Billionaires rocketing into space draw UN chief’s red glare

United Nations Secretary General Antonio Guterres addresses the 76th Session of the U.N. General Assembly, Tuesday, Sept. 21, 2021, at United Nations headquarters in New York.

 ( Eduardo Munoz/Pool Photo via AP)/Pool Photo via AP)

Space, we have an equity problem.

When three billionaires rocketed into space this summer, they did more than escape Earth’s surly bonds, they helped spread “a malady of mistrust” plaguing an all-too hungry world, United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres told other world leaders Tuesday.

In his opening speech to the General Assembly, a grim Guterres highlighted the gap between the rich and poor with “billionaires joyriding to space while millions go hungry on Earth.”

In July, billionaires Richard Branson and Jeff Bezos flew into space on private rockets that their companies built, gathering worldwide attention in their short trips that didn’t make it into orbit. Both bank on space tourism business from their fellow space fans with big wallets.

After returning to Earth, Branson, 71, sprayed G.H. Mumm champagne over his crew and then chugged it from the bottle.

Billionaire Jared Isaacman led the first all-private orbital mission that splashed down Saturday after three days in orbit. His flight was on a Dragon capsule and Space X rocket built by a fourth space-obsessed billionaire, Elon Musk. Unlike the other two missions, Isaacman’s ride raised more than $200 million for St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital including $100 million from Isaacman and $50 million from Musk.

Guterres lumped billionaire space hops with the maladies of hopelessness, corruption, curtailing of personal freedoms and “when parents see a future for their children that looks even bleaker than the struggles of today.”

After Branson and Bezos spaceflights and revelations that Bezos, the richest man in the world, didn’t pay any federal income tax in 2007 and 2011, critics called for taxing billionaires with some wanting to tax them out of the 10-digit income level. So far those proposals, unlike the billionaires, haven’t gotten off the ground.

Sequoia National Park’s Giant Forest unscathed by wildfire

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A firefighter hoses down hot spots around a sequoia tree in the Trail of 100 Giants of Sequoia National Forest, Calif., as the Windy Fire burns on Monday, Sept. 20, 2021. According to firefighters, the tree sustained fire damage when the fire spotted into its crown. (AP Photo/Noah Berger)


THREE RIVERS, Calif. (AP) — The ancient massive trees of Sequoia National Park’s famed Giant Forest were unscathed Tuesday even though a wildfire has been burning near them on the western side of California’s Sierra Nevada for nearly two weeks.

“As of right now we don’t have any damage to any of our trees,” said fire information officer Mark Garrett.

The KNP Complex, two lightning-sparked fires that merged, has spread over more than 39 square miles (101 square kilometers), feeding on other types of trees that also live on the high-elevation slopes of the mountain range.

Giant Forest is home to about 2,000 sequoias, including the General Sherman Tree, which is considered the world’s largest by volume and is a must-see for visitors to the national park.




The fire recently entered the perimeter of Giant Forest near a cluster of huge trees called the Four Guardsmen but their bases had been wrapped in fire-resistant material and crews had raked and cleared vegetation that could help spread the fire, Garrett said.

Firefighting crews monitored as what was described as a “low-intensity fire” passed through and made sure it did not affect the sequoias, he said.

For decades, Giant Forest has been subjected to prescribed fires that are carefully set and controlled to burn away vegetation that could otherwise become fuel for a fire like the KNP Complex and allow it to become established.

The next-closest sequoia grove is Redwood Canyon, but it is at least 6 miles (9.6 kilometers) away and the fire would have to travel up and down terrain to get there, Garrett said.

“But like Giant Forest, that one has also seen prescribed burn treatments for several decades since the late ’60s so that grove is also well-equipped to transform a high-intensity fire into low-intensity fire,” he said.

To the south, another forest fire in sequoia country was showing minimal movement.

