W O R L D

Fiji military takes power
Wellington, December 5
Fiji's military chief, Commodore Vorege Bainimarama, declared Today that he had taken over the government, igniting angry reactions from New Zealand. Bainimarama told a press conference in capital Suva: "As of 6 o'clock this evening, the military has taken over the government, has executive authority and the running of this country."

Fiji's Military Commander Frank Bainimarama delivers a statement to the media at Queen Elizabeth Barracks in Suva on Tuesday. — Reuters photo

New commander rogue strongman?
Suva, December 5
Depending on who you talk to, Fiji's military chief Voreqe Bainimarama is either a fearless defender of the constitution or a strongman determined to get his way at any cost.

British intelligence blames it on FSB
Plot behind Litvinenko poisoning
London, December 5
British intelligence services are convinced that the Russian Federal Security Service was behind the poisoning of former spy Alexander Litvinenko.

Lawmakers mull nuclear deal provisions
A group of lawmakers on Monday criticised President George W. Bush’s administration for trying to persuade them to strip provisions from the US-India nuclear deal that are considered unpalatable by the administration and New Delhi.

US eatery apologises to Sikh man
A Virginia restaurant has apologised to a Sikh man for refusing to let him into the establishment because he was wearing a turban. On November 24, Hansdip Singh Bindra was denied entry into the Richbrau Brewing Co. restaurant in Richmond, Virginia, because it had a “no-hats” policy.

Indian restaurant wins Food Oscar
London, December 5
A newly-opened Indian restaurant here has won the prestigious Food Oscar for having the best wine list in the British capital. Tamarai restaurant at Covent Garden, operated by Old World Hospitality that runs Habitat World in New Delhi as also the Chor Bizarre chain of restaurants, won the award by The Independent newspaper.

Fiji military takes power

Wellington, December 5
Fiji's military chief, Commodore Vorege Bainimarama, declared Today that he had taken over the government, igniting angry reactions from New Zealand.

Bainimarama told a press conference in capital Suva: "As of 6 o'clock this evening, the military has taken over the government, has executive authority and the running of this country."

He said he had assumed the powers of the president and was using them to dismiss Prime Minister Laisenia Qarase from office and appoint an interim government. He added quickly that the takeover was "not permanent".

Qarase had earlier conceded that a coup was occurring as troops moved in around his home, news reports said.

"There is virtually a coup now taking place," he said in Suva. The military had neutralised the police force and government.

But he told Radio New Zealand that he would stand firm against demands that he resign.

Bainimarama had threatened to topple Qarase's government unless it met his demands, including cancelling legislation to grant amnesty to native Fijian nationalists convicted of carrying out a 2000 coup against a government led by minority ethnic Indians.

Reports also said that President Ratu Josefa Iloilo had signed an order that would dissolve parliament and give the military permission to take over the country, which has seen three coups since 1987.

Qarase's cabinet had been due to meet Tuesday to plan its response against Bainimarama, but he told ministers to stay at home and communicate by phone, DPA reported earlier.

Qarase said Fiji's army had removed the vehicles of government ministers.

They disarmed ministers' personal bodyguards Monday evening and set up checkpoints in capital Suva overnight.

On Tuesday, armed soldiers entered the grounds of Qarase's residence in Suva, where the premier had been meeting several cabinet ministers, the Fiji Times reported. The troops also seized ministerial cars.

Qarase said he would not give in to the military's demands, which include dropping police investigations against Bainimarama and sacking the Australian police commissioner, because that would be illegal.

New Zealand Prime Minister Helen Clark said her country had suspended defence ties with Fiji and imposed travel bans on senior military personnel.

Clark condemned the developments "unconstitutional" and pleaded with Fiji's military to pull back from "the brink" or cause irreparable damage to the country's economy and people.

Clark said Fiji's constitution only allowed the president to remove the prime minister if he had lost the confidence of parliament but this option was supposed to be subject to the advice of ministers who had not been consulted.

"Qarase's government was duly elected by the people," Clark said. "There is no justification whatsoever for the president's actions." Clark warned of possible further measures that New Zealand could take against Fiji. One option included pursuing the suspension of Fiji from the Commonwealth of Nations, which occurred twice before after previous Fijian coups.

The military seized weapons from the country's only armed police unit Monday, and Qarase was later forced to use a helicopter to return to Suva to avoid a roadblock set up to stop him.

Bainimarama claimed at a press conference at Suva's barracks Monday evening that his seizure of police weapons would prevent "dissidents" from using them against troops or "the people of Fiji".

Tensions between Fiji's majority native population and its people of Indian descent have dominated politics on the islands for decades. — Xinhua

New commander rogue strongman?

Suva, December 5
Depending on who you talk to, Fiji's military chief Voreqe Bainimarama is either a fearless defender of the constitution or a strongman determined to get his way at any cost.

Described as belligerent, tenacious and a demagogue, Bainimarama has been threatening for more than a year to force Prime Minister Laisenia Qarase's government from power.

Police Commissioner Andrew Hughes, taking leave in Australia following demands by Bainimarama that he step down, described him as "a good bloke" but tenacious in his determination to get rid of the elected government.

Even those who agree with his aims say they do not support his methods.

"He's obviously got this fixation that he's not letting go, like a dog with a bone in its teeth," said Hughes.

Bainimarama, 52, portrays the military as the last bastion of law and order and himself as protector of the interests of the ethnic Indian minority against the indigenous bias of Qarase's nationalist United Fiji Party government.

