the us's top diplomat tells the bbc his country is prepared to take steps against china, if it continues to support russia's war effort. donald trump's former assistant takes the stand, as the first full week of testimony in his criminal trial comes to a close. and we speak to a founder of the #metoo movement, afterfilm producer harvey weinstein�*s rape conviction is overturned in new york. hello. i'm carl nasman. we start with a meeting between two global superpowers. us secretary of state antony blinken was in china for talks with the chinese president xijinping on friday. the us's top diplomat said there has been progress in some areas. he praised beijing for its efforts to stop the supply of fentanyl from reaching the us and the increase in military—to—military communication.

president xi agreed the two sides had "made some positive "progress" since he met his us counterpart, joe biden, in november. mr xi added that the earth was "big enough" for both countries to achieve development and prosperity. however, differences between the two countries still remain. china's foreign minister wang yi remarked that the us has taken "endless measures" to suppress china's economy, trade, and technology. he warned that if such factors continued to grow, it could derail efforts to stabilize us—china ties. translation: the negative factors in the relationship i are still increasing and building, and the relationship is facing all kinds of disruptions. china's legitimate development rights have been unreasonably suppressed and are core interests are facing challenges. should china and the us move forward with stability or return

to a downward spiral? this is a major question before our two countries. for the united states, areas of concern include china's claims over taiwan and the south china sea, and china's support for russia in its war on ukraine. secretary blinken spoke to the bbc and said washington will act, if beijing does not stop supplying russia with items used in its assault on ukraine. our china correspondent laura bicker has more from beijing. hello. i'm laura bicker. how are you? antony blinken�*s visit comes as us ties with china are at a turning point. how's your trip been? oh, it's been... we've covered a lot of ground. the dialogue and diplomacy for the cameras hides real discord and distrust. this is what chinese viewers are shown. a cinematic soundtrack accompanies president xi, urging the us to be partners, not rivals. yet, hours earlier, mr blinken was warned the two sides could slip towards conflict. ..and this could not be happening.

but he came to beijing with a warning of his own. 70% of the machine tools that russia is getting from abroad coming from china, 90% of the microelectronics. so for china, if it wants to have better relations not only with us, but with countries in europe, it can't do that while at the same time helping to fuel the biggest threat to european security since the end of the cold war. we've taken action already against chinese entities that are engaged in this, and what i made clear today is that, if china won't act, we will. you say you will act. i just want to be clear on what you're prepared to do. well, i'm not going to get into the details, except to say, look at what we've done already. we've imposed sanctions, export controls, of one kind or another. china views this as hypocrisy, as the us continues to arm israel. beijing is using the war in gaza to discredit washington and paint itself as a peaceful power.

it erodes the credibility of the united states, notjust here in china, but around the world, don't you think? well, of course, china will do whatever it will do to distort our policies and to misinform its own people about what we're actually doing, what we're not doing, what we stand for, what we don't stand for, and i think china can play a constructive role here. it has relationships, it has influence with countries, like iran, that it can use effectively to, in the first instance, try to prevent the conflict from spreading. a record shop was mr blinken�*s final stop. perhaps taylor swift can help forge cross—cultural ties. this trip has not dealt with the two sides�* differences. they've merely talked about them, and real risks remain in this fragile relationship, which mr blinken described as the most consequential in the world. laura bicker, bbc news, beijing. for more on the chinese

foriegn minister's comments and the us—china relationship, i spoke to massachusetts congressman seth moulton. congressman moulton also sits on the house select committee on china. thank you for taking the time. chinese foreign minister wang yi was frank in his public remarks alongside secretary blinken. he said the relationship is risking can a down ward spiral. do you agree? i do, because china's talking about invading a democratic ally of the united states. as long as xi jinping says he will take taiwan by force, there's a real chance that our relationship goes down hill. to what extent, though, is the us testing boundaries? we heard also from wang yi, saying the us needs to be careful not to step on china's red lines. we've seen this massive wave of sanctions, of technology

