Cyprus Facing 30% Unemployment Amid Crisis

By Tom Parmenter, Sky Correspondent, In Nicosia

Cyprus is facing a recession so deep that 30% of people may find themselves unemployed.

The EU bailout means massive restructuring of the financial system, the inevitable loss of many investors and thousands of people seeing their jobs disappear.

Professor Hari Tsoukas, a business analyst, told Sky News: "Unemployment is likely to at least double from 14% to at least 25% and possibly up to 30%. Not so long ago it was just 5%.

"It is a huge challenge now facing the Cypriot people, we have been resilient before and we will need all that again," he added.

For a week now people have been rationed to how much they can withdraw from cashpoints.

Wages have not been paid, businesses have been unable to pay suppliers and the whole economy has seized up.

Banks have been closed since March 16 but Cyprus' president Nicos Anastasiades has said they will reopen on Thursday.

A woman and child beg for money in Nicosia

However, he added that the island will introduce some limits on transactions to prevent a huge outflow of money.

Politicians have been struggling to come up with a plan that would raise enough funds to qualify for an international bailout.

In a televised address to the country, the president said: "The central bank will implement capital controls on transactions. I want to assure you that this will be a very temporary measure that will gradually be relaxed."

He did not specify what limitations would be imposed on transactions.

He said he had taken "painful decisions to save the country from bankruptcy" and pledged Cyprus "would find its feet again".

It follows a bailout deal which reports suggest could see Bank of Cyprus savers with deposits above 100,000 euros (£85,000) hit with a levy of "around 30%".

In a smart fourth floor apartment Sky News met one Cypriot woman prepared to show us where she has been stashing her money.

Fearful of losing control of her cash by leaving it in the bank she now has a daily routine of hiding it in drawers or cupboards around her bedroom.

She didn't want to be identified but said: "You just want to know your money is safe, this is quite small scale but it is all I can do."

Her flat was burgled last year so she is taking no chances - every time before she leaves home for over an hour she collects together her growing stash of notes and takes it with her stuffed in her handbag.

She hates having to do it but while banks remain closed some people feel they have little option but to take control of their own money.

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Cyprus Crisis: Banks Shut Until Thursday

Cyprus Facing Jobless Total Of 30%

Updated: 4:05am UK, Tuesday 26 March 2013

By Tom Parmenter, Sky Correspondent, In Nicosia

Cyprus is facing a recession so deep that 30% of people may find themselves unemployed.

The EU bailout means massive restructuring of the financial system, the inevitable loss of many investors and thousands of people seeing their jobs disappear.

Professor Hari Tsoukas, a business analyst, told Sky News: "Unemployment is likely to at least double from 14% to at least 25% and possibly up to 30%. Not so long ago it was just 5%.

"It is a huge challenge now facing the Cypriot people, we have been resilient before and we will need all that again," he added.

For a week now people have been rationed to how much they can withdraw from cashpoints.

Wages have not been paid, businesses have been unable to pay suppliers and the whole economy has seized up.

Banks have been closed since March 16 but Cyprus' president Nicos Anastasiades has said they will reopen on Thursday.

However, he added that the island will introduce some limits on transactions to prevent a huge outflow of money.

Politicians have been struggling to come up with a plan that would raise enough funds to qualify for an international bailout.

In a televised address to the country, the president said: "The central bank will implement capital controls on transactions. I want to assure you that this will be a very temporary measure that will gradually be relaxed."

He did not specify what limitations would be imposed on transactions.

He said he had taken "painful decisions to save the country from bankruptcy" and pledged Cyprus "would find its feet again".

It follows a bailout deal which reports suggest could see Bank of Cyprus savers with deposits above 100,000 euros (£85,000) hit with a levy of "around 30%".

In a smart fourth floor apartment Sky News met one Cypriot woman prepared to show us where she has been stashing her money.

Fearful of losing control of her cash by leaving it in the bank she now has a daily routine of hiding it in drawers or cupboards around her bedroom.

She didn't want to be identified but said: "You just want to know your money is safe, this is quite small scale but it is all I can do."

Her flat was burgled last year so she is taking no chances - every time before she leaves home for over an hour she collects together her growing stash of notes and takes it with her stuffed in her handbag.

