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This summary is provided by the STA:
Foreign air forces withdraw from Kras fire site
KOSTANJEVICA NA KRASU - All foreign air force units that have been helping fighting a huge wildfire in the western region of Kras for over a week, have withdrawn after the blaze was brought under control on Sunday. 240 firefighters remain on the ground monitoring the site for potential rekindling of the fire and cleaning up and watering the edges of the site of burning. They are also keeping an eye on two hotspots on the northern side of Trstelj, the highest peak in the area. In total, more than 10,000 voluntary and professional firefighters have been involved in the effort so far. They were helped by some 1,200 members of various support units. The fire, the largest Slovenia has ever had to face, spread over some 3,000-3,500 hectares.
Rain not to alleviate drought
LJUBLJANA - Slovenia will get some of the much needed rain on Tuesday as a weather system passes the country. However, even though rain is expected throughout the country it will do little to alleviate drought or improve the extremely dry conditions in the south-west of the country because the bora wind will quickly dry it up. Blaž Šter, a forecaster at the Environment Agency, says the rain will help firefighters in Kras, but it will not be sufficient to alleviate the drought or replenish water resources in the long run.
Pahor thanks countries that helped with firefighting in Kras
LJUBLJANA - President Borut Pahor has thanked presidents of countries that have helped Slovenia in the effort to contain a devastating ten-day blaze in the Kras region, the president's office said. Over the past two days, Pahor had telephone conversations with the presidents of Italy, Croatia, Serbia, Slovakia, Austria, Hungary and Romania to thank them for the various forms of assistance their countries provided to Slovenia.
Since Friday 15 deaths among Covid patients
LJUBLJANA - As many as 15 patients with Covid-19 died over the past three days, including eight on Sunday, fresh data released by the Health Ministry shows. A total of 1,236 new cases of coronavirus were confirmed at the weekend, up 15% from on the weekend before. Friday included, a total of 3,158 cases were confirmed. On Sunday, 348 patients with Covid-19 were treated in hospitals, including 19 in intensive care. Sunday's death toll was the highest since 13 April.
POP TV poll shows over half supporting Golob govt
LJUBLJANA - Three months after the election, the voter approval rating for the Robert Golob government stands at 51%, down two percentage points from a month ago, according to a poll commissioned by the commercial broadcaster POP TV. Golob's Freedom Movement polled at 27.8%, slightly down from the month before, which suggests merging with the LMŠ and SAB brought it no additional support. The opposition Democrats (SDS) are level at 18.8%. Health Minister Danijel Bešič Loredan tops the popularity ranking.
Gas supply situation under control, says operator CEO
LJUBLJANA - Marjan Eberlinc, CEO of the gas transmission system operator Plinovodi, told Radio Slovenija that Slovenia was managing the gas supply situation very well given the developments in the wake of the war in Ukraine. So far, there have been no supply disruptions, and the situation is not as pessimistic as it might seem, he noted. Eberlinc, who is also the head of the Energy Chamber, said there would be quite a few options for Slovenia if Russia indeed cut off gas supply to Europe, hence cutting off Slovenia's predominant supply source.
Ex-minister proposes solutions for emergency medicine network
LJUBLJANA - As some community health centres face staff shortages in their emergency medical care units, former Health Minister Janez Poklukar proposed that all doctors of age up to 60 should join the system or else be stripped of their licences. Poklukar said in a statement for the STA that a solution to the issue would be involving doctors from all levels of healthcare, not only the primary level, in the system. This comes after the government announced that the issue will be tackled after the local elections in the autumn.
June tourism figures reach pre-epidemic levels
LJUBLJANA - The number of nights spent by visitors in Slovenia's tourism accommodation facilities reached almost two million in June, which is nearly double year-on-year and a third of the total figure for the first half of 2022, when 2.3 million visitors spent more than 6 million nights in the country. The figures thus virtually reached pre-epidemic levels. A total of 795,000 visitors were recorded in June. Just over 351,000 were Slovenians and almost 444,000 were foreigners.
Sava's revenue, profit up last year
LJUBLJANA - The tourism holding Sava generated EUR 70.1 million in sales revenue last year, which is 27% more than the year before. Net profit reached EUR 2.2 million after the holding posted a net loss of EUR 10.5 million in 2020, Sava says on its website. As tourist facilities reopened after the epidemic, sales of Sava's tourist arm Sava Turizem reached the 2019 level last year and even exceeded them in some destinations. The arm generated a net profit of EUR 6.1 million, also thanks to state subsidies.
