Vodafone has agreed to acquire Germany’s largest cable operator Kabel Deutschland for more than £8.5bn, The Times reported. The deal, pitched at €7.7bn, marks one of the biggest in the telecoms industry since the height of the technology boom.

Rio Tinto has ditched plans to sell or float its precious gems business, the Financial Times said. The Anglo-Australian mining group had considered a number of strategic ownership options for the division but decided the best way to maximise value for shareholders was to retain its diamond assets, said Alan Davides, head of Rio’s diamond and minerals arm.

Chancellor George Osborne has agreed the final details of spending cuts worth £11.5bn for 2015-16, according to The Telegraph. He is set to unveil the plans in an announcement this week as the Treasury reveals a multi-billion, six-year infrastructure investment programme.

The Bank of International Settlement says soaring bond yields across the world threaten trillions of dollars in losses for investors and a fresh financial crisis unless banks are braced for the possibility, The Guardian reported.

UK building society, Nationwide, is said to be devising plans to raise at least £1bn to plug a hole in its balance sheet, the Daily Mail said. The mutual was one of eight lenders singled out by the Bank of England recently under plans to strengthen the sector’s reserves of buffer capital and prevent future taxpayer bail-outs.