Japan's surrender in World War Two and the end of the conflict.

The 70-minute parade is likely to feature China's latest weaponry, including hundreds of aircraft, tanks and anti-drone systems - the first time its military's new force structure is being fully showcased in a parade.

Most Western leaders are not expected to attend the parade, due to their opposition to Russia's invasion of Ukraine, which has driven the sanctions against Putin's regime.

But it will see leaders from Indonesia, Malaysia, Myanmar and Vietnam in attendance - further proof of Beijing's concerted efforts to ramp up ties with neighbouring South East Asia.

Just one EU leader will be attending - Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico - while Bulgaria and Hungary will send representatives.

A gangland "executioner" who waited four years to take revenge on a prison officer for seizing a phone from his cell has been jailed for a minimum of 45 years for his murder.

Armed robber Elias Morgan gunned down father-of-three Lenny Scott six times outside a gym in Skelmersdale, Lancashire, on 8 February 2024.

He planned the killing after investigators at HMP Altcourse in Liverpool discovered evidence Morgan was having a sexual relationship with a female officer called Sarah Williams after the phone was found in March 2020.

Police said Mr Scott had been "assassinated" by Morgan, who was described as a "cold-blooded executioner who took a man's life doing his job".

Det Ch Insp Lee Wilson said Mr Scott was a "man of huge integrity and bravery who did the right thing and who sadly paid the ultimate price by doing so".

Sentencing Morgan to a life term, judge Mr Justice Goose told him he was satisfied the murder was a "revenge killing" for what Mr Scott "did lawfully in his duty as a prison officer".

"The murder has caused profound grief to the deceased's family, his young children and all who knew him," he said.

"He was 33 with most of his life ahead of him.

"He was loved, he was respected and he made them proud."

Morgan listened to the sentencing at Preston Crown Court quietly after telling his barrister to say "nothing at all" on his behalf.

Caroline Goodwin, KC, representing him, told the court: "My very firm instructions are that I am to offer no mitigation, no submissions and no representations to the court."

The trial heard Morgan had offered Mr Scott £1,500 as a bribe to "lose" the phone when it was found.

When he refused, Morgan made a series of threats which "terrified" Mr Scott, including accurately describing his address and what his partner and twin boys looked like.

At the time Mr Scott told his father, Neil Scott, that Morgan had said to him: "I'll bide my time, but I promise I will get you" before making a gun gesture with his fingers.

During the sentencing hearing Mr Scott's mother Paula Scott spoke to Morgan directly while giving a statement.

She told him: "My son was everything you are not. He was strong, brave, honest, respectful, hardworking, kind, and principled. He stood for what was right.

"You are a violent, inhumane coward. I am hurt, I am angry, and I will never forgive you."

The court also heard from Lucy Griffiths, the ex-partner of Mr Scott and mother of his twin boys.

She described the pain of having to tell the boys, then six, of their father's death and the struggles that followed.

Speaking from behind a screen, she said: "I find letters they write to him hidden under their pillow asking for him to come back. This is so upsetting to find as a mother.

"They have had nightmares about men chasing them with guns because of what's happened."

At the time of the shooting, Mr Scott had been out of the prison service since 2021, when he was dismissed over an incident involving the restraint of a prisoner unrelated to this case.

Morgan had been freed in 2022 but was on bail awaiting trial for offences linked to the discovery of the phone, which saw his former lover Williams jailed for misconduct in a public office.

The trial was due to take place 11 days later.

Morgan, whose previous convictions included his role in an £83,000 bank robbery in which staff were threatened with machetes, waited for 53 minutes outside the gym on Peel Road for Mr Scott to leave a jiu-jitsu training session.

Detectives found he had spent weeks scoping out addresses linked to Mr Scott, including his home in Prescot, Merseyside, the scene of the shooting and another gym the prison officer trained at in the Liverpool suburb of Speke.

There were tears in court from his family as CCTV of the moment Mr Scott was ambushed was played.

Morgan, wearing a high-visibility jacket, can be seen approaching on foot, before raising a self-loading handgun and shooting six times.

