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Democrats on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee are asking Secretary of State Mike Pompeo to provide the panel with the translator’s notes and other materials from President Donald Trump’s Helsinki summit with Russian President Vladimir Putin.

The senators have requested any cable traffic, memos, notes and policy directives related to the July summit, when Trump and Putin met privately for more than two hours with only translators present. The White House has not provided information on what was said, and even Trump’s director of national intelligence, Dan Coats, has said he does not know what happened in the room.

In a letter sent to the State Department Friday morning, the Foreign Relations Committee’s top Democrat, Sen. Bob Menendez of New Jersey, and Sen. Jeanne Shaheen of New Hampshire said the situation requires “urgent congressional oversight.”

“Russian officials have taken advantage of the lack of communication by the White House to circulate their own, possibly false, readouts of what occurred in this private meeting,” the senators wrote.

Trump drew widespread criticism from Republican and Democratic leaders for his performance in Helsinki on July 16. At a joint press conference with Putin, Trump spoke favorably of the Russian leader and denied U.S. intelligence findings that Russia interfered in the 2016 election.

Trump’s statements fueled calls from Democrats for testimony from the American translator who was in the private meeting. Republicans shot down the idea and in the House blocked a Democratic request to issue a subpoena.

The chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, Sen. Bob Corker of Tennessee, said seeking the translator’s testimony “does not seem to be to me the appropriate place for us to go.”

State Department spokeswoman Heather Nauert on July 18 said they had not been able to find a precedent for an interpreter being called to testify.
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Democrats on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee are asking Secretary of State Mike Pompeo to provide the panel with the translator’s notes and other materials from President Donald Trump’s Helsinki summit with Russian President Vladimir Putin.

The senators have requested any cable traffic, memos, notes and policy directives related to the July summit, when Trump and Putin met privately for more than two hours with only translators present. The White House has not provided information on what was said, and even Trump’s director of national intelligence, Dan Coats, has said he does not know what happened in the room.

In a letter sent to the State Department Friday morning, the Foreign Relations Committee’s top Democrat, Sen. Bob Menendez of New Jersey, and Sen. Jeanne Shaheen of New Hampshire said the situation requires “urgent congressional oversight.”

“Russian officials have taken advantage of the lack of communication by the White House to circulate their own, possibly false, readouts of what occurred in this private meeting,” the senators wrote.

Trump drew widespread criticism from Republican and Democratic leaders for his performance in Helsinki on July 16. At a joint press conference with Putin, Trump spoke favorably of the Russian leader and denied U.S. intelligence findings that Russia interfered in the 2016 election.

Trump’s statements fueled calls from Democrats for testimony from the American translator who was in the private meeting. Republicans shot down the idea and in the House blocked a Democratic request to issue a subpoena.

The chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, Sen. Bob Corker of Tennessee, said seeking the translator’s testimony “does not seem to be to me the appropriate place for us to go.”

State Department spokeswoman Heather Nauert on July 18 said they had not been able to find a precedent for an interpreter being called to testify.
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Since the 1990s, annual numbers of U.S. coal miners with new, confirmed cases of an advanced form of so-called black lung disease known as progressive massive fibrosis have been steadily rising, according to a new study.

The resurgence is particularly strong among central Appalachian miners in Kentucky, Pennsylvania, Virginia and West Virginia, the study authors note.

“It’s an entirely preventable disease, and every case is an important representation of a failure to prevent this disease,” said lead study author Kirsten Almberg of the University of Illinois at Chicago and the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) in Morgantown, West Virginia.

Progressive massive fibrosis is the most severe form of pneumoconiosis, which is also known as black lung disease and is caused by overexposure to coal mine dust. The symptoms are debilitating and can lead to respiratory distress.

“Many people think black lung is a relic of the past,” she told Reuters Health in a phone interview. “But it shouldn’t fade from our attention.”

Almberg and colleagues looked at the number of progressive massive fibrosis cases among former U.S. coal miners applying for Federal Black Lung Program benefits between 1970 and 2016.Miners can apply for financial help and medical coverage if facing disabling lung impairment, and claims are accepted when medical tests and imaging verify the presence of disabling pulmonary impairment.

Progressive massive fibrosis is “by definition” considered totally disabling, the authors note in the Annals of the American Thoracic Society.

