By MICHAEL R. SISAK and JENNIFER PELTZ, Associated Press

NEW YORK (AP) — Five years after Harvey Weinstein ’s original #MeToo trial delivered a searing reckoning for one of Hollywood’s most powerful figures, the ex-studio boss is on trial again after an appeals court threw out the landmark rape conviction.

Opening statements are set for Wednesday in a trial that could take six weeks.

It’s happening at the same Manhattan courthouse as his first trial, and two accusers who testified then are expected to return.

But Weinstein’s retrial is playing out at a different cultural moment than the first, which happened during the height of the #MeToo movement. And along with the charges being retried, he faces an additional allegation from a woman who wasn’t involved in the first case.

The jury counts seven women and five men — unlike the seven-man, five-woman panel that convicted him in 2020 — and there’s a different judge.

The #MeToo movement, which exploded in 2017 with allegations against Weinstein, has also evolved and ebbed.

At the start of Weinstein’s first trial, chants of “rapist” could be heard from protesters outside.

TV trucks lined the street, and reporters queued for hours to get a seat in the packed courtroom. His lawyers decried the “carnival-like atmosphere” and fought unsuccessfully to get the trial moved from Manhattan.

This time though, over five days of jury selection, there was none of that.

Those realities, coupled with the New York Court of Appeals’ ruling last year vacating his 2020 conviction and 23-year prison sentence — because the judge allowed testimony about allegations Weinstein was not charged with — are shaping everything from retrial legal strategy to the atmosphere in court.

Weinstein, 73, is being retried on a criminal sex act charge for allegedly forcibly performing oral sex on a movie and TV production assistant, Miriam Haley, in 2006 and a third-degree rape charge for allegedly assaulting an aspiring actor, Jessica Mann, in a Manhattan hotel room in 2013.

Weinstein also faces a criminal sex act charge for allegedly forcing oral sex on a different woman at a Manhattan hotel in 2006. Prosecutors said that the woman, who hasn’t been named publicly, came forward days before his first trial but wasn’t part of that case. They said they revisited her allegations when his conviction was thrown out.

The Associated Press does not generally identify people alleging sexual assault unless they consent to be named, as Haley and Mann have done.

Weinstein has pleaded not guilty and denies raping or sexually assaulting anyone. His acquittals on the two most serious charges at his 2020 trial — predatory sexual assault and first-degree rape — still stand.

Lindsay Goldbrum, a lawyer for the unnamed accuser, said Weinstein’s retrial marks a “pivotal moment in the fight for accountability in sex abuse cases” and a “signal to other survivors that the system is catching up — and that it’s worth speaking out even when the odds seem insurmountable.”

This time around, the Manhattan district attorney’s office is prosecuting Weinstein through its Special Victims Division, which specializes in such cases, after homicide veterans helmed the 2020 version. At the same time, Weinstein has added several lawyers to his defense team — including Jennifer Bonjean, who is involved in appealing his 2022 rape conviction in Los Angeles. She helped Bill Cosby get his conviction overturned and defended R. Kelly in his sex crimes case.

“This trial is not going to be all about #MeToo. It’s going to be about the facts of what took place,” Weinstein’s lead attorney, Arthur Aidala, said recently. “And that’s a big deal. And that’s the way it’s supposed to be.”

But there has been some talk of #MeToo already. A prosecutor asked prospective jurors whether they’d heard of the movement. Most said that they had but that it wouldn’t affect them either way.

Others went further.

A woman opined that “not enough has been done” as a result of #MeToo. A man explained that he had negative feelings about it because his high school classmates had been falsely accused of sexual assault.

Another man said he viewed #MeToo like other social movements: “It’s a pendulum. It swings way one way, then way the other way, and then it settles.”

None of them are on the jury.

By VALERIE GONZALEZ and GISELA SALOMON, Associated Press

McALLEN, Texas (AP) — Hubert Montoya burst out laughing when the U.S. Department of Homeland Security emailed to say he should leave the country immediately or risk consequences of being deported. He is a U.S. citizen.

“I just thought it was absurd,” the Austin, Texas, immigration attorney said.

