this is bbc world news. i'm alpa patel. our top stories: tense talks in hollywood, as the organisers of the oscars meet to discuss harvey weinstein's future. a canadian hostage released by the taliban has been speaking of his family's ordeal. having been held in captivity for five years. it will be of incredible importance to my family that we are able to build a secure sanctuary for our three surviving children to call home, to focus on edification and try to regain some portion of the childhood they have lost. wildfires continue to rage across northern california — tens of thousands have been evacuated. finally open for business — as the first flight lands at st helena's new airport, we speak to the governor about her hopes for a boost in tourism. hello and welcome to world news today.

some of the most powerful figures in hollywood are meeting to consider the future of harvey weinstein. the film executive — facing allegations of harrassment, sexual assault and rape. the organisation behind the oscars — the academy of motion picture arts — is considering whether he should be expelled. mr weinstein insists sexual contact with his accusers was consensual. here's our correspondent, laura bicker who is in la, where that meeting is taking place. this is a 5k member board including the likes of tom hanks, whoopee goldberg and stephen spielberg, some of the biggest names in hollywood, leading executives and producers. it could be a big moment in hollywood

because they are meeting, this is an emergency meeting to decide whether or not to revoke the membership of one of the industry ‘s most powerful producers. harvey weinstein stands accused of physical and sexual abuse dating back decades. their names which have come forward are the likes of angelina jolie, gwyneth paltrow, ashleyjudd. he denies any sex was nonconsensual but has apologised for some aspects of his behaviour. he is believed to be somewhere seeking rehabilitation. he has been fired from his own company which he co—founded and this morning here in los angeles his brother has come forward with an interview to one of the us media and says he was not aware of any of these claims of abuse. he also went on to say that his brother billy —— billy cannon and he will be pleading with the

academy to kick him out. jaclyn friedman is the author of "yes means yes: visions of female sexual power and a world without rape". her work has helped define the law on sexual consent on american university campuses. shejoins me from boston. thank you for being with us, this story has just grown and grown with more allegations every day, why has it taken so long for them to come to ught? it taken so long for them to come to light? welll it taken so long for them to come to light? well i think there is a culture of science around sexual abuse and specifically the sexual abuse and specifically the sexual abuse and specifically the sexual abuse and harassment of women. there is an attitude it is inevitable and cannot be stopped and so men stick up cannot be stopped and so men stick up each other and women are frightened. it's an old story u nfortu nately. frightened. it's an old story unfortunately. harvey weinstein has settled out of court with someone and it's being reported, why do you think those women settled, was it a

problem? i think the nondisclosure agreements they were forced to sign agreements they were forced to sign a certainly a problem. those women probably settle because they were threatened. harvey weinstein has a history of ruining peoples careers if they cross him so they might have not felt we had a better option. but not felt we had a better option. but no big names have been speaking out in support of some of these actresses. why do you think it's taken them so long to speak out? againi taken them so long to speak out? again i really think people are being forced in this moment to rethink what is inevitable and what isn't in hollywood. and a lots of other industries, this way of doing business that involves the debasement of women is a modus operandi of a lot of industries so getting to see it fresh for what it is takes some doing sometimes. so what should happen next? sorry i missed the question. can you tell us

what you think should happen now?” what you think should happen now?|j think what you think should happen now?” think any company, whether they are in the entertainment industry or not should take a long work at their sexual harassment policies. if they have one check how it is working, do people feel comfortable coming forward ? people feel comfortable coming forward? what people feel comfortable coming forward ? what if people feel comfortable coming forward? what if the allegation is against the boss? they should be taking a long hard look at the office culture wherever they are to make sure there are not any more open secrets the weather was about harvey weinstein. it's notjust about harvey weinstein is it, allegations surfacing about the people around him suggesting they we re people around him suggesting they were facilitating this behaviour. certainly, it's not credible to imagine that the weinstein company board and higher—ups did not know was this going on given the size of the settlements given that senior staffers were involved in the ruse of lowering women in with the

pretence of it being a legitimate meeting. a lot of people had to be involved to make it happen, a lot of people had to make active bad decisions to make this thing happen. do you think something good can come from this? i think a lot of good is coming, people are coming forward and talking about it. also what i see is folks for whom this has happened are taking their own story seriously for the first time. there isa seriously for the first time. there is a phenomenon we don't talk about enough where if you have been targeted are victimised in this way you become convinced and maybe it's yourfault or try to you become convinced and maybe it's your fault or try to talk yourself out of your own feelings and experiences and i think one of the great things coming out of this is people are feeling less alone and less crazy and less like i should not make a big deal out of this and understanding it is a big deal and nobody deserves to be treated this way. thank you very much a being with us. a canadian man kidnapped

