Business Week in Pictures

Events in Ireland dominated the news agenda again this week as the crisis entered a new phase. The country began the week by formally requesting an international financial rescue package of as much as €90bn (£77.3bn). This mural depicts finance minister Brian Lenihan and PM Brian Cowen as the Blues Brothers
Photograph: Julien Behal/PA

George Osborne confirmed that Britain would provide around £7bn to support Ireland as part of the rescue package Photograph: Stefan Rousseau/PA

Embattled PM Brian Cowen attempted to save his crisis-ridden Irish coalition government from disintegration after a tumultuous Monday in Dublin. With fresh doubt cast over the government's ability to pass a budget, the taoiseach resisted demands from his backbenchers to stand down and pressure from the opposition for a snap general election before Christmas Photograph: Julien Behal/PA

The Irish banking sector faced nationalisation, effectively taking Allied Irish Banks into state control and giving the government a majority stake in Bank of Ireland Photograph: Peter Morrison/AP

The world's biggest bond investor inflamed the growing crisis engulfing the eurozone by virtually inviting depositors to take their money out of Ireland's stricken banks. Mohamed El-Erian, chief investment officer of the powerful bond manager Pimco, added to the anxiety by describing Ireland's banks as 'bleeding deposits'. Expectations mounted that Portugal, in the grip of a general strike, would quickly follow Ireland in calling in the International Monetary Fund and the European Union Photograph: Francisco Leong/AFP/Getty Images

On Wednesday, Ireland's embattled government published its four-year economic plan intended to save the country €15bn (£12.7bn). The taoiseach, flanked by his finance minister Brian Lenihan and Green party leader John Gormley, outlined the plans at a press conference in Government Buildings, Dublin. Public sector pay will be cut by €1.2bn and staff numbers reduced by nearly 25,000; the minimum wage cut by €1 to €7.65 and a new tax on more than 2m households and properties of €200 a year will raise €530m Photograph: Cathal Mcnaughton/Reuters

Elsewhere, Tesco has set out ambitious plans to open more stores in Europe and Asia as the UK grocer seeks to boost profitability abroad. Tesco told analysts, who are on a three-day tour of the British company's main overseas markets, that it plans to nearly double its selling space in central Europe and Turkey over the next five years. It has 850 stores in Poland, the Czech Republic, Hungary, Slovakia and Turkey and it said it would expand with its convenience-style Express outlets as well as small and large hypermarkets Photograph: Guang Niu/Getty Images

Qantas will resume flying some of its A380 superjumbos this weekend, ending a self-imposed flight ban after a massive in-flight engine failure prompted a global safety review. CEO Alan Joyce said two of Qantas' existing fleet of six Airbus superjumbos would be brought back into service, flying between Sydney and London via Singapore Photograph: Christophe Ena/AP

And Rolls-Royce has won its second big engine contract since its safety scare, announcing a $1.8bn (£1.12bn) deal with Air China. The deal is to supply engines for 20 new wide-bodied Airbus aircraft for Air China. The engines are different from the Trent 900 model used on the Airbus "superjumbo" that exploded in mid-air but are part of the same Trent family Photograph: Bloomberg/Bloomberg via Getty Images

The Bank of England's banknote printer, De La Rue, is close to naming the former head of Chloride as its new chief executive as it seeks to draw a line under recent production woes. The appointment of Tim Cobbold, who orchestrated the sale of the power systems group to America's Emerson earlier this year and remains the company's group president, could be announced soon Photograph: Bloomberg/Bloomberg

Dubai will never be the same again. The tourists will still fill Jumeirah's golden beaches, the traffic will speed dangerously along Sheikh Zayed Road, the hedonistic bars and night clubs will still pulsate into the early hours. But the past year has utterly changed the ethos of the glitzy Gulf emirate. The crisis that exploded a year ago has dealt a serious blow to Dubai's self-confidence and its grandiose plans to be the Middle East's financial capital Photograph: Marwan Naamani/AFP/Getty Images

Mitchells & Butlers, Britain's largest pub operator, said low mortgage rates and expanding disposable incomes have nudged up the number of customers swinging through the doors of its 1,600 outlets and raised the amount they are prepared to spend – despite chancellor George Osborne's impending cuts Photograph: Martin Godwin/PA

The Unite trade union has moved closer to calling a strike ballot among British Airways cabin crew after expressing its 'dismay and anger' over the suspension of an employee for holding a Christmas collection for sacked and suspended colleagues Photograph: Steve Parsons/PA

The rise of breakfast cereal makes a revealing case study in the evolutionary process behind the modern diet. The transformation of the British breakfast in the last 100 years has been complete. Unlike our European partners we have succumbed almost entirely to the American invention. A century ago simple cereal grains, cooked either as porridge or bread, were the staples of breakfast around the world and in this country too, just as they had been in previous centuries. Felicity Lawrence investigates Photograph: David Sillitoe/David Sillitoe