Business week in pictures

Carlos Slim, the titan of mobile phones in Mexico, was crowned as the richest person in the world by Forbes magazine, which calculated his net worth at $53.5bn (£35.7bn)
Photograph: Keystone USA/Rex Features

On the other end of the scale, children from poor families in Britain have a greater chance of struggling on low incomes than their counterparts in the west's other rich countries, the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) said
Photograph: David Levene

A Toyota Prius that had been in an accident in New York. Toyota's safety crisis deepened further this week when police officers in California were called to stop a runaway Prius that was accelerating out of control on a busy highway
Photograph: Seth Wenig/AP

More than 22,500 Northern Rock customers – over 4% – have missed monthly mortgage payments, the nationalised mortgage lender admitted as it reported a sharp fall in losses for last year. Staff will share £15m in bonuses
Photograph: Christopher Thomond

Bonuses were also on offer at the John Lewis Partnership, which handed £151m to its staff after enjoying a near-10% rise in profits
Photograph: Jason Alden

Halogen inserts designed for new technology light bulbs. 42m energy-saving lightbulbs were sent out by utilities companies in the three months before Christmas under the government's £3bn energy-efficiency scheme, even though many are unlikely to be used
Photograph: Frederick Florin/AFP/Getty Images

Greek Prime Minister George Papandreou takes questions after a meeting at the White House with President Barack Obama. The European commission announced moves to shore up the euro and ward off market pressure on Greece by considering a ban on complex derivatives allegedly being used to undermine the single currency
Photograph: Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images

Britain's biggest banks are being subjected to new stress tests by the Financial Services Authority to ensure they can withstand another four years of falling economic growth and a near-doubling in unemployment to four million
Photograph: Dan Kitwood/Getty Images

Staff from a Newcastle department store have a snow fight in January. Britain's manufacturers suffered their biggest fall in production in six months at the start of the year when snow storms brought parts of the country to a standstill
Photograph: Owen Humphreys/PA

There was more bad news for the economy as the UK trade deficit with the rest of the world widened in January to its highest level since August 2008 as exports suffered their sharpest drop in three years
Photograph: David Levene

The Treasury has announced that the budget will be held on 24 March, making 6 May a racing certainty for the general election
Photograph: Peter Macdiarmid/Getty Images

CBI director general, Richard Lambert. The government must use its final budget before the election to improve Britain's battered fiscal credibility and to find new ways to help businesses still reeling from the deepest recession in decades, the CBI business lobby group urges
Photograph: Mark Pinder

Pop band and EMI artists Hot Chip. Former ITV boss Charles Allen is taking control of EMI's music business, home to acts including Coldplay and Robbie Williams, after the surprise departure of chief executive Elio Leoni-Sceti
Photograph: Graeme Robertson

Boris Johnson must consider making cuts to London's public transport network or postponing improvements to one of the capital's busiest underground lines after he was told to plug a £460m funding gap in a controversial public-private partnership to repair the tube system
Photograph: Martin Godwin