Egypt's parliament speaker Saad al-Katatni announced today that the lower house of the assembly will meet at noon on Tuesday, or 1000 GMT, according to Reuters. The announcement was made one day after Egypt's new President Mohammed Mursi ordered the assembly to reopen, defying the military council's decision to dissolve it last month. 

According to Reuters, the military council is not backing down:

Responding a day after Mohamed Mursi's decree, the army on Monday defended its action to dissolve parliament and, in an apparent swipe at the president, said it was confident "all state institutions" would respect the constitution and the law.

These words were perceived a challenge and warning to the president, who was sworn in less than a week ago. Jon Leyne, reporting for the BBC in Cairo, said the political truce in Egypt appears over.

According to Bloomberg Businessweek:

The power struggle between the president, an Islamist politician, and the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces, known as SCAF, threatens to deepen divisions in a country struggling to recover from the unrest that followed last year’s uprising against Hosni Mubarak.

According to the BBC:

Crowds were gathering in Tahrir Square ahead of a parliamentary meeting called for 10:00 (08:00 GMT) on Tuesday, in defiance of the military's decision.

Both Katatni and Mursi belong to the Muslim Brotherhood. The Brotherhood are longtime enemies Mubarak and the military who ruled Egypt for six decades until June 30, when power was formally handed over to Mursi by the army council.

The council's decision last month to dissolve parliament followed a high court ruling that the law governing voting for the Islamist-controlled parliament was unconstitutional. 

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Hannah Miet