Share prices were higher in early trade today in line with Wall Street which posted gains last Friday driven by optimistic economic expectations, dealers said.
At 9am, the FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) opened 0.6 point to 1,772.87 and rose 1.63 points to 1,773.9 at 9.23am.
HwangDBS Vickers Research said the leading US equity bellwethers rose one per cent at the closing bell as investors cast aside a possible scaling back of the quantitative easing programme by the Federal Reserve.
"This may pave the way for our Malaysian bourse to extend its recovery today," it said.
The benchmark FBM KLCI -– after losing momentum last Friday afternoon –- could rebound and stage an upward bias towards the immediate resistance level of 1,785 ahead, the research house said.
On the scoreboard, the Finance Index added 24.711 points to 17,018.91 and the Industrial Index rose 0.52 point to 3,000.89.
The Plantation Index increased 8.47 points to 8,421.1 and the FBM Ace Index went up 13.62 points to 4,788.43.
Gainers led losers 216 to 86, while 145 counters were unchanged, 1,122 untraded and 19 others suspended.
Volume stood at 205.3 million shares worth RM121.2 million.
Among actives, Scomi Energy slipped eight sen to 90 sen, Tanjung Offshore added two sen to 64 sen and TH Heavy Engineering rose three sen to 81.5 sen.
As for heavyweights, Maybank increased four sen to RM10.42, CIMB gained six sen to RM8.33 and Sime Darby slipped one sen to RM9.45.-- Bernama
Air traffic control recordings reveal what pilots on a nearby plane saw after Asiana Flight 214 crashed at San Francisco International Airport.
Federal crash investigators are eager to interview the pilots and review the flight-data recorders that were recovered Saturday from the Asiana crash in San Francisco.
The cockpit voice recorder and the flight-data recorder were each recovered hours after the crash and flown to Washington for examination by the National Transportation Safety Board.
Deborah Hersman, the board chairman who traveled to the accident scene, said the recorders will provide hundreds of pieces of information about the flight in the moments and hours before the crash.
"I am confident in the ability of our investigators to get to the bottom of this," Hersman said on NBC's Today show. "We need to take a look at it and see what it tells us."
Federal law-enforcement officials had initial conversations with the pilot, but the Federal Aviation Administration and NTSB still expect to speak with him within days, Hersman said.
"There are a lot of systems to help support the pilots as they come into airports, especially busy commercial airports like this one in San Francisco," Hersman told CNN's State of the Union.
"It's also about the pilots' recognition of the circumstances and what's going on, and so for them to be able to assess what's happening and make the right inputs to make sure they're in a safe situation," Hersman said. "That's what we expect from pilots. We want to understand what happened in this situation."
The tail of the Boeing 777 struck the end of the runway and fell off as it was landing, and the plane struck the ground and spun around before coming to rest and burning. Two passengers died and 187 were injured, but 307 were on the plane.
"What you can't see if the damage internally, and that is really striking," Hersman told CNN after visiting the plane. "And so I think when we look at this accident, we're very thankful that we didn't have more fatalities and serious injuries and we had so many survivors."
The president of Asiana, Yoon Young-doo, said at a televised news conference that it will take time to determine the cause of the crash. But when asked about the possibility of engine or mechanical problems, he said he doesn't believe they could have been the cause.
Hersman said investigators needed to study the plane, the recorders and crew to learn what happened.
"We really prefer to base statements on facts, and we've got to review the flight data recorder, the cockpit voice recorder, and document the scene before we draw any conclusions," Hersman told ABC's This Week.
Eyewitnesses say the streets "were filled with fire"
Police have said they expect more people to be found dead after a runaway train carrying light crude oil exploded in the Canadian town of Lac-Megantic.
The blast sent a fireball and black smoke into the air, killing one and forcing the evacuation of 1,000 people.
Dozens of buildings were destroyed in the town, about 250km (155 miles) east of Montreal.
They include a bar full of customers. Police are trying to account for dozens of missing people.
The train's cars reportedly uncoupled from a parked engine and derailed early on Saturday.
Rail company officials said the train had been immobilised in a neighbouring village before a scheduled crew change, but for an unknown reason had then started rolling downhill into Lac-Megantic.
