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This summary is provided by the STA: 

Almost 400 new coronavirus cases recorded as positivity rate remains high

LJUBLJANA - A total of 397 people tested positive for the new coronavirus on Monday, when 3,308 tests were performed, which means that the positivity rate remains high at 12%. Four persons died of Covid-19. There are currently 180 people in hospital, up eight from yesterday, of whom 32 need intensive care compared to 26 yesterday, according to according to data tracker Covid-19 Sledilnik. The virus continues to spread in healthcare institutions and care homes. Several members of the staff in the Celje general hospital tested positive yesterday.

Govt says situation calls for additional restrictive measures

LJUBLJANA - Government spokesperson Jelko Kacin announced that all the criteria for activating additional restrictive measures had been fulfilled. The government will decide on Wednesday what measures from the last package of measures in the orange phase to take. The possible measures include a lockdown of individual municipalities or regions, a blanket ban on visits to hospitals and other institutions, and the closure of bars, restaurants and gyms. The government may also restrict visits to hairdressers and beauty salons, while events, religious ceremonies and weddings could be banned in certain municipalities or regions.

Ministry finds CoE Covid-19 app report slipshod

LJUBLJANA - The Public Administration Ministry responded to a Council of Europe (CoE) report that finds privacy protection shortcomings in Slovenia's coronavirus exposure app for smartphones by describing the report as cursory and unworthy of the institution. The Digital Solutions to Fight Covid-19 report, released on Monday, is written cursorily, "something that such a highly esteemed institution as the Council of Europe ought not to have afforded," said the ministry. The ministry says, among other things, that the Slovenian app #OstaniZdrav (#StayWell) has been adapted from the German app in such a way that it prevents abuse of the user's personal data or location the user needs to switch on when downloading the app.

Fifth stimulus package slightly changed by committee

LJUBLJANA - The parliamentary Labour Committee prepared the fifth stimulus package bill for passage late on Monday. A few changes were made compared to the original proposal but the main tenets of the bill remaining unchanged. The bill extends the furlough scheme and the state will continue to cover the sick pay for quarantined workers, even when they are on sick leave because their children are in quarantine. Sole proprietors and micro companies will once again be eligible for monthly income support, just like during the epidemic, and new bonuses will be introduced for workers in healthcare and social security.

Slovenia issues EUR 1bn worth of 30-year bonds under favourable terms

LJUBLJANA - Slovenia issued EUR 1 billion-worth of 30-year bonds, the business paper Finance said in a report referring to Bloomberg data. Unofficially, the interest rate for the bonds was slightly under 0.5%, while the yield also stands at around 0.5%. According to unofficial sources quoted by Bloomberg the interest rate for the issue is 50 basis points above the 30-year mid-swap rate, which stands at -0.005%. Bloomberg said this would mean a better result than planned, as the financial institutions commissioned for the issue by the state had expected 65 basis points. Demand reportedly exceeded EUR 8 billion.

Janša defends attacks by arguing judiciary needs to earn respect first

LJUBLJANA - A meeting of top representatives of all three branches of power saw Prime Minster Janez Janša defending the continuing political attacks on the judiciary by arguing that respect first needed to be earned. President Borut Pahor urged respectful, responsible and dignified communication. The meeting was prompted by Supreme Court president Damijan Florjančič, who expressed the wish a suitable response is secured to inappropriate commentaries and attacks on the judiciary that have intensified recently. Janša sees things differently, arguing that despite the division of powers "it is probably not forbidden to express criticism". He feels it would be hard to speak of democracy if this were not allowed.

Report says Slovenia doing too little to prosecute bribery of foreign officials

BERLIN, Germany/LJUBLJANA - Transparency International placed Slovenia among countries with limited enforcement of the OECD Anti-Bribery Convention, which deals with bribery of foreign public officials. The Exporting Corruption 2020 Report says that "Slovenia continues to have an inadequate legal framework on anti-corruption, and questionable political commitment to implementing and improving it". While also speaking of poor whistleblower protection, the report says "there is an ongoing failure by Slovenia to enforce the laws prohibiting foreign bribery."

Slovenian and Austrian police hold joint drone exercise

ŠENTILJ - The Slovenian and Austrian police conducted a joint border control exercise on the Austrian side of the Šentilj border crossing using unmanned aerial vehicles. Slovenian interior minister Aleš Hojs and his Austrian counterpart Karl Nehammer met on the occasion, underlining effective cooperation and discussing the Covid-19 situation. The ministers said that police forces of both countries were cooperating successfully, with Hojs pointing out that the joint exercise showcased the impact of modern technologies on border control and the fight against organised crime.

Slovenia sees common EU map for travel restrictions important achievement

LUXEMBOURG, Luxembourg - European Affairs State Secretary Gašper Dovžan, who represented Slovenia at the meeting of EU European affairs ministers, spoke of an important achievement as a common map for coronavirus-related travel restrictions was agreed in Luxembourg. While the agreement is less ambitious than proposed by the European Commission and leaves a number of issues open, the EU will now have a shared map that will mark region with green, orange or red depending on the intensity of coronavirus transmission.

