Egypt’s president seizes powers

Associated Press

CAIRO

Egypt’s Islamist president ordered the retirement of the defense minister and chief of staff Sunday and made the boldest move so far to seize back powers that the military stripped from his office right before he took over.

Mohammed Morsi has been locked in a power struggle with the military since he took office June 30. But after militants killed 16 Egyptian soldiers a week ago at a border post with Israel in Sinai, he has sought more aggressively to assert his authority over the top generals.

He fired the nation’s intelligence chief a few days ago and made two highly publicized visits to Sinai in the company of top commanders.

He also chaired several meetings with the military brass and made a point of calling himself the supreme commander of the armed forces in televised speeches.

It was not immediately clear whether Morsi’s surprise decisions had the military’s blessing.