STA, 5 November 2020 - Discussing late on Wednesday the planned eviction of NGOs from the Metelkova compound, the parliamentary Culture Committee decided after almost five hours of debate to call on the government to provide new premises for the NGOs by 1 June 2021.

The Culture Ministry has called on the NGOs using the state-owned facilities at Metelkova 6 to move out by the end of January 2021 because of renovation works.

Nataša Sukič from the opposition Left said the NGOs had been notified of the eviction on the day that epidemic was declared again. She said no alternative had been offered or an opportunity for reaching some kind of agreement.

The Left had proposed that the committee call on the ministry and the government to abandon its plans to evict the NGOs and that in case of a renovation a new temporarily location be found for the NGOs. After the renovation, they should be able to return to the compound under the same terms. However, the proposal was voted down.

Culture Ministry State secretary Ignacija Fridl Jarc said the ministry had all the necessary legal ground for emptying the building. She said currently 18 users of the compound were registered at the ministry, ten of which were culture NGOs.

She said the notification to the users had been sent on 16 October, while the epidemic was declared on 21 October.

According to Fridl Jarc, the procedures regarding Metelkova begun years ago to solve the spatial issues of the Museum of Natural History. Culture Minister Vasko Simoniti also confirmed that the premises in Metelkova are to be used by the museum.

Sukič said the ministry had the right to terminate lease contracts with the users of the compound but with a one-year and not a three-month notice. She called for dialogue between the ministry and the NGOs.

Marko Koprivc, MP for the opposition Social Democrats (SD), sees the ministry's move as an attempt at subjugating all social subsystems in the country. Lidija Divjak Mirnik from the Marjan Šarec List (LMŠ) also called for dialogue.

Coalition MPs Jožef Lenart from the Democrats (SDS) and Aleksander Reberšek from New Slovenia (NSi) pointed to the fact that the users of the Metelkova compound were renting the spaces for free and that not all associations had such privileges.

Violeta Tomić from the Left stressed these were NGOs and professional organisations. She also wondered why the building must be emptied so quickly when the funds for renovation are planned only in the 2023 budget.

STA, 3 November 2020 - Slovenia places 11th in the European Union in the latest Gender Equality Index, the same rank it had in 2019. With a score of 67.9 points out of 100, slightly lower than last year, it is just below the EU average.

The index, compiled by the European Institute for Gender Equality, measures countries' performance across six core domains - work, money, knowledge, time, power and health.

Slovenia's scores are highest in the domains of health (86.9 points) and money (83 points). Its highest ranking is in the domain of time, where it ranks 7th.

Gender inequalities are most pronounced in power (55 points) and knowledge (55.9 points). In these domains, Slovenia ranks 12th and 21st in the EU, respectively.

As the Ministry of Labour, the Family, Social Affairs and Equal opportunities pointed out on Tuesday, compared to last year Slovenia made headway only in the segment money, where average net incomes increased for both men and women, while the at-risk-of-poverty rate for women decreased by 0.4 percentage points.

In the two indicators that measure work - labour market participation and the segregation and quality of work - Slovenia achieved 0.2 points less than the year before due to increased segregation in employment, according to the ministry.

The institute also highlights gender segregation in education. Just over 41% of women study education, health and welfare, humanities and arts, whereas the share of men in these study programmes is 16.8%.

The ministry notes, however, that Slovenia's figures are not significantly different than the EU average.

In the domain power Slovenia reached 2.6 points less than last year as a result of fewer female members of the government, MPs and local councillors. The share of women on the boards of listed companies and the board of the central bank decreased as well.

In health, Slovenia slipped by 0.2 points. According to the ministry, men's self-perceived health is higher than women's, even though life expectancy for women is on average six years higher than for men. Differences in access to health services are minimal.

This year's thematic focus was on digitalisation. The data for Slovenia shows there is significant segregation in the education and labour market with men accounting for over 80% of all ICT graduates and over 70% of scientists and engineers in high-technology sectors.

Slovenia will dedicate special attention to this issue during its stint as the presiding EU country, the ministry said, adding that a responsive labour market is a key priority.

Digital skills are becoming an increasingly important part of the active employment policy and projects such as informal education and on-the-job training, which typically involve a higher share of women, have put new digital knowledge at the forefront, the ministry said.

You can find the full report for Slovenia here

STA, 5 November 2020 - Canada has extradited a Slovenian man wanted on an international arrest warrant. Unofficial information suggests the person in question is Sergej Racman, who is wanted on sex trafficking charges.

