US Secretary of State John Kerry is in Cairo today pressing for reforms during the highest-level American visit to Egypt since the removal of the country’s first democratically elected president.

Security forces and Islamist protesters have clashed around the country, leaving 51 killed, as a national holiday celebrating the military turned to mayhem.

The supreme leader of Egypt’s Muslim Brotherhood has been arrested, dealing a serious blow to the group as it tries to maintain street protests over the removal of president Mohammed Morsi.

The European Union’s top diplomat has had two hours of talks with Egypt’s ousted president, who has been held incommunicado since his overthrow in a July 3 military coup, the EU said today.

Egypt is braced for a day of rival rallies and potential street clashes as Islamists condemned military leaders’ call for huge pro-army demonstrations.

Egypt’s interim president is swearing in a new cabinet, the first since the removal of his predecessor by the military nearly two weeks ago.

Islamist lawmakers in Egypt’s disbanded upper house of parliament have demanded the army reinstate ousted President Mohammed Morsi, and called on other legislatures around the world not to recognise the country’s new military-backed leadership.

Egypt’s Muslim Brotherhood has declared it will refuse to join an interim cabinet to replace ousted president Mohammed Morsi, spurning an offer from the new prime minister to help shepherd the country through a transition period.

Egypt’s military-backed interim leader has named a new prime minister and won $8bn (€9.3bn) in promises of aid from wealthy Arab allies in the Gulf.

Egypt’s Muslim Brotherhood has rejected a compromise deal from the interim leadership that sets a fast track for amending the Islamist-drafted constitution and holding new parliamentary and presidential elections by early next year.

Egypt’s interim president has issued a swift timetable for the process of changing the constitution, setting parliamentary and presidential elections for early 2014.

Pro-reform leader Mohamed ElBaradei has been named interim prime minister of Egypt.

Egyptians were on edge today after supporters and opponents of ousted president Mohammed Morsi fought overnight street battles that left at least 30 dead across the increasingly divided country.

Egyptian troops have opened fire on protesters marching in support of ousted president Mohammed Morsi, killing at least one and wounding several more.

Egyptian troops have opened fire on supporters of ousted president Mohammed Morsi as they marched on a Republican Guard facility.

Islamic supporters vowed to protest today after Egypt’s military moved swiftly against top Muslim Brotherhood figures, targeting the backbone of support for ousted President Mohammed Morsi.

The chief justice of Egypt’s Supreme Constitutional Court was sworn in as interim president, taking over hours after the military ousted Islamist president Mohammed Morsi.

The supreme leader of Egypt’s Muslim Brotherhood has been arrested and flown to Cairo on a military helicopter, security officials say.

Egytian prosecutors have ordered the arrest of the leader of Muslim Brotherhood and his deputy for the killing of eight protesters in clashes outside the group’s Cairo headquarters.

Egypt’s first democratically-elected president is under house arrest after being overthrown by the military in the same kind of Arab Spring uprising that brought the Islamist leader to power just a year ago.