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Burhan OzBilici — The assOciaTed Press Members of the Turkish Youth union hold cartoons depicting Prime Minister recep Tayyip erdogan during a protest against a ban on Twitter, in ankara, Turkey, Friday. By Suzan Fraser The Associated Press ANKARA, TuRKey » Turkey's attempt to block access to Twitter appeared to back- fire on Friday with many tech-savvy users circum- venting the ban and suspi- cions growing that the prime minister was using court or- ders to suppress corruption allegations against him and his government. Turkey's telecommuni - cations authority said it had blocked access to the social media network hours af- ter Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan threatened to "rip out the roots" of the website. Tweets have prolif - erated with links to record- ings that appear to incrimi- nate him and other top offi- cials in corruption. Lutfi Elvan, Turkey's min- ister in charge of transport and communications, said Turkey was merely obeying court orders — although an Istanbul lawyers group ar - gued the court decisions were about blocking access to websites deemed to be vi- olating privacy — not the en- tire website. Turkey in the past has blocked access to YouTube, but this is the first ban on Twitter, which is hugely pop - ular in the country — to the point where Turkish hashtags routinely appear in global trends. The social network was instrumental in organiz - ing flash protests against the government last year. By midday Friday, tweets were continuing unabated as users swapped instructions online on how to change set - tings. One enterprising user spread the word by defac- ing Turkish election posters with instructions on beating censors. President Abdullah Gul was among those who cir - cumvented the order, which he contested in a series of tweets. Gul, once a politi- cal ally of Erdogan, has spo- ken out against Internet cen- sorship in the past, although last month he approved gov- ernment moves to tighten controls over the Internet. "I hope this implemen- tation won't last long," he wrote. Links to leaked record- ings have been popping up on two Turkish Twitter ac- counts, including one in which a voice resembling Er- dogan's instructs his son to dispose of large amounts of cash from a residence amid a police graft investigation. Erdogan, who denies corrup - tion, said the recording was fabricated and part of a plot by followers of an influential U.S.-based Muslim cleric to discredit the government before March 30 local elec - tions. Turkish attempt to ban Twitter appears to backfire middle eAST By Raf Casert The Associated Press BRuSSelS » Two almost si- multaneous signatures Fri- day on opposite sides of Eu- rope deepened the divide between East and West, as Russia formally annexed Crimea and the European Union pulled Ukraine closer into its orbit. In this "new post-Cold War order," as the Ukrai - nian prime minister called it, besieged U krainia n troops on the Crimean Pen- insula faced a critical choice: leave, join the Russian mili- tary or demobilize. Ukraine was working on evacuating its outnumbered troops in Crimea, but some said they were still awaiting orders. With fears running high of clashes between the two sides or a grab by Moscow for more of Ukraine, the chief of the U.N. came to the capital city Kiev and urged calm all around. All eyes were on Russian President Vladimir Pu - tin, as they have been ever since pro-Western protests drove out Ukraine's presi- dent a month ago, angering Russia and plunging Europe into its worst crisis in a gen- eration. Putin sounded a concilia- tory note Friday, almost jok- ing about U.S. and EU sanc- tions squeezing his inner circle and saying he saw no reason to retaliate. But his government later warned of further action. Russian economy takes a dive Russia's troubled eco- nomic outlook may drive its decisions as much as any outside military threat. Stocks sank further, and a possible downgrade of Rus - sia's credit rating loomed. V is a a nd M a st er Ca rd stopped serving two Rus- sian banks, and Russia con- ceded it may scrap plans to tap international markets for money this year. Despite those clouds, Pu - tin painted Friday's events in victorious colors, and fire- works burst over Moscow and Crimea on his orders, in a spectacle reminiscent of the celebrations held when Soviet troops drove the Na - zis from occupied cities in World War II. At the Kremlin, Putin signed parliamentary legis - lation incorporating Crimea into Russia, hailing it as a "remarkable event." At nearly the same time in a ceremony in Brussels, EU leaders sought to pull cash-strapped U k ra ine westward by signing a po - litical association agree- ment with the new Ukrai- nian prime minister. The highly symbolic piece of paper is part of the same EU deal that touched off Ukraine's political crisis when then-President Vik - tor Yanukovych rejected it in November and chose a bailout from Russia instead. That ignited months of pro - tests that eventually drove him from power. Ukraine's new prime min- ister, Arseniy Yatsenyuk, a leader of the protest move- ment, eagerly pushed for the EU agreement. "This deal meets the aspi- rations of millions of Ukrai- nians that want to be a part of the European Union," Yatsenyuk said in Brussels. The agreement includes security and defense coop - eration, he said, though it is far from full EU member- ship and doesn't include an important free-trade ele- ment yet. But the EU decided to grant Ukraine financial ad- vantages such as reduced tariffs to boost its ailing economy until the full deal can be signed. Those trade advantages are a blow to Russia, which had hoped to pull Ukraine into a Mos - cow-focused customs union instead. In exchange for the EU pact, Ukraine's government is promising economic re - forms. "In the long term, the biggest challenge will be to build a strong Ukrainian economy, rooted in strong institutions that respect the rule of law," British Prime Minister David Cameron said at the EU summit. The deal comes at a crit - ical moment financially: Amid its political crisis, Ukraine is teetering on the verge of bankruptcy, strug - gling to pay off billions of dollars