One of Harvey Weinstein’s accusers on Wednesday again told a New York court that he had raped her, five years after she testified in the first sexual assault trial of the disgraced Hollywood producer.Miriam Haley, 48, is one of dozens of women who have accused Weinstein of harassment, sexual assault or rape — a list that includes Angelina Jolie, Gwyneth Paltrow and Ashley Judd. Their accounts helped galvanize the #MeToo movement.Weinstein’s 2020 convictions on charges relating to Haley and aspiring actress Jessica Mann were overturned last year by the New York Court of Appeals, which ruled that the way witnesses were handled in the original trial was unlawful.Back in a Manhattan courtroom, Haley again tearfully recalled the day in July 2006 when she says she accepted an invitation to visit Weinstein’s Soho apartment. At the time, she was a showbiz production assistant looking for work.She had previously met Weinstein and refused his sexual advances, but had just wrapped up a contract on a TV show made by his production company, and needed a new job.Haley, who was born in Finland and has also used the name Mimi Haleyi, told the court that Weinstein suddenly “lunged at me, tried to kiss me.”She said she got up from the sofa, but Weinstein did as well, and he eventually forced her into his bedroom and held her down with “a lot of force.””I couldn’t get away from him,” she told the jury, explaining that despite her pleas for him to stop, Weinstein then forcibly performed oral sex on her and she realized she was being “raped.””I just decided to check out and endure it,” she told the court, adding that she did not initially file a criminal complaint because her visa did not officially allow her to work and she feared being expelled from the country.Across the courtroom, the 73-year-old Weinstein occasionally shook his head during her testimony. Otherwise, he listened attentively from his wheelchair, his head resting on one of his hands.- ‘I felt so stupid’ -The former Miramax studio boss is charged in the New York retrial with the 2006 sexual assault of Haley and the 2013 rape of Mann. He also faces a new count for an alleged sexual assault of a 19-year-old in 2006.Accusers describe the impresario as a predator who used his perch atop the cinema industry to pressure actresses and assistants for sexual favors, often in hotel rooms.Weinstein — the producer of a string of box office hits such as “Pulp Fiction” and “Shakespeare in Love” — has never acknowledged any wrongdoing and has always maintained that the encounters were consensual.He is serving a 16-year prison sentence after being convicted in California of raping and assaulting a European actress more than a decade ago.His defense team plans to emphasize that Haley remained in touch with Weinstein after the alleged assault. Haley admitted she had seen Weinstein again in late July 2006 and had consensual sex with him at that time. “I felt so stupid,” she said. “I was desperate for work.”She also exchanged multiple emails with him, she told the court, until at least 2009.She only broke her silence in 2017, shortly after The New York Times and The New Yorker published their first investigative pieces about Weinstein’s alleged misdeeds.

The US economy unexpectedly contracted in the first three months of the year on an import surge triggered by Donald Trump’s tariff plans, although the president pinned the blame squarely on his predecessor.The sharp increase in imports was a reflection of businesses and consumers stockpiling foreign goods to get ahead of Trump’s sweeping trade levies, which went into effect earlier this month.All three major Wall Street indices fell on the economic news, before paring losses to close mixed, while oil prices extended their losses.At a cabinet meeting in Washington, Trump insisted the growth downturn was the legacy of former president Joe Biden’s policies.”That’s Biden, that’s not Trump,” he said.Striking a more positive tone, he highlighted the “whopping” 22 percent rise in gross domestic investment during the first quarter. Annual economic growth stayed above two percent in every year of Biden’s presidency, reaching 2.8 percent in 2024. The gross domestic product (GDP) of the world’s largest economy decreased at an annual rate of 0.3 percent in the first quarter, after growing 2.4 percent in the final months of 2024, according to Wednesday’s first estimate from the US Commerce Department.This was sharply below the market consensus estimate of 0.4 percent growth, according to Briefing.com, and marked the first quarterly contraction since 2022.The Commerce Department said in a statement that the contraction was in large part down to an “upturn in imports,” aided by a decline in consumer and government spending. – ‘A blaring warning’ -In a statement, the White House called GDP a “backward-looking indicator.””It’s no surprise the leftovers of Biden’s economic disaster have been a drag on economic growth,” White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said.”But the underlying numbers tell the real story of the strong momentum President Trump is delivering.”The GDP figures were published on the 101st day since Trump returned to White House, along with fresh data showing a slowdown in the US Federal Reserve’s favored inflation gauge last month. Trump’s introduction of sweeping tariffs against most countries sparked a selloff in financial markets, sending volatility to levels not seen since the Covid pandemic.”This decline in GDP is a blaring warning to everyone that Donald Trump and Congressional Republicans’ failed MAGA experiment is killing our economy,” top Senate Democrat Chuck Schumer said in a statement.