EGYPT COUP OUSTS MORSY

BREAKING NEWS ; Morsy out in Egypt coup

U.S. Embassy in Cairo orders evacuation of nonessential.

Egyptian military ousts Morsy

Egypt's top military leader announces Wednesday night that President Mohamed Morsy has been removed from power

Head of Egypt's constitutional court will be temporary president until new constitution is drawn up and new elections can be held

The military demanded that Morsy share power with opponents after anti-government protests

Morsy, elected last year, refused to comply; mass protests continue to support him
Fireworks light the sky as opponents of Mohamed Morsy celebrate in Tahrir Square in Cairo on Wednesday, July 3. Egypt's military deposed Morsy, the country's first democratically elected president, installing the head of the country's highest court as an interim leader, the country's top general announced Wednesday. Click through the gallery to see how the protests and subsequent coup unfolded:

Opposition protesters celebrate outside Egypt's Presidential Palace in Cairo on July 3. The Egyptian military gave Morsy a 48-hour ultimatum on Monday to accommodate his opponents with a power-sharing agreement or be pushed aside.

An anti-Morsy poster is displayed on a wall in Tahrir Square on July 3.

Opposition protesters celebrate on July 3, lighting flares and waving national flags in Tahrir Square.

On July 3 in front of a symbolic coffin, green lasers illuminate opposition protesters performing funeral prayers for Egyptians killed during clashes between supporters and opponents of Morsy.

Opponents of Morsy wave national flags during a protest outside the presidential palace in Cairo on July 3.

A man with his face painted the colors of the Egyptian flag looks out as thousands of protesters gather on July 3 in Tahrir Square.

An opposition protester holds a chair and knife during clashes between supporters and opponents of Morsy on July 3 in downtown Damietta, Egypt, which is north of Cairo near the Mediterranean Sea.

An opposition protester is beaten by pro-Morsy demonstrators during clashes in Damietta on July 3.

Egyptian Army soldiers take their positions in front of protesters near the Republican Guard headquarters in Cairo on July 3.

Women react to the flag-draped body of a victim (not pictured) who was killed during fighting outside Cairo University on July 3.

Thousands of Egyptian protesters celebrate in Tahrir Square as the deadline given by the military to Morsy passes on July 3.

A supporter of Morsy holds a poster that reads, "The people support legitimacy for the president," during a rally in Cairo on July 3.

Egyptians salute Army tanks upon their deployment on a street leading to Cairo University on July 3.

An opponent of Morsy chants slogans during a protest outside the presidential palace in Cairo on July 3.

Egyptian special forces police stand guard beside an armored vehicle, protecting a bridge connecting Cairo and Giza, Egypt, where Muslim Brotherhood supporters have gathered, on July 3.

Hundreds of protesters gather in Tahrir Square in Cairo as the deadline given to Morsy by the military approaches on July 3.

Opponents of Morsy shout slogans as they carry a symbolic coffin during a protest in Tahrir Square on July 3.

Egypt's military deposed the country's first democratically elected president Wednesday night, installing the head of the country's highest court as an interim leader, the country's top general announced.

Gen. Abdel-Fatah El-Sisi said the military was fulfilling its "historic responsibility" to protect the country by ousting Mohamed Morsy, the Western-educated Islamist leader elected a year ago. The country's constitution has been suspended, new parliamentary elections will be held and Adly Mansour, the head of the country's Supreme Constitutional Court, will replace Morsy, El-Sisi said.

Mansour will have the power to issue constitutional declarations during the interim period and will "establish a government that is a strong and diverse," the armed forces chief said. He said Morsy "did not achieve the goals of the people" and failed to meet the generals' demands that he share power with his opposition.

The announcement was met with jubilation and fireworks by opponents who packed Tahrir Square, now the epicenter of two Egyptian upheavals. But across the Nile River, Morsy supporters in another plaza denounced his ouster as he urged them to remain peaceful.

"Let our sons know that their fathers and grandfathers were men who do not accept injustice and do not give in to the corrupt and will never give up when it comes to their country, their legitimacy or their religion," he said in a statement posted on his official Facebook page.

The crowds chanted "Down with military rule" and "The square has a million martyrs" after the announcement.

And the Muslim Brotherhood, the long-suppressed Islamist movement whose political arm Morsy led as a candidate, said the coup "wastes the will of the people and returns Egypt to tyranny."

"Millions condemn the coup and support the elected president's legitimacy," the group said in a statement posted on its official website.

Morsy also spoke to those supporters over loudspeakers in Rabaa Adawya Square, but it was not immediately clear where he was. Meanwhile, via Twitter, Muslim Brotherhood spokesman Gehad El Haddad said pro-Morsy satellite channels had been cut off by the military.

Before Wednesday night's announcement, troops moved into key positions around the capital, closing off a bridge over the Nile River and surrounding the Rabaa Adawya Square protest.

Morsy, a U.S.-educated religious conservative, was elected president in June 2012.

But his approval ratings have plummeted as his government has failed to keep order or revive Egypt's economy. The chaos, including open sexual assaults on women in Egypt's streets, has driven away tourists and investors, while opponents say Morsy's rule was increasingly authoritarian.

Mohamed ElBaradei, the former head of the International Atomic Energy Agency and a leading opposition figure, said the plans announced Wednesday were "a correction for the way of the revolution" that drove longtime strongman Hosni Mubarak from office in 2011.

Opinion: In Egypt, rage must lead to game plan "The road map guarantees achieving the principal demand of the Egyptian people -- having early presidential elections through an interim period through which the constitution will be amended," he said.

"So all of us build it together and agree on a democratic constitution, so we can guarantee our freedoms."

The Egyptian military dominated the country for six decades and took direct power for a year and a half after Mubarak's ouster. On Monday, after a previous demand that Morsy offer concessions to the opposition, it gave him 48 hours to order reforms.

As the hour of the ultimatum neared, Morsy offered to form an interim coalition government to oversee parliamentary elections and revise the constitution that was enacted in January.

"One of the mistakes I cannot accept -- as the president of all Egyptians -- is to side with one party over another, or to present the scene from one side only.

To be fair, we need to listen to the voice of people in all squares," he said.

Rand Paul: Stop using U.S. taxpayer money to aid Morsy But shortly after the deadline, Morsy aide Essam El Haddad said in a Facebook posting that a coup was under way and warned that the generals risked bloodshed by moving against Morsy.

"In a democracy, there are simple consequences for the situation we see in Egypt: The president loses the next election or his party gets penalized in the upcoming parliamentary elections.

Anything else is mob rule," he wrote.

But Naguib Abadeer, a member of the opposition Free Egyptians Party, said what was under way "is not by any means a military coup. This is a revolution."

Morsy lost his legitimacy in November, when he declared courts could not review his decrees and ousted the country's prosecutor-general, Abadeer said. And the Muslim Brotherhood "hijacked the vote of the people" by running on a religious platform, "so these were not democratic elections," he said.