It is the first time in his 14-year rule that Mr Kim has joined a multilateral event, and it is the first time all three leaders have met, with commentators saying the visit is designed to demonstrate trilateral solidarity against the United States.

According to the Associated Press, Mr Kim, who does not like to fly, took his trademark green armoured train to Beijing, but stopped first en route to check progress on a North Korean missile research institute developing a new engine for a "next-generation" intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM).

The North in recent years has tested various versions of ICBMs capable of reaching the US mainland, and analysts say the next-generation ICBM likely refers to a long-range weapon with multiple nuclear warheads that can penetrate US missile defence systems.

Follow the latest on the Beijing summit

While none of the three countries have confirmed a private trilateral leaders' meeting in Beijing, Kremlin aide Yuri Ushakov told Russia's TASS news agency a meeting between Vladimir Putin and Mr Kim on the sidelines was "under consideration".

Earlier, Chinese leader Xi Jinping had welcomed the Russian President as an "old friend" before the two began a series of meetings.

In turn, Mr Putin addressed Mr Xi as his "dear friend" and said Moscow's ties with Beijing were "at an unprecedentedly high level".

Today is the third of four days in which China's president is hosting world leaders.

It began with the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation summit on Sunday and will end with the major military parade tomorrow that commemorates the 80th anniversary of the end of the Second World War and China's fight against Japan's wartime aggression.

South Korea's National Intelligence Service said Mr Kim may stand alongside Mr Xi and Mr Putin on the rostrum at Tiananmen Square during Wednesday's parade.

It also anticipates he will hold bilateral meetings with the Chinese and Russian leaders and interact with other heads of state at a reception and cultural performance as he seeks to break out of isolation and expand his diplomatic relations.

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North Korea's foreign policy priority has been Russia in recent years, as it has been supplying troops and ammunition to support Russia's war against Ukraine in exchange for economic and military assistance.

According to South Korean assessments, North Korea has sent around 15,000 troops to Russia.

North Korea's relations with China have reportedly turned sour in recent years, but experts say Mr Kim likely hopes to restore ties as China is North Korea's biggest trading partner and aid benefactor, and he would want to brace for the end of the Russia-Ukraine war.

The safety inspection regime created in the wake of the Grenfell tragedy, which claimed 72 lives, is "not fit for purpose", according to those who depend on its work.

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Sky News has visited an empty block of 99 flats in west London where future residents - who have purchased the properties - have been unable to move in for over a year because of the lack of regulator approval.

New data obtained exclusively by Sky News through a Freedom of Information request shows the extent of the issue.

As of 1 August, there is "no decision" on eight applications covering 1,210 completed new residential units. For sites yet to be built, there are 156 applications with no decision, covering 34,965 new residential units.

Sir Keir Starmer says economic growth is his top priority and the 1.5 million new homes target this parliament is a key part of this agenda. But two years after its creation, the government agency has come under fire for failing to fulfil vital functions in a timely manner.

After complaints, the regulator has already faced one overhaul, and will shortly move from part of the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) to become an arm's length body which is part of Angela Rayner's Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government. But developers say they are still struggling to get answers from the body.

Sky News has conducted an analysis of public data and found the backlog growing.

New buildings ought to be signed off within a 12-week period, but Sky News found the percentage of applications determined inside that window is falling - from 47% at the end of September last year, to 32% by the end of March.

In a statement, leading financial analyst S&P said delays by the regulator are pushing up building costs and making it harder to deliver the key government target.

Chris Williamson, chief business economist at S&P, said: "We have received anecdotal feedback from a few companies regarding the Building Safety Act, indicating that some may be experiencing challenges related to orders. This could contribute to an increase in costs within the construction sector, which is already facing financial pressures."

In an apparent admission of the issues, the government told Sky News it is now in the process of recruiting over 100 new staff to strengthen capacity by the end of the year.

In a statement to Sky News, the building safety regulator (BSR) itself said it had been a complex task creating a new safety body post Grenfell, in such a short time, and improvements are already being made.

It said: "BSR is working closely with industry to deliver safer, higher-quality buildings while advancing a culture of excellence in building safety."

Executives from the BSR will appear before a Commons Select Committee later today. It also points the finger at property developers for failing to submit paperwork correctly. The industry vehemently rejects the claim, saying there are few guidelines of what to submit and the BSR makes little attempt to clarify what it wants.

A bad sign

However, problems persist.

Sky News saw how in one newly built property in Acton, west London, the sign-off for a building by the BSR was delayed in part because a sign was two millimetres too small and all the signs had to be changed.