She hates having to do it but while banks remain closed some people feel they have little option but to take control of their own money.

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Knox To Face Retrial Over Kercher Death

Italy's highest criminal court has overturned the acquittal of Amanda Knox and her ex-boyfriend Raffaele Sollecito in the death of British housemate Meredith Kercher.

A retrial has been ordered.

Miss Kercher, 21, was found dead at the flat she shared with US student Miss Knox in Perugia in 2007.

More follows...

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Kercher: Court To Decide On Knox Re-Trial

By Nick Pisa, Sky News Reporter

Murdered Meredith Kercher's sister has spoken of the ''unanswered questions'' surrounding the death ahead of today's final appeal.

Stephanie Kercher said she hoped for answers as Italian Supreme Court judges decide whether Amanda Knox and her former boyfriend Raffaele Sollecito should stand trial again or confirm their appeal hearing which saw them sensationally cleared of the brutal killing.

Meredith, 21, was found semi-naked and with her throat cut in her bedroom in the house she shared with fellow student Ms Knox and two other women in the town of Perugia.

Her sister said: "There are lots of questions without answers and that's why we are looking for the truth. We miss Meredith terribly and nothing will bring her back. We hope that the Supreme Court hearing will help to find some answers to what happened that night in November 2007 when our lives changed forever.

"'We still get messages of support from all over the world. Meredith will never be forgotten but it's also important not to forget what happened, a beautiful young girl, my little sister, taken away from us too early in a brutal manner, with many aspects to still clarify.''

Ms Knox, 25, and Mr Sollecito, 29, are said to be anxiously awaiting the outcome of the hearing in Rome which will take place at the imposing Supreme Court building on the banks of the River Tiber.

Amanda Knox and Raffaele Sollecito were acquitted on appeal

Judges will rule whether there are grounds for a new trial or if the case against them should uphold the appeal verdict of October 2011 which cleared them of the murder after they had initially been found guilty in 2009, with Ms Knox getting 26 years and Mr Sollecito, 25 years in jail.

The case made headlines around the world amid tales of sex games and drugs and there were traumatic scenes when they were convicted initially and when they were cleared after a fresh hearing heard how the police investigation had been bungled and was riddled with flaws.

Defence lawyers and experts acting for the pair revealed how evidence had been contaminated or poorly handled by forensic teams and that the conviction should be considered unsafe.

They were immediately freed with Ms Knox returning to her home in Seattle while Mr Sollecito went back to Bisceglie on the southern Italian coast near Bari.

Under Italian law there are three tiers of the judicial system and Monday's hearing in Rome will be behind closed doors with neither of them in attendance, with only their lawyers representing them.

A panel of judges will rule whether the Italian legal code was applied correctly and fairly in both trials and if they find grounds they can order a retrial - as prosecutors in Perugia have demanded - or they can close the case completely.

The case will decided purely on paperwork and legal documents with no new witnesses giving evidence and neither of them will be in court and a decision is expected by late this evening.

Meredith Kercher's mother, brother and sister

Luciano Ghirga, Ms Knox's lawyer, said: "She is very anxious about the hearing but she is waiting for it knowing full well that the outcome is very important.'"

Since returning to the US she has maintained a low profile in Seattle although she has written a book about her four years in an Italian jail and she is due to give an interview to American TV station ABC next month ahead of its release.

Mr Sollecito has also written a book and has already given an interview on Italian TV about the case where he said he and Ms Knox were no longer lovers but they were still in touch - he visited her earlier this year and they speak on Skype regularly.

He is now studying in Verona and they have always insisted they are innocent of Leeds University student Meredith's murder. She had only been in Italy for two months before she was killed having arrived from Coulsdon for a year long course as part of her degree.

His father, Francesco, said: "'He is working hard on his studies. He's working on a project involving the movement of surgical instruments during operations. He is calm and serene even if we are all in a state of apprehension.''

During the investigation and trial much was made of Ms Knox's character with prosecutors saying she was highly sexual and had manipulated Mr Sollecito - but her lawyers dismissed the theory.

Drifter Rudy Guede is serving 16 years for the murder having initially being sentenced to 30 but this was later reduced on appeal.

