The world last week was a place of excitement and disaster so lets look back at some of the big stories that hit the headlines

Quatar was cleared of allegations of wrong doing surrounding their being awarded the 2022 World Cup by FIFA the body that oversees international soccer. Despite a huge number of allegations the report supposedly gave the rich nation in which it’s actually too hot to feasibly play football a clean bill of health although the report itself is not to be published in full and has already been criticized by one of the authors for being misrepresented. UEFA are already threatening to quit FIFA over the scandal.And a scandal is perhaps what the Rosetta project could become as the 1.4 billion Euro adventure into the depths of space managed to get 300 million miles from Earth, catch up with a speeding comet and then crash into it, bounce a few times and dive into one of the few places its solar panels couldn’t recharge its batteries. Still hailed as a huge success by the scientific community it remains to be seen just how much real information will be gleaned from the results.

Of course real information is hard to come by these days and Vladimir Putin seemed a tad disingenuous when he cited a long journey home and a need for sleep as being the reasons behind his leaving the G20 Summit in Australia quite as early as he did. Of course many observers would point to the fact just about every other leader had lambasted him for his attitude and behavior over Ukraine, and that Russia was rapidly becoming isolated on the world stage.

In sports a very disappointed Roger Federer was forced to pull out of the ATP World Tour final versus long term rival Novak Djokovic due to a back injury. Apologizing in person at the O2 Arena in London he said sorry for not being match fit in what was a massive PR disaster for the ATP, and an unfortunately tainted default win for Djokovic who admitted this wasn’t the way he wanted to win the trophy. Will Federer recover his fitness or have we seen the last of the six time ATP champion? Find out on our daily news pages but in the meantime lets have a look back at our headlines from last week.

1. One company’s trash is another company’s treasure. With Echo Group hunting VIP gamblers, the Townsville casino was becoming too insignificant in the whole picture, so the company sold it for $70 million to someone willing to fix it up and revive it.

2. After remote gambling operators have taken a major financial blow because of the new license fees and taxes imposed in the UK, the Maltese Government is offering to help heal their bleeding wounds.

3. A trained chef and poker player, Martin Jacobson has surely figured out the secret recipe for success, because he just won $10 million and his very first gold bracelet at the World Series of Poker.

4. It took a long time, but Atlantic City is finally waking up and smelling the coffee. Losing five casinos and leaving thousands of workers unemployed has finally hurt enough to convince officials that it’s time for a change.

5. One of the largest Asian gambling groups, Genting, is resilient to the general decline on the gambling market.

6. The state of Illinois allowed video gaming machines in bars and restaurants and so far the experience has been positive.

7. New information has been made available in connection to Paul Phua illegal betting ring, which might lead to case dismissal.

Meanwhile Boko Haran we accused of being behind the suicide bombing that struck a Nigerian school assembly killing 46 and injuring 79 students, an event that made a mockery of government claims to have signed a ceasefire with the Islamic terrorist group, and elsewhere the Dutch have discovered a new outbreak of an even more contagious, and thus dangerous, strain of bird flu that can be transmitted to humans. Will we all end up tarred and feathered? You’ll have to keep up to date with our daily news pages to find out.

The world last week was a place of excitement and disaster so lets look back at some of the big stories that hit the headlines

Quatar was cleared of allegations of wrong doing surrounding their being awarded the 2022 World Cup by FIFA the body that oversees international soccer. Despite a huge number of allegations the report supposedly gave the rich nation in which it’s actually too hot to feasibly play football a clean bill of health although the report itself is not to be published in full and has already been criticized by one of the authors for being misrepresented. UEFA are already threatening to quit FIFA over the scandal.And a scandal is perhaps what the Rosetta project could become as the 1.4 billion Euro adventure into the depths of space managed to get 300 million miles from Earth, catch up with a speeding comet and then crash into it, bounce a few times and dive into one of the few places its solar panels couldn’t recharge its batteries. Still hailed as a huge success by the scientific community it remains to be seen just how much real information will be gleaned from the results.

