Match.com Rapist Jailed For 'Trail Of Terror'

The sex predator targeted women he met online through a dating website

A serial rapist who attacked seven women after contacting them on a dating website has been jailed for life.

Jason Lawrance, a father of three from Hampshire, was convicted of raping five women and of sexually assaulting and attempting to rape another two victims.

He carried out the attacks between June 2011 and November 2014 after meeting the women through Match.com.

Lawrance, described in court as a "sexual predator", was ordered to serve a minimum term of 12 years and six months.

Sentencing him, Judge Gregory Dickinson QC said: "I am convinced that you are devious, manipulative and highly dangerous to women.

"In my judgement these offences taken together - so many victims, the trail of terror and agony for which you are responsible - mean that the imposition of a sentence of imprisonment for life is fully justified."

Lawrance's offending was first brought to light when a friend of one of the victims contacted police in Derbyshire in November 2014.

It emerged Lawrance had contacted thousands of women online and even carried out three attacks months after he got married to someone he had met through the website.

The 50-year-old, from Liphook, had tricked his victims into contacting him on a private email address.

Four women alerted Match.com administrators to the fact he had assaulted them but the website refused to take down his profile.

A victim was told that the website could not take any action because he had not sent abusive messages through the site.

One woman was raped in the back of his van after he parked it up in a field in Northamptonshire.

Another three were attacked in their own homes, one where the victim's son was sleeping in the next room.

A further two women were raped in hotels and another was sexually assaulted in a car park.

Lawrance texted one of his victims apologising for "hurting" them, saying: "When you were crying out for me to stop I couldn't. I'm so mad at myself."

The judge, Greg Dickinson QC, raised concerns over supervision in use on dating websites and wanted to see if lessons could be learned.

Match.com, which is Britain's biggest dating website, said in a statement: "We are very sorry for those affected and appalled by these terrible acts.

"Sadly, there is a tiny minority of people who set out to harm others.

"While this is not confined to dating sites or even the internet, those who do so should be convicted and sentenced, as has happened in this case."

It went on: "Our member's safety is our highest priority.

"We are committed to working with the dating industry as a whole to raise standards, and have developed an industry initiative with the Suzy Lamplugh Trust to spot suspicious behaviour and to look after people.

"The Online Dating Association and the Trust are now using this to help the industry give its users the best possible protection and support and we fully support this initiative."

Detective Chief Inspector Allison Rigby from the force said the trial had been "devastating" for victims.

Speaking outside Derby Crown Court she said: "Jason Lawrance is a prolific, serial rapist who preyed on women he had contacted through Match.com.

"These women were looking for companionship and instead what they found was a man who was willing to commit serious sexual offences against them."

David Hasselhoff Is Back For Baywatch Film

David Hasselhoff has confirmed he will be part of the film based on the 1990s Baywatch series that made him a star.

Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson, who is playing Hasselhoff's original character Mitch Buchannon, revealed the surprise on his social media accounts, but it is not clear what role The Hoff will play.

He posted a video of himself on Instagram and Facebook facetiming with his future co-star.

During the conversation, Johnson tells Hasselhoff: "I don't know if the world is ready for both of us. Are you ready?"

"C'mon man, Rock and The Hoff, I was born ready!" Hasselhoff answers.

"There ain't no 'Bay' without The Hoff," Johnson exclaims. "Baywatch. Get ready, world."

Filming of the movie is under way in Boca Raton, Florida, with stars including Zac Efron, model Kelly Rohrbach and Bollywood star Priyanka Chopra already signed up.

Johnson wrote under the video of his chat with Hasselhoff: "Baywatch is the most successful TV show of all time and, from the day we announced we were turning it into a movie, The Hoff has been our greatest supporter - especially once he knew our Rated R movie was going to be a combination of Avengers meets Anchorman.

"Hoff's a cool dude who's down to have fun and here's the best part: he's been training his a** off and gotten in the best shape he's been in in years."

Hasselhoff retweeted a link to Johnson's announcement on his Twitter page.

