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Harvey Weinstein had been charged with raping and sexually assaulting two women and committing sexual battery against two others.

After a month of evidence from 44 witnesses in Los Angeles, a jury has found Weinstein guilty of one count of rape.

He was found not guilty of sexual battery by restraint of another woman.

The jury was also unable to reach verdicts on allegations linked to two other women.

Currently two years into a 23-year sentence for previous convictions on rape and sexual assault charges in New York, Weinstein was held in jail throughout his latest trial.

The Los Angeles trial was widely viewed as symbolic – but it assumed greater significance in light of the producer being granted permission to appeal against his New York convictions.

The 70-year-old was charged with crimes against four of the witnesses who testified.

Three of the women – a model, a model/actress, and a massage therapist – gave evidence anonymously.

Filmmaker Jennifer Siebel Newsom, the wife of California governor Gavin Newsom, waived her right to anonymity.

The jury were unable to reach verdicts on charges relating to Newsom.

Four other women who are not involved with the charges also told the court that Weinstein sexually assaulted them.

Here are the key moments from the trial:

The defence

Weinstein’s lawyer told the trial that the prosecution case relied entirely on asking them to trust women whose evidence showed they were untrustworthy.

In his closing arguments, Alan Jackson said: “‘Take my word for it’. Five words that sum up the entirety of the prosecution’s case.”

Weinstein's lawyer Alan Jackson. Pic: AP
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Weinstein’s lawyer Alan Jackson argued the prosecution case was ‘smoke and mirrors’. Pic: AP

Everything else prosecutors presented “was smoke and mirrors”, he argued.

Mr Jackson urged jurors to look past the drama and emotion of the testimony of the four women, and focus on the factual evidence.

He said jurors were being asked to “believe us because we’re mad, believe us because we cried”, adding: “Well fury does not make fact. And tears do not make truth.”

Mr Jackson said the stories of two women who Weinstein was alleged to have sexually assaulted on consecutive days in 2013 “simply never happened”.

The defence lawyer also said the alleged rape and assault of the other two women in 2005 and 2010 were “100% consensual” encounters that the women engaged in for the sake of career advancement that they later became “desperate to relabel” as non-consensual.

“These were women with whom Harvey had transactional relationships and transactional sex,” he said.

Mr Jackson argued that the women were willing to exchange sex for favours or status when the incidents happened in 2005 and 2010, but after the #MeToo explosion around Weinstein with stories in the New York Times and the New Yorker in 2017, they were regretful.

“They played the game. They hate it now, unequivocally,” he said. “But what about then? What about before the 2017 dogpile started on Mr Weinstein?”

He stressed the importance of the judge’s instruction, that if jurors found any significant thing a witness said was untrue, they should consider disbelieving everything the witness said.

The prosecution

Prosecutors, closing their case, branded Weinstein a “predator” and a “degenerate rapist”.

Deputy district attorney Marlene Martinez emphasised the similarities between his accusers’ testimony.

“They all describe the same conduct by the same man,” she said.

After arranging to meet with a woman at a hotel he would find a way to get them to his suite where he would then go from “charming and complimentary to aggressive and demanding”.

Ms Martinez said: “For this predator, hotels were his trap.

“Confined within those walls, victims were not able to run from his hulking mass.

“People were not able to hear their screams, they were not able to see them cower.”

She urged jurors to complete Weinstein’s fall from grace by convicting him in California.

She said: “It is time for the defendant’s reign of terror to end.

“It is time for the kingmaker to be brought to justice.”

Prosecutors branded Weinstein a 'predator' and a 'degenerate rapist'
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Prosecutors branded Weinstein a ‘predator’ and a ‘degenerate rapist’

‘I was kind of hysterical through tears’

The first of Weinstein’s accusers, a model and actress who was in LA for a film festival at the time she was raped by the producer in 2013, told the court he knocked on her hotel room door and she let him in.

She said Weinstein forced her to perform oral sex on her hotel bed. “I was kind of hysterical through tears,” she said. “I kept saying ‘no, no, no’.”

She said she physically feared Weinstein, who outweighed her by 100 pounds or more, and considered running or hitting or biting him.

She said by the time Weinstein took her into the bathroom to rape her, she had stopped physically resisting, though still objected verbally. “I would just freeze, like my body wouldn’t listen.”

He was found guilty of three counts, including rape.

Woman testifies for second time

Just one woman who gave evidence during the New York trial has testified in LA. The model, who was aspiring to be a screenwriter, had set up a meeting with Weinstein about a script she was working on in 2013, the court heard.

