The Guardian Environment

• Green party leadership race exposes tensions as electoral ambitions grow

  Frontrunner Zack Polanski has dismissed claims of a ‘hostile takeover’ but contest has been unusually fractious

  The Green party will name its next leader on Tuesday after a fiercely fought leadership contest that has exposed tensions over tone, strategy and the party’s ambitions on the national stage.

  The frontrunner, Zack Polanski, has pitched himself as a bold communicator able to turn rising support into a mass movement. He is facing the joint candidates Ellie Chowns and Adrian Ramsay, two impactful Green MPs elected last year who are seen as offering a steadier, more targeted route to growth.

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• Amy, Bram and Chandra: north Atlantic winter storm names announced

  Weather services of UK, Ireland and Netherlands chose list of 21 names from 50,000 suggestions by the public

  Meteorologists in the UK, Ireland and the Netherlands have announced this year’s north Atlantic winter storm names, chosen after 50,000 suggestions were submitted by the public.

  Amy, Bram and Chandra will be the first named storms of winter 2025-2026, the Met Office said on Monday.

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• I’m obsessed with deep sea sharks: their bioluminescent spots are just visible in the pitch black environment they live in

  Most of these little-known but already endangered fish have never been seen alive in their natural habitat, but are under threat from bottom trawling and deep-sea mining

  Three years ago I was running a research project from a bottom trawler off Namibia about deep-sea sharks – all of which live under enormous water pressure, close to the seafloor and are rarely seen by humans.

  These sharks were being brought up in the trawler’s nets. By the time they were brought to the surface, they had experienced such a dramatic change in pressure that they had undergone barotrauma, so they were internally damaged and unlikely to survive.

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• Country diary: Deep purple and fallen leaves at this mighty mountain | John Gilbey

  Cadair Idris, Gwynedd: The heather is dominant on the slopes today, as I embark on a steep climb in the heavy heat

  As I head over the top of the pass from Corris, the great mass of Cadair Idris emerges against a leaden sky. The steep crags that stand above the thickly wooded slopes are coloured a deep purple by the flowering heather, but the usual vibrancy is subdued by the flat, almost sullen, light.

  Getting off the bus at Minffordd, I wander up the avenue of chestnut trees that form such an impressive welcome to the mountain. A drift of dry, discoloured leaves stands at the edge of the path, something I wouldn’t expect to see for another month or so, suggesting that the trees are suffering water-stress after the dry summer.

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• Weather tracker: deep trough over Europe brings severe storms

  Heavy rain, lightning and tornadoes lash swaths of continent, with France, Italy and Slovenia among worst hit

  Severe storms linked to a deep upper air trough formed from the ex-hurricane Erin lashed parts of western and southern Europe last week.

  Italy was hit by severe rainfall on Thursday that caused flooding in the Lombardy region. The commune of Busto Arsizio was badly affected, with more than 100mm of rain and frequent lightning.

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