with his pregnant wife in afghanistan has been giving distressing details of the five years they spent in captivity. joshua boyle and his wife were released earlier this week after being held hostage by islamic militants linked to the taliban. mr boyle told reporters his wife caitlin had been raped, that she had given birth to four children in captivity — one of whom he said, a baby girl, had been murdered. john mcmanus reports. outside the capital many parts of the country remain in the grip of islamist militants. it was to here that canadianjoshua boyle and his heavily pregnant wife caitlin coleman travelled, he says to carry out aid work. but instead the couple were kidnapped by members of the haqqani network linked to the taliban. over five years their captors attempted to use them as bargaining chips, releasing a number of videos.

in one of them the couple's children can be seen. all four were born in captivity. we are the worst to have a prisoner exchange with. on wednesday they were finally freed by pakistani forces and arrived in toronto late last night wherejoshua boyle outlined their grim ordeal including the horrific murder of his daughter. the stupidity and the evil of the haqqani networks kidnapping of a pilgrim and his heavily pregnant wife engaged in helping ordinary villagers in taliban controlled regions of afghanistan was eclipsed only by the stupidity and evil of authorising the murder of my infant daughter. marta boyle. he said his wife was raped by the militants. the canadian government has welcomed the family's safe return home. i'm going to ask people to respect their privacy and understand they've been through an extremely difficult period right now. and... but i can certainly say that we are pleased that the ordeal they've been through over these past

years has finally come to an end. joshua boyle's parents described talking to their son to the first time in five years. we were told the wonderful news that our family had been rescued. 20 minutes later we were allowed to actually talk with josh. that's the first time in five years. while both sets of grandparents are undoubtedly relieved, caitlin coleman's own father, jim, says his daughter should never have been taken to such a dangerous place. that we are able to build a secure century for our three surviving children... butjoshua boyle says he now hopes his surviving children can start again. john mcmanus, bbc news. let's take a look at some of the other stories making the news: security officials in the somali capital, mogadishu, say two bomb blasts have killed at least 30 people. around a hundred people have been injured. the first explosion took place at a busyjunction near a well—known hotel,

sending a huge cloud of black smoke over the city. a second bomb in the madina district killed two people. syria has demanded the immediate withdrawal of turkish soldiers deployed in the north—west of the country. it descried their presence as "flagrant aggression" and a violation of international law. turkey moved troops into idlib province on thursday, saying they were operating alongside syrian rebel groups to try to enforce a "de—escalation" zone. + at least four people have been killed after a cargo plane crashed in the sea near the international airport in ivory coast's main city, abidjan. those who died were from moldova. four french people, including three soldiers, were among the injured. six world powers who signed the international nuclear deal with iran have said they remain committed to it. it comes after president trump refused to recertify it and threatened to

pull out altogether. the eu's foreign policy chief federica mogherini says that iran has not violated the agreement and insisted that the deal could not be renegotiated, even by the us. earlier i spoke to matthew moran from the department of war studies, at king's college london. i asked him about the options before the us congress. a number of options are available but let's look at the worst—case scenario, if they pull their support and reinforced sanctions it to be a provocative action that could spell ultimately the end of the deal. what we have to remember here is that when the deal was negotiated there was a very intrusive inspection regime worked up and it's being implemented by the international atomic energy agency and it has add multiple stages since the deal went

into force confirmed iran is abiding by the provisions of the deal. what president trump has done is trying to expand the scope of the deal and i don't think it is possible because he's trying to include issues which deviate slightly, things like support for terrorism and were not pa rt support for terrorism and were not part of the original deal so there is no reason why iran should come back to the table. how does this position the us in regards to the other nations who are supporting the deal? simply it isolates the us to a certain extent. the other european powers in particular have come out very strongly in favour of the deal. there is no evidence to suggest iran is not abiding by its commitments so i think the us is isolating itself. it also risks undermining us diplomatic credibility. what happens

if the us seeks to withdraw or renege on a deal which has been multilaterally negotiated? renege on a deal which has been multilaterally negotiated ? what renege on a deal which has been multilaterally negotiated? what will other countries make of that, countries like north korea for example? finally, what next? now we wait and see what congress has to say. the issue has gone back to congress and it's interesting because donald trump is playing to his domestic constituency, this issue came up on the campaign again and again and he's acting on it but he has to remember and congress has to remember that the world is watching, constituencies of interest in iran are watching. the wrong decisions here would empower those hardliners across the board who want to undo the deal and it would be very bad. wildfires continue to rage across northern california. 36 people are known to have been killed in the past week and many more are missing.

