disgraced movie mogul harvey weinstein has one of his convictions for rape overturned. there is no doubt that harvey weinstein is a serial sexual predator, it is not change the fact he committed these crimes. china warns us secretary of state antony blinken their nations must choose between cooperation or confrontation that could spiral into conflict. the us begins building a floating aid pier off the gazan coast — as the un warns of disease outbreaks in the region. hello and welcome to bbc news. i'm lukwesa burak. the former hollywood producer harvey weinstein has had one of his convictions for rape overturned. new york's highest court

has ruled he didn't get a fair trial. the case in 2020 was a landmark in the #metoo movement, which exposed sexual misconduct at the highest levels in hollywood. in a moment we'll bring you an interview with the actress ashleyjudd, the first woman to go public with the allegations against weinstein. but first, our correspondent emma vardy reports from los angeles. when harvey weinstein — one of the most powerful men in hollywood — was accused of rape, it led to an outpouring about a culture of sexual assault and misogyny experienced by women around the world — what became known as the #metoo movement. many women came forward, accusing harvey weinstein of forcing them into sex. for years, there was a fear of speaking out, they said, because of his ability to make or break careers. but now, the rape conviction against harvey weinstein that came out of the #metoo movement has been overturned in new york. the court of appeal said

prosecutors had called witnesses whose accusations were not part of the charges against him. that meant, it said, he was unfairly tried for past behaviour. harvey weinstein was also convicted of rape in a separate case here in la. last year, he was sentenced to 16 years for raping a woman in a beverly hills hotel. he will remain in prison while a decision is made in new york over whether to retry him. harvey weinstein�*s lawyer has commended the appeals court, he said for upholding the principles that should govern a criminal trial. in this courthouse behind us, at that trial, the law was not applied fairly to harvey weinstein. you can't throw out 100 years of legal precedent because someone is unpopular. harvey weinstein�*s conviction in california is also being appealed. his legal team are looking into what implications the new york ruling could have here. emma vardy, bbc news,

los angeles. the first woman to go public with allegations against harvey weinstein was actress ashleyjudd. she says a top court overturning his 2020 conviction is "an act of institutional betrayal." she's been speaking to my colleague caitriona perry, who asked whether she would like to see weinstein re—tried. you know, what's important to know is that a courtroom is not a safe environment for survivors of male sexual violence. they can be very traumatising spaces. you know, the most dangerous place in america for a woman is in her home. we know the men who assault and rape and murder us. and a lot ofjudges are still catching up to that reality. and juries don't necessarily know that information either. we still think of rape as stranger rape as someone who jumps us in an alley. and so a courtroom isn't necessarily even if harvey were retried and convicted

in the state of new york, the place where survivors are going to get their healing. and that's what we need. that's what we need. it may be a fair outcome if he were convicted in new york, and that would sure be a magic wand. but survivors need trauma informed help and for men to stop raping women. his lawyer said that everyone has the right to justice. he said even people who are very unpopular in our society, no—one is above the law, but no—one is below the law either, he said... and i agree with that. yes, of course i do. everyone deserves justice and i support due process. i had the opportunity to meet the great supreme courtjustice ruth bader ginsburg, and we talked about due process, even for people who are accused of the most egregious sexual crimes. and actually right now at the university of kentucky,

where i did my undergraduate degree, a couple of ourformer student athletes experienced terrible institutional betrayal and have accused my university, of which i'm very proud, in which i love, of complicity and and other betrayals. and we're going to go through due process there. and i love my university enough to hold it accountable. so i definitely support due process. and there's no doubt that harvey weinstein is a serial sexual predator. it doesn't change the fact that he committed these crimes. over 100 women came forward after i was the named source in the new york times investigation. and on that point, a separate 16—year sentence handed down in california is not affected. he will stay in prison. he won't be freed. does that bring you and other survivors any sense of comfort, any sense ofjustice or that healing that you're describing? you know, it's more complex than that because i don't think the carceral system in the united states does perpetrators of male sexual violence any favours either.

