Dissolve

Queen Elizabeth II dissolved Parliament today, kicking off a three-week general election campaign with Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher heavily favored to win a third straight term. Thatcher, the longest-serving prime minister in Western Europe, spent the day quietly at her 10 Downing Street residence, but her opponents began a day of feverish election activity.

In a second shakeup in three days, Palestinian Authority Prime Minister Salam Fayyad said Monday that he would disband his Cabinet and form a new one within three weeks. The announcement came as a surprise because the Palestine Liberation Organization, which created the authority, announced Saturday that it would hold long-delayed presidential and legislative elections by September, potentially replacing the government. Palestinian officials presented the Cabinet reshuffling as a move to address growing calls for democratic reform, which elsewhere in the Arab world have led to leaders being ousted in Egypt and Tunisia.

The impressive pau d'arco tree of the Central and South American rain forests grows to well over 100 feet tall, with a trunk that can reach 6 feet wide. Known by the scientific names Tabebuia avellanedae and Tabebuia impetiginosa, it was named pau d'arco, or bow stick, by Portuguese colonists centuries ago in Brazil. The Inca used the bark to make healing tonics, and natives of the Brazilian rainforest have used the hardwood to make boats and weapons.

Gallstones, a health problem believed to afflict up to 25 million Americans, can be dissolved in many cases quickly and safely with the help of a solvent widely used as an octane enhancer in gasoline, Mayo Clinic researchers reported today. The experimental therapy, described in the New England Journal of Medicine, is one of several novel approaches to gallstones that experts hope will revolutionize gallstone treatment and eliminate the need for hundreds of thousands of surgeries.

The Communist Party in the southern Soviet republic of Azerbaijan, which recently declared independence from Moscow, voted Saturday to dissolve itself, an adviser to the president said. The Communists, disgraced across the country for complicity in last month's failed hard-line coup, approved the measure almost unanimously at a special party congress, said Vafa Goulizade, adviser to Azerbaijani President Ayaz Mutalibov.

Intel Corp. and German business software group SAP said their 3-year-old e-commerce joint venture, Pandesic, has joined the growing line of failed online retailers. Pandesic is being closed down because it did not see "a timely road to profitability" due to slower than anticipated market acceptance of business-to-consumer e-commerce solutions, SAP said.

Mongolia's parliament dissolved its government after the biggest political party pulled out of the 15-month-old ruling coalition, prompting two days of protests amid complaints about poverty and corruption. After the vote to dissolve the government of Prime Minister Tsakhiagiin Elbedorj, the premier was appointed to lead an interim administration.

Faced with a growing opposition movement, Malaysia's prime minister said Wednesday that he will dissolve the legislature and hold early elections--a test of his popularity after 18 years in power. Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad said he is confident that the governing coalition, which has ruled Malaysia since independence in 1957, would win two-thirds of the 192 seats in Parliament.

Southern California's spring heat wave began to dissolve Thursday in a scattering of local showers and thunderstorms that set the stage for a weekend that forecasters said will be overcast and humid everywhere, except in the deserts, where it will be sunny and humid.

Attorney Howard Weitzman said he and about 65 fellow lawyers plan to dissolve the 39-year-old Wyman, Bautzer, Kuchel & Silbert law firm and join Chicago-based Katten Muchin & Zavis. The Los Angeles lawyers will join Katten Muchin's existing, 10-attorney West Coast operation. The Chicago firm will be renamed Katten Muchin Zavis & Weitzman, and Weitzman will be named chairman of its national executive committee.