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Cyprus Bailout Deal Wins Eurozone Approval

Cyprus has secured a 10bn euro (£8.5bn) bailout, saving the country from a banking system collapse and bankruptcy.

In return for the rescue funds, Cyprus must restructure its banking sector under an EU-IMF plan approved by eurozone ministers earlier today.

Markets across Europe rose in early trading on Monday morning in response to the last-minute deal.

The country's second-largest bank, Popular Bank of Cyprus, known as Laiki, will effectively be shut down and split into a "good bank" and a "bad bank".

Christine Lagarde and the German finance minister at the Eurogroup

Deposits below 100,000 euros (£85,509) in Laiki will be safeguarded and transferred to the Bank of Cyprus, the so-called "good bank".

Deposits above 100,000 euros, which under EU law are not insured, will be frozen and will be used to resolve debt. It is not yet clear how severe the losses will be for these depositors.

The move will yield 4.2bn euros (£3.6bn) overall - the bulk of the 5.8bn euros (£4.9bn) Cyprus needed to raise as part of the bailout conditions.

The deal emerged hours before a deadline to avert a collapse of the banking system, which could have forced Cyprus to exit the euro.

Banks have been closed this past week

It followed fraught negotiations between Cypriot President Nicos Anastasiades and the troika of creditors - the International Monetary Fund, European Commission and European Central Bank.

"We've put an end to the uncertainty that has affected Cyprus and the euro area over the past week," said Jeroen Dijsselbloem, who chairs the meetings of the 17-nation eurozone's finance ministers.

"We believe that this will form a lasting, durable and fully financed solution," said Christine Lagarde, chief of the IMF.

After the eurozone's finance ministers' approval, several national parliaments, such as Germany's, must also approve the bailout deal, which might take another few weeks. EU officials said they expect the whole programme to be approved by mid-April.

Cyprus' finance minister Michalis Sarris said: "It's not that we won a battle, but we really have avoided a disastrous exit from the eurozone. A long period of uncertainty and insecurity surrounding the Cyprus economy has ended."

Cyprus' outsized banking sector was crippled by exposure to crisis-hit Greece.

In a vote on Tuesday, the country's 56-seat parliament dismissed a levy on depositors as "bank robbery".

The country's finance minister Michael Sarris then spent three fruitless days in Moscow trying to win help from Russia, whose citizens have billions of euros at stake.

Cypriots were outraged by the original proposal and have been queuing at cash machines ever since bank doors were closed last weekend on the orders of the government.

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Russian Civilians Join Raids On Migrant Camps

By Katie Stallard, Moscow Correspondent

Russia's federal migration service has introduced civilian patrols as part of a crackdown on illegal immigrants.

Civic-minded citizens in Moscow can now sign up to take part in organised raids of migrant housing and street patrols.

The volunteers are supervised by a migration service official and not allowed to use force, unless in self-defence.

Sky News filmed a raid on a suspected migrant workers' camp in a suburb on the outskirts of Moscow.

The volunteers gathered in a supermarket car park at 6am. It was snowing heavily and the temperature was -10C, but the group seemed enthusiastic as they piled out of their 4x4s to discuss the plan.

We set off in convoy towards the camp along a rough track deep in snow. We were told the area is close to a large open-air market where many of the migrants find work.

Volunteers gather in a car park ahead of a raid

At first sight the camp was little more than a shanty town - a ramshackle collection of sheds and garages, improvised shelters against the depths of the Russian winter.

The patrol fanned out on foot, banging on doors and shouting for the people inside to come out.

Most meekly obeyed, zipping up jackets and pulling on hats as they stepped out into the snow and torchlights.

We saw one man breaking down a door with his shoulder after the occupants refused to open the door - a bewildered-looking man in his underwear was ordered to get dressed and get outside.

For the most part the volunteers were entirely civil and polite, and that was perhaps the most striking feature of what was happening - that these were not skin-headed neo-nazis or right wing extremists - to a person they seemed to be reasonable, educated Russians, who genuinely believe migrant workers have no place in their country.

Statistics suggest that view is not in the minority.