Eyewitnesses said that by the time the driverless train reached the town it was travelling at considerable speed.
'Like a movie'
The search for more bodies is expected to continue at dawn.
Local media have reported up to 100 people missing.
"We have already confirmed one death and we expect there will be others," said police spokesman Guy Lapointe.
"We also expect that the number of people reported missing will be greater than the final death toll."
He said some people had been reported missing several times by different family members.
Some 120 firefighters have been fighting the blaze, which has continued for more than 24 hours.
Firefighters from across the border in the US are assisting.
Eyewitnesses reported that the town centre - where there are a number of bars - was crowded at the time of the blast, and that "chaos" ensued.
Firefighters fought the blaze for more than 24 hours
Bernard Theberge, who was on the patio of the Musi-Cafe at the time, said he was lucky to escape and feared for those inside the bar.
"It was like a movie," he said, quoted by the Associated Press news agency. "Explosions as if it were scripted - but this was live."
A woman described how close she was to one of the wagons.
"There were some sparks, and the car lifted and came to lie on its side in front of me, but I turned around and ran without stopping," she told the CBC TV.
Brakes 'tight'
The Montreal, Maine & Atlantic train had five locomotive engines and 73 cars filled with light crude oil, and was parked in the village of Nantes - about 7km (four miles) from Lac-Megantic - during an overnight driver shift-change, a company spokesman told Canada's La Presse newspaper.
The railway's chairman, Edward Burhardt, quoted by CBC, said an engineer had parked the train and put the brakes on "properly" before going to a local hotel for the night.
The cars filled with fuel somehow became uncoupled, causing them to roll downhill into the town and derail, said the spokesman, Joe McGonigle.
Canadian PM Stephen Harper: "What has happened is shocking and truly devastating"
"It seems that the brakes were tight on locomotives," Mr McGonigle told La Presse. "We found the locomotives higher up, half a mile (800m) away."
Some of the cars exploded, creating a massive fireball and setting fire to nearby homes and businesses.
A one-kilometre exclusion zone was set up amid fears of more pressurised containers exploding.
"When you see the centre of your town almost destroyed, you'll understand that we're asking ourselves how we are going to get through this event," an emotional Mayor Colette Roy-Laroche told a televised news briefing.
Prime Minister Stephen Harper said in a statement: "Our thoughts and prayers go out to the families and friends of those affected by this morning's tragic train derailment and subsequent fires in Lac-Megantic, Quebec.
Some of the train's cargo spilled into the nearby Chaudiere river, said Environment Quebec spokesman Christian Blanchette, adding that communities downstream of Lac-Megantic had been warned to take care if using river water.
A mobile laboratory had been set up to monitor the quality of the air, he added.
The train was carrying the crude oil from the Bakken Field in North Dakota. Montreal, Maine & Atlantic owns more than 800km (500 miles) of track serving Maine, Vermont, Quebec and New Brunswick.
A lakeside town that is home to some 6,000 people, Lac-Megantic is close to the US border with Vermont and 210 km (130 miles) north of Maine's capital, Augusta.
Are you in the area? Have you been affected? Send us your comments using the form below.
Send your pictures and videos to yourpics@bbc.co.uk or text them to 61124 (UK) or +44 7624 800 100 (International). If you have a large file you canupload here.
Former intelligence worker Edward Snowden, 29, revealed himself as the source of documents outlining a massive effort by the NSA to track cell phone calls and monitor the e-mail and Internet traffic of virtually all Americans. He says he just wanted the public to know what the government was doing. "Even if you're not doing anything wrong, you're being watched and recorded," he said. While he has not been charged, the FBI is conducting an investigation into the leaks.
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Bolivian president offers asylum to Edward Snowden
Head of Russia's DUMA says Snowden moving to Venezuela is best solution
Nicaragua's president says he would also grant asylum, circumstances permitting
Bolivia's president criticizes the U.S. over a plane incident involving Snowden
(CNN) -- Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro has offered asylum to Edward Snowden, the state-run AVN news agency reported Friday, without offering details.
And Bolivia "is willing to give asylum" to the U.S. intelligence leaker, President Evo Morales said Saturday, according to a government statement.
