US: Russia Backing Off Ukraine Border
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INSIDE: Queen packs bags for rare foreign trip, Page 3 Friday, May 30, 2014 The University of Texas at Austin Dow Jones News Fund Center for Editing Excellence US: Russia backing off Ukraine border LOLITA C. BALDOR officials estimated that as many as that others remained. ministration officials who ex- to end the fighting and release Associated Press 40,000 Russian forces had massed “They are not where they need pressed new concerns Thursday a group of international moni- ABOARD A U.S. MILITARY along the border with eastern to be and won’t be until all of their about rising violence in eastern tors who have been detained in AIRCRAFT — U.S. defense of- Ukraine that has been wracked troops that they positioned along Ukraine, including the destruc- eastern Ukraine since earlier this ficials said Thursday that Russia with violence between govern- that border a couple of months tion of a military helicopter by week. has pulled most of its forces away ment security forces and pro-Rus- ago are gone,” he said. pro-Russian rebels in Slovyansk Before the incident, Secretary of from the Ukraine border, a with- sian separatists. The U.S. has called on Russia that killed 12. State John Kerry spoke to his Rus- drawal the U.S. has been demand- Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel repeatedly to help de-escalate ten- The White House and State De- sian counterpart, Sergey Lavrov, ing for weeks. told reporters traveling with him sions in Ukraine, including with- partment both said a de-escala- on Wednesday to reiterate con- They said about seven battal- at the start of an overseas trip that drawing troops stationed near the tion of the crisis was imperative cerns about the deteriorating situ- ions remained, amounting to a thousands of Russian troops are border. and called on Russia to exert pres- ation in Ukraine, the State Depart- couple of thousand troops. U.S. moving away from the border but Hagel was among Obama ad- sure on the separatists to get them ment said. Egyptians elect new president Rocket site in South Texas nears approval Federal review determines wildlife will not be harmed CHRISTOPHER SHERMAN Associated Press McALLEN — Building and operating a private rocket launch site along the coast in the southern- most tip of Texas is unlikely to jeopardize the exis- tence of protected animal species and would create few unavoidable impacts, according to a final fed- eral environmental review. The Federal Aviation Administration released the statement for California-based SpaceX on Thurs- day. It does not guarantee that the FAA would issue launch licenses there, but it is an essential step in that direction. SpaceX has proposed launching 12 rockets a year from the site but did not make any promises Thurs- day. If built, it would be the first commercial orbital launch site. SpaceX spokeswoman Hannah Post said several more steps have to be cleared. “While the timing of some of these critical steps is not within SpaceX’s control, we are hopeful that these will be complete in the near future,” she said. AMR NABIL / ASSOCIATED PRESS The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service raised concerns Supporters of newly elected President Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi celebrate on Thursday at Tahrir Square in Cairo. El-Sissi eas- about possible impact on habitat for some endan- ily triumphed over his opponent Hamdeen Sabahi, winning more than 92 percent of the vote, according to his campaign. gered species, but concluded “the project is not But low turnout and public skepticism cast a shadow on what el-Sissi had hoped would be a more resounding victory. likely to jeopardize the continued existence of any listed or proposed-to-be-listed species nor adverse- ly modify piping plover critical habitat.” But wildlife officials don’t expect the project to be harmless. They anticipate that several miles of Tepid turnout makes for bittersweet victory beachfront used by nesting sea turtles could be dis- turbed by security vehicles. HAMZA HENDAWI worst of the multiple elec- SpaceX has agreed to a list of measures aimed at Associated Press tions held the past three minimizing the environmental impact including CAIRO — The election of years, but below the nearly 52 educating workers about threatened and endan- Egypt’s former military chief percent turnout in the 2012 gered animals. It also plans to adopt a 3-mile section to the presidency may be election that Morsi won. of the beach and participate in beach cleanups and remembered for its central The victory was tainted educational programs. irony: He won in a historic by the extraordinary means The Texas launches would create unavoidable landslide‚ only to shatter his used by the military-backed noise in a nearby neighborhood and alter the land- image of invulnerability in