Saturday Night Tweets: Cairo Is Burning

It appears that over 800 people may have been killed this week from riots in Cairo, Egypt, and perhaps other cities in the world's most populous Arab nation as the secular military battles with supporters of the Muslim Brotherhood, who also stand by ousted president Mohammed Morsi.

We have been tracking tweets today regarding the messy situation, including tweets from liberal activist Gigi Ibrahim (pictured top), who was the face of the country's initial Arab Spring uprising, Sana Saaed, a female Egyptian college professor presumably based in Canada, and Sinem Cengiz, a female correspondent of Turkish and Arab heritage for the Turkish English-language newspaper "Today's Zaman."

Here are the tweets:

1) Sana Saaed @SanaSaeed: "Those aren't Islamists" or "Morsi supporters" protesting and dying: They're #Egypt-ians, no matter how the headlines characterize them.

2) Faizaan @El_OptiMist: "What is going to commence soon will be far worse than we're witnessing right now #Egypt #Syria."

3) Gigi Ibrahim @Gsquare86: "I am exhausted from being depressed and feeling helpless and trapped."

4) Politico @politico: "#Egypt weighs banning Brotherhood."

5) The Boston Globe @BostonGlobe: Editorial: Ending US Aid to #Egypt is unwise, but stronger messages are needed.

6) Sinem Cengiz @SinemCngz:" If #Egypt fails, all Arab Spring countries will fail."

7) John Fugelsang (progressive American talk show personality): "Funny how the ppl opposed to separation of church & state here are rooting for separating mosque & state in #Egypt."

8) DailaEzzat (ADaliaEzzat_): Love it when journalists keep saying 'signs of the old days are back when referrring to MOI (Ministry of Interior) and security forces. The old days never left! #Egypt

http://www.dailynewsegypt.com/

http://www.politicscultureandotherwastesoft.blogspot.com

http://www.todayszaman.com/home

Beers from Around the World- Stella from Egypt (#43 of 50)

With the air of revolution in the air, today we are going to revive our Beers Around the World Series (the last entry was on Dec. 24, 2010, featuring Gold Star, which is ironically an Isreali beer), with Stella, the most popular home-made brew in Egypt.

Along with Turkey, Syria, Jordan and Tunisia, among others, Egypt is a Muslim country where men, especially those who might not regularly go to the mosque, drink beer.

In our Beers of the Muslim World series last year, we featured Sakara Gold, but as it turns out that Egyptian beer is not quite as popular as Stella, which can be found throughout the bars of Cairo and Alexandria. Stella Beer comes in three varieties, and the brand is known as 'the taste of Egypt.' It can also be purchased in cans or bottles, and the beer has a 4.5% alcoholic content.

As far as the political situation in Egypt, which at least one family friend was surprisingly unaware of (yes, we asked if they were in a cave for three weeks), it appears to be at least somewhat stabilized. Now the health of the recently deposed leader/dictator Hosni Mubarak has become a question.

And, riots and protests are continuing throughout the Arab World from Algeria to Yemen with Libya and Bahrain (a tiny country) seeing people take to the streets within the last 48 hours. The turmoil has also spilled into Iran (not an Arab country), where crackdowns by the government are fully expected.

SIDEBAR_ Just a few minutes ago, we had a chance to take an online quiz on mentalfloss.com where we correctly guessed that Arbitrager is the name of a London pub as opposed to a Charles Dickens story. I hope my good friend Tom Angleberger, a children's book author who happens to love Dickens, is proud of me!

Things We Learned on Twitter Today- Local Restaurants Closing

Since we started the Things We Have Learned on Twitter today entries, we have focused on such vital things ranging from a restaurant in San Francisco serving lobster corndogs (we still can't visualize that in our minds!) and crackdowns on Shiaa Muslim worshippers in Cairo, Egypt, of all places (Egypt is a Muslim country, but they are Sunni as opposed to Shiaa Muslim, for the most part).

But, today, we focus on our own proverbial backyard as we learned today that three restaurants in Greensboro,NC, have closed or will be closing soon.