Among 314,000 miners who applied for benefits during the 46-year period, the research team found 4,679 cases of confirmed progressive massive fibrosis, with 2,474 of these representing claims filed since 1996.

The yearly number of cases fell from 404 in 1978 to 18 in 1988 but then began increasing each year, with 383 confirmed cases in 2014, the study found. At the same time, employment has declined from 250,000 miners in 1979 to 81,000 in 2016, the authors note.

“It’s pretty staggering that more than half of the cases were in the more recent period since 1996,” Almberg said. “These are our first snapshots of how big this problem really is.”

The increase has most dramatically impacted the Appalachian region. About 84 percent of miners with confirmed cases of progressive massive fibrosis last mined in Kentucky, Pennsylvania, Virginia and West Virginia, although only 62 percent of claims originated in these states.

“Put simply, we still do not know exactly why severe disease has increased so much among miners in central Appalachia or when this trend may reverse,” said Emily Sarver, a mining and minerals engineer at Virginia Tech in Blacksburg, who wasn’t involved in the study.

Future research should look at the different factors that may affect this ongoing increase in diagnoses, such as changes in the types of dust in mining environments, said Sarver, who works with mine partners to sample dust in active operations and characterize what’s in it and the size of particles.

“This is a real and very complex problem. Unlike safety issues, which are oftentimes apparent or can be identified and mitigated quickly, the exposure-response time with many health issues is quite long,” she said. “If I am exposed to hazardous dust today, for example, it may not impact my lungs for a decade or more, and I may experience a different outcome than another person exposed to the same dust.”

Similarly, Almberg and study co-author Robert Cohen of NIOSH and National Jewish Health and University of Colorado in Denver are working with mining engineers and pathologists to study coal mine dust in lung tissue samples to understand what causes progressive massive fibrosis to develop.

They’re comparing lung tissue samples from current cases to samples collected from autopsies of former miners, and want to understand whether new mining techniques may create smaller dust particles that drive the disease deeper into the lungs or whether more toxic carbon or coal dust is being expelled from mines.

“Like any person, you should expect to be able to work for a full career and leave the workforce and still have your health and life ahead of you,” Almberg said. “Coal miners aren’t the only ones exposed to hazardous materials on the job, and we should be able to catch this early and prevent it from progressing to the severe stages of the disease.”
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Since the 1990s, annual numbers of U.S. coal miners with new, confirmed cases of an advanced form of so-called black lung disease known as progressive massive fibrosis have been steadily rising, according to a new study.

The resurgence is particularly strong among central Appalachian miners in Kentucky, Pennsylvania, Virginia and West Virginia, the study authors note.

“It’s an entirely preventable disease, and every case is an important representation of a failure to prevent this disease,” said lead study author Kirsten Almberg of the University of Illinois at Chicago and the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) in Morgantown, West Virginia.

Progressive massive fibrosis is the most severe form of pneumoconiosis, which is also known as black lung disease and is caused by overexposure to coal mine dust. The symptoms are debilitating and can lead to respiratory distress.

“Many people think black lung is a relic of the past,” she told Reuters Health in a phone interview. “But it shouldn’t fade from our attention.”

Almberg and colleagues looked at the number of progressive massive fibrosis cases among former U.S. coal miners applying for Federal Black Lung Program benefits between 1970 and 2016.Miners can apply for financial help and medical coverage if facing disabling lung impairment, and claims are accepted when medical tests and imaging verify the presence of disabling pulmonary impairment.

Progressive massive fibrosis is “by definition” considered totally disabling, the authors note in the Annals of the American Thoracic Society.

Among 314,000 miners who applied for benefits during the 46-year period, the research team found 4,679 cases of confirmed progressive massive fibrosis, with 2,474 of these representing claims filed since 1996.

The yearly number of cases fell from 404 in 1978 to 18 in 1988 but then began increasing each year, with 383 confirmed cases in 2014, the study found. At the same time, employment has declined from 250,000 miners in 1979 to 81,000 in 2016, the authors note.

“It’s pretty staggering that more than half of the cases were in the more recent period since 1996,” Almberg said. “These are our first snapshots of how big this problem really is.”

