A truck has spilled more than 150,000 tomatoes across a busy motorway in the US state of California, bringing traffic to a standstill. The splattered tomatoes caused seven cars to crash and closed much of the Interstate 80 highway on Monday. Three people had minor injuries and a fourth is in hospital with a broken leg, California Highway Patrol said. During tomato season, lorry drivers use the major motorway to transport the fruit across the state. An initial collision caused the tomato truck to swerve into the central divide of the motorway, spilling fist-sized tomatoes across a 200ft section of the motorway, according to reports. This left a sea of red sauce about “two feet deep”, said Highway Patrol Officer Jason Tyhurst. Cars drove over the squelching tomatoes, creating a dangerous slurry of tomato juice, oil and dirt. “These tomato skins, man, once they hit the asphalt it’s like walking on ice,” said Mr Tyhurst, speaking to the New York Times. Clean-up crews allowed the road to reopen several hours later. The Golden State produces more than 90% of the country’s processed tomatoes and almost half of global processed tomatoes, according to the California Tomato Growers Association.(BBC)…[+]

An Australian man who became the subject of a popular crime podcast has been found guilty of his wife’s murder – 40 years after she went missing. Chris Dawson’s trial followed decades of speculation about the 1982 disappearance of his wife, Lynette. A judge ruled Dawson killed his wife so he could continue his relationship with his teenage lover and babysitter, known only as JC for legal reasons. Mrs Dawson’s body is still missing and all the evidence was circumstantial. Dawson was charged in 2018 after the podcast, The Teacher’s Pet, garnered global attention and prompted a renewed investigation. A sentencing date is yet to be set and Dawson’s lawyer has indicated he is likely to appeal against the conviction. The 74-year-old denies killing Mrs Dawson, maintaining she had abandoned him and their two children – possibly to join a religious group. But while handing down his verdict on Tuesday, Justice Ian Harrison said the evidence against Dawson was “persuasive and compelling”.(BBC)…[+]

European Union countries will face five to 10 terrible winters if nothing is done to reduce gas prices, Belgium’s energy minister says. Tinne Van der Straeten said gas prices should be frozen and not used to dictate the price of electricity. EU states have been struggling with huge energy price hikes since key gas supplier Russia invaded Ukraine in February, triggering sanctions. Countries backing Ukraine are trying to cut imports of Russian gas and oil. Russia, which supplied the EU with 40% of its gas last year, has in turn restricted supplies. As well as gas, electricity prices have reached record highs. Natural gas is still widely used to generate electricity. Because gas prices have risen, this costs more. Significantly, this price is used when buying electricity wholesale even when it comes from much cheaper renewable resources. “We have to stop this madness that is happening right now on energy markets,” Austria’s Chancellor Karl Nehammer said.(BBC)…[+]

A Dutch commando has died of his injuries after being shot outside an Indianapolis hotel while off-duty. He was one of three Dutch soldiers, all in the US for training exercises, who were wounded in the shooting in the early hours of Saturday. According to the Dutch Defence Ministry the two other victims are conscious and remain stable in hospital. Police believe the shooting followed an earlier disturbance in downtown Indianapolis, but gave few details. The city’s law enforcement agencies are still investigating the shooting and have so far not reported any arrests. An earlier police statement said detectives did not believe it was a “random act”. According to local media, the incident took place around 03:30 (07:30 GMT) on Saturday outside the Hampton Inn Hotel in the city’s entertainment district, where the three soldiers had been staying.(BBC)…[+]

An inspection team from the UN nuclear watchdog is on its way to Ukraine’s embattled Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant, the organisation’s head said. Rafael Grossi, director general of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) said the team was expected to arrive at the plant later this week. “We must protect the safety and security of Ukraine’s and Europe’s biggest nuclear facility,” he tweeted. The nuclear plant has been occupied by invading Russian troops since March. Fighting around the facility in Ukraine’s south-east has led to mounting global concern over the safety and security of the site. Ukraine and Russia have accused one another of shelling the area.(BBC)…[+]

