Thursday morning news roundup: Egypt

Extraordinary scenes were witnessed in Egypt last night, as Mohammed Morsi, the country's first democratically elected president, was ousted by the military. The move garnered widespread public support. General Abdel-Fatah al-Sisi, the head of the armed forces, announced on television that he had suspended the country's constitution and would shortly be scheduling fresh presidential and parliamentary elections. In the meantime, Adli Mansour, head of the country's constitutional court will today be named interim head of state.

A state news agency has reported that at least 14 people were killed in clashes between Morsi supporters and the opposition.

Saqeb Mueen from the Royal United Service Institute writes for Prospect arguing that while the military coup may have popular backing at the moment, it is the army that will be the ultimate arbiter in Egyptian politics for a long time yet.

Nathan J Brown, writing in Foreign Affairs, suggests that this military intervention is rushed and badly designed.

Barack Obama has said publically that he is "deeply concerned" by last night's events. While he did not call for Mr Morsi to be returned to power he called on the Egyptian military to "move quickly and responsibly" to return full authority to a democratically-elected civilian government as soon as possible.

Reuters reports that if the United States formally declares the ousting of Morsi by the army a coup, then US law mandates that aid, particularly to Egyptian military, must stop.