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Orbán and rival Magyar hold rallies as Hungary election campaigns enter final stretch – as it happened

… and on that note, it’s a wrap for today! Hungarian prime minister Viktor Orbán and opposition leader Péter Magyar took part in major rallies on the penultimate day of campaign in Hungary in a final push to mobilise their supporters ahead of this weekend’s pivotal parliamentary election. Addressing a Fidesz stronghold in Székesfehérvar, Orbán largely stuck to his campaign lines attacking Ukraine and warning voters about the risks associated with a government change. Meanwhile, Magyar pushed to win over more voters in the final 48 hours of the campaign, as polls suggest his Tisza party could win the vote on Sunday, ending Orbán’s 16-year rule. We will be live-blogging from Budapest again on Sunday, bringing you all the key updates, results, and analysis of the vote. If you have any tips, comments or suggestions, email me at jakub.krupa@theguardian.com. I am also on Bluesky at @jakubkrupa.bsky.social and on X at @jakubkrupa.

Middle East crisis live: Trump warns of fresh strikes on Iran if talks fail as Vance heads to Pakistan

There has to be a ceasefire in Lebanon and it is “not acceptable” to be “negotiating under bombardment”, the country’s minister of social affairs has said, accusing Israel of committing war crimes by targeting civilians. Haneen Sayed told Sky News that “what happened two days ago was really unbelievable”. In a punishing wave of strikes across Lebanon, Israel killed more than 300 people and injured over 1,000 others on Wednesday. Lebanon’s prime minister, Nawaf Salam, accused Israel in a statement of targeting “densely populated residential neighbourhoods” and killing unarmed civilians in breach of international law. “It goes beyond what anyone expected,” Sayed said, adding that it’s a “huge calamity”. Despite international condemnation, Israel has continued to bombard Lebanon since, insisting that the country was never included in the ceasefire agreed by the US and Iran, even though Iran and Pakistan – which helped broker the deal – said it was. Lebanon and Iran are demanding that Israel must agree to a ceasefire before talks between Lebanon and Israel can begin. Israel, meanwhile, has insisted that “talks will be held under fire”. Sayed said that was an unacceptable expectation. Negotiating under bombardment and, you know, bombs falling over our heads is not acceptable. So that’s a condition. There “has to be a ceasefire”, she said. She also accused Israel of committing war crimes. I can say war crimes have been committed. There is no explainable reason why that many ... civilians and health workers are targeted. Entire buildings were flattened, as you know. People are still burying their dead, she said, after the country observed a day of mourning on Thursday.

Remaining in Nato is in best interests of US, says Keir Starmer

Keir Starmer has said it is in the best interests of the US to stay in Nato and that Europe must do more to support the alliance in light of the war in Iran. The British prime minister, speaking at the end of a multi-stop trip around the Gulf to discuss the tentative ceasefire and options to fully reopen the commercially vital strait of Hormuz, pushed back against Donald Trump’s threats to leave the defence alliance. The US president has repeatedly criticised European members of Nato, which largely disagreed with the attacks on Iran, for not participating more fully in the strikes, including a threat to pull Washington out of the alliance altogether. Starmer, speaking in Qatar at the end of a trip during which he also met leaders in Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain, agreed with Trump’s calls for European members of Nato to spend more on defence, while insisting it was in the interests of the US to stay in the alliance. “We’re very strong supporters of Nato and I’ve been making the argument for some considerable time that we need to do more,” he said. “It’s the single most effective military alliance the world has ever known. “Do we Europeans need to do more? Yes. I’ve been making that argument for the best part of two years, to our European partners as much as anybody else. We continue to make that case and we will make that case.” He added: “It is in America’s interests; it’s in European interests. Nato is a defensive alliance, which for decades has kept us much safer than we would otherwise have been. “Do I think this will be a stronger European element to Nato? Yes, and I think we should step into that space. We’re already doing it, which is why we’re coordinating strategically with our partners in Nato.” Starmer and Trump spoke on Thursday night. Talking to broadcasters in Doha, Starmer said much of the call was spent discussing how to ensure ships could safely pass through the strait of Hormuz, a key shipping route for oil and gas as well as other goods, which Iran in effect blocked after attacks by the US and Israel. As well as ensuring the sea route is safe, Starmer has stressed the need to avoid the potential scenario of Iran charging levies on ships passing through. Earlier this week Trump mooted the idea of a “joint venture” between the US and Iran to set tolls. Starmer, setting out his talks with the various Gulf leaders, said they shared this view and were concerned about the ceasefire, which is under threat from continued Israeli attacks on Lebanon, and Iran warning it could retaliate. “Obviously, the discussion moved very quickly to the ceasefire, a sense that it’s fragile, that more work is needed, that the strait of Hormuz has to be part of the solution, a very strong sense that there can’t be tolling or restrictions on that navigation,” he said. Trump has appeared volatile and irascible, as the Iran war has failed to produce regime change in Tehran or achieve any other tangible US goals. He has expressed this both in insults to other world leaders, including Starmer, and threats to Iran, including saying before the ceasefire that the country’s “whole civilisation will die” if it did not meet US demands. John Healey, the UK defence secretary, said on Friday that rather than poring over Trump’s social media posts, those in the US should instead examine the UK’s actions in the Gulf, saying these “spoke for themselves”. While the UK refused to participate in attacks on Iran, it contributed significantly to efforts to defend Gulf states from Iranian attacks, with UK planes and ground gunners shooting down a number of Iranian drones and missiles. UK bases were also available to US planes, if only for missions seen as defensive. “Even in this current conflict, the basing permissions that we in the UK have agreed with the US have been invaluable to their military operations,” Healey said, adding: “If we focus on our actions rather than just simply the exchange of words and social media posts, then the fundamentals for me remain.”

