Budapest - A Roma couple were killed in their sleep when a hand grenade was thrown through the window of their house in southern Hungary, authorities said Wednesday.

A 37-year-old man and his 31-year-old wife died in the blast late Tuesday in the town of Pecs. Two of their three children were slightly injured.

Police were quick to dismiss the idea that the attack was racially motivated. The case was probably a Mafia-style revenge killing, county police spokesman Peter Zsobrak said on Hungarian television.

He said police had found no evidence of a link to a November 3 attack in north-eastern Hungary that left two Roma dead.

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.

Bratislava - Slovakian Prime Minister Robert Fico and his Hungarian counterpart Ferenc Gyurcsany were meeting in the border town of Komarno-Revkomarom to discuss recent tensions between their two countries.

Hungarian right-wing extremists have demonstrated in recent weeks over territorial claims in Slovakia, which was once part of Hungary.

Fico has accused the Hungarian government of not doing anything to halt the demonstrations.

Meanwhile, Budapest has criticized Slovakia for the brutal treatment meted out by Slovakian police to right-wing extremists attending a football match in the southern Slovakian town of Dunajska Streda, also known as Dunaszerdahely in Hungarian.

Berlin - Kinga Goncz, foreign minister of Hungary which was rescued last month by international lenders from financial collapse, called in Berlin Friday for better European Union coordination in crises.

He spoke after meeting with German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier. Both said they favoured joint EU strategies to deal with financial and economic crises.

"I'm firmly convinced this will work," said Steinmeier.

"Europe can only be strong if we work together and coordinate our actions with one another," said Goncz.

Budapest  - Hungary plans a 1.4-trillion-forint (6.5-billion-dollar) stimulus package to boost its ailing economy, the government said Thursday, after international lenders last month staved off the ex-communist nation's financial collapse.

The proposal is designed to ease Hungary's severe credit crunch, generate more than 9 billion dollars in new investment and create 20,000 new jobs, Economy Minister Gordon Bajnai told members of parliament in Budapest.