The increase has most dramatically impacted the Appalachian region. About 84 percent of miners with confirmed cases of progressive massive fibrosis last mined in Kentucky, Pennsylvania, Virginia and West Virginia, although only 62 percent of claims originated in these states.

“Put simply, we still do not know exactly why severe disease has increased so much among miners in central Appalachia or when this trend may reverse,” said Emily Sarver, a mining and minerals engineer at Virginia Tech in Blacksburg, who wasn’t involved in the study.

Future research should look at the different factors that may affect this ongoing increase in diagnoses, such as changes in the types of dust in mining environments, said Sarver, who works with mine partners to sample dust in active operations and characterize what’s in it and the size of particles.

“This is a real and very complex problem. Unlike safety issues, which are oftentimes apparent or can be identified and mitigated quickly, the exposure-response time with many health issues is quite long,” she said. “If I am exposed to hazardous dust today, for example, it may not impact my lungs for a decade or more, and I may experience a different outcome than another person exposed to the same dust.”

Similarly, Almberg and study co-author Robert Cohen of NIOSH and National Jewish Health and University of Colorado in Denver are working with mining engineers and pathologists to study coal mine dust in lung tissue samples to understand what causes progressive massive fibrosis to develop.

They’re comparing lung tissue samples from current cases to samples collected from autopsies of former miners, and want to understand whether new mining techniques may create smaller dust particles that drive the disease deeper into the lungs or whether more toxic carbon or coal dust is being expelled from mines.

“Like any person, you should expect to be able to work for a full career and leave the workforce and still have your health and life ahead of you,” Almberg said. “Coal miners aren’t the only ones exposed to hazardous materials on the job, and we should be able to catch this early and prevent it from progressing to the severe stages of the disease.”
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Vice President Mike Pence is in Houston, Texas, to reaffirm the Trump administration’s plans to establish an American Space Force by 2020, return Americans to the moon, and set its sight on Mars and beyond.

During a speech Thursday at NASA’s Johnson Space Center, Pence said that recent Pentagon reports have shown that China is “aggressively weaponizing space” and that Russia is developing weapons to “counter America’s space capabilities.”

Pence said the Department of Defense is moving forward to “strengthen American security in space” and that the administration will work with Congress to secure funding and authorization to establish Space Force as a new and separate branch of the armed forces.

Pence also highlighted efforts to move the Lunar Orbital Platform, formerly known as the Deep Space Gateway, from proposal phase to production. NASA, the main U.S. agency for space exploration, and several of its partners, have been developing plans for this lunar-orbit space station that would be used as a staging point for lunar exploration and would have several gateway-to-space features, including a propulsion system, a habitat for the crew, and docking capability.

In its 2019 budget, NASA has requested $504 million in funding for this project, which has yet to be approved by Congress.

There was little new detail in Pence’s speech other than reiterating the administration’s vision for “American dominance in space.” Space Force has been mentioned by Pence on several occasions, and a theme that President Donald Trump often returns to, including during his rally in Charleston, West Virginia, on Tuesday.

Trump first announced the creation of Space Force at the White House in June. He pledged to reclaim U.S. leadership in space, framing it as a national security issue, and saying he does not want “China and Russia and other countries leading us.”

Trump’s Space Force has triggered debate in military space exploration, as well as legal circles, including whether it may violate international law. The U.S. is a signatory and ratifier of the United Nations Outer Space Treaty of 1967.

The treaty prevents any nation from declaring sovereignty over space or heavenly bodies, and prohibits space-faring countries from blocking other nations from exploring space. There are further restrictions over military presence on heavenly bodies such as the moon, which according to the treaty “shall be used exclusively for peaceful purposes.”

Last December, Trump signed Space Policy Directive 1, a national space policy directing a government-private partnership with the goal of returning Americans to the moon, followed by missions to Mars and beyond.

The policy calls for the NASA administrator to “lead an innovative and sustainable program of exploration with commercial and international partners to enable human expansion across the solar system and to bring back to Earth new knowledge and opportunities.”

Pence has been the leading spokesperson for the U.S. space program, delivering remarks about the country’s space ambitions on behalf of the president.
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Vice President Mike Pence is in Houston, Texas, to reaffirm the Trump administration’s plans to establish an American Space Force by 2020, return Americans to the moon, and set its sight on Mars and beyond.

