'He had all the power': Harvey Weinstein retrial begins in New York

The retrial of Harvey Weinstein has begun in New York - with a prosecutor telling the court the former Hollywood mogul used "dream opportunities as weapons" to prey on the three women accusing him of sexual abuse.

The case is being retried five years after the landmark #MeToo case against the producer, who was once one of the industry's most powerful figures, after the appeals court last year overturned his conviction. Weinstein, who is now 73, is charged with raping one woman and forcing oral sex on two others.

He has strenuously denied the allegations. Two of the charges are those he faced during the original trial, while the third - one of the charges of forcing oral sex - was added last year.

Following a lengthy jury selection process due to the high-profile nature of the retrial, the prosecution has now opened its case at the same courthouse in Manhattan - and publicly identified the third woman, Kaja Sokola, for the first time, detailing her allegations. Attorney Shannon Lucey told the court the Oscar-winning producer and studio boss used "dream opportunities as weapons" against the female accusers.

"The defendant wanted their bodies, and the more they resisted, the more forceful he got," she said. Weinstein had "enormous control over those working in TV and film because he decided who was in and who was out," the court heard.

"He had all the power. They had none." Dressed in a dark suit and navy tie, the former producer listened to the prosecution's statement after arriving in court in a wheelchair, as he has done for his recent appearances.

"He knew how tempting promises of success were," Ms Lucey told the court. "He produced, he choreographed, he therefore directed, their ultimate silence for years." What are the new allegations? Prosecutors say Ms Sokola met Weinstein in 2002 after travelling alone to New York for a modelling trip when she was 16.

He invited her to lunch to discuss potential acting jobs but detoured to his apartment and demanded she take off her shirt if she wanted to make it in the industry, she alleges. He then fondled her while making her touch him, she claims.

The court heard Ms Sokola and Weinstein stayed in touch over the next few years. He arranged for her to be an extra in the film The Nanny Diaries, jurors were told, and she invited him to lunch with her sister, who was visiting her.

Afterwards, he allegedly asked her to see him in a hotel room in Manhattan, saying he had scripts for her to see. He then asked her to undress, held her down on a bed, and forced oral sex on her as she tearfully begged for him not to do so, Ms Lucey told the court.

Ms Sokola was photographed with Weinstein and a third person at an event in the weeks after, and his company wrote her a recommendation letter for acting school, jurors heard. Power imbalances often "cause victims to behave in ways that laypersons possibly might not expect.