Manhattan's top prosecutor Cyrus Vance praised the women who testified against Harvey Weinstein -- convicted Monday on two charges of sexual assault and rape -- for changing "the course of history" in prosecuting sex crimes.

"This is the new landscape for sexual violence survivors, it is a new day," Vance told reporters outside the New York courthouse where a 12-person jury found Weinstein guilty of sexual assault while clearing him on the most serious predatory charges. "

Rape is rape," he said. "It's rape even if there is no physical evidence, and even if it happened a long time ago.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)