One of the biggest corporate deals in history edged closer yesterday after Verizon said that it was ‘extremely confident’ it could buy Vodafone‘s stake in North America’s largest mobile network without triggering a huge tax bill, The Times says. Vodafone owns a 45 per cent stake in Verizon Wireless.

According to The Independent, insurance group Aviva is to lay-off 2,000 staff over the next six months in an effort to cut costs and said that redundancy pay-offs would be less generous than they are currently. Trade unions called this a “callous and disgraceful act”.

Incoming Bank of England Governor Mark Carney has said that the UK is a “crisis economy” as he attempted to play down hopes that he would be coming to the rescue when he succeeds Mervyn King this summer, The Telegraph reports.

Vedanta Resources’ £1.1bn plan to mine bauxite on land deemed sacred by locals was dealt a big blow after India’s highest court said that tribal councils would be given the authority to give the go ahead or not, according to The Independent.

The Times says that Tim Breedon, the former chief executive officer of Legal & General, received £9.4m in pay, bonuses and share awards when he left last year despite the company making its first dividend cut in its history.

Rich Ricci, the head of Barclays‘ investment bank who yesterday announced his retirement, could still receives bonuses from deferred incentive schemes worth millions, writes The Guardian. This would add to the more than £70m in shares that he has received since 2010.