This Week in Pictures: March 28 – April 4, 2016

So many big news stories broke around the world over the last seven days that it is as well we look back at some of the most important.

An EgyptAir passenger jet was hijacked by Seif Eldin Mustafa, who issued threats, declared himself to be wearing a suicide vest and demanded the plane divert to Larnaca in Cyprus. A six hour stand off ensued during which passengers and crew were either released or escaped the aircraft, at which point the would be hijacker attempted to run away and was apprehended by police. His suicide vest was found to be fake and the instance is not being treated as an act of terrorism by the authorities.

In Kolkara, India, a flyover under construction collapsed on a busy street killing at least 26, injuring nearly 100 more and trapping dozens beneath the rubble. Frantic efforts ensued to free those still alive but by Saturday authorities had given up on finding anyone else alive. A high level investigation was begun into both the safety of the construction project on site and of the agency that approved the project in the first place with several key players in the process arrested or detained by authorities.

Last week a leak from the law firm Mossack Fonseca, base in Panama, set the cat amongst the pigeons as a dump of 11.5 million documents, comprising of 2.6 terabytes of data, exposed the numerous rich and well connected politicians from around the world that have used their facilities to dodge taxes and launder money. From Vladimir Putin to the PM of Iceland, from David Cameron’s father to Kofi Annan’s son, the Panama Papers also called into question the credibility of FIFA’s ethics committee too.

In sports the West Indies defeated the England side in the World Twenty20 Championship in India last week, finishing in epic style with Carlos Brathwaite hitting the first four of the final over for six. In the end the Windies won by four wickets, getting the 160 required in just 19.4 overs for the fall of six wickets. Question is can England bounce back from this loss or is the writing on the wall? You’ll have to find out on our daily news pages but in the meantime here are some of the big stories of last week.

1. GamingZion presented Part 1 of a basic first guide to some of the most famous racehorses, their lives and careers.

2. GamingZion discussed best odds for who will make England’s squad for Euro 2016.

3. Casino Room started a new slot tournament, played on the Holmes and the Stolen Stones slot.

4. GamingZion discussed Martin Demichelis’ charges for betting on football.

5. We discussed the betting odds for the World Twenty20 final.

6. Daily fantasy sports operators DraftKings and FanDuel stopped offering NCAA DFS contests.

7. GamingZion launched a set of online quiz games as a preparatory for the upcoming EURO 2016 tournament.

Meanwhile deniers of climate change were posed a bit of a problem last week when snow fell on the French island of Guadeloupe in the Caribbean. In what was described by meteorologists as an “exceptional event” a thin blanket of snow covered the more elevated portions of the island with some flakes falling in St. Claude. This is the first time snow has fallen on the Caribbean island in recorded history, and although written off as a freak phenomenon of weather, doesn’t seem to bode well.