Mr Scott collapsed out of frame, and died at the scene.

Morgan was identified as the killer after police realised the gunman had driven to an estate near Skelmersdale in a Mercedes, which was registered to his mother.

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A British teenager on trial in Georgia for drug smuggling has been told a "substantial" sum of money is needed to free her or reduce her sentence.

Bella Culley, 19, from Billingham, Teesside, had previously been told she could face up to 20 years in jail or life imprisonment if convicted.

Tbilisi City Court heard defence and prosecution teams were negotiating the terms of a bargain which would see the teenager freed for a sum of money with "many zeros", understood to be in Georgian Lari.

During the hearing the teenager smiled at her family, telling them: "I love you."

Miss Culley, who is about five months pregnant, appeared in court wearing a black t-shirt and trousers.

The prosecutor argued she posed a flight risk and could reoffend if allowed bail.

Judge Giorgi Gelashvili ruled that she will remain in custody until the next hearing on 9 October unless an agreement is reached sooner.

Miss Culley initially went missing in Thailand before being arrested at Tbilisi International Airport on 10 May.

It is understood she arrived on a flight from Sharjah, in the United Arab Emirates.

Georgian Police said officers seized narcotic drugs from a travel bag.

Miss Culley was detained for months while the prosecution investigated where the 12kg (26lbs) of marijuana and 2kg (4.4lbs) of hashish came from, and whether she was planning to hand them over to someone else.

At a hearing in July she pleaded not guilty to charges of possession and trafficking illegal drugs and claimed she had been "forced to do this through torture".

"I just wanted to travel," she said. "I am a good person. I am a student at university. I am a clean person. I don't do drugs."

Miss Culley's lawyer said the plea bargain sum under negotiation was substantial but, if her family was ready to pay, it could result in her freedom.

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Sting has been sued by his former bandmates in The Police over alleged lost royalties for the songs they recorded together between 1977 and 1984.

In a civil case filed at the High Court, guitarist Andy Summers and drummer Stewart Copeland, claim they have been underpaid for their contributions to songs like Roxanne and Every Breath You Take.

Although they did not receive writing credits on those songs, they say the band entered an "oral agreement" to share income in 1977, which was later formalised in written contracts.

Sting, who wrote all of The Police's biggest hits, denies underpaying his bandmates. In court documents, his lawyers called the claims "illegitimate."

'Very dark' history

The Police formed in 1977 and quickly became one of the UK's most commercially successful bands.

They earned a US number one single with Every Breath You Take, taken from their fifth album, Synchronicity, in 1983.

It was later recognised as the most-played radio song of all time and was heavily sampled on P Diddy and Faith Evans' 1997 song I'll Be Missing You.

However, the band split up in 1984 amid personal and musical animosity.

Copeland later told The Guardian that the band "beat the crap out of each other" during the "very dark" recording sessions for Synchronicity.

In 2022, Sting, whose real name is Gordon Sumner, said he felt the band were holding him back.

"My frustration was I would have written an album's worth of material but also had to entertain these others songs that were not as good," he told Mojo Magazine.

"Explaining to someone why their song isn't working is a bit like saying their girlfriend's ugly. It's a very personal thing... That pain was something I didn't want to go through any more."

Although Sting was the band's primary songwriter, the other members both made contributions to their albums - and Summers has often claimed that he originated the iconic guitar riff on Every Breath You Take.

In 1977, documents submitted to the High Court show the band agreed that, when any one member received publishing income for a song they'd written, they would share a percentage of that money, usually 15%, with the other two members, in what was termed an arrangers' fee.

In the court documents, none of the members agree how that arrangement came into place.

Summers recalls it taking place on the street outside their manager Miles Copeland's office in Notting Hill.

Sting, however, contended there was no "oral agreement" - but that Copeland had floated the idea during a visit to his flat in Bayswater to help "keep things sweet" with his bandmates, who were not present.

Either way, the agreement was formalised in 1981, and revised again in 1995 and 2016.