The reports came shortly after Nicaraguan President Daniel Ortega said he would grant Snowden asylum in his country "if the circumstances permit." Ortega didn't elaborate on his announcement, made during a speech in Managua, except to say his country is "open and respectful to the right of asylum."
"It's clear that that if the circumstances permit it we will gladly receive Snowden and will grant him asylum here in Nicaragua," Ortega said.
Alexei Pushkov, head of the lower Russian legislative body DUMA, recommended Snowden leave Moscow's Sheremetyevo International Airport, where he has been holed up since June 23, when he arrived from Hong Kong.
"Sanctuary for Snowden in Venezuela would be the best solution," Pushkov tweeted Saturday. "He can't live in at Sheremetyevo."
Meanwhile, an Icelandic lawmaker said Snowden would not get citizenship there, as he had requested, because Iceland's parliament refused to vote on an asylum proposal before ending its current session.
Birgitta Jonsdottir was among a handful of lawmakers who put forward a bill Thursday urging Parliament to process Snowden's request. She said Friday that the speaker of the house refused to put the bill on the agenda and the majority in parliament refused to allow a voice vote on it.
"So it is with great grief I have to announce that Snowden will not be getting any form of shelter in Iceland because the current government doesn't even have enough spine for the Parliament to discuss Snowden's request," Jonsdottir wrote on her blog.
She praised Snowden, who has acknowledged leaking classified documents about U.S. surveillance programs and faces espionage charges in the United States. Besides Iceland, he has applied for asylum in 20 other countries.
"I and many others regard him as a hero and have deep respect for him for he has taken great personal risk in order to inform the rest of us about how those in power have lost control of their powerlust and violated their own constitutions against their own citizens," Jonsdottir wrote.
"Mr. Snowden your courage has been noted and there are millions of people from all backgrounds who honor the risks you have taken for us and we will stand tall with you."
Several European countries refused to allow President Evo Morales' plane through their airspace Tuesday because of suspicions Snowden was aboard. With no clear path home available, the flight crew made an emergency landing in Vienna, Austria, where authorities confirmed Snowden was not a passenger.
Bolivia's asylum offer is a "fair protest" to the incident, which involved Portugal, Italy, France and Spain, Morales said. Spain has said it did not restrict its airspace during that flight.
He put the blame squarely on the United States for the incident.
"Message to the Americans: The empire and its servants will never be able to intimidate or scare us," Morales told supporters at El Alto International Airport outside La Paz, where he arrived late Wednesday. "European countries need to liberate themselves from the imperialism of the Americans."
Morales said officials should analyze whether to shut the U.S. Embassy in his country.
"Without the United States," he said, "we are better politically and democratically."
Ecuadorian President Rafael Correa joined Morales in criticizing the United States' role in the situation, and Venezuela's Maduro blamed the CIA for pressuring the European governments to refuse to grant the plane passage.
WIMBLEDON -- Marion Bartoli of France overpowered a nervous Sabine Lisicki in the first set and rode out a challenge from her ponytailed German opponent in the second set to win her first Wimbledon title in her second appearance in the final.
Bartoli, seeded 15th, prevailed over No. 23 Lisicki, 6-1, 6-4, on a sunny day on Centre Court. Bartoli became the first French woman to win the Wimbledon singles title since Amelie Mauresmo -- Bartoli's coach -- triumphed here in 2006.
"Dreams come true," Bartoli said while still celebrating her victory on the court.
Because of a series of upsets that rocked the tournament in the first week, Bartoli had a relatively easy path to the final and didn't have to face a player seeded in the top 10. The highest-seeded players Bartoli faced were No. 17 Sloane Stephens of the U.S. in the quarterfinals and No. 20 Kirsten Flipkens of Belgium in the semifinals.
Lisicki, who was born in Germany but lives in Bradenton, Fla., had the harder road to the final. She had to beat Grand Slam champions Sam Stosur (No. 14) in third round, Serena Willams (No. 1) in round of 16, and No. 4 Agnieska Radwanska of Poland in the semifinals.
"I still love this tournament so much. I still love this court so much," Lisicki said, her voice breaking with emotion.