It was an apparent glitch in the Trump administration’s dismantling of another Biden-era policy that allowed people to live and work in the country temporarily. U.S. Customs and Border Protection is quietly revoking two-year permits of people who used an online appointment app at U.S. border crossings with Mexico called CBP One, which brought in more than 900,000 people starting in January 2023.

The revocation of CBP One permits has lacked the fanfare and formality of canceling Temporary Protected Status for hundreds of thousands whose homelands were previously deemed unsafe for return and humanitarian parole for others from Cuba, Haiti, Nicaragua and Venezuela who came with financial sponsors. Those moves came with official notices in the Federal Register and press releases. Judges halted them from taking effect after advocacy groups sued.

CBP One cancellation notices began landing in inboxes in late March without warning, some telling recipients to leave immediately and others giving them seven days. Targets included U.S. citizens.

Timothy J. Brenner, a Connecticut-born lawyer in Houston, was told April 11 to leave the U.S. “I became concerned that the administration has a list of immigration attorneys or a database that they’re trying to target to harass,” he said.

CBP confirmed in a statement that it issued notices terminating temporary legal status under CBP One. It did not say how many, just that they weren’t sent to all beneficiaries, which totaled 936,000 at the end of December.

CBP said notices may have been sent to unintended recipients, including attorneys, if beneficiaries provided contact information for U.S. citizens. It is addressing those situations case-by-case.

Online chat groups reflect fear and confusion, which, according to critics, is the administration’s intended effect. Brenner said three clients who received the notices chose to return to El Salvador after being told to leave.

“The fact that we don’t know how many people got this notice is part of the problem. We’re getting reports from attorneys and folks who don’t know what to make of the notice,” said Hillary Li, counsel for the Justice Action Center, an advocacy group.

President Donald Trump suspended CBP One for new arrivals his first day in office but those already in the U.S. believed they could stay at least until their two-year permits expired. The cancellation notices that some received ended that sense of temporary stability. “It is time for you to leave the United States,” the letters began.

FILE – Migrants seeking asylum leave an immigration office after their scheduled meetings were canceled and they were turned away soon after President Donald Trump canceled the CBP One app, Jan. 20, 2025, in Matamoros, Mexico. (AP Photo/Eric Gay, File)

“It’s really confusing,” said Robyn Barnard, senior director for refugee advocacy at Human Rights First. “Imagine how people who entered through that process feel when they’re hearing through their different community chats, rumors or screenshots that some friends have received notice and others didn’t.”

Attorneys say some CBP One beneficiaries may still be within a one-year window to file an asylum claim or seek other relief.

Notices have been sent to others whose removal orders are on hold under other forms of temporary protection. A federal judge in Massachusetts temporarily halted deportations for more than 500,000 Cubans, Haitians, Nicaraguans and Venezuelans who came since late 2022 after applying online with a financial sponsor and flying to a U.S. airport at their own expense.

Maria, a 48-year-old Nicaraguan woman who cheered Trump’s election and arrived via that path, said the notice telling her to leave landed like “a bomb. It paralyzed me.”

Maria, who asked to be named only by her middle name for fear of being detained and deported, said in a telephone interview from Florida that she would continue cleaning houses to support herself and file for asylum.

Salomon reported from Miami. Associated Press writers Rebecca Santana in Washington and Elliot Spagat in San Diego contributed.

By ILLIA NOVIKOV, AAMER MADHANI and JILL LAWLESS, Associated Press

KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — A planned meeting Wednesday between top U.S., British, French and Ukrainian diplomats to push forward a peace deal between Russia and Ukraine was scrapped at the last minute, with U.S. Vice President JD Vance saying negotiations are reaching a moment of truth.

“We’ve issued a very explicit proposal to both the Russians and the Ukrainians, and it’s time for them to either say yes or for the United States to walk away from this process,” Vance told reporters during a visit Wednesday to Agra, India.

He said it was “a very fair proposal” that would “freeze the territorial lines at some level close to where they are today,” with both sides having to give up some territory they currently hold. He did not provide further details of the proposal.

