over taiwan. for months, chinese forces have been probing taiwan airspace. a commander of america's seventh fleet in japan says he would like more aircraft carriers deployed to the region. our correspondent rupert was on board and sent this report. rupert: a pair of u.s. stealth jets in mock attack formation. a show for the tv cameras. adversaries.ge for america's- we are 500 km off the coast of japan, somewhere near the island of iwo jima, which was of course the site of a very bloody battle between the americans and japanese in world war ii. today, they sailed together as allies, facing the new challenge from china. america has brought their latest aircraft in order to do that. just incredible. it goes right for your body. this is the most expensive fighter aircraft and this is the first deployment outside the u.s. no surprise it has been sent to the western pacific. ur months, china has been -- for months, china has been sending aircraft around taiwan. in western china, they are building full-scale replicas of u.s. aircraft carriers to practice sinking th

and amid tensions with china over taiwan: the uss carl vinson finishes its biggest ever annual drills in the region. our correspondent�*s on board. this is the us navy's newest, most advanced and most expensive fighter aircraft. this is its first employment outside the us and their is no surprise it has been sent here. hello. very good to have you with us wherever in the world you are watching. some of the biggest names in tennis have thrown their support behind the women's tennis association after it said it will immediately suspended all tournaments in china. the head of the wta has told the bbc the decision was taken because chinese authorities have failed to address sexual assault allegations made by the doubles star peng shuai against a former vice premier. courtney bembridge has the latest. it's been a month since peng shuai posted on social media accusing a top chinese official of sexual assault. the post was quickly taken down and she disappeared from public view. photos and videos like this released by chinese state media were supposed to show her safe and free, but did lit

we're taiwan. on the side of it, obviously there's a lot of different issues more than just the olympics, which going back to the original question, is this going to help on some very serious, i get it. the athletes have worked hard for this, but holland is this can actually ratchet things up to where it says, you know what, fine, you guys would be a part of us. we're just going to keep on pursuing our path. they need our business . okay, that's when it comes down to all that stuff. we depend on them for they need us to buy it. is it going to change? just because we did send the vice president over there? well, you know, it's funny because yesterday, john, saki said that, you know, by not sending our diplomats, it wasn't going to be business. as usual. i still see a lot of companies have moving all their manufacturing over there for cheap jobs, cheaper labor and selling it to us to make a profit. so it's one of those things that i don't think it's really going to change anything, especially when yo

and it's like, well, what are you, are you one china, are you taiwan? i don't even think he knows he does is he know the play, the rice can we had last night. who knows? but it's one of these things where it's like, he's got to get tougher on what he thinks and his message and historically look how many wars cause been cause to resulted from oil. we just had the atheist anniversary of pearl harbor. one of the reasons that that war came from japan is they were wanting oil, we were short changing them on oil. and here we are. we've lost our energy independence. oil is still a key factor and it's in china as best interested in japan. everybody needs it. and were cut off and we're excited about this. there were imposing sanctions on russia based on actions on ukraine. yet we don't hear continued sanctions against the china, which like you said, is someone that we made. and that's the net positive scrutiny on china. the world is watching and they are watching and they're going to continue watching here because after the break, the justice department has file

for months, china has been sending dozens of military aircraft to probe the airspace around taiwan. in a shanghai shipyard, they're preparing to launch china's first super carrier and in the deserts of western china, they're building a full scale replicas of us aircraft carriers to practise sinking them. the response from the us commander here was that no—one should underestimate the resolve of the us navy and its allies. the motto of this ship means strength from the sea. and the motto of the us under ronald reagan is peace through strength. and through strength, as we try to deter aggression from some of these nations that are showing a burgeoning strength, that maybe we haven't experienced in the past, it's about ensuring that everyone understands that today is not the day. many are predicting that china will soon overtake american naval power in asia and that taiwan will have to submit to that new reality. the message from the us navy is that it is still by far the best in the world at doing this, and any adversary should be very cognisant of that fact. rupert wingfield—haye

to force that would jeopardize the security of the people of taiwan. now, we're working to bolster deterrence and not seeking to change the status the quo. as president biden told president xi last month, we share a profound global responsibility to insure that the competition between our countries does the not veer into conflict whether intended or unintended. and we're going to stick to what president biden calls simple, straightforward competition. yes, we have real differences both over interests and values. but the way that you manage them counts, and we're going to be open and candid with china's leaders. as president biden put it, we need to talk honestly and directly with one another about our priorities and our intentions. and big powers should be models of transparency and communication. so we're actively seeking open lines of communication with china's defense leaders especially in a crisis. and both between our diplomats and our militaries. we're taking steps to reduce risk and to prevent miscalculations. so we're going to build on presiden