One dead and 27 injured after bus with British passengers crashes in Canary Islands

A man has died and 27 people are in hospital after a bus carrying British passengers crashed in the Canary Islands, local officials have said. The incident happened at 1.15pm local time on Friday when the vehicle veered into a ravine on the GM-2 highway near the town of San Sebastián de La Gomera. Local media reported the bus was transporting a British group for a boat tour and four of the injured were in critical condition. Officials said: “Emergency health services attended to the 28 occupants of the bus – 27 tourists of British nationality and the driver. “We can confirm one man has died and 27 injured of varying degrees of severity, three of them serious, have been transferred to the Hospital Nuestra Señora de Guadalupe.” There are understood to have been 25 adults on board including the driver, and three children. The most seriously injured passenger was transferred to hospital on the neighbouring island of Tenerife with the rest of the injured being treated at La Gomera hospital. Fernando Clavijo, the president of the Canary Islands, said: “I am following the accident of a bus reported in La Gomera and the work of the emergency teams who are intervening at this moment. My support to the victims and their families.” The British embassy in the Spanish capital, Madrid, said: “Our thoughts go out to those affected by this tragic incident. We are aware of the situation, and we stand ready to support British nationals. We are also in touch with local authorities on the ground.” Spanish police have launched an investigation but the cause of the crash has not yet been established. Last year, one woman died and 10 people were injured in a traffic accident on the same road. The UK’s Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office was contacted for comment.

Concerns raised about motorbike tourist trail after death of British teenager in Vietnam

The recent death of a British gap-year student on the Ha Giang loop, a popular motorcycle tour through the mountains in north Vietnam, has heightened concerns about a trail reputed to be one of the most dangerous in the country. Orla Wates, 19, from Surrey, was riding as a pillion passenger when she fell off and was hit by an oncoming truck, according to local media. She was taken to hospital in Hanoi, where she died from her injuries last week. Wates was travelling in Vietnam before starting a degree course at Durham University this autumn, and had probably seen some of the many social media posts about “doing the loop”. Winding along narrow mountain roads near the border with China, through jungle and rice terraces, the Ha Giang loop has become a must-do adventure for young, thrill-seeking backpackers in south-east Asia. Online reviews describe it using terms such as the “best four days of my life”. Nevertheless, doing the loop, especially by motorbike, is not without risk. People who live and work in Ha Giang cite the rugged road conditions, unpredictable weather, rockslides and occasional loose livestock. Travellers depart from Ha Giang city, riding pillion on motorbikes driven by local guides employed by tour companies. Foreign visitors riding solo must have a full motorcycle licence to ride the route, and face a fine if caught without one. The loop, previously a network of dirt trails for farmers and pack horses before reconstruction in the 1960s, is more than 220 miles (350km) long and takes three to four days to complete. A day’s ride often ends with a visit to a waterfall to cool off, followed by food and corn wine at a homestay. Ha Giang is one of the poorest provinces in Vietnam, and an estimated 200,000 tourists go there every year, mostly to do the loop. Elle, who requested that her surname was withheld, is a 23-year-old Australian who splits her time living between Australia and Vietnam and has done the Ha Giang loop 16 times. She said its popularity had led to “levels of congestion that the roads weren’t ready for”. She added that she had seen tourists ask their guides to “go faster to overtake slower groups, or so they can film more exciting social media content”. She advised visitors to “choose their tour company carefully – some genuinely prioritise safety, whereas others just prioritise numbers”. In recent years, there have been local reports of a tourist dying after a 100-metre fall from a mountain pass, and of two visitors involved in a fatal head-on collision with a truck. Locals who know the roads also fall victim to accidents, with the lack of medical facilities in the secluded mountains adding to the danger. Matt Struthers, a co-owner of Road Kings, a tour company that has offered Ha Giang loop tours for several years, said: “Yes, we’re trying to provide a trip of a lifetime, but more importantly, people are putting their trust in us to do the right thing. There are ways to make the trip much safer, [for example] having proper safety equipment and a team that drives carefully.” Asked whether he thought Wates’s death should serve as a wake-up call in Ha Giang, Struthers said: “I really hope it does. Safety has always been our main focus. When something like this happens, it impacts the industry as a whole. I hope it encourages everyone to raise their standards.”