The Windy Fire in the Giant Sequoia National Monument area of Sequoia National Forest and on the Tule River Indian Reservation covered more than 42 square miles (108 square kilometers) and was 5% contained.

“The fire behavior is not as extreme as it was a couple of days ago,” said Thanh Nguyen, a fire information officer.

On the Trail of 100 Giants, one tree known as the “natural bench” sequoia because of the shape of its base was confirmed to have sustained some burning.

Several sequoia groves have been impacted by the Windy Fire but it’s not clear whether any other sequoia trees have been burned.

Nguyen said fire can move through a grove by burning other types of trees and vegetation rather than sequoias and assessments will come later.

The largest trees on the Trail of 100 Giants are on average 220 feet (67 meters) tall, 20 feet (6.1 meters) in diameter and 1,500 years old, Nguyen said.

“Those trees are beloved,” he said.

Firefighters have been hand-digging control lines and spraying water to protect the trees and have worked to protect several evacuated communities. The only structure lost so far was the Mule Peak fire lookout structure, which burned in the early stages of the fire even though it was wrapped in fire-resistant material.

More than 7,500 wildfires have scorched about 3,600 square miles (9,324 square kilometers) in California so far this year.

Nearly half of that land — 1,505 square miles (3,898 square kilometers) — was burned by the Dixie Fire across five counties in the northern Sierra and southern Cascades region. It is the second-largest fire on record in California and was 90% contained after destroying 1,329 homes, businesses and other structures since July 13.

South of Lake Tahoe, the 342-square-mile (886-square-kilometer) Caldor Fire is three-quarters contained after destroying 800 homes and commercial properties. Highway 50, the main route between the San Francisco Bay Area and the south end of the alpine resort lake, reopened to the public on Tuesday for the first time in weeks.

Historic drought tied to climate change is making wildfires harder to fight. It has killed millions of trees in California alone. Scientists say climate change has made the West much warmer and drier in the past 30 years and will continue to make weather more extreme and wildfires more frequent and destructive.

63 endangered African penguins killed by swarm of bees

A group of 63 endangered African penguins was found dead in South Africa after apparently having been killed by a swarm of bees. 

Photo by TheOtherKev/Pixabay


Sept. 20 (UPI) -- Dozens of endangered African penguins appeared to have been killed by a swarm of bees in South Africa.

South African National Parks, or SANParks, said 63 penguins were found dead at a Colony in Simonstown, near Cape Town, with the deaths occurring sometime between Thursday afternoon and Friday morning.

A preliminary investigation suggested the penguins died after being stung by Cape honey bees.

"The post-mortems revealed that all the penguins had multiple bee stings and many dead bees were found at the site where the birds had died," SanParks said.

The post-mortem reports found that the penguins had been stung around the eyes and on their flippers. They had no other physical injuries.

One penguin had been stung 27 times.

"Seeing the number of stings in individual birds, it would have probably been deadly for any animal of that size," Dr. Katta, Ludynia, of the Southern African Foundation for the Conservation of Coastal Birds, told the BBC.

National parks officials said it was the first known bee attack at Boulders Beach.

"Usually the penguins and bees co-exist," Dr. Allison Kock, a SANParks marine biologist, said. "The bees don't sting unless provoked -- we are working on the assumption that a nest or hive in the area was disturbed and caused a mass of bees to flee the nest, swarm and became aggressive."

Having older sisters boosts survival odds for elephant calves

Asian elephants that grow up with siblings enjoy greater longterm survival rates than elephants that grow up without brothers or sisters. Photo by Virpi Lummaa

Sept. 21 (UPI) -- Only children may be at risk of stigma, but for humans, growing up without siblings isn't exactly dangerous. The same can't be said for elephants.

According to a new study, published Tuesday in the Journal of Animal Ecology, young elephants that grow up with older siblings enjoyed higher rates of survival and reproduced at a younger age than calves that grew up without siblings.

Females who were raised with older sisters had higher rates of long-term survival and reproduced two years younger on average.

