Herald and Review from Decatur, Illinois • A9

Decatur HeralD review Tuesday, sepTember 11, 2018 A9 1 MATTHEW LEE AND SUSANNAH GEORGE Associated Press WASHINGTON The Trump administration ordered the clo- sure of the Palestinian diplomatic mission in Washington on Monday and threatened sanctions against the International Criminal Court if it pursues investigations against the U.S., Israel, or other allies. The moves are likely to harden Pales- tinian resistance to the U.S. role as a peace broker. The administration cited the refusal of Palestinian leaders to enter into peace talks with Israel as the reason for closing the Pal- estinian Liberation Organization office, though the U.S. has yet to present its plan to resolve the Israel-Palestinian conflict.

The Palestinians accused the admin- istration of dismantling decades of U.S. engagement with them. Shortly after the State Depart- ment announcement, President Donald national security adviser, John Bolton, launched a broadside against The Hague- based International Criminal Court. Bolton declared that the ICC already to the U.S. He also threatened the court and its staff with sanctions if it pro- ceeds with investigations into alleged war crimes by American troops in Afghanistan.

The closure of the PLO office the latest in a series of moves targeting the Palestinians was centered on the fact that no rect and meaningful negotiations with are underway despite previous warnings, the State De- partment said. It said the decision also was in line with U.S. law, a re- flection of congressional concerns and consistent with U.S. policy to oppose and punish Palestinian at- tempts to bring Israel before the ICC. The closure was just the latest move the administration has taken against the Palestinians and in fa- vor of Israel.

Just last month, it canceled more than $200 million in aid for proj- ects in the West Bank and Gaza as well as the remainder of its planned assistance for the U.N. agency that helps Palestinian refugees around the Middle East. Over the week- end, it announced it would cut $25 million in assistance for hospitals in east Jerusalem that provide crit- ical care to Palestinian patients. Trump recognized Jerusalem as capital and moved the U.S. Embassy there in May.

Trump shutters PLO office Trump, Kim plan follow-up summit WASHINGTON President Donald Trump has received a re- quest from North Korean leader Kim Jong Un for a follow-up to their historic June summit, and planning is in motion to make it happen. White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders said Monday that no details were fi- nalized. Sanders said Trump re- ceived a letter from Kim, which she described as warm, very The White House will not release the full letter un- less Kim agrees it should be made public, she said. The primary purpose of the letter was to request and look to schedule another meeting with the president, which we are open to and are already in the process of coordinating Sanders said at her first press briefing in nearly three weeks. GOP leaders unveil new tax-cut plan WASHINGTON House Re- publican leaders have unveiled their proposal to expand the mas- sive tax law they hustled through Congress last year.

aim- ing to make permanent the indi- vidual tax cuts and small-busi- ness income deductions now set to expire in 2026. With midterm elections barely two months away, the second crack at tax cuts outlined Mon- day is portrayed as championing the middle class and small busi- nesses. Republican Rep. Kevin Brady of Texas, who heads the House Ways and Means Com- mittee, is looking toward a vote by the House this month. Its prospects in the Senate are weak, given the slim Republican majority and concern over the potential for further blowing up the deficit with new tax cuts.

BRIEFLY WHITE HOUSE: President Donald Trump vented over White House leaks Monday as Bob new tell-all book commanded at- tention and an anonymous writer detailing in the ad- ministration remained at large. Woodward staunchly defended his work, saying on show that Defense Secretary Jim Mattis and White House chief of staff John Kelly not telling the when they deny mak- ing disparaging remarks about Trump attributed to them. TRADE WAR: China on Monday promised retaliation if U.S. Pres- ident Donald Trump escalates their tariff battle, raising the risk Beijing might target operations of American companies as it runs out of imports for penalties. CLEAN ENERGY: California set a goal of phasing out electricity produced by fossil fuels by 2045 under legislation signed Monday by Gov.

Jerry Brown, who said the policy should serve as a model for other states and nations. NIGER: President Donald Trump drew laughs from some of his aides as he joked about what a terrorism is while discussing an ambush in Niger that left four U.S. sol- diers dead last year, according to a covert recording released Monday by former White House communications aide Omarosa Manigault Newman. THE HAGUE: long-running reluctant rela- tionship with the International Criminal Court came to a crash- ing halt Monday amid threats of sanctions if it investigates U.S. troops in Afghanistan.

