The week in pictures: November 25th – December 1st, 2014

We saw all sorts of amazing events transpire across the globe last week so lets take a look at some of the big stories that hit the headlines

In the US the National Guard took to the streets of Ferguson, Missouri, after rioting broke out in response to the jury's decision not to charge Darren Wilson with any offense regarding the killing of Micheal Brown, the unarmed black teenager shot dead by the police officer on August 9th. Public disquiet over the shooting itself and the continued poor relationship between the local black community and the nearly entirely white police force in Ferguson have been blamed for the escalation and violent response to the verdict. Darren Wilson's response was to resign from the police force.

Thanksgiving rolled around once again with the start of the Christmas shopping season once again kicked off by the mega meal celebration especially fixed on the calendar back in the 1940s especially for the purpose. Millions of Americans returned home to give thanks with their families and then go shopping. Early analysis has shown this year's Black Friday consumer rush was not as intense as previous years......possibly because some big box stores didn't wait for Friday and began their sales on Thanksgiving itself.

Author PD James died last week. The crime novelist who had written more than 20 books passed away at the age of 94 "peacefully at her home in Oxford" one of the most respected writers in the business. Best known, perhaps, for having penned Children Of Men, which was turned into a movie, and her series of books featuring the detective Adam Dalgliesh, adapted in the 1980s for the small screen on ITV and BBC both, she sold millions of books around the world collecting a massive ardent following of her work. She will be missed.

In sport the inaugural Sailing World Cup in Abu Dhabi produced some excellent action out on the water with 10 Olympic class events held over four days with prizes from a purse worth $200,000 going to the top three in each event. Winners included former Olympic bronze medalist Bryony Shaw in the women's RS-X windsurfing and Poles Tomasz Januszewski and Jacek Nowak in the men's 49er. Will their luck hold in Melbourne next month? You'll have to check out daily news pages to find out but in the meantime lets look at what hit our headlines last week.

1. DraftKings left in the dark. Literally. The betting company that has to pay back bookies.
2. Gaming Zion reviewed several exciting developments in the world of casino slots. Future looks good.
3. Gaming Zion turned its investigative eye on Russia’s plans to turn post-Olympic Sochi into a casino gambling hub.
4. England’s local government formed 93-member coalition from varying political parties to rout for an end to betting shops’ cluster in UK’s high streets.
5. Gaming Zion previewed betting lines on each of the top NFL matchups in Week13.
6. GamingZion took a look at the study completed by The Auckland University of Technology (AUT) on gambling among the New Zealand population.
7. PMU and Essa have joined forces to fight match-fixing and corruption in sports.
Meanwhile the Swiss voted in a referendum to reject the imposition of curbs on immigration that would have seen the number of immigrants to the country slashed to just 16,000 a year, and the first children, Sasha and Malia Obama were criticized by Republican Elizabeth Lauten whose comments on Facebook were deemed to be unnecessarily hurtful and used the two teenagers as political ammunition against their father. Ms. Lauten then deleted the posts, prayed and apologised, but will the damage done hang around her neck? You'll have to read our daily news pages to find out.