During a speech Thursday at NASA’s Johnson Space Center, Pence said that recent Pentagon reports have shown that China is “aggressively weaponizing space” and that Russia is developing weapons to “counter America’s space capabilities.”

Pence said the Department of Defense is moving forward to “strengthen American security in space” and that the administration will work with Congress to secure funding and authorization to establish Space Force as a new and separate branch of the armed forces.

Pence also highlighted efforts to move the Lunar Orbital Platform, formerly known as the Deep Space Gateway, from proposal phase to production. NASA, the main U.S. agency for space exploration, and several of its partners, have been developing plans for this lunar-orbit space station that would be used as a staging point for lunar exploration and would have several gateway-to-space features, including a propulsion system, a habitat for the crew, and docking capability.

In its 2019 budget, NASA has requested $504 million in funding for this project, which has yet to be approved by Congress.

There was little new detail in Pence’s speech other than reiterating the administration’s vision for “American dominance in space.” Space Force has been mentioned by Pence on several occasions, and a theme that President Donald Trump often returns to, including during his rally in Charleston, West Virginia, on Tuesday.

Trump first announced the creation of Space Force at the White House in June. He pledged to reclaim U.S. leadership in space, framing it as a national security issue, and saying he does not want “China and Russia and other countries leading us.”

Trump’s Space Force has triggered debate in military space exploration, as well as legal circles, including whether it may violate international law. The U.S. is a signatory and ratifier of the United Nations Outer Space Treaty of 1967.

The treaty prevents any nation from declaring sovereignty over space or heavenly bodies, and prohibits space-faring countries from blocking other nations from exploring space. There are further restrictions over military presence on heavenly bodies such as the moon, which according to the treaty “shall be used exclusively for peaceful purposes.”

Last December, Trump signed Space Policy Directive 1, a national space policy directing a government-private partnership with the goal of returning Americans to the moon, followed by missions to Mars and beyond.

The policy calls for the NASA administrator to “lead an innovative and sustainable program of exploration with commercial and international partners to enable human expansion across the solar system and to bring back to Earth new knowledge and opportunities.”

Pence has been the leading spokesperson for the U.S. space program, delivering remarks about the country’s space ambitions on behalf of the president.
…

The Trump administration has laid down rules aimed at preventing residents in high-tax states from avoiding a new cap on widely popular state and local tax deductions. The action over the new Republican tax law pits the government against high-tax, heavily Democratic states in an election-year showdown. 

The Treasury Department’s rules released Thursday target moves by states like New York, New Jersey and California — where residents could see substantial increases in their federal tax bills next spring because of the $10,000 cap on state and local deductions. Experts say the issue likely will have to be resolved by the federal courts.

Four states — Connecticut, Maryland, New Jersey and New York — already have sued the federal government over the deduction cap, asserting it’s aimed at hurting a group of Democratic states and tramples on their constitutional budget-making authority.

A dozen states have taken or are considering measures to get around the cap. Most of the workarounds take advantage of federal deductions for charitable contributions — which aren’t capped — in place of the old deductions for paying state and local income taxes. So people’s state and local taxes exceeding $10,000, which can’t be deducted, are turned into deductible charitable donations. 

The new rules’ “dollar-for-dollar” limit also applies to many other states that already have charitable funds offering tax breaks, senior Treasury officials said. Those states include solidly Republican ones and others with relatively low taxes. In those programs, donors to schools, hospitals or land conservation programs can get their state taxes reduced in return — plus a charitable deduction on their federal tax returns. 

The limit means taxpayers only can deduct as a charitable contribution the portion of their donation for which they don’t also get a state tax credit. 

But some experts said the Treasury rules seem to be designed to protect those existing charitable programs in some states. An exception to the “dollar-for-dollar” requirement “plainly appears to be designed to protect certain … pre-existing state regimes,” said Daniel Rosen, a tax lawyer at Baker McKenzie who is a former IRS official.   

Treasury said it expects that only about 1 percent of all U.S. taxpayers would see a reduction of their tax credits for donations to private-school voucher fund. Several states — Alabama, Arizona, Georgia, Montana and South Carolina — allow taxpayers who donate to private-school funds to get a 100 percent credit against their state taxes, according to data compiled by the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy.

