Budapest  - Hungarian President Laszlo Solyom and his Slovakian counterpart Ivan Gasparovic plan to meet on December 6 amidst worsening relations between their countries.

A diplomatic row between Hungary and its neighbour to the north broke out earlier this month after a football match at which the police allegedly used excessive force and deliberately targeted Hungarian supporters.

The meeting to try and defuse the growing tension was announced by the presidents' offices on Tuesday, but by Thursday evening Hungary and Slovakia were still wrangling over where to hold the event.

Bratislava  - Slovakia Monday announced an increased national budget deficit for next year because of the world economic crisis - but said that figure would still be within the limit of 3 per cent of gross national product set for introducing the euro in January.

The deficit would be increased from 1.7 per cent to 2.08 per cent of GNP, Social Democrat Prime Minister Robert Fico said.

Despite the increase, Slovakia would still have the lowest deficit in its history, he stressed. The increase was needed in order to have enough reserves to deal with the economic crisis, he said.

Bratislava - The former second-highest official in the Slovakian football federation SFZ is to face trial for corruption, the country's general prosecution service confirmed Thursday in Bratislava.

Prague  - Slovak central bank governor Ivan Sramko said Tuesday the global financial crisis would reduce economic growth and may widen budget gaps in Slovakia, which is to become the 16th country to adopt the euro on January 1.

Speaking to reporters at a conference in Prague, Sramko said a slight increase up to 2 per cent would be permissible depending on how the funds would be used.

Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico, who won the 2006 election on promises to expand welfare, recently said that the 2009 deficit could slightly exceed the planned 1.7 per cent owing to the global financial crisis.

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

The leaders called for cooperation and condemned extremism after their meeting in the southern Slovak border town of Komarno.

However, speaking before reporters, they mostly engaged in a stinging exchange that did more to highlight their disagreements than signal a quick way out of the crisis.

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.