Czech PPF takes over Pro Plus owner CME

LJUBLJANA - The Czech investment group PPF, owned by Czech billionaire Petr Kellner, completed last week its acquisition of the Central European Media Enterprises (CME) fund, which also owns Slovenia's leading television network group Pro Plus. The total value of the deal has been estimated at EUR 1.89 billion. Apart from Slovenia, the CME fund also owns television channels in the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Romania and Bulgaria. PPF Group aims to upgrade already successful operations in CME markets, said the company.

T-2 suing state for EUR 55m over alleged receivership errors

LJUBLJANA - Telecommunications operator T-2 is suing the state for nearly EUR 55 million it claims it suffered in damages due to wrongful court decisions as part of receivership proceedings that date back a decade, the newspaper Delo reported. The company's creditors, spearheaded by the bad bank, had initiated receivership proceedings to recover more of their assets, and T-2 challenged the receivership in court. It won some suits and lost several others until the Constitutional Court in 2017 annulled the receivership procedure.

Opposition seek to grant single women assisted reproduction

LJUBLJANA - The left-leaning opposition parties the Left, the Marjan Šarec List (LMŠ), Social Democrats (SD) and Alenka Bratušek Party (SAB) asked the Constitutional Court to examine act on infertility treatment and procedures of biomedically-assisted procreation which limits medically assisted insemination procedures to married or cohabitating couples, on the grounds that it discriminates against single women. The parties argue that the law is discriminatory and unconstitutional because it restricts access to assisted reproductive procedures to couples.

Ombudsman asked to look into police handling of Friday protest

LJUBLJANA - A group of anti-government protesters requested for Human Rights Ombudsman to examine what they see as excessive use of police force at last Friday's protest. They also urged the ombudsman to oversee the police handling of future protests. The protesters argue that the government ban on gatherings of more than ten people is disproportionate and in violation of the right to free speech. They also say that police powers and the current health crisis are being abused for politically-motivated reasons.

Sovre Prize for best literary translation goes to Aleksandra Rekar

LJUBLJANA - Aleksandra Rekar won this year's Sovre Prize for her translation of Bosnian-Croatian writer Miljenko Jergović's Rodbina, an almost thousand-pages-long historical fiction novel. Rekar's translation shows profound knowledge of the novel's topics, said the Association of Slovenian Literary Translators. Rodbina or Rod was released in 2013 and is considered one of the most prominent literary works hailing from the countries of the former Yugoslavia in the past 30 years. Spanning the entire 20th century, the novel is a family epic that apart from telling the story of Jergović's family also sheds light on political and cultural history of Bosnia-Herzegovina and Croatia.

Greenpeace conference highlights high costs of nuclear power

LJUBLJANA - A web conference organised by Greenpeace Slovenija and featuring international experts highlighted some of the problematic aspects of nuclear energy as a way of dealing with the climate crisis and pointed to the potential of renewable energy sources. Katja Huš of Greenpeace said that in a period where there is increasing talk in Slovenia about building a new nuclear reactor, the debate on the future energy policy in the country had been rather one-sided, so the idea was to provide a platform for those opposing nuclear power plants.

Slovenia wants consideration of country specifics when raising emissions cut target

LUXEMBOURG, Luxembourg - Slovenia can support a raising of the emissions cut target until 2030 from the current 40% to at least 55% provided that national circumstances are taken into account in the process, said European affairs State Secretary Gašper Dovžan who represented Slovenia at an EU ministerial. Dovžan said that there is still no united position on the new target, which will be discussed at a summit at the end of the week, but there is the ambition to reach an agreement in December.

Major investments listed as committee looks at infrastructure budget

LJUBLJANA - Increased investment into railways, stare roads and energy infrastructure as well as into drinking water provision and waste water treatment was highlighted as the proposed budgets for infrastructure and the environment for 2021 and 2022 were presented at committee level in parliament. The 2021 budget for the Infrastructure Ministry is being increased by EUR 270 million compared to the original proposal with a record EUR 1.07 billion in expenditure planned. The 2022 funds are a bit lower, which is related to the dynamics of EU funding, heard the session of the parliamentary Infrastructure Committee.

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STA, 13 October 2020 - A meeting of top representatives of all three branches of power at the presidential palace on Tuesday saw Prime Minster Janez Janša defending the continuing criticism of the judiciary by arguing that respect first needed to be earned. President Borut Pahor urged respectful, responsible and dignified communication..

Pahor, who hosted the meeting dedicated to the "the principle of division of power - (self)limitation, mutual oversight and mutual cooperation", opened the discussion by saying division still meant cooperation was needed, this however also required proper form.

The meeting was prompted by Supreme Court president Damijan Florjančič, who expressed the wish a suitable response is secured to inappropriate commentaries and attacks on the judiciary that have intensified recently.

Florjančič believes that the inappropriate attitude of individual representatives of the executive branch of power towards the judicial branch was increasingly also reflected in the public.

"Is it really not possible to find other means of communication than public labelling and denigrating of judges and thereby of the judicial branch?" Florjančič wondered.

Janša sees things differently, arguing that despite the division of powers "it is probably not forbidden to express criticism". He feels it would be hard to speak of democracy if this were not allowed.

