Patrick Baz / AFP - Getty Images
Today, on this International Day of Happiness, few Cypriots have reason to smile.
In what appears to be yet another chapter in the Eurozone's financial mess, the Cypriot parliament on Tuesday overwhelmingly rejected a bailout for the small European nation's financial sector, an unsurprising reflection of the public's outrage with the bailout package. The troika's--a triad of international lenders comprising of the European Commission, the European Central Bank and the International Monetary Fund--unprecedented proposal to tax bank deposits on account-holders in Cyprus met fierce public outcry, as pictured above. Cypriot officials seek €10 billion (roughly $13 billion) to help alleviate illiquidity and revive the country's banking sector. Remarkably, the much sought after bailout package represents more than half of Cyprus' €18 billion economy, pointing to the severity of the present crisis.
