'Britain has a global financial sector but a medium-sized economy. As the failures of others show, a country with an outsize banking industry can only prosper sustainably if it runs the tightest of ships'.

Wed Jun 19, 2013 12:24am BST. (Reuters) - Britain's Vodafone Group Plc (VOD.L) has raised its preliminary offer to buy Germany's largest cable operator, Kabel Deutschland Holding AG (KD8Gn.

Russian President Vladimir Putin speaks during a meeting of the G8 on Tuesday at Lough Erne, Enniskillen, Northern Ireland. Photograph: Stefan Rousseau/ WPA Pool /Getty Images.

Young couples who start a family in their twenties could spend more than a decade saving for a deposit for their first home, according to new research.

A call centre made famous by a BBC reality TV series has been fined �225,000 for harassing families with nuisance calls. The BBC has portrayed the company's millionaire boss 'Big Nev' Wilshire as a lovable rogue, a consumer champion and even a hero.

The City grandee Baroness Hogg's high-flying banker daughter Charlotte has taken a �1m pay cut to become the new Bank of England Governor's top enforcer.

LONDON - London shares closed higher on Tuesday as investors hoped the two-day Federal Reserve Board meeting will not spark too sharp a reduction in the Fed's stimulus programme to shore up the United States economy, dealers said.

A community garden in Whitley Bay, North Tyneside, which has won Britain in Bloom awards, has been earmarked for demolition because council bosses believe it is a health and safety risk.

The polarisation of the high street is showing no signs of slowing as new data reveals that discount chains Aldi and Lidl, along with high end grocer Waitrose, have won more customers this year than any of their supermarket rivals.

LONDON�Prosecutors here plan to file criminal fraud charges against a former trader at UBS AG and Citigroup Inc. who allegedly was at the center of efforts by several banks to manipulate interest rates, people familiar with the plans said.