Slovenian police said Wednesday evening that the man had been handed to police after being deported from Canada and taken to the Koper prison.

The news comes two months after it was reported that the fugitive businessman had been tracked down and apprehended in Canada.

The former owner of the cinema chain operator Kolosej is wanted in Slovenia under an Interpol Red Notice alert for his alleged role in a prostitution ring that was allegedly operating in the Marina Sauna Club near Nova Gorica.

The Marina Sauna Club. Facebook

The specialised state prosecution has been dealing with the case since July 2019, and has filed an indictment at the Koper District Court against 18 individuals, including Racman.

They are being charged of having abused a total of 413 women for prostitution between 1 August 2014 and 23 January 2020. They made at least EUR 21 million in illegal gains.

More on this story

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New uptick in daily infections, Covid-19 fatalities

LJUBLJANA - Slovenia has recorded a new uptick in daily coronavirus infections with 2,027 of 6,311 tests performed on Tuesday returning positive results, or as many as 29%. The country also reported 29 fatalities, a new daily high. Hospitalisations have increased to 979, up by 54 from the day before, with 158 patients now in intensive care, 13 more than the day before. Despite the increase in cases, government spokesman Jelko Kacin noted the reproduction number kept falling, which he finds encouraging. Kacin however added the situation in hospitals remains very serious. Slovenia has an estimated 23,417 active cases. A total of 441 patients with Covid-19 have died.

Janša says Trump re-election pretty clear

LJUBLJANA - Prime Minister Janez Janša tweeted in the morning that it was "pretty clear that American people have elected Donald Trump" for another four-year term as US president. The more that there will be "delays and fact denying" from mainstream media, the bigger the final triumph for the president, Janša added. Janša, who also congratulated the Republican Party "for strong results across the US", had endorsed Trump for a second term on 23 October. Janša's latest tweet was accompanied by a warning label by Twitter saying: "Official sources may not have called the race when this was tweeted". It also prompted a series of questions from foreign media at the European Commission's midday briefing. Commission chief spokesperson Eric Mamer would not comment on Janša's tweet, but he did say that as a rule an electoral process was not to be commented on, something that should be followed, while Janša's tweet was going in a different direction. Croatian President Zoran Milanović meanwhile said that he hoped the tweet was not a sign of Janša's conduct at the helm of the EU "because this is not done in principle", referring to Slovenia's spell at the presidency of the Council of the EU next year.

Environment minister tests positive for coronavirus

LJUBLJANA - Minister of the Environment and Spatial Planning Andrej Vizjak has become the second member of the Slovenian government to test positive for the novel coronavirus after Foreign Minister Anže Logar. Vizjak tested positive Tuesday, 3 November. Although he has been feeling well and has not displayed any symptoms, he has been self-isolating since Tuesday, 27 October. As for Logar, government spokesman Jelko Kacin said "he is feeling relatively well, but he is still positive, getting tested again (...) he's got a mild headache." Kacin said three persons were infected at the Foreign Ministry.

October jobless total level on the month before

LJUBLJANA - The registered jobless total in Slovenia stood at 83,654 at the end of October, down 0.1% on September and up 15.5% year-on-year, the Employment Service said, adding that anti-coronavirus restrictions did not increase unemployment last month. At the end of October, 112 fewer persons were registered as unemployed than in September but compared to October 2019 the number was higher by 11,238. The number of newly registered persons was 6,510, up 37.2% on September and down 5.7% year-on-year. 6,431 persons got a job, 20.8% less than the month before and 39.7% more than a year ago. At the end of February, before the epidemic, 77,484 persons were registered as unemployed.

Slovenia to sent draft recovery plan to Brussels this year

BRUSSELS, Belgium - Slovenia will send its draft recovery and resilience plan to Brussels by the end of 2020, Finance Minister Andrej Šircelj told the press after an online session with his EU counterparts. The deadline to submit draft plans to draw from the EU's EUR 750 billion recovery plan is 30 April 2021, but the European Commission had encouraged member states to start sending them already after 15 October.

Trade unions present proposals for sixth stimulus package

LJUBLJANA - The ZSSS trade union confederation proposes a number of measures for the easing of the consequences of the epidemic. It urged the government to include them into the pending sixth stimulus package. The ZSSS proposes 32 measures, including a 100% pay compensation to one of the parents for child care in case schools and kindergartens remain closed. The self-employed should be reimbursed by the state in the amount of the minimum wage. While the Chamber of Commerce and Industry proposed the government delay the implementation of the new legislation that is to raise the minimum wage, trade unions believe helping companies at workers' expense would be misguided.

