Nomination denied

A Hamas leader, Ismail Haniyeh, yesterday denied that the militant Islamic group had nominated him as Palestinian prime minister.

"Hamas is still continuing its internal consultations to determine who will be asked to head the coming government," he told Reuters after a senior Hamas official said the movement's newly elected Hamas legislators had chosen Haniyeh.

"Such an important position requires consultations between leaders in the (Palestinian) territories, in prisons and in exile. Nothing official has been reached so far, and when a decision is made, it will be published," Haniyeh said. Earlier, in the West Bank city of Ramallah, a senior Hamas official said the newly elected Hamas lawmakers decided after consultations with colleagues in the Gaza Strip to pick Haniyeh as prime minister.