This has contributed to a 14-month delay in a green light for residents to move in.

According to the Federation of Master Builders and the Chartered Institute of Building, 38% of developers believe planning delays are the number one issue.

Developers have told Sky News the agency was meant to speed up approvals by ending a system where they have to bring in external consultants to approve the application, but this has not yet happened.

Jon Spring, the managing director of Fairview Homes, said: "We currently have three applications that are delayed within the BSR. The current dates we're looking at, that they've given us, one is six months, one is nine months, and one is 12 months. Clearly extremely different to the original three months that the process is supposed to take.

"That makes forecasting for when we're going to start on site very difficult. We have tens of millions of pounds tied up in the three sites that we're waiting to develop. And inevitably, the holding costs of those are considerable and affect the viability of the project."

Mr Spring said the delays could make building unviable.

"If you look at each of our projects have been delayed, if […] it's going to take 25% longer to deliver that project, that means that our productivity is ultimately reduced by 25%. That would be the same for all developers and therefore the reduction in housing that's been delivered will be considerable."

Developers 'won't touch' high-rises

Jamie Lester, an estate agent from Haus Properties, said: "The government are encouraging property developers to build, build, build, and just get on with it - I think that's what Keir Starmer said.

"But when there are buildings like this that can't be signed off for over a year and are costing property developers, in this instance, £100,000 a week, I don't understand.

"The government won't encourage property developers to build like this any more. I know many property developers who won't touch high-rise buildings at the moment simply because the building safety regulator can't get their act together and sign these buildings off."

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'High standards'

A spokesperson for the HSE said: "Protecting residents, making sure there is never another tragedy like Grenfell, has been our priority throughout this process. Setting up a new regulator has been complex, and huge progress has been made in a short time. The construction industry must meet standards that will keep residents safe in high-rise buildings.

"The recently announced innovation unit is the result of ongoing discussions between industry and BSR to uphold high standards. BSR is working closely with industry to deliver safer, higher-quality buildings while advancing a culture of excellence in building safety."

'It has turned out to be a disaster'

Some have blamed the government, not the regulator itself. The boss of one major house building company, who did not want to be named, said ministers aren't willing to face up to reality.

"Regulation comes from the government and the regulator is implementing the rules," they said. "Their mandate is nothing to do with housing supply so it's up to ministers to balance that. All the house builders said this would be a disaster and funnily enough it has turned out to be a disaster."

A government spokesman from the housing department said problems were already being tackled and safety was important: "We've announced a package of reforms to reduce delays, including a fast track process to speed up new build decisions."

They added 100 new staff were being employed.

The totaliser crept over £3bn in spending, with more than half of it flowing among the 20 clubs rather than having a redistributing effect across Europe.

The start of new Premier League TV deals - the biggest individual source of income being from Sky News' parent company Comcast - provides certainty for the next four years, while rival leagues can struggle to sell rights.

And the feared threat from Saudi Arabia has not materialised. It is an attractive and lucrative destination for some players, but not yet the ultimate destination.

But the kingdom has still influenced this transfer window.

Let's start with Newcastle, four years into their ownership by the Saudi sovereign wealth fund.

Having secured a return to the Champions League, bringing UEFA riches, this was the summer to grow rather than lose talent to rivals.

But the Premier League's pecking order became clear when Alexander Isak pushed for a move to Liverpool and rejected bids that did not deter his ambitions.

Player power won out.

The 25-year-old striker was able to withdraw himself from the squad, miss the opening three matches of the season, and put out a statement claiming promises had been broken by the Magpies.

Read more: Isak completes £125m Liverpool move

Liverpool 'loading up on talent'

And so he held on until deadline day, biding his time, sitting it out, and standing firm. Newcastle folded, accepting £125m - £20m lower than their apparent valuation.

Breaking the British record fee was Liverpool's American ownership flexing financial muscle like never before.

The Premier League champions allowed manager Arne Slot to build from a position of strength.

This was the second time they broke the record in this window after bringing in another forward, Florian Wirtz, in a £116m deal.

More than £400m in reinforcements arrived at Anfield in a matter of weeks.

Former Liverpool managing director Christian Purslow told Sky Sports: "Liverpool are making hay while the sun shines, going for it. Really loading up on talent.

"Other clubs should be fearful and respectful of the way [Fenway Sports Group] are running their club."

The Isak deal weakened their Champions League rivals from the North East after banking £57m from another club owned by the Public Investment Fund when Darwin Nunez was offloaded to Saudi.

And PIF funded Chelsea's summer spending spree in less obvious ways.

