The Week in Pictures: August 19 – August 25, 2015

There were a lot of big news stories last week so let’s take a moment to look back over some of the most important from the last seven days

The Macedonian closure of their border crossing with Greece, declaring a state of emergency in the process, led to heightened tensions along the border. With many thousands of immigrants attempting to gain entry to the EU, many of them from Syria, Macedonian police resorted to use of stun grenades in an effort to keep order. Later in the week the authorities relented and gave them access to trains that will take them to the border with Serbia.

There was an explosion near the Erawan Shrine in Bangkok last Monday that killed 20 people and injured a further 120. Police say the 3kg of explosives used were placed in a pipe wrapped in cloth. A suspect isolated on CCTV footage and seen to leave a backpack at the scene was sought but remained at large. Thai authorities claim he was working within a team of ten or so people although no group has claimed responsibility and a motive remains unclear.

Two off-duty US servicemen were amongst a number of passengers who prevented a terrorist attack on-board a train traveling from Amsterdam to Paris last week. Heavily armed 25 year old Moroccan Ayoub El-Kahzzani was tackled by passengers on the train, some of whom sustained serious injuries in the process. Disarmed and subdued the French authorities took him into custody and hailed those that had stopped him as heroes.

In sport Lewis Hamilton extended his lead at the top of the Formula One world championship after a comfortable win in Spa at the Belgian Grand Prix. Coming home, once again, in front of team mate Nico Rosberg, Hamilton took his 80th podium finish, in another Mercedes one-two. Does this mean the season is all over? You’ll have to read our daily news pages to find out, but in the meantime let’s look at what hit our headlines over the last seven days.

1. If you play in 888 Poker’s and Party Poker’s tournament’s in the UK, the great news is that the payouts have just been increased!

2. The New York State senate keeps working on the online gambling proposition, but progress is very slow.

3. Multinational gambling provider GVC Holdings faces legal action from a Canadian company.

4. You have to admit when you are wrong, and we falsely predicted the end of Raikkonen’s Ferrari/F1 career. Ferrari just extended his contract last week. To our credit, Kimi himself was very pessimistic about it, too.

5. Because of financial difficulties the state famous for its cowboys, Texas may have to give up horse racing altogether. At least they’ll still have the rodeo.

6. Great news for those interested in (watching or betting on) handball, one of the strongest leagues in the world, the German Bundesliga is back into action!

7. Unfortunately bet365 discontinued the free play mode in their online games.

Meanwhile the details of 39 million Ashley Madison users were leaked online last week after the site refused demands of hackers to shut down. The adultery website, slogan “Life is short, have an affair”, is marketed to facilitate extra-marital affairs and now faces a $578 million class action lawsuit filed last week by firms in Ontario amongst numerous other legal proceedings begun against the site’s owners. The hack has once again highlighted security and anonymity issues on the internet.