Ground zero settlement

AFTER years of fighting in court, lawyers representing New York city, construction companies and more than 10,000 ground zero rescue and recovery workers agreed to a settlement that could pay up to $657.5 million (€477m) to responders sickened by dust from the destroyed World Trade Centre.

The settlement was announced by the WTC Captive Insurance Co, established to indemnify the city and its contractors against potential legal action as they moved to clean up the site after the September 11, 2001, terror attacks.

The deal, which still must be approved by a judge and the workers themselves, would make the city and other companies represented by the insurer liable for a minimum of $575m.