Of course real information is hard to come by these days and Vladimir Putin seemed a tad disingenuous when he cited a long journey home and a need for sleep as being the reasons behind his leaving the G20 Summit in Australia quite as early as he did. Of course many observers would point to the fact just about every other leader had lambasted him for his attitude and behavior over Ukraine, and that Russia was rapidly becoming isolated on the world stage.

In sports a very disappointed Roger Federer was forced to pull out of the ATP World Tour final versus long term rival Novak Djokovic due to a back injury. Apologizing in person at the O2 Arena in London he said sorry for not being match fit in what was a massive PR disaster for the ATP, and an unfortunately tainted default win for Djokovic who admitted this wasn’t the way he wanted to win the trophy. Will Federer recover his fitness or have we seen the last of the six time ATP champion? Find out on our daily news pages but in the meantime lets have a look back at our headlines from last week.

1. One company’s trash is another company’s treasure. With Echo Group hunting VIP gamblers, the Townsville casino was becoming too insignificant in the whole picture, so the company sold it for $70 million to someone willing to fix it up and revive it.

2. After remote gambling operators have taken a major financial blow because of the new license fees and taxes imposed in the UK, the Maltese Government is offering to help heal their bleeding wounds.

3. A trained chef and poker player, Martin Jacobson has surely figured out the secret recipe for success, because he just won $10 million and his very first gold bracelet at the World Series of Poker.

4. It took a long time, but Atlantic City is finally waking up and smelling the coffee. Losing five casinos and leaving thousands of workers unemployed has finally hurt enough to convince officials that it’s time for a change.

5. One of the largest Asian gambling groups, Genting, is resilient to the general decline on the gambling market.

6. The state of Illinois allowed video gaming machines in bars and restaurants and so far the experience has been positive.

7. New information has been made available in connection to Paul Phua illegal betting ring, which might lead to case dismissal.

Meanwhile Boko Haran we accused of being behind the suicide bombing that struck a Nigerian school assembly killing 46 and injuring 79 students, an event that made a mockery of government claims to have signed a ceasefire with the Islamic terrorist group, and elsewhere the Dutch have discovered a new outbreak of an even more contagious, and thus dangerous, strain of bird flu that can be transmitted to humans. Will we all end up tarred and feathered? You’ll have to keep up to date with our daily news pages to find out.

In Burkina Faso protestors in the capital Ouagadougou threw out their President of 27 years after he tried to extend that via a constitutional change. They set fire to the parliament building and the army had to step in to “restore order”. Protestors then took to the streets again to ensure the army didn’t turn peace keeping into a coup, the situation remains tense and disagreement amongst opposition leaders could prove problematic.Problematic is a word all too easily applied to space travel last week as both NASA and Virgin Galactic lost craft to accidents. NASA Antares rocket dramatically exploded shortly after lift off whilst Richard Branson’s Virgin Galactic suffered a catastrophic failure during a test flight that left one pilot seriously injured and the other dead. Early reports cite a malfunction of the descent mechanism may have caused it to prematurely deploy resulting in the tragedy.

South African football weathered a tragedy of its own last week as Captain of the national team, Senzo Meyiwa was shot dead at his girlfriends house after intruders broke into the Johannesburg property. His funeral at the Moses Mabhida Stadium was attended by his teammates from the Orlando Pirates and tens of thousands of supporters. Police already have a suspect in custody and he was charged with the killing on Friday.

Elsewhere in football the weekend saw a Manchester derby in the English Premier League, and as is usual with these high-tension clashes the game saw some ugly moments including the sending off of United’s center-half Smalling who seemed to forget he was playing football, and in the end, Man City got the only, and decisive goal, will things be so clear cut this week? Find out on our daily news pages, but for the time being lets look back at what made our headlines last week.

1. If you thought you knew everything about James Packer’s new VIP casino at Barangaroo, guess again. The government and the investor have been keeping secrets from the public.

2. Things just aren’t working out for New Jersey lawmakers, who tried to find a way around the nationwide sports wagering ban. America’s biggest sports leagues have scored a point in their battle against betting, and the ball is now in judge Shipp’s court.

