Hussein Tantawi dies

CAIRO: Egypt’s Mohammed Hussein Tantawi, who headed the military junta that ruled after president Hosni Mubarak’s ouster in the Arab Spring protests, has died at age 85, the presidency said on Tuesday.

After his stint as Egypt’s de facto leader, he was soon sacked by the country’s first freely elected president, the Islamist Mohamed Mursi, and spent his remaining years largely out of public view.

President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi paid tribute to him in a statement that confirmed his death, calling him one of "Egypt’s most loyal sons". "He dedicated his life to serving the nation for more than half a century... (He was) a statesman who took responsibility for running the country during a very critical time," the statement added, referring to the tumult after the 2011 revolution. The government newspaper Akhbar al-Youm said the field marshal died on Tuesday "after giving a lot" to his country.