This Week in Pictures: February 02 – February 08, 2016

With so much having gone on over the last week perhaps we should take a moment to look back over some of the big stories to hit the headlines.

The US 2016 Presidential Election finally got underway last week with the Iowa Caucus. In tight races for both Republicans and Democrats Bernie Sanders ran Hillary Clinton to a dead heat, and Ted Cruz got 28% pushing Donald Trump into second place on 24%, with Marco Rubio getting a much closer third place, with 23% of the vote, than anyone was expecting. Indeed it could be said the only real losers on the night were the pollsters who once again wholly failed to accurately predict the result.

In Somalia a bomb exploded on a flight out of the capital Mogadishu last week blowing a sizable hole in the fuselage. The detonation occurred at approximately 11,000ft with one passenger killed when they were sucked out of the plane and two other injured. The Daallo Airlines Airbus 321 bound for Djbouti made an emergency landing. Serbian pilot Vlatko Vodopivec said afterwards “It was my first bomb; I hope it will be the last.” Adding that “It would have been much worse if we were higher.”

In Taiwan a 6.4 magnitude earthquake struck near the city of Tainan in the south of the country. At least 35 people were killed with hundreds injured and many trapped in the rubble of several large apartment complexes that collapsed. Ma Ying-jeou, the nation’s President, promised an “all-out effort” to rescue survivors and more than 800 soldiers were drafted in to assist in relief efforts. Taiwan lies near the junction of two tectonic plates. The shallow quake was felt in the capital, Taipei, some 300km away.

In sports Leicester City went 5 points clear at the top of the English Premier League last weekend as they beat Manchester City 3-1 away. Goals from Huth just after kick-off and just on the hour mark along with one from Mahrez were only answered by a single consolation goal from Man City in the 87th minute, but does this mean Leicester will go on to win the trophy at the end of the season you’ll have to read our daily news pages to find out, in the meantime he’s a look at last week’s big stories.

1. SuperData released a study revealing US social casino players’ behavior and preferences.

2. The 26-year-old soldier turned instant millionaire by bagging Mega Moolah win of £13,213,838.68 has officially made it in the Guinness Book of Records.

3. GamingZion assembled a Super Bowl Guide discussing the basic NFL rules for beginners.

4. We take a look at the aftermath of the Iowa Caucus results and see what they do for the US presidential election odds of the candidates as they move to New Hampshire.

5. A protest by Liverpool fans against the new pricing policies of the club is set to go ahead this weekend, but will the US owners notice amongst the razzamatazz of Super Bowl L?