Elephants that begin reproducing earlier tend to generate more offspring over their course of their lifetime.

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Male calves had slightly lower rates of survival when raised alongside older sisters rather than older brothers. However, having older sisters was associated with higher body weight for male elephant calves.

Researchers suggest the "live-fast, die-young" phenomenon may explain the discrepancy, as male elephants who mature faster may sacrifice long-term health.

"Our research confirms that sibling relationships shape individual lives, particularly in social species, such as the elephants, where cooperative behaviors are essential to the development, survival and reproductive potential of individuals," lead study author Vérane Berger, researcher at the University of Turku in Finland, said in a press release.

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Studying wild elephants over long periods of time is quite difficult, making it near impossible to study the long-term behavior and health impacts of siblings.

For the latest study, researchers studied semi-captive timber elephants living in Myanmar.

During the day, the elephants are used as work animals. Local people ride the elephants and use the large mammal to pull plows and haul goods. At night, the elephants live in the forest unsupervised.

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The semi-captive elephants mate and interact with both wild and tame elephants. Calves are raised my their mothers for five years until they're trained for work by the local people.

Regulations set by the Myanmar Timber Enterprise limit the kinds and amount of work elephants can be deployed to do.

"Because the elephants live in their natural habitats, there are many similarities to wild elephants, such as natural foraging and no assistance in breeding," study co-author Mirkka Lahdenperä said in the release.

"While there are differences -- in the wild, family groups are probably bigger -- there are more similarities than differences and we could assume that some of the associations found in our study would also hold true for wild elephants. But of course, these should be studied," said Lahdenperä, a postdoctoral researcher in the elephant and human projects at Turku.

Researchers have been studying the use of elephants for labor in Myanmar for years, and records of timber elephant populations date back decades.

For the study, scientists analyzed body mass, reproduction, sex and survival information for 2,344 calves born between 1945 and 2018.

Because the researchers didn't have information on the quality of maternal care and other external factors, they couldn't control for all the variables that might influence survivability and sexual maturity.

"By collecting more information on the body mass of mothers at birth, we hope to disentangle maternal effects from sibling effects," Berger said.

"More data will also let us explore the effects of the environment on sibling relationships and go into more detail on the effects siblings have on specific aspects of a younger calf's health, such as immunity, muscular function and hormonal variations," Berger said.

Six Ojibwe tribes sue Wisconsin to block fall wolf hunt

Six Ojibwe Native American tribes have sued the state of Wisconsin to block the state's fall wolf hunt, saying state agencies have violated treaties granting them equal share of any game hunted.

 File Photo by Geoffrey Kuchera/Shutterstock


Sept. 21 (UPI) -- Six Native American tribes sued Wisconsin on Tuesday in an effort to stop the state's wolf hunting and trapping season.

The six Ojibwe tribes claim the state's Department of Natural Resources and Natural Resources Board "knowingly discriminated" against the tribes by acting to nullify their share of wolves hunted in the upcoming Nov. 6 season, violating a pair of treaties dating back to 1837 and 1842.

The suit also states that the Natural Resources Board failed to use "sound biological principles" in establishing a quota of 300 wolves for the fall hunt, more than twice the number recommended by officials with the Department of Natural Resources.

Under the terms of the treaties, the tribes retain the right to hunt, fish and gather food in parts of northern Wisconsin that have been ceded to the U.S. government and are entitled to an equal share of any game hunted.

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The Ojibwe tribes say wolves help to enhance and maintain healthy ecosystems and elect to use their share to protect wolves rather than kill them.

In their suit, the tribes note that Wisconsin's February hunting and trapping season resulted in 218 wolves being killed, 99 above the state quota which allocated 119 to the state and 81 for the tribes.

"In our treaty rights, we're supposed to share with the state 50-50 in our resources and we're feeling that we're not getting our due diligence because of the slaughter of wolves in February," John Johnson Sr., president of Lac du Flambeau Band of Lake Superior Chippewa Indians said in a statement.

