Top News of the Week

If you’ve seen nothing else this week, take a minute and read these blurbs. The following are the five most important news headlines from the past seven days. Week of October (22-28) 2011

1. A 7.2-magnitude earthquake that shook Eastern Turkey on Sunday (Oct. 23) is responsible for a record amount of deaths in the area. The Turkish Disaster and Emergency Relief Agency reports 575 deaths to date with another 2,608 injuries.

2. After the Crown Prince of Saudi Arabia, Sultan bin Abdulaziz Al-Saud, died in a New York hospital this past weekend, he was replaced by interior minister, Nayef bin Abdulaziz, as a leader of the Middle Eastern nation. The announcement was made late on Thursday (Oct. 28) by Saudi Arabian King Abdullah. Along with being the new crown prince, Nayef will also continue to serve as interior minister. He has held this position since 1975 and has been influential in overseeing the nation’s counter-terrorism efforts.

3. Discussions continued in the European Union this week concerning how to save the value of the Euro. One tentative solution that has been suggested is to accept a bailout loan from China.

4. Rajat Gupta, a former director at Goldman Sachs investment bank was arrested on Wednesday (Oct. 26) on the suspicion of his involvement in an insider-trading scam. The FBI is officially charging Gupta with five counts of securities fraud and one count of conspiracy to commit securities fraud. Gupta pleaded “not guilty” at his first court hearing on Thursday (Oct. 27) despite evidence of connections between himself and Raj Rajaratnam. Rajaratnam is a former hedge-fund leader who was indicted for insider-trading in 2009. He is currently serving an 11-year sentence in federal prison. Prosecutors pursuing Gupta’s case hope to prove that he was the Goldman Sachs’ official who leaked confidential information to Rajaratnam.

5. The Saint Louis Cardinals were able to secure their eleventh World Series title this Friday (Oct. 28) after defeating opponent Texas Rangers four games to three. This was the first time since 2002 that a series was decided in the seventh game.