National security adviser John Bolton de- nounced the legitimacy of The Hague-based court, which was created in 2002 to prosecute war crimes and crimes of humanity and genocide. ENDANGERED: Deputy Inte- rior Secretary David Bernhardt on Monday defended a plan to revamp the Endangered Spe- cies Act, saying the proposed changes would result in more effective, quicker decisions on species protection. Associated Press DIGEST FELIPE DANA, ASSOCIATED PRESS TEN PALESTINIANS WOUNDED IN ISRAELI BLOCKADE PROTEST a palestinian protester carries a boy monday as he runs from tear gas fired by Israeli soldiers during a protest near the border with Israel in beit Lahiya, northern Gaza strip. Health ministry said Israeli troops wounded 10 palestinians during the conflict. demonstration led by Hamas rulers was, in part, to protest the blockade set by Israel and egypt in 2007 after the militant Islamic group took over.

closure likely to further fuel distrust of US in peace process WAYNE PARRY Associated Press ATLANTIC CITY, N.J. Hours after a new Miss America was crowned, the Miss America Orga- nization released a report Monday denying the out- going one had been bullied by pageant leaders includ- ing chairwoman Gretchen Carlson. The lawyer for former Miss America Cara Mund called the report, com- missioned by the Miss America Organization, and com- plete Mund was not inter- viewed for the report. She had offered to meet with an investigator working on the report after the next Miss America was crowned Sunday, but pageant officials insisted it had to happen before then. The report was in- tended to put an end to a turbulent year in which the former leaders of the Miss America Organi- zation were forced from office by a misogynistic email scandal, new fe- male leaders took over and dropped the swim- suit competition, state pageant officials revolted against the new leader- ship, and Mund herself took the extraordinary step of saying Carlson and CEO Regina Hopper bullied her.

But it does not appear the issue is going away anytime soon. Roger Haber, attorney, rejected the re- port. document is not only dishonest, but a complete he said. Report: No finding of bullying DEL QUENTIN WILBER Tribune News Service WASHINGTON FBI agent Dave Le- Valley was driving to work in Manhattan when he saw the first jetliner strike the World Trade Center on a bright Septem- ber morning 17 years ago. He quickly parked his car and sprinted to the scene, where he scoured for evidence and helped survivors while dodging falling debris and bodies.

When the first tower collapsed, he dove into a bodega, escaping with his life. What he outrun: the toxic cloud of dust. saw him a couple of hours later, and he looked like a snowman, covered head to toe in that said Gregory W. Ehrie, a fellow FBI agent who spent several weeks with LeValley digging in the rubble. LeValley, who joined the FBI in 1996 and rose to lead the Atlanta of- fice, was diagnosed in 2008 with chronic lymphocytic leukemia.

He died in May, age 53, from a different form of cancer that had metastasized to his brain. FBI officials and health experts say both were likely caused by carcinogenic fumes and dust after the Sept. 11 attacks. In all, 15 FBI agents have died from cancers linked to toxic exposure during the investigation and cleanup, the FBI says. Three of them, including LeValley, have died since March a rash of deaths that has reopened traumas of the worst terrorist attacks in U.S.

history and sparked fresh anxieties. like bin Laden is still reaching out from the said FBI agent Thomas who is president of the FBI Agents Association, a service and advo- cacy group for active and former agents. affects us all in serious ways. People are dying, others are sick. Those that are not yet sick wonder: Is that headache, is it really cancer? Is that sore hip really The 15 deaths, which the FBI says occurred in the performance of their duties, are only a tiny part of a much larger tragedy.

More than 7,500 emergency responders, recovery and cleanup workers, and volunteers at the three Sept. 11 crash sites have been di- agnosed with various forms of cancer, according to the World Trade Center Health Program, which is administered by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. New York City officials say that more than 300 firefighters and police officers already have succumbed to cancers and other diseases related to the attacks. Alongside police and firefighters, FBI agents combed the rubble for victims and clues at the crash sites the World Trade Center, the Pentagon and a field in Shanksville, Pa.

