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Bankers who are reckless with customers' or taxpayers' money could face criminal charges and have bonuses and pensions clawed back, according to proposals backed by Britain's prime minister on Wednesday. Many Britons blame bankers' risk-taking for the 2008 financial crisis and subsequent economic slump and were furious when the former boss of RBS ( id="symbol_RBS.L_0">RBS.L) left the bank with a pension of almost 17 million pounds even after a state rescue. He later agreed to a cut and was stripped of his knighthood but it was one in a series of banking scandals that increased pressure on Prime Minister David Cameron to get tougher on a sector contributing billions of pounds to the British economy. The parliamentary commission on banking standards he set up last year after Barclays ( id="symbol_BARC.L_1">BARC.L) was fined for manipulating interest rate benchmarks said on Wednesday the law should be changed so that bankers found guilty of &

Half-way towards a lost decade for Europe's economy, pessimism persists about the political will to halt a worrying slide in the region's potential growth. Without sweeping reforms to boost productivity, Europe's output will remain sub-par, making it harder for governments to reduce debt burdens that are unsustainable financially and unemployment rates that are unsustainable socially. Leaders of the 27-nation bloc will have another chance to cut this Gordian knot at a summit in Brussels next week. True, the euro zone has belatedly made impressive efforts to contain its debt and banking crisis. The European Central Bank's promise to buy the bonds of vulnerable member states if necessary has averted the threat of a break-up of the single currency. Spain has wiped out a current account deficit that had reached 10.6 percent of GDP by 2008. Greece has narrowed its competitiveness gap by half since 2010, according to the International Monetary Fund. And in its Sprin

FedEx Corp ( id="symbol_FDX.N_0">FDX.N) reported a higher-than-expected quarterly profit on Wednesday, sending its shares higher, but the world's biggest air-freight company said it was cutting more capacity between the United States and Asia. The company, considered an economic bellwether because of the massive volume of goods it moves around the world, is still trying to adjust to increasing demand for cheaper ground transport rather than pricier but faster air shipping. In particular, the express unit, FedEx's biggest source of revenue, has suffered as more cost-conscious international customers opt to use container ships instead of costly overnight shipment by air. International priority shipment volumes fell 2 percent during the quarter, while international export revenue per package fell 2 percent as rates dropped. The company said earlier this month that it would permanently retire or will speed up the retirement of 86 aircraft and more than 300 engines

Vodafone ( id="symbol_VOD.L_0"> VOD.L ) is discussing a 7.6 billion euros ($10 billion) cash bid with Germany's No. 1 cable operator Kabel Deutschland ( id="symbol_KD8Gn.DE KD8Gn.DE ) and is confident its offer and absence of antitrust issues put it in a better position than rival Liberty Global, two sources familiar with its thinking said on Wednesday. _0"> Liberty Global ( id="symbol_LBTYA.O LBTYA.O ), which owns Unity Media, Germany's No. 2 cable operator, made an 85-euro-a-share offer on Tuesday, two people familiar with the matter said, just days after sources said Vodafone had offered 81-82 euros a share or 7.2 billion euros in cash.   _1"> Vodafone is now mulling an offer of about 85-86 euros a share, or at least 7.5 billion euros, a separate source close to the company told Reuters on Wednesday. _2"> Vodafone and Kabel Deutschland declined to comment. The British mobile operator had considered raising its initial offe

The Swiss lower house of parliament dealt a final death blow on Wednesday to a draft law aimed at protecting the country's banks from criminal charges in the United States for helping wealthy Americans to evade tax. _0"> The Swiss government has warned that the bill's failure could prompt impatient U.S. prosecutors to indict banks, although it could still invoke an executive order to allow them to hand over data to try to avert charges.   The bill was aimed at allowing banks to sidestep Swiss secrecy laws by disclosing their U.S. dealings in a bid to help them strike deals that are nevertheless expected to include fines that could cost the industry as much as $10 billion. Lawmakers from both the lower and upper houses of parliament agreed a statement saying they supported a solution to the long-running tax dispute and called on the government to allow banks to cooperate under existing laws. (Reporting By Katharina Bart; Editing by Emma Thomasson)

Fashion design duo Domenico Dolce and Stefano Gabbana were on Wednesday handed a suspended prison sentence of one year and eight months for hiding hundreds of millions of euros from the tax authorities. The designers, who are nearly as famous as the stars they dress, were not present in court in Milan and have denied the charges. Given the complexity and length of the appeals process, they are unlikely to spend any time in jail.   Public prosecutor Gaetano Ruta had asked for two and a half years. The judge gave them a suspended sentence. A company spokesman declined to make an immediate comment. The success of Dolce and Gabbana's sexy corset dresses and sharply tailored suits favored by celebrities like Kylie Minogue, Kate Moss and Bryan Ferry have earned them a glamorous lifestyle. They hosted friend and client Madonna for her birthday in 2009 at their villa perched above the chic boating resort of Portofino. The case dates back to an investigation that began in 2008, when

Bagram Air Base attack : A Bagram Air Base attack Afghan Taliban claimed responsibility for an attack that killed four American troops and the Afghan government announced it was suspending negotiations with the US on an extended troop agreement today, casting a double shadow over peace talks between the US and the Taliban scheduled to begin tomorrow. Sky News reports that the Taliban acknowledged it was behind a rocket attack last night on Bagram Air Base, launched just hours after the US announced it would be holding peace talks with the Islamist group on Thursday. Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid said: "Last night two big rockets were launched at Bagram which hit the target. Four soldiers are dead and six others are wounded. The rockets caused a major fire." A senior defense official confirmed to NBC News that the four killed were Americans. Separately, the US and Afghanistan had been discussing an extended presence for American troops in the country