Parliament in Cyprus have voted in favour of the first two measures designed to restructure their economy and secure an EU bailout.

MPs have approved a "national solidarity fund" to ease the banking crisis and they've imposed capital controls to prevent a run on the island's troubled banks.

These are the first of a series of laws intended to raise the 5.8bn euros Cyprus needs to qualify for a 10bn-euro bailout.

MPs are still to decide whether to impose a levy on large bank deposits.

The fund would allow the pooling of state assets for an emergency bond issue.

Before the series of votes, the European Union, Germany and leading bankers all urged MPs to speedily pass the reforms.