this is bbc news. i'm lewis vaughan jones. our top stories: exit polls in ireland's referendum on abortion suggest a big win for the campaign to liberalise the law. with the votes still to be counted, taoiseach leo varadkar, who supported the campaign, says it looks like ireland " will make history". —— "will make history". handcuffed and charged with rape — the disgraced film producer harvey weinstein appears in court in new york. this defendant is his position, money and power to lure women into situations where he was able to violate them sexually. after five days of protests by striking truckers, brazil calls in the military to try to unblock the nation's roads. also on the programme, excitement builds for the champions league final in kiev, but some fans with tickets won't be able to get to the match. hello and welcome to bbc news.

exit polls in ireland suggest a clear majority in favour of liberalising the country's strict abortion laws. voters were asked in a referendum whether they wanted to scrap the clause in the constitution, which effectively bans abortion. two exit polls suggest that the change has been approved by well over 60% of voters. emma vardy is in dublin for us —— emma vardy is in dublin for us. the first exit poll that has been published by the irish times shows a larger lead than was previously predict that for the yes vote, effectively if that is correct, indicating that the country may well have voted to overturn the very strict ban that ireland has had the so strict ban that ireland has had the so long on abortion. those votes

today came from far and wide because ireland saw thousands of people from around the world travelling home to have their say. this report does contain some flash photography. cheering. an emotional day for ireland. for some, casting one vote was worth travelling many miles for. i've come from amsterdam. i've come home because i think it's very important for irish women. hopefully, it will be an historic day and we will vote yes and finally, irish women will have the right to autonomy over their bodies. it has been really horrible to watch from away and not be able to do much, except for tweeting and facebooking, and i really wanted to come home and cast my vote. a yes vote in this referendum would pave the way to legalise abortions up to the 12th week of pregnancy. i work in brussels and i am coming home to vote. —— i work in brussels and i am coming home to vote no. i believe this legislation is far too extreme. i believe killing for convenience is terrible.

ireland's traditional catholic roots have led to the country retaining some of the strictest abortion laws in the world. what is known as the eighth amendment of the country's constitution gives an equal right to life for a mother and the unborn. but leo varadkar, the country's first openly gay prime minister, has been leading the call for change. i always get a little buzz from voting. it always feels like democracy in action. not taking anything for granted, of course, but quietly confident. there has been a good turnout so far. this referendum is the culmination ofan this referendum is the culmination of an intense debate over one of island's most emotive issues. its result will be a measure of the country's social and political change. emma, it goes without saying this is an emotional issue and has divided people within their own families across the country there. pa rt families across the country there. part of the challenge i suppose moving forward is ringing people

back together? that's right, we have seen people's personal story and personal experiences of abortion and pregnancy play a huge role in this campaign so it probably isn't a surprise that has been quite so a motive, the way that has been. in terms of what will happen next, if the result, is predicted by the exit poll is correct, we can expect things to happen pretty swiftly in terms of the legislation because the government has promised by the end of this year to bring forward legislation which would legalise abortion up to 12 weeks and also provide access to abortion in a wider range of circumstances beyond that point too. this is only the first hurdle, if that prediction is correct. what the vote means is simply repealing the eighth amendment of the constitution. it is up amendment of the constitution. it is up to the government to do the next job, to bring forward legislation which puts this into action. we should remind people why this is a big issue. most of islands

neighbours have far less restrictive abortion laws already. ireland is a unique case almost. it really is and for example in england, scotland and wales, those countries have provided access to abortion in a wide range of circumstances since the 60s. despite this, ireland is very much holding onto its traditions, it was in 1983 of the country decided to write into the constitution as a result of a referendum then this protection for the unborn and it is a result of that law that ireland has retained this very strict take on abortion. but in the face of that and the face of those rules and traditions and beliefs here, we know that more than 3000 women from ireland each year travel to the uk to access abortion is there, having to access abortion is there, having to pay for the procedures privately. and that such too very much played into the referendum campaign. it was one of the very persuasive argument if you like that abortion may be illegal here but it doesn't stop