government to get even that scape of sand dunes, wetlands and grasses, but the process. many voters to the polls. After other environmental impacts can be mitigated, the Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi’s win signs that the turnout Mon- report said. was never in doubt, but what day, the first of two scheduled the retired 59-year-old field days of voting, was as low as marshal wanted was an over- 15 percent, the government whelming turnout that would declared the next day a na- give legitimacy to his July tional holiday to free people Deal reached to go to polls. ouster of Egypt’s first freely AMR NABIL / ASSOCIATED PRESS elected president‚ Moham- The election commission med Morsi‚ and show critics Defeated presidential hopeful Hamdeen Sabahi, center, is threatened to slap fines of cheered on by his supporters during a press conference. at home and abroad that his $70‚ a hefty sum for most in Clippers sale, action reflected the will of the Egyptians‚ on those who did people. In his last interview The reality was more tepid. ing his sole rival, leftist politi- not vote. before polls opened, he told According to unofficial re- cian Hamdeen Sabahi. When Tuesday polling still insider says Egyptians he wanted more sults announced by his cam- However, turnout nation- seemed low, the commission than 40 million of the nearly paign early Thursday, el-Sissi wide was around 46 percent, abruptly extended the elec- Associated Press 54 million registered voters to won more than 92 percent of according to Adly Mansour, turn out. the vote, resoundingly beat- interim president — not the Please see EGYPT, Page 2 LOS ANGELES — An individual with knowledge of negotiations to sell the Los Angeles Clippers said Shelly Sterling has reached an agreement to sell the team to former Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer for $2 billion. Google not up to par on diversity The individual, who was not authorized to speak publicly, told The Associated Press on Thursday that Of 26,600 Google employees, 61 percent MARTHA MENDOZA day with “PBS NewsHour.” Ballmer and the Sterling Family Trust have a binding are white and 70 percent are male. Associated Press Google said that in one year there agreement. The deal must be presented to the NBA. were just two black people with new Shelly Sterling negotiated the sale after her hus- EMPLOYEE RACE SAN JOSE, Calif. — Google has had doctorates in computer science on the band, Donald, made racist remarks that were made more trouble diversifying its work- job market. The company hired one of public. Donald Sterling must also approve the final Hispanic force than its computer scientists have them, and Microsoft hired the other, agreement as a 50 percent owner. His attorneys said 3% Asian Black had writing programs that respond to Bock said. that will not happen. 30% 2% search requests in the blink of an eye or But the educational choices of some Ballmer is said to have beat out bids by Guggen- designing cars that can navigate traffic minorities do not entirely account for heim Partners and a group includ- White without a human behind the wheel. the lack of diversity at technology com- ing former NBA All-Star Grant Hill. 61% That seemed to be the conclusion panies. It is unclear if the deal will go when the Silicon Valley giant issued Google sells $50 billion in advertising through. The individual said that a gender and ethnic breakdown of its annually, a task that required more than though Donald Sterling was not in- workforce this week that showed that 2,900 salespeople in the U.S. as of Au- volved in the negotiations, “at the of its 26,600 U.S. employees nearly two- gust. Just 79 of them, or less than 3 per- end of the day, he has to sign off on thirds were white and only one-third cent, were black. A total of 127, about the final process. They’re not going were women. Blacks and Hispanics 4 percent, were Hispanic. More than to sell his 50 percent without him EMPLOYEE GENDER make up about 30 percent of the na- 2,000, or nearly 70 percent, were white. agreeing to it.” Women tion’s population. Google attributes the racial gap to Ballmer That is despite a May 22 letter 30% Men “Google is miles from where we want “unconscious biases” that have histori- obtained by The Associated Press 70% to be,” said Laszlo Bock, head of person- cally favored white people. and written by another one of Sterling’s attorneys nel at Google. To address the issue, Google has put that said “Donald T. Sterling authorizes Rochelle He said the biggest factor in the diver- more than 20,000 employees through Sterling to negotiate with the National Basketball sity disparity is a shortage of students 90-minute training sessions during the Association regarding all issues in connection with majoring in computer science or other past year to help them become more a sale of the Los Angeles Clippers team.” technical fields in college.