Week in pictures: August 31

Turning land over to biofuels is a recipe for disaster in developing countries, argues John Vidal Photograph: Corbis

Gaz de France is to invest about £350m in a 30-year deal to develop Britain's second-largest gas storage facility in salt caverns in the north-west of England Photograph: Jacques Brinon/AP

Giles Thorley (left), chief executive of Punch Taverns, has a total salary package of £11,276,000 - a huge 1,148 times the average salary of the group of £9,821, the second lowest of any FTSE company. Photograph: Jason Alden/Newscast

Online gambling group PartyGaming recorded a $47m (£23m) half-year loss as it continued to rebuild in the wake of US legislation last October Photograph: Graham Turner/Guardian

Johnnie Walker and Smirnoff firm Diageo has recorded another year of sales growth in America. Pictured: Chairman Paul Walsh Photograph: Jason Alden/Newscast

Wet weather has helped offset the smoking ban at bingo-to-casino group Rank as punters have taken advantage of outdoor gambling facilities. Photograph: Gabriel Szabo/Newcast

Shell has run into trouble over another big oil project in the former Soviet Union with the government of Kazakhstan halting development of the Kashagan field alleging environmental violation Photograph: Tengku Bahar/Getty

Shares in Barclays dropped sharply after a report that the bank had been left with hundreds of millions of dollars worth of exposure to the crisis-hit US mortgage market Photograph: Martin Godwin/Guardian

Nokia threw down the gauntlet to Apple's iTunes with its own downloadable music service. Photograph: PR

Croc shoes are such a cult hit that their manufacturer is launching a plastic-inspired clothing range. Photograph: David Silverman/Getty