The week ahead for January 13-19: Fencing in Virginia, Thai protests, Chinese travel
A look at what’s coming up on the East Coast and around the world. This week, that includes a new creamery, a new panda, and a continuation of a diplomatic spat with India.
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- Thais voice dissent: A Thai anti-government protester waves the national flag during a rally in Bangkok on January 7, 2014. Demonstrators, who are seeking to curb the political dominance of Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra’s billionaire family, say they will “shut down” Bangkok from January 13. (NICOLAS ASFOURI/AFP/Getty Images)
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- … and police bluster: A Thai policeman (center) holds a rifle used to fire tear gas canisters as police demonstrate crowd-control techniques in anticipation of a planned anti-government rally at the Police Club in Bangkok on January 7, 2014. (CHRISTOPHE ARCHAMBAULT / AFP/Getty Images)
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- New creamery spins up: Randy Inman, center, monitors the morning milking along with his son Brian, left, and wife Lynnette on a Saturday in late December in Mt. Crawford, Va. Inman’s farm is part of a group of 21 farms that are forming Shenandoah Family Farms Cooperative and will start their own creamery at the former Good Humor plant in Hagerstown on January 15. (Photo by Norm Shafer for The Washington Post.)
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- Fencing tournament: Fencers compete in a sabre event in a Getty Images file photo. A US Fencing North America Cup Division I and II Junior Cadet competition runs January 17 to 20 in Virginia Beach.
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- Zoo debut: Giant panda bear cub Bao Bao moves around inside the David M. Rubenstein Family Giant Panda Habitat at the Smithsonian National Zoological Park on January 6, 2014 in Washington, DC. Born August 23, 2013, and weighing nearly 17 pounds, Bao Bao will make her public debut at the zoo on January 18. (Photo by Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)
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A referendum and a warning: A November 16, 2012 file photo shows Egyptian Muslim scholar Sheikh Yusuf al-Qaradawi addressing Muslims at Al-Azhar mosque during the weekly Friday prayer in Cairo. Muslim Brotherhood-linked cleric Yusef al-Qaradawi has issued a religious decree prohibiting Egyptians from voting in a referendum to be held January 14-15 2014, by the military-installed interim government. (AFP/Getty Images)
Related:
Killings in Egypt clashes ahead of referendum
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Syrian decision: The damaged dome and minaret of a mosque are seen in the Syrian city of Hama on January 7, 2014. Syria’s exiled opposition has postponed until January 17 its decision on whether to take part in UN-hosted peace talks in Switzerland, following two days of heated debate in Turkey, members said. The conference is designed to find a political solution to end the civil war in Syria, which has claimed more than 130,000 lives and displaced millions of people since March 2011. (ABDUL-FADL/AFP/Getty Images)
Related:
Syria opposition groups say share goals
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- Verdict due: Russian tycoon Serei Polonsky (center) leaves the Appeal Court in Phnom Penh on January 9, 2014. Polonsky appeared at Cambodia’s Appeals Court for his extradition hearing. The court will issue a verdict on January 13, 2014. Cambodian authorities on November 11, 2013 arrested Polonsky, who was wanted by Moscow over allegations that he embezzled tens of millions of US dollars in a real estate scam, a police spokesman said. (TANG CHHIN SOTHY/AFP/Getty Images)
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- New Cannes president: This picture taken on May 23, 2010 in Cannes shows French journalist Pierre Lescure arriving for the closing ceremony of the 63rd Cannes Film Festival. Lescure, a former head of the French Canal+ Group, will be chosen on January 14, 2014 as the new president of the Cannes Film Festival, to succeed Gilles Jacob, the other candidate, Jerome Clement, ex-boss of Franco-German television network Arte, said on January 9, 2014. (AFP PHOTO / MARTIN BUREAU)
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- Musharraf to appear: A poster bearing the image of Pakistan’s former military ruler Pervez Musharraf hangs on barbed wire in front of the Armed Forces Institute of Cardiology in Rawalpindi, where Musharraf is being treated. A court trying Pakistan’s former military ruler Pervez Musharraf for treason on January 9 ordered him to appear in person on January 16, after considering a medical report on his heart complaint. The ruling grants the 70-year-old, currently in a military hospital, a week’s respite in the case which has gripped the nuclear-armed nation for the past fortnight. (AAMIR QURESHI/AFP/Getty Images)
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- Circus in Budapest: Artists of the Canadian ‘Duo Azella’ perform during the first day of a 5-day long, 10th International Circus Festival in the Capital Circus of Budapest on January 9, 2014. The final will be held on January 13 here. (KATTILA KISBENEDEK/AFP/Getty Images)
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- SAG Awards: Stauettes are displayed at the American Fine Arts Foundry in Burbank, Calif., on Jan. 9, 2014. Media descended here to document the making of the solid bronze statuette known as ‘Actor’, presented to winners at the 20th Screen Actors Guild (SAG) Awards which takes place on Jan. 18, 2014 in Los Angeles. The statuette has a green-black patina finish and stands on a base of polished black granite, standing 16 inches tall and weighing 12 pounds. (FREDERIC J. BROWN/AFP/Getty Images)
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- Australian Open: Li Na of China makes a return during a practice session ahead of the Australian Open tennis tournament in Melbourne on Jan. 10, 2014. The Australian Open tennis tournament is set to start on January 13. (PAUL CROCK/AFP/Getty Images)
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- Chinese travel season: Employees inspect a bullet train at a high-speed railway maintenance station, to prepare for the annual mass migration ahead of the Chinese lunar new year, in Xi’an, Shaanxi province Jan. 7, 2014. A 40-day travel rush in China, during which about 257 million trips will be made on the railways, will start on January 16, as most people go home to their families for the Spring Festival, which falls on January 31 this year, Xinhua News Agency reported. (REUTERS photo)
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- Diplomatic drama: A private security guard stands outside the U.S. embassy in New Delhi in December. As part of an ongoing diplomatic dispute, India has told the embassy to cease several commercial activities, The Times of India reports. (Anindito Mukherjee/Reuters)
By Amy Sawitta Lefevre
BANGKOK, Jan 10 (Reuters) – Thai government officials played down last week talk of a possible military coup ahead of a planned “shutdown” this week of the capital by demonstrators trying to overthrow Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatr, saying life would go on much as normal.
The Thai demonstration is one of several international developments expected this week, alongside a referendum in Egypt and a decision in Syria about whether to attend peace talks in Switzerland.
More lead-up coverage:
Syria opposition groups say share goals
Killings in Egypt clashes ahead of referendum
Thai Foreign Minister Surapong Tovichakchaikul said it was alarmist of the U.S. embassy to advise its citizens on Friday to stock up on two weeks’ supply of food and water ahead of what protest leaders say will be a prolonged siege of Bangkok.
“Maybe they worry too much … People will live their normal life. Don’t be afraid of things that will happen because we try to control the situation,” he said.
Demonstrators led by former opposition politician Suthep Thaugsuban aim to paralyse the capital for between 15 and 20 days by blocking seven main intersections, causing gridlock in a city clogged with traffic at the best of times.
The turmoil is the latest episode in an eight-year conflict that pits Bangkok’s middle class and royalist establishment against the mostly poorer, rural supporters of Yingluck and her brother, former premier Thaksin Shinawatra.
Additional editing by Baltimore Sun staff
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