irish women accessing abortion elsewhere. emma vardy in dublin on a very important day for island. the disgraced hollywood film producer harvey weinstein has been charged with rape and sexual abuse after appearing in court in new york. once one of the most powerful men in hollywood, he paid $1 million in cash as bail and agreed to wear an electronic tag. the charges relate to two women but dozens have made allegations against him since hollywood was shaken by claims of sexual misconduct last year. mr weinstein‘s lawyer said he denies the criminal charges and will mount a vigorous defence. nick bryant reports. new york city can often feel like a giant movie set but this was the criminaljustice system being put into action for real. and, as harvey weinstein arrived to be charged, i managed to confront him. this must be very humiliating, mrweinstein. mr weinstein, this must be very humiliating for you. he walked into the police station with three large books under his arm, one about broadway musicals.

but what mattered today were words on his charge sheet, accusing him of two counts of rape and one count of a criminal sexual act for incidents involving two separate women. inside the police station, he was arrested, fingerprinted and formally booked. then, about an hour later, he was brought out flanked by two detectives wearing handcuffs and what looked like a wry smile. harvey weinstein is now being taken to a criminal court and this is the day his accusers longed to see. his demeanour had noticeably changed by the time he was led into court. the movie mogul who once loved parading on the red carpet forced to take what the americans call a "perp walk". he looked numb during the short arraignment hearing as prosecutors outlined their case. this defendant used his position, money and power to lure young women

into situations where he was able to violate them sexually. his lawyer claimed his client was innocent and said he couldn't be prosecuted for "bad behaviour", just for criminal behaviour. mr weinstein did not invent the casting couch in hollywood and to the extent that there is bad behaviour in that industry, that is not what this is about. bad behaviour is not on trial in this case. it's only if you intentionally committed a criminal act, and mr weinstein vigorously denies that. as news of his arrest and charges came out, the reaction on social media was swift and celebratory from some of those who have accused him of wrongdoing, and others who worked hard to see him in court today. to see him in cuffs on the way out, whether he smiled or not, that's a very good feeling. the actress rose mcgowan has accused him of raping her. this is a big strike into the heart of abuse of power and it shows people worldwide, which is what i was hoping the whole time, that this cannot and will not stand. harvey weinstein not only used to dominate an industry,

he commanded almost every room. but to watch him today was to see his power drain away. brazil's president michel temer says that he plans to send in the army to clear roads that have been blocked for five days by lorry drivers protesting against high fuel prices. many shops are running low on basic goods and airports are said to be close to running out of fuel. the country's largest city, sao paulo, has declared a state of emergency. from there, our correspondent daniel gallas reports. this is a strike that has gone far beyond the transport sector — it has threatened to bring the entire economy to a standstill. for five days now, lorry drivers have blocked roads in brazil, protesting against rising fuel prices. the strike is causing food shortages very quickly, sao paolo has declared a state of emergency, and in big cities, most petrol

stations are out of fuel. on thursday, officials accepted the demands made by drivers, including subsidies to bring down the price of diesel, but that was not enough. translation: we are independent truck drivers and those who spoke yesterday have said silly things. the trade unions have made bad propositions. they made up rules for them, they are not ours. translation: we have been devalued by the government. they said brazil would not stop if the lorries stopped — we have proved that is not the case. on friday, as the strikers were still protesting, president michel temer changed his tone. translation: we are going to commence a security plan to overcome the serious effects of the shortages caused by the paralysing action. i am communicating that i have mobilised the federal security forces to unblock the streets.