The prime minister also finds it hard to listen about individuals feeling hurt because they are criticised, while judicial errors, as they were referred to by Florjanič, lead to people dying, having their family, career and life destroyed.

"And this is not happening in Yugoslavia but in independent democratic Slovenia, where we constantly pay lip service to human rights," said Janša, who himself spent time in jail in 2014 in a bribery case that was later sent back into retrial and eventually became statute barred.

"Respect needs to be earned," Janša added, calling on the judiciary to engage in critical self-reflection to see where the problems lie. If this reflection and reform is not possible in the judiciary - this is likely the case for politics - "those whose lives you are destroying will protest", Janša argued.

He would like the judiciary to open up, so everybody can monitor the trials and that the Slovakian judicial reform be studied. It is the judiciary that needs to initiate change, as this will help avoid political debates.

Parliament Speaker Igor Zorčič, who noted that it needed to be understood that the public demands answers each time a case fails to be resolved in court, agreed the judicial branch had to function in a way that made it accepted as legitimate by the public.

He however added that it was questionable if intensive criticism by somebody from the executive branch can contribute to this in any way.

National Council president Alojz Kovšca agreed that doubts harboured by the public and politics regarding the judicially are perhaps being expressed in an inappropriate fashion, too directly, too harshly, but the right to doubt is also the basis of democracy.

Justice Minister Lilijana Kozlovič added that criticism in itself does not constitute interference in an independent branch of power, it is however important to discuss things in a constructive manner. This view is shared by State Prosecutor General Drago Šketa and Constitutional Court President Rajko Knez.

The meeting also touched on calls to end parliamentary appointments of judges, with Florjančič arguing it was hard to understand how parliament can reject judges that were picked on the basis of professional criteria by the Judicial Council.

While he does not see how it is possible to get quality appointments this way, Zorčič suggested it can hardly be expected of the legislative branch to just rubber-stamp what is adopted by the Judicial Council.

STA, 13 October 2020 - The parliamentary Labour Committee prepared the fifth stimulus package bill for passage late on Monday. A few changes were made compared to the original proposal but the main tenets of the bill remain unchanged.

The bill extends the furlough scheme and the state will continue to cover the sick pay for quarantined workers, even when they are on sick leave because their children are in quarantine.

Sole proprietors and micro companies will once again be eligible for monthly income support, just like during the epidemic.

New bonuses will be introduced for workers in healthcare and social security. Those working directly with patients in grey and red zones, respectively for those with confirmed or suspected infections, will get 30% bonuses, and those assigned to new posts will get 20% higher pay. The opposition tried to increase these bonuses but was unsuccessful.

Several measures are planned to help prepare healthcare and social security institutions for a second wave of infections. One of them is the creation of a task force that will advise the institutes in case of infections.

The state will finance the purchase of protective and other equipment needed to curb the spread of Covid-19 in these institutions and also cover the loss of revenue if they are not able to implement all of their regular programmes.

The coalition fully adhered to the opposition calls for scrapping the transitional period for restrictions for doctors working both in public health and for private practitioners. Thus, doctors working in public institutions will be allowed to work for no more than eight hours a week in private practices as of 1 January 2021.

The committee also scrapped the provisions regarding obtaining and processing of personal data from the different databases of the Health Ministry and the National Institute for Public Health.

The opposition, however, failed with its calls to scrap provision allowing the government to restrict the gatherings of people not just in public but also in private spaces.

The coalition argued that the spread of the virus was not confined to public spaces. Several inspectorates will monitor the implementation of the measure, while police and security guards will get more powers.

To reduce the workload of GPs, the bill initially envisaged the option of sick leave of up to three days without a visit to the doctor, but the legal counsellor of the National Assembly opposed this. She argued that employees themselves could not set diagnoses, only doctors could.

The bill also introduces free flu vaccine for all citizens with health insurance.

To cut waiting times, the bill introduces a national call for applications enabling both public and private health providers to provide services financed from public funds.

The opposition sees this as a concealed attempt at privatising healthcare, but the coalition argued the main goal was to provide patients with fast access to medical services. The parliament's legal department finds the call controversial, and a step away from the public health service, which would be unconstitutional.

The opposition also objected to the proposal that only two labs in the country would be allowed to conduct microbiological coronavirus tests, saying this was creating a monopoly.

The government also heard criticism that the bill contained quite a few provisions that have nothing to do with coronavirus. One of them is the annulment of the single price for books act. According to a Culture Ministry official, this is to help publishers.

The opposition's proposal to scrap the provision failed, but opposition MPs did manage to water down the measure: it will be temporary and apply only until the end of April 2022.

Other measures from the bill are aimed at helping education, agriculture, infrastructure and prisons.

The state will finance the purchase of protective equipment for companies, educational and science institutions, while the self-employed who are unable to do their work during quarantine will be partly reimbursed for the loss of income.

The coalition also proposed a six-month extension of the guarantee scheme for liquidity loans to companies, i.e. until the end of June 2021.

Bus operators which were unable to work during the epidemic will be compensated by the state, while those offering public transport services will receive subsidies for the purchase of protective equipment.

