Edwards aide: 'I was scared for my life'

The wife of a former campaign aide for John Edwards takes the stand Monday in a federal court in North Carolina where she is expected to detail her role in helping conceal the one-time Democratic presidential hopeful's affair with a videographer.

Elizabeth Edwards, the high-profile wife of former Democratic vice presidential candidate John Edwards, died of cancer at 61 in her home in North Carolina on Tuesday, US media reported.On Monday Edwards said she had stopped cancer treatment after doctors informed her that any further therapy would be useless.Edwards, who separated from her husband after news that the former senator fathered a child with another woman, has been battling cancer since 2004, when he was John Kerry's running mate on the defeated Democratic ticket.

The leader of the Republican Party in the US Senate is at the centre of a bugging scandal after his campaign staff were recorded discussing how to smear the actress Ashley Judd, a potential political opponent. Senator Mitch McConnell was taped during a strategy meeting in February where aides suggested attacking Miss Judd as “emotionally unbalanced” because of her history of mental health issues. The FBI is investigating how the recording was made and who released it to the liberal magazine Mother Jones.

By now, the story of the South Florida woman who flipped the bird at a judge has caught the attention of thousands, who alternately applauded and vilified the judge on the Internet for rewarding the woman's cheeky attitude with a 30-day jail sentence.

ST. PAUL, Minn. (TheBlaze/AP) — In the wake of the 2012 election, many Republican strategists have concluded they simply cannot win as long as they seem so “polarizing.”  One of the more contentious issues is gay marriage, with those on the left often accusing Republicans of being intolerant. 

In the last month, the economy gave us some particularly worrisome economic data. 

Filmmaker Roman Polanski has launched a fresh appeal to drop child sex charges from the 1970s, offering details of what his lawyers called improper dealings by prosecutors and the judge, court documents showed Friday.Polanski's lawyers petitioned a California appellate court, citing secret "communication" between two top officials in the district attorney's office and the original judge in the case, Laurence Rittenband.Following these discussions, according to defense lawyers, the prosecutor in the case dropped an effort to have the judge removed.