3. A famous conman known for selling fake weight loss products has gotten himself into trouble by running an international betting scheme that brought him a fortune.

4. The FBI might have screwed up its own case against an Asian betting ring that operated in Las Vegas during the FIFA World Cup, by using illegal methods to gather evidence.

5. GamblingResults found the best five Halloween promotions. Online gambling websites prepared scary-tempting offers past weekend.

6. The FBI is trying to beat criminals at their own game and it’s not working. Alleged gambling kingpin Paul Phua could get away with his illegal betting operation because FBI agents didn’t stick to the rules during their investigation.

7. The government leadership of Malta settled on Eden Leisure Group as the potential bidders for casino license.

Meanwhile Tim Cook, CEO of Apple came out of the app-draw and announced he was proud to be gay, and the diplomatic relationship between Israel and the US dove to a new all-time low after an unnamed official from the Obama White House was quoted as saying “The thing about Bibi is, he’s a chickenshit.” A move that has been seen as incendiary by the generous of spirit and as the insult it is by everyone else. Will there be more name calling this week? Keep up to date with our daily news pages.

In Burkina Faso protestors in the capital Ouagadougou threw out their President of 27 years after he tried to extend that via a constitutional change. They set fire to the parliament building and the army had to step in to “restore order”. Protestors then took to the streets again to ensure the army didn’t turn peace keeping into a coup, the situation remains tense and disagreement amongst opposition leaders could prove problematic.Problematic is a word all too easily applied to space travel last week as both NASA and Virgin Galactic lost craft to accidents. NASA Antares rocket dramatically exploded shortly after lift off whilst Richard Branson’s Virgin Galactic suffered a catastrophic failure during a test flight that left one pilot seriously injured and the other dead. Early reports cite a malfunction of the descent mechanism may have caused it to prematurely deploy resulting in the tragedy.

South African football weathered a tragedy of its own last week as Captain of the national team, Senzo Meyiwa was shot dead at his girlfriends house after intruders broke into the Johannesburg property. His funeral at the Moses Mabhida Stadium was attended by his teammates from the Orlando Pirates and tens of thousands of supporters. Police already have a suspect in custody and he was charged with the killing on Friday.

Elsewhere in football the weekend saw a Manchester derby in the English Premier League, and as is usual with these high-tension clashes the game saw some ugly moments including the sending off of United’s center-half Smalling who seemed to forget he was playing football, and in the end, Man City got the only, and decisive goal, will things be so clear cut this week? Find out on our daily news pages, but for the time being lets look back at what made our headlines last week.

1. If you thought you knew everything about James Packer’s new VIP casino at Barangaroo, guess again. The government and the investor have been keeping secrets from the public.

2. Things just aren’t working out for New Jersey lawmakers, who tried to find a way around the nationwide sports wagering ban. America’s biggest sports leagues have scored a point in their battle against betting, and the ball is now in judge Shipp’s court.

3. A famous conman known for selling fake weight loss products has gotten himself into trouble by running an international betting scheme that brought him a fortune.

4. The FBI might have screwed up its own case against an Asian betting ring that operated in Las Vegas during the FIFA World Cup, by using illegal methods to gather evidence.

5. GamblingResults found the best five Halloween promotions. Online gambling websites prepared scary-tempting offers past weekend.

6. The FBI is trying to beat criminals at their own game and it’s not working. Alleged gambling kingpin Paul Phua could get away with his illegal betting operation because FBI agents didn’t stick to the rules during their investigation.

7. The government leadership of Malta settled on Eden Leisure Group as the potential bidders for casino license.

Meanwhile Tim Cook, CEO of Apple came out of the app-draw and announced he was proud to be gay, and the diplomatic relationship between Israel and the US dove to a new all-time low after an unnamed official from the Obama White House was quoted as saying “The thing about Bibi is, he’s a chickenshit.” A move that has been seen as incendiary by the generous of spirit and as the insult it is by everyone else. Will there be more name calling this week? Keep up to date with our daily news pages.