Kevin Spacey takes the stand at trial
NEW YORK — Embattled actor Kevin Spacey took the witness stand Monday at his Manhattan trial, where he launched into his testimony by revealing his rocky relationship with a “neo-Nazi” father who verbally abused him because he suspected his son was gay.
Spacey, who is being sued in Manhattan federal court by actor Anthony Rapp in a $40 million civil lawsuit that claims the older actor aggressively came on to him in 1986 when he was 14, told jurors that his father was a white supremacist who ”used to yell at me about the idea I might be gay because I was interested in theater, and he didn’t encourage me in that way,” said Spacey, adding that his dad would “scream” homophobic slurs at him.
“He would use an F-word that is very derogatory to the gay community,” added Spacey, 63.
Spacey’s testimony comes after Rapp testified over three days last week that the alleged incident at the heart of his lawsuit was the most traumatic event of his life.
Rapp claims Spacey, then 26, came on to him after a party at his Upper East Side apartment and laid on top of him with “dead weight” before the teen squirmed out from under Spacey and ran off.
Lawyers for Spacey have accused Rapp of having an ax to grind because Spacey didn’t come out as gay until late in his career.Spacey revealed his sexuality in a statement responding to Rapp’s allegations in 2017.
—New York Daily News
Top CDC official says Title 42 border policy ‘came from outside’
WASHINGTON — A top health official told a House select subcommittee that a directive that has restricted asylum access at the southwest border since the pandemic was drafted without input from the nation’s top health agency but was instead “handed to” them, a report published Monday states.
Martin Cetron, director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s division of global migration and quarantine, told the panel that the idea for the border directive, known as the Title 42 order, “came from outside the CDC subject matter experts.”
Cetron said the proposed Title 42 order, which was issued by the CDC and has allowed border agents to rapidly expel migrants who cross the border without considering their asylum claim since March 2020, was “not drafted by me or my team” but rather was “handed to us,” the report states.
Cetron also told Congress that Stephen Miller, one of former President Donald Trump’s immigration advisers who was instrumental in the Trump administration’s earlier policy to separate migrant families at the border, was involved in creating the policy.
Biden administration officials have maintained publicly that the order, implemented during his predecessor’s administration, is intended to curb the spread of COVID-19. Speaking at a White House briefing last year, Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas called Title 42 “a public health authority and not an immigration policy.”
But Cetron’s testimony, included in a 94-page report by the House Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Crisis, offers more evidence to back what immigrant advocates have long argued: that the Title 42 order was crafted as an immigration enforcement tool, not as a public health one.
—CQ Roll Call
Truss sees UK vision dismantled as rivals fight for her job
LONDON — U.K. Prime Minister Liz Truss was clinging to power on Monday after suffering the abject humiliation of being forced to U-Turn on much of the economic program she announced only last month.
The premier watched on in the House of Commons as Chancellor of the Exchequer Jeremy Hunt, the former leadership rival she installed to rescue her premiership, dismantled much of what was left of her Sept. 23 “Growth Plan.” She later apologized for her mistakes in a BBC television interview.
The astonishing reversal — designed to bring stability to the financial markets after weeks of turmoil — leaves Truss in office but toothless and unable to proceed with the tax-cutting platform that won her the Conservative Party leadership contest.
Now, even the premier’s closest supporters are asking how long her leadership can last, according to ministers and aides in her government, who asked not to be named discussing her future. Truss is braced for further challenges to her authority incoming days, they said.
However, both Truss allies and internal opponents expressed doubts that she could be removed as soon as this week. Only five Tory MPs have publicly called for her to quit, and some two-thirds would need to do so for Conservative leadership rules to be changed. She’s currently protected for her first year of office.
“I’m sticking around because I was elected to deliver for this country,” Truss told the BBC late on Monday. “I will lead the Conservatives into the next general election.”
Hunt’s statement followed Truss’ sacking three days ago of his predecessor, Kwasi Kwarteng, in a desperate bid to stay in power.
—Bloomberg News
France braces for disruption as railways to join strike Tuesday
France is bracing for more work and travel disruption Tuesday as the CGT and other labor unions ask workers across industries to join a walkout by some refinery employees to demand higher wages as inflation dents purchasing power.
RATP, the operator of the Paris transit system, said services of its express RER trains and buses will be affected, while Eurostar, the train operator linking Paris to London, has canceled two journeys Monday afternoon, and another four on Tuesday.Other high-speed rail services will be mildly affected and the CGT union wants port workers to stop for several hours Tuesday.
“The labor action is launched,” Philippe Martinez, head of the CGT union, said on France Inter radio Monday. “Employees will decide tomorrow if it’s a one-off, or if another action is needed.”
The labor strife at refineries, which has led to fuel shortages in many parts of France, is undermining an economy that’s already grappling with surging energy costs as Russia cuts natural gas deliveries to Europe. To make matters worse, some employees at Electricite de France SA, the country’s biggest power producer, have also walked off the job, forcing it to start reducing output and delaying some maintenance on nuclear reactors in recent days.
—Bloomberg News
