Week in pictures

A PC World store in Bradford. The scale of the problems facing non-food retailers was underlined with grim Christmas sales figures from both the UK's biggest general retailer - Argos owner Home Retail Group - and the country's largest electricals chain - Currys' owner DSG Photograph: Nigel Roddis/Reuters

Baked beans at the Tesco store in Gorton, Manchester. Britain's descent into full-blown recession was highlighted as Tesco reported its weakest Christmas sales since the last slump in the early 1990s Photograph: Phil Noble/Reuters

Pedestrians walk past a branch of Primark on London's Oxford Street. Primark has enjoyed another successful Christmas, with sales soaring by more than a fifth as its cut-price chic continued to appeal to shoppers Photograph: Andrew Winning/Reuters

Nortel Networks' corporate headquarters in Toronto, Canada. Nortel, North America's biggest maker of telecoms equipment, filed for bankruptcy protection as the global economic slowdown crippled its ability to cope with losses of more than bn (£4.8bn) over four years Photograph: Darren Calabrese/AP

Bernard Madoff leaves US Federal Court after a hearing regarding his bail in New York. Wearing a bullet-proof vest, the renegade Wall Street fund manager Bernard Madoff made a brief appearance at a Manhattan courthouse this week to fend off another attempt by the US government to put him behind bars Photograph: Timothy A. Clary/AFP/Getty Images

A row of empty shop units in Bristol. British economic confidence has been shattered by the financial crisis, according to a unique international poll. It shows that people here are now less likely to trust banks, the stockmarket or the government's economic management than people in comparable nations Photograph: Matt Cardy/Getty Images

London buses pass the Bank of England in the City of London. World stockmarkets fell sharply on Wednesday as anxiety over the strength of the banking sector swept through the City with Barclays announcing plans to cut a further 2,100 jobs at its retail and commercial banking business Photograph: Matt Dunham/AP

An Aga oven in the Aga shop in Kensington, London. Agas, the cast-iron cookers that have warmed country kitchens for generations, have been dented by the recession. The company has warned that trading deteriorated throughout the last six months of 2008, a time when consumers reined in their spending on big-ticket items and home improvements. Photograph: David Levene

A worker handles steel wire rod coils at a steel market in Shenyang, Liaoning province, China. China overtook Germany to become the world's third largest economy after revising its figures for output growth. The Chinese economy has grown tenfold in three decades and grew 13% rather than 12% in 2007, Beijing said Photograph: Sheng Li/Reuters

Land Rover Freelander cars await distribution outside Halewood. Close to 14,000 jobs have been cut or put at risk this week, with Jaguar Land Rover announcing 450 job losses, Pfizer cutting up to 240 UK roles and 350 Zavvi workers also being made redundant Photograph: Christopher Furlong/Getty Images