Business week in pictures

Investment guru Warren Buffett has tried to brush off the share trading scandal that marred his investment firm Berkshire Hathaway's annual shareholder rally, telling reporters, 'I don't think it will change a record of 80 years.' David Sokol, a former heir apparent to Buffett's chief executive position, accused the investment guru of scapegoating him Photograph: Rick Wilking/Reuters

City grandee Sir David Walker has been called in to break the deadlock over the publication of a Financial Services Authority report into what went wrong at Royal Bank of Scotland during the financial crisis Photograph: Rex Features

Bailed out Lloyds Banking Group has sunk to a deep first-quarter loss after taking a larger than expected provision of £3.2bn to cover the costs of mis-selling payment protection insurance Photograph: Ben Stansall/AFP/Getty Images

In Ireland, bailed-out banks are so desperate to get hold of consumer cash to counter the flight of capital and build up reserves, they are offering super-attractive savings rates of up to 6% Photograph: Rex Features

Portugal's caretaker government said that it had negotiated a €78bn bailout deal with the European Union and the International Monetary Fund, but was waiting for opposition parties to agree. Acting prime minister José Sócrates said that, under the terms of the deal, Portugal must slash its budget deficit from 9.1% to 5.9% this year Photograph: Francisco Leong/AFP/Getty Images

Pressure on George Osborne to rethink his North Sea tax reforms has increased with a report from experts criticising the changes as the Commons begins to debate the details of the budget Photograph: Christopher Thomond

A government thinktank has predicted that the British marine energy sector could be worth £76bn to the economy and support 68,000 jobs by 2050. The analysis, released this week by the Carbon Trust, comes only weeks after coalition ministers ended the industry's subsidy programme Photograph: Mike Brookes Roper/PA

In a busy week for retail news, shops blamed a surge in the cost of basic commodities for a jump in price inflation that they fear could send customers scurrying from the high street Photograph: Chris Radburn/PA

Next has raised its profit forecasts after enjoying a boost in sales from the recent warm weather and the royal wedding. The high street and catalogue retailer reported stronger than expected trading for the last 13 weeks, particularly in womenswear as shoppers bought new outfits for the summer Photograph: David Moir/Reuters

The owner of clothing retailers La Senza and American Apparel has bought fellow fashion chain All Saints in a deal set to secure hundreds of jobs Photograph: Sarah Lee

Chocolate maker Thorntons has hit the market with its second profit warning of 2011, blaming the recent sunny weather for a slump in sales over Easter. While most of the retail sector has welcomed the mini-heatwave that bathed Britain for much of April, it proved bad news for Thorntons Photograph: Matt Cardy/Getty Images Europe

The DVD could be consigned to the pages of a history book if plunging US sales continue for the rest of the year. Sales of new titles tumbled by nearly one fifth in the first three months of this year, a decline fuelled partly by a lack of hits and the timing of Easter – but also by the start of what appears to be an irreversible change in consumer habits Photograph: David Levene