large parts of northern california, including sonoma and napa counties, and the city of santa rosa have been hit. from california, dave lee reports. these fires have choked california, displacing 90,000 people and destroying more than 5,000 buildings. sir, you've got to go! this footage shows a police officer's view on sunday. he was in the city of santa rosa helping terrified residents evacuate. the next day the city looks like this. we walk and see our neighbourhood, flattened. it looks like a bomb has gone off in our neighbourhood. it's so heartbreaking. the smoky air can be smelt as far as 100 miles away. this is our wine making facility. the harvest was complete. so all of our grapes were in.

over there is our press and our crush pad with the tanks and that was all outside. obviously, you can see it's completely destroyed. police are having to deal with looters seeking to capitalise on block after block of empty homes. some of the biggest fires are showing signs of being contained thanks to the efforts of more than 8,000 firefighters drafted in to help. these firefighters are bracing themselves, weather forecasts suggests more high winds are on the way. this is already the deadliest wile fire in the state's history and it is not over yesterday yet. stay with us on bbc world news, still to come: a masterful display from tennis‘ world number one. rafael nadal reaches the final of the shanghai masters. parts of san francisco least

affected a re parts of san francisco least affected are returning to life that in the marina where most of the damage was done they are more conscious than ever of how much has been destroyed. in the 19 years since he was last here he has gone from being a little non—revolutionary to ask experienced diplomatic operator. the bomb exploded on the fifth floor of the grand hotel ripping a hole in the front of the building. this government will not weaken, democracy will prevail. it fills me with humility and gratitude to know i have been chosen as the recipient of this foremost on. this catholic nation held its breath for the men

they call the 33. and then... bells ringing nationwide to announce the first rescue. this is bbc world news today. the latest headlines: the organisers of the oscars are holding crisis talks in hollywood, to decide what to do about harvey weinstein. a canadian hostage released by the taliban has been speaking of his family's ordeal — they were held captive for almost five years. let's go to some breaking news, we are now getting copy about harvey weinstein, that meeting in hollywood

and we are now hearing the academy of motion picture arts has expelled harvey weinstein from the academy. we'll have much more on this story when we can but harvey weinstein as we understand has been expelled from the academy of motion picture arts. right, let's move on. here in the uk, the authorities are planning tougher prison sentences to tackle acid attacks — which have more than doubled in britain in the past five years. ministers are proposing a minimum six month jail term for people who are repeatedly caught carrying acid or other corrosive substances in england, wales and scotland. there are some disturbing images at the start of alexandra mackenzie's report. acid attacks can have devastating consequences. there were more than 400 in the uk between november 2016 and april this year. the agony of the aftermath

of an acid attack in east london in july. delivery driverjaved hussain said it melted his motorbike helmet, which saved his face from long—term damage. he is calling for tougher sentencing for those involved. i started screaming. then i realised that's acid. i was just screaming on the street. crying forwater, like, getting more dry and getting more worse. and i thought my face has been destroyed. i think he should be punished for that, because he wanted to destroy somebody‘s identity, destroy somebody‘s face. the government wants to give police more powers to prevent such assaults. i think it's really important that we send out a very strong message that, you know, carrying a corrosive substance in a public place unless you've got a really good reason to have it is just totally u na cce pta ble. speak to any victim of an acid attack and they'll be living with lifelong scars. it's absolutely right that we take this as seriously as any knife attack. under the home office proposals it

would be an offence to possess a corrosive substance in public. there would be a ban on the sale of such substances to anyone under 18. and people caught carrying acid twice in public would receive a mandatory minimum six—month prison sentence if over the age of 18. what it'll do is allow us to bring more charges and convictions when it comes to carrying these substances even before they are being used. at the minute we have to prove the intent, the fact why you're carrying that substance. these proposals look to change that. the home office says victims and survivors are at the heart of everything they're doing to reduce the number of acid attacks. but some say the new proposals just don't go far enough and more needs to be done to bring those responsible to justice. london has been worst affected. and police are being issued