OZS updates list of measures it wants in next stimulus package

LJUBLJANA - The OZS chamber of small business presented a list of measures it believes the government should adopt as part of the planned sixth stimulus package to help small businesses cope with the coronavirus crisis. Some measures were sent to the government already in October, but the list has been expanded after Slovenia has gone into partial lockdown as part of the ongoing second wave of the epidemic.

ESS session suspended due to absence of ministers

LJUBLJANA - A session of the Economic and Social Council (ESS) was suspended due to the absence of the finance and economy ministers since employers and trade unions believe that their presence is necessary to discuss the emerging demographic fund proposal and the planned sixth anti-corona legislative package. When today's session is to resume will be probably known on Thursday when the ESS college is to hold a meeting, said the head of the ZSSS trade union confederation Lidija Jerkič.

Telekom Slovenije gets new chief supervisor

LJUBLJANA - Supervisors at the majority state-owned telco Telekom Slovenije appointed Boštjan Koler the new chief supervisor after former Health Minister Aleš Šabeder resigned from the post on 19 October. Koler's deputies are Barbara Kürner Čad, representative of the capital, and Drago Kijevčanin, representative of employees, Telekom said in a press release.

Culture committee continues debate on RTV Slovenia

LJUBLJANA - The parliamentary Culture Committee resumed a debate on government pressure on public media requested by four opposition parties. Public broadcaster RTV Slovenija was again in the centre of a heated debate in which the opposition highlighted its importance for the media landscape and the coalition criticised it as biased. The four centre-left opposition parties proposed that the committee call on the government to stop all attempts at subordinating public media, but their proposal was rejected in a 10:6 vote.

Opposition fails with its call for Kustec's resignation

LJUBLJANA - The parliamentary committees of health and education resumed a debate on the failure of Education Minister Simona Kustec to wear a face mask at a gala event in late September. The opposition's call for Kustec's resignation did not receive enough support.

AmCham director general expects different rhetoric if Biden wins

LJUBLJANA - Ajša Vodnik, director general of AmCham Slovenija, pointed to the difference between rhetoric and actions as she commented on the effects that US presidential elections will have on global relations. Looking back at Donald Trump's actions in the global arena in recent years, she said he was using very sharp rhetoric, which however was not always followed by actions. If Joe Biden wins, she primarily expects changes in the rhetoric. She thinks Biden could also strengthen the partnership with the EU.

Financial analyst expects Trump to take more pragmatic approach in event of new term, Biden an unknown

LJUBLJANA - Kruno Abramovič, the chairman of asset manager NLB Skladi, believes Donald Trump would probably take a more pragmatic approach should he win a second term, while he finds Democrat Joseph Biden a much bigger unknown. Commenting for the STA as the result of the US elections is not clear yet, Abramovič said that no major difference was expected from the aspect of US economic policies regardless of who wins the vote as the Republicans would almost certainly keep a majority in the Senate despite a Democrat majority in the House of Representatives.

Threat level low for Slovenia after Vienna attack

LJUBLJANA - Slovenia's inter-ministerial task force for counter-terrorism efforts has determined that the risk level in the country remains low following the Vienna terror attack, said the Government Communication Office, noting that the likelihood of an attack in Slovenia is thus low, however the possibility could not be ruled out.

Japan decorates OKS boss Gabrovec

LJUBLJANA - Bogdan Gabrovec, the president of the Slovenian Olympic Committee (OKS), is one of this year's recipients of Japan's high-profile state decorations, the Japanese Embassy in Ljubljana said. He will receive the Order of the Rising Sun, Golden Rays with Rosette, for promoting judo in Slovenia and exchanges of athletes between Japan and Slovenia, according to the OKS.

Art museum director Zdenka Badovinac receives Igor Zabel Prize

LJUBLJANA - The Igor Zabel Prize for culture and theory for 2020 has been conferred on Zdenka Badovinac, a curator, art historian and director of Slovenia's Museum of Modern Art, which she has been leading since 1993. Badovinac was honoured as one of the most important and zealous locally anchored and globally connected figures in cultural production in recent decades.

Tim Gajser secures his third MXGP class motocross championship

TRENTO, Italy - Tim Gajser won the penultimate race of the MXGP class of the FIM Motocross World Championship season in Italy's Pietramurata having already secured the title of world champion by finishing second in the first leg. This is the third title for the 24-year-old Slovenian motocross racer after the 2016 and 2019 seasons.