JD Vance warns Iran against trying to ‘play’ the US in peace talks

JD Vance has warned Iran not to “try and play” the US at talks planned for Saturday in Islamabad, while Tehran said it would not take part until Israel stopped bombing of Lebanon. The US vice-president made the comments as he boarded a plane to Pakistan for negotiations that could determine whether a ceasefire holds or the war on Iran resumes with grave implications for the global economy. With hours to go before the talks were scheduled to start, doubts remained as to whether they actually would. Mohammad Baqer Qalibaf, Iran’s parliamentary speaker and the co-leader of the country’s delegation, said on X on Friday: “Two of the measures mutually agreed upon between the parties have yet to be implemented: a ceasefire in Lebanon and the release of Iran’s blocked assets prior to the commencement of negotiations. These two matters must be fulfilled before negotiations begin.” It was unclear on Friday evening whether Qalibaf and Abbas Araghchi, Iran’s foreign minister, were still planning to fly to Islamabad to lead their delegation. It was reported last month that Israel had taken Qalibaf and Araghchi off the target list of its bombing campaign at Washington’s request. Donald Trump fuelled the uncertainty by saying US forces were rearming and ready to return to the attack if the negotiations failed. “We have a reset going. We’re loading up the ships with the best ammunition, the best weapons ever made – even better than what we did previously and we blew them apart,” the US president told the New York Post. “And if we don’t have a deal, we will be using them, and we will be using them very effectively.” Later on Friday, Trump followed up his threats with a post on his own social media site declaring: “The Iranians don’t seem to realize they have no cards, other than a short term extortion of the World by using International Waterways. The only reason they are alive today is to negotiate!” The Iranians and the Pakistani mediators say the two-week ceasefire agreement struck by the US and Iran on Tuesday night included Lebanon. Trump and Israel’s prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, say this is not the case, and Israel has continued to bomb Lebanon in its offensive against Hezbollah, Iran’s closest ally in the region, even after Netanyahu said he was ready to start peace talks with the Lebanese government. More than 300 Lebanese citizens have been killed by Israeli bombing since the ceasefire started. The country’s president, Joseph Aoun, said on Friday that 13 state security personnel had been killed in an Israeli strike on a government building in the southern city of Nabatieh. Trump has accused Iran of doing a “very poor job” of allowing oil to go through the strait, adding in an overnight social media post: “That is not the agreement we have!” The oil price spike caused by the US-Israeli attack on Iran on 28 February, and Iran’s response by closing the strait of Hormuz to oil tankers and other shipping, is a direct political threat to the president before congressional elections in November. Despite the uncertain outlook for the ceasefire, Vance’s tone was generally optimistic as he boarded Air Force Two. “We’re looking forward to the negotiation. I think it’s going to be positive,” Vance said. “If the Iranians are willing to negotiate in good faith, we’re certainly willing to extend the open hand.” But he added: “If they’re going to try and play us, then they’re going to find that the negotiating team is not that receptive.” Trump’s all-purpose international negotiator, Steve Witkoff, was also expected to be in the US delegation, as was the president’s son-in-law, Jared Kushner. Witkoff and Kushner took part in talks with Iranian negotiators prior to the US-Israeli attack, which had been focused on Iran’s nuclear and missile programmes. The Omani mediators of those talks, as well as UK government observers, believed meaningful progress had been made and were expecting another round of negotiations when the US and Israel launched their surprise attack on 28 February. After more than five weeks of bombing, the campaign has killed Iran’s supreme leader, Ali Khamenei, but failed to dislodge the Islamic regime in Tehran. It has also inflicted heavy losses on Iran’s armed forces but they were still able to threaten shipping in the Hormuz strait and cut off the flow of a fifth of the world’s oil and liquified fossil gas. The Islamabad talks are expected to focus on the reopening of the strait, as well as the future of Iran’s nuclear programme and the prospect of sanctions relief. Iran says it will also demand reparations for war damage. According to the Washington Post, Vance’s delegation intends to demand the release of Americans detained in Iran. Advance teams from the US and Iran reportedly began to take up rooms on Friday in the five-star Serena hotel in central Islamabad, with Pakistani officials relaying messages between the two camps. Officials from Saudi Arabia and other Gulf countries were also arriving to represent their interests. A 2-mile (3km) security perimeter was set up around the hotel by Pakistani security services, the city centre was locked down and a public holiday declared for Pakistan’s highest-level mediation effort on the world stage in recent times. Hezbollah did not comment on news of the direct negotiations between the Lebanese and Israeli government, despite the group’s historical opposition to any contact with Israel. The head of the armed group, Naim Qassem, in a written statement published on Friday afternoon, called on the Lebanese government to “cease making gratuitous concessions”, without making explicit mention of the negotiations. “We will not accept a return to the status quo, and we call upon those in authority to cease making gratuitous concessions,” Qassem said, vowing to keep fighting and to “expel the occupier”. The Lebanese army deployed additional soldiers across Beirut, with a strong presence by the prime minister’s office, as the government sought to implement its decision to allow no arms outside state control in the country’s capital city. The decision was taken after Israel’s attack on Wednesday which left at least 303 people dead. Fighting has continued in south Lebanon despite the upcoming negotiations and Hezbollah claimed to have struck Israeli soldiers on the outskirts of Bint Jbeil. Bint Jbeil carries historical and strategic significance because Hezbollah managed to keep Israeli forces out of the town in the 2006 war – earning it the moniker of the “capital of resistance”. The area is also key to controlling the central area of southern Lebanon because it sits at the crossroads of neighbouring towns and hills. Hezbollah launched volleys of rockets at Israel throughout Friday. Israel carried out airstrikes across Lebanon, killing 13 government security officers in an attack near the provincial government’s headquarters in Nabatieh, according to Lebanon’s state security agency. It was the highest number of Lebanese security forces killed by Israel so far. Lebanon’s government is not a party to the Hezbollah-Israel war but Israeli strikes have killed Lebanese soldiers over the course of the conflict.

