Cypriot politicians are busy trying to come up with an alternative plan to raise the cash needed to stave off a collapse of its banking sector after they that would have imposed a levy on the nation's savings accounts.
Here's a quick look at some of Wednesday's developments:
-- German Chancellor Angela Merkel says she by Cyprus to turn down the $13 billion bailout package: "From a political point of view, I say that Cyprus needs a sustainable banking sector. Today's banking sector is not sustainable," she said. "We will continue negotiations ... Germany wants a solution."
-- Cyprus' Finance Minister Michael Sarris is in Moscow Wednesday for talks with his Russian counterpart, Anton Siluanov. The two discussed the , whose citizens have billions of dollars deposited in Cypriot banks. [ Update at 8:50 a.m. ET: NPR's Joanna Kakissis reports that Sarris came away from the meetings empty handed. She also notes that Russia gave Cyprus a $3 billion loan in 2011.]
-- Officials from the European Central Bank, International Monetary Fund and European Commission — the so-called troika of lenders — were in Cyprus discussing capital controls and the possible extension of a bank holiday aimed at preventing a wholesale withdrawal of money from Cyprus' banks. Germany's Finance Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble said that , he believes "there's a danger that they won't be able to open the banks again at all."
-- Meanwhile, despite Tuesday's thumbs down on the bailout, as investors bet that the European Central Bank will keep supporting the Cypriot banks, at least for the time being.
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