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Lac du Flambeau band is joined by the Bad River Band of Lake Superior Chippewa, Lac Courte Oreilles Band of Lake Superior Chippewa Indians, Red Cliff Band of Lake SUpperior Chippewa Indians, the Sokaogon Chippewa Community and St. Croix Chippewa Indians of Wisconsin in the suit.

Summer snow creates wintry scenes around Yellowstone
By Zachary Rosenthal, Accuweather.com

Astronomical summer might not end for another day, but high-elevation areas in Montana, Idaho and Wyoming all saw their first snowfalls of the season this weekend, with more snow showers in the forecast.

September snowfalls are not particularly uncommon in parts of the West. Denver, which has recorded significant September snowfalls in the not-too-distant past, still averages 1 inch of snow during the month of September. According to the National Park Service, Yellowstone averages a half-inch of snowfall during the month of September.



Snow showers made it all the way down to the Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone River, where AccuWeather forecasts an additional coating to an inch of snowfall. At Big Sky Resort, a popular skiing destination in Montana, the early-season snowfall lightly covered some of the resort's ski trails.

A time-lapse video shows clouds rolling over Lone Mountain, home to Big Sky Resort, before the mountain is enveloped by a wall of white. When the mountain emerges from the thick cloud cover, it has been whitened by snowfall. Still, ski season at Big Sky does not typically begin until around the Thanksgiving holiday, so don't dig out the ski poles from your closet yet.

The early-season snowfall that struck the region came as temperatures plummeted 10-20 degrees Fahrenheit below normal, pushing snow levels to 7,000 feet.

The snowfall that struck wasn't particularly heavy for the region, but it made for pretty sights across parts of the Rocky Mountains, including outside Grand Teton, Wyo. Along parts of the John D. Rockefeller Jr. Memorial Parkway, which helps to connect the Yellowstone and Grand Teton National Parks, the National Weather Service estimates that up to 8 inches of snow fell.

Despite the snowfall out West, most parts of the country still have a long way to go before winter begins. Astronomical winter does not start until Dec. 21, although cold weather and snowfall are certainly possible across vast swaths of the country before that date.

Still, with seasonable temperatures and thunderstorms still forecast across much of the eastern United States in the coming days, it is definitely not yet time to get out your snow boots.

Instead, get ready for pumpkin patches and fall foliage, which is starting to take off across higher elevations and northern parts of the country. Read AccuWeather's 2021 fall foliage forecast to see how vibrant the colors are expected to be in your area.

6.5-magnitude earthquake strikes in northwest Nicaragua


The earthquake could be felt in other Central American countries, including Belize, Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala and Honduras. Image courtesy U.S. Geological Survey

Sept. 22 (UPI) -- A powerful earthquake struck off the Nicaraguan coast early Wednesday.

The U.S. Geological Survey said the quake had a magnitude of 6.5 and struck about 50 miles southwest of Jiquilillo.

The USGS said the quake had a depth of about 20 miles.

There were no immediate reports of injuries or major damage. A tsunami warning was not issued.

The earthquake could be felt in other Central American countries, including Belize, Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala and Honduras.

Jiquilillo is a beach resort town in northwestern Nicaragua located about 90 miles northwest of Managua.

Study: More women using marijuana to help ease menopause symptoms

By Dennis Thompson, HealthDay News

Women are increasingly using marijuana to ease the symptoms of menopause, according to a new study. Photo by Circe Denyer/publicdomainpictures

Restlessness. Night sweats. Anxiety. Irritability. Aches and pains.

Would smoking a little pot help women deal with these common symptoms of menopause?

A good number of middle-aged women apparently think so, because they've been turning to marijuana to help handle the change of life, a new study reports.

