STA, 7 September 2020 - As the second week of school has started with a number of groups of children in quarantine due to coronavirus cases detected among classmates, the Education Ministry has announced it is developing an application which will contain all relevant information in one place.

The list of groups of primary and secondary pupils in quarantine is changing on a daily basis, and the ministry said on Monday it would start publishing data on a weekly basis on Friday.

The information about quarantine orders in relation to educational establishments are currently made public in a disorganised fashion, and there are no precise data yet.

For this reason, the ministry also announced that detailed insight in the number of infected children who attend kindergartens and primary and secondary schools would be enabled with an application containing all relevant data.

So far, several classes of children as well as teachers have been quarantined due to infections in kindergartens, primary and secondary schools around Slovenia as the new school year started on 1 September.

The ministry said quarantine for individual classes had been ordered in 13 out of the 497 Slovenian primary schools, and that 150 children out of the total of 191,726 were in isolation.

"The data show that the current situation is fully manageable," the ministry said, adding that schools and kindergartens were well prepared for the epidemiological situation and that the system was responsive.

Doctors have meanwhile also had the problem of how to differentiate between the symptoms of Covid-19 and other seasonal infections in school children, and whether every child with flu-like symptoms should be tested.

Paediatricians have already called for new guidelines for testing of small children, with Denis Baš telling the STA that experts and representatives of the Health Ministry would discuss it on Thursday.

Baš said that his clinic had been very busy with a lot of sick children, and that it was difficult to secure a Covid-19 testing spot. Paediatricians thus fear that the system would not be able to test such a large number of children.

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STA, 7 September 2020 - Slovenia recorded 25 new coronavirus cases from 706 tests on Sunday, which brings the overall tally of cases to 3,190, out of which 525 remain active, according to combined data from the government and tracker site covid-19.sledilnik.org.

No new Covid-19-related fatalities were reported, while the number of hospitalisations rose by three to 26, four of whom require intensive treatment.

Data from the tracker site show that for almost a week now there have been no new infections among residents or staff at care homes, where most of Slovenia's 135 Covid-19-related fatalities have been recorded.

The number of new cases is down from 43 recorded on Saturday when 1,212 tests were performed.

Over the past week 307 new coronavirus infections were confirmed, 89 more than the week before.

Inspectors found no violations of face mask rule this weekend

STA, 7 September 2020 - Health inspectors did not detect any violations of the anti-coronavirus rules and hence did not issue any fines between Friday, when a decree imposing fines for failure to wear face masks and sanitise hands in public indoor venues came into force, and Sunday. No one was reported flouting the rules at the Franja Marathon.

During the past three days, the inspectors oversaw the implementation of the decree in more than 140 restaurants, pubs and cafes and at almost 50 events, including the Franja Marathon, the largest cycling event in Slovenia.

Altogether, they visited more than 200 facilities, including shops and public toilets. They also appeared at football matches, cultural events, weddings and picnic spots.

Apart from checking if everyone was heeding public health guidelines, they were mostly overseeing the implementation of the face mask and hand sanitising rules and found no one falling foul of them.

The Health Inspectorate employs 84 inspectors. Between 40 and 60 of them are in the field every day.

Last week, the government changed the legal basis for the mandatory wearing of face masks or other face coverings and compulsory hand sanitising in public indoor spaces to make it possible to actually fine those who flout the rules. The decree comes in the wake of increasing numbers of new coronavirus cases.

The fines for violating the decree range from EUR 400 and EUR 4,000.

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, 7 September 2020 - Ikea is looking for more than 300 staff for its first Slovenia store, due to open in Ljubljana later this year. Candidates for various positions in sales, logistics, customer relations and customer support, restaurants and other departments can apply for a job by the end of September.

According to the representatives of the Swedish furniture retailer, they began the process of mass employment in Slovenia today. All vacancies will be open until the end of September, followed by interviews and evaluations of registered candidates in October.

"We are pleased to be able to offer unlimited opportunities in a global company to candidates who are interested in working with us," said Cas Lachaert, market manager at Ikea Slovenia. They are looking for employees from a wide variety of backgrounds, while preferring those who believe in the company's values.

In the spring, when the Ljubljana unit hired about 20 staff, Ikea received about 200 applications for each job advertised.

The store is being built in the BTC City shopping district in Ljubljana. When the foundation stone was laid in October last year, it was announced the store would be built within a year. It will cover more than 31,000 square meters and offer almost 10,000 products.

Details of the open jobs at Ikea in Ljubljana

STA, 4 September 2020 - Builder Kolektor Koling signed the latest in a series of high-value construction contract in Croatia on Friday, this time for a EUR 35 million reconstruction of transport surfaces and rails at the port of Rijeka.

The work on the project, 85% of which is financed through the EU's Connecting Europe Facility fund, will start in December, Kolektor said.

The Slovenian builder will renovate over 110,000 square metres of surfaces, 1,625 metres of crane tracks and over 12 kilometres of rail tracks along with several other essential infrastructure segments at the port.

Kolektor Koling said this was already the second major project agreed in Rijeka in the recent three months, while the company's director spoke of over EUR 200 million worth of construction work secured in Croatia in the recent period.

Kolektor is presently building the main road section between Škurin and the Rijeka port estimated at EUR 75 million, as well as a wastewater collection, disposal and treatment system on the island of Krk estimated at over EUR 44 million.

Other ongoing projects include the development of multimodal platforms at the Rijeka port in conjunction with the Jadranska Vrata terminal worth EUR 37 million, and water supply reconstruction for the city of Petrinja, estimated at EUR 35 million, Kolektor Koling said.