She asked if she could thank her team of supporters, and broke down in mid-sentence. "We've been through so much, so many ups and downs," she said. "This was my first Grand Slam final. I hope we get this chance one more time."
Bartoli, a gracious winner, assured Lisicki that she would have another chance. "You will be here one more time. I have no doubt about it," Bartoli said.
Bartoli, 28, set an unofficial record of sorts by competing in the most Grand Slams before winning a Grand Slam title. This was her 47th Grand Slam appearance. The previous record was held by Jana Novotna, who won at Wimbledon in her 45th slam appearance, in 1998.
Bartoli became the first player ranked outside the top 10 to win the Wimbledon women's title since Venus Williams, who was ranked No. 31 in 2007. Bartoli lost to Williams that day and had not returned to the final since.
Bartoli lost her serve in the first game of the match but roared back to win the next six games. Lisicki, nicknamed "Boom Boom" for her trademark big serve, wasn't getting anything from that serve and was visibly nervous. As the first set progressed, Lisicki, the crowd favorite, became teary-eyed in frustration as she couldn't handle the punishing, two-handed strokes that Bartoli hit from both sides.
The first set took only 29 minutes and ended when Lisicki hit a forehand into the net on Bartoli's first set point.
Lisicki held serve for the first time in the first game of the second set and had four break points in the second game but Bartoli held and then broke Lisicki's serve again for a 2-1 lead. That lead became 4-1 after Bartoli held serve and broke Lisicki again, and it ballooned to 5-1 when Bartoli held serve at love.
The crowd voiced its support for Lisicki as she prepared to serve in the seventh game, and that appeared to give Lisicki new strength. She saved three match points and held serve, then broke Bartoli in the eighth game. Lisicki then held service, as the crowd began buzzing about possibly seeing another comeback from Lisicki, who had been down 0-3 in the third set against Williams and Radwanska but battled back to win.
But Bartoli -- who hadn't won a title since 2011 -- wasn't about to let this slip away. She served for the match and won at love, finishing it off with an ace.
She then ran toward the stands and climbed up to the players' box to hug her entourage that included her father, Walter, who coached her for many years before a split that left Bartoli off-kilter for quite a while. The most perilous part of her day was climbing back down to the court to receive the Venus Rosewater Dish awarded to the winner.
Authorities on Friday said they believe at least one pyrotechnic device prematurely detonated in its mortar during a Fourth of July celebration in Simi Valley on Thursday night, causing a chain reaction that tipped over other pyrotechnics and launched them into the crowd of spectators.
The major fireworks malfunction at Rancho Santa Susana Community Park at 9:20 p.m. injured at least 28 people, who suffered minor to severe injuries. An estimated 8,000 to 10,000 people were gathered to watch the professional fireworks display.
Simi Valley police Cmdr. Blair Summey said that after the early detonation, a group of live canisters fell over like "dominoes." One or more of them fired into the crowd of spectators, the closest of whom were about 800 feet away.
"These things were coming through low. They were skipping along the ground," Summey said. "Some of these projectiles, they were exploding as they were coming out of the canisters."
The 28 victims ranged in age from 8 to 78 years old. A total of 20 people were taken by ambulance to area hospitals. Four suffered serious, but not life-threatening, injuries. One police officer was also struck in the back by a projectile that cut the leather on his belt, Summey said.
The California Occupational Safety and Health Administration was notified and will also investigate the incident.
The show was sponsored by the Rotary Club, which hired Bay Fireworks, a New York-based company that has produced events for Walt Disney World, NASA and the Republican National convention. Bay Fireworks said it had no immediate comment, but expected to release a statement sometime Friday morning.
Video footage showed fireworks exploding at ground level and into the crowd as people screamed and ran for cover. Police said that after the initial chaos, the crowd left in an orderly manner.
"There was a big boom. Everybody started running down the street. People were screaming," said Justice Allen, 17, of Simi Valley. "Everybody was just terrified. People hid in bushes."
Allen said she had just arrived at the park after getting off work when fireworks started flying over the fences and sparks passed by her and her friend.
Another witness, Annisa Wynn, told KTLA-TV Channel 5 that the explosion occurred about two minutes into the show. Fireworks suddenly began shooting sideways along the ground into the crowd instead of up in the air, she said.
