Bank Accounts

ATHENS -- Scrambling to stave off a chaotic government default and exit from Europe's single currency club, Cyprus' beleaguered government on Tuesday proposed a revised plan to shield small account holders from a divisive tax on bank accounts, hoping to dampen discontent and secure vital international funding for its faltering banks. The move comes hours before a planned parliamentary vote that could determine whether the near-bankrupt island will accept the contentious terms of a $13-billion bailout offered by Europe and the International Monetary Fund or potentially go it alone.

ATHENS - Lawmakers in Cyprus on Tuesday voted against a controversial economic bailout plan, threatening to cripple the island republic's banking sector and with it the economy Not a single one of Cyprus' 56 lawmakers backed the proposal to levy taxes on some bank deposits in exchange for $13 billion in international aid to prop up the island's faltering banks. Thirty-six legislators opposed the measure, with 19 abstaining and one missing the vote. The plan, announced over the weekend by European officials after marathon negotiations and later modified, was intended to raise about $7 billion on top of the aid from Europe and the International Monetary Fund.

MOSCOW - Russian investigators found no evidence of violence against a lawyer who died in custody after accusing officials and police officers of running a multimillion-dollar tax refund scam, and have ended their probe, officials said Tuesday. Sergei Magnitsky, who worked as a legal advisor for the Hermitage Capital Management investment fund in Moscow, died in 2009 of heart insufficiency and brain and lung edema resulting from diabetes and hepatitis while in pretrial detention on tax charges, the Russian Investigative Committee said on its website.

ATHENS -- Lawmakers in Cyprus on Tuesday voted against a bailout plan that officials had hoped would stave off a chaotic government default and keep the island republic part of Europe's single-currency system. In a resounding rejection, not a single one of Cyprus' 56 lawmakers supported the proposal to impose levies as much as nearly 10% on bank deposits in exchange for $13 billion in aid from Europe and the International Monetary Fund to prop up the island's faltering banks.

BEIRUT -- The United States and Russia stood behind their respective allies Tuesday as each side in the Syrian conflict accused the other of launching a devastating chemical attack outside the northern city of Aleppo. Washington has backed the ouster of Syrian President Bashar Assad, and Moscow has long resisted opposition efforts to topple Assad, its longtime ally. The chasm between the two world powers was again readily apparent after conflicting accounts emerged about the alleged deployment  of  chemical weapons.

NEW YORK -- The Dow Jones industrial average vaulted to a record closing high Tuesday, finishing at a new high-water mark for the first time in more than five years. The Dow rocketed up 125.95 points Tuesday, or 0.9%, to 14,253.77, marking a major milestone in the blue-chip index's recovery since the stock market hit bottom in March 2009 in the wake of the global financial crisis. The Dow's previous highest close was 14,164.53 on Oct. 9, 2007, on the eve of the worst economic downturn since the Great Depression.

This post has been corrected. See below for details. The list of the world's ultimate 1% has grown: Forbes magazine said its tally of billionaires around the globe climbed 16% over last year. Topping the list is Carlos Slim, a telecommunications mogul from Mexico with a reported net worth of $73 billion. Microsoft Corp.'s Bill Gates came in second place, again, with a net worth of $67 billion. Other notables saw their places drop as their bank accounts were squeezed in the last year.

MEXICO CITY -- Elba Esther Gordillo, one of the most powerful women in Mexico and head of the country's massive and controversial teachers union, was arrested Tuesday on suspicion of misusing more than $156 million in union funds, Mexican officials said. Gordillo was arrested at the Toluca airport Tuesday along with three other people, authorities said. In a news conference late Tuesday, federal prosecutors described a complicated web of bank transactions, alleging that funds had been diverted from union accounts to personal bank accounts.

Bank of America Corp. customers were unable to access its electronic banking operations and telephone call centers Friday morning. "We're addressing the issue as quickly as possible," said Mark Pipitone, a technology and operations spokesman at the bank. "We're also working closely with our customers to help them alleviate any concerns. " The bank's ATMs were functioning normally, he said. Pipitone declined to provide details of what caused the extensive outage. It wasn't known if it was related to cyber attacks by a shadowy hacker group in the Middle East last September that disrupted the electronic operations at the nation's largest banks: BofA, Wells Fargo & Co., JPMorgan Chase & Co., Citigroup Inc., U.S. Bancorp and PNC Financial Services.

East West Bancorp Inc. reported an 8.8% increase in fourth-quarter profit, closing out a year of general improvement at the largest Chinese American bank, and rival Cathay General Bancorp said its earnings rose 2.5%. The results at East West, announced Wednesday afternoon, were in line with Wall Street's expectations. The Pasadena company's stock fell 1 cent to $23.16 before the earnings were released. East West's profit margin on lending fell from 4.13% to 3.84% over the course of the year, a common pinch for banks in recent quarters as old loans are paid off and new ones put on the books at lower rates.