export bans by the us. we know that there is increased presence by the us and allies, militarily, in the region. what is that doing to the relationship? is that increasing tensions? well, again, this is all china's aggression. china changes its lines, i mean, they literally change their lines on the map all the time to just take over more territory by map geography. it's ridiculous. they are threatening their neighbours, notjust taiwan, but the philippines. they've been very aggressive, risking filipino sailor lives with their actions in the south china sea, they are regularly risking the lives of the united states sailors and airmen during patrols in the region, so all of this aggression is coming from china. remember, america is not saying we want to take over any territory, we're not trying to take over any countries. that is what china is trying to do. we are just trying to defend democracies, as we do all around the globe. a big part of this trip, on the part of secretary blinken, was to warn china again supplying russia's military industry.

if it continues to do so, what is the us ready to do to prevent china from sending parts or weapons to russia? do you think there might be some sanctions on the cards? what will the us do? well, i certainly hope so because what xi jinping is doing is supporting a criminal war of aggression by a war criminal, vladimir putin, and that is the exact opposite of what the united states does. we defend sovereign territory, we defend freedom and democracy all around the globe. that's what we're doing in ukraine, that's what we said to china we intend to do in the south pacific, and china and russia have this axis of evil of aggression. evil aggression. autocracies trying to take over sovereign countries. the united states is right to stand up with our allies against that kind of aggressive behaviour.

we heard also from china's president xi jinping speaking, and saying there is enough room, essentially, in the world for both the us and for china. do you agree? can these two countries begin to get along? well, that's really up to china, because, again, we have a peaceful agenda, they have an agenda of conquest, but of course there should be room for both of us, but there is room for the united states and china as they exist today. what china is trying to do is take over other countries. that's not acceptable to the us, and frankly it shouldn't be acceptable to any sovereign nation in the world. secretary blinken said there was some progress. i want to see if there is room for progress here. he noted some areas, like stopping supplies of fentanyl to the us, which has also been a big part of his agenda. what do you think, what's the outlook here, is there room for cooperation between the two countries? specifically, where would you point to?

there has always been room for cooperation, and fentanyl is a good example. there has been some minor progress in the past, where china and us officials have worked together to limit the importation of fentanyl and the chemicals used to make fentanyl from china into the united states. i sit on the china committee in congress and we released a report recently that said 96% of fentanyl precursors, the chemicals that you use to construct, to manufacture this deadly drug, come from china, and china actually has a proactive programme to deliberately ship them into the united states, because it's killing americans. so, yes, we want this to stop, but again, it's an example of aggressive chinese behaviour against america. we're just about out of time but i do want to ask you, i saw some scenes of secretary blinken doing some shopping while he was in beijing. he picked up a copy of taylor swift's new album over there. just curious, do you think that the secretary of state is a swiftie? well, i don't know, because i think if you were a real swiftie, he wouldn't buy

a pirated copy in china. you think it's a pirated copy? well, i think there is a good chance, we all know they like to steal our intellectual property all the time. a big trip, plenty on the agenda. thank you for your time. good to see you. there have been some small developments in ceasefire negotiations between israel and hamas, with both sides continuing to review proposals. egyptian mediators have arrived in israel, and egyptian media say there's been "notable progress" in finding common ground. meanwhile, the war continues. gaza's hamas—run health agency says at least 50 people have been killed in israeli attacks over the past 2a hours. this was the scene in rafah on friday night. among the dead, sabreen al—sakani — a baby, rescued from her dying mother's womb. fergal keane reports now, and a warning, there are distressing images from the start.

in this fragile form, a tiny pulse of hope. baby sabreen was the last survivor... ..of a family obliterated by an israeli air strike. her pregnant mum was pulled from here. but minutes later, in hospital, doctors were able to rescue sabreen from her dying mother's womb. they tapped to stimulate her breathing. air was pumped into her lungs. then to an incubator, fighting for life. notice the gentleness of the doctor, as he cradles her head. relatives watched over the newborn. paternal grandmother ahalam planned to take care of the orphaned baby.