The fifth stimulus bill also creates the legal framework for a new contact tracing app for mobile devices, which will also give recommendations to users on how to prevent the spread of the virus.

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STA, 13 October 2020 - A total of 398 people tested positive for the new coronavirus on Monday, when 3,308 tests were performed, which means that the positivity rate remains high at 12%. Four persons died of Covid-19, government Covid-19 spokesperson Jelko Kacin said on Tuesday.

There are currently 180 people in hospital, up by eight from yesterday, of whom 32 need intensive care compared to 26 yesterday, according to according to data tracker Covid-19 Sledilnik.

The number of active cases in the country rose by 8.7% to 3,744, and the number of infections recorded in Slovenia so far now stands at 9,231.

The virus continues to spread in healthcare institutions and care homes. Several members of the staff in the Celje general hospital tested positive yesterday, the hospital confirmed for the STA.

Among those infected are 14 nurses and three doctors who worked at the infectious diseases unit, where Covid-19 patients are being treated. The hospital said this would strongly affect work at the hospital.

One patient who was treated at the unit caught the virus too and brought it to the Vojnik care home, according to the newspaper Večer. Two of her room mates were tested along with 17 staff who were in contact with her but the results of the tests are not in yet.

In the northern Koroška region, where the share of active cases is among the highest in the country, 14 new infections were confirmed on Monday, including at the Črneče unit of the Koroško care home, which has had no infections for a while.

Now seven residents and two members of the staff tested positive and two more staff members are quarantining.

The Slovenj Gradec unit of the care home reported of its first infection on Sunday. Currently, four residents are infected.

The situation in health institutions in the region is deteriorating and the Slovenj Gradec community centre suspended its dental services this week.

Koroška currently has 185 active cases, which is 0.262% of the population. The only region with a higher share is Gorenjska in the north-west with 0.266% of infected population, data provided by Covid-19 Sledilnik show.

The Public Administration Ministry also started publishing data on the functioning of the #OstaniZdrav contact tracing app today.

After receiving a green light from the information commissioner, the ministry started publishing the data on the number of TAN codes issued. The National Institute for Public Health issues the code to people infected with coronavirus, who enter it in the app.

In the last 14 days, 455 codes were issued, and 282 were entered in the app.

According to government Covid-19 spokesperson Jelko Kacin, more than 130,000 people have so far downloaded the app, which is 10% of all mobile phones users.

The Health Ministry meanwhile created a website that gives an overview of the number of Covid-19 patients in the country and beds available. This is to help the dispatching services and other institutions coordinate the patients.

Govt says situation calls for additional restrictive measures

STA, 13 October 2020 - Slovenia recorded more than 120 coronavirus infections per 100,000 resident in the last two weeks, and 180 Covid-19 patients are in hospitals, including more than 30 in intensive care, which means all the criteria for activating additional restrictive measures are fulfilled, government spokesperson Jelko Kacin announced on Tuesday.

The government will decide what measures from the last, third package of measures in the orange phase to take at Wednesday's session, he added.

These include lockdown of individual municipalities or regions, a general ban on visits to hospitals and other institutions, shutting down of bars and restaurants as well as gyms for non-professionals.

The government may also introduce a one-client rule for hairdressers and beauty salons, while events, religious ceremonies and weddings could be banned in certain municipalities or regions. All non-essential health and dental services could be suspended.

The government may opt for only some of these measures, according to Kacin.

The government guidelines for containing the second coronavirus wave are based on the parameters for the so-called orange and red phases, with respective measures being envisaged for each phase.

The parameters are the number of newly confirmed infections per 100,000 residents in the last 14 days, the number of hospitalised Covid-19 patients and the number of patients who require ventilation.

The cabinet will meet this afternoon to discuss the situation with the Health Ministry task forces and prepare for tomorrow's government session at which new measures are expected to be adopted.

A total of 397 people tested positive for the new coronavirus on Monday, when 3,308 tests were performed, and one Slovenian tested positive abroad, which means that the positivity rate remains high at 12%. There are currently 180 people in hospital, of whom 32 need intensive care.

Four persons infected with Covid-19 died, while 18 were discharged from hospital. In the last two weeks, Slovenia had 179 infections per 100,000 people, Kacin said.

The latest statistics on coronavirus and Slovenia, and the latest police news on red, green and yellow list countries. All our stories on coronavirus and Slovenia. Can I transit Slovenia? Find out from the police...

STA, 12 October 2020 - The recently established Slovenian-Chinese business council at the Chamber of Commerce and Industry (GZS) expressed concern in a public letter on Monday over the government's alleged plans concerning Chinese company Huawei.

According to unofficial information, the government could label Huawei a high-risk supplier in the coming weeks. A document obtained by the media shows that the initiative for this had come from the Public Administration Ministry and that the matter was still being discussed.

In the letter addressed to Prime Minister Janez Janša and the cabinet, the council, chaired by Žiga Vavpotič from the companies Outfit7 and Globaldreamvision, says that an open, stable, predictable business environment providing equal opportunities is crucial for good functioning of the economy, even more so in the period of post-pandemic recovery.

