A 77-year-old Italian man was killed by a group of wild boars on Saturday as he tried to defend his dogs from the charging animals near his home in Sicily, local police reported.

Salvatore Rinaudo was walking his dogs in the countryside outside the town of Cefalu, near the Sicilian capital of Palermo, when he was attacked and bitten to death despite his wife's attempt to save him, police said. She was also injured in the attack by the wild animals, which can weigh up to 150 kg.

The mayor of Cefalu said he had repeatedly warned of the dangers of the local boar population but his calls for a cull had been rejected by regional authorities.

Italian agriculture lobby Coldiretti described the uncontrolled spread of wild boars that destroy harvests, kill farm animals, cause road accidents and increasingly put human lives at risk as a "national emergency".

"It's no longer just a question of claiming for damages, it has become a question of safety for people who live in the country," Coldiretti said in a statement.

EPWU worked the scene until the late afternoon on Thursday. The car was pulled from the hole and towed and its driver did not suffer any injuries, according to KVIA.

KVIA news reported the five to six-foot deep hole was the result of a water main break that happened around 5:30 a.m. at the intersection of Shadow Mountain and Thunderbird on the city's West Side.

What a totally insane week to be a weatherperson in China. Just as we prepare to be hit by a super typhoon following a week of egg-melting heat, not-so-tiny balls of ice start falling from the sky onto Beijing.

Yesterday evening, a large number of local residents whipped out their smart phones and captured the scenes as a sudden hailstorm struck the nation's capital and managed to do a good bit of damage.

Helpful local news reports give the size of the hail stones as around "as big as a dove egg". Sounds about right

A Delta jet was forced to make an emergency landing at Denver International Airport after it was caught in a hail storm that damaged its windshield and nose cone.

The plane was headed to Salt Lake City from Boston Friday when it was pounded by hail. Passenger Rob Wessman said passengers were holding hands and crying.

"I was nervous," he said. "I was messaging my wife, actually. 'Hey, this is pretty scary.'"

The New Zealand Transport Agency said extreme care was advised on South Island highways after a heavy dumping of snow overnight.

Spokesperson Lee Wright said police had assisted motorists on state highways and some had been taken to safety.

A considerable amount of snow had fallen on the Lewis Pass especially, and it would be some time before it dissipated.

"The Lewis Pass has 400mm of snow and a very heavy snow burden on the trees," Wright said.

"It is estimated that some of the 'snow bombs' are up to 3/4 tonne so no work can be done in these areas until they fall."

More bad weather is predicted today with forecasts showing snow down to 200 metres.

Police are warning motorists to use snow chains on most routes and many highways are down to 60km/h in many places.

As the empire's noose around humanity's neck grows ever tighter, Nature responds to global suffering by alternately torching and drowning 'modern civilization'. July 2015 saw record-breaking heatwaves in western US, western Europe, and eastern Asia. Record numbers of wildfires breaking out across northern Canada and western US have forced the evacuation of thousands and torching millions of acres. In a scene one might expect in a Hollywood disaster movie, one wildfire outside Los Angeles crossed a highway and torched dozens of vehicles. In-between raging wildfires and epic drought, western US states saw record-breaking rainfall, with the highest July rainfall ever in southern California... falling within minutes.

From extreme heat to extreme cold, Australia is in the midst of its coldest and snowiest winter in decades. Most striking last month were sudden changes the world over, as local weather flipped from one extreme to another, often in a matter of hours. In the midst of record-breaking heat in Germany, for example, parts of the country were hit by tornadoes, flash-flooding and several inches of hail, while The Netherlands recorded its strongest ever July storm. Powerful typhoons battered Japan and China, dumping several FEET of rain and causing destructive landslides. Buildings were washed away by flash-flooding in northern Iran, Kazakhstan, Pakistan, India, Colombia and Brazil, while an unusually heavy monsoon season brought Myanmar and Vietnam their worst flooding in decades.

