Week in pictures: November 23

Fresh doubts emerged about Northern Rock's ability to repay the £23bn of taxpayers' money it has been lent by the Bank of England. A Guardian examination of Northern Rock's books has found that £53bn of mortgages - over 70% of its mortgage portfolio - is not owned by the beleaguered bank, but by a separate offshore company. Read the article Photograph: Getty

Campaigners against a third runway at Heathrow admitted today that blocking the £9bn project will be near-impossible after the government published a consultation document weighted firmly in favour of expanding Britain's largest airport. Read the article Photograph: Cate Gillon/Getty

The state-owned Dubai Ports World this week sold just under a quarter of a business now valued at $21.58bn through an initial public offering in Dubai at $1.30 a share - the top end of the indicative range it had set. Read the article Photograph: Dan Chung/Guardian

Severn Trent has been charged with three criminal offences of supplying water regulator Ofwat with inaccurate data on water leakages over several years. Read the article Photograph: David Sillitoe/Guardian

GlaxoSmithKline shocked the City with a profit warning, blaming safety concerns over its Avandia diabetes pill and increases in competition from generic drugs. Read the article Photograph: Justin Sullivan/Getty

The safety regime at Britain's North Sea oil operators was condemned in a report by the Health and Safety Executive, which revealed that almost 60% of North Sea oil platforms had problems that oil companies should have addressed. Read the article Photograph: Marcel Mochet/Getty

The Bank of England's monetary policy committee voted unanimously to leave interest rates on hold earlier this month, minutes released this week show. Photograph: Andy Rain/EPA