Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak has stepped down and the Vice President has named a military council to run the country's affairs, state television said on Friday after 18 days of mass protests against his rule.

Al Arabiya TV reported that the higher military council will sack the cabinet, suspend both houses of parliament and rule with the head of the supreme constitutional court.
The army statement was expected to be delivered later on Friday and followed President Hosni Mubarak's dramatic resignation after 30 years in power.
Hundreds of thousands of Egyptian protesters waved flags, cried, cheered and embraced in Cairo's Tahrir Square on Friday, shouting "God is Great" when the resignation of President Hosni Mubarak was announced.

A grim-faced and ashen Vice President Omar Suleiman announced the handover on state television after an extraordinary national outpouring of rage brought more than a million furious demonstrators onto the streets
.
"Taking into consideration the difficult circumstances the country is going through, President Mohammed Hosni Mubarak has decided to leave the post of president of the republic and has tasked the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces to manage the state's affairs," Suleiman said.