BBC News with Mike Cooper.

Lawyers representing two same sex couples from California have been arguing in the U.S. Supreme Court for California’s ban on same sex marriage to be overturned. One of the lawyers Theodore Orson compared the ban to that on interracial marriages which was overturned by the court in the 1960s. Jonny Dymond reports

There will be no ruling for three or so months. But the transcript of Tuesday’s proceedings gives an indication of which way the justices are leaning. Justice Anthony Kennedy described the

issue

of same sex marriage as uncharted waters. He asked openly if the case should have come to court at all. Chief Justice Roberts, a Conservative, cast doubt on the standing of those who brought the case whilst Justice Samuel Alito compared the issue to emerging technologies like mobile phones and the internet. The suggestion from all three is that the court is shying away from a groundbreaking decision one way or another.

The governor of the Cypriot Central Bank Panicos Demetriades has promised what he called a superhuman effort to reopen the country’s banks on Thursday. They have been closed for nearly two weeks to prevent a bank-run while an international bailout was being negotiated. A draft of the deal seen by the BBC proposes capital controls including a weekly limit on withdrawals and an

export

limit on Euros. The Cypriot finance minister Michael Sarris said the measures would be temporary.