the next few hours will be crucial. brazil needs to get its lorry drivers and its economy moving again. let's take a look at some of the other stories making the news. president trump has intervened personally to lift crippling us sanctions on the chinese telecoms giant, zte. last month, the company was banned from buying vital us components for its phones after washington accused it of lying repeatedly to american officials and failing to punish employees for violating us sanctions against iran and north korea. president trump has now dropped the ban. in return, zte will pay a substantial fine. malaysian police say bags of cash seized from homes linked to the former prime minister najib razak totalled $29 million. it took 22 bank tellers three days to count the money, which was in 26 different currencies. mr najib is being investigated as part of an inquiry

into the misuse of the government investment fund 1mdb. stay with us on bbc world news. still to come: how the internet is being used by gangs from the ivory coast for a particularly nasty form of blackmail. in the biggest international sporting spectacle ever seen, up to 30 million people have taken part in sponsored athletics events to aid famine relief in africa. the first of what the makers of star wars hope will be thousands of queues started forming at seven am. taunting which led to scuffles, scuffles the fighting, fighting the full—scale riot as liverpool fans broke out of theirarea and into the juve ntus enclosure. the belgian police had lost control. the whole world will mourn the

tragic death of mr richard a. the whole world will mourn the tragic death of mr richard am the whole world will mourn the tragic death of mr richard a. it was the father of the indian people from the father of the indian people from the day of independence. the oprah winfrey show comes to an end after 25 years and more than 11,500 episodes. the chat show has made her one of the richest people on the planet. geri halliwell, otherwise known as ginger spice, has announced she has left the spice girls. i don't believe it! she's the one with the bounce, the go, the girl power! not geri — why? this is bbc news. the latest headlines: exit polls in ireland's referendum on abortion suggest a big win for the campaign to liberalise the law. the film producer, harvey weinstein, has appeared in court in new york charged with rape and and other sexual offences. his lawyer says he will plead not guilty. 0k. it was on, then it was off —

and now it could be back on again. president trump has suggested that the cancelled summit with north korean leader kimjong—un might take place next month after all. the us president took the world by surprise yesterday by announcing the meeting was off because of what he called "the open hostility" shown by north korea. but today, he said both sides were in renewed negotiations. here's our north america editor, jon sopel. explosions. as the north koreans set charges to their only known nuclear test site, it seemed that all hopes of a summit went up in smoke at about the same time that these buildings were blasted to smithereens. the explosions taking place just as donald trump was pulling the plug on his planned meeting with kim jong—un, citing north korea's tremendous anger and open hostility. and that in turn provoked some open hostility towards the us president in south korea. but that was a whole 2a hours ago

and a lot can change in that time. 0vernight the north koreans issued a consolatory statement saying, "the unilateral announcement to cancel the summit is unexpected and we cannot but feel great regret for it. we have the intent to sit with the us side to solve problems regardless, at any time." and that was music to donald trump's ears. you remember the summit that was off? well, it might nowjust be back on. we will see what happens. it could even be the 12th. we are talking to them now. they very much want to do it. we'd like to do it, we are going to see what happens. at the pentagon, the defence secretary, far from rattling sabres, was talking up the possibility, too. there is possibly some good news on the korea summit, where it may, if our diplomats can pull it off, it might be back on, even.

today kim jong—un was striking an unusually relaxed pose, in pictures released by the north korean news agency. a floppy hat, a white jacket, looking to all the world as though he was quite enjoying himself. and donald trump, who loves a drama, too, might be enjoying it as well. but for all that the atmospherics might have improved, substantial policy differences remain. a spokesman insisting that north korea must commit to the quick denuclearisation of the korean peninsula. who would bet on how this is going to turn out? jon sopel, bbc news, washington. earlier former us ambassador to the united nations bill richardson — who has been on multiple diplomatic missions to north korea — said he thought the summit would go ahead at some point in the future. there has to be a compromise. the north koreans think denuclearisation means freezing their nuclear capabilities, their missiles, there done that curling their use. the united states as you had to destroy