The current legal dispute centres around which categories of publishing income Summers and Copeland should receive compensation.

It's a complicated area, but royalties are generally split into two separate categories:

1. Performance royalties - which are paid when a song is played in public, on the radio, or via a streaming service.
2. Mechanical royalties - paid when a song is pressed to CD or vinyl, but also when it is streamed on demand.

Summers and Copeland argue that they should be paid for both of these categories, while Sting says their agreement only covers mechanical royalties.

Sting's lawyers further contend that, under the terms of the band's 2016 agreement, all three members agreed not to pursue any historic or future claims over royalties.

His bandmates claim that does not stop them disputing the terms of the 2016 agreement.

They claim a loss of about £1,500,000. Sting's lawyers denied they had been underpaid and argued that, in fact, Summers and Copeland may owe him money that has been overpaid to them.

In 2022, the musician sold the rights to his songwriting catalogue to Universal Music Group, with the deal covering both his solo hits and songs he penned for the Police.

The deal was estimated to be worth $200 million (£149 million).

A federal judge in California has blocked President Donald Trump's deployment of the National Guard to Los Angeles.

Trump deployed the troops this summer, despite opposition from California's governor, in response to protests against immigration raids.

US District Judge Charles Breyer ruled on Tuesday that the government had violated the Posse Comitatus Act, which limits the power of the federal government to use military force for domestic matters.

Judge Breyer has put the ruling on hold until 12 September and Trump will likely appeal.

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Govanhill is one of the most deprived areas in Scotland – but Elle Glenny is still facing the rising cost of living in this part of Glasgow.

The rent on the 31-year-old community worker's one-bedroom flat in the south of the city has jumped from £590 to £700 a month.

The increase came just months after the landlord served Elle with an eviction notice, which is being challenged at a tribunal.

"I'm now paying up to 50% of my income every single month just to live," says Elle, who moved into the flat in 2023.

"The impact of the rent increase alone has been catastrophic. I'm cutting back on essentials, which is making my life feel really unliveable and uncomfortable.

"I've never missed a rent payment, I've never been late for rent... I've been a perfect tenant as far as I'm concerned."

The landlord says the rent increase reflects the market rate for the area.

Elle is also facing eviction because the landlord wants the property back to move in a family member – a legal method through which tenants are allowed to be evicted.

Elle, who uses they/them pronouns, is challenging the move and will remain in the flat while the case is heard by a first-tier tribunal.

Housing charities encourage tenants to remain in their rented property during this process, which can take months.

Elle has not been able to find another affordable flat and wants to secure a place in social housing instead.

However, Elle - who is in recovery from drug and alcohol addiction and receives disability benefits - has been on waiting lists for social housing for almost three years.

Despite having 100 out of the 120 priority points needed, Elle has been told that because waiting lists are so long they would likely have to become homeless before being prioritised for a home.

Elle now fears being placed in temporary accommodation, having to sofa-surf or even ending up on the streets if they have to leave the flat.

"I'm really proud of myself to get to the place that I'm at right now, to keep a stable tenancy and a stable job," Elle said.

"That does give me more points in the social housing system, but unfortunately not enough to prevent me from having to go through the homelessness system."

The Scottish government declared a national housing emergency in May last year after coming under sustained pressure from opposition parties and campaigners.

Housing Minister Màiri McAllan announced details of an action plan to tackle the crisis in Holyrood on Tuesday.

It included a commitment to invest up to £4.9bn in affordable homes over the next four years.

There is no standard definition of a housing emergency and the declaration placed no new legal duties on the government to act.

However, it was an admission from ministers that the current situation needed to be urgently addressed.

One of the main reasons is that demand for housing of all kinds, but especially social housing, is vastly outstripping supply.

In addition, rents are rising in the private sector and the cost of living crisis means that people who previously may not have struggled are finding it harder to afford higher rents or get on the property ladder.

How many new homes are needed?

In 2021 the Scottish government set a target to build 110,000 affordable homes by 2032, delivering 10,000 homes each year.

Affordable housing includes social housing, mid-market rent and affordable home ownership. Campaigners say social housing is needed the most desperately.

