World briefs 3/26/06

Abbas could disband new Hamas government

RAMALLAH, West Bank -- The Palestinians' de facto constitution empowers the president to fire the prime minister and disband the government. Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas hinted on Saturday that he was prepared to bring down Hamas' incoming government if the group's anti-Israel policies hurt the Palestinian people. "I will exercise my mandate and authority where and when needed to protect the higher interests of the Palestinian people," Abbas wrote in a letter to Hamas' designated prime minister, Ismail Haniyeh.

Thais call for king to replace prime minister

BANGKOK, Thailand -- Holding candles overhead and kneeling to pay their respects, tens of thousands of protesters Saturday called on Thailand's revered King Bhumibol Adulyadej to end a political crisis by replacing Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra. The palace has mostly kept its distance from the fray because the constitutional monarch is not supposed to get involved in politics. Thaksin's opponents have held almost daily street protests in recent weeks, at times attracting up to 100,000 demonstrators.

Russian denies Moscow provided intel to Iraq

Russia was not spying on America for Iraq, the accused country said Saturday. An unclassified Pentagon report cited two captured Iraqi documents that say the Russians collected battlefield intelligence during the 2003 invasion of Iraq and provided it to then-Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein. "Similar, baseless accusations concerning Russia's intelligence have been made more than once," Foreign Intelligence Service spokesman Boris Labusov said, according to a duty officer in his department. "We don't consider it necessary to comment on such fabrications."

-- From wire reports

Scientists: Skull in Ethiopia at least 250,000 years old

ADDIS ABABA, Ethiopia -- It was a heady discovery. Scientists in northeastern Ethiopia said Saturday that they have discovered the skull of a small human ancestor that could be a missing link between the extinct Homo erectus and modern man. The hominid cranium-- found in two pieces and believed to be between 500,000 and 250,000 years old -- "comes from a very significant period and is very close to the appearance of the anatomically modern human," said Sileshi Semaw, director of the Gona Paleoanthropological Research Project in Ethiopia. Archaeologists found the early human cranium five weeks ago at Gawis in Ethiopia's northeastern Afar region, Sileshi said.

-- From wire reports