Business week in pictures

The new boss of Asda admitted that the quality of its food was not good enough as the supermarket posted a second quarter of falling sales. Andy Clarke, who took over as chief executive in May, said improving the grocer's food credentials was top of his to-do list and that work had already begun internally Photograph: David Sillitoe for the Guardian

Mazda is recalling more than 300,000 cars in the US, Canada and Mexico, warning that problems with their power steering could lead to crashes. The company said repairs were needed to Mazda3 and Mazda5 models built from April 2007 to November 2008 Photograph: Tomohiro Ohsumi/Bloomberg via Getty Images

Telecoms group BT said it is considering increasing its number of apprenticeship places after an unprecedented demand for the scheme. The company had nearly 24,000 applications for the 221 apprenticeship places available this year - more than 100 applications per place Photograph: Chris Ratcliffe/Bloomberg via Getty Images

A model at the Shanghai Wedding Photographic Equipment Exhibition. Panicky brides-to-be turned to internet chatrooms for help after it emerged that Confetti, an online retailer selling wedding paraphernalia ranging from dresses to tiaras and insurance, had collapsed into administration with more than 1,000 orders on its books Photograph: ChinaFotoPress/Getty Images

Tourists visit the Acropolis in Athens. Thousands of holidaymakers face the prospect of losing or having to rearrange their summer vacations after a third UK travel group in just over a month ceased trading. Aviation regulators were last night scrambling to ensure that all 13,000 holidaymakers already abroad when London-based Flight Options and its main trading arm Kiss Travel collapsed got home as planned Photograph: Dimitar Dilkoff/AFP/Getty Images

Households have been warned to brace themselves for more big rises in living costs after inflation stayed well above the Bank of England's target last month, forcing governor Mervyn King to explain himself to the government yet again Photograph: Christopher Furlong/Getty Images

Rail passengers face the threat of 10% fare rises next year following the publication of July's inflation data. The retail prices index (RPI), which is used to set many rail fares, rose by 4.8% last month compared with a year ago. Under the current rules, train operators can raise fares by one percentage point more than July's RPI figure, suggesting that fare increases of 5.8% are likely in 2011 Photograph: Oli Scarff/Getty Images

BHP Billiton has launched a hostile takeover bid for Potash Corporation, the Canadian fertiliser company, after its initial bid was rejected. BHP announced that it is taking its $40bn (£25.7bn) cash offer directly to Potash's shareholders. The Australian mining company made the move just a day after it revealed that it had already been rebuffed by the Potash board. The fertiliser market is expected to show strong growth in the next few years as emerging nations strive to increase their agricultural output Photograph: David Stobbe/Reuters

China overtook Japan as the world's second-largest economy during the second quarter of this year, marking another milestone in the country's transformation from impoverished communist state to economic superpower. With its red-hot economy growing at around 9% a year, some experts now expect China to outstrip the United States as soon as 2030, its financial strength carrying broad political implications
Photograph: AFP/Getty Images

China's rise to be crowned as the world's second-largest economy is the latest milestone in a boom that has been running almost constantly since the country began the long process of embracing free-market principles more than 30 years ago Photograph: Philippe Lopez/AFP/Getty Images

BC Partners, the private equity firm that owns Foxtons estate agents, faces trouble in another of its companies, Greek casino operator Regency Entertainment, which also accumulated large debts at the peak of the credit boom. The casino operator, acquired for €1bn (£800n) in 2006, has appointed investment bank Houlihan Lokey, which specialises in restructuring, to advise on how to tackle the company's €557m debt Photograph: Regency Entertainment

A Scottish company has won the contract to build one of the world's most advanced tidal energy turbines. Fife-based BiFab (Burntisland Fabrications) will build ScottishPower's first full-scale working prototype device, which the company claims is the world's most advanced. The design will be used in the Sound of Islay, off the west coast of Scotland Photograph: Murdo MacLeod

The exterior of the American Apparel factory in downtown Los Angeles. American Apparel, the US fashion chain known for its brightly coloured leggings and T-shirts, has warned it is close to running out of cash and may not be able to continue. To add to its woes, it also faces a federal investigation over its change in accounting firms Photograph: Mark Ralston/AFP/Getty Images

Discount chain Poundland is on the hunt for bigger stores after the cut-price chain, which sells everything from washing-up liquid to dogfood and pink cowgirl hats at a £1 a go, delivered a 130% leap in annual profits Photograph: Andrew Fox

Customers in the new Apple store in Covent Garden. Retail sales grew at the fastest pace since February last month and nearly three times as much as the City expected as shoppers splashed out on clothes and other non-food items Photograph: Marco Prosch/Getty Images

Shia Labeouf in Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps. Cineworld is looking forward to a strong second half of the year, with upcoming releases such as Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps and Little Fockers. The company, which runs 77 cinemas across the UK and Ireland, said a string of blockbusters and 3D films including Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part I and The Chronicles of Narnia: The Voyage of the Dawn Treader would boost its fourth-quarter result Photograph: 20th Century Fox