A new report has been produced by experts at Sheffield, Liverpool and Sheffield Hallam universities, who were commissioned by Shelter Scotland, the Scottish Federation of Housing Associations and Chartered Institute for Housing.

Their research, shared with BBC Scotland News, suggests that at least 15,690 new affordable homes now need to be built in Scotland each year - an increase of almost 50% since 2020.

They estimate this would cost £1.64bn annually, a total of £8.20bn over the next five-year session of the Scottish Parliament.

Shelter Scotland says this is "a very significant increase" and that it has seen "no evidence thus far of an emergency response" from the government.

Director Alison Wilson said: "We face a simple choice - invest in the homes we need now, or pay the price for generations."

The Scottish Federation of Housing Associations says the research makes clear that ending the housing emergency will require "building a lot more social homes and a radical and sustained increase in the housing budget".

There are now more than 99,000 households on the waiting list for social housing in Scotland.

This is housing designed for people who cannot afford to buy or rent on the open market, such as those on lower incomes or some with disabilities.

It covers homes which are rented out by councils, housing associations or housing co-operatives at a lower cost than is available elsewhere.

The number of social houses available across the UK fell dramatically in the 1980s after the Thatcher government gave tenants the right to buy their homes at a discount.

Since then, the number of homes built has not matched the number sold off. The right to buy was abolished in Scotland in 2016.

In recent years, the Scottish government has faced intense criticism from campaigners and housebuilders for a failure to build enough homes of all types.

And the number of affordable homes being completed has only reached the 10,000 per year target once in the last decade.

Most campaigners and experts agree that the creation of more social housing offers the best route to get people out of homelessness.

The number of live homeless cases reached a record high in 2024, when it stood at more than 31,000 households.

They are also now over 16,000 households in Scotland living in temporary accommodation, including over 10,000 children. Both these figures are also record highs.

Meanwhile, private rents in Scotland have been steadily rising over the last decade.

The average price for a rented property in Scotland is now £999 per month – compared to £673 in July 2015.

Cities are particular pinch points. Research from Zoopla in 2024 found that Glasgow recorded the highest average rent increases of any UK city over the past four years at 44.4%. Edinburgh also saw average rents rise by 41.3%.

The Scottish government introduced rent controls during the pandemic and cost of living crisis, but these came to an end in April this year.

They will eventually be replaced by longer-term rent controls in the government's Housing Bill, which will allow ministers to decide which parts of Scotland could come under rent control areas.

These powers, which are expected to come into force in 2027, would limit increases to 6% in those zones.

Campaigners have broadly welcomed these measures - but landlord groups have warned they would exacerbate the housing crisis by putting people off renting their properties and disincentivising investment.

'Deeply flawed' system

While tenants wait for this system to be put into place, they can use the government's rent adjudication system if they feel a proposed increase is unfair.

However, tenants' rights union Living Rent described the system as a "disaster".

It said that in 24% of cases, the adjudication actually increased the rent by a higher amount than the landlord's original proposal.

This is because the increase is measured against open market rents in the area – and this can often be higher than the landlord's original rent notice, especially in cities with rapidly rising prices.

Living Rent's national campaigns chairwoman, Ruth Gilbert, said the system was "deeply flawed" and called for protections to be introduced until the new controls come into law.

She described the action plan as "more bluster from a government that is only tinkering around the edges".

The Scottish government says it has invested "heavily" in affordable homes and supported the delivery of 139,000 affordable homes since 2007.

Housing Minister Màiri McAllan said her action plan focussed on ending children living in unsuitable accommodation; supporting the housing needs of vulnerable groups; and supporting growth and investment in the housing sector.

The government says it will invest up to £4.9bn over the next four years to deliver about 36,000 affordable homes and provide a home for up to 24,000 children.

Investment in acquisitions will double to £80m this year, which the government says will help take up to 800 children out of temporary accommodation.

Scottish Labour said the plan was "too little, too late", while the Scottish Conservatives described it as "another empty statement" on the issue.