he said we're unification with taiwan. was a goal for people both on the island and the mainland tension between begging and taipei had been growing. with china stepping up military activity near the taiwan strait. frances condemned, a satellite rocket launched by iran saying it is in breach of a un security council resolution if reportedly sent 3 research devices into space. paras says it was especially regrettable because the world powers had been seeking to salvage. the 2015 nuclear deal with iran for people are missing in northern belgium. after a powerful gas explosion, blast in the town of turn, who destroyed part of a residential building day one person is recovering from the injuries in hospital will help the experts in the us a warning of what they call an only crohn blizzard. they've told americans to prepare for severe disruptions in the coming weeks. rising wave of covey 19 laid by a micron variant is threatening to overwhelm hospital schools and other key infrastructure. record numbers of children have been ho

in it, he said re unification with taiwan. was a goal for people both on the island and the mainland. tensions between begging anti pe have been growing with china stepping up military activity near the taiwan straits. frances condemned a satellite rocket launched by iran saying it is in breach of un security council resolutions. harris says it was especially regrettable because, well, powers seeking to salvage the 2015 nuclear deal with iran. the mission i'm to put 3 research devices into space. although, although t ron says they failed to get into orbit fast moving wildfire, the torn through many rural areas near denver, colorado to swearing, at least 500 homes, tens of thousands have been forced to flee their properties or 30 say these are the worst fights, the state has ever seen, there are no known deaths at this stage. healthy experts in the u. s. a warning of what they call an only chronic blizzard. they've told americans to prepare for severe disruptions in the coming weeks. the rising wave of cub 19 led by the army cr

taiwan has expressed pain and regret the decision. type a says nicaragua had disregarded the friendship between the countries. the new zealand government has announced one of the world's toughest antismoking laws. it plans to effectively ban smoking back progressively raising the legal age for buying tobacco products. the law is set to come into effect in 2027. critics say the law could boost the black market for tobacco, though. smoking is the leading cause of death in new zealand, killing up to 5000 people every year. until now, the government has focused on increasing taxes on cigarettes. last year, a 25 that cost about $28. 10 years ago, it was just $11. smoking rates have fallen in recent years but 20% of the adult population still smokes. under the government's plan, a task force would be created to help reduce smoking. new zealand's associate health minister says vaping is not included because it is considered a safer alternative. >> there's a very strong sense that tobacco is an extremely harmful and addictive substance, and y

now, we continue to see signs of china's increasing aggression towards taiwan. in addition to reports that the construction of a military base off of after infantry's americans and our allies remain trapped in that hell hole a story most legacy media continues to ignore. surrendering to the taliban, leaving in haste with apparently little plan or strategy, abandoning our fellow americans. they are still in there, guys. it's all undermines confidence in america's resolve and the world has noticed. when will the biden gang be honest about their mistakes about their missteps and about their lack of solutions only when that happens winter olympics beijing happening this february meaning that no diplomatic officials or official representatives will attend the game. let's be honest, does anyone really care if secretary of state antony blinken or random secretary or joe biden for that matter doesn't attend the olympics? even the chinese communist party says it's a meaningless action and that no one really cares. when asked about the decision, jen psaki said this: >> th

would china be more aggressive on taiwan. the concern that the u.s. will not be there to defend the ally of taiwan. we have to be very clear with the chinese. there will be very real consequences, not just potential consequences. we should be clear, we would engage military if need be to defend taiwan. the american people are concerned about military engage engagement. if the chinese begin to be very aggressive we can't allow that. mike: tokyo is worried about the possibility of accidental conflict. when you have the possibility of military resources gathering accidents can happen, right? >> that is absolutely true. if we're not clear about our position it encourages people to test our bound i doctors. happens in cyberspace quite a bit. we haven't been concerned about consequences. we see the chinese, russians testing our boundaries. we can't have that in physical environment like ukraine and taiwan. we have to recognize that if we're not effective enough it won't deter them and we cannot be sure priced when they cross the line to do something. mike:

he said reunification with taiwan was a goal for people both on the island and the mainland. tensions between beijing and taipei have been growing with china stepping up military activity near the taiwan strait. four people are missing in northern belgium after powerful gas explosion in a town destroyed part of a residential building. one person is recovering from their injuries and hospital. france has recorded over 230,000 new coronavirus cases on new year's eve, the fourth consecutive day the country has broken the european record for infections. in his new year's address of the french president emmanuel macron warned that difficult weeks lie ahead and urged people to comply with government measures to curb the spread of covid-19. employers have been ordered to let staff work from home and wearing a mask outdoors in paris is compulsory. both experts in the u.s. are warning of what they call an omicron blizzard. they have told americans to prepare for severe disruptions in the coming weeks. the rising wave of covid-19 led by the omicron variant is threatening to overwhelm h

he said we're unification with taiwan. was a goal for people both on the island and the mainland. tension between begging and tie have been growing with china stepping up military activity near the taiwan strait. for people who are missing in northern belgium, after a powerful gas explosion. blast in the town of turn out and destroyed part of a residential building there. one person is recovering from the injuries in hospital or francis recorded over 230000 ne karone of ours cases on new year's 8th. it's the 4th consecutive day. the country has broken the european record for infections in his new year's address, french president, a man mama call warned that difficult wakes that lie ahead and he urged people to comply with the government's measures to curb the spread of cove. it 19 employers had been ordered to let staff work from home and wearing a mask out doors in paris is again, compulsory. we'll help experts in the us of warning of what they call an army kron blizzard. they've told americans to prepare for severe disru

i have been growing with china stepping up military activity near the taiwan strait. all my frances condemned to satellite rocket launched by iran saying it is in breach of un security council resolutions. it reportedly sent 3 research devices into spice. paras says it was especially regrettable because willpower seeking to salvage the 2015 nuclear deal with iran or paypal in missing in northern belgium after a powerful gas explosion. lost in the town of turn, who destroyed part of the residential building when person is recovering from the injuries in hospital with a fast moving. wildfires of torn through mainly rural areas near denver, colorado destroying at least $500.00 hunt. tens of thousands have been forced to flee their properties. authority say these are the worst fires the state has ever seen. but there are no known debts which local officials have described as miraculous. i say the white house has now declared defies. a major disaster. all right, let's bring in great hansen and native ologist with the national weather service in boulder, colorado. reg, welc

between beijing and tie, pay have been growing with china's stepping up military activity near the taiwan strait. thank you. you know, my well here in germany there are still a few hours left of 2021 and the new german chancellor has recorded his 1st new year's address to the nation in comments due to be broadcast later today. all are sholtes urged all germans to stand together in the fight against covered 19 and to get vaccinated. other than tackling the pandemic, the german leader said, the biggest challenge for the upcoming year was to lay the foundations for germany's future development. i think one small changes that today i'm the one speaking to you on new year's eve as your federal chancellor. things are different this year. after 16 years of new years, addresses by angle america, germany's new head of government roasted a task for the 1st time. chancellor shall send out the challenges faced by the country in 2021, acknowledging the hardships that have been endeared, such as december's floods in western germany, and facing the resilience people have shown, especially during the pan

i have a lot of people, taiwan people, people in the front of the congress in the united states, i have people in london and oslo wait for this sculpture to explain the story. there's a lot of people who could take care of this monument if we can get it out of hong kong.— out of hong kong. thank you very much — out of hong kong. thank you very much for— out of hong kong. thank you very much for making - out of hong kong. thank you very much for making the - out of hong kong. thank you i very much for making the time stay with us on bbc news. still to come: celebrations in spain as thousands win a share of the world's richest lottery draw — el gordo or �*the fat one'. the world of music's been paying tribute to george michael, who's died from suspected heart failure at the age of 53. he sold well over 100 million albums in a career spanning more than three decades. the united states' troops have been trying to overthrow the dictatorship of general manuel noriega. the pentagon said that it's failed in its principle objective to capture noriega and take him to the united states t