"The fireworks were so close, you could see them on the ground," Wynn said. "It never happens this way. People were screaming."
Amid the chaos, Ventura County firefighters set up a triage center in the park, where they treated adults and children, many of them hit by flying debris. Some people were taken by ambulance to area hospitals.
Most of the injuries were described as shrapnel-like injuries or burns. No fatalities were reported.
Taken to the hospital were four people with moderate to severe injuries and 16 with minor injuries. The rest were treated and released at the scene.
Simi Valley police Cmdr. John Parks said the Fourth of July event was heavily staffed with police, park rangers and firefighters who were able to treat the injured almost immediately after the explosion.
Parks also said the public cooperated with authorities and quickly evacuated the park after the blast.
Hazciel Vidrio, 26, of Simi Valley, said he and his family have attended the event the last several years, but "this was completely unexpected."
After four or five rockets went straight up, he said, there was a loud blast and he realized that something was wrong.
"A lot of kids were screaming and crying," Vidrio said. "People were trying to get away from the fireworks as fast as they could and were running into each other."
Trayvon Martin's mother, Sybrina Fulton, says it was her son's voice heard screaming in the background of a 911 call.
By Michael Muskal and Tina Susman
July 5, 2013, 8:30 a.m.
The mother of Trayvon Martin testified Friday that it is the voice of her son heard screaming on a recorded 911 call during his confrontation with George Zimmerman, charged with second-degree murder in the death of the unarmed teenager.
Sybrina Fulton took the stand in Zimmerman's murder trial and said it is her son on the tape. Jahvaris Fulton then followed his mother on the stand and also testified that the screams belonged to his brother, Trayvon Martin.
Zimmerman, then 28, and Martin, 17, had a confrontation in a gated community in Sanford, Fla., on Feb. 26, 2012. Zimmerman said he shot Martin in self-defense when the teenager attacked him.
A neighbor called 911 to report the fight. In the background, screams can be heard, but it is unclear who is screaming. An FBI audio expert testified that science could not definitively identify the voice, but someone like a relative who was very familiar with the voice might be able to say who it was. The expert also warned against listener bias.
Fulton had been expected to testify it was her son's voice, and her appearance on the ninth day of the prosecution putting in its case carried the drama that had been forecast. Prosecutor Bernie de la Rionda kept Fulton on the stand only a few minutes in her initial appearance, but the moments were emotional.
Asked by De la Rionda if she has children, Fulton replied in a clear but slightly quavering voice: "My youngest son is Trayvon Benjamin Martin. He's in heaven."
She then gave details of Martin's tattoos, noting that her son was right-handed and had two tattoos. One was on his right upper shoulder and showed praying hands with his grandmother's and great-grandmother's names.
The other tattoo was on his left wrist. "He had my name there," she said.
De la Rionda played the 911 call of a neighbor reporting the sounds of screaming and then a gunshot. Fulton blinked over and over and shifted slightly as the sound of the cries filled the courtroom.
"Do you recognize that?" De la Rionda asked.
"Yes," she replied, before saying firmly that it was the voice of her son.
Under cross-examination, Fulton resisted suggestions from defense attorney Mark O'Mara that she hoped the screams were her son's, because if they were not, they would have come from Zimmerman.
"I heard my son screaming," she told O'Mara.
"And in your mind, as his mother, there was no doubt it was him screaming, correct?" O'Mara said as the questioning continued.
"Absolutely," Fulton said.
Jahvaris Martin took the stand after his mother and echoed her statement that the voice calling for help was that of his brother. But under cross-examination, Jahvaris Martin, 22, conceded that he had at one point told a reporter that he wasn't certain it was Martin's voice.
"How do I explain?" he said, struggling to respond to O'Mara's cross-examination. "I guess I didn't want to believe it was him. ... I guess listening to it was clouded by shock and denial and sadness."
The identifications were certainly emotional, but it was unclear how the six-woman jury would deal with the identifications. One witness has testified that he saw Martin on top of Zimmerman and heard screams from Zimmerman.
In addition, Martin's father, Tracy Martin, initially told authorities that he did not believe the voice on the tape was his son's.
After the family members testified, Dr. Shipping Bao, the medical examiner who performed the autopsy on Trayvon Martin, took the stand.
