LONDON (AP) — A man described as “the most prolific rapist in British legal history” has been sentenced to life in prison with a possible release after 30 years following his conviction for sexual offenses against 48 men.
Authorities said the evidence against 36-year-old Reynhard Sinaga indicates he had many more victims, with roughly 195 men apparently having been filmed while being abused when they were in his apartment. Many were unconscious at the time.
Judge Suzanne Goddard said in Manchester Crown Court the true number of Sinaga's victims may never be known.
“You are an evil serial sexual predator who has preyed upon young men who came into the city center wanting nothing more than a good night out with their friends," she said. “One of your victims described you as a monster. The scale and enormity of your offending confirms this as an accurate description."
She said the courts had rarely if ever seen such a prolonged “campaign of rape." Reporting restrictions that had prevented the publication of Sinaga's name were lifted Monday.
Prosecutors say Sinaga had a non-threatening manner. He befriended young men, including many who were intoxicated after a night out, and offered them a place to stay at his apartment. He filmed many of the forced sexual encounters.
Prosecutor Ian Rushton said many victims initially thanked Sinaga for offering them accommodation.
“But once back at his flat, he used victims as objects purely for his own gratification," Rushton said.
Sinaga arrived in Britain from his native Indonesia on a student visa in 2007. He received two degrees in sociology and planning from the University of Manchester and was studying for his PhD at the University of Leeds when he was suspended following his arrest in 2017.
His thesis was called: “Sexuality and everyday transnationalism. South Asian gay and bisexual men in Manchester."
His Manchester church offered a statement in support of his character that did not seem to sway the judge.
“It is almost beyond belief that someone who could profess some Christian faith could at the same time have been committing such wicked and evil crimes," she said.
Even as e-commerce explodes, and digitally native brands appear to control nearly every segment of retail, legacy mall brands like American Eagle are finding that their most important customers ー teenagers ー are gravitating to an old-fashioned in-store experience. "Unlike millennials, the majority of Gen Z kids would rather shop in a physical store," said Chad Kessler, American Eagle's global brand president. "We're seeing a return to wanting to interact with people."
The power of Black Twitter, the name given to a loose network of black Twitter users behind both viral memes and social campaigns, is the premise of "Power Star Live," a 30-minute show that will live stream every Wednesday on the social platform. Jessie Woo and co-host Xilla Valentine aim to dissect how the Twitter users influence pop culture.
It was an urgent warning from a group of professionals not known for a proclivity to scare the public. "In our risk averse industry, we cannot even calculate the level of risk currently at play, nor predict the point at which the entire system will break. It is unprecedented," the statement read in part. It was issued jointly on Wednesday, from the unions representing America's air-traffic controllers, pilots, and flight attendants.
The internet is moving away from an ad-based revenue system says Jack Conte, co-founder and CEO of Patreon, a platform that allows people to pay for access to exclusive content from digital creators. That trend is evidenced by the growth that Patreon saw in 2018, Conte said in an interview on Cheddar Wednesday, the same day the company announced it now has more than 3 million subscribers, or "patrons," with more than 100,000 creators on the platform. The company began 2018 with 2 million patrons supporting its content.
These are the headlines you Need 2 Know for Thursday, Jan. 24, 2019.
Wellness advisor Joyce Chang left her job as editor-in-chief of SELF Magazine to experience an "'Eat, Pray, Love' moment." After returning from her travels and talking to other high-achievers in her life Chang realized she wasn't alone in her quest for more happiness ー despite the perks of a high-powered job.
Michael Liebman caught the financial bug young. At the age of 13, he started trading stocks. At 15, he got a job as a bank teller, and started saving for retirement at 16. Now in his early 20s, Michael has teamed up with his sister Rebecca Liebman to co-found LearnLux, an enterprise company that aims to help workers achieve the kind of financial wellness he has been chasing throughout his young life.
The NBA is transparent about its approval of legalized, regulated sports betting ー but the league is also clearly communicating that it wants a fair share of the money wagered on its games. "It's our view that if state governments are going to be authorizing private entities, in most cases casinos, to generate significant revenue ー billions of dollars of revenue ー off of the NBA competitions, that the NBA participate in some way," said the NBA's head of fantasy and gaming Scott Kaufman-Ross.
It has become a hallmark of the modern millennial: Babies? Maybe later. Fur babies? Absolutely. Seven out of 10 members of the millennial generation own a pet at an average cost of around $1,000 per pet yearly. Given that pets are increasingly treated as family members, more animal owners want to insure them against accidents and illness. Indeed, the gross written premiums for pets in North America doubled ー from $575 million in 2013 to $1.15 billion in 2017, according to the National Association Pet Health Insurance Association. Whether that's a smart use of funds is another question.
The addition of Netflix to the exclusive Motion Picture Association of America on Tuesday is likely to prompt a shift in policy, both for the movie industry and for the streaming giant.
"Netflix ($NFLX) is going to shape the MPAA's agenda as much as the reverse," Eriq Gardner, a senior editor at The Hollywood Reporter, told Cheddar.