The show about lifeguards in Los Angeles ran for 242 episodes between 1989 and 2001 and became known for its slow-motion shots of the cast running around the beach wearing red swimwear.

The film is due for release in the US in May next year.

Corbyn To Attack New Labour On 'Cash Cow' Banks

Jeremy Corbyn will blame his New Labour predecessors for helping to foster the climate which led to the recent economic crisis.

In a speech to the British Chambers of Commerce annual meeting he is expected to say City banks have been allowed to become an "extractive" industry which treats workers as "cash cows".

"The New Labour approach was to opt for 'light touch regulation' of finance - and then sit back and collect the tax revenues. But you cannot base a decent social policy on an unsustainable economic policy," he will tell delegates.

"And we cannot outsource economic policy to the City of London. That has not served our economy well, and it has not served business well."

This is Mr Corbyn's first public attempt to woo British businesses,  which he appears to be doing at the expense of the City and a "failed economic orthodoxy".

He will argue for a rebalancing of the economy which requires a boost in public investment for science, technology and green industries.

The Labour leader will also call for the Prime Minister to end his policy of slimming government and allowing big business to operate without social responsibilities.

"Only an economy that is run for the wealth creators - the technicians, entrepreneurs, designers, shopfloor workers, and the self-employed - and puts in them in the driving seat is going to deliver prosperity for all," he will argue.

Istanbul police station attacked by female assailants

Turkish media reports say two female attackers have hurled hand grenades and opened fire at a police special forces headquarters in Istanbul.

The Dogan news agency said no one was injured in Thursday's attack.

The motive of the attack was not immediately known.

Snow And Ice Warning For Rush Hour Commuters

Large parts of Wales, England and Scotland are on alert for snow and ice over the coming days as another cold blast from the Atlantic sweeps in.

The Met Office has issued yellow - be aware - warnings for today, Friday and Saturday.

Wintry rain and sleet showers are expected to turn to snow during Thursday night into Friday.

And commuters are being warned of the "potential for difficult driving conditions and for some travel disruption" during the Friday evening rush hour and overnight into Saturday morning as temperatures plunge to below freezing under clearer skies causing icy conditions.

The Met Office warned: "As this front clears south through the evening there is potential for widespread black ice to form quickly on road surfaces and pavements."

Sky News Weather Presenter Nazaneen Ghaffar said: "By Thursday evening rain already across much of Ireland will also reach western parts of Britain.

"Through Thursday night it will spread eastwards, bringing fairly widespread and significant snow to northern England and the north of Wales.

"There shouldn't be too much snow to low levels, but on the high ground above 200m there could be up to 5cm (2 inches) and above 300m up to 10cm (4 inches) of snow.

"On Friday the outbreaks of rain, sleet and snow will slowly push southwards towards the Midlands, central and southern England and Wales.

"Again the snow will be mostly confined to the high ground where up to 2cm (nearly an inch) is expected and to lower levels rain and sleet is more likely, but perhaps some spells of snow are possible.

"As the wintry outbreaks clear south through Friday evening, there could be black ice forming by Saturday morning on untreated roads and pavements of central and southern parts of England and Wales."

The warnings come after Storm Jake brought 77mph winds and snow to the country on Wednesday.

Voting Begins In New Zealand Flag Referendum

The design being pitted against the current Union Jack-dominated flag

New Zealanders have begun voting on whether to change their national flag, with opinion polls suggesting most want to maintain the status quo.

The current flag, which has served the country of 4.7 million people for 112 years, features the British Union Jack.

A challenger was selected late last year in the first round of voting - a blue, black and white flag.

The design, by architectural designer Kyle Lockwood, also features four red stars representing the Southern Cross, with a fern replacing the Union Jack.

It was chosen from more than 10,000 designs submitted by the public, including one featuring a kiwi shooting a green laser beam from its eye, rainbows, sheep and a stick drawing of a cat.

Some of those in favour of the change have said the current flag binds the country to its colonial past.

Even worse, in the eyes of some New Zealanders, is the fact that it is regularly confused with the Australian flag.

