Bratislava - Slovakia has gas for some 15 days owing to natural gas supplies from European gas firms, officials said Saturday as a shutdown of Russian gas deliveries via Ukraine continued for the fourth day.

A Slovak Economy Ministry spokesman said that the country boosted its supplies by some 7.2 million cubic metres from reserves of Gaz de France and the German firm E. ON Ruhrgas.

Slovakia is fully dependent on Russian gas arriving via Ukraine.

Bratislava - Slovakia is set to hold presidential elections on March 21, with a runoff election possible on April 4, Slovakian Parliament Speaker Pavol Paska said Thursday.

The speaker is responsible for determining the exact dates of the election, within a time period that is set by law. The runoff will pit the two candidates with the most first-round votes against each other, in case no one gets an absolute majority on March 21.

The latest opinion polls give incumbent President Ivan Gasparovic such a large lead that a runoff seems unlikely.

Bratislava - Slovakia's carmakers halted or limited production Thursday, a side effect of Russia's decision to cut off natural gas supplies flowing to western Europe via Ukraine.

A Kia plant in Slovakia, which churns out 700 cars a day, halted production Thursday morning, spokesman Dusan Dvorak confirmed. A Peugeot plant decided to slash one of its shifts, local reports said.

Slovakia is fully dependent on Russian gas deliveries. The Slovak gas importer and distributor SPP tapped into its underground reserves to supply households, schools and hospitals. However, it asked industrial clients to limit consumption to a minimum.

Bratislava  - Slovakia abandoned its currency of 15 years, the Slovak koruna, and adopted the euro on Thursday, in a move that sealed the ex-Soviet satellite's economic success.

The central European country of 5.4 million is the second formerly communist country, after Slovenia, to qualify for the switch to Europe's common currency.

Slovakia is the 16th member of the eurozone, which faces a sharp economic downturn following the turmoil on global financial markets.

Spiske Vlachy, Slovakia  - Shouting each other down, women hurl questions at a rare visitor to their hometown, a destitute Roma ghetto amid picturesque hills of central Slovakia.

"My father gets 3,500 koruny. How much is it in euro?" blurted Magdalena Horvathova, a chubby-cheeked 17-year-old with a baby in her arms.

"Will there be twenty and fifty notes?" asked a raspy-voiced grandmother with two braids emerging from underneath a yellow scarf.

Bratislava  - Slovakian Foreign Minister Jan Kubis is to leave government for a post in the United Nations, the country's foreign ministry confirmed on Thursday.

The ministry said that Kubis, a seasoned diplomat, had accepted an offer from UN general secretary Ban Ki-moon to become the executive secretary of the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe (UNECE) in Geneva.