- ‘Greater risk of recession’ -Following the dramatic market movements in early April, the Trump administration announced a 90-day pause on the higher tariffs for dozens of countries to allow for trade talks, while maintaining a baseline 10 percent rate for most countries.But the administration has also added to the tariffs on China, with the level of duties introduced since January now totaling 145 percent — with some sector-specific measures pushing levies even higher. Beijing has responded with its own steep, targeted measures against US goods.At the cabinet meeting on Wednesday, Trump said China was getting “hammered” by the tariffs, and said he still hoped to make a deal with Beijing, whom he referred to as “the leading candidate for the chief ripper-offer” of America. “Maybe the children will have two dolls instead of 30 dolls,” Trump said, arguing that the United States did not need many of the things China produced.”And maybe the two dolls will cost a couple of bucks more than they would normally,” he said.Economists at Wells Fargo wrote in an investor note that the US economy is at a greater risk of recession now than a month ago, “but this 0.3 percent contraction in Q1 GDP is not the start of one.””It reflects instead the sudden change in trade policy that culminated in the biggest drag from net exports in data going back more than a half-century.”

The US Supreme Court on Wednesday appeared to be leaning towards allowing public funding of a religious charter school in a case testing the historic separation of church and state.Nearly all 50 US states allow charter schools, of which there are some 8,000 in the country.They are government-funded but operate independently of local school districts and are not allowed to charge tuition or have a religious affiliation.The Catholic Church in Oklahoma is vying to open the nation’s first publicly funded religious charter school, Saint Isidore of Seville.The Oklahoma Supreme Court ruled last year that the public funding mechanism for the proposed Catholic charter school in the central state was unconstitutional.The separation between church and state is a bedrock principle in the United States, rooted in the First Amendment of the Constitution. The separation has been upheld in many Supreme Court decisions.During oral arguments on Wednesday, conservative justices on the court however appeared open to allowing public funding of the school, a position backed by the administration of Republican President Donald Trump.”All the religious school is saying is, ‘Don’t exclude us on account of our religion,'” said Justice Brett Kavanaugh, a conservative Trump appointee.”Our cases have made very clear… you can’t treat religious people and religious institutions and religious speech as second class in the United States,” Kavanaugh said, adding that it “seems like rank discrimination against religion.”The three liberal justices disagreed.”We’re not going to pay religious leaders to teach their religion,” said Justice Sonia Sotomayor, one of the three Democratic appointees.Conservatives hold a 6-3 majority on the nation’s highest court, but Justice Amy Coney Barrett, another Trump appointee, has recused herself from the case, possibly because of previous connections to parties in the case.That leaves Chief Justice John Roberts, a conservative, as the potential swing vote.A 4-4 decision would leave the Oklahoma Supreme Court’s ruling in place.- ‘Dramatic effect’ -Gregory Garre, representing Oklahoma’s attorney general, said a decision in favor of St Isidore would “not only lead to the creation of the nation’s first religious public school,” it would render unconstitutional the entire federal charter school program and the laws governing charter schools in 47 US states.”This is going to have a dramatic effect on charter schools across the country,” Garre said.”Teaching religion as truth in public schools is not allowed,” he added. “St Isidore has made clear that that’s exactly what it wants to do in infusing its school day with the teachings of Jesus Christ.”The Supreme Court’s conservatives have previously demonstrated support for extending religion into public spaces, particularly schools.The court has issued a number of recent rulings blurring the boundaries between church and state, including a decision that a public high school football coach can lead his players in prayer.The court has also allowed parents to use government vouchers to pay for the education of their children at private religious schools.The case was brought by the conservative Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF), and the Supreme Court is expected to issue its ruling by the end of June.Oklahoma’s Republican superintendent Ryan Walters, the highest education official in the state, has been among those pushing for the establishment of the religious charter school.Walters has ordered public schools in Oklahoma to teach the Bible, a move met with lawsuits by parents and teachers.Nationally, there were more than 3.7 million students enrolled in 8,150 charter schools during the 2022-2023 school year, according to the National Alliance for Public Charter Schools.