Democratic Rally

Cyprus returned to international debt markets on Wednesday, just a little over a year after being forced to accept a 10-billion-euro bailout, with a five-year bond issue.

Finance Minister Harris Georgiades said on Twitter: “It’s done. Cyprus back to the markets.”

The bond, he said, was for 750 million euros at an interest rate of 4.75 percent.

By Georgios Georgiou & Paul Tugwell

Voters in Cyprus won’t reject Europe in this weekend’s European Union Parliament elections, even after international creditors last year forced the government to impose losses on bank deposits, Cypriot politicians and officials said.

Political parties in Cyprus canceled all their public events over the weekend as a mark of respect for Defense Minister Tasos Mitsopoulos, who died at the age of 48 on Saturday after suffering a brain hemorrhage at his office a day earlier.

Cyprus's recently appointed Defence Minister Tasos Mitsopoulos died in hospital on Saturday after suffering a brain haemorrhage, state media said.

State radio said Mitsopoulos died at Nicosia General Hospital at 1.30 p.m.