Martin was alive for a time after he was shot, Bao said in his initial testimony.
"His heart was still beating," Bao testified. "He was still alive, he was still in pain."
The defense objected and Judge Deborah S. Nelson agreed.
Chief justice Adly Mansour sworn in as interim leader
Military topples President Morsi in what he calls coup
Constitution suspended, caretaker gov't being installed
Morsi, some allies said to be under house arrest
Updated 7:37 a.m. ET
CAIRO The supreme justice of Egypt's Supreme Constitutional Court has been sworn in as the nation's interim president, replacing the Islamist Mohammed Morsi who was ousted by the military.
Adly Mansour was sworn in Thursday at the Constitutional Court in a ceremony broadcast live on state television.
According to military decree, Mansour will serve as Egypt's interim leader until a new president is elected. A date for that vote has yet to be set.
Manosur's assumption of office comes a day after the military deposed Morsi, who took office a year ago as Egypt's first democratically elected president.
The military moved to oust Morsi after millions of Egyptians took to the streets this week to demand his resignation. On Thursday, as Mansour was sworn in, CBS News correspondent Clarissa Ward reported that people had again gathered in Tahrir Square to celebrate what they view as the triumph of the will of the people. They were fed up with President Morsi, accusing him of destroying the country's economy and stacking its government with his Islamist colleagues from the Muslim Brotherhood.
Upon being sworn in, Mansour told the nation on live television that he considered it an honor "to receive order to be interim president of government and it was given to me by the one who has the order -- the Egyptian people, source of all powers following 30th of June revolution," which the anti-Morsi forces have dubbed the Islamist president's ouster.
Mansour claimed the new "revolution" had "corrected" the one born of the Arab Spring just two years earlier -- the one which led to the nation's first democratic elections in decades and which brought Morsi to power.
Morsi was under house arrest Thursday at an undisclosed location, and officials said the Muslim Brotherhood's leader, Mohammed Badie, had also been taken into custody.
"I don't think anyone here wants the army to come back and govern the country," a man on a street told CBS News on Wednesday. "So I think all the cheering and all the excitement is because it's seem like the army is saying to the people "we're with you, we're protecting you and we realize how serious this is."
Reporting from Cairo, Ward said the people on the streets didn't have one leader in mind who should take over, suggesting that was a problem for another day.
Fearing a violent reaction by Morsi's Islamist supporters, troops and armored vehicles deployed in the streets of Cairo and elsewhere, surrounding Islamist rallies. Clashes erupted in several provincial cities when Islamists opened fire on police, with at least nine people killed, security officials said. Some reports put the number as high as 32.
A tweet from the account of Gehad el-Haddad, a spokesman for the Muslim Brotherhood party, said Morsi was under house arrest at a Presidential Guard facility where he had been residing, and 12 presidential aides also were under house arrest.
The army took control of state media and blacked out TV stations operated by the Muslim Brotherhood. The head of the Brotherhood's political wing was arrested.
The ouster of Morsi throws Egypt on an uncertain course, with a danger of further confrontation. It came after four days of mass demonstrations even larger than those of the 2011 Arab Spring that toppled longtime autocrat Hosni Mubarak.
Egyptians were angered that Morsi was giving too much power to his Muslim Brotherhood and other Islamists and had failed to tackle the country's mounting economic woes.
Beyond the fears over violence, some protesters are concerned whether an army-installed administration can lead to real democracy.
He said he was "deeply concerned" by the military's move to topple Morsi's government and suspend Egypt's constitution. He said he was ordering the U.S. government to assess what the military's actions meant for U.S. foreign aid to Egypt -- $1.5 billion a year in military and economic assistance.
The U.S. wasn't taking sides in the conflict, committing itself only to democracy and respect for the rule of law, Mr. Obama said.
On Monday, army chief Gen. Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi had given Morsi an ultimatum to find a solution to meet the demands of anti-government demonstrators in 48 hours, but the 62-year-old former engineer defiantly insisted on his legitimacy from an election he won with 51.7 percent of the vote in June 2012.
