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.

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Massiah Browne was swimming at an apartment complex in Sacramento last Tuesday. That’s when he noticed a young child at the bottom of the pool’s deep end.

The quick-thinking boy jumped into action.

“We saw a boy at the bottom of the pool, and I went to go check on him,” Massiah said.

“He was just, like, upside down, face down, floating on top of the pool,” one woman said.

Massiah grabbed the three-year-old by the hand and pulled him up to the surface. The Sacramento Fire Department responded to the scene and performed CPR.

The three-year-old was breathing normally when they transported him to the hospital.

The McKinney Fire, which started in the northern Siskiyou county on Friday, has already burnt 21,000 hectares (52,500 acres), the state’s fire service said.

At least 2,000 residents as well as trekkers on the Pacific Crest hiking trail have left the area. An unknown number of homes have been destroyed.

It was still 0% contained on Monday morning, the fire service reported.

McKinney Fire is burning in the Klamath National Forest, near the border with Oregon. Some 650 firefighters are battling the flames in punishing heat, the Los Angeles Times reports.

A red flag warning indicating the threat of dangerous fire conditions is in place, as California suffers from persistent drought conditions.

A state of emergency was declared in Siskiyou county on Saturday, after homes were destroyed and infrastructure was threatened, state governor Gavin Newsom said.

The fire was “intensified and spread by dry fuels, extreme drought conditions, high temperatures, winds and lightning storms,” he added.

Several communities are being threatened, including Yreka and Fort Jones, the US Forest Service said.

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Ghanaians and allies in New York and California on Monday, October 11, 2021, organised a protest against the anti-LGBTQI+ bill before Parliament for consideration.

The protest saw rallies organised in Harlem, New York, and in Oakland, California over what they described as a call to scrap the ‘hate bill’.

Eight Members of Parliament jointly submitted a private bill to push for the criminalisation of LGBTQI+ activities in the country.

The bill, which they term as a ‘Bill on the Promotion of Proper Human Sexual Rights and Ghanaian Family Values’, was presented to Speaker Alban Bagbin on June 29, 2021.

The proponents want the promotion, advocacy, funding, and acts of homosexuality to be criminalised in the country.

With the campaign trending with social media hashtags #QueerGhanaianLivesMatter, #KillTheBillGhana, and #Ghanagetsbetter the protesters called on Ghanaians home and abroad to join the call for rejection.

Wielding placards with diverse inscriptions to promote their campaign, the protesters chanted LGBTQ we demand equality in Ghana, Ghana’s hate bill has to go, Freedom and Justice is a lie among others.

They argued the bill, if passed, would ultimately torture and endanger the lives and health of LGBTQI+ Ghanaians.

“It would impede HIV and other health services for LGBTQI+ people. The bill would also require suspected LGBTQI+ people to recant their sexual and gender identities and pay for conversion therapy to avoid prison time,” the protesters said.

They added the law would push Ghana’s LGBTQI+ community further into the shadows and increase incidents of violence, hence their call for rejection.

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Monday’s protest is the latest in series of international protests organised by Ghanaians and allies abroad calling on the country’s parliament to drop the bill or urge President Nana Akufo-Addo not to assent it if it passes.

Meanwhile, the Constitutional, Legal, and Parliamentary Affairs Committee of Parliament has so far received over 124 memoranda from the public over the bill.

Watch the video attached for more:

It is the first anti-stealthing law in the country, the Sacramento Bee reported.

The bill passed the Senate and the Assembly a month ago without opposition, Assemblywoman Cristina Garcia, the bill’s sponsor, said in a statement.

“I have been working on the issue of ‘stealthing’ since 2017 and I am elated that there is now some accountability for those who perpetrate the act.

“Sexual assaults, especially those on women of colour, are perpetually swept under the rug,” Garcia said in a statement when the bill passed.

Garcia cited a study by Yale University that called stealthing “a grave violation of dignity and autonomy” and said cases affecting women and gay men were on the rise.

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People found guilty of removing a condom without consent could be liable for general, special and punitive damages, the law states.

California has an estimated two million immigrants living in the state without documents.

They are not eligible for the $2.2-trillion stimulus package approved by Congress last month, which gives cash payments to most Americans plus boosts unemployment benefits by $600 per week. 

“We feel a deep sense of gratitude for people that are in fear of deportations that are still addressing essential needs of tens of millions of Californians,” said Newsom, who noted 10 percent of the state’s workforce are undocumented immigrants who paid more than $2.5bn in state and local taxes last year.

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Taxpayers are kicking in $75m for the money, while a group of charities has committed to raising another $50m for a total of $125m. A group of charities has already donated $5.5m for the fund, including the Emerson Collective, Blue Shield of California Foundation, the California Endowment, the James Irvine Foundation, the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative and an anonymous donor. 

Newsom said the money will not be distributed based on income. “Their personal information will not be required to get those support,” he said.

California has been the most aggressive state in the nation when it comes to giving benefits to undocumented immigrants. Last year, California became the first state to give taxpayer-funded health benefits to low-income adults 25 and younger living in the country irregularly. This year, Newsom had proposed expanding those benefits to seniors 65 and older.