Monday's meeting between Russia's Vladimir Putin, China's Xi Jinping and India's Narendra Modi marked a rare display of solidarity - and an opportunity for Putin to engage directly with his country's top oil buyers.

India and China were drawn to Russian oil, which became cheaper after Western countries cut trade ties with Moscow over its 2022 invasion of Ukraine.

But Beijing, New Delhi and Moscow have taken their ties deeper.

They now share a common antagonist in the US, which has imposed sanctions on Russia and put sweeping tariffs on its trading partners.

India is reeling from some of the highest duties imposed by Washington for buying oil from Russia. China is still negotiating a deal with the US that would stave off crippling tariffs and possible sanctions for buying Russian crude.

The three leaders met at Tianjin for the Shanghai Co-operation Organisation (SCO) summit. The regional forum aims to promotes an alternative worldview from the West's - in what analysts have described as a challenge to America's influence.

The forum gives the leaders a rare chance reinforce ties during ongoing economic uncertainty, analysts told the BBC.

A lifeline for Russia

Russia has the opportunity to secure more business with India and China, its largest trade partners, they said.

The two most populous countries have helped prop up Moscow's economy after its invasion of Ukraine left it cut off from most Western trade.

Last year, China purchased a record of more than 100 million tonnes of Russian crude oil, which accounted for almost 20% of its total energy imports.

Likewise, oil exports to India, which made up only a small fraction of its imports before the Ukraine war, has since grown to some $140bn (£103.5bn) since 2022.

Together, China and India make up the majority of Russia's energy exports.

Russia relies on oil and gas exports for roughly a quarter of its budget revenues, which is funding its war chest.

It wouldn't be surprising if Moscow offers further discounts in order to secure more trade with India and China, public policy expert Mandar Oak told the BBC.

This is especially necessary for India to ensure it does not back away due to pressure from the US, said Prof Oak from the University of Adelaide.

New Delhi had offered Russia a lifeline after much of the oil supplies displaced by Western sanctions were diverted to India, which benefited from cheaper energy.

India could now be on course to buy even more oil from Russia, despite condemnation from Washington.

Modi on Monday affirmed ties with Moscow, telling Putin their countries "have walked together shoulder to shoulder". New Delhi officials have also said it will buy energy from where it gets "the best deal".

Delhi-Washington ties hit an all-time low after the Trump administration imposed an additional 25% tariff as a punishment for buying Russian oil. New Delhi described the White House's decision as "unjustified", given their history of trade.

Points for PM Modi

For Prime Minister Modi, the move would burnish his image at home.

"Politically, it is almost beneficial for Modi to snub the US" as it sends a signal that India will not buckle down to pressure from the Trump administration, Prof Oak said.

Buying more Russian oil is economically sound as India relies heavily on foreign suppliers for crude.

India was once a key customer of the Middle East, but turned to discounted crude from Russia after Western sanctions were imposed on Moscow following the Ukraine invasion in 2022.

Indian refiners have since enjoyed lower costs due to cheaper supplies, with Russian oil cheaper than Middle Eastern alternatives.

China, which has also ramped up its purchases of oil from Russia, will be eager to safeguard its energy interests as the leaders gather at the summit, said trade policy expert Peter Draper.

On Tuesday, Russian and Chinese gas corporations agreed to raise supplies to the Asian nation.

But Russia might not offer the same discounts to China, especially if Putin secures more sales to India, said Prof Draper.

A stage for China

Beyond trade, perhaps China's main goal at the SCO summit is to show it can be a strong alternative to the US, especially after Trump's recent policy moves, said Prof Draper.

At the forum, China stands alongside countries like Pakistan, Myanmar and Sri Lanka that have all been hit with Trump's tariffs.

China has long desired to promote a "multi-polar" world order, Prof Draper said, referring to the concept of a system in which power is distributed among several major players.

The summit has brought together three countries whose economic ties have long been complicated by geopolitical tensions, said Prof Oak.

But in the face of the economic threat of the US tariffs, the countries have "strong economic interests to join hands", he said.