Business week in pictures

Week in Business: Technicians use a robotic arm at the site of Deepwater Horizon oil leak

.. and received offers of help from, among others, Titanic and Avatar director James Cameron. (Pictured: Technicians use a robotic arm at the site of the Deepwater Horizon oil leak)
Photograph: BP/Reuters

Week in Business: An advertisement for Prudential on top of a building in Hong Kong.

Prudential bosses suffered the embarrassment of withdrawing its offer for the Asian arm of insurer AIG, a failed takeover that is likely to cost £450m
Photograph: Bobby Yip/Reuters

Week in Business: Warren Buffett speaks with the media before testifying in New York

Coerced into appearing by a subpoena, America's second-richest man Warren Buffett made a reluctant trip to New York to give evidence to the US financial crisis inquiry commission, which is investigating ratings agencies' top-grade ranking of doomed mortgage-backed securities during the run-up to a catastrophic housing market collapse
Photograph: Shannon Stapleton/Reuters

Week in Business: JPMorgan Chase & Co headquarters in New York.

JP Morgan has been fined £33m by the Financial Services Authority – the largest-ever fine from the regulator – for basic compliance failures which meant the bank had not protected client money by segregating it from its own funds over a seven-year period
Photograph: Mark Lennihan/AP

Week in Business: Chief executive of Ryanair, Michael O'Leary, points at Iceland

Ryanair boss Michael O'Leary is challenging the European Union compensation regime for airline passengers by refusing to pay 'ludicrous' claims from holidaymakers resulting from the volcanic ash crisis
Photograph: Carl De Souza/AFP/Getty Images

Week in Business: SABMiller in South Africa

SABMiller, the brewer behind Peroni and Grolsch, and the controversial backers of the first boycott-busting rebel cricket tour of apartheid South Africa 28 years ago, will this month spend millions of pounds on football World Cup celebrations – much of it in 550 township taverns and 10 FIFA fan zones – as well as sponsoring the tournament's predominantly black home team
Photograph: David Parry/One Red Eye

Week in Business: Sir Terry Leahy, chief executive of Tesco

Sir Terry Leahy, chief executive of Tesco, pocketed over £5.2m in salary and bonus last year as the supermarket group notched up a 10% increase in profits to make a record £3.4bn
Photograph: David Levene

Week in Business: Trains make their way in and out of Victoria station in London.

Network Rail said it had made a strong start towards meeting tough savings targets over the next five years, in the wake of a critical progress report from the rail industry watchdog
Photograph: Dan Kitwood/Getty Images

Week in Business: Danny Alexander stands with Chancellor of the Exchequer George Osborne

George Osborne (left) will risk a schism with the Liberal Democrats, including chief secretary to the Treasury Danny Alexander (right), when he strips the Financial Services Authority of the majority of its powers in a shakeup of City regulation to be announced later this month
Photograph: Peter Macdiarmid/Getty Images

Week in Business: An estate agents for sale sign in front of a house in St Ives, Cornwall.

The UK's recovery is likely to lag European neighbours France and Germany this year, according to economists at Standard & Poor's, who warn this morning that uncertainty around gaping budget deficits could hurt growth throughout the region
Photograph: Matt Cardy/Getty Images

Week in Business: New Look store in Cardiff

Fashion retailer New Look said that it may still attempt a stock market flotation despite the uncertain trading outlook faced by retailers ahead of an expected increase in VAT
Photograph: New Look