Thursday newspaper round-up: Cyprus, Bank of England, Barclays

Russian prime minister Dmitry Medvedev has lambasted the EU's handling of the Cyprus debt crisis, comparing a plan for a levy on bank deposits to measures that hurt savers under the Soviet Union. However, Moscow has yet to offer any concrete help to the Cypriot government,the FT reports. Cyprus on Wednesday was left with narrowing options to rescue its outsize financial-services sector from collapse?something that could end its membership in the Eurozone?after international lenders rejected an alternative government plan to secure a multibillion-euro bailout and Russian officials remained cool to a Cypriot gas-for-cash deal, The Wall Street Journal Europe says.Banks in Cyprus were ordered to remain shut until Tuesday as Cypriot and European officials anxiously hunted for alternatives to an abortive plan to tax bank deposits as part of a €10bn bailout. Officials were resurrecting previously discarded proposals as they attempted to avoid a financial meltdown, the FT says. George Osborne yesterday cleared the way for Mark Carney to preside over the biggest shake-up at the Bank of England for more than two decades. The Chancellor handed the incoming central bank governor sweeping new powers to target jobs and growth as well as inflation in a bid to kick-start Britain's ailing economy, the Daily Mail reports. Barclays released shares worth £38.5m to bosses including investment bank chief Rich Ricci, who sold his £17m windfall immediately. Barclays said Mr Ricci was awarded 5.7m shares on Monday and had sold them all when the shares were priced at 308.1p, valuing the stake at £17.6m. Barclays' shares have fallen this week and closed on Wednesday at 295.2p, The Telegraph writes.