As the deadline approached, el-Sissi met with pro-reform leader Mohammed ElBaradei, top Muslim cleric Sheik Ahmed el-Tayeb and Coptic Pope Tawadros II, as well as opposition activists and some members of the ultraconservative Salafist movements. The consultations apparently were aimed at bringing as wide a consensus as possible behind the army's moves.
The Brotherhood boycotted the session, according to its political arm, the Freedom and Justice Party.
In a last-minute statement before the deadline, Morsi again rejected the military's intervention, saying abiding by his electoral legitimacy was the only way to prevent violence. He criticized the military for "taking only one side."
"One mistake that cannot be accepted, and I say this as president of all Egyptians, is to take sides," he said in the statement issued by his office. "Justice dictates that the voice of the masses from all squares should be heard," he said, repeating his offer to hold dialogue with his opponents.
"For the sake of Egypt and for historical accuracy, let's call what is happening by its real name: Military coup," Morsi's top foreign policy adviser Essam al-Haddad wrote on his Facebook page.
After the deadline expired, el-Sissi went on state TV and said the chief justice of the Supreme Constitutional Court, Adly Mansour, would step in as interim president until new elections are held. Mansour was appointed to the court by Mubarak but elevated to the chief justice post by Morsi.
Flanked by Muslim and Christian clerics as well as ElBaradei and two opposition activists, el-Sissi said in his Wednesday night address that a government of technocrats would be formed with "full powers" to run the country.
He promised "not to exclude anyone or any movement" from further steps. But he did not define the length of the transition period or when presidential elections would be held. He also did not mention any role for the military.
The constitution, drafted by Morsi's Islamist allies, was "temporarily suspended," and a panel of experts and representatives of all political movements would consider amendments, el-Sissi said. He did not say whether a referendum would be held to ratify the changes, as is customary.
ElBaradei, a Nobel Peace Prize laureate and the former head of the U.N. nuclear watchdog agency, said he hoped the military plan would be "the beginning of a new launch for the Jan. 25 revolution when people offered their dearest to restore their freedom, dignity and social justice for every Egyptian."
Also appearing with el-Sissi was Mahmoud Badr, one of two representatives of Tamarod, or Rebel -- the youth opposition movement that engineered the latest wave of protests. He urged protesters "to stay in the squares to protect what we have won."
After the speech, fireworks burst over crowds dancing and waving flags in Cairo's Tahrir Square, epicenter of the 2011 uprising. Now it was one of multiple centers of a stunning four-day anti-Morsi revolt that brought out the biggest anti-government rallies Egypt has seen.
A statement from Morsi's office's Twitter account quoted Morsi as saying the military's measures "represent a full coup categorically rejected by all the free men of our nation."
The army insisted it is not carrying out a coup, but acting on the will of the people to clear the way for a new leadership. El-Sissi warned that the armed forces and police will deal "decisively" with violence.
Some of Morsi's Islamist backers, tens of thousands of whom took to the streets in recent days, have vowed to fight to the end, although he urged everyone "to adhere to peacefulness and avoid shedding blood of fellow countrymen."
"Down with the rule of the military!" some of them chanted after el-Sissi's speech, reviving a chant used by leftist revolutionaries during the nearly 17 months of direct military rule that followed Mubarak's removal.
El-Sissi warned that the armed forces and police will deal "decisively" with violence.
The army deployed troops, commandos and armored vehicles around the country. In Cairo, they were stationed on bridges over the Nile and at major intersections. They also surrounded rallies being held by Morsi's supporters -- an apparent move to contain them.
After the military's 9:20 p.m. announcement, the Brotherhood's TV station went black. Islamist TV networks that have been accused of inciting violence also went off the air, and some of their prominent anchors have been arrested, according to security officials speaking on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak to the media.
Security forces stormed the studio of Al-Jazeera Misr Mubasher and detained the staffers. The station, a branch of Qatari-run Al-Jazeera TV, has maintained a generally pro-Morsi line.
Travel bans were imposed on Morsi and top figures from the Muslim Brotherhood, including its chief, Mohammed Badie, and his powerful deputy, Khairat el-Shater. Officials said security forces had surrounded Badie inside a tourist compound where he had been staying in the Mediterranean coastal city of Marsa Matrouh, near the Libyan border.
