BBC News with Nick Kelly.

The Egyptian President Mohammed Morsi has warned that political polarisation is threatening democracy in the country. In a nationwide television address to mark his first year in office, Mr Morsi admitted he had made some mistakes. He promised to introduce immediate and radical reforms in state institutions. Our correspondent Aleem Maqbool has this assessment.

He started with a very conciliatory tone. He even made, acknowledged making mistakes. He spoke very softly and he said Egyptians shouldn’t accuse each other and within a few minutes, he was doing exactly that—he was accusing old regime figures; he was naming individual politicians; he named a judge; he named a journalist; he talked like all of these people conspiring against him. So I think those protests that are planned over the weekend are going to be as big as a lot of people anticipated.

President Obama has welcomed the United States Supreme Court ruling which quashed a law that discriminated against same-sex couples. In a landmark ruling, the judges struck down the defence of Marriage Act, a law that denied federal recognition of same-sex marriages. The historic ruling means that legally married gay, men and women in the 12 states where such unions are permitted, are now entitled to claim the same federal benefits as opposite-sex married couples. The two couples which brought that case celebrated the decision outside the court. Before turning to hug and kiss his partner, Paul Katami told the crowd that marriage was the natural next step in their relationship.