BBC News with Charles Carroll.
Cyprus has confirmed that its banks will reopen on Thursday. They were closed to prevent a flood of withdrawals while Cyprus negotiated a bailout with its eurozone creditors. Mark Lowen reports from Nicosia.
They’ve been closed for almost two weeks, but now the central bank of Cyprus says the country’s banks will reopen on Thursday at noon local time. Cypriot media are reporting that containers full of cash have been flown in by helicopter. There will be capital controls in place to avoid a run on deposits. The details are yet to be confirmed, but reports suggest they will include a ban on cashing checks, a 3,000-euro limit for money taken abroad and a monthly limit of 5,000 euros for card payments.
A majority of judges on the US Supreme Court have questioned whether a federal law which defines marriage as being between a man and a woman is constitutional. On the second day of hearings into the rights of same-sex couples, one judge warned that the defence of Marriage Act risked intruding upon the role of states in dealing with such matters. On Tuesday the Supreme Court considered an
appeal
against the ban on gay marriage in California. Jonny Dymond reports.
The court appears to have divided along traditional
liberal
and conservative lines. And again all eyes are on the swing voter, Justice Anthony Kennedy. Justice Kennedy seems to be unhappy with the way in which the defence of Marriage Act intruded upon what is in the US a state-level power-- the regulation of marriage. He spoke of the risks of the act intervening too much. If he joins the four liberal justices, the act will be struck down.