The Blues did negotiate a £44m package with PIF-backed Al Nassr deal for Joao Felix, recouping the fee paid just a year earlier.

But then there was the £90m prize money collected for winning the new FIFA Club World Cup - a competition bankrolled by PIF subsidiaries.

Where does this leave Newcastle? Still spending around £250m.

Players and Liverpool couldn't get all their way this summer, with Marc Guehi forced to stay at Crystal Palace after the FA Cup winners failed to secure a replacement for the England centre-back.

The late drama was just the latest of the summer transfer window's twists and turns.

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Both Arsenal and Manchester United also spent more than £200m each. The Gunners spent big in pursuit of a title that's eluded them since 2004, while the Red Devils are just trying to get back into the Champions League.

It added up to a new record total outlay that comfortably eclipsed the previous Premier League record of £2.46bn from 2023.

The £3bn is more than the rest of Europe combined, showing both where the power is in world football and why the Premier League is the one the world wants to watch.

The quake hit the country's rugged northeastern province of Kunar, near the Pakistan border, at roughly midnight on Sunday, destroying several villages, officials said.

Rescuers were trying to reach isolated villages in the mountainous province where the quake hit, with the provincial head of disaster management, Ehsanullah Ehsan, saying: "We cannot accurately predict how many bodies might still be trapped under the rubble. Our effort is to complete these operations as soon as possible and to begin distributing aid to the affected families."

Here's what we know so far.

Number of casualties high and area difficult to access, officials say

Sharafat Zaman, a spokesman for Afghanistan's ministry of public health, said: "Rescue operations are still underway there, and several villages have been completely destroyed.

"The figures for martyrs and injured are changing. Medical teams from Kunar, Nangarhar and the capital Kabul have arrived in the area."

He said many areas have not been able to report casualty figures and "numbers were expected to change" as deaths and injuries are reported.

Thousands of children were at risk in the aftermath of the quake, the United Nations Children's Fund warned on Tuesday.

UNICEF said it was sending medicines, warm clothing, tents and tarpaulins for shelter, as well as hygiene items such as soap, detergent, towels, sanitary pads and water buckets.

Taliban soldiers were also deployed to the area to provide help and security, the government said.

Rescue teams and authorities were trying to dispose of animal carcasses quickly to minimise the risk of contamination to water resources, a UN official said.

"Damaged roads, ongoing aftershocks, and remote locations of many villages severely impede the delivery of aid," the World Health Organisation said. It added that over 12,000 people had been affected by the quake.

"The pre-earthquake fragility of the health system means local capacity is overwhelmed, creating total dependence on external actors," it said.

According to earlier reports, 30 people were killed in a single village, the health ministry said.

"The number of casualties and injuries is high, but since the area is difficult to access, our teams are still on site," said health ministry spokesperson Sharafat Zaman.

The Afghan Red Crescent said its officials and medical teams "rushed to the affected areas and are currently providing emergency assistance to impacted families".

The impact of aid cuts

Afghanistan has been badly affected by Donald Trump's decision in January to cut funding to USAID and reduce funding for other foreign aid programmes.

The UK has allocated £1m to support the UN and the International Red Cross in delivering critical healthcare and emergency supplies to affected Afghans.

China has said it is ready to provide disaster relief, while India delivered 1,000 family tents to Kabul and was moving 15 tonnes of food supplies to Kunar.

What happened?

A 6.0 quake hit Kunar at around 11.47pm local time (8.17pm UK time) on Sunday.

The quake's epicentre was near Jalalabad, Nangarhar province, at a depth of just five miles (8km). Shallower quakes such as these tend to cause more damage.

Jalalabad is situated about 74 miles (119km) from Kabul. It is considered a remote and mountainous area.

A second earthquake struck in the same province about 20 minutes later, with a magnitude of 4.5 and a depth of 6.2 miles (10km). This was later followed by a 5.2 earthquake at the same depth.

Homes of mud and stone were levelled by the quake, with deaths and injuries reported in the districts of Nur Gul, Soki, Watpur, Manogi and Chapadare, according to the Kunar Disaster Management Authority.

The first quake hit 17 miles east-northeast of the city of Jalalabad in Nangarhar province, the US Geological Survey said. Jalalabad is a bustling trade city due to its proximity to a key border crossing between Afghanistan and Pakistan.

It has a population of around 300,000 people, according to the municipality, but its metropolitan area is believed to be much larger.

Most of its buildings are low-rise constructions predominantly made from concrete and brick, though its outer areas include homes built of mud bricks and wood.