South Korea has again recorded the world’s lowest fertility rate with the number sinking to a new low. The rate in the country first dropped lower than one child per woman in 2018. But on Wednesday, figures released by the government showed the figure had dropped to 0.81 – down three points from the previous year, and a sixth consecutive decline. In comparison, the average rate across the world’s most advanced economies is 1.6 children. Countries need at least two children per couple – a 2.1 rate – to keep their population at the same size, without migration. Fertility rates have “declined markedly” in the past six decades says the OECD – Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development. But the trend has been particularly pronounced in South Korea, where family sizes have reduced in the span of a few generations. At the start of the 1970s women had four children on average. A declining population can put a country under immense strain. (BBC)…[+]

Kobe Bryant’s widow has been awarded $16m (£13.6m) in damages over leaked graphic photos of the helicopter crash that killed the US basketball star and his daughter in 2020. Vanessa Bryant, 40, said she had panic attacks after learning images taken by Los Angeles County sheriff’s deputies and firefighters had been shared. A federal jury now said the county must pay Mrs Bryant for emotional distress. Co-plaintiff Christopher Chester will be paid $15m. Mrs Bryant’s husband Kobe Bryant, 41, daughter Gianna, 13, and six family friends died when their helicopter crashed in California in January 2020. Mr Chester lost his wife Sarah and daughter Payton in the crash. A report by the Los Angeles Times claiming county employees took photos at the crash site and shared them with others has enraged the victims’ families.(BBC)…[+]

France’s transport minister has called for light to be shed on allegations that oil firm TotalEnergies has been indirectly involved in supplying fuel to Russia’s air force. While most Western companies have left Russia, TotalEnergies still has a 49% stake in a Russian gas field. French reports said jet fuel produced from its gas had been used by Russian fighter jets in Ukraine. TotalEnergies has rejected the reports, complaining of unfounded allegations. “It’s an extremely serious subject,” Transport Minister Clément Beaune told France 2 TV. “So it has to be cleared up whether, voluntarily or involuntarily, there has been a misappropriation of either the sanctions or of the energy produced by any company, French or otherwise.” According to Le Monde newspaper, liquid gas condensate from the Termokarstovoye field in Siberia has been converted by a refinery in Omsk into kerosene used as jet fuel by Russian bombers. The paper’s allegations were based on an investigation by NGO Global Witness. The fuel supplied Sukhoi jets that bombarded Mariupol, it reported, in particular the 16 March attack on the Ukrainian city’s theatre where some 600 people were killed.(BBC)…[+]

Peru’s consumer protection agency is suing Spanish oil firm Repsol over a huge oil spill which blackened beaches off the coast of Lima in January. The spill, which Peru called the worst ecological disaster around Lima in recent memory, leaked more than 10,000 barrels into the Pacific Ocean. The civil lawsuit seeks $3bn (£2.54bn) for environmental damage and $1.5bn (£1.27bn) for damages to locals. Repsol has denied responsibility. The company initially said the spill was caused by “sudden and extraordinary anomalous waves produced by the volcanic eruption in Tonga”. However, it later blamed the oil tanker. On Tuesday, a Peruvian judge admitted the $4.5bn lawsuit by Indecopi against Repsol, meaning the case will go to court. An underwater oil pipeline owned by the company caused a spill on 15 January. It happened when an Italian-flagged tanker, Mare Doricum, was unloading at Repsol’s La Pampilla refinery. Repsol has denied responsibility for the spill and said that it sees the claim as “baseless, inadmissible, and inconsistent”. “We have not yet been notified of the court’s acceptance of the complaint, and we do not know the details of the acceptance,” a spokesperson for the firm told the BBC.(BBC)…[+]

The UK imported no fuel from Russia in June for the first time on record, according to official figures. Imports of goods from Russia also fell to £33m in June, the lowest level since records began in January 1997, the Office for National Statics (ONS) said. Western nations have imposed strict sanctions on Russia since it invaded Ukraine in February. The UK has pledged to phase out Russian oil imports by the end of the year and gas imports as soon as possible. Fuel imports from Russia fell by £499m – or 100% – compared with the average for the previous 12 months to February. In 2021, the UK imported around 4% of its gas from Russia, and 11% of its oil, according to the International Energy Agency.(BBC)…[+]