Business week in pictures

Sir Mervyn King has admitted that the Bank of England should have 'shouted from the rooftops' its concerns about the looming disaster in the City as he warned that Britain's recovery from recession would be a long, slow process Photograph: Andy Rain/EPA

JD Wetherspoon founder and chairman Tim Martin warned that high taxes mean future pub expansion will slow, creating fewer jobs. New pubs are less likely to be opened in poorer areas because taxes on drinks are disproportionately hitting these areas, he said Photograph: Matt Dunham/AP

Rising unemployment and plunging business confidence in the euro area revealed the increasingly fragile state of the region's economy on Wednesday, as voters in France and Greece prepare to deliver their verdict on austerity in Sunday elections Photograph: Nikolas Georgiou/Demotix/Corbis

The boss of Argos has dismissed claims that the chain's catalogue-showroom business model is dying as he announced a collapse in annual profits Photograph: Fabio De Paola for the Guardian

Now Britain's largest industrial cities have become magnets for international visitors, according to official tourism figures which reveal that the towns were among the UK's most popular destinations last year. London and Edinburgh still reign supreme as the two most popular urban destinations in the UK, but Manchester, Birmingham, Liverpool and Bristol are fast becoming rival attractions Photograph: Christopher Thomond for the Guardian

America's top bosses have handed themselves double-digit pay rises for the second year in a row, according to interim figures from the most comprehensive survey of CEO pay,. Pictured: Founder and CEO of Herbalife Michael Johnson competing in the 2011 Nautica Malibu Triathlon sponsored by Herbalife Photograph: Tiffany Rose/WireImage via Getty Images

UK construction maintained its 16-month recovery last month, according to financial data provider Markit, despite official data showing that the sector experienced steep falls in output at the start of the year Photograph: Andy Rain/EPA

Chairman of BAE Systems, Dick Olver. BAE Systems came under attack from its own staff at the defence group's annual meeting on Wednesday as employees criticised plans to cut 900 manufacturing jobs in Yorkshire. As well as the staff who attended the annual meeting, hundreds of BAE workers attended a rally next to the meeting in Westminster Photograph: Dan Kitwood/Getty Images

Iron Maiden singer Bruce Dickinson is hoping that money can be made from repairing heavy metal as well as performing it, after launching an aircraft maintenance business. Dickinson, one of rock's renaissance men – a commercial airline pilot, enthusiastic fencer and published novelist – has established a company that will repair and overhaul aircraft up to the size of a Boeing 767 (pictured) Photograph: Joshua Trujillo/AP

Bolivian soldiers surround the headquarters of the electric company Transportadora de Electricidad (TDE), belonging to Spain's Electrica Espanola. The trend for South American nations to reclaim privatised energy businesses has strengthened after Bolivia's president Evo Morales said he planned to seize control of the main power grid from a Spanish-owned company Photograph: Danilo Balderrama/Reuters