you know, what i would love to have is a restorative justice conversation with harvey weinstein. you know, i think that it's stories, it's narrative that helps change hearts and minds. i'm not about punitive measures. i'm about community and safety and belonging and forgiveness. i forgave harvey weinstein a long time ago and it was no favour to him. i did it for myself. and, you know, it's a whole other conversation in terms of the american ca rceral system. but harvey hasn't had a change of heart. he doesn't necessarily — his last words when he was convicted and he was walking out of the courtroom. "so how does this happen in the united states?" you know, and what would be a more satisfying outcome is if men looked at their entitlement to female bodies and thought, that is a person of dignity, she is a person of worth, and i do not have the right to encroach

on her bodily autonomy. that would be satisfying. ashleyjudd speaking there. the united states top diplomat antony blinken has been holding talks in beijing with the chinese foreign minister wang yi. mr wang said the us—china relationship had begun to stabilise in recent months but negative factors were increasing. he said the choice was between international cooperation or rivalry and confrontation that could even slide into conflict. mr blinken said it was important to discuss differences to avoid miscalculations. let's speak to our china correspondent stephen mcdonell, who's in beijing for us. high—level talks will be held today. what can we expect? it is interesting and crucial that these meetings can make some sort of breakthrough in terms

of stopping the relationship from sliding further. the reason i say that is because antony blinken mediapoint this is the most consequential relationship in the world, and i don't think many people would disagree with him on that. he spoke about areas where they already cooperating, military to military cooperation, on al, the environment, narcotics. then he said we also have to be very clear about the significant areas where we disagree, and that is to avoid a miscalculation, which in the words of wang yi, said it could slide into conflict. everybody on the planet needs these governments to start talking to one another and get on, and they know it. that is why it is important they hash it out in an open and honest way. at one

point we had wang yi sa the giant ship of the us and china relationship has been through these rough waters but now starting to stabilise. that seems pretty good but then he went on to say that china's legitimate right to development had been unreasonably suppressed, and that according to him was because of people sabotaging china—us relationship and he said to antony blinken the us should not interfere in china's internal affairs, not interfere in china's internalaffairs, ortrample not interfere in china's internal affairs, or trample on china's red alliance involving its sovereign security development interests. tough talk from both sides, however early as they are talking and thatis early as they are talking and that is better than, as they both acknowledged, sliding into conflict. ~ ., . .,

conflict. when we hear wang yi sa the conflict. when we hear wang yi say the relationship _ conflict. when we hear wang yi say the relationship has - conflict. when we hear wang yi say the relationship has begunl say the relationship has begun to stabilise, when and why did it go wrong? hasn't it always been on a slightly tricky ground?— been on a slightly tricky round? ., , , , ground? the world super powers of course will _ ground? the world super powers of course will have _ ground? the world super powers of course will have these - ground? the world super powers of course will have these times | of course will have these times when they disagree with each other but you will remember a couple of years ago when it nancy pelosi from the us visited taiwan, this angered beijing that such a senior us politician had visited this place, which they considered to be a rogue province. bang all these military cooperation, those types of things that antony blinken was talking about, frozen. it has taken years to get back to the point where the world superpowers can be cooperating with each other on these fronts. they are trying, both sides, to maintain what they have already got an stop things from sliding backwards yet again. we will

leave it there. _ backwards yet again. we will leave it there. thank - backwards yet again. we will leave it there. thank you. i leave it there. thank you. following those talks for us here at bbc news. let's cross over to arizona to speak to erin baggott carter, an assistant professor at the university of southern california's us—china institute. she's also a fellow at the stanford hoover institution. welcome to the programme. picking up on the tough talk, conflict, strong language, emboldened perhaps by world events, do you think? certainly, i think this is a significant reason, the highest official to visit china since joe biden took office. it is taking place at a time when both sides genuinely do want to have some form of dupont but serious issues threatening their ability to do so. what are the issues? _ their ability to do so. what are the issues? i _ their ability to do so. what are the issues? i can - their ability to do so. what are the issues? i can think| their ability to do so. what i are the issues? i can think of five that _ are the issues? i can think of five that they _ are the issues? i can think of five that they will _ are the issues? i can think of five that they will try - are the issues? i can think of five that they will try to - are the issues? i can think of five that they will try to workj five that they will try to work out, on these five issues it's

