France: Millions of French commuters and holidaymakers face another wave of crippling transport stoppages as rail workers protest at President Emmanuel Macron's economic reform plans and some unions warned they could step up strike action. Train staff last week kicked off three months of nationwide rolling strikes in a dispute over the Government's planned overhaul of state-run rail firm SNCF, in the biggest challenge yet to Macron's attempts to modernise the French economy. Just over a third of workers needed to make the train network run smoothly were expected to walk out tonight, a dip in participation compared to the last 48 hours of walk-outs lastweek, the SNCF said.
Hungary: Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban is expected to win his third consecutive term, and fourth overall since 1998, as voting stations opened across the country for the election of 199 parliamentary deputies. Polls agree on the triumph of Orban's Fidesz Party and its allied Christian Democrats, but a splintered opposition and Hungary's complex electoral system make the margin of victory hard to predict. Orban's campaign has been based near exclusively on his unyielding anti-migration policies, though voters say they are more concerned with poverty, corruption and the country's underfunded healthcare system. His main challengers are Gergely Karacsony, the candidate of the Socialist and Dialogue parties, and Gabor Vona from the nationalist Jobbik party.
Malaysia: Prime Minister Najib Razak unveiled a lavish election manifesto with cash benefits targeting rural ethnic Malays, his key voting bloc, as he faces an unprecedented challenge from a revived opposition led by his former mentor, Dr Mahathir Mohamad. Najib, 64, is seeking a third term in office under pressure to improve his National Front coalition's performance after support eroded in the last two elections. He has been dogged by a massive corruption scandal involving the 1MDB state fund, which is under investigation in the US and other countries for allegations of cross-border embezzlement and money laundering. The 220-page election manifesto, which includes 364 pledges, was launched yesterday, the day Parliament was dissolved to pave the way for national polls expected in early May. His campaign slogan "Make my country great with BN" — the Malay acronym for the National Front — has similarities with President Donald Trump's 2016 election motto "Make America great again."