. >> fueling new fears from washington, china saying taiwan is a sensitive issue and its talks with the u.s. tensions between the u.s. and 2 superpowers, china and russia set to extend into the new year. reporting from washington. i'm kelly meyer. >> a federal judge is refusing to dismiss charges against 4 leaders of the far right group, the proud boys. they are accused of conspiring to attack the capitol january 6, an effort to stop congress from certifying the 2020 presidential election. their defense attorneys are arguing their actions were protected by the first amendment. the judge rejected that claim the case against the 4 men is the focus of a justice department investigation. >> coming up next at 10 o'clock. british socialite ghislaine maxwell found guilty for her role in the jeffrey epstein sex-trafficking case. how much time she could spend behind bars. plus, is apple feel threatened by matt, a what the company is doing to try to keep its employees from talking out for good and the search for a missing skier continues in lake tahoe after he disappeared on christmas day. why au

other political conflicts that mr biden and mr putin will be talking about tomorrow in ukraine and in taiwan, that they will spare a little bit of time to talk about what is going on in myanmar. talk about what is going on in myanmar-— talk about what is going on in m anmar. ., ., �* myanmar. harriet and david, i'm afraid you're _ myanmar. harriet and david, i'm afraid you're out _ myanmar. harriet and david, i'm afraid you're out of _ myanmar. harriet and david, i'm afraid you're out of time. - that's it for the papers. this hour. we will be back again at 11:30. goodbye for now. good evening.... good evening i'm tt with your sports news, we start with football where demarai gray scored a stoppage time winner for everton as they came from behind to beat arsenal 2—1 in the premier league. richarlison had two goals disallowed for offside before it was third time lucky at goodison park, his goal cancelling out martin odegaard's first half effort. in the second minute of stoppage time gray hit a thunderbolt into the corner for a first league win in nine games for the toffees taking them up

we have got china still buzzing taiwan. these are things that generally then are going to unfold and it's like afghanistan with this catastrophe in front of us. you see any of this stopping or is this going to be the natural thing we see for the next year or two are the bad actors taking what they want to take? >> i'm not against talking. but, when you continue to talk without getting anything in return, then that sends a message to the likes of the putins and xis of the world. by the way they talk to each other. >> tammy: right. >> they work with one another. we tend to think about national security or foreign affairs in silos, we have an iran problem. we have china problem. we have a russia problem. no, we have a bad guy problem. remember, china is helping iran evade u.s. sanctions. russia is doing military exercises with china. >> tammy: good point. >> it was pakistan who gave north carolina their nuclear capacity. so now we have a situation in central asia where you have a terrorist-led government in afghanistan and the

and, of course, mike the stakes are high because of taiwan. the chinese are watching what's going to happen. i never imagined in a world where we need to reassert what we thought was true 75 years ago. you don't get to invade neighbors. mike: i want to play for you a clip from republican senator jody ernst on fox news sunday. >> it's hard to neglect what vladimir putin is thinking and what his true intentions are but we do see a very aggressive action on his part amassing troops on the ukrainian border. so we must prepare for the worst not knowing what those intentions are. i do think that president biden needs to be very clear and very strong in his message to vladimir putin. mike: so congressman, what's to stop vladimir putin if he goes into ukraine from potentially continuing on from there? congressman: well, you know, ukraine is not a nato country but to ukraine's west our nato countries, at that point i don't happened to believe that putin would be crazy enough to invade a nato country because at the point the treaty obligations under 5 w

i grew up in taiwan. chinese food is at all-time favorite. >> reporter: this is the first time this family is visiting san francisco. >> we just looked at whatever was open. it was this or a jewish deli for dinner. >> reporter: do to the omicron variant rapidly spreading, the teahouse implemented a covid booster requirement. we spotted plenty of people enjoying the holiday lights tonight at the square. >> the vaccination requirement was no problem for us. it was easy enough and it was great in the restaurant. >> reporter: restaurants like this one say that they are thankful they can serve customers during the holidays with a healthy staff. >> my son asked how come you need to work on christmas. i was like that he is like santa claus. you know. we need to make people happy. >> reporter: in san francisco, kpix 5. >>> glide memorial church fed thousands of needy people in san francisco. sean was in the line for the annual christmas meal. he noted some changes. >> reporter: hot ham and turkey were back this y

proliferating nuclear weapons toss kalia ostensibly against china with reports. us troops are now in taiwan with biden, undermining strategic ambiguity repeatedly in verbal remarks with ongoing attempts to rally a new alliance in asia against beijing, with constant provocations in the south china sea, with washington propaganda machine constantly dehumanizing china unfairly accusing of genocide and gross human rights violations. i wouldn't say the u. s. is being careful, i would say rather, that it's being extremely aggressive. we're in a very fraught moment. the pandemic, of course, has made things even more tight. and so i think what we're saying is 2 countries. and the case with russia and china that have a lot of shared teaching interest and finding that close consultation benefits. most of them, i think that they have some shared strategic interest. but i think we see it on, on multiple fronts. i think both of them are tired of the dollar as the global reserve currency. i think they're both tired of this sort of irrational flip flop politics coming out of washington. i think they under