He has said Qarase's government could return Fiji to the days of "grass skirts and cannibalism" by being soft on plotters of a civilian coup in November 2000 and failing to turnaround the country's "coup culture".

He has focussed his attacks on proposed legislation to offer amnesties to plotters of a 2000 coup, but he has also targeted legislation he says discriminates against the Indian minority.

And he has a personal motive for wanting the 2000 plotters brought to justice - he had to run for his life during a military mutiny related to the coup, in which eight soldiers were killed. — AFP

British intelligence blames it on FSB
Plot behind Litvinenko poisoning

London, December 5
British intelligence services are convinced that the Russian Federal Security Service (FSB) was behind the poisoning of former spy Alexander Litvinenko.

The FSB orchestrated a “highly sophisticated plot” and was likely to have used some of its former agents to carry out the operation on the streets of London, the Times today said quoting sources in the British security services.

“We know how the FSB operates abroad and, based on the circumstances behind the death of Litvinenko, the FSB has to be the prime suspect,” a source told the newspaper.

The involvement of a former FSB officer made it easier to lure Litvinenko to meetings at various locations and to distance its bosses in the Kremlin from being directly implicated in the plot.

It said only officials such as FSB agents would have been able to obtain sufficient amounts of polonium-210, the radioactive substance used to fatally poison Litvinenko only weeks after he was given British citizenship.

MI5 and MI6, the British intelligence agencies, are working closely with Scotland Yard on the investigation.

The main figure that the British counter-terror team want to question is Andrei Lugovoy, a former FSB agent. He made three visits to London in the fortnight before Litvinenko fell ill and met him four times at various restaurants and bars.

Lugovoy, who is a successful entrepreneur, was briefly imprisoned in Moscow after he left the FSB.

After his release his business career thrived and his company is reported now to be worth more than 100 million pounds. Two hotels in London in which he stayed had traces of polonium 210, as did a British Airways aircraft that Lugovoy traveled on. — PTI

Lawmakers mull nuclear deal provisions
Ashish Kumar Sen writes from Washington

A group of lawmakers on Monday criticised President George W. Bush’s administration for trying to persuade them to strip provisions from the US-India nuclear deal that are considered unpalatable by the administration and New Delhi.

Both the Senate and the House of Representatives have approved their own versions of Bills that seek to allow civilian nuclear cooperation between India and the United States after a span of three decades. The next step in the congressional process is known as a conference during which both the Senate and the House will pick their conferees who will then reconcile the two versions of the bill into one.

On Monday the Senate picked its conferees. They are: Richard Lugar and Joseph Biden, the co-chairmen of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee; Chuck Hagel; Bill Frist; George Allen and Christopher Dodd. The House has yet to name its set of conferees.

Mr. Frist, a Tennessee Republican and outgoing Senate Majority Leader, said, “Work will begin immediately with the intention of completing all action by week’s end.”

Meanwhile, Massachusetts Democratic Congressman Edward Markey, an inveterate critic of the deal, shot off a letter to Congressmen Henry Hyde and Tom Lantos, the two co-chairmen of the House International Relations Committee, urging them to keep provisions he felt must be retained in the final Bill.

The letter lists five provisions of the House bill, and seven provisions of the Senate bill, which Mr Markey said would strengthen the agreement from a nonproliferation perspective.

Mr Markey’s letter is signed by a senior group of House lawmakers. They say, “We wish to strongly urge you to ensure that several critical nonproliferation provisions contained in the Senate and House bills are included in any final conference report.”

Among the key provisions which the lawmakers are fighting to preserve are:

A requirement that India fully support U.S. efforts to prevent Iran from acquiring nuclear weapons;

A requirement that International Atomic Energy Agency safeguards have entered into force in India before U.S. nuclear materials are provided;

A requirement that the President report to Congress whether US civil nuclear assistance to India assists their nuclear weapons program in any way;

A requirement that if the United States terminates nuclear-related transfers to India, for example as a result of an Indian nuclear test, the U.S. will work to prevent India from switching to another nuclear supplier.”

US eatery apologises to Sikh man
Ashish Kumar Sen writes from Washington

A Virginia restaurant has apologised to a Sikh man for refusing to let him into the establishment because he was wearing a turban.

On November 24, Hansdip Singh Bindra was denied entry into the Richbrau Brewing Co. restaurant in Richmond, Virginia, because it had a “no-hats” policy. Despite Mr Bindra’s efforts to explain the religious significance of his turban to the management he was denied entry.

On December 1, the Sikh American Legal Defense and Education Fund received a formal apology from the Richbrau Brewing Co.

In the letter addressed to Mr Bindra, Michael Byrne, director of operations at the Richbrau restaurant noted: “It is with this letter that I would like to extend to you an apology for our doorman enforcing the ‘no headgear policy’ literally.”

Following the incident Mr Bindra had approached SALDEF to help get him redress.

SALDEF managing director Kavneet Singh admitted there “continues to be a problem of under-reporting of civil rights violations in the Sikh American community.”

Indian restaurant wins Food Oscar

London, December 5
A newly-opened Indian restaurant here has won the prestigious Food Oscar for having the best wine list in the British capital.

Tamarai restaurant at Covent Garden, operated by Old World Hospitality that runs Habitat World in New Delhi as also the Chor Bizarre chain of restaurants, won the award by The Independent newspaper.

Its list of 150 wines has been compiled by Tim Atkin MW, one of Britain's leading wine writers and internationally recognised expert on the subject.

Tamarai has already started hosting cutting edge Asian events here. — PTI