If you're learning Slovenian then you can find all our dual texts here

STA, 4 November 2020 - Slovenia has recorded a new uptick in daily coronavirus infections with 2,027 of 6,311 tests performed on Tuesday returning positive results, or as many as 32%. The country also reported 29 fatalities, a new daily high, according to government data.

Despite a new increase in daily cases (the last time the country recorded over 2,000 cases was on 28 October), government spokesman Jelko Kacin noted that the reproduction number kept falling, which he labelled as a valuable and encouraging piece of information.

The R0 number fell to 1.14 on 3 November, from 1.17 on 2 November and 1.21 on 1 November with Kacin projecting it will reach a point when one infected passes on the virus to just one other person in three to four days.

So has the incidence per 100,000 residents been halved to an average 535 a day over the past seven days, compared to 1,120 over the past 14 days, as of 2 November, which Kacin said showed the measures taken by the government and put into practice by the people had borne fruit.

However, the situation in hospitals remains very serious, said Kacin, who echoed PM Janez Janša's warning last night that the situation would remain serious for at least a month longer.

Covid-19 hospitalisations have increased to 979, up by 54 from the day before, with 158 patients now in intensive care units, twelve more than the day before. Sixty-three patients were discharged home yesterday.

Kacin also presented charts showing an increase in hospital admissions. Yesterday, there were 57 new admissions per million residents, discounting discharges and fatalities.

Still, Robert Carotta, the coordinator for Covid-19 hospital beds at the Health Ministry, said there were enough hospital beds and equipment, the main problem was staff, especially intensive care staff, but even that "is sustainable" for the time being.

"Compared to other countries in Europe, Slovenia is coping excellently with the epidemic. Regardless of the fact that we had one of the steepest growth in Covid-19 infections, Slovenian healthcare is working and everyone who needs care gets it," said Carotta.

Similarly, Bojana Beović, the government's chief Covid-19 adviser, commented yesterday that despite the large number of patients needing hospital treatment, "we have not had the chaos seen in Italy or Belgium", which she said was thanks to excellent staff.

Health Minister Tomaž Gantar, who also addressed the government press briefing today, said the health system had adapted exceptionally well to the new situation as regular services were being scaled down to make space for Covid-19 patients.

Offering some figures, he said the number of Covid-19 hospital beds had been expanded from 227 regular and 54 ICU beds on 16 October to 821 and 150, respectively, and the number of testing points had expanded from 16 in the first wave to 50 with more being added.

The providers have been urged to increase ICU beds by a further 100 over the next ten days, as the number of Covid-19 patients is expected to keep increasing over the next few weeks.

Gantar said this meant lockdown restrictions could not be eased yet. "Until the need for new admissions is higher than the number of patients discharged, it makes no sense talking about easing the measures," he said.

To scale up testing, the ministry has formed a taskforce which has approved 17 to 19 rapid antigen tests and based on their availability in the market, the ministry can secure enough to test employees in critical services on a regular basis, to detect even asymptomatic cases.

The ministry would also like to allow testing within 24 hours to persons that are showing symptoms or have been in contact with the infected. Gantar said more than 10,000 such tests could be ordered in a matter of days.

A mass testing using rapid tests is "a realistic option, almost a necessity", Gantar said about the possibility of mass testing hinted at by Janša a while ago, but he said the priority was those employed in the critical infrastructure.

The country's coronavirus case count has increased to 39,410, with an estimated 23,417 cases still active, according to tracker site covid-19.sledilnik.org, which puts the rolling 14-day average per 100,000 residents at 1,117 as of 3 November.

A total of 441 patients with Covid-19 have died.

All of our stories on Slovenia and coronavirus

STA, 3 November 2020 - Tomaž Kavčič, a chef running a Michelin-starred restaurant, has made an urgent appeal to prevent what he sees as an imminent collapse of the top-notch culinary industry, floating the idea of a positive discrimination as a way out of the coronavirus lockdown.

In a letter addressed to the public and decision-makers, the chef writes that the top-class cuisine sector is on the brink of collapse.

"If we let it collapse, it will take starting from scratch (...) Generations of chefs, waiters and sommeliers may disappear, become scattered at the far ends of the world or leave for other type of business," he wrote.

Despite the relatively positive experience following the spring shutdown, Kavčič, the chef of the Pri Lojzetu restaurant at Zemono Castle in the west of the country, has "the feeling it won't be the same this time around".