with respect to ukraine against russia, or taiwan against mainland china, or how the u. s. stand or the proliferation of nuclear weapon to australia. the bigger question now is whether other countries will follow washington fleet and in post, similar boycotts, and how china will respond. it's always unfortunate when you know the olympics is, is politicized. but i do think that the trend in american china relations, despite the brief moment of call that seem to be expressed in the, in the video conference between general secretary, she and president biden, that that seems to have passed. and we're back to or more overtly hostile attitude . it's interesting, of course, that american athletes will still be competing. american corporations that sponsor the olympics and broadcast out on television, of course don't want to lose out on their revenues. so i think that there's a very interesting dichotomy here between this attitude on the part of the government and the broader position of, of the olympics. while a deeper dive into the arts, or indeed any of this, our stories can

lies. militarize themselves pharmacy, posing china's authoritarian control in hong kong, threatening taiwan and japan on a daily basis. china is the strategic problem in the region and back to the point. the thing thank is now partnered with the social media joint, helping to decide and coordinate what information users have access to. and what is sentence it so much for independent analysis and serving the public conversation is little wonder that some question whose interests does this really serve? britain's royal college of midwives has said, sorry for its latest supposedly inclusive guidelines which make no reference to women or mothers, but only to postnatal. people responding to complaints the college called data and oversight. the organization had taken advice from the controversial pro diversity group, stonewall a former n h s nurse. we spoke to say the lobby group or the r c. m itself has no right to tell midwives what to think starving, healthiest, why they apologized because of the instantaneous backlash. how service is sac her to be a safe environment for this normal process is

that is channels. mainland, with china's taiwan properties, is a mega trends of our time. it will happen sooner or later. it will happen peacefully if we can, and not peacefully if it has. so we need to prepare for that the day when the reunification will happen. and i personally believe no force whatever from whichever part of the world will be able to stand in a way of chinese people's reunification. now, you know, repeated the expert opinion over the decade saying china's economy was about to blow up its poor growth. all the rest of it. we have headlines in nature, nation media saying you have massive power goods. you learn human rights abuses, engine jang.

well, over half of americans disapproves beijing considers taiwan part of china. but the island sees itself as independent. that lithuania allowed, the taiwanese office to open was seen as undermining china's territorial integrity . lithuania blatantly creates a one china, one time one precedent in the global community, which completely deviates from the political commitment between china and lithuania . it violates the one china principal, the basic norm of the universal consensus in the international community and will inevitably be disdained and rejected. because at the rising, the situation, step by step from the bane wisdom all it's diplomats in china. so of course, this become as like a to counter the warm now. so of course north it is a tree the war or how the war. however, as is going more and the more deeper even us or other european countess, they are not to to patch it out by the night, however. and you did that. so that's why an antenna have to use a more stress. and of course, a lot of companies in germany, so you for they use a diesel and use a compo

incursions on taiwan and taiwanese airspace. all of this we can do in a number of manners. of course, militarily, making sure we are maintaining freedom of navigation is extremely important. making sure we are countering any cyberthreats who our systems. banking, utilities, so forth. pushing back on that. very clear message from the president to president she is very helpful. we had a lost opportunity when president biden requested to meet with president xi but senator she is the one that took center stage and maintained dominance. while we want to engage in trade and other activities, we cannot allow any nefarious types of activities. >> chris: i ron, senator, as you made it clear to me you think ed is for the u.s. get bak into the iran nuclear dear. michelle, we are talking about a situation that is change so dramatically since president trump pulled out of the deal. they are up to 60% enrichment of uranium and has an array of advanced centrifuges. is it too late to go back to the deal? has the genie gone out and left the bottle? >> michele: the mess we're seeing today as

it is designed to take the island of taiwan posed a serious challenge to peace and the drive to master technology and control data risks giving it too much leverage over our lives. >> china is controed by an authoritarian regime, and often their interests clash with ours. what i'm saying is we need to be very robust in fighting our corner. >> today's rare interview came ahead of the chief of mi6's first major speech. going public is about trying to build support for the secret service, including trying to get businesses, especially in the tech sector, to help. something vital in the competition with china. russia remains an acute threat. its aggressive activity has seen in the salisbury poisonings on the upward trend. a troop buildup on the border of ukraine has led to fears of a fallout invasion, -- full out invasion, leading to warnings. >> moscow should be in no doubt of the support of the sovereignty and integrity of the ukraine. within its internationally recognized borders, including crimea. >> when it comes to terrorism. the speed of the taliban takeover in afghanistan caught ev