in debts in the com- ing months. The U.S. and the EU have pledged to quickly offer a bailout. Russia's foreign minis - ter dismissed the EU pact, saying the current Ukrai- nian leadership lacks popu- lar support and should have held elections before mak- ing such a decision. Meanwhile, in what was seen a possible slight de-es- calation in tensions, Russia accepted a plan to send an international fact-finding team of at least 100 mem - bers into Ukraine to assess security in the country. woRld Cr im ea g oe s ea st , Uk ra in e goes west in 2 new deals Si tu at io n o f be si eg ed tr oo ps e li ci ts f ea rs of w ar ; P ut in b ru sh es o ff s an ct io ns sergei griTs — The assOciaTed Press ukrainian border guards perform an exercise in anti-air attack during training at a military camp in the village of alekseyevka on the ukrainian-russian border, eastern ukraine, on Friday. By Kimberly Hefling The Associated Press wASHiNGToN » Sixty years ago, the Supreme Court ruled that black children have the right to the same education as their white peers. But civil rights data re - leased Friday by the Educa- tion Department reflect an education system rife with inequities for blacks and other minority students and those with disabilities. Minority students are less likely to have access to ad - vanced math and science classes and veteran teach- ers. Black students of any age, even the youngest pre- schoolers, are more likely to be suspended. And students with disabilities are more likely than other students to be tied down or placed alone in a room as a form of dis - cipline. "It is clear that the United States has a great distance to go to meet our goal of pro - viding opportunities for ev- ery student to succeed," said Education Secretary Arne Duncan. But the department of - fered no explanation of why these disparities exist. Here are four things to know about the depart - ment's findings: Access to advanced classes STEM is the buzzword in education these days. Educa- tion in the fields of science, technology and engineering and math is considered crit- ical for students to succeed in the global marketplace. Yet the department found that there was a "signifi - cant lack of access" to core classes like algebra, geom- etry, biology, and chemis- try for many students. That lack of access was particu- larly striking when it came to minorities. "A quarter of high schools with the highest percentage of black and Latino students do not offer Algebra II; a third of these schools do not offer chemistry," the depart - ment said. Only a quarter of black and Latino students were en- rolled in an Advanced Place- ment class, which allows high school students to earn col- lege credit, and fewer than one in five got a high enough score generally necessary to get college credit. Experienced teachers Quality teachers can play a key role in student perfor- mance. Minority students are more likely to attend schools with a higher concentration of first-year teachers than white students. And while most teachers are certified, nearly half a million students nationally attend schools where nearly two-thirds or fewer of teachers meet all state certification and licens - ing requirements. Black and Latino students are more likely than white students to attend these schools. There's also a teacher sal - ary gap of more than $5,000 between high schools with the highest and lowest black and Latino students enroll - ments, according to the data. Maddie Fennell, a liter- acy coach at Miller Park El- ementary, an urban school in Omaha, Neb., said that too of- ten in teaching, the mindset is that the more experienced a teacher is, the more deserving the teacher is of a less-chal - lenging school environment. Discipline The Obama administra- tion issued guidance earlier this year encouraging schools to abandon what it described as overly zealous discipline policies that send students to court instead of the principal's office, the so-called "schools- to-prisons pipeline." But even before the announcement, school districts had been ad - justing policies that dispro- portionately affected minor- ity students. The civil rights data released Friday from the 2011-2012 school year show the disparities begin among even the youngest of school kids. Black children repre - sent about 18 percent of chil- dren in preschool programs in schools, but they make up almost half of the preschool- ers who are suspended more than once. Preschool The Obama administra- tion views access to pre- school as a civil rights is- sue. It says 40 percent of school districts do not offer preschool programs. Their numbers don't include pri - vate programs or some other types of publicly funded early childhood programs outside of school systems. Obama has sought a "pre - school for all" program with the goal of providing uni- versal preschool to Amer- ica's 4-year-old that would use funding from a hike in tobacco taxes. eduCATioN Report: Large disparities remain in America's schools Data reveal continued racial inequities; no explanation offered Manuel Balce ceneTa — The assOciaTed Press education secretary arne duncan speaks on March 14 during briefing in the Brady Press Briefing room of the White house in Washington. Please help sponsor a classroom subscription Call Kathy at (530) 527-2151 to find out how. Through the Newspapers in Education program, area classrooms receive the Red Bluff Daily News every day thanks to the generosity of these local businesses & individuals. • CALIFORNIA WALNUT COMPANY • LEPAGE COMPANY INC. • MODERN CLEANERS • OLIVE CITY QUICK LUBE • WALMART • TEHAMA CO. DEPT. OF ED. • JOHN WHEELER LOGGING, INC. • DUDLEY'S EXCAVATING, INC. • HINKLE ROOFING & CONST. • BRETNEY SUTTERFIELD • ETZLER FINANCIAL & INSURANCE • OLIVE CITY TAX PROFESSIONALS • PLACER TITLE COMPANY • AIRPORT AUTO REPAIR • KAY STEPHENS, MD • GREENWASTE OF TEHAMA • LOUISIANA PACIFIC CORP. • NORTH MAIN AUTOMOTIVE • QRC • RED BLUFF VISION CENTER • STEVE'S BACKHOE SERVICE • WARNER ELECTRIC • TRIPLE R GAS • SCHOOL HOUSE MARKET THANK YOU FOR SUPPORTING N EWS D AILY RED BLU FF TEHAMA COUNTY H E V O I C E O F T E H A M A C O U N T Y S I N C E 1 8 8 5 NEWSPAPERS | NEWS | redBluFFdailYneWs.cOM saTurdaY, March 22, 2014 4 B