Cyprus postpones bailout vote until Tuesday

(Vatican Radio) The Cyprus government has postponed until Tuesday a crucial vote on a harsh savings levy to try and improve the package, part of a 17.5 bln rescue plan. President Nicos Anastasiades has been meeting MPs to discuss the terms, with a crucial debate and vote in parliament postponed until Tuesday. The 10bn-euro bailout agreed with the EU and IMF demands that all bank customers pay a one-off levy. Protesters in Cyprus have held up banners blaming Germany for the controversial bailout deal. Listen to Nathan Morley's report:

However, German Finance Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble insisted he and the International Monetary Fund had been in favour of "respecting a deposit guarantee for accounts up to 100,000" euros. Bernadette Segol, general secretary of the European Trade Union Confederation, explained that she believes the plans will be ineffective and are unreasonable for those with smaller savings. "It is basically completely unfair," says Ms Segol. These people are not responsible for what has happened. If Cyprus is over-banked, well it's not their problem. It's really something that has happened and should have been fixed a long time before."

Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev called a proposed tax on bank deposits a move akin to confiscation. Earlier Russian President Vladimir Putin condemnded the tax as "unfair, unprofessional and dangerous." Under the currently agreed terms, depositors with less than 100,000 euros in Cyprus accounts would have to pay a one-time tax of 6.75%. Those with sums over that threshold would pay 9.9%.