She described Weinstein as a “monster”, and said he led her into a bathroom, quickly took off his suit and got briefly in the shower, then stepped out and blocked her from leaving.

“I was disgusted,” she said. “I had never seen a big guy like that naked.”

She said she backed up against a sink and turned away from him. He then unzipped her dress and groped her with one hand as he masturbated with the other, the court heard.

The jury did not reach a verdict on this count.

Masseuse tells court ‘I was in shock’

A massage therapist accused Weinstein of sexually assaulting her in 2010, when she was 28, after he hired her to go to his hotel room for a treatment.

When she was in the bathroom washing her hands following the massage, she said Weinstein entered, blocked the door, and began masturbating in front of her.

She began to cry as she told the court: “I was terrified.” Weinstein blocked the door and pushed her against a wall and groped her breasts before finishing, the court heard.

“I was in shock. I felt frozen, I felt paralysed,” she said.

The jury found Weinstein not guilty of sexual battery.

Filmmaker cries as she tells of alleged rape

Jennifer Siebel Newsom. Pic: AP
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Jennifer Siebel Newsom. Pic: AP

In an emotional testimony, Ms Siebel Newsom, 48, told the court she was 31 when she was allegedly attacked by Weinstein during what she thought was a business meeting to try to build her career in 2005.

Spending two-and-a-half hours on the witness stand, she was in tears as she told the court she found herself unexpectedly alone with the Hollywood mogul in a hotel suite.

Asked to describe her feelings after Weinstein allegedly emerged from the bathroom in a robe and began groping her while he masturbated, she said: “Horror! Horror! I’m trembling. I’m like a rock, I’m frigid. This is my worst nightmare.”

Ms Siebel Newsom said she told Weinstein that “this was not why I came here” as she physically tried to back away.

The jury did not reach verdicts on these counts.

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Adele bids tearful farewell to Las Vegas residency as star admits she doesn’t know when she’ll perform next

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Adele bids tearful farewell to Las Vegas residency as star admits she doesn't know when she'll perform next

Adele has bid a tearful farewell to her Las Vegas residency show, as the Someone Like You star admitted she doesn’t know when she’ll perform again next.

The British singer-songwriter, 36, launched Weekends with Adele at Caesars Palace in November 2022 and performed her 100th show there on Saturday.

Her mammoth run of sell-out shows at the venue, which seats around 4,000 people, has been a success but has taken its toll.

In July, Adele said she would be taking a “big break” from music after her current run of shows.

Videos posted online from her concert on Saturday show the singer getting tearful as she bid Vegas goodbye.

“It’s been wonderful and I will miss it terribly and I will miss you terribly,” she said.

She added: “I don’t know when I next want to perform again.”

More on Adele

Adele has performed every Friday and Saturday across the residency, with plenty of memorable moments.

One included when she burst into tears after spotting Celine Dion at a performance.

Adele is known to idolise the Canadian singer.

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Speaking at the beginning of September, during a show in Germany, Adele told fans she wouldn’t see them “for an incredibly long time”.

“I just need a rest and I have spent the last seven years building a new life for myself, and I want to live it now,” she added.

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Denzel Washington’s sons talk about family, secrets, identity, and The Piano Lesson

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Denzel Washington's sons talk about family, secrets, identity, and The Piano Lesson

John David Washington says he felt like he had to conceal his desire to act because of the external expectations of him being the child of Denzel and Pauletta Washington.

He tells Sky News it took some time for him to pursue an acting career, choosing football instead to assert his “independence” and create his own “identity” separate from his famous family.

“I’ve been wanting to do this my whole life… but I was hiding it,” he said.

“I had to conceal that passion based on my relationship to the world and more specifically, my folks being in the industry, so I chose ball.

“I loved ball, but I was sort of hiding my love for the arts under a helmet – literally an American football helmet – and so when I wanted to become an actor, when I decided to pursue it, that was a big shock to some people.”

The 40-year-old actor says when he decided to pursue an acting career, he kept the decision quiet.

“Some people didn’t know I was even pursuing it professionally until I got a job,” he said.

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Danielle Deadwyler as Berniece and John David Washington as Boy Willie in The Piano Lesson. Pic: David Lee/ Netflix 2024
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John David with fellow actor Danielle Deadwyler. Pic: David Lee/ Netflix

Since switching to acting, John David has starred in a number of notable roles including the protagonist in Christopher Nolan’s Tenet, Ron Stallworth in BlacKkKlansman and Joshua in The Creator.