"Midlife women within the menopause transition period of their life are using cannabis, and they're using it for symptoms that tend to overlap with menopause," said lead researcher Katherine Babyn, a graduate student at the University of Alberta in Canada.

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There's just one drawback -- little to no research has proven that pot can effectively treat menopause-related symptoms, said Dr. Stephanie Faubion, medical director of the North American Menopause Society.

"This hasn't been studied formally in women going through menopause, and so we don't know what the potential benefits or risks are," Faubion said. "That's the danger here, is we're using a drug that has not been studied."

For this study, Babyn and her colleagues surveyed nearly 1,500 middle-aged women in the Canadian province of Alberta.

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Two-thirds of the women said they had used pot at some time, and one-third said they'd done so within the past month.

Of the current users, 75% reported that they'd been using pot for medical purposes, even though only 23% had it medically prescribed to them.

They used pot in a number of forms, including 52% who use edibles, 47% who use oils, 41% who smoked flower and 26% who used a vape.

The products they used combined cannabidiol, or CBD, and THC, which is the chemical in pot that causes intoxication. About 58% reported using CBD/THC blends, while 36% used products with high THC and 35% used products with high CBD.

The most common menopause-related issues they were trying to address with pot included:
Troubling, at 74%
Anxiety, at 59%
Difficulty concentrating, at 58%
Irritability, at 55%
Muscle and joint aches, at 53%

Across the board, women who used cannabis reported more menopause symptoms than those who didn't use, "but we can't establish which way that relationship goes," Babyn said.

Faubion said the findings tell her that women who use cannabis have worse symptoms.

"Is it that they have worse symptoms that's driving them to cannabis, or is the cannabis making their symptoms worse?" she said. "We can't really make conclusions based on this article."

Up to 74% of the women reported improvement in their symptoms after using cannabis, said senior researcher Nese Yuksel, a professor of pharmacy and pharmaceutical sciences at the University of Alberta.

But because it was a general question relating to all symptoms, "we can't make any real association with it," Yuksel said. "What we feel is that women feel they're getting some benefit, but we can't say that conclusively."

Faubion, Yuksel and Babyn agreed that until more medical evidence has accrued regarding pot's benefits, women are better off relying on tried-and-true menopause treatments.

"There is a need for future research to really investigate whether cannabis would be effective and safe for managing menopause symptoms," Babyn said.

Faubion agreed.

"We have safe and effective therapies for menopause symptoms," she said. "I would not be directing them to something that hasn't been studied."

Doctors should reach out to patients to assess their symptoms and steer them toward effective treatments, Yuksel said.

"It's a wake-up call to say we need to have these discussions with our patients," she said. "A lot of women do kind of fall through the cracks as far as even getting their symptoms assessed and knowing what different approaches there are for treatment."

The study was presented Wednesday at the annual meeting of the North American Menopause Society, in Washington, D.C. Findings presented at medical meetings are considered preliminary until published in a peer-reviewed journal.

More information

Harvard Medical School has more about dealing with the symptoms of menopause.

Copyright © 2021 HealthDay. All rights reserved. 

Federal marijuana legalization could tax drug back to the street, experts say


Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., speaks during a news conference to call for the decriminalization of marijuana at the federal level at the U.S. Capitol in Washington, D.C., on July 14. He is joined by Sens. Cory Booker (L), D-N.J., and Ron Wyden, D-Ore., who have been working in support of the legislation.

 File Photo by Sarah Silbiger/UPI | License Photo


PORTLAND, Ore., Sept. 22 (UPI) -- As more states and the public embrace legal cannabis, Congress is considering a bill to legalize the drug at the federal level and clear up legal ambiguity that's hampered the burgeoning industry.

But drug reform advocates and the cannabis industry have reacted cautiously to what may be the best shot at federal marijuana legalization. The Cannabis Administration and Opportunity Act, backed by U.S. Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., would disrupt the varying tax structures for the 19 states that have legal recreational weed.