Talking with the STA, he said it was right that healthcare, education and other key systems should take an absolute priority and that the first job at hand was to deal with the health crisis and abide by government measures.

However, he also hopes that Slovenia as one of the first countries in the region to adopt restrictions in the second wave of coronavirus, will also be the first to restart businesses.

When the time comes, he proposes a gradual reopening of hospitality establishments where those that respect all government preventive measures and can meet the highest safety standards be allowed to open first.

"My proposal is that a group to form the needed standards and examine compliance with them should also involve experienced experts from our hospitality field," Kavčič says in his appeal to the authorities.

Creative hospitality should be recognised as "the top of the pyramid, as providers who guarantee highest standards at all levels".

Hospitality providers should be divided between those who can create the conditions to serve in their establishments, those who can meet the conditions for delivery and those who cannot meet proper standards in the given circumstances.

"It would be a positive discrimination to preserve at least a tiny bit of normality and keep in shape an industry that is becoming a leading motive for visiting Slovenia," says Kavčič.

He also called for financial aid proportionate to last year's revenue and to the headcount, a full writedown of social charges, interest-free bank loan repayment deferrals, equalising VAT rates for food and beverages at 9.5% (rather 22% for beverages) and allowing movement between regions and municipalities based on a restaurant bill or booking.

However, Kavčič says the priority at the moment is to behave responsibly so that the coronavirus situation in the country can improve.

Updated: 16:45

STA, 4 November 2020 - Prime Minister Janez Janša tweeted on Wednesday morning that it was "pretty clear that American people have elected Donald Trump" for another four-year term as US president. The more that there will be "delays and fact denying" from mainstream media, the bigger the final triumph for the president, Janša added.

Janša, who also congratulated the Republican Party "for strong results across the US", had endorsed Trump for a second term on 23 October.

"We respect difficult, tragic personal life of Joe Biden and some of his political achievements years ago. But today, if elected, he would be one of the weakest presidents in history. When a free world desperately needs strong US as never before. Go, win, Donald Trump," wrote Janša in English on Twitter then.

It’s pretty clear that American people have elected ⁦@realDonaldTrump⁩ ⁦@Mike_Pence⁩ for #4moreyears. More delays and facts denying from #MSM, bigger the final triumph for #POTUS. Congratulations ⁦@GOP⁩ for strong results across the #US ⁦@idualliance⁩ ⁦ pic.twitter.com/vzSwt9TBeF

— Janez Janša (@JJansaSDS) November 4, 2020

Janša's latest tweet prompted a series of questions from foreign media at the European Commission's midday briefing on Wednesday.

Commission chief spokesperson Eric Mamer would not comment on Janša's tweet, but said: "We will abide by whatever announcement is forthcoming officially by the relevant US authorities, and we think that everybody should do likewise."

Foreign reporters raised Janša's tweet from the aspect of the fight against disinformation and the EU principle that an electoral process is not commented on. They argued it should be said clearly at least it was wrong to do so.

In response Mamer said he did not say it was not wrong, while he reiterated that as a rule an electoral process was not to be commented on, something that should be followed, while Janša's tweet was going in a different direction.

A reaction also came from Croatian President Zoran Milanović in response to a journalist question about Janša's tweet at today's meeting with reporters in Koprivnica.

Referring to Slovenia's spell at the presidency of the Council of the EU next year, Milanović said: "I hope such conduct is not a sign of his conduct at the helm of the EU because this is not done in principle."

He added that it was well known in Croatia which side he favoured himself, but he would wait for the final results before making his assessment of the vote.

Check the date at the top of the page, and you can find all the "morning headlines" stories here. You can also follow us on Facebook and get all the news in your feed.

This summary is provided by the STA: 

Janša: Slovenia in for at least a month of tough battle with coronavirus

LJUBLJANA - In an address to Slovenian citizens, PM Janez Janša said that the winter will be long and that "we are in for at least a month of a hard battle with the virus and then months of great caution". Nevertheless, he is convinced that Slovenia can successfully weather the health crisis. "If we are successful in the coming weeks, we will be able to spend Christmas and the New Year in a more normal way than the autumn holidays." The prime minister believes that as fast antigen tests become more accessible, it will be possible to contain individual outbreaks of the virus more easily.

