Cyprus weighs new bailout plan as meltdown looms

NICOSIA (AFP) - Cyprus was on Thursday fine-tuning a "Plan B" aimed at securing a eurozone bailout that the European Central Bank warned should be adopted by the weekend to avoid a banking meltdown on the debt-hit island.

As President Nicos Anastasiades huddled with political party leaders over the revised plan, Eurogroup head Jeroen Dijsselbloem warned in Brussels the crisis poses a "systemic risk" that threatens to ricochet through the eurozone.

The warning was echoed by ratings agency Fitch, which warned on Thursday that any support package for Cyprus that includes a stability levy "inevitably increases the danger of contagion risks within the eurozone."

And in Moscow, Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev slammed the European proposals to solve the Cyprus crisis as "absolutely absurd," further raising tension between Russia and the European Union.