Organisers of the flag referendum say that changing the flag by popular vote would be a world first - with other countries having done it by revolution, decree or legislation.

Prime Minister John Key has been the main engine behind the project but the cost of the two referendums - more than $25m (£10.6m) - was criticised as a waste of money for an issue that few cared about, with the opposition Labour Party leader Andrew Little branding it as a "hugely expensive and highly unpopular vanity project".

The Returned and Services Association, which represents military veterans, says a change would dishonour the memory of those who fought for their country.

When a New Zealand current affairs television programme ran a survey on the issue last year, 84% said a new flag was not needed.

The referendum, held by postal ballot, will take place over the next three weeks, with preliminary results to be announced on 24 March.

The painful reality of rehabilitation after nearly two years of conflict

The smell of chlorine fills the air at the Kyiv Burn Center, along with the sound of nurses shuffling through the halls with their little carts of medicine. In the intensive care unit, lined up against the wall like giant aquariums, the glassed-in rooms are occupied by soldiers wounded in the war in east Ukraine, each one on his own slow road to recovery.

Vadym Dovhoruk, a 23-year-old from the 3rd regiment of the Ukrainian Special Forces, lies in a bed in one of these rooms, watching a TV with a rabbit-ear antenna. He is resting between surgeries, having lost one arm and both legs below the knee in the fighting. Beside him stands his father Yuri, a mechanic, who has made his weekly, seven-hour trip to the capital to be with his son. For all they’ve suffered, they are lucky—other families have fared far worse in this ongoing conflict.

Since it began in the spring of 2014, the war between the Ukrainian government and Russian-backed separatist forces has taken more than 9,000 lives, about a quarter of them civilians, according to a U.N. tally. Thousands of others have come back from the front with injuries that will never fully heal—chronic phantom pains from amputations, burns covering much of their bodies, extensive brain damage.

These are the victims that Joseph Sywenkyj, an American photographer of Ukrainian descent, has documented in hospitals and rehabilitation centers around the country. It has often been depressing work, and he says he does it with the Ukrainian people in mind. “It’s important for them to understand the price of their independence,” he says.

As his pictures demonstrate, that price has been far higher than Ukrainians could have expected when they overthrew their government in February 2014. The revolution, which called for Ukraine to integrate with Western Europe, cost Russia one of its hardest-won allies in the former Soviet Union—and Moscow’s response was fierce.

That spring, Russia occupied and annexed the Crimean Peninsula, in southern Ukraine, and stirred up a secessionist rebellion in the eastern region known as the Donbas. Ukraine fought back. Tens of thousands of soldiers and volunteers went to stop what they called a Russian invasion. Fighters and military hardware poured across the border to aid the pro-Russian rebel militias. Tanks, machine guns and multiple-rocket launchers were the weapons of choice on both sides.

Of all the belligerents, Moscow has emerged as the closest thing to a winner in this war. The easternmost regions of Ukraine, their towns gutted and infrastructure destroyed, are now separatist enclaves controlled by Russia’s local proxies. Ukraine no longer controls large sections of its border with Russia. So the conflict has frozen into a kind of stalemate, which Russia can fire up at its leisure, with fresh supplies of weapons and troops, whenever it wants to pressure or destabilize its neighbor.

In recent months, though, Ukraine’s new government has done Russia’s work for it. Corruption in Ukraine is still rampant. Political infighting has hobbled reforms. And with all that has been sacrificed in the name of the revolution and the war, many have started to wonder whether it was worth it.

Dovhoruk is not among the doubters. Like all of the soldiers Sywenkyj photographed for this series, he believes Ukraine would be a lot worse off if it had not put a fight. Russia, for one thing, might have occupied and annexed entire regions in the east, the same way it did in the south with Crimea.

But his father finds less solace in such hypotheticals. Even though he supported the uprising two years ago, he’s disappointed with how it turned out. “The people have changed a bit,” he says, “but the country is the same.” Except it has lost vast pieces of its territory, cut off like the limbs of too many soldiers who fought in this war.