A further 1,176 infections as Slovenia's Covid-19 death toll passes 400

LJUBLJANA - Slovenia's death toll from Covid-19 has risen to 412 after 24 more patients with Covid-19 died on Monday. A further 1,176 infections were recorded as more than one out of four tests came back positive. The number of those requiring hospital treatment exceeded 900. Data released by the government show that 4,587 tests were performed on Monday, which means a positivity rate of 25.64%, slightly up from the day before.

Care homes said to be coping well as outbreak moves west

LJUBLJANA - The Slovenian public has been assured that care homes are coping well with coronavirus infections as those have started spreading through aged-care facilities in the western region of Primorska and the situation is stabilising in Gorenjska in the north west. Addressing a government coronavirus briefing, spokesman Jelko Kacin said that a further 112 infections had been confirmed among care home residents and 44 among staff while eight residents died on Monday.

Slovenian officials condemn Vienna terrorist attack, express solidarity with Austria

LJUBLJANA - Slovenian officials have condemned Monday's terrorist attack in Vienna and expressed solidarity with Austria. Prime Minister Janez Janša called for "zero tolerance against radical Islam" and President Boruto Pahor wrote a condolence letter to counterpart Alexander Van der Bellen, saying he was deeply shaken and hurt. Defence Minister Matej Tonin talked to Austrian counterpart Klaudia Tanner, expressing condolences and offering Slovenia's assistance. The Foreign Ministry said it was "appalled by the terrifying events in #Vienna", calling for unity in the fight against terror. Slovenia's Ambassador to Austria Ksenija Škrilec advised Slovenian citizens in Vienna to be more cautious and careful. So far, there have been no reports of any Slovenians being injured or in danger, she said.

Slovenian Islamic community strongly condemns Vienna attack

LJUBLJANA - The Islamic community in Slovenia strongly condemned Monday's terrorist attack in Vienna in which it says innocent people were killed and wounded. The community called for peace and trust to be established among people and nations from the entire world, and added that "no religion allows or justifies the killing, the shedding of blood of innocent people."

Defence experts believe Vienna attacked had not acted alone

LJUBLJANA - Defence experts Vladimir Prebilič and Iztok Prezelj believe that the perpetrator of the terrorist attack in Vienna has not acted alone, with Prezelj saying that the attack confirmed the links of Islamic radicals in Austria with the Western Balkans. He also believes that Slovenia has cause for concern, being in in the pathway of Islamist radical. Prebilič meanwhile believes that Slovenia, or Ljubljana, make for a far less attractive terrorist target than Vienna.

Tonin and Hungarian counterpart talk disaster relief, security, defence industry

BUDAPEST, Hungary - Defence Minister Matej Tonin and his Hungarian counterpart Tibor Benko met to discuss possibilities for closer cooperation in protection and disaster relief in defence and security. The pair dedicated a great deal of attention to the Covid-19 epidemic, while international missions and army modernisation were broached too. Tonin told the STA that he thanked his host for Hungary's assistance during the first wave of the epidemic when Hungary provided logistic support in the procurement of personal protective equipment. He also said Hungary expressed readiness to help with equipment in case things deteriorate and also with personnel should the situation get critical.

HSE gets new management board

LJUBLJANA/ŠOŠTANJ - Viktor Vračar, until now the director general of the TEŠ coal-fired power station, became the new director general of the HSE energy group for four years after the supervisors dismissed Stojan Nikolić. The change at the largest Slovenian producer of electricity comes after October's overhaul of the HSE supervisory board. The new supervisory board also appointed today Uroš Podobnik, until now assistant manager, to the management board as chief operating officer, replacing Mirko Marinčič. Supervisor Andrej Janša was meanwhile appointed as another chief operating officer, although only until a new, full-fledged one is appointed.

Court appoints three supervisors at Telekom Slovenije

LJUBLJANA - The Ljubljana District Court appointed three new supervisors at the majority state-owned telco Telekom Slovenije after three members resigned two weeks ago. Boštjan Koler, Dimitrij Marjanovič and Štefan Belingar will replace Aleš Šabeder, Barbara Cerovšek Zupančič and Bernarda Babič, the company said as the court decision became final.

Telekom Slovenije suspends sale of Kosovo subsidiary Ipko

LJUBLJANA - Telekom Slovenije has suspended the procedure to sell its Kosovo subsidiary Ipko Telecommunications. The procedure is concluding without a buyer being selected, and Ipko remains part of the Telekom Slovenije group, the Slovenian telecoms incumbent said in a press release. Ipko, which was founded in December 2007, is the leading provider of fixed communication services in Kosovo and holds a notable share in mobile telephony. It employs more than 500 people.

