• 'Hands off' say Cypriot protesters to EU bailout plan

    Filip Singer / EPA

    Protesters rally against an EU bailout deal in front of the Cyprus parliament in Nicosia on March 18.

    Patrick Baz / AFP - Getty Images

    Cypriots show their palms reading "No" during a protest against an EU bailout deal outside the parliament in Nicosia on March 18. Cyprus's parliament has postponed until Tuesday a session to vote on the bailout deal that slaps a levy on all Cypriot bank savings, as negotiators scrambled to soften the blow for small deposit holders.

    Yiannis Kourtoglou / AFP - Getty Images

    A man holds a banner against German Chancellor Angela Merkel's call for Cyprus to follow economic reforms.

    By John W. Schoen, NBC News

    The explosive backlash to the latest European bailout – this one for tiny Cyprus – will have limited impact on U.S. consumers, businesses and investors.

    But the aftershocks are a potent reminder than the ongoing European crisis – relatively dormant in recent months – is far from over.

    The latest $13 billion chapter in the Europe’s efforts to reverse the economic free fall of its most heavily indebted members came with a nasty, surprise kicker. Read full story.

    Patrick Baz / AFP - Getty Images

    Cypriots protest outside the parliament building in Nicosia, on March 18.

    Yorgos Karahalis / Reuters

    Protesters shout slogans during an anti-bailout rally outside the parliament in Nicosia on March 18.

  • Economic crisis spells danger for songbirds as Cypriots turn to illegal trapping

    Petros Karadjias / AP

    A bird is entangled in a net used by poachers to trap migrating songbirds in the Larnaca district of Cyprus. Small birds, called ambelopoulia in Greek, are considered a delicacy in Cyprus, and poachers supply a lucrative market. 

    Petros Karadjias / AP

    A man tries to free a bird caught on a branch covered with a sticky substance that poachers in Cyprus use to trap songbirds in his orchard in the Larnaca district.

    Petros Karadjias / AP

    Served whole, either boiled or pickled, the fatty birds are such an ugly sight on a plate that outsiders find it hard to fathom how there could be any profit to be made from them. For many Cypriots, however, the tangy-sweet taste of the birds is pure bliss.

    By Menelaos Hadjicostis, The Associated Press — It's just before first light and the bird-catcher strings nets among the orange, pomegranate, fig and carob trees in his orchard. The sound of chirping emanates from inside a massive carob — a trick sent from speakers to attract tiny songbirds. By mid-morning, the man disentangles about a half-dozen blackcaps, snaps their necks with his teeth and drops them in a bucket.

    For centuries, the migratory songbirds have been a prized delicacy among Cypriots. They are also an illegal one, as entry into the European Union forced Cyprus to ban the tradition of catching the creatures, some endangered, in nets or on sticks slathered with a glue-like substance.

    Now economic crisis is luring many out-of-work Cypriots back into the centuries-old trade. They risk stiff fines and even jail time by supplying an underground market for the tiny songbirds illicitly served up in the country's tavernas — but they say it's their only way to make ends meet. Read the full story.

    Editor's note: Images taken on Nov. 3, 2012 and made available to NBC News today.

    Petros Karadjias / AP

    A man, who didn't want to be identified because he is breaking the law by poaching, releases a bird that was trapped in a net in his orchard in the Larnaca district.

    Related:

    The sound of no birds singing: Jonathan Franzen discusses the killing of songbirds in a New Yorker podcast

    Killer outdoor cats slay billions of birds, small mammals yearly

    Mystery of how homing pigeons find home solved

  • Verdict renews victims' grief after deadly crash

    Andreas Lazarou / AFP - Getty Images

    A Cypriot woman is comforted as she mourns during a demonstration outside the Attorney General's office on Thursday, Dec. 22, Nicosia, Cyprus. The woman is grieving for loved ones (pictured in a framed photo) who died in the country's worst air crash, which killed 121 people on board a flight in 2005. Four people and defunct Cyprus discount airline Helios Airways were acquitted of manslaughter.

    Reuters reports: Relatives of the 121 passengers who perished in a plane crash six years ago expressed anger Thursday at Cyprus' attorney general, with some demanding he resign for not clinching convictions against four former airline officials on manslaughter charges.

    In a majority decision on Wednesday, a criminal court found the defendants not guilty, saying there was no evidence presented during the two-year trial directly linking them to what caused the Helios Airways Boeing 737-300 aircraft to crash on a hillside north of Athens in 2005. Read the full story...

  • Petros Karadjias / AP

    A boy passes by the graves of Greek and Cypriot soldiers who were killed in the 1974 Turkish invasion of Cyprus at the Tymvos Macedonitissas military cemetery in the divided capital of Nicosia, Cyprus, Wednesday, July 20. Greek and Cypriot soldiers were killed in 1974 during the Turkish invasion and subsequent occupation of the northern part of the island of Cyprus. July 20, is 37th anniversary of Turkish invasion. Cyprus was split into Greek Cypriot south and Turkish Cypriot north in 1974 when Turkey invaded in response to a coup by supporters of union with Greece.

    Tension still high on 37th anniversary of Turkish invasion of Cyprus

    By Rich Shulman

    Cyprus has a fascinating history, and the conflict between Greece and Turkey continues to this day, as the Greek financial crisis threatens the balance between the two sections of the island.

    Related: Cyprus may need bailout after blast

  • Black powder explosion rocks Cyprus

    By Jonathan Woods, msnbc.com

    Rescue workers combed a charred landscape for victims following a violent explosion on the island of Cyprus, Monday.

    The Associated Press reports the massive explosion ripped through a Cypriot naval base after a brush fire detonated gunpowder stored in containers, killing 12 people, wounding 62 and prompting the resignations of the country's defense minister and top military chief.

    Katia Christodoulou / EPA

    Black smoke rises at a military base in southern Cyprus on July 11. A massive explosion at the Evangelos Florakis navy base in Cyprus knocked out the island's largest power station, a spokesman for the state-run electricity authority said.

    Philippos Christou / AP

    Rescuers walk among debris and bodies covered by sheets around the Evangelos Florakis naval base in Mari, Cyprus, on Monday July 11, 2011. The explosion tore through a Cypriot National Guard naval base causing widespread damage, the Defense Ministry said. A bush fire ignited gunpowder stored in containers that Cypriot authorities confiscated in 2009 from a ship sailing off its coast.

    Patrick Baz / AFP - Getty Images

    A man walks in a damaged restaurant in the Cypriot village of Mari, damaged by a huge blast after seized Iranian weapons at a nearby naval base exploded.

    Patrick Baz / AFP - Getty Images

    Smoke billows from a destroyed power station in Mari after a deadly explosion on July 11.

     Read the full story here.