welcome to bbc news — broadcasting to viewers in north america and around the globe. my name is gavin grey. our top stories: exit polls in ireland's referendum on abortion suggest a big win for the campaign to liberalise the law — the official count begins later. hollywood mogul harvey weinstein is charged with rape and sexual abuse. his lawyer says he'll plead not guilty. mist wallenstein 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 about. behaviour is not what this about. behaviour is not on trial in this case. it's on, it's off — and now it could be back on again as president trump says he is having very productive talks with north korea. were talking to them now. be very much want to do with. we would like

to do it. we will see what happens. we have a special report on the internet gangs from ivory coast — involved in a particularly nasty sf geese 35i$1“b=zfi " exit polls in ireland suggest that people have voted strongly in favour of liberalising abortion laws in the country. they forecast a two thirds majority for the yes campaign. that would mean the scrapping of the eighth amendment, which bans abortion in all but exceptional circumstances. emma vardy has the latest from dublin. the irish leader who supported the changes said it looks like history

could be made. 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. 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 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 viral and's most emotive issues. the result will be a measure of the country's social and political change. —— debate over ireland's most emotive issues. and — you can keep up to date with the latest news on ireland's abortion referendum on the bbc website. you'll also find a timeline of events leading to the vote, and a feature on ireland's day of reckoning. that's all at bbc.com/news. 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 a million dollars 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 from manhattan. 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. let's take a look at some

of the other stories making the news. president putin has dismissed dutch and australian claims that russia was responsible for bringing down an malaysia airlines flight over eastern ukraine. the dutch government said there was a ‘direct link‘ between the russian army and the missile that hit flight mhi7 in 2014 — killing all 298 people onboard. a committee of british mps say a government scheme, set up to help protect afghan interpreters who worked for the british military, has been a "dismalfailure". the commons defence committee says the scheme has so far failed to relocate any afghan interpreters to the uk, even when they've faced threats to their life from the taliban. the spanish prime minister, mariano rajoy, has ruled out holding snap elections, after his people's party was fined for corruption. on thursday, the high court in madrid convicted 29 people of funding the party by taking bribes.

mr rajoy insisted that no member of the current government was implicated. a strong cyclone has made landfall in the gulf state of oman, killing at least one person. cyclone mekunu is is expected to weaken to a tropical storm when it hits southern saudi arabia on saturday. it has already wrought havoc to the yemeni island chain of socotra. five people there are known to have been killed and a0 are missing. 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 us officials and failing to punish employees for violating us sanctions against iran and north korea. our correspondent david willis is in washington for us.

some analysts were suggesting that if he had not lifted the damn, zte could have gone under. that is what the chinese maintained. zte is one of china's largest telecom equipment manufacturers. they make smart phones and tablets and mobile phones and so on. they were banned recently by the trump administration from purchasing u.s.—made by the trump administration from purchasing u.s. —made components by the trump administration from purchasing u.s.—made components for seven years, forfailing purchasing u.s.—made components for seven years, for failing to, basically, make good on previous violations involving sales to iran and north korea. as you mentioned, that threatened to pull zte out of business altogether. about 65% of zte phones, for example, used pieces of equipment made by a huge chip

maker here in the united states. the us, bits and pieces were vital to this country, company and its products. the trump administration has now decided to lift the seven year ban and replace it with fines, putting us officials in place to oversee the company and make changes to the management teens. that has incensed some members of congress. republicans among them, including the republican senator for florida who has said that this is putting chinese interests ahead of those of the united states. he is vowing to fight this latest move by the trump administration. any indication as to why president trump intervened personally on this? the timing is interesting because next week, a trade delegation from the us is due in beijing, including the whole

murderous secretary wilbur ross to try to find a way through that potential trade war that was being threatened between the us and china. and you are correct, president trump has made no secret of the fact that he is looking to do a deal on zte as a favour to the chinese, basically to get some leveraged for those trade talks, presumably. in a tweet tonight, facing a lot of criticism from the democrats, he took aim at their previous methods of doing business with this company. he said that the trade deals struck by democrats in the past have made the united states the laughing stock of the world, as he put it. 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. on thursday, the us president took the world by surprise and announced

the meeting was off. now, he says both sides were in renewed negotiations. here's our north america editor, jon sopel. explosions. as north korea 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. overnight 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 would like to do it, we will 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, 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 as well, 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? stay with us on bbc news — still to come: the lucky ones in kiev arrive for the champions league final, but almost a thousand liverpool fans will miss out as flights are cancelled. 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 7am. taunting which led to scuffles, scuffles to fighting, fighting to full—scale riot as the liverpool fans broke out of their area and into the juve ntus enclosure. the belgian police had lost control.

the whole world will mourn the tragic death of mr nehru today. he was 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 4,500 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. argh! 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 suggest the republic of ireland has voted strongly in favour of liberalising its abortion laws. 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. 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 chronic shortages very quickly, sao paulo has declared a state of emergency, and in big cities, most petrol stations have run out of fuel. on thursday, officials accepted 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 that spoke yesterday have said silly things. the trade unions have made bad propositions. they made up rules for them. they aren't 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 implement a security plan to overcome the serious effects of the shortages caused by the paralysation. 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. daniel gallas, bbc news, sao paulo. a ibc investigation has found that gangs in ivory coast in west africa are targeting

british men in cases of so—called sextortion. the criminals trick their victims into filming sexual activity online and then blackmail them. angus crawford reports. how scared were you at the time? oh...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. on 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. south africa is making new strides into space research with the unveiling of a new automated telescope. the meerlicht — or "more light" — was revealed in the northern cape province where the country's space exploration project is based. it's part of south africa's ambitious plans to became a hub of space exploration. deepin deep in the northern cape south africa, scientists launch a first. this telescope is linked to a radio

one, allowing astronomers to see and hear the secrets of the skies. we wa nt to hear the secrets of the skies. we want to externally explosions in the sky. these stars at the end of their lives. at the suddenly they light up for a short while. maybe for a day oi’ for a short while. maybe for a day ora for a short while. maybe for a day or a week. we have a limited amount of time to gather the information and learn what we can see is happening in the universe. in the past, scientists had to wait for incidents to be picked up by a radio telescope and then look at them afterwards. now they will be able to both listen and look at what is happening and in real—time. this project has been six years in the making by a joint team of south african, dutch, and british scientists. it is part of the square kilometre array which will be the world's most powerful radio telescope system. under the clear skies of the duroux desert, the meerlicht allows astronomers to see

an area 13 times the size of the full moon. and so do is hope it will give studying the universe is a whole new dimension. lebo diseko, 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. ole, 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. this was just about affordable, and i meanjust about. this is ridiculous, having it here. a lovely city, but come on. on the way back i'm going back via antaliya and ankara. 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 time to step out of their shadows. 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. and that big match kicks off in about 17 hours time. so would like to both sides about. this is bbc

news. —— so good luck to both sides in that. hello again. we are all going to see some warm spells of sunshine this weekend but it won't be dry for all of us. 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. on 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 one million dollar bail bond. president trump says he's having very productive talks with north korea to reinstate the summit talks. in his latest tweet he said the meeting with kimjong—un might take place next month after all. the summit had been called off because of what he called the open hostility shown by north korea. now on bbc news: the week in parliament.