Acquitted former Church treasurer claims damages from state

LJUBLJANA - Mirko Krašovec, the former treasurer of the Maribor Archdiocese who was fully cleared in 2019 of the charge that he instigated EU funds misuse more than ten years ago, is reportedly seeking compensation from the state as he had spent more than three months in prison before being eventually acquitted. According to the newspapers Delo and Slovenske Novice, Krašovec is seeking compensation from the state in relation to the case in which he had been initially sentenced to two years in prison in December 2013 in relation to the renovation of the Church-owned Betnava mansion in Maribor.

Star chef urges positive discrimination as way out of lockdown

VIPAVA - Tomaž Kavčič, a chef running a Michelin-starred restaurant, has made an urgent appeal to prevent what he sees as an imminent collapse of the top-notch culinary industry, floating the idea of a positive discrimination as a way out of the coronavirus lockdown. In a letter addressed to the public and decision-makers, the chef writes that the top-class cuisine sector is on the brink of collapse. "If we let it collapse, it will take starting from scratch (...) Generations of chefs, waiters and sommeliers may disappear, become scattered at the far ends of the world or leave for other type of business," he wrote.

Slovenia ranks 11th in EU on Gender Equality Index

LJUBLJANA - Slovenia places 11th in the European Union in the latest Gender Equality Index, the same rank it had in 2019. With a score of 67.9 points out of 100, slightly lower than last year, it is just below the EU average. The index, compiled by the European Institute for Gender Equality, measures countries' performance across six core domains - work, money, knowledge, time, power and health. Slovenia's scores are highest in the domains of health (86.9 points) and money (83 points). Its highest ranking is in the domain of time, where it ranks 7th.

Online exhibition on bees launched

LJUBLJANA - The Slovenian Ethnographic Museum (SEM) is opening an online exhibition on bees today in cooperation with its Croatian counterpart to mark their deep-rooted ties. The display is available in Slovenian, Croatian and English. The exhibition, entitled Where the Bees Are at Home, will be available on web portals of the Ljubljana as well as Zagreb ethnographic museums.

Polls show more optimism regarding epidemic

LJUBLJANA - Slovenians are more optimistic about the future course of the epidemic, with citizens' trust in the government on the rise, shows a recent Valicon poll. The second wave of coronavirus infections seems to arouse somewhat fewer worries compared to the first wave, an Aragon survey meanwhile indicates. In the past two weeks, the share of those trusting the government more on taking action to stem the spread of the virus increased from 19% to 25%, shows the Valicon survey.

Roglič's crucial stage win restores Vuelta leader's jersey

ALTO DE'L ANGLIRU, Spain - Slovenian cyclist Primož Roglič (Jumbo-Visma) won the stage 13 time trial at the 2020 Vuelta de Espana, donning the leader's jersey again ahead of the remaining five stages. The defending champion now has a 39 seconds lead over Ecuadorian Richard Carapaz (Ineos Grenadiers). The 33.7km individual time trial from Muros to Mirador de Ezaro kicked off the final week of the prestigious race that has been a very close affair this year. Apart from Roglič, three riders are now most likely still in the running for winning the race.

If you're learning Slovenian then you can find all our dual texts here

STA, 3 November 2020 - In his address to Slovenian citizens, PM Janez Janša said on Tuesday that the winter will be long and that "we are in for at least a month of a hard battle with the virus and then months of great caution". Nevertheless, he is convinced that Slovenia can successfully weather the health crisis.

He said the government is limited by a Constitutional Court ruling to assess restrictive measures weekly, but "it is clear already that some measures will have to be in place for longer".

"If we are successful in the coming weeks, we will be able to spend Christmas and the New Year in a more normal way than the autumn holidays."

The prime minister believes that as fast antigen tests become more accessible, it will be possible to contain individual outbreaks of the virus more easily.

While the European Commission expects a vaccine could be deployed for all Europeans in April-June 2021, he said that if it is available earlier, it would be used for vulnerable groups.

