Business week in pictures

BP chief executive Tony Hayward leaves the White House following a meeting with President Barack Obama. Hayward tells US politicians that he is "deeply sorry" over the Deepwater Horizon oil disaster, and admits that it should never have happened. In his opening remarks to a congressional committee, Hayward pledges that BP will repair the damage caused by the huge, ongoing oil leak, and learn lessons so that it does not happen again
Photograph: Win McNamee/Getty Images

President Barack Obama leaves the podium after addressing the press in the state dining room following a meeting with executives from BP. Earlier in the week, Barack Obama wrung an apology from BP and an agreement for the oil company to make a $20bn (£13.5bn) down payment into a special compensation fund for victims of the Gulf oil spill. The White House was insistent that the $20bn was not a cap, and the company's chairman, Carl-Henric Svanberg, announced that BP would not be paying dividends this year
Photograph: Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images

Bank of England governor Mervyn King speaks at the Lord Mayor's dinner to the bankers and merchants of the City of London at Mansion House. King became the most powerful governor of the Bank of England in living memory after chancellor George Osborne gave him sweeping powers to curb City excesses and prevent another financial crash. King emerged as the big winner from the chancellor's shakeup of supervision that will abolish the Financial Services Authority and do away with the tripartite system of regulation introduced by Gordon Brown in 1997. Osborne told the City's elite that he was sticking to plans outlined in the Conservative manifesto, despite reservations from the Liberal Democrat members of the coalition government
Photograph: Suzanne Plunkett/Reuters

Chancellor George Osborne slides back a bolt enabling him to enter Downing Street. Britain's annual borrowing will be more than £20bn lower than first predicted, according to an independent body commissioned by the government, but growth forecasts have also been slashed. The Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR), headed by the former Treasury mandarin Sir Alan Budd, said the government needed to borrow about £155bn – £8bn lower than in March's budget – and £23bn lower over the five years to 2014-15. Growth in the economy, which the previous government predicted would range between 3% and 3.5% for 2011, was revised down to 2.6%
Photograph: Facundo Arrizabalaga/EPA

A banner depicting a job centre queue stands in the Democracy Camp in Parliament Square, Westminster. The steady rise in unemployment over the last 18 months appeared to be stabilising after a drop in the headline rate to 7.9% in the three months to April, according to official data. The number of unemployed people was 2.47 million over the quarter, an increase of 23,000, which was lower than analysts had expected. The figures for people claiming jobseekers' allowance were also better than expected, falling by 30,900 in May to just under 1.5 million, the fourth consecutive monthly decline
Photograph: Facundo Arrizabalaga/EPA

England flags adorn a house in a street in the Knowle West area in Bristol. Britain's high streets were the beneficiaries of World Cup fever last month as consumers snapped up offers for new TVs to watch the four-week football festival. The Office for National Statistics said sales of households goods – and electrical equipment in particular – were behind a sharper than expected 0.6% rise in retail sales in May
Photograph: Matt Cardy/Getty Images

Non-alcoholic drinks played the biggest part in the inflation slowdown. Inflation slowed more than expected last month as food prices slipped and the rise in petrol prices eased off, raising hopes that price pressures have now peaked. Consumer price inflation rose 3.4% on a year ago, down from a 17-month high of 3.7% in April, according to the Office for National Statistics. The rate was below economists' forecasts for 3.5% but still well above the Bank of England's government-set target of 2%
Photograph: The Image Bank/Getty Images

EasyJet founder Sir Stelios Haji-Ioannou was accused of treating passengers as 'pound notes' after taking the stand in a high court battle over the airline's brand. In a series of brusque exchanges with easyJet's legal team, the easyGroup tycoon was forced to defend his interpretation of the carrier's business model. The entrepreneur is claiming that easyJet is in breach of a brand licence that limits the carrier's earnings from non-core activities to no more than 25% of revenues
Photograph: Graeme Robertson

The supermarket group Sainsbury's joined its rivals in reporting dismal sales growth figures as a result of soaring petrol prices and a steep drop in food inflation. The third biggest grocer said like-for-like sales – excluding the impact from the VAT increase at the turn of the year and gains from new shopfloor space – were ahead just 0.3% in the last three months. It was the worst sales data from Sainsbury's for five years and compares with a 0.1% increase reported by Tesco this week and 0.8% at Morrisons. Asda, which is owned by Wal-Mart, has admitted its sales have gone into reverse
Photograph: Micha Theiner/Rex Features

Mohamed al Fayed (right) former owner of Harrods department store with the prime minister of Qatar Sheikh Hamad Bin Jassim Bin Jabr Al-Thani inside Harrods store in London in May. Qatar, which recently bought Harrods for £1.5bn, is likely to be the largest overseas property investor in the world this year, according to a report, as it targets the capital's assets in an aggressive spending spree. 'Cash-rich and with a strong appetite for splashy overseas assets, Qatari [investment] vehicles have lately outshone their counterparts from the region and are projected to carry on with their rapid expansion across the real estate world,' said the report by real estate consultancy Jones Lang LaSalle (JLL)
Photograph: Steve Parsons/PA

British Airways is facing further industrial unrest by cabin crew after the latest attempt to forge peace with the Unite trade union failed. The Acas conciliation service said a renewed attempt to bring both sides together had collapsed, paving the way for another strike ballot of 11,000 BA flight attendants who have already embarked on 22 days of strikes this year. If Britain's largest trade union pushes ahead and cabin crew vote for further industrial action, then a new wave of strikes is possible from the first week of August and beyond
Photograph: Steve Parsons/PA

Iain Coucher is to resign as chief executive of Network Rail after three years in the job. The rail infrastructure firm has been criticised recently over bonuses. It is due to announce bonuses at the end of the month amid speculation that senior employees could receive hundreds of thousands of pounds on top of their salaries. Last year Coucher waived his annual bonus of around £300,000 but still received £150,000 as part of a three-year rolling management incentive scheme on top of his salary of around £600,000
Photograph: David Jones/PA