We have to stop killer motorists on Britain’s roads | Letters

Sally Kyd’s article (Too many drivers see road safety rules as a personal affront. It’s time to tighten up UK laws, 6 April) rightly highlights the alarming inadequacy of our current legal framework regarding driving offences. The ambiguity between “dangerous” and “careless” driving not only undermines public confidence, but insults the victims of road violence, as seen in the heartbreaking cases of Mayar Yahia and the Lincoln teenagers. Kyd is absolutely correct: relying on the abstract, subjective standard of a “competent and careful driver” is failing us, especially as road policing diminishes and driving standards visibly decline. However, while redefining offences and restoring road policing are crucial steps, they largely address the symptoms of poor driving after the fact. To truly transform road safety and reframe driving as a lifelong responsibility, we must proactively mandate enforced, ongoing regulation. Currently, a motorist can pass a test at 17 and never face another assessment, despite decades of changes in vehicle technology, traffic density, and the Highway Code itself. This is illogical and unsafe. We urgently need a system of mandatory periodic retesting to ensure skills do not degrade into the dangerous complacency that Kyd describes. Furthermore, the baseline for passing a driving test should not be the ceiling. We must enforce compliance with advanced driving standards, such as those championed by the Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents. Requiring drivers to undertake periodic training or refresher courses linked to licence renewal would systematically instil the proactive, hazard-aware mindset needed to navigate modern roads safely. Only by combining clearer legal definitions and robust policing with mandatory, ongoing retesting and adherence to advanced standards can we finally end the culture of entitlement on our roads and prevent further avoidable tragedies. Guy Edmondson Hipperholme, West Yorkshire • The figure of 1,602 deaths on British roads in 2024, cited in your article, should be a national scandal. If that many people died annually from any other preventable cause, it would spark a public inquiry. Instead, these deaths are treated as an inevitable cost of doing business in a modern transport system. Your article highlights the inconsistency in how driving offences are charged, but the deeper issue is our systemic failure to prevent these tragedies. We know that speeding and mobile phone use are rampant, and we know that roads’ policing has been hollowed out. To allow these behaviours to continue with limited consequence is not an oversight – it is a policy choice. This indifference is baked into our infrastructure. We continue to design our towns and cities for vehicle flow, prioritising the speed of cars over the lives of pedestrians and cyclists. Even our safety advice shifts the burden to vulnerable people; we are told that if we cannot see a lorry driver, they cannot see us. This ignores the fact that the technology to eliminate these blind spots exists today. If we possess the tools to save lives and refuse to use them, we have moved beyond “accidents”. We have simply normalised a level of carnage that should be unthinkable. Until we stop treating road deaths as an unavoidable byproduct of travel, nothing will change. Mark Scott Basingstoke, Hampshire • In the UK, when someone is killed without intention, the perpetrator is normally charged with manslaughter. Sally Kyd is right to point out the anomaly relating to road deaths. Rather than arguing over the difference between “careless” and “dangerous”, a potential manslaughter charge should give most drivers second thoughts about using mobile phones and other distractions. Prof Lewis Lesley Liverpool • One hopes – but doubts – that the justice system will listen to Sally Kyd and administer far more severe punishments to car drivers who kill someone. It’s bizarre that someone who kills by plunging a six-inch blade into a victim can be jailed for years, but someone who kills using two tonnes of steel on wheels often gets away