San Francisco - Six months after the California Supreme Court cleared the way for same-sex marriages in California, voters in the usually liberal state narrowly voted for a constitutional ban on gay marriage.

But defenders of same-sex marriage immediately filed three lawsuits, claiming the voter initiative improperly attempted "to undo the constitution's core commitment to equality for everyone by eliminating a fundamental right from just one group - lesbian and gay Californians."

San Francisco - Six months after the California Supreme Court cleared the way for same-sex marriage in California, voters in the usually liberal state have narrowly voted for a constitutional ban on gay marriage.

The 52-to-48-per-cent tally Wednesday morning came with more than 95 per cent of the precincts reporting, and threw into doubt the more than 18,000 same-sex unions that have already taken place in the state.

The measure was among the most closely watched ballot initiatives in the US and was fueled by a record 73 million dollars of spending. Voters in Arizona and Florida also backed constitutional amendments banning gay marriage.

A $4.4 billion upgrade program has been approved by the San Francisco officials to safeguard the Hetch Hetchy, the Bay Area's largest drinking water system from drought or a catastrophic earthquake.

Both San Francisco's planning and public utilities commissions, despite opposition from some environmental groups have approved the upgrade though they have put off plans to divert more water from the Tuolumne River for another decade.

Yuba City (San Francisco), November 3, : Over 70,000 Sikhs converged from across the United States of America, Canada, England and India to participate in the 29h Annual Sikh Parade taken out on the streets of the Yuba City, about 125 miles from San Francisco Bay Area here on Sunday.

The nearly 5-mile religious parade was taken out to mark the tercentenary celebrations of Guruship of Guru Granth Sahib, the holy scripture of Sikhs.

Punj Pyaras or, the five Sikh clergies led the parade and carried the Sri Nishan Sahib, the religious flag of Sikhism. There were also flags of California State in the parade.

One of San Francisco’s most important and beautiful features, Coit Tower was built atop Telegraph Hill in 1933 at the bequest of Lillie Hitchcock Coit, who gave a large part of her fortune so that the city she loved could be made more beautiful.

San Francisco - An unidentified 18-year-old was the author of an internet posting that sent Apple shares tumbling earlier this month with a false report that company co-founder Steve Jobs had suffered a heart attack, Bloomberg News reported Friday.

The Securities and Exchange Commission launched an investigation into the report to discover whether it was motivated by investors hoping to drive down the company's stock and make a profit by short- selling it.

No further information was issued on the identity of the blogger who posted the false information on CNN's iReport "citizen journalist" web site. But Bloomberg said that investigators found no evidence that the suspect attempted to profit from the sharp drop in Apple's stock.