The leadership of the council also expressed concern that such a government decree would be an important precedence.

Suggesting that such a label would damage any company's reputation and "represent illegal discrimination of a company based on subjective criteria that cannot be measured", the council warned that such a government move would strongly undermine foreign investors' trust in the Slovenian business system.

Companies, both Slovenian and foreign, need a predictable business environment, so such sudden and unpredictable government decisions are extremely harmful, the council said.

It also pointed to the risk of damage for Slovenian companies if China decided to retaliate, and the damage that could be caused to the bilateral relations with China, which both countries have been building in recent years.

China has some strategically important investments in Slovenia, the council said, pointing to the household appliance maker Gorenje, owned by Hisense, while Slovenian companies have important investments in China.

The council stressed that the efforts for improving bilateral relations should continue, and that ways should be found for cooperation also "when we may not see eye to eye (politically)".

It called on the government to make a decision based on equal treatment of all business entities operating in Slovenia and taking into consideration Slovenia's economic interests in China.

Apart from Vavpotič, the list of signatories includes the council's deputy chairs Franjo Bobinac, the former Gorenje CEO, and Jure Tomc, whose company in Hong Kong offers assistance to companies entering SE Asian markets, Gašper Cotman from Huawei Technologies, founder and CEO of company Cosylab Mark Pleško, Saša Saje Wang from KF Finance and Daniela Voljč from the Ljubljana School of Economics and Business.

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STA, 12 October 2020 - Petra Grah Lazar has been appointed the acting head of the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI; Nacionalnega preiskovalnega urada – NPU) third new leader of the specialised police unit for white-collar crime since May.

Grah Lazar was appointed by acting Police Commissioner Andrej Jurič, the police said on Monday, a week after her predecessor Uroš Lepoša stepped down citing personal reasons.

Lepoša resigned after less than three months on the job. Multiple media reports suggest he resigned because the NBI's work has become subjugated to politics.

The police last week rejected the notion that he had been the target of any sort of political pressure or attempts to influence his work.

Lepoša's brief term, which came after a similarly brief stint by Igor Lamberger, has been marked by several requests for the review of the NBI's work made by the Interior Ministry, in what some insiders claim constituted political interference.

The new acting head, Grah Lazar, was an NBI investigator between December 2010 and March 2014. She came to the NBI from brokerage firm Moja Delnica, where she worked as a stock broker, the police said on its website.

She holds a PhD in business and has most recently served as a financial consulting manager at Deloitte Svetovanje, before which she was corporate security head at the Bank Assets Management Company (BAMC), the country's bad bank.

Several media have described her as the favourite of the ruling Democrats (SDS). Senior government officials, including Prime Minister Janez Janša, have spoken of the need to depoliticise the NBI.

However, the opposition parties slammed Grah Lazar's appointment today as a prime example of politicisation, or in the words of Maša Kociper of the Alenka Bratušek Party (SAB) even as "one of the most brutal appointments in the country's history".

Kociper is convinced that people do not resign after two months for personal reasons but because of political pressure, which was echoed by Matej T. Vatovec of the Left. He said the replacements were part of the search for somebody who will be fully servile to Janša and Interior Minister Aleš Hojs.

The appointment is also seen as the latest development in efforts "to subjugate the state's subsystems via appointments at oversight, repressive and other bodies" by the Marjan Šarec List (LMŠ), whose Brane Golubović would prefer to see the government focus on healthcare capacities and on building of trust for the new Covid-19 wave.

The sentiment was echoed by SocDems deputy group head Matjaž Han, who said the NBI was a key institution that needed to be completely independent of daily politics, "which is why it is definitely not good that three new people were appointed to its helm in such a short period".

Marjan Pojbič of Janša's Democrats (SDS) sees things differently, saying the appointment of Grah Lazar was needed for the NBI to "function properly and line with laws and competences".

The deputy group head of the junior coalition Pensioners' Party (DeSUS) France Jurša said he did not have enough information to say whether the move was legitimate, but he added that experience from past years showed "such things are always tied to politics".

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: 

12% of coronavirus tests positive for a Sunday high

LJUBLJANA - A total of 169 people tested positive for coronavirus from 1,404 tests on Sunday and two more Covid-19 patients died. Despite the infections being lower than in the previous days, it is the highest increase for a Sunday and the share of positive tests remains high, at 12%. This brings the total number of cases to 8,832, with as many as 3,444 active. A total of 169 people have died. Government data show 149 patients were in hospital, 26 requiring intensive care, however as hospitalisations are expected to increase in coming days hospitals are expanding Covid-19 facilities.

Time is ripe for stricter coronavirus measures, Beović says

LJUBLJANA - The government's chief Covid-19 advisor Bojana Beović said Slovenia is quickly approaching a new stiffening of restrictive measures as envisaged in the final stage of the orange scenario. Given the number of new cases, the next set of measures could have already been adopted, but she added that this was for the government to decide, adding the problem with the existing measures was their inconsistent implementation and lack of persistent inspections. The Jožef Stefan Institute (IJS) meanwhile said in its latest forecast of the development of the epidemic the criteria for Slovenia to start introducing additional restrictive measures from the red phase will be reached in the next seven days.

