The Week in Pictures: November 24 – November 30, 2015

Last week saw numerous big breaking stories hit the headlines so we take a look back at the most important of the last seven days.

After a Russian SU-24 bomber taking part in ongoing combat operations in Syria supposedly ignored warnings and strayed into Turkish airspace, for 17 seconds or so, patrolling aircraft from the Turkish Air Force shot it down. One pilot was killed, the other recovered. Vladimir Putin reacted angrily to the first such incident between a NATO nation and Russia since the 1950s, imposing sanctions on Turkey. Turkish president Recep Tayyip Erdogan regretted the incident. Moscow demands a full apology.

President Barack Obama once again had cause to call for tighter gun controls in the US last week following a deadly attack on a Planned Parenthood clinic in Colorado Springs. A policeman and two civilians were killed in the attack which also injured nine others. The president described the attack as having been perpetrated with “an assault weapon” and regretted the “easy accessibility of weapons of war” in the US. Police arrested loner Robert Lewis Dear of Carolina for the attack.

Donald Trump, still the leading Republican candidate for the party’s nomination for the presidential race in 2016, behaved in a manner the New York Times described as “outrageous” last week when he did an impersonation of one of their reporters, Serge Kovaleski, who suffers from a congenital joint condition. Trump had used the work of Mr. Kovaleski to back up his stupid claims “thousands” of Muslims in New Jersey celebrated after 9/11, something the reporter denies inferring in his work.

In sport Andy Murray beat David Goffin of Belgium 6-3 7-5 6-3 to give Great Britain its first Davis Cup trophy since 1936. Team GB won its first title for 79 years after winning the best of five tie in Ghent which saw Jamie Murray win the doubles with his brother. Having achieved so much for British tennis does a knighthood beckon for Andy Murray? You’ll have to read our daily news pages to find out, but in the meantime here’s some of the biggest stories we covered over the last week.

1. 63-year old Avondale resident Cecilia Randel had been named the holder of the sole winning ticket of the $475,000 Louisiana Lottery jackpot.

The winner (Photo: Louisiana Lotto)

 
2. There were a number of exciting Thanksgiving Day NFL games that took place on Thursday, including Philadelphia versus Detroit, Carolina versus Dallas, and Chicago versus Green Bay.

Oh, football and turkey, they go so well together… (Photo: SportingNews)

 
3. Philadelphia is easily the saddest pro sports city in the USA right now, given that its teams in all major sports leagues are doing poorly in games and rankings.

Sorry, Philly : (

 
4. A British couple won the £1 million EuroMillions jackpot for the second time in two years, having had first won it in 2013. It was the 10th biggest EuroMillions jackpot to be won in the UK.

They won a million pounds… again (?!) (Photo: Telegraph.co.uk)

 
5. Despite the huge amount players wagered in Las Vegas, overall gaming revenues dropped in Nevada 2015 October.

Trouble in (gambling) paradise? (Photo: LasVegas Sun)

Meanwhile “Cards Against Humanity”, manufacturer of the popular game of the same name, offered its customers something different this Black Friday by putting absolutely nothing on sale on their website for the bargain price of $5. The offer, that required takers to tick a check box reading “I understand I am paying Cards Against Humanity $5 and receiving nothing in return”, netted the company $71,000. The company then released an exhaustive and eclectic list of what their staff spent the money on.