How do the limits work under the new rules?

Dollar-for-dollar: When a taxpayer receives a benefit in return for donating to charity, the taxpayer should only be able to deduct the net value of the donation as a charitable contribution, Treasury says. 

An example: You donate $1,000 to a charity in a state that offers a 70 percent tax credit, so $700 in this case. You would only be able to claim a $300 charitable deduction on your federal return.

There is an exception. If the state tax credits don’t exceed 15 percent of the amount donated, so up to a $150 state tax credit on a $1,000 donation, the taxpayer could claim the full amount as a charitable deduction.

Why is this important?

Taxpayers could have less incentive to donate without getting a deduction or having the deduction reduced.

All states rely on property and income taxes to fund an array of services such as education, health care and public safety. Advocates for restoring the full state and local deductions say that the reduced property tax deduction brings a decrease in the value of taxpayers’ homes, possibly spurring residents of high-tax states to move elsewhere and crimping funding for local programs.

What’s happening in the high-tax states? 

Measures designed to work around the $10,000 cap have been adopted in Connecticut, New Jersey, New York and Oregon, and introduced or explored publicly by officials in California, Illinois, Maryland, Nebraska, Rhode Island, Virginia, Washington and the District of Columbia.

New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo, a Democrat, has called the state-local deduction cap an “assault” on New York by Trump and Republican lawmakers in Washington.  

In some key “blue” states:

— Connecticut has a new law establishing a state charitable fund; donors can get tax credits in exchange for giving. 

— In New Jersey, where high local property taxes are the major issue, the state is allowing local schools and governments to use the charitable workaround. But so far, no towns have notified authorities that they’ve set up funds to receive contributions — because state regulators haven’t issued the necessary rules, experts say.

— New York is offering three options: One like Connecticut’s, one like New Jersey’s and another to let employers pay payroll taxes for employees, who would receive credits to cancel out the income taxes they would have paid otherwise.

— In Maryland, about 500,000 residents — over 18 percent of state taxpayers — will together lose $6.5 billion in state and local deductions, according to state estimates.
…

The Trump administration has laid down rules aimed at preventing residents in high-tax states from avoiding a new cap on widely popular state and local tax deductions. The action over the new Republican tax law pits the government against high-tax, heavily Democratic states in an election-year showdown. 

The Treasury Department’s rules released Thursday target moves by states like New York, New Jersey and California — where residents could see substantial increases in their federal tax bills next spring because of the $10,000 cap on state and local deductions. Experts say the issue likely will have to be resolved by the federal courts.

Four states — Connecticut, Maryland, New Jersey and New York — already have sued the federal government over the deduction cap, asserting it’s aimed at hurting a group of Democratic states and tramples on their constitutional budget-making authority.

A dozen states have taken or are considering measures to get around the cap. Most of the workarounds take advantage of federal deductions for charitable contributions — which aren’t capped — in place of the old deductions for paying state and local income taxes. So people’s state and local taxes exceeding $10,000, which can’t be deducted, are turned into deductible charitable donations. 

The new rules’ “dollar-for-dollar” limit also applies to many other states that already have charitable funds offering tax breaks, senior Treasury officials said. Those states include solidly Republican ones and others with relatively low taxes. In those programs, donors to schools, hospitals or land conservation programs can get their state taxes reduced in return — plus a charitable deduction on their federal tax returns. 

The limit means taxpayers only can deduct as a charitable contribution the portion of their donation for which they don’t also get a state tax credit. 

But some experts said the Treasury rules seem to be designed to protect those existing charitable programs in some states. An exception to the “dollar-for-dollar” requirement “plainly appears to be designed to protect certain … pre-existing state regimes,” said Daniel Rosen, a tax lawyer at Baker McKenzie who is a former IRS official.   

Treasury said it expects that only about 1 percent of all U.S. taxpayers would see a reduction of their tax credits for donations to private-school voucher fund. Several states — Alabama, Arizona, Georgia, Montana and South Carolina — allow taxpayers who donate to private-school funds to get a 100 percent credit against their state taxes, according to data compiled by the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy.

How do the limits work under the new rules?