Scores of agents also spent 12-hour shifts sorting debris in warehouses and at the Fresh Kills land- fill in Staten Island. Most did not wear appropriate safety gear because agencies did not under- stand the danger in the poisons un- leashed by burning jet fuel and other hazardous material, according to who heads the FBI association. More than a dozen current and former agents who responded to the crash sites now have cancer, he added. organization has urged agents to sign up for the federal health program, which provides medical mon- itoring and treatment to more than 71,000 former responders and 16,000 other survivors. He began to weep as he described watching his wife, Jean also an FBI agent, who had rushed to the crash site at the Pentagon open an en- velope containing her test results.

She got good news she was just fine. have no idea the stress this said, FBI Director Christopher Wray has eulogized the three agents who died this year and said the deaths have profoundly affected him and his agency. breaks my heart even more to see more victims, which is what they are, victims of the attacks in a different Wray said in a statement, adding he spoke to LeValley and another agent, Brian Crews, before each died. thing that really jumps out to me about the three agents whose memorial services been to is how just utterly selfless these people Wray said. Sept.

11 still killing FBI agents NOAH GOLDBERG AND THOMAS TRACY New York Daily News NEW YORK The flood of people coming down with illnesses stemming from the toxic dust kicked up by the terror attacks has been so great that the $7.3 billion dedicated to sufferers could run out before everyone has been helped, the New York Daily News has learned. The Victims Compensation Fund, which is responsible for providing financial assistance to those suffering from illnesses caused by Ground Zero contaminants, is already showing signs of strain. do periodic assessments of our VCF Special Master Rupa Bhat- tacharyya told the Daily News. The as- sessments, she said, create projections that will determine if the fund will be able to help everyone before it expires on Dec. 18, 2020.

at the data more recently, starting to get a little she said. Bhattacharyya say if the fund is running out of money. She said the VCF plans to publish its updated projections in the next few weeks maybe seek some public comment on changes that will have to be made re- garding our policies and Survivor advocates are concerned that, as the money peters out, those who file for compensation from now until the end will get less money than those who filed earlier with the same problems. pretty confident that they will run out of said advocate John Feal. I think people should be concerned right now.

I bet my one kidney that we will get the VCF Sources with knowledge of the money woes said that a bill to extend the fund could be brought to Congress as early as next month. Through Aug. 31, the VCF has re- viewed 38,502 compensation claims from illness sufferers this year a nearly 28 percent jump over the 30,081 claims it took in last year over the same period. Of the 38,502, about 20,000 claims already have been approved with payouts that can range up to $200,000, depending on the illness. The VCF has also seen a 94 percent jump in requests for compensation by estates or family members of a survivor who has already succumbed to illness.

As of the end of August, 720 families have sought some form of financial compensation this year. In 2017, about 371 families did so in the same time frame. And these numbers could continue to rise in the next few years, Bhattacharyya said. are diseases with long latency she said. is one that is talked about often, and you even see it for 15 or 20 years.

We see those claims for a According to the website Asbestos. com, an estimated 400 tons of asbes- tos the microscopic fibers that cause mesothelioma was used in the con- struction of the World Trade Center. All of it was released into the air when the buildings were pulverized into dust. A source with knowledge of the as- sessment procedure said the VCF still has more than $3 billion in funding left to distribute, so any concerns Bhat- tacharyya might have are not immi- nent. required by statute to period- ically reassess our policies and proce- dures to make sure we are prioritizing the claimants with the most debilitat- ing the source said.

concerns are part of the periodic reas- sessment process that was built into the statute. part of what the statute requires VCF to Scores of the people inhaled the dust as they sifted through the pow- der-caked debris looking for survivors and remains, in what is considered one of the worst environmental disasters in the United States. was unprecedented in the U.S.,” said Dr. John Howard, administrator for the World Trade Center Health Pro- gram. acute number of fatalities on that day has not been surpassed, and the chronic health effects have people succumb to illnesses it seems incom- parable that any other disaster is close.

want to see another one like he said. As of June, 88,484 first responders and survivors have registered with the World Trade Center Health Program. Of that number, roughly 10,000 have some form of cancer that has been cer- tified by the program. 10,000 people that were ei- ther first responders or were in the trade union, or victims, survivors or volun- former host and advocate John Stewart told the Daily News. mean, this is an outrageous Howard said the health program has seen a within the last year including a 260 percent increase in those who either worked or lived at or around the site, who the program cate- gorizes as fund could run out of money TRIBUNE NEWS SERVICE The facade of one of the towers of the World Trade Center lies in ruins as workmen work in the early morning hours on sept.

14, 2001..