The US-based microblogging service that allows people to use mobile phones and computers to broadcast short text messages was out of service in Egypt, according to the herdict.org tracking website.

Twitter said in a terse "tweet" that it was blocked in Egypt starting about 1600 GMT and that the interruption had derailed Twitter.com as well as applications linked to the service there.

"We believe that the open exchange of information and views benefits societies and helps governments connect with their people," Twitter representatives said in follow-up message.

Herdict.org, a project of the Berkman Center for Internet & Society at Harvard University, said it had received a "handful of reports" from users across different Internet service providers in Egypt saying they had been unable to reach Twitter.

A Herdict.org spokeswoman said that Vodafone Egypt denied that they have blocked Twitter.

"From what we've heard from contacts on the ground, Egyptians are still utilizing the Twitter service via SMS and third-party apps," she said.

Twitter and Facebook were among Internet social networking services reportedly being used by protesters to share information and coordinate activities.

"We're not the experts on how Twitter is being used in highly developing situations 1000s of miles from our comfortable HQ in SF," Twitter said in a message.

"The experts are those using Twitter on the ground and those coordinating with them around the world."

Tens of thousands of demonstrators took to the streets across Egypt, facing down a massive police presence to demand the ouster of Mubarak in protests inspired by Tunisia's popular uprising.

Two protesters died in the port city of Suez in clashes between police and demonstrators and a policeman died from his wounds in Cairo, officials said.

The protests were considered the largest and most significant since riots over bread subsidies shook the Arab world's most populous nation in 1977.

The protest, called by the pro-democracy youth group the April 6 Movement, coincided with a national holiday to mark Police Day.

earlier related report
Study: Women in Congress out-do men
Chicago (UPI) Jan 25, 2011 - U.S. congresswomen consistently outperform their male counterparts on several measures of job performance, a study says.

Researchers at the University of Chicago argue that because women face greater odds in reaching Congress -- women account for fewer than one in six representatives -- those who succeed are more capable, on average, than their male colleagues, a university release said Tuesday.

Women in Congress deliver more federal projects to their home districts than men do, even when controlling for such factors as party affiliation and ideology, Christopher Berry, a professor in the Harris School of Public Policy Studies, says.

Congresswomen also sponsor and co-sponsor more legislation than congressmen, the study found.

The study suggests the finding is a byproduct of voter discrimination against female candidates.

When women confront such bias, only the most talented, politically ambitious females will attempt to run for office, and voters will tend to elect the most highly capable women, the researchers say.

"Women run for, and are elected to, public office at lower rates than men. This might be because women perceive themselves as less qualified to run than they actually are, or it might be because bias against women in the electorate produces a barrier to entry for them," Berry said.

"In either case, the central implication of sex-based political selection is that the women we observe in office will, on average, outperform the men," he said.

"We emphasize that we are not arguing that women have more innate political talent than men, nor do we claim that all female candidates outperform their male counterparts.

"Our theory simply identifies a connection between the economics of discrimination and models of political agency: When sex discrimination is present among voters, women must be better than their male counterparts to be elected."

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