This Week in Pictures: August 16 – August 22, 2016

The world had no shortage of big breaking news stories last week so lets take a moment to look back on some of the biggest.

In Turkey president Recep Tayyip Erdogan has placed the blame for a suicide attack that killed over fifty people on so-called Islamic State. The bombing, which struck a Kurdish wedding in Gaziantep in the south east of the country, also injured over seventy with the celebration apparently attacked by a suicide bomber of around 13 years old. The attack has been seen as an attempt by IS, who have lost much territory to Syrian-Kurdish forces in recent months, to gain revenge for their losses in Syria.

In Canada the nation’s favorite band “The Tragically Hip” played what is reputed to be their final concert last week following the diagnosis of Gord Downie, the group’s lead singer, with terminal brain cancer. In an emotionally charged public farewell the televised concert brought the nation to a standstill with Prime Minister Justin Trudeau saying they would be “Forever in our hearts and playlists”. On stage Downie hugged and thanked bandmates Bob Baker, Paul Langlois, Gord Sinclair and Johnny Fay.

In Iraq thirty six men were hanged last week having been convicted of involvement in the massacre of Shia military recruits in and around the Speicher based near Tikrit, Iraq, in 2014. Up to 1,700 were kidnapped and killed at the base, an attrocity for which Islamic State have claimed responsibility. The men, all convicted of terrorism, were hung at Nasiriyah prison late last week in the presence of both Yahya al-Nasseri, the local governor of Dhiqar and Haidar al-Zamili the Iraqi Minister of Justice.

In sports the Rio 2016 Olympic Games came to a somewhat lackluster end with the famed closing ceremonies poorly attended. The final tally of medals put the US ahead with 121, China in second place with 70 and Great Britain in third with 67 medals. The question now is can the Japanese get their Olympic facilities read in time for the 2020 games in Tokyo, to find out you’ll have to read our daily news pages but in the meantime here’s a look at some of the big stories we covered last week. 1. GamingZion discussed 5 of the top NFL rookies for 2016.

2. GamingZion looked ahead at the Chicago Cubs’ chances of winning the 2016 World Series.

3. We look at who you should back if you’re going to bet on the 2024 Olympic host city, and why the favorites might not be the way to go.

4. GamingZion looks back at some of the worst judging scandals in Olympic history.

5. The UFC returns to Germany with Arlovski vs Josh Barnett and GamingZion took a look at the betting odds for this fight.

6. GamingZion discusses the news of Jhonas Enroth signing with the Toronto Maple Leafs, and their chances of winning the Stanley Cup.

7. GamingZion checked the odds for the biggest fight of the year and more at UFC 202.

Meanwhile after much political and industrial wranglings London, the British capital, finally got an underground railway service that runs all night, albeit in on only two lines (the Central and Victoria) called, unimaginatively “The Night Tube”. The mayor of London, Sadiq Khan celebrated the arrival of this essential service a little more soberly than did many of those using it to get home but the newly elected London boss was pictured smiling on one of the first of the new services on Saturday night.