In the muffled silence all I can hear is the crunch and squeak of snow underfoot. The national park is closed to visitors during the winter, but several Engadine walking trails are close to its borders, meaning anyone can – with luck – spot some of its rare wildlife. I need to get used to walking in crampons, with snow baskets on my walking poles, and prepare for the ascents and descents to come. In fact, most of the valley’s traditional Engadine houses are flamboyantly decorated – sundials, flowers, animals – using a “scratching” technique known as sgraffito. Its luminosity lifts the spirits, its silence allows me to hear every flurry of falling snow, every bird call.

Five German climbers, including a 17-year-old girl, have died after being swept away by an avalanche in the Italian Alps, rescuers have said. “The first group, consisting of three people, was completely buried,” Italy’s alpine rescue services said on social media. Two of the climbers were reportedly ahead of the others and managed to escape the cascade of snow and ice. If you do not have an account, we will create a guest account for you on theguardian.com to send you this newsletter. after newsletter promotionNo other climbers were believed to be in the area, which is a popular tourist destination.

The four-player $412.000 Champions Showdown in St Louis was a historic event, a quadrangular tournament of the super-elite who met each other six times in three days. View image in fullscreen 3996: Gukesh Dommaraju v Fabiano Caruana, Champions Showdown, St Louis 2025. The time limit for the Champions Showdown was 10 minutes per player per game, plus a five seconds per move increment. After winning in St Louis, Carlsen flew back to Norway for a rare classical game for his Offerspill club in the Norwegian League. His opponent was IM Frode Elsness, rated 2418 and Carlsen won in 36 moves despite a few inaccuracies.

An international study, published in the journal Nature, has found cutting pollution from road traffic and wood burning may be the most effective way to reduce the harm from air pollution across Europe. Rather than just looking at the amount of particle pollution in the air, the research team looked at its toxicity, by measuring the way air pollution samples depleted the natural defences in our lungs. OP was also worst in winter, when wood burning added to the pollution mixture. Both had successes in reducing the amount of particle pollution in their air, but the toxicity of the particles did not improve. Looking to the future, controlling traffic exhaust may not be enough to reduce the toxicity of our air.

“Completely unjustified” prices rises for ski passes in Italy this winter mean the sport is at risk of becoming the exclusive privilege of the wealthy, the president of an Italian consumers’ association has warned. A “Dolomiti Superski” pass, granting access to all 12 resorts in the pricey Dolomites, will set skiers back €86 (£75) a day this season. Meanwhile, the cost of seasonal ski passes will range from between €755 per adult in Roccaraso to as much as €1,800 in the Aosta valley. The cost of hiring ski equipment has also gone up, as have hotel and restaurant prices. Despite the price rises, Italy is still a cheaper place to ski in western Europe than Switzerland, France and Austria.

Tom Hayes, the first banker jailed over Libor interest rate rigging, is suing his former employer UBS for $400m (£300m), claiming he was a “hand-picked scapegoat” for the Swiss bank as it tried to avoid regulatory scrutiny. Hayes is now seeking recompense for the suffering he says he faced as a result of his original ruling. He is suing UBS for “malicious prosecution”, and says UBS conducted a “fundamentally flawed” investigation in order to pin the blame on Hayes. Efforts to sue UBS come months after the UK supreme court overturned a decade-old ruling against Hayes in July. My legal team are now rightlyfully holding UBS to account for scapegoating me in order to save billions in fines and protect its senior executives.

Two people have been killed by an explosion at the Endeavour mine in western New South Wales, devastating the local community of Cobar. Officers were told that a man, believed to be in his 60s, had been confirmed dead after the underground explosion. The NSW resources regulator, which is responsible for compliance and enforcement across the state’s mining sector, confirmed it was investigating. “This is a heartbreaking day for the Cobar community and will be felt across the entire mining industry,” he said. A NSW Mine Workers’ Alliance spokesperson, Tony Callinan, called on the mine operator and regulator to undertake an open investigation.

A member of the House of Lords who is trying to derail the generational ban on tobacco sales discussed the legislation with a family member who is “very high up” at British American Tobacco (BAT). “We have indeed discussed the tobacco and vapes bill, which he considers unnecessary as market forces are doing what the bill intends,” Strathcarron said. after newsletter promotion“While we support the UK government’s smoke-free ambition, we believe the generational smoking ban would increase the illicit market and incentive criminals,” the spokesperson said. He said he worked “closely” with lobby groups including Action on World Health, the Free Speech Union and Big Brother Watch. Action on World Health campaigns against the World Health Organization (WHO) and is staffed by former nicotine industry consultants, a previous investigation by the Guardian found.