translation: iwill raise her in the best way. - she's the memory of her dad. i hope that god gives her a long life. sabreen fought to live — two days ago, briefly opening her eyes. 2a hours later, her condition�*s still critical. baby sabreen lost her struggle. at midday yesterday, the dead child was brought home to her people. sabreen was buried alongside her mother — after whom, she was named — herfather, shukri, and three—year—old sister, malak.

today, her uncle rami prayed at sabreen�*s grave. overhead, an israeli drone. the loss that changed everything for this family changes nothing in the war. translation: this girl left | a mark on everyone's heart. she moved the whole world. to me, sabreen was the living legacy of my brother, the only survivor of the massacre. she was my soul. this is why i call her my soul. sabreen al—sheikh, of rafah, gaza, lived for five days. fergal keane, bbc news, jerusalem. here in the united states, protests against the war are spreading to more university campuses. much of the focus this week has been on columbia university, in new york city.

but students in other places are also staging demonstrations. these were scenes at arizona state university on friday. there are also protests in new orleans, los angeles, chicago and here in washington dc. on friday, two british men were charged with helping russian intelligence services after a suspected arson attack on a ukraine—linked business in london. the suspects — aged 20 and 22 — are the first people to be prosecuted under the new national security act 2023, which was designed to strengthen the uk's defences against hostile activity by other nations. one of the men is accused of planning to target a business, and of trying to recruit other people to assist a foreign intelligence service. he is also accused of fraudulent activity and aggravated arson. the other man is also accused of arson, and of accepting money in the knowledge that it was from a foreign intelligence service. public records show the businesses allegedly targeted, are owned by ukrainians. prosecutors claim the russian private military group, wagner, is involved. our home affairs correspondent daniel sandford has the latest.

this all began with a fire in march at some industrial units in leighton in east london, linked to a ukrainian owned business. i've been up there this afternoon and it's still quite badly damaged. one of the units still has got beams still exposed one of the units still has got beams still exposed to the sky, with no roof, scorched beams. there's a ukrainian truck parked outside. well, on saturday, a british 20—year—old man, called dylan earle, appeared in court, charged with aggravated arson, but also with two charges under the new national security act, including assisting a foreign intelligence service, a charge which the prosecution say is linked to russia, and we couldn't report that until today, when two more men appeared in court, and one of those, jake reeves, on the right, is also charged under the new act, which was brought in to tackle new threats from states like russia. this comes after numerous cases surfaced against alleged russian spies in germany and an assasination plot russian spies in germany

and an assassination plot targeting president zelensky in poland. speaking in berlin on friday nato secretary generaljens stoltenberg said that these alleged russia—backed plots will not stop the alliance from supporting ukraine. following the passage of a $61 billion aid bill for ukraine, the pentagon announced, friday, it will provide $6 billion, through its ukraine security assistance initiative. the aid will include munitions for patriot air defense systems, the type of weaponry ukraine's president has said is crucial to fending off russian aerial attacks. in announcing the aid, us defense secretary lloyd austin stressed the us position that vladimir putin's aggression against ukraine is a very global issue. if putin prevails in ukraine, the security consequences would be grave and global. europe would face a security threat that it hasn't seen in our lifetimes. as president biden has noted, russia will not stop in ukraine. if the kremlin gets

its way, if putin's more and imperial aggression succeeds, every parent on earth will take note. donald trump's hush money trial has wrapped up for the week, with testimony detailing a tabloid "catch and kill" scheme that allegedly buried damaging stories about mr trump during his campaign for the white house in 2016. the trial could be the only one of mr trump's four criminal cases with a chance of wrapping up before the presidential election this november. also on friday, president biden said he'd be "happy" to face donald trump in a debate — something he had not previously committed to. mr trump skipped all the previous republican debates, and no further debates have been scheduled. our correspondent nada tawfik has been following the trial closely from new york. trump insiders are testifying as prosecution witnesses, but from what i observed in court, not all of them are facing the former president's wrath. rhona graff is fiercely loyal to donald trump,