Hrastnik glassworks ups profit by 62% last year to EUR 11m
HRASTNIK - The Steklarna Hrastnik glassworks generated EUR 77 million in sales revenue last year, or 37% more than in 2020, while net profit was up by 62% to EUR 11 million. This enabled the company to continue to invest, with total investments amounting to EUR 22 million in 2021. The management of the Hrastnik-based company told the STA that last year's results were a product of digitalisation, development and innovation, and the successful core activity of production of glass bottles of various sizes.
Bad bank suspends sale of two batches of claims
LJUBLJANA - The Bank Asset Management Company (BAMC) has suspended the sale of two packages of claims against 28 companies in the total value of some EUR 474 million. According to BAMC, the bids did not reach market value. The newspaper Finance reported that no major sales were expected by the time BAMC ends its operations at the end of the year. Around half a billion euros of unsold assets are to be transferred to Slovenian State Holding. However, BAMC published a call today for binding bids for the purchase of EUR 3.9 million debt owed by the textile company Beti.
Sheep milk cheese from Istria protected
LJUBLJANA - The Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Food has temporarily protected at the national level a type of sheep milk cheese from the Istria region, Istrski ovčji sir/Istarski ovčji sir, using a protected designation of origin. The move was initiated by Slovenian and Croatian sheep breeders. The Istrian cheese is made from raw or pasteurised sheep milk produced by sheep bred in Slovenian and Croatian Istria, including on some of the Croatian islands. The cheese must be not only produced but also packaged in Istria and must carry a special label.
Slovenia sees negative birth-to-death rate for 5th year
LJUBLJANA - Slovenia saw a natural decrease in population for the fifth consecutive year in 2021 as the number of births dropped to just 18,984, and 23,261 people died, fresh data from the Statistics Office shows. This is due to a higher death rate throughout the year, with the exception of summer. Most people died in the last quarter of 2021 when the death rate was highest with 6,721 people dying, while the fewest deaths were recorded in the third quarter with 4,840 people passing away.
Survey: One in three girls considering plastic surgery
LJUBLJANA - Social media posts affect body perception among teenage girls, show findings from the safe-internet use portal Safe.si. Their survey showed that one out of three female secondary school students, and one out of four girls at primary schools aged 12-15 have considered getting plastic surgery. "Teenagers are exposed to unachievable beauty standards on the internet and sexualised images of people and their lives," the portal said, pointing to the impact on their mental health and well-being.
Another fish die-off in Gradaščica river canal
LJUBLJANA - Another fish die-off occurred on Saturday in Mali Graben, a river canal of the Gradaščica river in Ljubljana, according to a report by the public broadcaster TV Slovenija. The Barje Angling Club said that around a tonne and a half of fish were dead with the club's head Bojan Pregovnik describing the incident as a horrendous ecological disaster. This is the second major incident in the Gradaščica river recently after decomposing pork was found in the water a fortnight ago.
New Ljubljana city bus marks Plečnik's Year
LJUBLJANA - As part of the 150th birth anniversary celebrations of architecture mastermind Jože Plečnik, Ljubljana will see a new city bus cruising past his landmarks, as well as renovation of the laundry-washing terraces along the Gradaščica river in the Trnovo borough. The new all-black city bus, adorned with the architect's portrait and signature, will be operational for 150 days. It will run on the number 2 city line to take passengers past 28 of the best known Ljubljana landmarks designed by Plečnik.
Metalheads flocking to Tolmin for Metaldays
TOLMIN - Metaldays, a large festival dedicated to metal music, is taking place near Tolmin in the north-west of the country where the Tolminka and Soča rivers meet. More than 50 bands will perform until Friday, including Incantation, a veteran death metal band from the US, French band Celeste, which fuses black metal, sludge metal and post-hardcore, and English grindcore band Napalm Death. To protect the area and keep the original spirit of the festival alive, the number of visitors is capped at 12,000.
Swiss man drowns in Lake Bled
BLED - A Swiss citizen who had gone missing while swimming in Lake Bled was pulled out of the water dead around 6pm by divers of the local civil protection unit. The man went swimming with an acquaintance to the Bled Island, and he started drowning on the way back to the shore. The acquaintance tried to save him, but could not see him under the surface as the water was very muddy. According to the information obtained so far, no foul play was involved.