possible real progress can be made. firstly, as is typically the case here, the issue of peace and stability. coming up in an era in which tensions are likely to flirt next month, beijing is certainly not happy with that, we are likely to see flaring tensions as a result. likely going to be the case that biden and china will try to work out some guard rails for stability and try to keep tensions calm in the area. that is likely so far as the status quo was in the interest of both parties. the second issue with the south china sea, they both share a mutual interest in not activating the defence treaty. the aggression towards the philippines and the risk of doing that and i think there will be a lot of discussion that will reign back that aggression. thirdly, perhaps in everyone's mind, the issue of russia. we have a lot in the

press about china failing to use technology to russia but enable the ability to wage war in ukraine, also in the long—term sensor in the general environment and security. this is something that blinken will try to make an argument for. basing map was against that, what will both be effective is making arguments that european countries see this as threatening, cedars china supporting russia, china is trying to walk a fine line and as a result that is something that we might see some progress on. w' , that we might see some progress on. a , ., ., that we might see some progress on, . " , ., ., ., " on. picking up on that, walking a fine line. _ on. picking up on that, walking a fine line, the _ on. picking up on that, walking a fine line, the us _ on. picking up on that, walking a fine line, the us under - a fine line, the us under president biden is trying to sever particular economic ties, he discussed the geopolitical aspect of this but economically president biden is trying to protect american interests. this is a fine line up for the us and for antony blinken to

walk. will he be successful on this troop? fin walk. will he be successful on this tram»?— walk. will he be successful on this heap?— this troop? on the trade front i think this troop? on the trade front i think the _ this troop? on the trade front | think the us _ this troop? on the trade front | think the us will _ this troop? on the trade front i think the us will face - this troop? on the trade front i think the us will face real. i think the us will face real pushback from the chinese. the recent statements made about the capacity coming out of china and i think most importantly the passage through the set a few days ago of the bill to divest from tiktok within a 9—12 months. they are received poorly in china and we will see a lot of pushback against that. on the chinese side you see a lot of rhetoric see these actions designed to contain china, to prevent from developing economically. we will have real tension on this front and few mutual interest there and i think the progress on the trade front might be perhaps less forthcoming than some of these other security issues. . ~' , ., the us military has started building a floating pier off the coast of gaza that will be used to boost humanitarian aid deliveries. the pier will be used

to transfer supplies from ships to smaller vessels. the pier is expected to be operation by early next month. earlier, the un relief agency for palestinians — unrwa — warned about disease outbreaks in gaza amid worsening weather conditions, a lack of sufficient water and waste disposal. with me is said shehata from bbc arabic. there is a lot going on, the continuing humanitarian warnings coming through. the idf i having more cabinet meetings in terms of rafah but in the meantime in terms of aids getting through, we have the pontoon being built. what can you tell us?— the pontoon being built. what can you tell us? good news for gaza. can you tell us? good news for gaza- the _ can you tell us? good news for gaza. the floating _ can you tell us? good news for gaza. the floating platform - gaza. the floating platform will provide 2 million meals for everyone in gaza. in addition to that, the american

are working hard to help ease the pressure on people in gaza, so this will help but with the incident happened yesterday, another attack in the vicinity of the area where the pier will be located. the security of the mission, the american mission, will be the israeli responsibility and the is no booze on the ground, no american forces because there is talks within hamas and the factions again, any foreign president in gaza but the americans assure them there is nothing about that. that is good news. starting from next month, it will help, the un warns about a famine, disease, many problems happening. the need for more health, medicine, food, water, this will help.