Green & Black’s Organic 85% dark chocolate barGreen & Black’s dark chocolate bar contains 85% cocoa solids, more than meeting UK regulations for dark chocolate, which require a minimum of 35%. Aldi Dairyfine dark chocolate barThe Aldi Dairyfine dark chocolate bar contains 55% cocoa solids and is sold in a 200g bar for £1.85. Photograph: AldiHotel Chocolat Milk Chocolate SlabThe Hotel Chocolat Milk Chocolate Slab contains 40% cocoa solids, weighs 100g and is priced at £5.45. Tony’s Chocolonely milk chocolate barThe 180g Tony’s Chocolonely milk chocolate bar contains 32% cocoa solids, above the UK legal minimum for milk chocolate (25% dry cocoa solids and 14% dry milk solids). McVitie’s chocolate biscuitsThe dark chocolate digestives contain 30% dark chocolate, which includes cocoa mass and cocoa butter.

The UK is expected to slash its contribution to a leading aid fund combating preventable diseases, with charities warning this could lead to more than 300,000 otherwise preventable deaths. However, aid groups say a proposed reduction in UK funding from £1bn to £800m is being widely discussed by senior government officials. The Switzerland-based Global Fund is credited with helping to save tens of million of lives in combating the three diseases. One aid agency estimated a £200m cut could lead to up to 340,000 avoidable deaths and nearly 5.9 million avoidable infections over the three-year funding period. It would risk undoing much of the progress we have made in the global fight against disease.”A Foreign Office spokesperson said: “The UK has not yet decided what its pledge to the Global Fund will be.

Many travellers to Europe will see changes in border security from Sunday with the launch of the EU’s new digital entry and exit system (EES) after many delays. The system means most non-EU citizens will have to register their biometric information at the border. Travellers’ faces will have to be photographed and fingerprints scanned before they are allowed into Europe’s Schengen area. The system is being introduced to make border crossing faster and more efficient, while also tracking who is coming in and out. The EES applies to the Schengen area, which comprises 25 of the 27 EU member states as well as Iceland, Liechtenstein, Norway and Switzerland.

The first British and other non-EU citizens will be subjected to new biometric checks when travelling to Europe from Sunday, when the long-delayed entry-exit system (EES) is finally launched. Under EES, most non-EU or non-European Economic Area citizens or residents will be photographed and have their fingerprints scanned at the border to travel into the Schengen area. Cross-Channel departure points where the French and EU border is on UK soil, including Eurostar at St Pancras international train station, have invested tens of millions of pounds in infrastructure and computer systems to comply with the new requirements. During the rollout, EU member states would be able to decide when and where they started deploying the system. Keir Mather, a UK transport minister, said: “Our priority is to minimise disruption for travellers and hauliers, particularly at our busiest border crossings.

Ukraine has pointed to successes in Dobropillia, just north of the logistics hub of Pokrovsk, one of Russia’s key targets. In an assessment dated 7 October, the ISW said Russia was incurring heavy casualty rates, particularly from Ukrainian drone attacks, in return for limited tactical advances. The governor of Sumy region, on the northern border with Russia, said three people died in Russian drone attacks in different districts. In Russia’s Belgorod region bordering Ukraine, a missile strike killed three people in the village of Maslova Pristan, the local governor said. “It’s not that we prefer American weapons over French or German or some other European weapons – the issue is that we are asking the US for weapons which European countries can’t provide,” said Alyona Getmanchuk.

At 277 sites they placed the frame in the grass and counted all of the plant species within it. Their research, published in Global Change Biology, found that across Switzerland, the average number of plant species on agricultural grassland has fallen by 26% over the last century. This allows their impact on species diversity to be studied and compared with other factors such as climate change, the researchers say. More nitrogen fertiliser, more frequent mowing and highly productive plants displacing native species all reduce plant diversity, the analysis shows. A list of all found plant species saw 117 losers and just six winners.

His next target will be his second and third GM norms, and with them Abhimanyu Mishra’s world record as the youngest ever GM, within the next four months or so. He already has the World Cup in Goa, the European Club Cup in Greece, and a closed tournament in Argentina lined up. A few chess.com readers alleged that Madrid was a disguised norm factory based on a single opponent blunder (51 Nxf7?? in this game) but in Oro’s previous event, the Fujarah Masters in the United Arab Emirates, he was already very close to a GM norm before fading at the finish. The likely England board order is the former Russian champion Nikita Vitiugov, the nine-time and reigning British champion, Michael Adams, Gawain Maroroa Jones, Luke McShane, and England’s youngest GM, Shreyas Royal, 16.