He also led the stage revival of the 2022 Tony-nominated play The Piano Lesson on Broadway alongside Samuel L Jackson.

“He [Jackson] originated the role [I play] in 1987 at Yale with Lloyd Richards and August Wilson,” John David said.

“So it was of great importance for us to learn from both he and Michael Potts about August Wilson. It was a great blessing for me, I think, for all of us to have him present on set.”

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The Piano Lesson is the third August Wilson play to be adapted for the screen by Denzel Washington’s production company Mundy Lane Entertainment.

It is part of a pledge made by the Gladiator II actor to make all 10 of the playwright’s works into films.

The Netflix project is directed by another Washington family member, Malcolm, and stars most of the cast from the Broadway revival.

The Piano Lesson (L-R): Actor Ray Fisher, writer-director Malcolm Washington, and his brother and star John David Washington on set. Pic: Katia Washington/ Netflix 2024
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The Piano Lesson is Malcolm Washington’s directorial debut. Pic: Katia Washington/ Netflix

Set in 1936 Pittsburgh in the aftermath of the Great Depression, the film centres on a family heirloom, a piano, that is etched with the carvings of their family history made by their enslaved ancestor.

Malcolm says he started reading the play for the first time during the pandemic and immediately wanted to be involved in the film adaptation.

“I think with this movie, reclamation of story and identity is so central to the theme and it’s something that’s central to my life where I both acknowledge the fertile ground that I was raised on and who I am today.

“That’s what Wining Boy [played by Michael Potts] really is trying to do, he’s trying to build on that legacy, so that’s a story that really resonated with me.”

The filmmaker added: “I take all the gifts that my ancestors laid in front of me, and I’m trying to build something for the next generation to pass down – all of their gifts, plus mine to the next generation and let them build on it.”

John David Washington in The Piano Lesson. Pic: David Lee/Netflix
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Malcolm has dedicated his directorial debut to his mother, Pauletta Washington. Pic: David Lee/Netflix

Malcolm says his goal was to put family at the forefront of the production. By dedicating his feature debut to “Mama”, he is acknowledging the dedication and sacrifices that mothers make for the growth of their families.

“There’s so much pointing to my mother in particular, who inspired this adaptation so much. I see so much of her life in Berniece’s character [played by Danielle Deadwyler] – and that became a guiding light for me in this adaptation,” he said.

“As we made this thing and started reconnecting with our ancestors, my mum became like a kind of representative of them.

“She’s the matriarch of our family. She tells me about my grandparents and great-grandparents and the line that I come from, and I see them in her.

“And when the movie ends, I want people to kind of have that moment of reflection for their own lives. So in dedicating it to her, I was trying to dedicate it to all mums everywhere.”

The Piano Lesson is now available on Netflix.

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Blockbuster Wicked lands largest opening weekend of 2024 at Vue

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Blockbuster Wicked lands largest opening weekend of 2024 at Vue

Blockbuster Wicked has landed the largest opening weekend of 2024 at Vue International.

The film, starring Oscar-nominated actress Cynthia Erivo and Grammy-winning pop star Ariana Grande as Elphaba and Glinda, surpassed both Gladiator II and Paddington In Peru.

It has also had the largest opening weekend for a stage musical adaptation in the cinema chain’s history.

A boss for Vue International said it had seen a “sea of pink and green” over the weekend.

Ariana Grande (left) as Glinda and Cynthia Erivo as Elphaba in the film.
Pic: PA
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Ariana Grande (left) as Glinda and Cynthia Erivo as Elphaba in the film. Pic: PA

Pic: PA
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Pic: PA

Cinemagoers in London's Leicester Square Vue on the opening night of Wicked. 
Pic: PA
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Pic: PA

Released on Friday, Wicked is up 60% on Les Miserables’ opening weekend in 2012 and three times larger than the 2022 film adaptation of Matilda.

Founder and chief executive of Vue International Tim Richards said: “Vue has seen a sea of pink and green over the opening weekend of Wicked, which has shown continued high demand for the big screen experience.

“We saw record-breaking pre-sales for Wicked, followed by a chart-topping opening weekend – the biggest for 2024.”

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The film is the first of two parts, with the second expected in November next year.

Wicked and Gladiator II – known together as Glicked – have reportedly failed to beat out Barbenheimer, Barbie and Oppenheimer, in its own opening weekend last summer.

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Glicked brought in £215m in worldwide ticket sales – with Wicked making the majority of that.

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