Slovenian and Hungarian PMs to meet on Wednesday

LJUBLJANA - The Slovenian and Hungarian prime ministers, Janez Janša and Viktor Orban, will meet for a working lunch on Wednesday as ground is broken to construct a Cirkovce-Pince power line connecting Slovenia with Hungary, the Government Communication Office said. Janša will address the ceremony in the Slovenian town of Kidričevo in the north-east and meet Orban on the sidelines. The pair will discuss "the main bilateral topics, the Covid-19 situation and topical EU issues".

Central bank with new moves related to bond holder wipeout

LJUBLJANA - The central bank will consult a group of legal experts to find a solution ensuring the legal protection of the holders of subordinated bonds who were wiped out during the 2013 bank bailout. It has also asked for a constitutional review of provisions allowing it to be audited by the Court of Audit. Banka Slovenije governor Boštjan Vasle said that six years after the bank bailout not much progress in properly regulating the legal protection of the subordinated bond holders had been made. The Association of Small Shareholders meanwhile labelled the announcement a "new legal move and procrastination".

Pahor saddened by defacing of Klagenfurt monument

LJUBLJANA - President Borut Pahor expressed sadness over the vandalising of a monument in Klagenfurt following Saturday's ceremony marking the 100th anniversary of the Carinthian plebiscite. In his tweet, Pahor repeated that fear suffices for hatred while courage is necessary for harmony. The incident, committed by unknown perpetrators, had drawn strong criticism from Austrian politicians, as well as Slovenian PM Janez Janša and representatives of the Slovenian minority.

New head of National Bureau of Investigation appointed

LJUBLJANA - Petra Grah Lazar was appointed acting head of the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI), the third new leader of the specialised police unit for white-collar crime since May. The appointment was made by acting Police Commissioner Andrej Jurič a week after her predecessor Uroš Lepoša stepped down citing personal reasons. Grah Lazar used to work as an NBI investigator in 2010-2014, but most recently served as a financial consulting manager at Deloitte Svetovanje, before which she was corporate security head at the Bank Assets Management Company (BAMC), the country's bad bank. She has been described by multiple media as the favourite of the ruling Democrats (SDS). The opposition parties slammed her appointment as a prime example of politicisation.

Parliamentary committee endorses Podgoršek as agriculture minister

LJUBLJANA - Jože Podgoršek, the candidate for the new agriculture minister and currently a state secretary at the ministry, was unanimously endorsed by the parliamentary Agriculture Committee. If appointed - the National Assembly will vote on his candidacy on Thursday, he intends to boost food self-sufficiency and focus on sustainable development. Another challenge will be a reform of the EU's joint agriculture policy, while he also intends to sort out the situation at Slovenian State Forests. The 46-year-old with a PhD in agrarian economics was nominated for the post by the Pensioners' Party (DeSUS) after Aleksandra Pivec resigned as minister and left the party a week ago. Commenting on the unanimous support, he said it would be useful in the busy period ahead.

Delo poll shows SDS firmly in lead, LMŠ returns to second place

LJUBLJANA - The ruling Democrats (SDS) would emerge as the winners if a general election was held now. The opposition Marjan Šarec List (LMŠ) has meanwhile returned to the follow-up position, shows a poll commissioned by the newspaper Delo. The SDS tops the ranking with 18.7%, which is down slightly from September, whereas the LMŠ has gained more than two points to 10.4%. The remaining opposition parties had mixed fortunes. The SD has lost more than half a point to 9.3% and are now closely trailed by the Left, which has added 1.7 points to 7.9%, while the SAB has inched down to 2.9%. According to Delo, the rankings mean the quartet of parties that have entered talks on a Constitutional Arch Coalition enjoy a combined 30.5%, whereas the coalition parties come to 27.1%.

Medical Chamber boss, SD MP test positive

LJUBLJANA - Zdenka Čebašek-Travnik, the head of the Slovenian Medical Chamber, and Gregor Židan, an MP for the opposition Social Democrats (SD), are among those who have tested positive for the novel coronavirus. The chamber said Čebašek-Travnik learnt of the test result on Friday after she and her husband got tested the day before. The husband probably got infected at the hospital where he works. Meanwhile, Židan became the first National Assembly deputy confirmed to have tested positive for the novel virus. He was on leave last week so none of his colleagues have been required to quarantine.

CoE finds shortcomings in Slovenia's coronavirus data processing

STRASBOURG, France - A Council of Europe report identifies a number of shortcomings in the protection of privacy and personal data in government efforts to prevent the spread of the Covid-19 pandemic. It also mentions Slovenia, highlighting Slovenia, Greece and Hungary as the countries parties to a relevant convention where health authorities share the lists of patients with police. Digital Solutions to Fight Covid-19 also says Slovenia appears to be the only country that made the use of the proximity and contact tracing app mandatory by law, while making it voluntary later, before it was actually introduced.

