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. 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 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. we're talking to them now. they very much want to do it. 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 form of blackmail.

and south africa prepares to capture spectacular images of space as it links—up its telescopes in a unique project.. 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. the irish leader, leo varadkar, who supported the changes, says it looks like history could be made. emma vardy has the latest from dublin. 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 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 of an intense debate over one of ireland's most emotive issues. its result will be a measure of the country's social and political change. 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. donald trump has raised the possibility that his summit with the north korean leader, kimjong—un , could go ahead next month after all. the us president said 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 conciliatory 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? a bbc 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. the number of cases reported to police in the uk has more than tripled in the last three years. 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. 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. 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. 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. staying with that story, jonathan handel is an entertainment lawyer and, as a contributing editor to the hollywood reporter, has been following the events. i asked him whether harvey weinstein is likely to get a fair trial following all the publicity. i think this is something of a defence attorney's nightmare because there is pervasive publicity. but not everybody listens to the news, unfortunately, reads the news or watches the news, listens to the news. and there are people, believe it or not, who are distant, more distant from the situation than it may seem to many of us. so, yes, i think he can get a fair trial. very difficult to get

the jury in place? well, that is the issue, of course — to find people who have not made up their mind, who are not focused on the publicity. but, you know, this is a difficult situation. i mean, if the law had been sufficient to protect women from sexual assault and sexual harassment in the workplace, then we wouldn't be seeing these sorts of incidents and we wouldn't be seeing the court of public opinion suppla nting the law. and taking the place of what has been, unfortunately, an ineffective legal system notjust for women in the entertainment industry, notjust in the united states, but let's be direct and honest about this, the way that men treat women and the lack of equality of opportunity and safety in the workplace and the home has been an issue for tens of thousands of years and i think women have finally taken hold of the cultural moment and said this is as good a time as any to change that.

what did you make of the comments from his defence lawyer saying that he didn't invent the casting couch? well, you know, "casting couch" is a cute way of saying sexual harassment or in some cases sexual assault. it is not unique to the entertainment industry but it certainly it is and has historically been a problem in the entertainment industry. i think his defence attorney is trying to carve a line and acknowledge that harvey weinstein may have committed sexual harassment while denying that he committed any form of nonconsensual sexual activity or sexual assault. what the jury ends up believing, what the evidence ends up showing, of course, remains to be seen. and i know that you believe this trial will be a cultural moment. can you explain a bit more about what you mean by that? yes, absolutely. this is going to be — assuming this gets to trial, by the way, because his lawyers say they are going to challenge the charges in constitutional terms and try to prevent this from even

going to a jury, which is what you would expect they're responsible defence attorney to do — but assuming this does go to a jury, —— a responsible defence attorney to do — but assuming this does go to a jury, the eyes of the country and beyond are on this. and the question is, can the legal system step up and be sufficient to actually bring out the evidence and reach a fair verdict that people can have confidence in? that also remains to be seen. taking a look at some of the other stories taking their news. the spanish prime minister has ruled out snap elections after his party with ruled for corruption. the high court convicted 29 people funding the party by taking bribes. mr rajoy

insists no current member of the government was placated. in oman, a cyclone that hit killing at least one person. potts point meekunu is expected to weaken to a conical storm when it hit saudi arabia on saturday. five people in yemen are missing. 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. lebo diseko has more. deep in the desert of south africa's northern cape, scientists launch a first. this optical telescope is linked to a radio one, letting astronomers see and hear the secrets of the skies.

we want to study explosions in the universe. and explosions are stars that are at the end of their lives. and all of a sudden, they light up for a short while, maybe for a day or a maybe for a week. we have a limited amount of time to gather the information and learn what really happened 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's been six years in the making by a joint team of south african, dutch, and british scientists. it's part of the square kilometre array, which will be the world's most powerful radio telescope system. under the clear skies of the karoo desert, the meerlicht allows astronomers to see an area 13 times the size of the full moon and scientists hope it will give studying the universe is a whole new dimension.

lebo diseko, bbc news. as we head towardsjune, the party season goes into overdrive on the spanish island of ibiza. legendary djs fly into the white isle for their summer residencies. one of them is claptone, who conceals his identity with a mythological venetian mask. he takes his influences from classical, to jazz, rock and roll, new wave, and reggae. i know i am partly human but i am sure i am not only partly human, partly also an animal. it is a lonely night. eve rybody's partly also an animal. it is a lonely night. everybody's happy. being turning around. claptone is when you just clap your hands and

then you have the sound, right, that is the claptone. but i see nothing. no eyes. everything from classical music to rock ‘n‘ roll the new wave oi’, music to rock ‘n‘ roll the new wave or, you know, grunge all you name it, reggae, the inspiration that came from that music that made my music sound as it sounds. if you really love me then just let music sound as it sounds. if you really love me thenjust let me go. if you really love me thenjust let me go. the inspiration, i wrote songs and the first songs they coincidentally had seems around mountains and lakes and forests, so i followed this path. under the moon. under the

stars of the weekend. path. under the moon. under the stars of the weekendlj path. under the moon. under the stars of the weekend. i was enjoying birds singing, i heard the wind coming through the window. sound, i a lwa ys coming through the window. sound, i always had something for sound. for me, it isn't so much about success, it is about making my music and of course if people listen to my music, it makes me super happy and i want to be in all these countries, i want to be in all these countries, i want to come to, i want to play for you. it has got a style and a certain value, obviously, because it is gold andi value, obviously, because it is gold and i think it fits my music and it feels like a very own face. i don't know if i can. it feels pretty

sta ble to know if i can. it feels pretty stable to me. no. claptone there. 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 match tickets now expensive reminder 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 gerrard'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 much of the key of olympic stadium kicks off at 1845 gmt. plenty more on our website. this is bbc news. 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 24, 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". 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. 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. the bbc‘s ‘biggest weekend' is under way with four days of performances across the four nations.