The cannabis industry and its allies worry that federal legalization will come with higher taxes that'll put smaller companies out of business and send consumers back to the unregulated market.

"We need to be careful not to kill the goose that laid the golden egg," said Eric Gaston, owner of Evergreen Market, a chain of five recreational cannabis stores in the Seattle area.

The bill faces an uncertain future with Republican opposition, unease among moderate Democrats and no clear signals from the White House, The New York Times reports. But the bill's backing from Schumer, as well as Sen. Ron Wyden, chair of the powerful Senate Finance Committee, shows how mainstream the once fringe idea has become.

The proposal shows how taxation will remain a stumbling block for any federal legalization measure.

Gaston's business is an example of the complicated -- and expensive -- relationship weed stores already have with the tax collector.

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Evergreen Market has many common business expenses: attorneys fees, rent, utilities and payroll for 170 employees. But unlike more conventional businesses, Gaston can't deduct common expenses from his tax bill to the federal government because it recognizes no legal use of marijuana.

Gaston must pay Washington state's 37% excise tax and 10% sales tax on recreational cannabis -- the highest of any state that has legalized the drug. The state tax rate, along with being blocked from writing off many expenses, means that more than half of every dollar he makes goes to taxes.

The bill would allow cannabis businesses to access write-offs used by other businesses. It also funds programs intended to assist communities affected by the drug war. That funding comes from a 10% excise tax placed on cannabis in the first year the bill is enacted that would grow to 25% by the fifth year.

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Industry groups have complained that the 25% rate still leaves businesses burdened.

Beau Whitney, a Portland, Ore.-based cannabis economist, said many cannabis businesses have little left after paying expenses and taxes. The legislation would increase the taxes for cannabis businesses that would disproportionately affect smaller operations owned by women or minorities.

Even with normal business deductions, cannabis businesses would pay $1.1 billion in higher taxes between 2021 and 2025, according to his analysis.

"If businesses have increased costs, it's hard to push those costs onto consumers," he said. "If it goes to the consumer, they will go back to the illicit market, but if operators absorb those costs, they are under stress. It's a lose-lose scenario."

A federal marijuana tax would also disrupt the existing tax structure in the 19 states that have legalized the drug for recreational use.

In a letter sent this month to Schumer, Karen O'Keefe, director of state policies for the Marijuana Policy Project, pointed out, for instance, that Alaska only taxes cannabis at the point of sale from a state-licensed cultivator. So Alaska would see no revenue from products brought in from out of state under relaxed federal restrictions, she wrote.

Colorado Attorney General Phil Weiser also weighed in with a letter arguing that the proposed cannabis tax rate "would pressure states to consider cutting their tax rates," reducing revenues they rely on for social equity and education programs. He also warned that national cannabis regulations could spur consolidations and push smaller, local businesses out.

"We are learning that the cannabis industry is quickly becoming a piggy bank for special projects," said Peter Marcus, spokesman for Terrapin, a chain of six recreational stores in Colorado.

He said headlines of how much money is flowing through the industry obscure its tight margins and how many are struggling or going out of business.

Colorado has a combined 30% wholesale and retail transaction tax on cannabis. Marcus said the rate could be higher as the state government seeks money to cover services. He pointed to Initiative 25, an education funding measure Colorado voters will decide on in November. If approved, it will add another sales tax on cannabis that will rise to 5% by 2024.

Vicki Christophersen, executive director of the Washington CannaBusiness Association, said that if taxes become too high they'll undermine the legal market and send consumers back to the black market, which doesn't have safeguards to keep products safe and out of the hands of minors.

She said she's grateful that Congress is seriously discussing legalization and expects there to be some taxation. But she said that discussion needs to consider how state and local cannabis taxes will play into any national regulation framework.

"Every state has a different tax structure, and I don't think we necessarily know what that sweet spot is," she said.