SocDems retain mayoral seat in Velenje

VELENJE - The Social Democrats (SD) succeeded in holding down the mayoral office in the blue collar town of Velenje in Sunday's byelection as Deputy Mayor Peter Dermol won 64.3% of the vote to succeed Bojan Kontič, a fellow party member that has stood in for him since his death in August. Darko Koželj, who ran with the support of the Democrats (SDS), New Slovenia (NSi), Modern Centre Party (SMC) and the non-parliamentary People's Party (SLS), won 23.55% and a third candidate secured 12.15%.

Slovenian-Chinese business council concerned by govt plans for Huawei

LJUBLJANA - The recently established Slovenian-Chinese business council at the Chamber of Commerce and Industry (GZS) expressed concern in a public letter over the government's alleged plans concerning Chinese company Huawei. According to unofficial information, the government could label Huawei a high-risk supplier in the coming weeks. In the letter addressed to PM Janez Janša and the cabinet, the council says an open, stable, predictable business environment providing equal opportunities is crucial for good functioning of the economy, even more so in the period of post-pandemic recovery. It also pointed to the risk of damage for Slovenian companies if China decided to retaliate, and the damage that could be caused to the bilateral relations with China.

Don't Forget to Breathe wins top Slovenian film prize

LJUBLJANA - The 23rd Festival of Slovenian Film closed with an awards ceremony on Sunday, with the best live action feature going to Martin Turk's youth film Don't Forget to Breathe. The judging panel did not confer the Vesna Awards for best feature film, best directing, best screenplay, best female lead, best makeup and best animated film. Antigone - How Dare We! won three Vesnas, including for best documentary and for best male lead (Primož Bezjak). Konrad Steinbacher, an author of animated shorts, received the Metod Badjura Award for lifetime achievement.

Artists Cibic and Hriberšek win B3 biennial awards

FRANKFURT, Germany - Two Slovenians are among the laureates of this year's B3 Biennial of the Moving Image, running in Frankfurt until 18 October. Jasmina Cibic received the B3 Award for Best Immersive and Time Based Art for her video installation entitled The Gift, while Evelyn Hriberšek's art installation Eurydike won the B3 Award for the Best VR/AR/MR Experience. Cibic's work is currently on show at the Metelkova Museum of Contemporary Art (MSUM).

Poet Barbara Korun receives 2020 Mira Prize

LJUBLJANA - The women's section of Slovenian PEN has bestowed this year's Mira Prize for outstanding women authors on poet and activist Barbara Korun, who has been, according to the jury, shedding light on the opuses of Slovenian and foreign women poets and promoting feminist readings. The EUR 2,000 prize was awarded in Ljubljana on Saturday evening. Korun has been widely translated and has been featured in more than 70 poetry anthologies in over 20 languages.

Bad weather causing problems in north, north-west

ČRNA NA KOROŠKEM - Wet snow, rain and wind caused disruption in the high-altitude areas of the northern region of Koroška during the night, with uprooted trees blocking local roads and a part of the area losing power supply due to damaged transmission infrastructure. The worst hit was the upper Mežica Valley, which had seen the most snowfall. The north-western region of Gorenjska also saw several local roads blocked by trees that collapsed under the weight of wet snow.

Slovenia beat Kosovo on the road in Nations League

PRISHTINA, Kosovo - The Slovenian men's football team defeated Kosovo 1:0 in Prishtina on Sunday in the third round of play in Group 3 of League C of the UEFA Nations League, for what is a second win in a row for Slovenia in the competition. On Wednesday, Slovenia will face Moldova at home after the latter lost 0:2 to Greece. After three rounds, Slovenia and Greece are tied at the top of the group at seven points, while Kosovo and Moldova still have only one point each.

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

I have far too many textbooks for learning Slovene. I’m not talking about dictionaries, of which I have more than 10, and enjoy adding to in used book stores, or guides to the grammar (3), but those books that take your hand and present the language step-by-step with vocab, grammar, readings, listenings, exercises and so on. A way to pull it all together, pass the A2/B1 test (for nationality) and put you on the path to independent learning by doing, fluency and never having to buy another textbook again.

And truth be told, while there are excellent dictionaries and grammars, until recently I didn’t have a textbook I’d recommend to anyone. They’re all OK, but none of them do what a new book from Rada Lečič does, the last Slovene textbook I hope to ever open, until volume 2 comes out.

This is Slovene from A to Ž – Volume 1, the fruit of Lečič’s more than 30 years teaching the language to foreigners. As such it’s a comprehensive work that’s as useful for teachers as it is for students, with 10 units and almost 200 pages of well’planned, varied and interesting lessons and exercises that take you from saying hello to being able to pass the prized A1/B2 exam – if you do the work, of course.

You might know Rada Lečič from some of her earlier works, notably the books on Slovene Verbs and Basic Grammar, which this volume obviously draws on.

Lečič has mostly worked with Italians, and thus the original version of the book was based on the lessons she gave to Italian speakers. But since the problems these face when learning Slovene are different to those of English of German native speakers she completely revised the text for those audiences (as seen, for example, in the different reflexive verbs used).

Of course it starts here...

...but it ends up much further away, with the first nine (of 10) units appropriate for a one-year course.

The book – which you can now find in stores and also order online – is a genuine personal project, with Lečič involved in every stage of the design process, producing a fully coherent and cohesive work that’s as well made as it is written, with high quality paper and sewn binding that will stand up to repeated use and being thrown out the window when frustrated with skloni. 

