YOG organisers want to get buzz going on the ground

Asian Defense News: SINGAPORE : Preparations for the Youth Olympic Games (YOG) are moving quickly, but organisers said they are still short of 5,000 volunteers.

With just five months to go, they said what is really needed now is to get the buzz going on the ground.

Dare—devil stunts were the order of the day as over 40 teams battled for top place at the First National Cheerleading Championships on Saturday.

YOG organisers want to get buzz going on the ground

From April 22, the manic energy of these cheerleaders will be brought from the gym floor to streets of Singapore, to drum up support for the Youth Olympic Games.

During the YOG, the winning teams will lead the crowd in their cheers too, including three specially created for the event.

The first is written by pop singer J J Lin and was unveiled on Saturday. The other two will be unveiled over the coming months.

Back in 2008, Singapore’s successful bid for the Games saw sponsors and volunteers getting into the act.

Now, with about five months left, organisers want to get the buzz going again.

Minister for Community Development, Youth and Sports, Vivian Balakrishnan, said: "We need ideas, we need participation, we need energy. This is not something we can plan top—down. What I am doing is I am opening communication channels.

"If someone has an idea, email it to me, we will work with our staff and we will see how we can work these ideas into reality. There is a sense of urgency but it is not too late and I think we can do this."

Dr Balakrishnan added that the YOG is not just for the young, or for those active in sports.

He said: "All the effort we invested in this will be wasted if every Singaporean does not feel that this is a once—in—a—lifetime, that the Olympic flame is going to come to Singapore in such a close way, and (every Singaporean) is not touched by it or affected by the Olympic spirit in one way or the other."

The Games will run from August 14 to 26, and tickets will be sold from the end of the month.

The sporting competitions will be held at various stadiums in the housing estates. — CNA/ms

Thai govt and 'Red Shirts' to hold talks:: senator

Asian Defense News: BANGKOK, Thailand (AFP) - – A Thai government minister is to meet a representative of the "Red Shirt" protesters holding mass anti-government rallies in Bangkok, a senator said Saturday.

Satit Wonghnongtaey, the minister attached to the prime minister's office, and Weng Tojirakarn, considered a second-tier leader of the protest movement, will meet at midday on Monday, Senator Lertrat Ratanavanich told AFP.

The protesters, who back former premier Thaksin Shinawatra, had previously refused the government's offer of talks unless current Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva agreed to their demand to call snap elections.

Thai govt and 'Red Shirts' to hold talks:: senator

"Satit and Weng Tojirakarn from the Red Shirt protesters agreed to meet on Monday noon," Lertrat said, declining to disclose the venue.

"The first meeting will be to set up a framework of talks," he said.

The Red Shirts, who are mainly from the poor and rural north and northeast of Thailand, have not yet commented on the meeting but it was also confirmed by a government spokesman.

Their so-far peaceful anti-government rally drew more than 100,000 when it began last weekend, and they went on to use attention-grabbing tactics such as splattering Abhisit's home and offices with their own blood.

The rally has since appeared to wane, but on Saturday they packed trucks, cars and motorbikes in a carnival-like convoy aimed at winning over the capital's residents, in what they have dubbed their "class war".

The Reds believe the government is elitist and illegitimate, as it came to power with army support via a parliamentary vote in December 2008 after a controversial court ruling removed Thaksin's allies.

Earlier Saturday, Abhisit said that Thaksin, who was ousted in a coup in 2006 and lives abroad to avoid a jail term for corruption, was an "obstacle to negotiation" between the government and the Red Shirts.

Thaksin himself has regularly egged on the protesters from exile via videolink this week.

Japan PM hints at leaving disputed US base on Okinawa

Asian Defense News: TOKYO (AFP) - – Facing mounting pressure from Washington, Japan's centre-left Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama on Friday suggested a disputed US military base could stay on the southern island of Okinawa.

Hatoyama, who was elected last year promising a less subservient relationship with Washington, has been reviewing a 2006 pact to relocate the Futenma airbase within Okinawa prefecture and suggested in the past it may be moved off the island instead.

Japan PM hints at leaving disputed US base on Okinawa

But Hatoyama told reporters Friday that "it is difficult to move it from the prefecture". He immediately added: "But we want to cherish what Okinawa people hope for. I'm working hard on that situation."

Local media reported Hatoyama was preparing an alternative option.

Japan's prime minister, who has promised a final decision by May, said his government would decide by the end of March on a basic relocation plan.

Washington says the base is vital to defending Japan, which relies heavily on the United States for regional security and is home to some 47,000 US troops, of which more than half are based on Okinawa.

"Peace and stability in the region depend in no small part on the enduring presence of forward deployed US forces in Japan," Michael Schiffer, a senior Pentagon official, told Congress on Wednesday.

If implemented, the 2006 pact between the two countries would move the base from a crowded residential district to a quieter coastal part of the island.

Some allies of Hatoyama's ruling coalition want it to be moved off Okinawa or even outside Japan, citing local complaints about the heavy American military presence.

Japan's defence minister plans to visit Okinawa next week to meet the local governor to discuss the relocation of the base.

Japan marks 15th anniversary of subway gas attacks

Asian Defense News: TOKYO (AFP) - – Japan on Saturday marked the 15th anniversary of the deadly 1995 Tokyo subway nerve gas attacks, with families of victims leaving flowers at the scene of some of the deaths.

Train staff held a moment of silence at the Kasumigaseki subway station at 8 am, roughly the hour when the Nazi-developed sarin gas was released into packed commuter trains during the morning rush hour.

In all, 13 people were killed and more than 6,000 injured, many of them severely, when the Aum Supreme Truth doomsday cult attacked stations and trains simultaneously.

Japan marks 15th anniversary of subway gas attacks

The Kasumigaseki district of Tokyo is the centre of the Japanese government.

Shizue Takahashi, whose husband was one of the two victims at Kasumigaseki station, urged cult followers to compensate the injured and bereaved.

"That the government offered a helping hand to victims doesn't mean the cult believers are exempt from their responsibility for compensation," she said.

Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama and his transport minister Seiji Maehara also paid tribute to victims.

"I pledged in front of the victims' souls that I'll do my best to ensure transport safety, including taking anti-terror measures," Maehara told reporters.

The cult was founded by Shoko Asahara, a bearded, half-blind former acupuncturist who preached of a coming apocalypse.

Asahara, 55, and nine other cult members are currently awaiting execution on death row, while three others remain at large.

After the subway attack, the Aum cult renamed itself Aleph -- after the first letter in the Hebrew alphabet -- and deposed Asahara. But authorities say hardcore followers still revere him and are actively recruiting younger generations who may not know about or remember the Aum crimes.

The group now has about 1,500 members in Japan, a third of whom live in compounds, and about 200 followers in Russia.

The cult was never outlawed in Japan, thanks to the country's constitutional guarantee of freedom of religion, although it was banned from teaching Asahara's violent dogma and remains under close surveillance.