WORLD -- The World Agenda gives a preview of world events scheduled for May, including the European elections, the federal election in Australia, the state visit of U.S. President Donald Trump to Japan, and the 500th anniversary of the death of Leonardo da Vinci.
American director Jim Jarmusch’s new film, The Dead Don’t Die, opens the 72nd Cannes Film Festival, and the CITES conference on international trade in endangered species is scheduled to take place in Sri Lanka.
PARIS -- Tycoons, companies, local authorities and individuals have stepped forward with large donations totalling almost €900 million, while other pledges including free air flights.
HISTORY -- Leonardo da Vinci, renowned Renaissance artist and polymath, died on May 2, 1519, aged 67. His prodigious talents also included music, maths, engineering, literature, anatomy, geology, astronomy, botany and cartography.
ABINGDON -- Sabre is an experimental air-breathing rocket engine, designed to power a craft from standstill on a runway to hypersonic flight at over Mach 5 (6,300km/h), before switching over to rocket mode to reach Mach 25.
PARIS -- It took 182 years to build and has stood for more than eight centuries. The cathedral was commissioned by King Louis VII, and the first stone is believed to have been laid by Pope Alexander III in 1163. Notre-Dame now stands in ruins.
ATHLETICS -- Over 35,000 elite, club, and fun runners are expected to participate in the 39th London Marathon, which starts from Blackheath in Greenwich and finishes on the Mall in front of Buckingham Palace.
GOLF -- The 101st PGA Championship will be played at Bethpage State Park’s Black Course in Farmingdale, New York, the first time that the tournament will be held at the Long Island venue.
