This Week in Pictures: February 23 – February 29, 2016

With no shortage of big news stories this week we take a moment to look back at some of the most important from the last seven days

A partial truce was declared in the Syria Civil War last week with both Russia and America ceasing military action along with approximately 100 of the various rebel groups fighting in the country also abiding by the temporary ceasefire. The United Nations said it would be using the lull in combat to provide aid nearly 1.7 million people in the war torn country that is rapidly falling apart. The cessation of hostilities is not expected to last very long in this complex and multifaceted conflict.

Donald Trump made the headlines again last week for retweeting a quotation from Mussolini, the Italian Fascist leader of World War II who said “It is better to live one day as a lion than 100 years as a sheep.” Mr. Trump defended the quoting of the right-wing leader telling NBC’s Meet The Press. “Mussolini was Mussolini, what difference does it make? It got your attention, didn’t it?” Mr. Trump is still ahead in the polls to take the Republican Party Nomination for President in the White House race.

Mad Max Fury Road stole a march on the competition at the 2016 Oscars last week winning six awards for costume design, production design, hair and makeup, editing, sound editing and sound mixing, three more Oscars than any other film on the night. Brie Larson picked up the best Actress award and Leonardo DiCaprio best Actor on a night dominated by Chris Rock and the race controversy surrounding the complete lack of black nominees at the Oscars for the second year running.

In sport Manchester City were held to a 1-1 draw at Wembley by Liverpool but snatched the League Cup win thanks Willy Caballero saving three during the ensuing penalty shoot out, after being selected ahead of first choice Joe Hart, and handing city a 3-1 win. But can they top the league too? Only time and Leicester are against them, so keep track of their progress on our daily news pages. In the meantime lets look at the big news stories we covered from around the world in the last seven days.

1. Paddy Power was ordered to pay £280,000 for social causes by the UK Gambling Commission.

2. The event described as “The Gay Olympics” is back so it’s time to pick a winner and back your choice for the Eurovision Song Contest this year.

3. We took a look at the 2016 Oscars to see which of the vain self-glorious egotists you should be betting on to win.

4. GamingZion’s purpose was to introduce some of the most interesting brackets that were filled out by celebrities and other famous people.

5. Cristiano Ronaldo has shared a picture on his Instagram account about what he has eaten that day. The internet is on fire!

6. Daily fantasy operator DraftKings filed an appeal to overturn the decision that banned DFS sites in New York.

7. UK Gambling Commission reveals decreased interest in UK National Lottery could be the result of poor monitoring of UK gambling trends.

Meanwhile in Australia a four year old’s first encounter with a vending machine ended with the young lad trapped in the machine for several hours after reaching for a packet of biscuits and being caught up in the anti-theft mechanisms. Distracted by smart phones, and also sedated, he was cut free by the emergency services using angle grinders. The boy, on holiday from the rural north of Australia, was admitted to the Royal Children’s Hospital in Melbourne in what was described as a stable condition.