all your nuclear weapons. that make their missiles, curbing their use. —— their missiles. certainly, a seller could reduce tensions. that is what we want. the peninsula has been fraught with enormous danger and national security problems. dutch prime minister mark rutte says russia is responsible for the downing of malaysia airlines flight mh17 over ukraine. mr rutte is demanding that moscow acknowledge its role. dutch prosecutors say a russian military unit fired a missile hitting the aircraft on its journey from amsterdam to kuala lumpur in 2014. anna holligan has more from the hague. a black page in history is how the dutch prime minister described this. 298 lives lost, almost two thirds of

the passengers were dutch. mark rutte said the decision to point the finger at russia was not taken lightly. it was based on what he described as the fantastic research and conclusions reached by thejoint investigation team, published yesterday. the prosecutor presented evidence he said left no doubt be buk missile that brought down mh17 came from the kitty third brigade of the russian army, based in thirsk. but the international pressure on russia is intensifying. the british foreign secretary, nato, the eu, have also expressed support for the dutch government. the dutch government says that russia has not been cooperating, which is why they have resorted to this. ministers here at parliament have asked moscow

to enter into discussions to find a diplomatic solution to bring truth and justice to be victims and their families. if that does not work, they say now all options are on the table, including legal action. finding a state liable for breaking international law is a complex process that could involve sending into an international court. this is also provide the criminal investigation which continues to search for the individual suspects responsible. the kremlin has categorically denied the dutch government ‘s allegations. anna holligan, bbc news, in the hague. a bbc investigation has found that gangs in ivory coast in west africa are targeting british men in cases of so—called sextortion. —— investigation. the criminals trick their victims into filming sexual activity online and then blackmail them. angus crawford reports. how scared were you at the time? 0h...frozen.

meet adrian — once a victim of sextortion, now warning others about the risk. it's very, very suspicious. we set up a fake facebook profile. out of the blue, we get a friend request. i'm asking, "where are you from?" she is very pretty, flirty — in her own words, naughty. the scam develops in minutes, live in front of our eyes. so you are probably moments away from being scammed. yeah, literally minutes away. the trap set, she's keen to move from facebook to skype. now suggesting video calling, and she's said, "i'm going to show you naked and you also." but she's not real — just a pornographic video operated by a scammer, waiting to film and record us, their next victim. of course, we can't show you what would happen next. it might start with a girl, like, slowly undressing and that, you know, anything tojust basically show yourself — your face and your private parts. is it threatening?

the next message was definitely threatening, saying, "you know what this is, i'll show it to friends and family." what did you have to do to stop them? give them money. money that more and more ends up here in the ivory coast in west africa. cash transfers are easy, there's high unemployment, and even the poorest areas have access to the internet. the crime of sextortion began and was perfected in nigeria and the philippines before it went global. now ivory coast, and particularly here in abidjan, has become a hotspot of sextortion. many of the victims come from the uk. and here are the police files — a growing number being investigated by abidjan‘s cybercrime unit. 0n the screens, some of the videos used by the scammers. they told us they know of at least 120 recent british victims. we want to track down one of the scammers, but they're hidden in the slums, controlled by gangs,

and hunted by the police. we do eventually find one who will talk. translation: you have to do it without remorse. if you think about what you're doing, you'd never do it. but you do real harm to the victims. harm? well, afterwards you can sit down and say i'm bad, but you can't put things right. if he's thousands of miles away, how are you going to say sorry? it's no—one's fault — it's love. this is a growing crime with terrible consequences. some people actually take their own lives because of this. did that ever cross your mind? um... the truth of the matter was at one point it kind of did. so if you find yourself talking to a girl like this online, beware. angus crawford, bbc news. thousands of football fans

are converging on kiev for saturday's champions league final. this was the scene as some of real madrid's most dedicated fans left for ukraine. but it's been a different story for hundreds of liverpool supporters. two tour operators cancelled flights, leaving hundreds of fans with no way to get to the match even though they've bought tickets. natalie pirks has more from kiev. 0le, ole, ole! it's been the soundtrack of liverpool's journey. a tale of the all—conquering charge to the finals. butjust having got here is reason enough to sing. hundreds were left stranded at liverpool airport today, their tickets remind us of memories never made. gutted from an emotional point