with admonishment and points on their licence. Norman Miller Brighton, East Sussex • When we talk about road deaths, we often focus on sentencing after the fact. But for many families the dreaded question is: could this have been prevented? In 2024, 1,602 people were killed on UK roads, yet only a small proportion of cases resulted in prosecution. That gap between harm and accountability is infuriating for so many. But communities don’t have to wait for legal reform to act. Across the UK, members of the public are already playing a role through initiatives such as Community Speedwatch, working in partnership with the police to raise awareness and reduce speeding before it causes harm. I coordinate a small Community Speedwatch group in a rural village. There are four of us, plus the help of my two children (one of whom is an avid car enthusiast and knows his makes and models, which is very useful). I started the group because I had noticed how the speed limit and driver etiquette in my village didn’t seem to meet local need. We have a long, straight stretch through the village where, as a pedestrian, you regularly get those moments – a vehicle that you hear before you see passing at speed just feet from the pavement edge. And for that split second you genuinely fear for your family’s life. Roadkill is common, and families opt for the car rather than walk or cycle because it hasn’t felt safe enough. We’ve been monitoring speeds for over a year now. We meet once a week and record numberplates for up to an hour, passing that data on to the police. And what we’ve seen is simple but powerful: only about 5% of drivers we record go on to reoffend. Most people do slow down once they’re made aware. And that’s the key – this isn’t about punishment, it’s about visibility and accountability. Stronger laws absolutely matter. But so does culture, and that’s something all of us can influence. There’s real power in communities being willing to step forward and say: this matters. Lucinda Brocklehurst Eastington, Gloucestershire • Have an opinion on anything you’ve read in the Guardian today? Please email us your letter and it will be considered for publication in our letters section.

The religious right and the perversion of faith | Letter

Thank you for your editorial on the religious right (The Guardian view on Britain’s religious right: using and abusing faith in the pursuit of power, 5 April). The truth is that Christian nationalism has as little to do with the true values of Christianity as national socialism has to do with the values of socialism. It is a perversion of the faith … almost an oxymoron in its combination of opposites. I serve in a church in the heart of Smethwick in the West Midlands, where our congregation reflects the area, being made up of those born and bred in the area, the families of the Windrush generation and new immigrants and asylum seekers from Africa and Asia. We thrive as a broad church. More than that, we are truly blessed by our close relationships with local mosques and gurdwaras, and the wider faith and non-faith community. Speaking to my imam friends, they will say that Islamism is a clear misappropriation of Islamic virtues for political ends that has little or no traction in mainstream mosques. Therefore, more often than not, those who have been radicalised do not attend and the mainstream Islamic leadership has little sway over them. I suspect that Christian nationalists (maybe we should start referring to them as “Christianists”) are equally rarely to be found in church on a Sunday morning and may equally be beyond our immediate reach. That does not give us an excuse not to raise our voices in what you correctly describe as becoming a political battleground, but for peace to reign, our efforts must be aimed at depoliticising faith rather than countering one politics with another. That means making the real story of faith heard above the strident voices of Pete Hegseth, Zia Yusuf, et al. Rev Prof Nick Ross Birmingham • Have an opinion on anything you’ve read in the Guardian today? Please email us your letter and it will be considered for publication in our letters section.