lies militarized themselves. shawnasee, posing china's authoritarian control in hong kong, threatening taiwan and japan on a daily basis. china is the strategic problem in the region and back to the point. the thing thank is now partnered with the social media joint, helping to decide and coordinate what information users have access to and what is sensitive so much for an opponent, analysis and serving the public conversation is little wonder that some question whose interests does this really serve twitter stresses that his goal is to ensure the integrity of public conversation and alexandra, bruno, and independent. political analysts says as much more to it than that there is a climate of tension of geopolitical tension already surrounding that. so it's not surprising that twitter is very happy to comply to you the, let's put at the u. s. mainstream or the deep state view. i'm not surprised at all that they cooperating with an institute such as the australian, and that's not the only one there cooperating with the perhaps they chose those too early to appear independent, but they don't exp

and china had it face as a similar problem with taiwan. and it, even while it has landed the united states into a bit of a, into a bit of an embarrassing situation when basically joe biden, i had to cut the taiwanese representative. sure. during one over the video video conference calls in washington. because that tie one was painted into a different color other than china. this, of course being a very sensitive situation for bay gene. it seems that the relationship that the alliance between russia and china and if not grow stronger, but rather it stays as strong as it has. and there are no cracks, you know, to spider, through the relations between moscow and beijing. harry potter also j. k. rowling. as once again angered the transgender community, this time by objecting to suspects of rapists, self identifying as women. more on that story after the break. ah ah, ah, ah. ah. london love polls, particularly when poles further a certain political agenda, but polling has a check. her history as of late the last 2 election cycles, tell us as m

lithuania last month after a time when he is representative office opened in vilnius, beijing considers taiwan part of china, but the island sees itself as independent. that lithuania allowed the time when he's office to open was seen as undermining china's territorial integrity. with 20 or blatantly created one china, one time one precedent in the global community which completely deviates from the political commitment between china and lithuania, it violates the one china principal, the basic norm of the universal consensus in the international community and will inevitably be disdained and rejected it because i rise in the situation step by step by we john all, it's the promise in china. so of course of this become just like to come to the wall now also of course there is a trade war or you hold a war hymer. this can be more on the more paper, even us or other european counters not to, to catch you out the night however, it is. so that's why i kind of have to use more stress. and of course, congress, germany. so if they use obesity, i mean if a component so this, well, they will be in you s

real impact on improving relations with china or improving our stature in defending relations with taiwan. with.

it faces a similar problem with taiwan and it, even while it has landed the united states into a bit of i'm into a bit of an embarrassing situation when basically, joe biden had to cut the taiwanese representative. sure. during the one over the video video conference calls in washington because their tie one was painted into a different color other than china. this, of course being a very sensitive situation for b ging. so it seems that the relationship that the aligns between russia and china if not, grow stronger, but rather it stays as strong as it has. and there are no cracks, you know, to spider, through the relations between moscow and beijing. we have a diplomatically put thanks for the update english down of our correspondence rampant western speculation about a possible russian invasion of ukraine. it's prompted a french army p to tell this channel to shut up shop in europe saying there is no need for artes alleged propaganda, as there are enough, quote, useful idiots about to spread the kremlin message. good ladonna go say i would like to give a piece of advice to russia to

administration has also faced popular anger over its decision to switch diplomatic allegiance to beijing from taiwan. a second woman who says that jeffrey epstein sexually abused her has been testifying in the ghislaine maxwell trial in new york. ms maxwell, who was a close confidant of epstein, has pleaded not guilty to eight counts of sex trafficking and other charges. jeffrey epstein, who was a convicted sex offender, died in a new york prison cell in 2019 as he awaited trial on sex trafficking charges in a federal case. we have been following events in court. kate's age was a real issue of contention between the prosecution and the defence. she was 17 at the time of the alleged abuse, which is the age of consent in britain. and so the judge instructed the jury that any of the sex acts she testified about were not to be considered illegal acts. instead, the prosecution really used her to lay out their argument about how ghislaine maxwell really was central to jeffrey epstein�*s world, and specifically, this effort of grooming young girls for sexual abuse. and so, kate detailed how she first met