Dollar-for-dollar: When a taxpayer receives a benefit in return for donating to charity, the taxpayer should only be able to deduct the net value of the donation as a charitable contribution, Treasury says. 

An example: You donate $1,000 to a charity in a state that offers a 70 percent tax credit, so $700 in this case. You would only be able to claim a $300 charitable deduction on your federal return.

There is an exception. If the state tax credits don’t exceed 15 percent of the amount donated, so up to a $150 state tax credit on a $1,000 donation, the taxpayer could claim the full amount as a charitable deduction.

Why is this important?

Taxpayers could have less incentive to donate without getting a deduction or having the deduction reduced.

All states rely on property and income taxes to fund an array of services such as education, health care and public safety. Advocates for restoring the full state and local deductions say that the reduced property tax deduction brings a decrease in the value of taxpayers’ homes, possibly spurring residents of high-tax states to move elsewhere and crimping funding for local programs.

What’s happening in the high-tax states? 

Measures designed to work around the $10,000 cap have been adopted in Connecticut, New Jersey, New York and Oregon, and introduced or explored publicly by officials in California, Illinois, Maryland, Nebraska, Rhode Island, Virginia, Washington and the District of Columbia.

New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo, a Democrat, has called the state-local deduction cap an “assault” on New York by Trump and Republican lawmakers in Washington.  

In some key “blue” states:

— Connecticut has a new law establishing a state charitable fund; donors can get tax credits in exchange for giving. 

— In New Jersey, where high local property taxes are the major issue, the state is allowing local schools and governments to use the charitable workaround. But so far, no towns have notified authorities that they’ve set up funds to receive contributions — because state regulators haven’t issued the necessary rules, experts say.

— New York is offering three options: One like Connecticut’s, one like New Jersey’s and another to let employers pay payroll taxes for employees, who would receive credits to cancel out the income taxes they would have paid otherwise.

— In Maryland, about 500,000 residents — over 18 percent of state taxpayers — will together lose $6.5 billion in state and local deductions, according to state estimates.
…

The United States and China imposed more tariff hikes on billions of dollars of each other’s automobiles, factory machinery and other goods Thursday in an escalation of a battle over Beijing’s technology policy that companies worry will chill global economic growth.

The 25 percent increases took effect as envoys from both sides held their first high-level talks in two months in Washington. No details were released about the two-day meeting that started Wednesday.

The penalties, previously announced, apply to $16 billion of goods from both sides including automobiles and metal scrap from the United States and Chinese-made factory machinery and electronic components. They follow last month’s first round of tariff increases of the same size by both sides on $34 billion of each other’s imports.

The Chinese government criticized the U.S. increase as a violation of World Trade Organization rules and said it would file a legal challenge. 

Beijing has rejected U.S. demands to scale back plans for state-led technology development that its trading partners say violate its market-opening commitments and American officials worry might erode the United States’ industrial leadership.

With no settlement in sight, economists warn the conflict could spread and knock up to 0.5 percentage points off global economic growth through 2020.
…

The United States and China imposed more tariff hikes on billions of dollars of each other’s automobiles, factory machinery and other goods Thursday in an escalation of a battle over Beijing’s technology policy that companies worry will chill global economic growth.

The 25 percent increases took effect as envoys from both sides held their first high-level talks in two months in Washington. No details were released about the two-day meeting that started Wednesday.

The penalties, previously announced, apply to $16 billion of goods from both sides including automobiles and metal scrap from the United States and Chinese-made factory machinery and electronic components. They follow last month’s first round of tariff increases of the same size by both sides on $34 billion of each other’s imports.

The Chinese government criticized the U.S. increase as a violation of World Trade Organization rules and said it would file a legal challenge. 

Beijing has rejected U.S. demands to scale back plans for state-led technology development that its trading partners say violate its market-opening commitments and American officials worry might erode the United States’ industrial leadership.

With no settlement in sight, economists warn the conflict could spread and knock up to 0.5 percentage points off global economic growth through 2020.
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A U.S. Airman has been honored posthumously for his extraordinary bravery that helped save the lives of his teammates while fighting al-Qaida terrorists in Afghanistan. U.S. President Donald Trump hosted an award ceremony for Air Force Technical Sergeant John Chapman at the White House Wednesday. VOA’s Zlatica Hoke reports.
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