Below is a review of the headlines in Slovenian dailies for Wednesday, February 7, 2018, as prepared by the STA:
DELO
Culture Day ceremony
"Power of connecting provided by art": The main ceremony to mark Culture Day will be held on the eve of the holiday, with the Prešeren Fund handing out the highest accolades in culture to this year's laureates. The Prešeren Prizes will be conferred on author Boris A. Novak and ballet dancer Janez Mejač. (front page, 16, 17)
Companies
"Operating with profit and growing, but Austrians want to send it into receivership": The pharma tech company Bia Separations is operating above plans and has the money to repay its creditors in a court mandated debt restructuring, but a conflict with its Austrian owners makes this impossible. (front page, 9)
Stock market
"After 'Black' Monday a calmer Tuesday": After a record plunge in Dow Jones and S&P 500 stock market indices, stocks in the US market have calmed down. But the developments forecast a volatile year on the stock market. (front page, 4)
DNEVNIK
Retail
"Tomorrow first major veil over stores": Tomorrow, on Culture Day, a vast majority of stores will be closed as the deal between retailers and trade unions kicks in. Under the deal, most retailers will close their doors on ten major holidays in Slovenia, and more stores than previously will also be closed on Sundays. (front page, 3)
Arbitration
"Jean-Claude Juncker: Countries must resolve border issues before joining EU": A few months ahead of the general election, Prime Minister Miro Cerar received support for Slovenia's position on the implementation of the Slovenian-Croatian border arbitration award from the leaders of Benelux. (front page, 3)
Parliament
"Deluge in MP bills ahead of election": A number of MP-sponsored bills entered parliamentary procedure over the past few weeks. While they were mostly filed by opposition MPs in the first three years of the term, coalition MPs, especially those of the Modern Centre Party (SMC) and the Pensioners' Party (DeSUS) also became active lately. (front page, 2)
FINANCE
Online shopping
"What will abolition of geographic blocking bring and why everybody is not happy?": The paper runs a FAQ on geo-blocking after the European Parliament passed a decree abolishing the practice of blocking the access to internet content based on a users' location. (front page, 4, 5)
Stock market
"Stock markets: Panic is subsiding, first signs of rebound can be seen": Global stock market indices have crashed over the past few weeks. 10% drops in the US correspond with the definition of a correction, but it is a question if fear of more expensive financing can end one of the longest bullish trends in the history. Pundits find it unlikely given the favourable macroeconomic trends. (front page, 2, 3)
Holiday rental clampdown
"FURS won't have it any more: 'AirBnB hiders' will get big fines": The Financial Administration (FURS) has found 1,056 taxable persons who have failed to declare revenue from holiday rentals of private properties. 374 landlords responded to FURS's call to report their revenue to avoid fines.
VEČER
Culture Day
"Protests ahead of ceremony": Protests against the Culture Ministry abound ahead of the main ceremony marking Culture Day. NGOs and freelance artists as well as public cultural institutions believe that there is no dialogue and that the country has no understanding of the public interest in culture. (front page, 16, 17, 19)
Olympic Games
"Lynxes for another miracle": A ceremony was held for the Slovenian hockey team at Ljubljana Airport as the team left for PyeonChang, where it hopes to achieve the same success as at the Sochi Winter Olympic Games, the quarter finals. Getting into Olympics is a success in itself, given the situation in hockey at home. (front page, 24)
Trial
"Contentious question about sexual orientation": Gorazd Fišer, the lawyer of Stefan Cakić, who is accused of killing actor Gašper Tič last year, did not want to have "a person with the same sexual orientation" judge Cakić. The head of the Slovenian Bar Association, Roman Završek, said he would not comment on the matter, because he expected further procedures by the relevant bodies of the association. (front page, 20, 21)