with test kits to check the contents of suspicious bottles of liquid. they're also being given protective gloves and water bottles so they can treat victims quickly. together with the proposed new laws, officers hope it'll prevent more attacks. alexandra mackenzie, bbc news. holly hamilton has all the sport. manchester city have gone two points clear at the top of the premier league. they scored three times in the first 30 minutes stoke city pulled it back to 3—2 but manchester city kept on scoring in what was arguably the most one—sided premier league half of the season. afterwards pep guardiola said it was the finest display since he became manager. happy for the victory

especially the way we played. we do not lose easy balls, we play simple, we play fast and simple because the best way to play fast and that's why i'm very pleased. crystal palace recorded their first win of the season recorded their first win of the season as they beat chelsea 2—1 at selhurst park, wilfried zaha struck just before half—time. crystal palace and holding on despite an onslaught from chelsea and the result puts antonio conte's side nine points behind manchester city. palace are still bottom of the table but roy hodgson understandably happy with the result. really enjoyable i have to say. they deserve to drink in that victory, the players, because we're playing the champions of england, we are playing a team

with fantastic quality players and i felt we came off the field having deserved the victory. we created a lot of chances and the defending was good from the first minute to the last. it's a very satisfying win. burnley and west ham drew 1—1, west ham down to ten men within half an hour after andy carroll was sent off for a second yellow. liverpool and manchester united played out a 0—0 draw. swansea city beating huddersfield 2—0, i brown with both goals. watford are up to fourth after beating arsenal 2—1 in the late kick—off. it's the opening weekend of the european champions cup of rugby with five fixtures on saturday, harlequins lost an enthralling match. seven tries in this one, four to the french side who won 34—27. leinster scored four

tries to beat montpelier. leicester opened their campaign with defeat in france to racing 92. bath scored of the points in their tie with treviso winning 23—0, and exeter are playing glasgow and currently lead 17—15. less tha n glasgow and currently lead 17—15. less than ten minutes remaining. at joe howe in chiang kai awaits per rafa nadal and roger federer, the top two in the world —— a showdown in shanghai awaits for rafa nadal and roger federer. maria sharapova is true to herfirst final since returning from a drugs ban, she will play at the

i want you to go back with me to the breaking story, harvey weinstein has been expelled from the board, we have a statement, it voted it says well in success of the required two thirds majority to expel him immediately. it says in this statement we do so not simply to separate ourselves from someone who does not merit the respect of his collea g u es does not merit the respect of his colleagues but also to send a message that the era of wilful ignorance and shameful complicity in sexually predatory behaviour and workplace harassment in our industry is over. it goes on to say what is at issue here is a deeply troubling problem which has no place in our society. what's more on this story on the website, check it out, that's it from me, goodbye. the remnants of what is currently

herb keinon —— hurricane ophelia, still to the south, the gym category three already having an indirect impact on the weather, to the west dragging in cold air to the east toward here pushing north across the uk temperatures reaching 22 degrees in the west point of cloud fabrics of rain and drizzle persistence later highlands hebrides most double figures but the breeze sunday mid—teens many outbreaks of rain heavy easing southeast rains south eastern areas will see sunshine by

the time after then north of scotla nd the time after then north of scotland one or two showers morning rain and drizzle into northern ireland nothing desperately heavy odd splash of light rain cumbria sunday cloudy west breeze further east nothing from the south south west m ea ns east nothing from the south south west means with sunshine some eastern areas could hit 23. finishing today on a final note patchy rain scotland fade northwards hurricane south—west still notable storm republic of ireland will bear the brunt but through monday west coast of england and wales into northern ireland gusting 6070 80 and

july the you will wonder what the fuss is about temperatures and sunny spells 2a, 25 monday winds northern ireland northern england 60—70 possible disruption into tuesday. the headlines. the organisation behind the oscars has voted to expel the film mogul harvey weinstein. over the required two thirds of board members of the us academy of motion picture arts and skiens voted to throw him out immediately. a canadian man rescued with his family from the taliban—linked network in pakistan has been speaking about their ordeal. joshua boyle says one of his children was murdered and his wife was raped during captivity. reports from somalia say bomb blasts

in the capital have killed at least 30 people and injured around 100. officials say a truck loaded with explosives was