of view. disgusted, from the perspective of the way i've been handled. as a family, it meant so much to us. well, those fans are so desperate to be here because they truly believe this is their moment, and there's something about this cup run that has their manager believing his side, who he affectionately calls "my boys", will do something special against madrid. we are liverpool, and not only a really good football team, this club has in its dna that they can really go for the big things. nobody expected us to be here, but we are here, because we are liverpool. this team clearly has "it", that magic you can't quite explain. can you repeat the question, please? laughter. even in front of the world's press, they cut relaxed figures. but they stand on the shoulders of giants. 13 years ago today, steven gerard's team won their fifth champions league trophy, in istanbul. it's about us creating our own history. we want to go one step

further and remember it for the right reasons, and that's us winning the champions league. there's the small matter of getting past real madrid first, a side aiming for their third consecutive champions league trophy. current world player of the year cristiano ronaldo believes he and his team are beyond compare. mo salah, mo salah! liverpool fans have more than proved their dedication, simply getting here and turning kiev red in the process. now it's their team's turn to leave its mark. natalie pirks, bbc news, kiev. enjoying themselves already. saturday night, who were still celebrating? —— who is. don't forget you can get in touch with me and some of the team on twitter, i'm at @lvaughanjones. lots more on the website, of course. you're watching bbc news. hello.

we are all going to see some warm sunshine this weekend, but it won't be dry for all of us. there'll be some big thunderstorms around as well. we are going to see some pretty big storms which initially affect parts of southern england, wales and the midlands before gradually spreading further north over the next couple of days. quite a misty start to the day round the downs and the chilterns. low cloud and fog patches extending in from east anglia, and across parts of the midlands as well. high pressure in charge across the north, so it will be dry. further south, the risk of some showers. showers will work in early in the morning across southern england, probably the heaviest of these just to the south—west of london.

working towards wales in south—west england before fading away during the morning. in the afternoon the cloud will gradually start to break up for many of us with warm spells of sunshine coming through. in the sunshine, highs of 22 in edinburgh, 26 towards london and the south—east of england. it is during saturday evening that things start to get pretty lively. a clump of thunderstorms working into central and southern england, south—west england, probably wales in the south was midlands as well. these storms are capable of bringing 30 millimetres of rain in the space ofjust one hour, so that could bring localised flooding issues. then the storms will gradually push further north overnight. they will probably weaken at the same time. through the night time it will be another mild and muggy night. temperatures falling no lower than 15 or 16 in the capital. cooler and fresher further north. 0n into sunday's forecast. another day of sunshine and showers. if anything the showers will work a bit further north across wales, the midlands, some heavy downpours across southern england, largely speaking both saturday and sunday will be dry across most of northern england and scotland. for the most part, northern ireland as well. things will begin to change more on monday as we start to see those showers going further north.

we have got a little weather front enhancing the rain as it works into northern england and across the midlands as well. some wetter weather across northern areas of the uk for the holiday monday. further south, probably a bit dry. a few showers. more in the way of sunshine and maybe a slightly fresher feel to the weather as well. still warm, temperatures climbing up to 2a, 25 or 26. a bit cooler and fresher around some of the coast. this holiday weekend, watch out for the risk of localised flooding from these lively, thundery downpours. this is bbc news. the headlines: exit polls in ireland's referendum on abortion suggests a substantial majority support liberalising the country's strict laws. with the votes still to be counted, taoiseach leo varadkar, who supported the campaign, says it looks like ireland "will make history" when the result is declared on saturday. the film producer harvey weinstein has appeared in court in new york charged with rape and sexual abuse.

the prosecutor said mr weinstein used his position and power to violate young women. his lawyer says he intends to plead not guilty. he's been released on a $1 million bail bond. president trump has suggested that the cancelled summit with north korean leader kimjong—un might take place next month after all. the us president had announced the meeting was off because of what he called "the open hostility" shown by north korea. now on bbc news, it's time for click.