Moscow parade, Kepler findings, LGBT law, Kentucky Derby

Alberta wildfire: The wicked Fort McMurray wildfire that forced the evacuation of more than 88,000 people in Alberta, Canada, spread another 15,000 hectares (37,000 acres) overnight, and at least 1,600 structures have reportedly burned. Evacuees being moved south today will pass directly through the abandoned city — though officials have blocked off all intersections to prevent any attempts to return to homes.
 • We’re watching CBC’s Marion Warnica as she reports from the route, and we’re following updates from official sources and other local media. A cause is yet to be determined, and a regional fire researcher told the Canadian Press that signs point to a man-made cause.
 • More hot and dry weather is in the weekend forecast, and while next week may bring cooler temperatures, The Weather Network says only a few millimeters of rain at most are forecast for the fire area.
 
Kentucky Derby: The 142nd running of the Kentucky Derby is Saturday. Race coverage starts at 4 p.m. ET on NBC and the Derby is scheduled for 6:34 p.m. ET. The weather is expected to be sunny and warm. The betting favorites? That would be Nyquist at 3–1 and Exaggerator at 8–1. A complete list of the day’s races is here on the Kentucky Derby site.
 
Thunderstorms in south-central U.S.: Rounds of storms are expected in parts of Texas, Colorado, Nebraska, Oklahoma, Kansas and MissouriSaturday-Monday, AccuWeather reports. Threats for the area include damaging winds, hail, flash floods and possible tornadoes. On average, the month of May sees the most tornadoes each year.
 
NBA playoffs: The conference semifinals continue this week, with the favorites rolling (Golden State Warriors, San Antonio Spurs and Cleveland Cavaliers). We’re still waiting to see when Steph Curry returns and whether he’ll, again, win the league’s most valuable player trophy. The latest word on his availability is that he’s not expected to play Saturday against the Portland Trail Blazers after sitting out of Thursday’s practice. His next chance would be Monday evening’s game.
 
Australian election kick-off: Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull is expected to call for a July 2 election on either Saturday or Sunday after meeting with Governor-General Peter Cosgrove. The announcement will serve as the official kick-off to the election campaign, and comes just days after Treasurer Scott Morrison unveiled the government’s budget package some see as high on new tax measures but low on stimulus.
 
Mercury transit: Mercury is set to cross the sun on Monday morning in a rare celestial event that takes place just 13 times in a century.
 • The event, which begins at 7:12 a.m. ET and will take approximately 7.5 hours, will only be viewable via telescope or specialized binoculars, though NASA will provide images and video.

Philippines election: Filipinos will vote Monday in elections for the country’s president and almost all branches of government. Presidential candidate Rodrigo “Rody” Duterte, the Davao city mayor known as Asia’s Donald Trump, continues to hold a comfortable lead in opinion surveys, much to the dismay of business chiefs, investors and diplomats, Reuters reports.
 • Outgoing President Benigno Aquino III walks away after overseeing the nation’s most rapid economic growth since the 1970s, Bloomberg reports, though his successor will also inherit the challenge of righting significant economic disparity, with an estimated 25 percent of citizens still living in poverty. In an 11th-hour twist, Aquino told CNN Philippines today that he’s calling for Duterte’s opponents to pool their support in a “united front” to stop the mayor from winning the race.
 
North Carolina’s LGBT law deadline: The U.S. Justice Department says North Carolina’s bathroom law violates the Civil Rights Act, and the department is giving state officials until Monday to confirm it won’t be enforced. The state’s House speaker said lawmakers won’t meet that deadline.
 • The bill, which passed in March, limits protections to LGBT people and requires transgender people to use public bathrooms that conform to the sex on their birth certificate, AP reports. The Justice Department says the law violates Title IX, which bars discrimination in education based on sex, meaning the state risks losing federal education funding if the finding is upheld.
 • The U.S. Department of Transportation and Housing and Urban Development agencies say they are also reviewing the law, The Charlotte Observer reports, which could threaten additional federal funding.
 
Moscow parade: The 2016 Moscow Victory Day Parade will take place onMonday in the city’s iconic Red Square, where Russia will commemorate the 71st anniversary of its victory over the Nazis. Thousands of troops and military vehicles will parade past the Kremlin and the onion domes of St. Basil’s Cathedral as the Russian Air Force flies in formation overhead.
 • President Vladimir Putin will address the nation in his traditional holiday speech and we’ll be listening for any words he directs toward Russian armed forces regarding their actions in Syria.
 • There’s no need for a weather forecast: Russian authorities will likely beseeding clouds days in advance, ensuring that any bad weather breaks up before reaching the skies over Moscow.