Quake measures slightly lower than the country's deadliest disaster

Afghanistan is prone to earthquakes, particularly in the Hindu Kush mountain range, where the Indian and Eurasian tectonic plates meet.

The country is also one of the world's poorest, having suffered decades of conflict, with poor infrastructure leaving it particularly vulnerable to natural disasters.

A magnitude 6.3 earthquake and strong aftershocks struck Afghanistan on 7 October 2023.

The country's Taliban government said at least 4,000 people had been killed, but the United Nations said the number of people killed was around 1,500.

The 2023 earthquake is considered the deadliest natural disaster to hit Afghanistan in recent memory.

A series of other earthquakes in the country's west killed more than 1,000 people last year.

Humanitarian officials and locals said many villages are still recovering and living in temporary structures after the previous disasters.

Disaster adds to 'perfect storm of problems' for Afghanistan

The earthquake is a "perfect storm" in a country that is already suffering a "multiplicity of crises," the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees has told Sky News.

Filippo Grandi said the situation in the country was "very tragic" and added: "We have very little information as of yet, but already, reports of hundreds of people killed and many more made homeless."

Afghanistan already has finite resources, as it is one of the world's poorest countries and is also war-torn, having been taken over by the Taliban in 2021 when foreign forces withdrew after years of fighting.

The withdrawal triggered a cut to the international funding that formed the bulk of government finances in Afghanistan.

Humanitarian aid, aimed at bypassing political institutions to serve urgent needs, has shrunk to $767m (£567m) this year, down from $3.8bn (£2.08bn) in 2022, according to Reuters, yet the United Nations estimates more than half the population is in urgent need of aid.

Mr Grandi said Afghanistan is also suffering from a "big drought", while Iran has "sent back almost 2 million people" and Pakistan "threatens to do the same".

"It's extremely difficult to mobilise resources because of the Taliban. So it's a perfect storm," he added. "And this earthquake, likely to have been quite devastating, is going to just add to the misery."

He appealed to "all those who can help to please do that".

Emergency relief hampered by lack of women's rights, charity warns

Diplomats and aid officials say crises elsewhere in the world, along with donor frustration over the Taliban's policies towards women, have spurred the cuts in funding.

Oxfam's chief executive Halima Begum told Sky News: "Emergency relief in Afghanistan, either over the long term or even during this emergency, is a really difficult process because women's rights are not upheld very well in this country."

She said providing aid "presents a very difficult and complex challenge for us" and the charity had to pull out of the country "for reasons to do with operational difficulty".

Oxfam is working through partner agencies such as the British Red Cross, "trying to figure out how best we can get support to what you can see are very difficult, mountainous regions", she said.

She added: "All of the NGOs [non-governmental organisations] and charities will be getting together, figuring out who is present there.

"And of course, there's an ongoing conversation and monitoring with the Disasters Emergency Committee to just see where the death toll goes and what that response level should be."

"So far, no foreign governments have reached out to provide support for rescue or relief work," a spokesperson of Afghanistan's foreign office said.

A spokesperson for China's foreign ministry said the country was ready to provide disaster relief assistance "according to Afghanistan's needs and within its capacity".

In a post on X, UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres said its mission in Afghanistan was preparing to help those in areas devastated by the quake.

The Gardai, the Irish police service, say that the missing child is "presumed dead".

The boy, who officers have not named, was last known to have resided at The Gallery Apartments in Donabate, County Dublin.

It is believed there has been no confirmed sighting of the child since he was three or four years old.

The Irish child and family agency Tusla raised concerns and alerted the police last Friday.

The police say, despite their enquiries, they have been unable to locate the boy or find any evidence that he is still alive.

It's understood that they have spoken to members of the boy's family who are abroad.

A search was carried out at the apartment complex over the weekend, and forensic teams are now starting a search of an area of open ground elsewhere in Donabate.

Tusla said that "we continue to work closely with the Garda and, in line with normal practice, all relevant information relating to this family has been shared".

The agency raised the alarm a year to the day since it reported the case of missing schoolboy Kryan Durnin to police.

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Kyran, from County Louth, was six years old when he was last seen in 2022, and officers believe he may have died up to three years ago.

Police say they have carried out 570 separate investigative actions in relation to Kyran's disappearance and suspected murder, and have scoured 29,500 hours of CCTV footage.

Two people have been arrested as part of the investigation, but no charges have yet been filed.

Although there is no suggestion that the two cases are connected, the apparent similarities in circumstances, with delays in reporting children as missing, have shocked many in Ireland.

Ireland's Minister for Children, Norma Foley, said that she is "deeply concerned" about the latest incident.