According to a tweet from John Robinson, an editor at the "News-Record" (Greensboro's local newspaper) three restaurants have indeed folded.

The most recognized one of these establishments is Sofia Bistro, which I honestly thought was a Bulgarian restaurant since Sofia is the capital of Bulgaria (hence the cheeky photo here of a Bulgarian village). But, Sofia Bistro, which will close on Saturday, actually offers French-inspired cuisine. It is/was located on 616 Dolley Madison Road.

The establishment won positive reviews and several wine awards, but owner Beth Kizhnerman told the "News-Record" that things were not going well for the business economically.

Haybe's Hearth on High Point Road (the restaurant was on Spring Garden Street for 40 years) closed its door. Terry DeMoss, the current owner, told the same publication that: "We gave it our all, but it wasn't quite good enough."

Lastly, Nate's Place, which was on Spring Garden Street, closed as well. It primarily served students from nearby UNC-Greensboro.

Things We Learned on Twitter Today- Crackdowns in Egypt

This above image of a female Egyptian soccer fan with her head covered by a hijab undoubtedly reflect the cultural tensions in Egypt, where like fellow secular Muslim country Turkey, separation of mosque and state is always an issue.

But, perhaps surprisingly, the latest raids by Egyptian police in the capital city of Cairo have targeted Shia Muslims.

According to a tweet from Daily News Egypt, the police arrested four men, one of whom was Safaa Al-Awadi, 44, from Perth, Australia, as well as two Iraqi nationals for insulting and denying tenets of religion.

While many Christians, particularly fundamentalists, have emphasized the sometimes alleged, sometimes obvious persecution of Christian minorities in Muslim countries, many Sunni Muslim countries, such as Egypt, have strict laws regarding the practice of Shiia Islam.

Crackdowns of Shiias have been in place in both Egypt and Bahrain since the 1979 Islamic Revolution in Iran, where the majority of Shiia Muslims live. The Shiia Muslims are also the majority in Azerbaijan, and they have a large minority in Iraq.

Traditional Sunnis believe Shiism is blasphemy because Shia Muslims believe the Prophet Ali should have taken Mohammad's place instead of Abu Bakr, which is what the Sunnis believe. And, alas many people have died in war and strife as a result of the long-standing rift.

SIDEBAR: Washington Park High School in Racine, Wisc., is yet another one of our 'High Schools of the Week.' The school's mascot is The Panther, which originated with the class of 1949, who are now entering their 80s! The school's traditional rival is William Harlick HS. Kevin Barry of the Green Bay Packers is among the school's famous alumni in recent years.

Things We Learned From the BBC Today- Islamic Facebook Comes to Egypt

Those who attend services at The Mohammed Ali Mosque in Cairo, Egypt, (pictured here) may now have a way to socially network in a way that is suitable to Islamic principles, according to a report from Jon Leyne of the BBC.

The Muslim Brotherhood, Egypt's main government opposition group which is at times known to be a bit strict and radical (not the BBC's word) though it consists of more moderate factions as well, has launched its very own Facebook-style social newtworking media called Ikhwanbook.

The aim of the group, which is headed by Fareed Abdelkhalek, who is now 95 years old, is to spread Islamic values. The look of the site is similar to Facebook, but it will show more respect to Muslim values.

The group has proclaimed that the government in Cairo has not allowed it many other avenues of free expression or media communication. They added that the group has no desire to compete with Facebook, which is surprisingly popular in Egypt (as well as Turkey and Greece).

The Muslim Brotherhood started in 1928 as a way to rid Egypt of British control.

The BBC airs in North Carolina from WUNC 91.5-FM at 10 p.m. every night.

SIDEBAR- We have decided to add a special "High School of the Week" segment on both Tuesdays and Fridays until we have gone through high schools from all 50 states. So far, we have collectively mentioned the names of high schools from 26 states on our two blogs. Tomorrow, we will start with an entry for Madison Central High School in Richmond, Ky.