Macedonia's Prime Minister Vows Not to Stand Down

Macedonian Prime Minister Nikola Gruevski has pledged that he would not step down, hours before the beginning of a major antigovernment rally slated for later this day.

In the run-up to a major opposition rally in the Macedonian capital Skopje, the country's Prime Minister Nikola Gruevski has emerged to say that he will not stand down, news reports said.

"I have no intention of resigning or accepting a transitional government," Gruevski was quoted by local Sitel TVchannel as saying on Sunday.

Thousands of people are due to take to the streets in Skopje to demand that Gruevski's cabinet should step down. The rally comes a week after at least 18 people were killed in a shootout between police and armed ethnic Albanians in the Macedonian town of Kumanovo.