Vodafone Share News (VOD)

John Malone, the owner of Liberty Global, has said that that a combination with UK telecoms group Vodafone would be a "great fit", The Times said. The paper said he "dropped the heaviest hint yet that a tie-up with Vodafone is on the cards".Shares in Yahoo! dropped suddenly on Tuesday evening on concerns that possible changes in US tax regulations would affect the group's expiated spin-off of its $40bn Alilbaba stake, reports The Telegraph.Sales at Asda dropped 3.9% in the 15 weeks to 19 April, the worst outcome since it started reported quarterly figures in 2006 and the poorest performance among the 'Big Four' supermarkets, The Guardian writes.Swiss bank UBS is to pay $545m to US authorities to settle FX-rigging allegations as it looks to draw a line under multiple trading scandals lasting several years, reports the Financial Times.The ECB is expected to step up bond purchases in the coming weeks ahead of an expected summer lull in markets, a top ECB official has said, writes The Wall Street Journal.The CBI has told employers to "to turn up the volume" on the benefits of EU membership, writes The Guardian.Japanese GDP rose by 0.6% in the first quarter, equating to annualised growth of 2.4%. This was well ahead of the 1.5% annualised growth expected, though most of that was due to a huge build-up of inventories, the Financial Times said.Portugal's Socialist Party vowed to defy austerity demands from the nation's lenders and block any further sackings of public officials, according to The Telegraph.