Belgrade/Budapest - Hungary would release a "certain" amount of natural gas from its reserves to neighbouring Serbia, President Boris Tadic announced in Belgrade.

Tadic said he arranged with Hungarian Prime Minister Ferenc Gyurcsany for an emergency delivery due to start in mid-afternoon. Only a day before a Serbian delegation returned from Budapest empty- handed, failing to secure a delivery from Hungarian reserves.

In Budapest, Gyurcsany confirmed that Hungary would sell between 1 and 2 million cubic metres of gas to Serbia daily, as long as the situation permits. That amount covers up to one-quarter of Serbia's needs.

Budapest - Hungarian police have arrested two men in connection with the fatal shooting of a headmaster and his deputy at a school in Budapest, Hungarian police announced on Thursday.

Hungary was shocked on Wednesday evening by reports that a masked gunman had opened fire at a special-needs school in Budapest, killing the headmaster and his deputy.

The school treasurer and a security guard were subsequently arrested and charged with murder, police said. The two men had been sacked the same day over an embezzlement affair.

Budapest  - At 3.30 p. m. on Tuesday, Ukraine completely shut off the flow of natural gas to its western neighbour Hungary, the minister for energy Csaba Molnar said after a crisis meeting.

From Wednesday morning, power stations than can will have to switch to alternative sources of energy, Molnar announced. He added that further restrictions on the industrial use of gas might still have to be made.

Budapest - The amount of natural gas piped into western Hungary from Austria fell on Tuesday as a result of Russia cutting supplies to Ukraine in an ongoing dispute over pricing, said Hungary's gas distributor in a statement.

The situation illustrates how the spat between Ukraine and the Russian state gas company Gazprom is having a knock-on effect in countries several links down the supply chain.

Hungary is still receiving the bulk of its natural gas via Ukraine, although Ukraine cut the daily delivery from 38 to 30 million cubic metres on Monday.

Budapest  - The Hungarian minister responsible for energy matters said on Monday that Ukraine had informed the Hungarian government of its intention to reduce gas flow to Hungary by almost a quarter.

Speaking to the press after meeting with the prime minister, Csaba Molnar said that Ukraine had informed Hungary of its intention to reduce the delivery of natural gas on Monday from 38 million to 30 million cubic metres per day.

Budapest - Hungary's minister responsible for energy, Csaba Molnar, said Friday that the pressure in pipelines bringing Russian gas into Hungary from Ukraine had dropped slightly at 4 pm.

This came shortly after Ukraine's gas distributor informed its Hungarian counterpart that it would reduce daily delivery of gas to Hungary from 37 to 32 million cubic metres.

The Hungarian government accused Ukraine of breaking the terms of its supply contract.

With temperatures well below freezing across the country, Hungary is currently burning 66 million cubic metres of natural gas per day, the storage company E. ON said.