The week in business

After two years of preparation, Metro Bank became the first new bank to open on Britain's high streets for more than a century Photograph: Graeme Robertson/Guardian

Mervyn King signalled the Bank of England was in no hurry to raise interest rates as he warned several risks remained to the recovery and that there was no talk of 'applying the brakes' yet Photograph: Scott Barbour/Getty Images

BP's attempt to draw a line under its troubles in the US by axing its chief executive was blunted after Tony Hayward said he would be too busy to attend a Senate hearing. The oil company risked further inflaming a delicate trans-Atlantic relationship when its directors described BP as a model of corporate social responsibility Photograph: Karen Bleier/AFP/Getty Images

And BP reported one of the largest losses in British corporate history because of the cost of the catastrophic oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico Photograph: Gerald Herbert/AP

Bob Dudley (right), the American chosen to replace Tony Hayward as chief executive of BP, is a soft-spoken southerner who has been in the oil industry most of his life but joined the BP board only 18 months ago – with the title of managing director and a salary of £1.5m Photograph: Jim Young/Reuters

Meanwhile Anglo-Dutch oil giant Royal Dutch Shell put its beleaguered rival in the shade with a 34% increase in second-quarter profits to £2.7bn Photograph: Toby Melville/Reuters

Anger erupted at mining company Vedanta's annual shareholder meeting as protesters attacked its management for alleged human rights abuses and 'crimes against the environment' Photograph: Oli Scarff/Getty Images

The White House's economic stimulus and bailout policies have saved 8.5m jobs and averted a further slump of 6.5% in US economic output, according to a study by two influential economists Photograph: Tim Sloan/AP

Theo Albrecht, the secretive retail tycoon who built the no-frills Aldi supermarket empire with his elder brother Karl, has died at the age of 88. Albrecht, who was Germany's second-richest man – after his brother – with a fortune worth nearly €17bn (£14bn), had kept a low profile after being kidnapped at gunpoint in 1971 Photograph: Roland Scheidemann/EPA

Climate change will increase the risk of flooding in the UK, which could lead to dramatic rises in insurance premiums for homeowners and businesses and make some areas of the country uninsurable, the Association of British Insurers warned Photograph: Matt Cardy/Getty Images

Amazon fought back in the ebook wars with the launch of a new Kindle and a UK-based ebook store Photograph: Reuters

Strong demand for smartphones based on Google's Android operating system has helped Carphone Warehouse to report sales growth ahead of City expectations Photograph: Robert Galbraith /Reuters