Heaviest rainfall in more than a decade floods major city in India
By  Mary Gilbert, AccuWeather, Accuweather.com

People wade through flooded street at Sonarpur town near Kolkata, Eastern India, on Tuesday. 

Photo by Piyal Adhikary/EPA-EFE

Sept. 22 (UPI) -- Streets and homes were inundated with floodwaters and transportation ground to a halt on Monday when the Indian city of Kolkata received more than 50% of its normal rainfall for the entire month of September in just 24 hours.

AccuWeather forecasters say an area of low pressure that originated in the Bay of Bengal brought a record-breaking period of torrential rainfall over Kolkata to start the week. In a 24-hour period ending Monday morning, Kolkata, the capital of India's West Bengal state, received 5.60 inches of rainfall.

According to the India Meteorological Department, the only larger single-day rainfall total in September ever recorded occurred on Sept. 25, 2007, when 6.85 inches of rain fell, making the rainfall that deluged Kolkata early this week the heaviest rainfall in nearly 14 years.

The heaviest rain occurred over the course of Sunday night and many residents woke up to significant flooding issues on Monday morning.

Streets were completely flooded as commuters waded through knee-high to waist-high floodwaters. Vehicles that attempted to forge floodwaters were submerged in water that reached the top of the tires and created waves that crested higher than front headlights.


Portions of the Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose International Airport in Kolkata were underwater for a time on Monday, but the airport was still able to operate without a complete shut down.

However, other transportation services were completely overrun by floodwaters. Operation of the Kolkata Circular Railway, a railway loop that encircles the entire city, was suspended on Monday, according to the Hindustan Times.

One of the primary reasons this early week rainfall led to so many issues throughout Kolkata, home to 14.85 million people, was the unusually high rainfall rates.

"Kolkata's drainage system can handle up to 6 mm [0.2 of an inch] in an hour, but several parts of the city received over 100 mm [4 inches] of rain in four or five hours. It is impossible to avert waterlogging in such a situation," a Kolkata Municipal Corporation senior engineer told to The Telegraph India.



According to the IMD, more than 4 inches of the overnight deluge fell between 1 a.m. and 7 a.m.

"We operated all 76 pumping stations in full capacity, yet the water could not be drained out from most places till Monday evening," said the KMC engineer.

On average, the city receives a total of just under 11.5 inches of rain over the course of September, largely due to the effects of the Southwest monsoon.

For residents hoping to begin cleaning up after Monday's flooding event, AccuWeather forecasters caution that Mother Nature may not be of much assistance through at least midweek.

"A weak area of low pressure will bring rain, some heavy, to Odisha and West Bengal, including Kolkata, into Wednesday. Scattered, generally lighter, rains are expected the rest of the week," AccuWeather lead international meteorologist Jason Nicholls said.

West Bengal wasn't the only Indian state to encounter severe weather this week. In the state of Madhya Pradesh, at least five people were killed and at least one other was injured as a result of lightning strikes on Tuesday.

The frequency of lightning strikes is often elevated during India's monsoon season.

"Monsoonal storms can result in an impressive amount of lighting," AccuWeather meteorologist Alyssa Smithmyer said.

From April 2020 through March 2021, over 18.5 million lightning strikes were recorded across the country and nearly 1,700 people were killed by lightning, according to information gathered by India's annual lightning report.

RUSSIA

Witnesses recount horror of Perm State University shooting

Witnesses describe the brutality of the attacker, who killed six people and wounded dozens at the Russian university. University lecturers say students should not be left to deal with the trauma alone.

The shock sits deep among students and staff at Perm State University

Alexei Trapesnikov was about to get in his car and leave Perm State University after a presentation on campus — but he wasn't able to. "The security guards at the entrance told me to turn back," Trapesnikov, a reporter with Rossiyskaya Gazeta, told DW. 

"I saw a man covered in blood running towards the building. He appeared to have a shotgun wound in his abdomen. He fell. You could hear chaotic shooting." 