A migrant (left) is led away during a raid

According to the most recent research by the independent Levada Centre, 71% of Russians believe an increase in migration leads to an increase in crime.

Some 65% want the number of migrants in Russia - whether here legally or illegally - to be reduced, and 73% support 'strong measures' to deport those here illegally.

Members of the patrol claimed there was a clear link between migrant workers and crime.

The lead volunteer told us he believed migrants were responsible for the vast majority of local criminal activity.

"99% of crime." He explained, "Most often it is of course guests from the east and from the Caucasus."

Another man gestured to the park behind and said: "There is so much stuff going on. They are stealing, raping, right there in the parks."

But that attitude can leave migrant workers vulnerable to exploitation - leaving them feeling they have few rights and even fewer places to turn if they find themselves in trouble in Russia.

A migrant called Bakia says she had been forced to work as a sex slave

Sky News met an Uzbek woman who was freed in an anti-slavery raid in Moscow last year. She told us she was forced to work as a slave for almost 10 years; cleaning, stacking shelves and serving customers in a shop.

Bakia said she was beaten and made to sleep in a basement, but that she could not escape because her children were being kept in a flat elsewhere.

She was rescued along with her six-year-old son, who she says has health problems linked to malnutrition and damage to his legs from being tied to a radiator.

Bakia says she also had a daughter, Camilla, who was taken from her shortly after the birth but she doesn't know what has happened to her.

She has no papers so it is difficult to verify her claims, but she says she has tried repeatedly to report her daughter missing to the police, and a charity has now taken up her case, but four months after her release, she told us no-one is looking for her child.

Bakia said: "Thank God my son is with me, even though he is disabled. My daughter, my daughter, well if they don't want to do this I will go and look for her myself."

She told us she didn't want to leave Russia without finding her daughter, but that it was very clear they were not welcome here.

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Cyprus Agrees 20% Tax On Bank Deposits

Politicians in Cyprus have reportedly agreed a new one-off levy on savers in order to secure a European bailout.

The measures, yet to be confirmed by the country's President, include a 20% tax on savers with deposits over 100,000 euros at the country's largest bank, the Bank of Cyprus.

A 4% tax on deposits over 100,000 euros would be levied at other banks, a senior Cypriot official told Reuters.

Cyprus has to raise 5.8bn euros by Monday or face being kicked out of the single currency.

Eurozone finance ministers are due to meet on Sunday evening to see if the numbers Cyprus has agreed with its international lenders add up.

Bank workers shout during a protest outside the presidential palace

Cypriot President Nicos Anastasiades tweeted: "We are undertaking great efforts. I hope we have a solution soon."

The conservative leader, barely a month into the job and wrestling with Cyprus's worst crisis since a 1974 invasion by Turkish forces split the island in two, was due to lead a delegation to Brussels, also on Sunday, to meet heads of the "troika" - the EU, the European Central Bank and International Monetary Fund - in a sign a deal might be near.

Government officials held talks throughout Saturday at the finance ministry with troika lenders. Angry demonstrators outside chanted "resign, resign!"

Its outsized banking sector crippled by exposure to crisis-hit Greece, Cyprus needs to raise the 5.8bn euros in exchange for a 10bn euro EU lifeline to keep the country's economy afloat.

But in a vote on Tuesday, Cyprus's 56-seat parliament rejected a levy on depositors, big and small, as "bank robbery", and the country's finance minister Michael Sarris spent three fruitless days in Moscow trying to win help from Russia, whose citizens have billions of euros at stake in Cypriot banks.

Rebuffed by the Kremlin, Mr Sarris said earlier on Saturday that talks with the troika were centred on a possibly levy of up to 25% on savings over and above 100,000 euros at failing Bank of Cyprus.

However, the situation remains fluid and other options, including a "voluntary haircut" in exchange for equity that would not require parliamentary approval, are said to still be on the table.

Ordinary Cypriots were outraged by the original proposal, and have been besieging cash machines ever since bank doors were closed last weekend on the orders of the government to avert a massive flight of capital.

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Pakistan: Car Bomb At Army Check Point Kills 17

A car bomb has exploded next to two fuel tankers at an army check point in Pakistan, killing 17 soldiers and wounding dozens more.

