BP bosses face a mauling at crunch talks today after US President Barack Obama vowed to make the British oil giant pay for the Gulf of Mexico spill.

A US military judge allowed a marine sergeant convicted of murder in one of the biggest war crimes cases to emerge from the Iraq war to walk free today, nearly two months after a military appeals court ruled he had an unfair trial.

Ohio voters have started casting ballots in the state that may again determine the US presidency, as Barack Obama struggles to thwart a John McCain victory there four years after it tipped the election to George Bush.