The week in pictures: October 28th – November 3rd, 2014

It’s been another bumper week of events around the world from the very down to earth to the almost, but not quite, stratospheric, let’s take a look at them

It was a sad week in South Africa where tens of thousands of football fans gathered to mourn the brutal murder of their national team’s captain, Senzo Meyiwa. The popular goalkeeper was gunned down by burglars in his girlfriend’s house near Johannesburg on Sunday at the age of just 27. His funeral at the Moses Mabhida Stadium near his hometown of Durban was attended by his teammates from the Orlando Pirates, and the national flag was flown at half mast.

Half mast would probably be an improvement for US/Israeli relations this week after an official from the Obama White House decided to offload his opinion of the Israeli leader, Benjamin Netanyahu, to a well-known and respected reporter, saying (and I’m really quoting here) “The thing about Bibi is he’s a chickenshit” going on to say “The only thing he’s interested in is protecting himself from political defeat” which begs the question, isn’t that the only thing any politician is interested in?

And for those interested in reaching for the skies, this week once again demonstrated it is no easy feat, as both NASA and Virgin Galactic found out to their cost. The Antares rocket explosion destroyed a cargo of resupply to the International Space Station from NASA and Virgin Galactic’s test flight crash killed one pilot and left another severely injured. Investigations into both accidents continue in the US, whilst the Russian ISS resupply went off without a hitch…again.

In sport there was no need for Lewis Hamilton to hitch a ride as he romped home to yet another victory over his rival Nico Rosberg to win the United States Grand Prix, extending his championship lead to 24 points but remember there’s still 75 points up for grabs in the final two races so make a pitstop over at our daily news pages to stay current, but in the meantime here’s a look back at what made our week this time round.

1.
Another scandal is about to explode in the US, where an investor had the audacity to take a shot at casino billionaire Steve Wynn and other major gambling companies, raising concerns over their affairs in Macau.

2. The battle for Asia’s deep-pocketed gamblers is on and Genting is one step ahead of everyone. The company announced that 500 of the planned 1,300 VIP rooms will be ready by Christmas.

3. Australian betting giant Tabcorp expressed concern that many gamblers are channeling too much money on non-licensed offshore operators.

4. Foosball and poker don’t have much in common, but Billy Pappas is determined to show everyone he can do well at both. The rookie will soon compete against the world’s best poker players, in Las Vegas.

5. Shocking news for the online casino industry! After years of talk about regulating internet gambling in South Africa, the local government wants to completely ban it.

6. The 2014-15 NBA season kicked off this past week, and Gaming Zion provided an in-depth look at championship odds for each of the top teams.

7. Football player Cristiano Ronaldo received a vote of confidence from bookies to claim the Ballon d’Or award for a third time in his career.

Meanwhile the longtime leader of Burkina Faso has been ousted after violent protestors set the parliament on fire leaving the military wrestle with setting up a transitional government, and CEO of the largest company in the world, Apple, came out of the app-drawer last week to state he was proud to be gay, will this week see any bigger surprises? You’ll have to keep a finger on the pulse of the world by checking in with our daily news pages.