Officials said the attack in the North Waziristan tribal area, where many Taliban and al Qaeda fighters are based, destroyed two army barracks.

No one has yet claimed responsibility for the blast, which happened as former Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf returned to the country after more than four years, despite death threats from militants.

Pervez Musharraf has returned to Pakistan after four years

It came just hours before Mir Hazar Khan Khoso, a former high court chief justice, was appointed to serve as caretaker prime minister in the run up to national elections in May.

Janan Dawar, who lives about 14km (9 miles) from the site of the bombing, said he heard a huge explosion and saw flames leap into the air.

Most of the soldiers who died were working for a wing of the army that is building roads in North Waziristan.

The US has funded much of the project in an attempt to win the supporr of local residents.

The Taliban are known to use North Waziristan as a base from which to launch cross-border attacks against American troops in Afghanistan.

The Pakistani army has tens of thousands of soldiers in the region but has resisted US pressure to launch an offensive against the militants.

It says its forces are spread too thinly fighting domestic terrorism.

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Musharraf Returns To Pakistan Despite Threat

Former Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf has defied Taliban death threats to return home after more than four years in exile.

The 69-year-old ex-dictator was whisked away by security forces as he arrived at Karachi airport and did not stop to greet hundreds of supporters who had waited for him.

It is unclear if the security forces detained Mr Musharraf, who faces criminal charges in three cases, including one involving the assassination of ex-premier Benazir Bhutto, or acted out of concern for his safety.

His return came after the Pakistani Taliban released a video threatening to unleash a squad of suicide bombers to assassinate him if he sets foot in the country.

Hours before his arrival, a car bomb exploded near the Afghanistan border, killing 17 soldiers and injuring dozens more.

Mr Musharraf said he was prepared to risk any danger to stand for election on May 11, marking the first time an elected government has fulfilled its term and handed over power to another elected government.

"I don't get scared ... by such kind of threat … I am going back to save Pakistan," said Mr Musharraf, who escaped three al Qaeda assassination attempts as ruler.

Mr Musharraf is expected to make his way to the tomb of Mohammad Ali Jinnah, the father and first president of Pakistan.

He plans to hold a public rally for his All Pakistan Muslim League party, but police said they had withdrawn permission following the Taliban threat. However, the party's information secretary said the rally would go ahead "at any cost".

Mr Musharraf has failed to follow through on previous promises to return home but flew in from Dubai after a Pakistani court granted him pre-emptive bail on Friday.

The order prevents his immediate arrest in the three cases in which he is implicated.

Under the pre-emptive bail, he has 10 days to appear in court, which Mr Musharraf promised he would do.

He said he would "face these cases with bravery", adding that "elements in Pakistan and outside" were spreading rumours that he was not returning, but the granting of his bail would address some of those concerns.

The ex-president seized power in a bloodless coup as army chief of staff in 1999 and left the country after stepping down in August 2008, when Asif Ali Zardari was elected president after the murder of his wife, Mrs Bhutto.

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Georgia Baby Buggy Shooting: Two Arrested

Two teenage boys have been arrested after a 13-month-old baby was shot dead as his mother pushed him in a buggy.

The two suspects - aged 14 and 17 - have been charged with murder over the death in the coastal community of Brunswick, Georgia, on Thursday.

The 17-year-old, identified as Demarquis Elkins, was charged as an adult, while the 14-year-old was not named because he is a minor.

Sherry West told police that two boys approached her and demanded money as she walked with 13-month-old Antonio in his buggy.

She said she told the muggers she had no money and tried to shield her boy, but one of them pushed her aside and shot the baby.

Demarquis Elkins is jointly accused of fatally shooting the baby

"I put my arms over my baby and he shoves me, and then he shot my baby right in the head," Ms West said.

She was shot in the leg and said her ear was grazed by a bullet.

The boy's father, Luis Santiago, told WAWS TV: "He was special ... He had the bluest, bluest eyes."

Police said before the arrests that they had been looking at school attendance records as part of their investigation.

Brunswick police spokesman Todd Rhodes asked the public for any tips or information that could lead to an arrest, and announced a $10,000 (£6,500) reward.

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