Ethnic Hungarians avert crisis

Ethnic Hungarians in Slovakia steered away from a collision course with the government when they backed down from declaring a self-governing province in the south of the country, where they are in a majority, writes Adrian Bridge. At a meeting in the town of Komarno, ethnic Hungarian leaders rejected Slovak accusations that they wanted to secede or become part of Hungary. But they urged the government to grant them greater cultural and educational autonomy and to pass a law guaranteeing minority rights.