A security official said Saad el-Katatni, the head of the Freedom and Justice Party, and Rashad Bayoumi, one of two deputies of the Brotherhood's top leader, were arrested early Thursday. The official spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to talk to the press.
El-Haddad, the Brotherhood party's spokesman, said a list has been drawn up of hundreds of Brotherhood members believed wanted for arrest, including himself.
"We don't know the details. The army is not giving details," he told The Associated Press. "It is a full-fledged coup and it is turning into a bloody one, too. They are arresting everybody."
Police shot dead six Islamists who opened fire on Marsa Matrouh's police headquarters as they drove past. Morsi supporters tried to storm a police station in the southern city of Minya, but where battled back by police, killing three, while other Islamists destroyed cars and shops and threw stones at a church in the nearby city of Deir Mawas, while police fired tear gas at them. Police and armed Morsi supporters also battled in the southern city of Assiut, another Islamist stronghold.
Nearly 50 people have been killed in clashes between Morsi supporters and opponents since Sunday.
Morsi took office vowing to move beyond his roots in the Muslim Brotherhood, but his presidency threw the country into deep polarization. Those who took to the streets this week say he lost his electoral legitimacy because he tried to give the Brotherhood and Islamist allies a monopoly on power, pushed through a constitution largely written by his allies and mismanaged the country's multiple crises.
Morsi and his allies say the opposition never accepted their appeals for dialogue -- seen by opponents as empty gestures -- and that Mubarak loyalists throughout the government sabotaged their attempts to bring change.
A major question now is whether the Brotherhood and other Islamists will push back against the new, military-installed system, or can be drawn into it.
PRESCOTT, Ariz. — Prescott officials are working to retool the over-the-top celebration that has made this Old West town the place to be on Independence Day in the wake of the deaths over the weekend of 19 hometown firefighters.
One thing is for certain: There will be fireworks.
The booming red and white bursts may remind some of the wildfire, still burning, that claimed all but one of the Granite Mountain Hotshot crew on Sunday, but the hilltop community of 40,000 is determined to mourn its dead without compromising its traditions or shying away from overt celebration. The mantra for days has been, "celebration, not grief."
Though much of the southwest remains a tinderbox, fire officials say they will be able to deploy the pyrotechnics safely, pouring water on the detonation area if necessary.
Festivities are expected to last at least 10 hours and include an all-day carnival, live music and a nighttime dance at the town's outdoor rodeo.
Hotels have long since run out of room for out-of-towners hoping to attend the celebration at Pioneer Park, a 10-minute drive from the makeshift memorial residents have built outside the Hotshot headquarters.
Violent wind gusts Sunday turned what was believed to be a manageable lightning-strike forest fire in the town of Yarnell into a death trap that left no escape for the highly qualified Hotshots, most of whom were in the prime of their lives.
Charred pine trees resembling burnt toothpicks now poke from the hillsides in the fire's wake. The higher mountains behind the hills are speckled by pink retardant.
Sunday's tragedy raised questions of whether the Hotshot crew should have been pulled out much earlier and whether all the usual precautions would have made any difference in the face of triple-digit temperatures, erratic winds and dry conditions that caused the fire to explode.
A team of forest managers and safety experts is charged with finding out what went wrong. In addition to examining radio logs, the fire site and weather reports, they'll also talk to the crew's sole survivor, a 21-year-old lookout who warned his fellow firefighters and friends that the wildfire was switching directions.
Nearly 600 firefighters continue to fight the blaze, which has burned about 13 square miles. Hundreds remain evacuated and at least 129 homes have been destroyed, according to a tally released Wednesday by the Yavapai County Sheriff's Office.
Many of the evacuees are staying with friends and relatives in Prescott, where they have been frequenting public meetings and memorial services in town.
The fire was 45 percent contained Wednesday night, up from 8 percent earlier in the day, and authorities said the figure could change on the Fourth of July as they compile a more complete picture with sophisticated mapping techniques.
Evacuees, families of the fallen men, and firefighters from across the state are expected to attend the town's holiday celebrations.
As night fell Wednesday, mayor Marlin Kuykendall was still working with staff to determine who would speak in memory of the fallen firefighters before the fireworks display.
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