DIARY - Political and General News Events From May 7

Pulse Staff 03:55 - 07 May 2015

Reuters will issue this diary daily at around 1000 GMT

THURSDAY, MAY 7 ** WASHINGTON - U.S. Attorney General Loretta Lynch testifies to the Senate Appropriations Committee on the budget request of the Department of Justice - 1430 GMT.

GDANSK - Presidents of France, Germany, Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia, Slovakia, Czech Republic, Hungary, Romania, Bulgaria, Croatia, Slovenia and Ukraine gather to commemorate the anniversary of the end of the World War Two (to May 8). ** MANILA - IMF press briefing on regional economic outlook launch with resident representative Shanaka Peiris - 0600 GMT. ** PARIS - U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry visits France. ** SYDNEY - Britain's Prince Harry visits Sydney's Opera House and a University - 0230 GMT. ** MEXICO CITY - Colombia's President Juan Manuel Santos is expected to meet with Mexican President Enrique Pena Nieto during a three-day visit to Mexico (to May 9). ** CAPE TOWN - South African Finance Minister Nhlanhla Nene presents his budget vote to parliament - 0800 GMT. ** BUCHAREST - Romania Prime Minister Victor Ponta meets foreign media - 1100 GMT. ** RIGA - Informal Meeting of the Budget Committee (Day 2).

ASTANA - Chinese President Xi Jinping visits Kazakstan.

MOSCOW - Indian President Pranab Mukherjee visits Russia (to May 11).

SINGAPORE - IMF holds press conference on Spring 2015 Asia and Pacific Economic Outlook

VOLGOGRAD - German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier to visit Russia and meet with his Russian counterpart Sergei Lavrov. ** BRUSSELS - Greek Finance Minister Yanis Varoufakis and the EU Economics Commissioner Pierre Moscovici participate in a debate on structural reforms - 1400 GMT. ** OTTAWA/TORONTO/VANCOUVER - Philippine President Benigno Aquino III visits Canada (to May 9). Aquino is scheduled to hold talks with Governor General David Johnston and Prime Minister Stephen Harper. He is also due to meet representatives of the Filipino community in Toronto and Vancouver. ** JERUSALEM - Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is expected to give a speech at a ceremony commemorating the 70th anniversary of the end of World War Two.

UNITED KINGDOM - House of Summons election.

- - - - - - - - - -

FRIDAY, MAY 8 ** FLORENCE, Italy - State of Union conference in Florence. Italian Prime Minister Matteo Renzi and Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras main speakers at annual conference on European issues. EU foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini and Portugal's Prime Minister Pedro Passos Coelho will also attend. ** RIGA - Informal Meeting of the Budget Committee (Final Day).

MOSCOW - Chinese President Xi Jinping visits Russia (to May 10) to attend the ceremony to commemorate the 70th anniversary of the victory of the Great Patriotic War in Moscow.

GLOBAL - World Red Cross Red Crescent Day.

- - - - - - - - - -

SATURDAY, MAY 9

MOSCOW - Cuban President Raul Castro is expected to visit Russia to attend celebrations of the 70th anniversary of the victory over Nazi Germany in World War II.

MOSCOW - UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon will visit Russia to participate in the festivities marking the 70th anniversary of the Soviet Union's victory over Nazi Germany and he is also planning to have a meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin. ** WELLINGTON/AUCKLAND/CHRISTCHURCH - Britain's Prince Harry visits New Zealand (to May 15).

- - - - - - - - - -

SUNDAY, MAY 10

PRAGUE - Vietnamese State President Truong Tan Sang will make an official visit to the Czech Republic (to May 13)at the invitation of Czech President Milos Zeman. ** POLAND - Presidential election.

MINSK - Chinese President Xi Jinping visits Belarus (to May 11).

- - - - - - - - - -

MONDAY, MAY 11 ** BRUSSELS - Eurogroup meeting.

ABU DHABI - His Majesty King Mohammed VI of Morocco will start an official visit to United Arab Emirates.

TEHRAN - Irish parliamentary delegation is to visit Iran. The Irish MPs are to meet certain Iranian MPs and other officials to discuss bilateral ties.

- - - - - - - - - -

TUESDAY, MAY 12 ** BRUSSELS - Meeting of Economic and Financial Affairs Council. ** BAKU - The 14th International Transport, Transit and Logistics Exhibition, TransCaspian 2015 will be held at the Baku Expo Center (to May 14).

GLOBAL - International Nurse's Day.

- - - - - - - - - -

WEDNESDAY, MAY 13

WASHINGTON/MARYLAND - U.S.- Gulf Cooperation Council Summit (to May 14). U.S. President Barack Obama to attend.

