The week in pictures: November 4th – November 10th, 2014

There were some amazing events around the world last week so lets take a look back at some of the big stories that made the headlines

Pleading from the pulpit of the Financial Times the new director of GCHQ, the British brand of NSA monitoring, Robert Hannigan, seemed to imply he couldn’t do his job last week by asking tech companies to cooperate more closely with the intelligence services. He bemoaned the fact that we all now have the ability to encrypt our messages to keep our information safe, saying terrorists use it, but of course it’s something more and more of us do now…you know, ever since Mr. Hannigan and his chums were caught reading all our mail.

In the US Midterm elections the voting public, or should I say just 36.5% of them, sent a message loud and clear to Barack Obama and the Democrats by routing them across the country in a massive Republican victory that saw the right-wing take control of both the House of Representatives and the Senate. “We got beat,” acknowledged the President, who blamed a “failure of politics” for the bloodbath. Of course with all eyes now swiveling to the 2016 race for the White House it remains to be seen if the Democrats can come back in two years…just like the Republicans did last week.

Berlin marked the 25th anniversary of the collapse of the Berlin Wall in 1989 that was built in 1961 sealing off the communist east from the capitalist west. To mark the occasion 8,000 helium balloons were released along the length of where the wall had once stood, with tens of thousands attending events across the city. “The fall of the Wall showed us that dreams can come true. Nothing has to stay as it is.” Said Chancellor Merkel on a positive note that was sadly overshadowed by Mr. Gorbachev who warned of a new Cold War. Jeez, keep it light, Micky, remember it’s a party, mmm’kay?

In sport the biggest party was probably in Swansea where the home team came back from one nil down to snatch a justified 2-1 win over Arsenal. Having thrown away a three goal lead against Anderlecht on Tuesday this loss finished off a ghastly week for the Gunners . Asked to comment on his team’s memorable victory Garry Monk, Swansea manager, said; “It’s about belief…We showed our Character.”  Which is something Arsenal might need to do after last week, and whilst we await Arsene Wenger’s likely response lets take a look at what hit our headlines.

1. At first, remote online operators have criticized the new British gambling laws, calling them “unlawful”. Now that the new regulations have come into force, all principles have been put aside, as more and more companies are lining up for a UK license.

2. New Jersey won’t give up in its quest to legalize sportsbetting. GamingZion covered the breaking story of a possible conflict of interest on the part of the judge covering its case.

3. Malaysian authorities want to prove they can handle illegal gambling rings. Too bad it turned out they have traitors among them, who tipped off criminals during a major operation which failed miserably.

4. A businessman would like to see US investors get more involved in Formula 1 and would trust them to turn the already popular sport into a major money-making machine. Did we mention he is – you guessed it! – American?

5. Colombia decided to launch its very own sports betting service to answer the vast need for a gaming outlet.

6. Sheldon Adelson gained considerable assurances that his anti-gambling ban bill is set to receive a hearing with the Judiciary Committee.

7. 2014 World Series of Poker November Nine has returned to Las Vegas to contest the 45th Gold Bracelet and over $10,000,000 in guaranteed money for the winner.

Meanwhile AC/DC drummer Phil Rudd was arrested on charges of attempting to arrange a murder, only for those charges to be dropped after just 24 hours for lack of evidence, and Nik Wallenda didn’t drop anything in Chicago when he walked a tightrope strung between the two Marina City Towers without safety net or harness, blindfolded. Will this turn out to be a badly written metaphor for this weeks news? You better head on over to our daily news pages and find out.