This Week in Pictures: December 15 – December 21, 2015

With so many big stories breaking over the last seven days we should probably take a moment to look over the most important.

In Europe the on-going refugee crisis rumbled on last week as the German foreign minister, Frank-Walter Steinmeier, threatened legal action against countries that refused to take their quota of migrants from the warzones of the Middle East. Addressing his comments specifically at Hungary and Slovakia he pointed out that “If it cannot be done otherwise, things will be resolved through the appropriate legal channels.” Both nations have made already threatened legal action against the EU’s quota system.

The release of “Star Wars: The Force Awakens” last week broke box office records around the world as the franchise from a galaxy far, far away returns to the big screen under the stewardship of J.J. Abrams. Previously successful in revamping cult series Star Trek, Abrams is now set to release movies based on both the Portal and Half-Life game series. The latest Star Wars installment is reputed to have cost $200 million to make but took in $500 million worldwide in the first weekend of screenings.

In the US last week both Republican and Democratic candidates for the White House in 2016 held debates. The Republicans held theirs in Las Vegas where surprise poll leader Donald Trump clashed with dead-in-the-water Jeb Bush whilst the Democrats went to Manchester, New Hampshire where shoo-in Hillary Clinton gained an apology from rival candidate Bernie Sanders over a data theft by his campaign staff who then went on to criticize the former Secretary of State for her stance on Syria.

In sport Billy Joe Saunders secured the WBO middleweight title flooring opponent Andy Lee in the third round twice, and winning on a majority decision in Manchester. The battle between the two Travellers, one Irish, one Romany was a hard fought bout, but will Billy Joe Saunders be able to defend his belt against his next opponent? You’ll have to read our daily news pages to find out. In the meantime lets look at some of the big stories from around the world we covered last week.

1. After nearly two years of speculation, the $50 million Lotto Max mystery winner finally stepped forward to claim his prize. The winner was Friedrich Mayrhofer of British Colombia.

2. With just seven wins this season Roman Abramovich had finally pulled the trigger and sacked Jose Mourinho, Chelsea’s “Special” one.

3. The Diner threw a 1950s themed charity event that involved a pop-up food casino. It was the first of its kind in the world.

4. Due to the constantly growing DFS controversy, the fantasy sports betting sites experienced a major decline in entries to their tournaments and guaranteed prize pools.

5. We looked ahead to the IIHF U20 World Championships and looked at why Finland might be the best bet on the WJC you could make this year.

6. It was confirmed that billionaire Sheldon Adelson is the mysterious new owner of the Las Vegas Review-Journal. However, there are still more questions that need to be answered.

7. A homeless man won the lottery in Vancouver, but couldn’t claim his $25,000 prize because he did not have any form of identification.

Meanwhile in Holland a new government ruling legalized the payment for driving lessons with sexual favors. The so-called “Ride for a Ride” law allows driving instructors to take sex in lieu for lessons as long as the student driver is over 18. Transport minister Melanie Schultz van Haegen and Justice minister Ard van der Steur said in a joint statement “It’s not about offering sexual activities for remuneration, but offering a driving lesson. The initiative lies with the driving instructor.”