Nearly all the words in the book also appear in the glossary - a mini-dictionary to support your studies.

Other things to note:

• All texts in Slovene are also shown in English on the same page, and a full glossary is included at the end of the book. Much less fussing with dictionaries as you study.
• Each unit introduces the focal vocab and grammar, and only that, then sticks with that for the readings, listenings and exercises, drilling it into your head.
• Grammar (including the declensions) is introduced slowly, without overwhelming the user, and with 10 pages of grammatical tables at the end of the book .
• Accent marks are shown throughout, a rarity on the scene, but also used in Lečič’s grammar and verb books.
• All the audio files are available online – no need to dig out a CD player.

In short, Rada Lečič’s Slovene from A to Ž – available in English, Italian and German editions – is a top quality book that wasn’t rushed out to meet a deadline or tick a box. Instead it’s the result of decades of teaching the language, knowing how best to present things (and when) in order to set you up for success as you embark on the exciting, and often frustrating, journey of learning Slovene, no matter how many times it goes out the window.

STA, 12 October 2020 - A total of 169 people tested positive for coronavirus as 1,404 tests were performed in Slovenia on Sunday, while two people died, government spokesman Jelko Kacin said on Monday. Despite the numbers being lower than in the previous days, the share of positive tests remains high, at 12%.

A total of 149 patients were in hospital, 26 requiring intensive care, on what was a Sunday with the biggest increase in daily cases since testing began in March.

This brings the total number of cases to 8,832, with as many as 3,444 being active infection as this moment. A total of 169 people have died.

Talking to the press, Mateja Logar of the Infectious Diseases Clinic, said that elderly with underlying illnesses are no longer the only Covid-19 patients in intensive care. Younger, fit and healthy people have also been admitted for intensive care treatment.

Kacin said that hospitals have managed to respond to the increase in those requiring hospitalisation, but the numbers are expected to go up in the coming days.

Logar said that UKC Ljubljana, the country's biggest hospital, is getting ready to set up an additional Covid-19 ward, most likely at the Department of Orthopaedic Surgery, which was already the case in the spring. Patients of the department of Infectious Diseases without Covid-19 have meanwhile already been moved off-site, to the Peter Držaj Hospital in the Šiška borough.

Data from tracker site covid-19.sledilnik.org show that 30 of the latest infections were health staff and 36 were aged care home residents and three staff at those facilities.

One of the emerging hotspots is a care home for blind, visually impaired and aged residents in Škofja Loka, north-west of Ljubljana, where 18 residents have been infected.

The facility's director, Silva Košnjek, said they were running out of space to isolate everyone, and were working with the local authorities to find an appropriate space to move the infected outside the home to prevent further transmissions.

The first infection entered the home via a patient who got infected at Jesenice hospital in late September, but they were not forewarned by the hospital so the resident moved freely around the home.

The Jesenice hospital said it did not know of the infection because the woman was discharged after they detected the first infection with another patient.

Reports of new infections are coming from many other care homes across the country, including at the Predvor facility in the north-west, which has seven residents and two staff infected.

Care homes in Slovenj Gradec in the north and Celje in the north-east also reported their first infections.

On Sunday, infections were confirmed in 65 municipalities. Most of the cases, 34, were recorded in the capital Ljubljana, where 0.197% of the residents are actively infected.

Črna na Koroškem in the north remains the municipality with the highest per capita infection rate, at 1.097%, followed by nearby Mežica (0.674%), Šentjernej in the south-east (0.629%) and Prevalje in the north (0.573%).

The latest statistics on coronavirus and Slovenia, and the latest police news on red, green and yellow list countries. All our stories on coronavirus and Slovenia. Can I transit Slovenia? Find out from the police...

STA, 12 October 2020 - The Slovenia translation platform TAIA, which makes use of deep learning methods, has received a EUR 1.2 million investment from Fil Rouge Capital, a European venture capital fund. The funds are to be used to boost TAIA's presence on foreign markets and a further development of the deep learning algorithms.

According to TAIA INT, the company behind the platform, this one of the biggest investments in tech companies in Slovenia this year.

"With the investment we will be able to spread faster on western European market, secure a footing in the US and continue developing technological solutions that enable faster and higher quality translation," Marko Hozjan of TAIA INT, which recorded a EUR 90,000 loss on EUR 296,000 in revenue in 2019, told the STA.

TAIA is marketed as a bridge between translation agencies and free web translators. Clients are able to obtain a quote for a translation job within seconds and then use one click to have the machine translation edited by a human translator.

Hozjan, TAIA INT co-founder and director, said that this interface method speeds up translation and makes it cheaper by up to 50%.

But there have also been critical voices in the translation community arguing that the method is underpinned by underpaid post-editing work by translators and amounts to dumping.

Since its launch in late 2018, TAIA has translated over 15 million words and has been used by over 1,800 users, including major companies like Red Bull, Hervis, 3M, Müller and Petrol.

The company currently has 16 employees and is planning to hire five more in the coming months, primarily developers and digital marketing experts.

Learn more about TAIA