Mubarak sacks government, vows reforms

 CAIRO: President Hosni Mubarak sacked Egypt's government and vowed to bring in democratic and economic reforms, in a televised address early on Saturday after deadly anti-regime protests.

"I have asked the government to resign and tomorrow there will be a new government," a stoney-faced Mubarak said after four days of protests demanding his resignation in which at least 27 people have been killed.

He vowed to pursue economic and political reforms.

"We will not backtrack on reforms. We will continue with new steps which will ensure the independence of the judiciary and its rulings, and more freedom for citizens," Mubarak said. 


New steps will be taken "to contain unemployment, raise living standards, improve services and stand by the poor."

Mubarak, in power for three decades, vowed to bring in "new measures" for democracy and justice without giving any indication of other major changes, even as protests raged in Cairo and other cities despite a night-time curfew.