Toyota is to order a humiliating global recall of the Prius — the hybrid electric car which has become the leader of the green motoring revolution. In a deepening of the crisis at the world's largest car manufacturer, Toyota will this week warn 300,000 Prius owners — 3,500 of them in the UK — that the brakes on their car may fail in icy conditions or on bumpy surfaces, the Times reports. Stock market experts are warning of another year of dividend famine as some of Britain's biggest dividend mainstays struggle to maintain payments to shareholders. Dividends from British-listed companies fell by £10bn, or 15%, last year to £56.9bn and, while they may creep up this year, they will still fall well short of the £66 billion distributed in 2008, according to the Capita Registrars Dividend Monitor, the Times reports. BT is preparing to open up its underground cable ducts so that rivals can run their own high-speed broadband networks through the telecoms company's infrastructure. Action by BT could allow competitors to lay their optical fibre cables without the expense of digging up pavements, the FT reports. The best-paid FTSE 100 boss has told The Times that he is worth his £36.8m pay packet. Bart Becht, chief executive of Reckitt Benckiser, said that his company's shareholder returns justified his pay. He said: "We pay for performance. It's very straightforward. There's a very clear link between stock awarded and shareholder value." The maker of Cillit Bang and Vanish has delivered higher total shareholder returns than any other FTSE 100 company apart from British American Tobacco in the past decade. The Government has been warned that it faces a "ticking time bomb" of company closures and job losses when a scheme to allow firms to delay their tax payments is wound up. Experts say the "time to pay" programme has been a resounding success and has kept many businesses afloat in the recession, since HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC) would normally have first call on their money and could have pushed them into liquidation or administration, the Independent reports. Debt-laden Middle Eastern conglomerate Dubai World is preparing a firesale of some of its most prestigious assets including the cruise liner QE2 and circus troupe Cirque du Soleil. The disposals are part of an effort to pay down some of Dubai World's $22bn (£14bn) of debts. Last week Istithmar, the investment arm of Dubai World, started the process by selling a 13pc stake in Indian domestic airline SpiceJet. It has also entered into talks to sell Inchcape Shipping Services, the UK port agent, with a mooted $700m price tag, the Telegraph reports. Draft European Union legislation designed to regulate the hedge fund industry would trigger "systemic failure and widespread market disruption" if it became law.Those are the findings of the Financial Markets Law Committee (FMLC), which was established by the Bank of England, on the eve of a critical week for the EU hedge fund directive in Brussels. The Times has learnt that European lawmakers will be presented today with about 2,000 amendments to the draft legislation, each of which must be debated. BP has become the latest oil company to face a shareholder revolt over its investments in Canada's controversial oil sands. A coalition of shareholders has tabled a resolution for the oil giant's annual meeting on April 15 highlighting what they describe as the environmental and social risks of tar sands development, the Times reports. Britain's construction industry continued to decline during the final quarter of 2009 despite the wider economy returning to growth, according to the latest Construction Trade Survey. The survey also suggested a bleak environment for 2010 with the industry facing rising material costs and increasing fuel and energy prices, coupled with decreasing orders and enquiries, the Independent reports. Britain's banks and building societies have warned that they will have to slash mortgage lending and raise rates on home loans if the government insists on prompt and full repayment of the £300bn they have received in state support since 2008. In a recent paper aimed particularly at policymakers, the Council of Mortgage Lenders set out its case for continuing government support for the Special Liquidity Scheme and the Credit Guarantee Scheme, which must be fully repaid by the ends of 2012 and 2014 respectively, the FT reports. BSN Medical, the German bandages maker, has become the latest private equity-owned company to prepare for an initial public offering after its owner Montagu hired Morgan Stanley to plan a flotation valuing it as high as EUR2bn ($2.7bn), the FT reports.