When Trapesnikov returned to the campus on the advice of the guards, he began to film the unfolding events that Monday from the window of one of the buildings. However, he could not see the suspected shooter who went on a rampage at the university in Perm. After the suspect was arrested, the journalist began to form a picture of the carnage that the man had left behind.

Trapesnikov is calm, but clearly shocked. "I walked along the corridor and saw a body," he said. "An older woman, who was a member of the university staff, was screaming. It was a surreal, nightmarish image."

The attacker killed at least six people and wounded dozens more.

'Shotgun wounds were huge'

The reporter did not take footage of the bodies of the dead students. "There are moments that you just can't film," he said. According to the journalist, the perpetrator must have used "a very big caliber."

"The shotgun wounds were huge. You only shoot bears or elk like that. It leaves dreadful wounds on the body," added the journalist.

The gunman used large-caliber ammunition

He also gained access to video footage in which the attacker first wounded a security guard and then pulled him into the building and "shot him in the head in front of everyone's eyes." People ran away and the gunman started to shoot everyone he encountered, says Trapesnikov.

"This was a very brutal attack," he stressed. The journalist said the two civilian guards did not stand a chance.

"There has never been a massacre like that here in Perm. Our city is pretty quiet," he said. There have been security exercises for this kind of event at the university, but no one ever thought that something like this could happen, he added. During the attack, a few people even thought that it was just another drill, says Trapesnikov.

The mass shooting in Perm was very similar to the deadly massacre in the Russian city of Kazan in which nine people were killed in a school gym in May this year, according to the journalist. "It is as if the perpetrators knew one another, or one had copied the other."

'At first, I thought it was a fire'

Ivan Petchichtchev, a lecturer at the Institute of Journalism at Perm State University, was on his way to his students that morning. His lecture was due to begin at 11:30 am, but he was running a little late. When he walked past Building 8, he suddenly saw students jumping out of windows on the second floor.

"You could hear screams and people panicking. Everyone was running away. At first, I thought there was a fire. But the students said it was gunfire. Shortly afterward, I heard the shots myself. It was terrible and we ran out of the building," said Petchichtchev.

Students jumped out of windows to escape the massacre

His first thought went out to his students, who were in a different building. "I realized they were waiting for me because I was late. I thought that they might not know about what was happening and was worried — God forbid — that they might leave the building. So I tried to get to them as quickly as possible," said the lecturer.

After taking a circuitous route and sheltering behind parked cars, he finally arrived at Building 2 where his lecture was due to be held, only to discover that he could not get in. "Security had cordoned off all the entrances. Everything was closed. I only managed to get in with great difficulty after showing my employee ID," Petchichtchev said.

'Everyone was very scared'

By this time, however, his students had already found out what was happening via social media. Everyone was very scared, some were crying.

"We were stuck in a cordoned-off building and in a locked auditorium. We were told from time to time on the intercom system that we were not allowed to leave the room under any circumstances," said Petchichtchev.

After about 90 minutes, he said they got permission to leave the room. "We were led out of the building in an organized manner," according to the lecturer.

After that, everyone was sent home and classes were canceled. 

Six people were killed and dozens wounded in the barbaric attack

The city's inhabitants are shocked about the tragedy that unfolded at the university. "While I was walking home along the street, I met a neighbor, a colleague and a student. They all know that I work at the university and they asked me whether everything was OK. This is a shock for Perm," said the lecturer. 

Students will need help

Ivan Petchichtchev is certain that many students will need psychological support after the massacre. "When I left the building, I bumped into colleagues from the Chair of General Psychology. I talked to them. They also think that the students will need professional help."

He does not think it is a good idea now to switch to distance learning. "That means the students will be left to deal on their own with their thoughts, with the stress that they have experienced," he said.

"I only saw students from my group and they were not affected, thank God! But others were in the midst of this nightmare. That is why many will need psychological help — and the university has staff capable of giving that."

This article was originally written in Russian.