Egypt's Top Court, Military: Ruling on Parliament Final

Egypt's highest court insisted today that its ruling to invalidate the Islamist-dominated parliament was final and binding, setting up a showdown with the country's newly elected president after he ordered lawmakers to return. The announcement on state TV came a day after President Mohammed Morsi recalled the legislators, defying the powerful military's decision to dismiss parliament after the Supreme Constitutional Court ruled that a third of its members had been elected illegally.

However, both sides appeared together today at a military graduation ceremony. Morsi sat between the head of the armed forces Field Marshal Hussein Tantawi and Chief-of-Staff Sami Anan. The three sat grim faced for most of the ceremony, but Tantawi and Morsi exchanged a few words while seated on the reviewing stand. The powerful military, meanwhile, delivered a thinly veiled warning to Morsi, saying it trusted that all state institutions will respect the constitutional declarations issued by the military during its 16 months in power since the fall of Hosni Mubarak.