Business week in pictures

On the last Saturday before Christmas protesters against corporate tax avoidance carried out their biggest day of action to date, targeting businesses in 55 towns and cities across the UK. Protesters in London mounting a 'disruptive tax dodger tour' claimed to have shut fashion chains Dorothy Perkins and Burton, both owned by Sir Philip Green's Arcadia Group. Attempts to close Topshop's flagship store in London's Oxford Street (pictured) and a major Vodafone outlet nearby failed due to extra security measures Photograph: Antonio Olmos

Rows of luggage stacked in Heathrow airport's Terminal 3. Heavy snowfall on Saturday led to flight cancellations and disruption throughout the week, piling on the misery for hundreds of stranded people who were forced to spend the night in terminals. Later in the week, BAA chief executive Colin Matthews sanctioned a £10m investment in snow-clearing equipment at Heathrow as he waived his annual bonus in the wake of the debacle that crippled Britain's largest airport Photograph: Ben Stansall/AFP/Getty Images

Product placement will be allowed on UK television from the end of February 2011, Ofcom confirmed on Monday. The media regulator published a set of rules that will govern how products can be promoted as part of a revised broadcasting code following a consultation with the industry. Product placement is already common on US shows such as American Idol (pictured)
Photograph: 20th Century Fox/Everett/Rex Features

The Co-op and Marks & Spencer were named on Monday as the UK's 'greenest' supermarkets in a new survey rating retailers' progress in areas such as sustainable and ethical sourcing. Tesco, Asda and Netto were identified as the three worst-performing companies Photograph: PR

Retailers warned that the horrendous weather conditions were having a serious impact on Christmas takings, despite many shoppers on Monday deciding to ignore travel warnings in an effort to bag festive bargains. Big discounts could not fill the stores, but thousands of shoppers headed out on treacherous roads and icy pavements to get to Brent Cross shopping centre in north London, which had been forced to shut on Saturday afternoon because of heavy snow Photograph: Stefan Wermuth/Reuters

Fears that JP Morgan would quit London in protest at restrictions on bankers' bonuses melted away on Monday, when it announced plans to move into the former headquarters of Lehman Brothers. JP Morgan is spending £495m to acquire 25 Bank Street in Canary Wharf, the home of Lehman's European arm before its spectacular collapse in September 2008. This ends months of uncertainty over the investment bank's plans, and means it will not move its 11,000 London-based staff overseas Photograph: Graeme Robertson for the Guardian

A food bank for needy people at the Saint-Lazaro Church in Braga, Portugal, where the unemployment rate has reached 13.2%. Portugal was hit with the threat of a credit rating downgrade on Tuesday over fears that its austerity cutbacks will hurt economic growth next year. Just days after slashing Ireland's credit rating by five notches, Moody's warned it had put Portugal's rating on review for a possible downgrade. The agency said it was concerned about the country's 'long-term economic vitality' after swingeing spending cuts and tax hikes are implemented Photograph: Patricia De Melo Moreira/AFP/Getty Images

Toyota has been fined $32.4m (£20.9m) by the US government for failing to swiftly recall millions of vehicles with faulty brakes and steering. The fines are the maximum allowed by law. In April Toyota paid another $16.4m fine related to the recalls, bringing the total to $48.8m. The latest fines relate to two separate investigations: one over the recall of nearly 5m vehicles with faulty accelerator pedals that became stuck and a second involving steering rods that cracked and broke in some models. Photograph: Seth Wenig/AP

It was a torrid week for Vince Cable, who will remain as business secretary but has been stripped of his responsibilities for media and telecoms after telling undercover reporters he had 'declared war' on Rupert Murdoch. Cable, the second most senior Lib Dem figure in the coalition government, hung on to his cabinet seat despite the comments which referred to his intervention on public interest grounds in News Corporation's bid for full control of BSkyB Photograph: Andrew Winning/Reuters

Almost a quarter of a million people will be spending their second or even third Christmas on the dole this year, according to a survey by the TUC. More than a third of the 232 local authorities across the UK now have more than 1,000 residents who have been claiming jobseeker's allowance (JSA) for at least 12 months. This compares with just 26 in December 2007 Photograph: Dan Kitwood/Getty Images

Rebel soldiers in Abidjan, Ivory Coast. Cocoa prices have risen by almost 10% in the past few weeks due to political unrest in Ivory Coast, and could rise further, an analyst said this week. Cocoa futures – contracts promising delivery of cocoa in May – at the Intercontinental Exchange stood at $2,758/tonne (£1,796) at the beginning of this month, rising as high as $2,994/tonne in trading on Tuesday. Ivory Coast is the world's largest producer of cocoa and produces more than a third of global supply, meaning that any restriction in its supply will drive up prices Photograph: Sunday Alamba/AP

A mystery trader accumulated up to 90% of the copper on the London Metal Exchange (LME) amid a dramatic rise in the price of the metal, driven by demand from China and other emerging economies. Copper prices stormed to record levels this week amid speculation about the identity of the trading house sitting on the large position worth around $3bn at the LME which has been steadily rising since the middle of November Photograph: Jason Alden/Bloomberg via Getty Images

Further evidence of a north/south divide in business confidence has emerged as data confirmed company failures in the north of England are running at significantly higher rates than in the rest of the UK. In its latest report credit reference group Experian said business insolvencies fell to 0.07% in November 2010 – down from 0.09% in same month last year. However, it noted that businesses in southern England appear to be faring better than their northern counterparts Photograph: Christopher Furlong/Getty Images

Homeowners need to prepare for a series of interest rate rises to about 5%, a Bank of England official warned this week. Paul Fisher, who is a member of the Bank's rate-setting Monetary Policy Committee (MPC), said officials would like the current 0.5% base rate to rise to a 'normalised' level 10 times as big. But he said 'the speed at which that happens is another thing entirely' Photograph: Tim Ireland/PA