U.S. Vice President JD Vance arrives to speak at the Rajasthan International Center in Jaipur, India, Tuesday, April 22, 2025. (AP Photo/Manish Swarup)

Vance’s comments came a day after Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy ruled out ceding territory to Russia as part of any potential peace agreement, calling it a nonstarter. The Ukrainian leader spoke Tuesday in response to reports the Trump administration was proposing a deal that would allow Russia to keep occupied Ukrainian territory as part of a potential peace agreement.

U.K. Foreign Secretary David Lammy announced the talks in London to find an end to the more than three-year war would involve only lower-ranking officials after the U.S. State Department said Tuesday that Secretary of State Marco Rubio was unable to attend because of a scheduling issue.

Rubio’s abrupt cancelation raised doubts about the direction of the negotiations.

Commenting on those attending the London talks, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said that “as far as we understand, they so far have failed to bring their positions closer on some issues.”

He said the Kremlin was still in consultations with American officials but wouldn’t publicly discuss details.

U.S. special envoy Steve Witkoff is expected to visit Moscow again later this week, according to Russian officials.

Even achieving a limited, 30-day ceasefire has been beyond the reach of negotiators, as both sides have continued to attack each other in a grinding war of attrition along the 620-mile front line and launch long-range strikes.

A Russian drone struck a bus carrying workers in Marganets, in eastern Ukraine’s Dnipropetrovsk region on Wednesday morning, killing eight women and one man, regional head Serhii Lysak wrote on his Telegram channel. More than 40 people were injured, he said.

Lysak published photos of a bus with its windows blown out and shards of glass mixed with blood spattered on the bus floor.

Ukrainian delegation arrives in London despite change in U.S. plans

President Donald Trump has pushed for an end to the war and said last week that negotiations were “coming to a head.” That comment came after Rubio suggested that the U.S. might soon back away from negotiations if they don’t progress.

Rubio had indicated that Wednesday’s meeting could be decisive in determining whether the Trump administration remains engaged.

Those still attending the meeting included retired Lt. Gen. Keith Kellogg, Trump’s envoy for Ukraine and Russia.

Andrii Yermak, the head of Ukraine’s presidential office, said on X that a delegation including him, Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha and Defense Minister Rustem Umerov had arrived in London for the talks despite the alterations.

“The path to peace is not easy, but Ukraine has been and remains committed to peaceful efforts,” Yermak said. Officials would “discuss ways to achieve a full and unconditional ceasefire as the first step toward a comprehensive settlement and the achievement of a just and lasting peace.”

Zelenskyy rejects ceding territory to Moscow

During similar talks last week in Paris, U.S. officials presented a proposal that included allowing Russia to keep control of occupied Ukrainian territory as part of a deal, according to a European official familiar with the matter.

Zelenskyy pushed back against that during an appearance in Kyiv, saying: “There is nothing to talk about — it is our land, the land of the Ukrainian people.”

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy speaks during a press conference in Kyiv, Ukraine, on Tuesday, April 22, 2025. (AP Photo/Evgeniy Maloletka)

Russia, meanwhile, has effectively rejected a U.S. proposal for an immediate and full 30-day halt in the fighting by imposing far-reaching conditions.

Trump said repeatedly during his election campaign last year that he would be able to end the war “in 24 hours” upon taking office. But he has expressed frustration with Zelenskyy and Russian President Vladimir Putin.

Some European allies are wary of the American proposal for Ukraine to exchange land for peace. But an official said there’s also acknowledgment by some allies that Russia is firmly entrenched wholly or partially in five regions of Ukraine — Crimea, Luhansk, Donetsk, Zaporizhzhia and Kherson.

If the goal is to obtain a ceasefire immediately, “it should be based on the line of contact as it is,” said a senior French official. The official was not authorized to be publicly named and spoke on the condition of anonymity according to French presidential policy.

Moscow holds advantage on the battlefield

Still, Ukraine’s territorial integrity and aspirations to strengthen ties with the rest of the continent are a top priority for the Europeans, the European official said.

Britain had downplayed expectations of a breakthrough in London, but says this is an important week for diplomatic efforts to stop the fighting.

Western analysts say Moscow is in no rush to conclude peace talks, because it has battlefield momentum and wants to capture more Ukrainian land.

Zelenskyy said Tuesday that Ukraine’s delegation heading to the U.K. had a mandate to discuss only an unconditional or partial ceasefire with Russia. He said that “after a ceasefire, we’re prepared to sit down for talks in any format.”

