Mubarak to stand down in September

Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak says he will stand down as leader but not until the September polls. However this has not appeased protesters who have called on him to resign immediately.

Speaking on state television, Mubarak promised constitutional reform, but said he wanted to stay until the end of his current presidential term. The announcement came as hundreds of thousands rallied once again in central Cairo. While there were no immediate reports of violence in Cairo's Tahrir Square, in Egypt's second largest city of Alexandria clashes broke out between pro-Mubarak and anti-government protesters, Al Jazeera reported.

US President Barack Obama said that Egypt's transition "must begin now" and added that the United States would be happy to offer assistance to Egypt during that process.

But Mubarak seems unwilling to go quite yet and even after stepping down insists on staying in Egypt. "This is my country. This is where I lived, I fought and defended its land, sovereignty and interests, and I will die on its soil," he said [BBC / CNN / Full transcript - CNN]

tvnewswatch, Beijing, China