Prague  - Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico Saturday threw his support behind presidential election front-runner President Ivan Gasparovic as Slovaks voted for their new head of state.

Campaigning has been banned in Slovakia since Thursday morning, but Fico made the remarks in the neighbouring Czech Republic capital Prague.

Speaking to a congress of the opposition Czech Social Democratic Party, Fico said that any elections - be they for a party leader or a president - call for continuity at a time of the economic crisis.

Prague - Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico warned Saturday that relations with neighbouring Hungary may further deteriorate with Hungarian Prime Minister Ferenc Gyurcsany's planned resignation.

Fico said that a victory by the "anti-Slovak" right-wing Fidesz party in a potential early general election raised worries in Slovakia.

Bratislava  - Slovakia Thursday faced a blackout owing to Russia's move to shut down natural gas supplies arriving to western Europe via Ukraine, Prime Minister Robert Fico said.

Speaking after meeting his Czech, Hungarian and Polish counterparts and European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso, Fico said that Slovakia was worst-hit in central Europe.

He said that the country had gas supplies for 10 days and was facing a blackout as part of its electricity came from gas.

Bratislava - Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico and his Hungarian counterpart Ferenc Gyurcsany failed to thaw icy relations between their countries in a meeting called to stem nationalist tensions.

While the leaders called for cooperation after their meeting in the border town of Komarno, they mostly engaged in a stinging exchange that did more to highlight their disagreements than signal a quick way out of the crisis.

"The biggest problem is the export of fascism and extremism from Hungarian territory to Slovakia," Fico said at a press conference televised on the TA3 news channel.

Bratislava - Slovakia wants to buy back a 49-per-cent share in the country's chief gas supplier SPP from E. ON Ruhrgas and Gaz de France, Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico said Friday.

The state would pay around 130 billion Slovak koruny (5.7 billion dollars) for the stake.

Slovakia sold the minority stake in SPP in 2002, under the previous government of pro-market premier Mikulas Dzurinda. As part of the deal, the foreign investors received a majority on firm's board.

Bratislava- The centre-left government of Slovak Prime Minister Robert