This Week in Pictures: October 17 – October 23, 2017

With a busy modern life it can be easy to miss out on some of latest headlines so we take a look at some of the big news stories that broke around the world over the last seven days.

In the USA 45th President Donald Trump began the week by telling the mother of a dead Green Beret that her son knew what he’d signed up for, in a moment of unfeeling crass stupidity which has become a hallmark of this administration, and then finished the week by promising to release as yet unseen files concerning the assassination of one of his predecessors, John F Kennedy in a transparent bid to distract the media and public from his earlier comments and wholesale failure to make any legislative progress.

In Spain last week the Madrid government moved to impose direct rule on Catalonia after swirling rumors persisted that regional president, outspoken Carles Puigdemont, still planned to declare independence from the rest of mainland Spain, unilaterally if necessary. The government is taking a hardline with the burgeoning independence movement, the foreign minister telling incredulous British TV much of the evidence of police violence on referendum day was faked for propaganda purposes.

In Japan the ruling Liberal Democratic party under Prime Minister Shinzo Abe scored a remarkable landslide victory in a general election of the 465 seat lower house of parliament last week. Winning 311 seats and retaining his supermajority powers the victory was seen as a clear mandate for his tough stance on North Korea and push to make changes to both the country and constitution. Reform of the nation’s pacifist constitution is a hot topic in Japan as the threat from Kim Jong-un continues.

In sports Lewis Hamilton closed in on a fourth title with a win in the US Grand Prix in Austin, Texas, last week. Mathematically Sebastian Vettel, who finished second, could still overtake the dominant Mercedes driver, but realistically the man in the Ferrari will have to come back and try again next year, the question is, who will be up with the silver arrows at the start of next season? You’ll have to read our daily news pages to find out, but meantime here’s a look at some of the stories we covered last week.

We collected some of the best odds for the MLB in South Korea

Is a Royal Baby Name bet still the perfect novelty bet?

Do you think that Hungarian football is on the rise? Then beetb on the NB1 Derby!

Who will win the League of Legends World Championship in 2017?

One of the most traditional novelty bets, Christmas music betting, is back for another season!

Meanwhile in Venice local lad Eyod Faniel found himself the unlikely winner in the city’s marathon last week, after the leaders, a minute or so ahead of him on the course, found themselves following a motorcycle off course and in the wrong direction some sixteen miles into the race. They ran in the erroneous direction for several hundred meters before the mistake was corrected but by that time they’d lost a full two minutes of time on Faniel who became the first Italian to win the event in 22 years.