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A Los Angeles judge has sentenced Harvey Weinstein to 16 years in prison after a jury convicted him of the 2013 rape and sexual assault of an Italian actor and model.

The sentence comes on top of the more than 20 years the 70-year-old Weinstein has left to serve for a similar 2020 conviction in New York, furthering the fall of the one-time movie magnate who became a MeToo magnet.

Weinstein directly appealed to Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Lisa B Lench, saying: "I maintain that I'm innocent. I never raped or sexually assaulted Jane Doe 1."

The woman who Weinstein was convicted of raping sobbed in the courtroom as he spoke.

Moments earlier she had told the judge about the pain she felt after being attacked by Weinstein.

"Before that night I was a very happy and confident woman. I valued myself and the relationship I had with God," the woman, who was identified in court only as Jane Doe 1, said.

"I was excited about my future. Everything changed after the defendant brutally assaulted me. There is no prison sentence long enough to undo the damage."

Lench handed down the sentence on Thursday after rejecting a motion by Weinstein's lawyers for a new trial.

Jurors in December convicted Weinstein of one count of rape and two counts of sexual assault against the woman who at the trial's opening in October gave a dramatic and emotional account of him arriving uninvited at her hotel room, talking his way in and assaulting her during a film festival.

The jury spared Weinstein an even longer sentence when they acquitted him of the sexual battery of a massage therapist and failed to reach verdicts on counts involving two other women.

The defence contended during the trial that Weinstein had consensual sex with two of the women he was charged with assaulting and that two others - including the one who led to his conviction - were making up the incidents entirely.

Last week, Lench rejected a request from Gloria Allred, a lawyer for some of the women who testified at trial, to allow others to make similar statements in court about Weinstein.

"I'm not going to make this an open forum on Mr Weinstein's conduct," Lench said at the time.

Legal uncertainties will remain on both coasts for Weinstein.

New York's highest court has agreed to hear his appeal in his rape and sexual assault convictions there.

And prosecutors in Los Angeles have yet to say whether they will retry Weinstein on counts they were unable to reach a verdict on.

It is not yet clear where he will serve his time while these issues are decided.

His New York sentence would be served before a California prison term although a retrial or other issues could keep him from being sent back there soon.

Weinstein is eligible for parole in New York in 2039.

© AP 2023

Australia have marched into a seventh straight women's T20 World Cup final but only after a dramatic five-run win over India in their last-four encounter in Cape Town.

The champions held their nerve in the death overs as India threatened a sensation on Thursday after Beth Mooney's 54 and Meg Lanning's unbeaten 49 had helped set the underdogs a formidable 173 chase at Newlands.

But fine bowling in the final two overs from spinners Jess Jonassen and Ashleigh Gardner, with India needing 20 to win, enabled Australia to eke out the win that takes them to Sunday's final against either England or South Africa.

Player of the match Gardner's earlier quickfire 31 to go with her two wickets had also given urgency to Australia's innings as they ended on 4-172 after captain Lanning opted to bat first.

Darcie Brown's 2-18 then also proved pivotal as Australia moved to within one win of a third straight world T20 title and their sixth crown in seven editions.

"Today we probably had no right to win it at one point there they were cruising," said Gardner.

"That just shows the way we fight as a team. That's what we do best - when our backs were against the wall, we scrap really hard and we find a way."

Australia got off to a dream start with the ball as Megan Schutt and Gardner took out India's openers Shafali Verma and Smriti Mandhana, respectively, before Grace Harris and Alyssa Healy combined to run out Yastika Bhatia to leave India on 3-28.

But keeping up with the required rate, captain Harmanpreet Kaur, who had fever in the hours leading up to the semi-final, launched India's recovery with an excellent 52, helping them gallop to 3-93 at halfway, 24 more than Australia at the same juncture.

But with 80 needed off 60, India's threatening 69-run, 40-ball fourth-wicket stand between Harmanpreet and Jemimah Rodrigues ended upon the reintroduction of Brown.

An unsuccessful ramp off Brown's surprise short ball over the keeper ended Rodrigues' 24-ball 43.

Healy had endured a forgettable first half behind the stumps, dropping Harmanpreet on 36 and 37 in the space of four balls across overs 13 and 14.

One ball after reaching her fifty, though, the 33-year-old captain's fighting knock ended in the cruellest fashion as Mooney's rocket throw from the deep at the wicketkeeper's end caught Harmanpreet short of her ground, her bat having got stuck into the turf.

"It [Harmanpreet's wicket] was a massive momentum-switcher for us. It's these types of moments that you really need to jump on," Gardner said. "That was probably one of the turning points in the game."

With 39 off 30 needed for India to pull off an upset, Brown's one-run final over swung the momentum back Australia's way.

The 20-year-old took out the last of the opposition's recognised batters, Richa Ghosh, for a 17-ball 14 as a calm McGrath settled underneath a skier at long-on.

Sharma and Rana's 22-run seventh-wicket stand kept India in the hunt, but Australia won critical moments to pull things back, like boundary-rider Ellyse Perry's two diving saves of two runs each - in the 10th over and then in the 19th.

With the bat, Australia were scratchy for the most part and benefited from India's sloppy fielding.

Lanning, dropped on one and nine, struck six boundaries in her 34-ball knock, her highest score of the tournament.

"That is one of the best wins I've been involved in, to fight back after not playing our best cricket in all three facets," Lanning said.

© AAP 2023

At least five people have been killed and 48 others are still missing a day after the collapse of a coal mine in China's northern region of Inner Mongolia.

The open-pit mine operated by small local firm Xinjing Coal Mining Co collapsed on Wednesday in a landslide, leaving dozens of workers buried under a huge pile of debris 500 metres wide and an estimated 80 metres high, according to state broadcaster CCTV.

Dramatic security camera footage aired on CCTV on Thursday showed an avalanche of rock and soil falling from one side of the mountain into the mine pit, burying a number of excavators and dump trucks.

Three hundred rescue workers were at the site using heavy machinery and rescue dogs to aid in their search for the trapped miners, state media said.

The National Health Commission said on Wednesday evening that six injured people had been rescued from the mine.

"I had just started work at 1.15 in the afternoon when I realised that rocks were falling from the mountain," a hospitalised miner told CCTV on Thursday.

"I saw that the situation was getting more and more serious, and an evacuation was organised, but it was too late, the mountain just collapsed."

Coal is a major source of energy in China but its mines are among the world's deadliest, largely due to lax enforcement of safety standards, despite repeated government orders for improvements in safety over the years.

President Xi Jinping on Wednesday ordered search and rescue efforts, state media reported, although a second landslide in the evening hampered the work to find survivors.

"We must make every possible effort to rescue the missing persons and treat the injured," Xi said.

Premier Li Keqiang also demanded a quick investigation into the cause of the collapse.

Local governments in several regions, including Inner Mongolia, Shanxi and Shaanxi, have ordered coal miners, especially open-pit mines, to immediately conduct safety checks and local authorities to carry out inspections following the collapse.

China's mines have been trying to boost output over the past year under a government call for greater supplies and stable prices. The government is estimated to have approved 260 million tonnes of new coal mining capacity in 2022. Inner Mongolia is the country's top coal-producing region.

The mine near the town of Alxa League was previously an underground mine. It was converted into an open-pit operation in 2012, according to state media. It had suspended production for three years before restarting in April 2021, state media added, though it did not provide further information regarding the cause of the closure.

© RAW 2023