Week in pictures

Monday: A Christmas tree at the headquarters of Swiss banking giant Credit Suisse, one of the big companies that announced job cuts Photograph: Fabrice Coffrini/AFP

Monday: Dragon's Den entrepreneur Theo Paphitis took part in talks to buy Woolworths from administrators Deloitte Photograph: Anthony Devlin/PA

V is for VAT cut: In December, many shoppers found that the price at the till was less than the one on the label. VAT was cut from 17.5% to 15% in November's pre-budget report in an attempt to kick-start consumer spending. It will cost the government £12.5bn in lost revenue, and came into effect so quickly that many retailers could not change their price tags in time Photograph: Matt Cardy/Getty

Monday: Ryanair launched a fresh attempt to acquire rival airline Aer Lingus Photograph: Martin Keene/PA

Monday: Land of Leather revealed it had been approached by several potential bidders Photograph: Jonathon Hordle/Rex Features

Tuesday: Ford's $2m-a-year chief executive, Alan Mulally, promised to work for an annual salary of one dollar if the carmaker takes US government bail-out money Photograph: Leon Neal/AFP

Tuesday: Shares in Gem Diamonds, the miner with operations in Africa and Australia, surged after it sold the 478-carat Light of Letseng diamond (pictured) for $18.4m Photograph: PR

Tuesday: Oil traders gesture as they work in the oil futures pit at the New York Mercantile Exchange on the day prices dipped again Photograph: Kathy Willens/AP

Q is for Qantas: BA boss Willie Walsh's grand plan to turn British Airways into a "truly global" airline took a large step backwards with the collapse of talks to merge with Australia's Qantas. He must now turn his attention to Iberia of Spain or be left behind. Recently, Delta Airlines has merged with Northwest in the US and Germany's Lufthansa is in talks to absorb Austrian Airlines and BMI Photograph: Mark Baker/AP

Wednesday: Russian oil company Sibir Energy unveiled a plan to buy hotels and distressed land projects off one of its key shareholders including the Sovietsky Hotel in Moscow Photograph: Public domain

Wednesday: Lloyds TSB/HBOS bank negotiated a debt-for-equity swap with John Duffield's New Star Asset Management Photograph: Rex Features/Rex Features

Wednesday: Research In Motion, the company behind the BlackBerry, blamed product delays and the economic downturn for a surprise profit warning Photograph: Manu Fernandez/AP

Thursday: A London bus passes the Bank of England, which cut interest rates to 2%, the lowest level since 1951 Photograph: Andy Rain/EPA

Friday: Japanese carmaker Honda confirmed it would withdraw from formula one, leaving Rubens Barrichello and Jenson Button without a drive Photograph: Antonio Lacerda/EPA

Friday: Bloomsbury Publishing snapped up John Wisden & Co, the publisher of Wisden Cricketers' Almanack Photograph: PR

Friday: People wait at an employment help centre in Miami, Florida. US unemployment hit the worst levels since 1974 after 533,000 people were made redundant last month Photograph: Joe Raedle/Getty