they complement each other, it will complement that. good news for the palestinians and will help ease tension and the pressure on the people in gaza. thank you. around the world and across the uk, this is bbc news.

the us supreme court has heard arguments about whether donald trump is immune from prosecution for actions he took while president. a majority ofjustices have cast doubt on the idea mr trump should have full immunity. the outcome will determine whether he should face trial on allegations he plotted to overturn his 2020 election defeat. here's our north america correspondent gary 0'donoghue on proceedings in the supreme court. around three hours or so of arguments before thejustices — quite a long session. and the question, the essential question, does a president, does donald trump have immunity

from criminal prosecution for acts he committed while he was in the white house? now, the previous courts have said no to that question. donald trump's lawyers say yes, and there's constitutional basis. but jack smith, the special counsel who is, of course, prosecuting donald trump for his attempts to overturn the 2020 election and the events around january 6 and the attack on the capitol. he says no—one is above the law, and that's what the justices have been wrestling with. they, i think, were pretty sceptical of the idea of total immunity from prosecution. now, that may be bad news for donald trump, but they also may want to make a kind of distinction between acts done as a private citizen or for private reasons, and acts done as official as part of the officialjob. and that may mean they push this back down to the lower courts, which could delay the case even further. and we're already looking at a very tight timetable

forjack smith, the special counsel, to bring this case before the election. pro—palestinian protests on american university and college campuses are spreading, with hundreds of arrests, as police confront the demonstrators. some are likening the student activism to the wave of protests during the vietnam war in the late 1960s. unrest intensified last week after students at new york's columbia university set up a gaza solidarity protest camp. then the demonstrations spread quickly from the east coast to the west and many places in between. sarah smith has more from new york. this protest is getting louder as demos are spreading through the country. what started here now feels like a nationwide movement. students whose passion is often fuelled by images of the war in gaza they see on their phones. when you wake up every day and what you're seeing are children who have lost

everything, have lost limbs. families who have been torn apart, losing their homes. it's hard. like, at whatever age to ignore that. student protesters clashed with police at emerson college in boston last night. today, at emory university in atlanta, some were tackled to the ground as a number were detained. and protests are continuing at the university of texas in austin despite dozens of arrests overnight. at columbia, israeli flags and pictures of the hostages held by hamas in gaza have been erected byjewish students who feel hostility from the protesters. this philosophy student says she feels so intimidated, she didn't want us to show herface. i have felt extremely physically unsafe, very distracted from my schoolwork and very worried for all my other fellowjewish students that look more jewish than i do, because there have been a lot of emotional

and physical assaults to them based on the way that they look. and it has just been extremely disappointing to walk into school and a place where i deserve to be here and to learn and feel like my voice and maybe my... ..story and the way that i feel about what's going on doesn't really matter because i'm not being supported. ilhan 0mar, a left wing democratic congresswoman, joined the protesters today as this is becoming a national political battle. the leading republican in congress came yesterday to call the protests anti—semitic. these scenes greeted president biden as he arrived in new york today. at george washington university in the capital, professors have joined their students on a protest, one thatjewish students fear is calling for the destruction of the israeli state. i believe in the constitution, the first amendment right of freedom of speech,

to the point... but there is a line where it goes from being purely protesting and other government's actions into protesting the idea of the estates in existence. the protesters at columbia say some anti—semitic incidents were caused by interlopers and they point to thejewish students in their midst. it's complicated. i think it's very, very important that we're here and that our voices are here, notjust to show that there are jews that are very, very supportive of palestine and palestinian liberation, but also to be voices that are internally supportive of making the space more accepting forjewish students. the students say they are determined to stay put despite looming finals and the imminent end of term. the university still wants them out by the end of the week. here in the uk, a government minister has raised eyebrows after appearing to confuse two different countries in africa.