and his former assistant of 30 years did not even want to appear here. her time on the stand was limited. she said she entered playboy model karen mcdougal and stormy daniels's contacts into the database for trumps. she also vaguely remembered seeing stormy daniels at trump tower ahead of the 2016 presidential election, but she spoke positively of her former boss, who stood up to give her a brief hello as she left the courtroom. the first witness, david pecker, the defence chose not to be as aggressive with him as they are likely to do trump's former fixer, michael cohen. the soft—spoken former publisher of the national enquirer came off as a reliable witness and he and trump seemed to show a mutual respect, so instead the defence tried to gently prod him to say the scheme was a typical tabloid business

decision, the catch and kill scheme, but david pecker said he was being truthful when he said it was done in defence of donald trump's campaign. week one is done in the history books but donald trump will have to face many more familiarfaces. sexual assault survivors and advocates have expressed outrage afterjudges in new york overturned a 2020 rape conviction against the former hollywood producer, harvey weinstein. new york's highest court ruled that during his trial four years ago, prosecutors were wrongly allowed to call witnesses whose accusations were not part of the charges against him. now, weinstein will remain in prison on a separate rape conviction in california. weinstein�*s new york trial was a pivotal moment for the #metoo movement, which raises awareness of sexual abuse and aggression against women. it began in 2006, and went viral during weinstein�*s trial after several women came forward alleging that he had sexually abused them. i spoke earlier to the founder of the #metoo campaign, tarana burke, and we spoke about what this means for that movement.

i know that you said today that the overturning of this conviction in harvey weinstein�*s 2024 case was not a blow to the #metoo movement. what did you mean by that? what i mean is that, while we are disappointed, one singular case cannot be a blow to an entire movement. i think people mistakenlyjudge the movement by the outcomes of these cases, and that is not how we decide whether the movements are successful or not. we know that, historically, the justice system, particularly in america, has never been where we find actual justice for survivors. so, while we're disappointed, i don't see this as a setback for the movement. i see it as a disappointment, as exactly what it is. i'm sure you were following this closely and the ruling by new york's top court. weinstein�*s lawyer said on thursday that the law was not applied fairly to harvey weinstein. did you agree with that statement and with the ruling that came out of this fourth re—decision?

no... tr..um...i was about to say trump! weinstein�*s attorney is supposed to say that, that's hisjob, in defending his client. i don't think that the judges made the proper decision in this case and i think we will see that when it is retried. how concerned are you that the ruling that seems to rule out the use of other testimony from other potential victims not involved in the case itself, that this could end up changing other cases going forward, making it harder to bring convictions? i'm concerned, because we know that in court cases sometimes precedents are set. but what i hope happens is over the last several years, we tried to educate people about the nature

of sexual violence. it's different from other cases. this is exactly what is necessary so that we can see the breadth and depth, the life cycle of a survivor. what happened in this case is what should have happened. you need to understand the nature of what happened and these perpetrators and how they operate. this conviction is overturned in new york. weinstein is still serving a 16—year sentence in california for rape. do you think that is enough justice for the alleged victims in new york? well, i'm not a survivor. so it's notjob or right to say what is enough justice for them. it's up to them to say what is or isn't what they need. i think we have to watch how this plays out, and see how the decisions are made. but, again, we cannot predicate the movement orjustice or accountability solely on what we see in the outcomes.

so it remains to be seen. you launched the #metoo movement back in 2006. you've been working in this space for many years. how have you seen this movement change society in the us, and globally? the change has been tremendous. i think what we've seen in the last seven years since the hashtag went viral we probably couldn't have seen in 27 years. with the onset of things like social media and how the internet has connected people and made information move faster, it's been able to connect people and allow us, so people like survivors, to find and see each other and a lot of movements to growjust exponentially. so, now, we can say, you know, "i'm a survivor in america", and "i'm a survivor in the united kingdom". we couldn't find each other before. so, survivors were siloed, and we felt alone