- - - - - - - - - -

THURSDAY, MAY 14

ATHENS - Economist organises a roundtable with the Greek government at Intercontinental Hotel. Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras, Finance Minister Yanis Varoufakis, Deputy Finance Minister Dimitris Mardas, Economy Minister George Stathakis, Chief Executive Officer of the European Financial Stability Facility (EFSF) and Deputy Director at the European Department at International Monetary Fund Pul Thomsen are among keynote speakers (to May 15).

BEIJING - Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi will pay an official visit to China at the invitation of Chinese Premier Li Keqiang.

- - - - - - - - - -

FRIDAY, MAY 15

GLOBAL - U.N. International Day of Families.

- - - - - - - - - -

SATURDAY, MAY 16

LISBON - 4th anniversary of 78 billion euro bail-out of Portugal by eurozone leaders.

- - - - - - - - - -

SUNDAY, MAY 17

GLOBAL - World Telecommunication and Information Society Day.

- - - - - - - - - -

MONDAY, MAY 18 ** BRUSSELS - Meeting of Foreign Affairs Council

GLOBAL - International Museum Day.

- - - - - - - - - -

TUESDAY, MAY 19 ** BRUSSELS - Meeting of General Affairs Council

- - - - - - - - - -

FRIDAY, MAY 22

GLOBAL - International Day for Biological Diversity.

- - - - - - - - - -

SUNDAY, MAY 31

GLOBAL - World No Tobacco Day.

- - - - - - - - - -

MONDAY, JUNE 1

VIENNA - 23rd European Biomass Conference and Exhibition (to Jun 4). http://www.eubce.com/home.html

KATHMANDU - 13th anniversary of Nepal King Birendra, Queen Aishwarya and eight other members of the royal family assassinated by Crown Prince in royal family massacre.

- - - - - - - - - -

TUESDAY, JUNE 2

ROME - 154th Anniversary of the unification of Italy.

PARIS - Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) Forum 2015 (to June 3) http://www.oecd.org/forum/about/

- - - - - - - - - -

WEDNESDAY, JUNE 3

SYDNEY - Sydney Film Festival 2015 (to June 14)

http://www.sff.org.au/

- - - - - - - - - -

THURSDAY, JUNE 4

CHILE - 4th anniversary of Chile's Puyehue volcano eruption, causing air traffic cancellations across South America, New Zealand, Australia.

HONG KONG - Tens of thousands attend a candlelight vigil in Hong Kong to commemorate the 26th anniversary of the Tiananmen Square crackdown in Beijing.

- - - - - - - - - -

FRIDAY, JUNE 5

JAKARTA - ASEAN Economic Congress.

http://www.euromoneyconferences.com/ASEAN.html

GLOBAL - World Environment Day.

- - - - - - - - - -

SATURDAY, JUNE 6

SEOUL - South Korea marks the 60th anniversary of Memorial Day.

- - - - - - - - - -

FRIDAY, JUNE 12

GLOBAL - World Day Against Child Labour.

- - - - - - - - - -

SATURDAY, JUNE 13

SHANGHAI - Shanghai International Film Festival (to June 21)

http://www.siff.com/InformationEn/ViewNews.aspx?CategoryID=6a9947cd-bd4b-469e-8216-1208bdd5838b

- - - - - - - - - -

SUNDAY, JUNE 14

GLOBAL - World Blood Donor Day.

GAZA - 8th anniversary of Hamas takeover of the Gaza strip from Fatah.

- - - - - - - - - -

MONDAY, JUNE 15

PARIS - International Paris Air Show Le Bourget (to June 21)

http://www.siae.fr/EN/THE-SHOW.htm

PRISTINA - Kosovo marks 7th anniversary of its constitution.

GLOBAL - World Elder Abuse Awareness Day (WEAAD).

- - - - - - - - - -

WEDNESDAY, JUNE 17

GLOBAL - United Nation's World Day to Combat Desertification and Drought.

- - - - - - - - - -

THURSDAY, JUNE 18 ** LUXEMBOURG - Eurogroup meeting.

- - - - - - - - - -

SATURDAY, JUNE 20

GLOBAL - World Refugee Day.

- - - - - - - - - -

WEDNESDAY, JUNE 24

BERLIN - 67th anniversary of beginning of The Berlin Blockade. Communist forces cut off all land and water routes between West Germany and West Berlin, prompting the United States to organise a massive airlift.

- - - - - - - - - -

THURSDAY, JUNE 25

LOS ANGELES - 6th death anniversary of pop star Michael Jackson.

- - - - - - - - - -

FRIDAY, JUNE 26

GLOBAL - International Day against Drug Abuse and Illicit Trafficking.

- - - - - - - - - -

MONDAY, JUNE 29

PYEONGTAEK - South Korea observes the 13th anniversary of an inter-Korean sea clash.

BEJING/TAIPEI - 5th Anniversary of signing of a landmark trade deal between China and Taiwan.

- - - - - - - - - -

NOTE: The inclusion of diary items does not necessarily mean