speaking on the bbc�*s question time programme, conservative mp chris philp was asked about the government's controversial policy to deport illegal migrants to rwanda — and whether someone escaping the war in congo — would be deported to rwanda. there is an ongoing conflict between the two nations. here's the exchange. i come from a neighbouring country called congo, that is located next door to rwanda. right now there is a genocide going on as such a big conflict going on as such a big conflict going on as such a big conflict going on with people from rwanda. had my family members come across right now, whether they be sent back to the country there is a presley war in, rwanda? country there is a presley war in. rwanda?— in, rwanda? does that make sense to _ in, rwanda? does that make sense to you? _ in, rwanda? does that make sense to you? there - in, rwanda? does that make sense to you? there is - in, rwanda? does that make sense to you? there is an . sense to you? there is an exclusion _ sense to you? there is an exclusion on people from rwanda being _ exclusion on people from rwanda being sent to... exclusion on people from rwanda being sent to. . .— being sent to... they your front congo! _ being sent to... they your front congo! they - being sent to... they your front congo! they are - front congo! they are supposedly warmer in these people from rwanda. will they be sent to rwanda if they came

across? from congo.— across? from congo. would eo - le across? from congo. would peeple be — across? from congo. would people be sent _ across? from congo. would people be sent from... - across? from congo. would - people be sent from... provider is a different country from congo? _ is a different country from conuo? , �* , before we go, let me show you some stunning pictures from florida. this is april's full moon — or the pink moon — in all its glory over navarre beach. maybe surprisingly, it doesn't take its name from its appearance but is based on what american indians used to call it — naming it after the herb �*moss pink�*. absolutely beautiful. we will have more of those pictures on the bbc news website. stay with us, i will be back shortly with all the business news.

hello. there are signs that the weather might warm up a bit next week, but not just yet. we stay in the rather chilly air for friday, a mix of sunny spells and showers and, actually, across the south of the uk, a frontal system that will bring more in the way of cloud and some splashes of rain. low pressure generally in charge of the scene through the day ahead. so, after a cold start, most places will see some spells of sunshine and a scattering of showers. some wintriness in the showers over high ground in scotland. but that frontal system will bring cloud and rain across the channel islands and across southern counties of england. temperature—wise, well, about where we have been over the last few days, north to south looking at values between 8—13 degrees. now, as we head through friday night, we'll see this band of rain in the south pushing its way further northwards. a lot of cloud with that, too. that will hold the temperatures up to some extent,

but northern england, northern ireland and scotland holding on to some clear spells and it will get chilly again. we'll have a frost to start saturday morning, not as cold further south thanks to that extra cloud, those outbreaks of rain, which will be moving northwards as the day wears on. as the rain clears, it may brighten up a little bit towards the south coast but that could allow some sharp showers to break out. for northern ireland and scotland, it's a mixture of sunny spells and showers once again through the day. and those temperatures, well, maybe just creeping up a little bit in some areas, highs between 9—11; degrees. into the second half of the weekend, we see this area of low pressure drifting northwards. that's going to bring outbreaks of rain for some, especially across the eastern side of the uk. but it may well be that some of this rain comes a little bit further westwards, affecting quite large parts of england and wales, maybe clipping into eastern scotland. the further west you are, though, it's that mix of sunny spells and showers. some of the showers will be on the heavy side. temperatures between 9—12, maybe 13 degrees

in the south—west. but as we head into next week, it does look like things will slowly but surely warm up. we start to bring a feed of winds from the near continent. these orange colours on our air mass chart. temperatures are set to climb, perhaps up to 19 or 20 degrees celsius through the middle part of the week. but that doesn't mean sunshine all the way, still unsettled with some rain at times.

live from london. this is bbc news. big tech to the rescue. microsoft and google owner, alphabet, bank bumper profits from al, easing frazzled nerves on wall street. also coming up, double whammy on the us economy. growth slows sharply. but inflation jumps, dashing hopes of interest rate cuts from the federal reserve. plus, poll position. as half the world prepares to vote in the biggest election year in history, we'll be speaking to the boss of online research giant, yougov. we start with big tech, and what a difference a day makes. this time yesterday, meta, the owner of facebook, instagram and whatsapp, rattled wall street