This Week in Pictures: October 18th-24th, 2016

There were plenty of big news stories rippling around the world last week so we take a moment to recap the most significant that broke in the last seven days.

In the United States the third and final Presidential Debate was held in the University of Nevada in sin city itself, Las Vegas, and with the election just weeks both candidates took swipes at the other with Hillary Clinton referencing Donald Trump’s tax avoidance and Donald Trump calling her “a nasty woman”. Donald Trump also refused to affirm he will abide by the result of the election, and in a week where he faced sexual accusations from at least ten different women Trump’s campaign looks doomed.

In Iraq a massive assault on the Islamic State held city of Mosul got underway with forces closing in on the strategically important city. With Kurdish and Turkish forces involved on the ground in fighting against the jihadists forces of ISIS counter-attacked in Kirkuk, Rutba and Baghdad with a series of suicide bomb attacks, with forty six killed in Kirkuk alone and sporadic firefights breaking out throughout the weekend. The Mosul offensive is said to have fielded over 30,000 fighters against ISIS.

In Somalia pirates freed 26 sailors who had been held captive, some for a number of years, following a ransom payment for their release. The crewmen, from Taiwan, Vietnam, Cambodia, China, Indonesia and the Philippines spoke of their treatment at the hands of the Somali pirates as being “like animals”, being forced to eat rats and only given very small quantities of water. “They are reported to be in reasonable condition considering their ordeal.” said John Steed head of HSP for Oceans Beyond Piracy.

In sport Lewis Hamilton kept the race for the Formula One World Championship Title alive with a win at the United States Grand Prix leaving him just 26 points adrift from teammate and rival Nico Rosberg with 75 points still out there in the final races. Can he pull off the comeback of a career and grab another title from the German? You’ll have to read our daily news pages to find out, but in the meantime here’s a look back at some of the big stories from around the world we covered last week.

1. GamingZion previews the Cleveland Indian’s chances of winning the 2016 World Series.

(photo: burningriverbaseball.com)

2. The news that George St. Pierre may be retiring gets discussed.

(photo: themmacomunity.com)

(Photo: www.srf.ch)

4. News that the Alabama Legislature will consider lottery bills in 2017 is discussed.

5. GamingZion looks at whether online gambling will become federally legal in the US sometime soon.

(photo: politico.com)

6. Two major fights are added to the UFC 207 undercard.

(photo: foxsports.com)

7. Paul Tate pleads guilty to illegal gambling charges.

Meanwhile the graphic novel world mourned the passing of Steve Dillon who died at the age of 54 in New York. A prolific and successful artist he was best known for his work on the UK publication 2000AD particularly drawing Judge Dredd and Rogue Trooper, amongst others. Also responsible for characters such as The Preacher and Punisher Dillon’s work was critically acclaimed and won him millions of fans with Vertigo Comics summing it up; “We lost a giant among creators and artists today.”