Business week in pictures

A container ship travels pasts the skyline of Melbourne. Australia's economy grew at its fastest pace in three years in the second quarter as demand from China and elsewhere in Asia boosted exports of iron ore and other commodities Photograph: Mick Tsikas/Reuters

A man walks past the logo of Swiss bank Credit Suisse at a branch in Berlin. The investment bank and wealth management group was accused of 'sophisticated and aggressive tax avoidance' after it briefed staff that an unexpected one-off bonus would be awarded to hundreds of its London-based bankers – less than five months after the government's 50% levy on bank bonuses expired Photograph: Johannes Eisele/AFP

Passengers walk to passport control at terminal five at Heathrow airport. Britain's consumer confidence rose in August for the first time in six months, bolstering the incipient economic recovery and raising hopes that the country will not fall into a double-dip recession, economists said Photograph: Peter Macdiarmid/Getty Images

An Apple employee holds a new iPod Nano at an Apple Special Event. There's a shadow looming over the iPod, which turned Apple from an also-ran computer company into a force in the technology world. The latest sales figures for the quarter to June showed nine million of the digital music player sold – the lowest quarterly number since 2006 Photograph: Justin Sullivan/Getty Images

Rebel shareholders have opened fire on music shops chain HMV over its management of Waterstone's, Britain's largest books retailer. Investors want HMV chief executive Simon Fox (above) to sell the book business if a turnaround strategy unveiled in March fails to boost returns by this time in 2011 Photograph: Felix Clay for the Guardian

A bingo caller calls the numbers at a Gala Bingo club in London. Candover Investments has become the latest high-profile victim of the financial crisis, as the private equity firm announced plans to wind itself up. Its investments over the past three decades have included the bingo and betting shops group Gala Coral; Bourne Leisure, the firm behind Butlins holiday camps; luxury yacht-maker Ferretti and Jarvis Hotels Photograph: Jason Alden/Bloomberg via Getty Images

A terraced house displays a Halifax estate agent sign in Bath. Mortgage lending fell sharply in July, fuelling concerns that Britain's banks are turning away first-time buyers and preventing a recovery in the property market. According to Bank of England figures, net lending fell sharply from June's £518m to £86m, the fourth-lowest monthly lending figure since records began in 1993 Photograph: Matt Cardy/Getty Images

A British Airways plane comes in to land over protesters' flags near Heathrow Airport in May. The Unite trade union is hoping to meet British Airways for further peace talks next week after accusing the airline of turning down its latest attempt to end a long-running industrial dispute with cabin crew Photograph: Kirsty Wigglesworth/AP

Burger King in Butlin, Skegness. The fast food giant was sold to private equity firm 3G in a deal worth $4bn (£2.6bn) at $24 a share. The chain has been experiencing a difficult year, with worldwide sales down 2.3% this year Photograph: David Sillitoe/Guardian

Harvey Miller, left, business finance and restructuring partner at Weil, Gotshal & Manges, LLP, talks with Lehman Brothers former chairman and CEO Richard Fuld before the two testify to the Financial Crisis Inquiry Commission. Fuld delivered a defiant defence of his management of the defunct Wall Street bank, telling an official inquiry that the firm's 2008 bankruptcy was down to false rumours about a solvency crisis, uncontrollable market forces and a refusal by the US government to come to the rescue Photograph: Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images

Mechanical engineering trainees learn the basics of precision filing at the Siemens training centre in Berlin, Germany. British manufacturing is at risk of collapse due to a worsening skills shortage that will leave thousands of hi-tech jobs unfilled over the next five years, a senior academic has warned. Prof John Bryson of the University of Birmingham told an international conference on wealth creation that although the sector is thriving in terms of output, its future is bleak because of the failure of the education system to produce school leavers and graduates with the right expertise Photograph: Sean Gallup/Getty Images

Customers take the opportunity to shop in a Borders book store in Washington DC before it closes for good. The continuing woes of the book industry were underscored when the US retail chain Borders, which pulled out of Britain last year, said its losses had increased amid sharply falling revenues. American book retailers, who have been struggling to compete with online rivals and supermarkets, now face the threat of digital books, which have begun to appeal to a wider audience Photograph: Nick Kirkpatrick/The Washington Post via Getty Images