Bulgarian government steps down after mass protests

Bulgaria's coalition government is stepping down, prime minister Rosen Zhelyazkov said at a news briefing on Thursday, just before a scheduled no-confidence vote over mismanagement of economic policy and less than 24 hours after tens of thousands of people demanded the cabinet's resignation.

The protest, the third and the biggest one in as many weeks, pressed demands for a change in the mode of governance, for removing corruption from state administration and for providing better economic prospects for Bulgaria's younger generation.