This Week in Pictures: October 27 – November 2, 2015

The last seven days saw some massive news stories hit the headlines so let’s spare a few moments to look back at some of the biggest from last week’s news coverage!

In Romania last week twenty nine people lost their lives in a fire that swept through the “Colectiv Club” in Bucharest during a concert by the heavy metal band “Goodbye to Gravity” that used pyrotechnic effects in their stage performance. Over 140 people were hospitalized for severe burns, smoke inhalation or injuries sustained in the stampede to exit the inferno. The nation observed three days of mourning for the victims as officials say the number of dead may as investigations continue.

In Egypt’s Sinai peninsula a Russian Airbus 321 crashed killing all 224 people on board last week, the aircraft breaking up at high altitude after departing the popular Red Sea resort of Sharm el-Sheikh. Operated by Kogalymavia, also known as Metrojet, the plane came down Saturday and although militants linked to Islamic State have claimed responsibility experts have dismissed this as unlikely. Russia held a day of mourning for those killed in the tragedy as recovery operations continued.

In Turkey the ruling Justice & Development Party, the AKP, regained a majority in crucial parliamentary elections last week, winning 316 seats, bolstering the position of authoritarian president (and AKP founder) Recep Tayyip Erdogan. This fell just 14 short of the number needed for a referendum to increase his powers, 60 short of not requiring a referendum at all to do so. Critics of the government say this was a missed opportunity to curb the hardline tendencies of Erdogan’s party.

In sport Nico Rosberg raced from pole position to take a win at the Mexico Grand Prix just a week after teammate Lewis Hamilton wrapped up the world championship. Mercedes came home first and second with the Williams of Valtteri Bottas getting third in the first Grand Prix in the country since 1992. Will Nico manage to grab another win in San Paulo in mid-November? You’ll have to read our daily news pages to find out, but in the meantime here’s some of the big stories we covered in the last seven days.

1. Hope you took our betting advice on the 2015 Rugby World Cup final? As experts (including our own) predicted, New Zealand triumphed against Australia to win their thirld world championship.

2. The Romanian Football Federation joined a number of sports bodies to enlist the help of Sport Integrity Monitor in securing the cleanness of league games.

3. Even the biggest online gambling providers see their traffic halted from Russia as authorities decide to play strong and vanquish unauthorized operations.

4. The League Cup might not be the most prestigious British competition in football, but elite teams might think twice about sending on reserve teams after the humiliation suffered by Arsenal, Chelsea, Manchester United and Leicester in the round of 16. Of course if you’d bet on Liverpool or Man City you can’t help feeling smug.

5. 17 people were indicted in the biggest illegal betting crackdown lately, and authorities are still investigating the involvement of other possible suspects.

6. Players in the UK, Ireland, Canada and Poland are the first to enjoy Mr Green’s new casino website!

7. The lower house of the Czech Assembly already accepted a bill that would raise gambling taxes, unfortunately the proposition is likely to pass the upper house and the President soon as well.

Meanwhile in Chile numerous primary schools have been asked to return copies of the fairy story “Little Red Riding Hood” after it was discovered erotic fiction of the same name had been sent to them in error. The book, entitled “Little Red Riding Hood Eats The Wolf” a collection of short erotic stories depicting violent and sexual acts. Author Pilar Quintana has since said he didn’t think the book inappropriate for young people and was surprised people were shocked by the contents of his work.