Destructive tornadoes in North America last month included one that was on the ground for nearly three hours, estimated to be the longest-duration tornado since 1925. Elsewhere, a powerful tornado left serious damage in a suburb of Venice, Italy. Whether they occur in the tropics, deserts, or high plains, and during 'winter' or 'summer', destructive hailstorms with ever-larger hailstones continue to defy normal patterns by occurring everywhere from southern Spain to the Philippines. St. Petersburg, Russia saw streets turn into icy rivers TWICE last month. Mass animal deaths, meanwhile, continue at an alarming rate, with diverse marine species washing up on US beaches, and half of this year's salmon in the Pacific Northwest estimated to have died.

These were the signs of the times in July 2015...

A powerful typhoon, magnified by fierce winds and torrential rain, has ripped through central Taiwan after making landfall on the east coast, cutting power to nearly 3 million households and killing four people.

As the eye of Typhoon Soudelor passed over Taiwan, in addition to the dead, 64 were injured and four were missing, Reuters reported. Over 7,500 people have been evacuated. Hundreds of flights have been delayed or canceled, authorities said.

Etienne Leinyuy, a second year student, was struck on August 4, 2015, while playing football.

Etienne Leinyuy, a University of Buea student was struck dead on August 4, 2015 by a lightning bolt on the football field of Catholic School, Bajing, Tobin-Kumbo, in Bui Division of North West Region.

At the time of the incident about 3:30 pm, the deceased, Cliford Leinyuy, the junior brother, and others were playing a game of football. According to Cliford Leinyuy, the strike tore Etienne's clothes and also burnt parts of his shoes. Other players who were lightly hit by the lightning bolt recovered from the shock soon after and did not have go to hospital.

Cliford, a Form Four student, said after the lightning struck, he was the first person who rushed to his brother's assistance. He said the deceased murmured a few words to him which were not quite clear before he died while being rushed to hospital on a motorbike. The residence of Mrs. Florence Leinyuy, a widow, was filled with mourners and sympathisers soon after news of the son's death broke out.

A heat wave that has already killed dozens and sickened thousands in Japan reached another torrid milestone Thursday as the nation's capital, Tokyo, suffered an unprecedented eighth consecutive day of extreme heat.

Tokyo reached 36.7 degrees Celsius (98.1 degrees Fahrenheit) shortly before noon local time Friday, marking its eighth straight day of highs at or above Japan's "extreme heat" threshold of 35 C (95 F). An analysis of Japan Meteorological Agency data, conducted by The Weather Channel, confirmed that the previous record was just four consecutive days sent on five different occasions between 1978 and 2013. Records began in central Tokyo in June 1875.

The torrid late-morning reading also marked central Tokyo's highest reported temperature since Aug. 30, 2013. The city's all-time record high remains 39.5 C (103.1 F) set July 20, 2004.

The toll from Japan's ongoing heat wave accelerated last week, boosting the year's official tally to 55 heat-related deaths and sending more than 11,000 to the hospital according to new government figures released Tuesday.

Summer 2015 is again seeing numbers of dead dolphins washing up on the shore of Bulgaria's Black Sea coastline, with violence suspected as the cause of death in some cases, but as in all previous years, there is no clarity on what causes the phenomenon.

In some cases in previous years, there have been allegations of dolphins being shot or otherwise killed by fishermen protecting their nets.

None of these allegations has been proven and no one has been arrested in connection with the killing of a dolphin along Bulgaria's Black Sea coast for years. Activists have alleged that police show scant interest in investigating the cases.

There are three species of dolphins in the Black Sea off Bulgaria - the short-beaked common dolphin, the harbour porpoise, and the common bottlenose dolphin - all of them protected by law. The penalty for killing a dolphin from any of these species is 5000 to 20 000 leva (about 2500 to 10 000 euro) and imprisonment of up to five years.

Bulgaria's Biological Diversity Act also bans harassing, chasing or capturing dolphins from these species, and says that if a dead dolphin is washed ashore, it should be moved until examined by the Regional Enviroment and Water Inspectorate to establish the species and to report on the death of the Minister of Environment and Water.