A federal judge in Hawaii has expanded the list of family relationships needed by people seeking new visas from six mostly Muslim countries to avoid US president Donald Trump's travel ban.

The backers of California’s same-sex marriage ban petitioned a US federal appeals court to review a split decision by three of its judges that struck down the voter-approved law known as Proposition Eight.

A US federal appeals court temporarily granted the US government’s request for a freeze on a judge’s order requiring the military to allow openly gay troops.