Novikov reported from Kyiv and Madhani from Washington. Angela Charlton in Paris contributed.

By KELVIN CHAN, Associated Press Business Writer

LONDON (AP) — European Union watchdogs fined Apple and Meta hundreds of millions of euros Wednesday as they stepped up enforcement of the 27-nation bloc’s digital competition rules.

The European Commission imposed a 500 million euro ($571 million) fine on Apple for preventing app makers from pointing users to cheaper options outside its App Store.

The commission, which is the EU’s executive arm, also fined Meta Platforms 200 million euros because it forced Facebook and Instagram users to choose between seeing personalized ads or paying to avoid them.

The punishments were smaller than the blockbuster multibillion-euro fines that the commission has previously slapped on Big Tech companies in antitrustcases.

Apple and Meta have to comply with the decisions within 60 days or risk unspecified “periodic penalty payments,” the commission said.

The decisions were expected to come in March, but the self-imposed deadline slipped amid an escalating trans-Atlantic trade war with U.S. President Donald Trump, who has repeatedly complained about regulations from Brussels affecting American companies.

The penalties were issued under the EU’s Digital Markets Act, also known as the DMA. It’s a sweeping rulebook that amounts to a set of do’s and don’ts designed to give consumers and businesses more choice and prevent Big Tech “gatekeepers” from cornering digital markets.

The DMA seeks to ensure “that citizens have full control over when and how their data is used online, and businesses can freely communicate with their own customers,” Henna Virkkunen, the commission’s executive vice-president for tech sovereignty, said in a statement.

“The decisions adopted today find that both Apple and Meta have taken away this free choice from their users and are required to change their behavior,” Virkkunen said.

Both companies indicated they would appeal.

Apple accused the commission of “unfairly targeting” the iPhone maker, and said it “continues to move the goal posts” despite the company’s efforts to comply with the rules.

Meta Chief Global Affairs Officer Joel Kaplan said in a statement that the “Commission is attempting to handicap successful American businesses while allowing Chinese and European companies to operate under different standards.”

In a press briefing in Brussels, commission spokespeople sought to tamp down concerns that the penalties would inflame trade tensions.

“We don’t care who owns a company. We don’t care where the company is located,” commission spokesperson Thomas Regnier told reporters. “We are totally agnostic on that front from a European Union.”

“And be it a Chinese company, be an American company, or be it a European company, you will have to play by the rules in the European Union.”

In the App Store case, the Commission had accused the iPhone maker of imposing unfair rules preventing app developers from freely steering consumers to other channels.

Among the DMA’s provisions are requirements to let developers inform customers of cheaper purchasing options and direct them to those offers.

The commission said it ordered Apple to remove technical and commercial restrictions that prevent developers from steering users to other channels, and to end “non-compliant” conduct.

Apple said it has “spent hundreds of thousands of engineering hours and made dozens of changes to comply with this law, none of which our users have asked for.”

“Despite countless meetings, the Commission continues to move the goal posts every step of the way,” the company said.

The EU’s Meta investigation centered on the company’s strategy to comply with strict European data privacy rules by giving users the option of paying for ad-free versions of Facebook and Instagram.

Users could pay at least $11.40 a month to avoid being targeted by ads based on their personal data. The U.S. tech giant rolled out the option after the European Union’s top court ruled Meta must first get consent before showing ads to users.

Regulators took issue with Meta’s model, saying it doesn’t allow users to exercise their right to “freely consent” to allowing their personal data from its various services, which also including Facebook Marketplace, WhatsApp, and Messenger, to be combined for personalized ads.

Meta rolled out a third option in November giving Facebook and Instagram users in Europe the option to see fewer personalized ads if they don’t want to pay for an ad-free subscription. The commission said it’s “currently assessing” this option and continues to hold talks with Meta, and has asked the company to provide evidence of the new option’s impact.

“This isn’t just about a fine; the Commission forcing us to change our business model effectively imposes a multi-billion-dollar tariff on Meta while requiring us to offer an inferior service,” Kaplan said. “And by unfairly restricting personalized advertising the European Commission is also hurting European businesses and economies.”