.@JJansaSDS: Edina obramba pred splošnim razpadom zdravstvenega sistema je drastična omejitev naših stikov z drugimi. Nekaj, česar naše generacije pred to pandemijo niso doživele še nikoli v takem obsegu. pic.twitter.com/EqaOY0IUCl

— Vlada Republike Slovenije (@vladaRS) November 3, 2020

.@JJansaSDS: Prepričan sem, da večinsko to solidarnost vsekakor zmoremo. Ne narekujejo jo zgolj čustva, ampak tudi zdrav razum. A zgolj večina za uspeh, kot smo videli pretekla dva meseca, ni dovolj. Potrebni smo vsi ali vsaj zelo velika večina. pic.twitter.com/k68RFpQpWi

— Vlada Republike Slovenije (@vladaRS) November 3, 2020

"It will be tough, but we can do it. Because the great majority of us is aware that with the urgent measures, we protect everything we have as a community."

He said that unlike the pessimism and anger transpiring from many posts, concrete work on the front line and an enormous readiness of many to help prove that we increasingly understand what is at stake.

Yet Janša believes that just a majority is not enough to succeed. "It takes all of us or at least a very big majority. A plebiscite majority of reason and solidarity."

The prime minister moreover urged "various influencers who claim that the government takes the measures to scare people" to stop.

"It was enough. The entire democratic world takes the measures because it values and protects lives," he stressed.

"Using the global health crisis for undermining is exploiting distress, it is a mean, worthless doing," said Janša.

He added that a longer period of restrictions affecting education, culture, spiritual and all the other activities is bound to have negative consequences.

"So our common, urgent and mandatory strategic goal is to contain the epidemic as soon as possible to the point where it will no longer pose a threat to the normal functioning of healthcare and where we can again control it with consistently tracing contacts as we did during the summer months."

Janša urged people to refrain from non-urgent contacts and socialising, saying "no law or measure can defeat the virus", only reason and mutual solidarity can.

He said the sixth package of measures to mitigate the consequences of the coronavirus was being drafted, which will "unfortunately not be the last one".

Although Slovenia does not have the best healthcare system in Europe, nor is it the richest country in Europe, it has the most altruistic people working in healthcare.

"This is the reason for which nobody will be left without the necessary healthcare or intensive care," he stressed.

Turning to his government, which has been doing "an extremely hard double job full of hard decisions and sleepless nights, warranted and unwarranted criticism, media pogroms and weighing beyond double standards ever since March", Janša pledged it will continue to do its job.

"We are as enduring as the Slovenian nation, which hundreds of storms have not uprooted from its land," Janša concluded his address.

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STA, 3 November 2020 - Slovenia's death toll from Covid-19 has risen to 412 after 24 more patients with Covid-19 died on Monday. A further 1,176 infections were recorded as more than one out of four tests came back positive. The number of those requiring hospital treatment exceeded 900.

Data released by the government show that 4,587 tests were performed on Monday, which means a positivity rate of 25.64%, slightly up from the day before.

Presenting the latest figures, government spokesman Jelko Kacin noted an improvement over the past week in terms of daily tally of cases and the rate of positive tests (which peaked at almost 35% on 27 October).

"The data encourage us to persevere in compliance with the measures. But the number of those requiring hospital treatment keeps increasing," he said.

Bojana Beović, the government's chief Covid-19 advisor, warned in an interview on the morning show on TV Slovenija that due to a change in testing policy a much better indicator of the state of the epidemic than the number of positive cases now was hospital admissions.

The number of Covid-19 hospitalisations has risen to 925, up from 868 the day before, with 146 requiring intensive care, eleven more than the day before. A total of 57 were discharged home yesterday.

The number of active cases has increased to 22,896, and the total case count to 37,382. The rolling 14-day average has increased to 1,092, according to tracker site covid-19.sledilnik.org.

As hospital admissions keep increasing and are expected to continue for a while longer, hospitals are increasingly stretched, mainly in terms of staff, also because of a number of those on sick leave.

Dragan Kovačić, the acting director of the Celje hospital, the country's third largest, said 177 nurses and 23 doctors were currently on sick leave, or roughly 10% of the staff.

"We expect the numbers to keep increasing, as the stressful situation, work in personal protective equipment, long working hours ... take their toll," he said, addressing the government press briefing by videolink.

Matjaž Vogrin, the medical director of UKC Maribor, Slovenia's second largest medical centre, told yesterday's briefing that 133 staff were absent for being infected or self-isolating, with about as many more on sick leave for other reasons, including burnout.

Both Kovačić and Vogrin noted that the mortality rate among hospitalised Covid-19 patients was much lower than in many other developed countries, with 3.3% of patients hospitalised with Covid-19 in Celje or 15.2% of patients in intensive care having died.

Vogrin said yesterday that the ICU mortality rate was about 30% compared to 50% in Germany.

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