Syria talks in Paris: The foreign ministers of the United Arab Emirates, Qatar, Turkey and Saudi Arabia — each backers of the Syrian opposition — will meet in Paris on Monday for talks aimed renewing momentum for stalled peace talks, which have no firm date for resumption.
 • The talks will come after a week of violence that saw the ceasefire strained to a breaking point following bloody clashes in Aleppo.

NASA Kepler findings: NASA will hold a teleconference on Tuesday to announce the latest findings from its Kepler spacecraft.
 • NASA last reported findings from the Kepler mission, which launched in 2009 with the goal of finding planets outside of our solar system, in July 2015. Among the planets announced then was Kepler-452b, believed to be the mostEarth-like planet discovered to date.
 
Officer on trial in Freddie Gray case: Baltimore police officer Edward Nero’s choice of trial by judge or jury in the death of Freddie Gray is set to be made public in a hearing Tuesday. The court has not announced a schedule for jury selection, leading legal experts to think Nero is planning for a bench trial, The Baltimore Sun reports. 
 • Nero is facing charges of second-degree assault, reckless endangerment and misconduct in office. He was one of the officers who arrested Freddie Gray, and the trial is expected to focus on his decision to pursue and detain Gray, according to the Sun.
 
TTIP: The fate of talks on the contentious Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership, or TTIP, looks uncertain after France’s trade minister said this week that multi-year negotiations were about to grind to a halt, BBC News reports. The initiative is a proposed deal between the European Union and the U.S. estimated to be worth more than a trillion dollars.
 • Critics in the U.S. worry about European firms competing on equal footing for U.S. government tenders, while Europeans are worried about American conglomerates undercutting European firms and pricing out protected industries like agriculture.
 • The talks are coming under increased scrutiny after Greenpeace leaked a tranche of documents to news organizations detailing the possible environmental impact of an agreement.
 
Invictus Games: On Sunday, wounded or sick members of the armed forces from all over the world will arrive in Orlando, Fla., for the 2016 Invictus Games.
 • The games, an international Paralympics-style event, were started by Britain’s Prince Harry in 2014 after becoming inspired by watching a British team compete at the U.S. Warrior Games, according to the Telegraph. More than 500 competitors from 15 nations will travel to the U.S. to battle in events such as archery, road cycling and wheelchair tennis.
 • U.S. and Canadian leaders and the British royal family have already turned to Twitter for some social media trash talk. The 2017 Invictus games will be held in Toronto.
 
Nebraska and West Virginia primaries: Two states head to the polls onTuesday, and while the Republican race seems all but wrapped up with Donald Trump as the presumptive nominee, voters will still allocate 107 delegates to the candidates when they cast their ballots.
 • West Virginia’s Democratic primary remains as the night’s only competition. Secretary of State Natalie Tennant announced on Thursday that more than 63,000 ballots were cast in the early voting period. The latest Public Policy Polling survey showed Bernie Sanders leading in the state with 45 percent support and Hillary Clinton taking 37 percent.

TechCrunch Disrupt New York: The East Coast version of tech news outlet TechCrunch’s annual conference is Monday-Wednesday. The main event isStartup Battlefield, where startup companies compete for attention and funding. One highlight: the co-founder of Siri will give the first demo of his latest effort,Viv, a new artificial intelligence service. 
 
“Stairway To Heaven” lawsuit: A trustee for Spirit guitarist Randy Wolfe (a.k.a. Randy California) is suing Led Zeppelin, alleging the band ripped off the Spirit song “Taurus” for the intro to “Stairway to Heaven.” A trial is scheduled forTuesday in Los Angeles, but Bloomberg reports lawyers are willing to settle for $1 if Robert Plant and Jimmy Page give Wolfe writing credit — a catch that could be worth millions.

Extended outlook

May 17: Officer who arrested Sandra Bland in court on perjury charge
May 18–20: Google I/O conference
May 20: NRA convention in Louisville, Ky.
May 22: Turkey’s ruling AK Party to choose replacement for PM Davutoglu
May 24: Bill Cosby preliminary hearing in Pennsylvania sexual assault case
May 25: Judge to rule on U.S. women’s soccer team right to strike
May 26: G7 summit in Japan
May 30: Memorial Day
May 31: Atlantic hurricane season begins
June 1: Watch begins for U.S. Supreme Court decisions including White House immigration appeal
June 5: French Open tennis men’s singles final
June 7: Presidential primaries in California, Montana, New Jersey, New Mexico, North Dakota, South Dakota
June 12: Tony Awards