John Edwards could have occupied the White House. But he may soon be in a jail cell. By David Usborne

After years of equivocating on an issue that divides his country, President Barack Obama came out in favour of gay marriage in the US last night and suddenly injected an unpredictable social issue into a re-election campaign that had been expected to be fought on the economy.

Rocked by an overwhelming vote in favour of amending the state constitution to bar same-sex marriages, gay rights groups across North Carolina today vowed to fight back with demonstrations in several cities in the coming days.

North Carolina voters approved a constitutional amendment yesterday defining marriage solely as a union between a man and a woman, becoming the latest US state to effectively slam the door shut on same-sex marriages.

President Barack Obama pressed a deadlocked Congress to take action on an election year “to do” list of economic proposals to promote job creation and help families refinance their mortgages.

A former aide to the erstwhile US senator John Edwards has admitted taking hundreds of thousands of dollars from his boss's campaign donors and using it to build a dream house.

Activists from Greenpeace have plastered the windows of an Apple store in London with a poster protesting against the company's use of coal.

Mitt Romney laid claim to a fiercely contested Republican presidential nomination last night with five more primary triumphs and immediately set the tone for the general election campaign by attacking President Barack Obama over his handling of the economy.

Five years after his presidential campaign was derailed by scandalous revelations that he had fathered an illegitimate child with a former member of staff, John Edwards will face a jury this morning which will decide whether alleged murky efforts to cover up the affair should land him in prison.

A hedge fund manager sentenced to 14 years in prison after cheating investors of $168m has died.

John Edwards, the former US Senator and two-time presidential hopeful, was set to return to a courtroom yesterday, facing possible time in prison if convicted of alleged campaign-finance violations.

Few musicians are able to dominate their instrument in the way Earl Scruggs did the banjo. Other players may have enjoyed success and acclaim, but Scruggs' work, first with Bill Monroe's Bluegrass Boys, then with his partner Lester Flatt and later with his own Revue, remains the benchmark against which other picker's efforts are measured.

The noise of cars, machines and other forms of human activity could be affecting growth of wild flowers and trees, as well as animals nearby.

Redknapp's first buy insists the manager has the right stuff for England