Hollywood actress Charlize Theron is rallying support for the campaign for gay marriage - she has written an open letter calling for people of all sexual preferences to join in an upcoming demonstration in California.

Heavy snow covered the Northern California mountains and rain and wind hit the US West Coast as a third day of winter storms left at least three people dead and hundreds of thousands of homes and businesses in California, Oregon and Washington without power.

Thousands of Americans have barricaded their homes against a powerful storm which has led to flights being ground, road closures and power cuts.

California governor Arnold Schwarzenegger today declared a state of emergency in seven northern and central counties, saying the region’s rainiest March on record and more rain on the horizon put people and property in “extreme peril”.

California governor Arnold Schwarzenegger all but declared his intent to run for re-election in 2006, telling an audience that his job wasn’t finished and that he would make an announcement about his plans tomorrow.

AT Chez Panisse in Berkeley, California, Alice Waters has been known to serve just a perfect peach for dessert.

A powerful storm has pounded California for a second day, flooding freeways and desert roads, tossing boats ashore and triggering a rockslide that blocked the central coast highway.

WHEN you cut through the leathery skin of a pomegranate, Punica Granatum, for the first time, you can’t help but be thrilled - all those jewel-like seeds, little ‘rubies’ neatly arranged in a star-shaped pattern.