and we felt unseen. that can't happen any more. you can't put the genie back in the bottle. we know where we are. we see each other and we know that we're a force to be reckoned with, we're notjust sitting alone in at the dark suffering in silence. what do you think comes next for the #metoo movement? well, you know, we are expanded all across the globe. i think when i get this question all the time of what comes next, we've never stopped. what comes next is we will keep advocating, growing. the thing is that in america alone, there's another act of sexual violence that happens every 68 seconds, another survivor. as unfortunate as that is, it's another opportunity to have a person to join this fight and as much as there are survivors as individuals there are also people that love us. so, as we grow in numbers, people want to look at survivors from a place of pity, but you should look at us from a place of strength, right?

there are elections coming up, and imagine if we vote along the lines of our survivorship. that makes us one of the largest voting blocs in the world. so people should be worried about what we do next. as decisions like this come down and we get more angry, we have a righteous rage and we move from that righteous rage, and as we move from it we are a powerful, powerful people. thank you very much. and finally before we go, the olympic flame was formally handed over to organizers of the paris summer games, ahead of the tournament's opening injuly. the flame was received at the marble stadium in athens following an eleven—day relay across greece. the flame will leave greece, saturday, on a boat headed for marseille, where it is expected to arrive on may 8th. it will then go on a relay through france before the opening ceremonies in paris. stay with us here on bbc news. plenty more coming from our colleagues in london here on bbc news.

hello. after what has been a mixed and decidedly chilly week of weather, things are not going to warm up an awful lot through the weekend. staying chilly, some rain at times, but it is going to turn warmer next week. however, not completely dry. still some wet weather in the forecast. certainly some wet weather for the weekend, all driven by this area of low pressure pushing up from the south. this frontal system here bringing rain northwards across southern england, into wales, the midlands and east anglia. to the north of that, some sunny spells to start the day. a cold start, with a frost across northern england, northern ireland and scotland. it will be another sunshine and showers day. the showers wintry over high ground in scotland. some hefty showers breaking out for southern counties, and then some more persistent rain heading in from the south by the end of the afternoon, temperatures generally around 10—13 degrees, and then through saturday night, this rain will push its way northwards, covering large parts of england, clipping into the east of wales. further north and west, some clear spells. another relatively chilly

night, there'll be a frost for some. further south and east, not as cold, because of the extra cloud, because of the outbreaks of rain, all driven by this area of low pressure, which will be sliding its way northwards through the day on sunday. some parts of england are going to have a lot of rain through the day, heavy and persistent rain that will make it feel decidedly chilly. some rain fringing into east wales, turning wet in eastern scotland, rather windy for some of these eastern coasts, but eventually brightening up for south—west england, for wales, parts of north—west england, northern ireland and western scotland seeing some sunshine as well. temperatures still stubbornly stuck in that range, between 9—111 degrees, but temperatures will start to lift on monday. a frontal system pushing in from the west. outbreaks of rain for some, but ahead of that, a southerly wind bringing a warmer feel. temperatures back up really to where they should be for late april — 12—16 degrees — and it'll turn warmer still as the week wears on. this area of low pressure tending to roll away southwards, as all these different weather systems reorientate themselves, while the wind direction will change, we'll pick up something of an easterly flow

from the near continent, and that will bring some warmer air. highs, potentially, up to 19, maybe the low 20s, celsius, but with that, there will still be some rain, at times.

voice-over: this is bbc news. we'll have the headlines - at the top of the hour, which is straight after this programme. hello and welcome. this week, can you teach creativity? we've got the advertising exec who thinks you can and now runs a course in it. and we'll look at how to create tv formats that are successful around the world. we'll talk to the creatives behind two entertainment formats that are entertaining millions. but first, the secrets of the celebrity interviewer, with one of the finest in the business. decca aitkenhead is the chief interviewer of the sunday times and has interviewed hillary clinton, madonna, jk rowling and countless other big names and she's just won broadsheet interviewer of the year at the press awards in the uk. decca, it's great to have you here. i know it's your second

press award so you're getting used to this!