STA, 31 August 2020 - Comtrade CDS, the largest Slovenian IT company in terms of workforce size, has been acquired by the British IT company Endava in a deal worth EUR 60 million, the business newspaper Finance reported on Monday.

According to Finance, Comtrade CDS was recently spun off from the Slovenian arm of the Serbian Comtrade group, and consists of the divisions for digital services and system integration, which together accounted for almost two thirds of Comtrade's EUR 70.5 million in revenue last year.

The roots of the Slovenian Comtrade arm go back to the former Ljubljana IT company Hermes SoftLab, which was bought by Serbian entrepreneur Veselin Jevrosimović in 2008 for roughly half of what was paid now by Endava.

The Endava deal involves a company with employees with offices in Slovenia, Serbia, Bosnia-Herzegovina and the headquarters in Dublin. The Slovenian part of the Comtrade group had a workforce of 672 people last year and its core company 498, which makes it the largest Slovenian IT company in this respect.

Finance quotes Comtrade CEO Alexis Lope-Bello as describing Endava as the right partner that will nurture and develop CDS in ways Comtrade was not able to.

London-based Endava was registered in 2000 and primarily focuses on IT services for telecommunication, financial institutions, logistics, healthcare and the public sector. Employing almost 6,500 people, it generated EUR 386 million in sales revenue in the 12 months running up to March this year.

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This summary is provided by the STA:

Tour de France: Pogačar wins stage as Roglič dons yellow jersey

PAU, France - Slovenian riders made history at the Tour de France yet again as Tadej Pogačar won the 9th stage and Primož Roglič came in second to take the yellow jersey. The Jumbo Visma rider has become the first Slovenian ever to claim the leader's jersey at the world's most prestigious cycling race. "The yellow jersey is great (...) I hope to wear it in Paris," said Roglič. He is now 21 seconds ahead of the runner-up, Egan Bernal, the Colombian Ineos Grenadiers rider, and 44 seconds ahead of Pogačar (UAE) in 7th.

Coronavirus count hits new weekend high

LJUBLJANA - Slovenia saw 43 coronavirus infections from 1,212 tests performed on Saturday, as many as the day before but what is a daily weekend high since the epidemic was formally declared over in the country at the end of May. This was as the number of tests was also at a weekend high. The latest cases bring the overall case count to 3,165, of which 514 remain active. The number of hospitalisations rose by one to 23, government data show. No new fatalities related to Covid-19 were reported.

Janša addresses anniversary of key pre-independence event

STIČNA - Prime Minister Janez Janša remembered the spirit of cooperation and mutual trust between people of different political persuasions as he addressed a ceremony marking the 30th anniversary of a secret meeting that set out plans for Slovenia's defence on breaking independent from Yugoslavia. Janša, who attended the meeting as defence minister of the time, Janša said it was the first time the Yugoslav army was defined clearly as a potential aggressor. The ceremony was also attended by president Borut Pahor and several independence-era officials.

Basovizza victims of fascism remembered 90 years after execution

BASOVIZZA, Italy - Four victims of fascism, known among Slovenians as Basovizza Heroes, were remembered with a ceremony in Basovizza, Italy, at the site they were executed 90 years ago following a short trial before a Fascist court in Trieste. Slovenian parliamentary Speaker Igor Zorčič told the ceremony the Basovizza Heroes had become a symbol of resistance to a murdering and oppressive regime and ideology that incited hatred and violence among people. In July, President Borut Pahor and Italian President Sergio Mattarella visited the memorial in July along with the Foiba of Basovizza, a karst pit that for Italians symbolises post-war summary killings by Partisans.

Jewish heritage festival focuses on journeys

MARIBOR - Several Slovenian towns are taking part in the European Days of Jewish Heritage, which for the first time in 20 years was launched with an eight-hour online programme open to all. The theme of this year's iteration is Jewish Journeys. In Slovenia it was launched with an exhibition at the Maribor Synagogue featuring photographs on the largest-ever Slovenian pilgrimage to the Holy Land in 1910. Events are also being held in Lendava, Murska Sobota and Negova Castle.

Survey shows 36% Slovenians spent summer holiday in Slovenia

LJUBLJANA - A survey by the Slovenian Automobile Association (AMZS) suggests 36% of Slovenians spent their holiday in Slovenia this summer, a slight increase on figures recorded in the past, but the majority still opted for the Croatian coast. Almost 40% took a week-long holiday, slightly over 30% took two weeks off, 10% three, and 7% even more. The AMZS, which surveyed 600 respondents between 15 July and 15 August, does not have comparable figures for recent years but argued that older surveys showed about a quarter of Slovenians holidaying in Slovenia.

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STA, 6 September 2020 - Slovenia saw 43 coronavirus infections from 1,212 tests performed on Saturday, as many as the day before but what is a daily weekend high since the epidemic was formally declared over in the country at the end of May, fresh data from the government show.

This was as the number of tests was also at a weekend high after the country strongly ramped up testing this week.

The latest cases bring the overall case count to 3,165, of which 514 remain active infections, according to the tracker site covid-19.sledilnik.org.

The number of hospitalisations rose by one to 23, with three Covid-19 patients requiring intensive treatment, after one patient was discharged from hospital.

No new fatalities related to Covid-19 were reported, with the total at 135.

The latest cases were confirmed in 27 municipalities across the country, most of those, six, in Ljubljana, which now has 96 active infections.

Eleven of Saturday's cases were among the 25-34-year-olds and ten more among the 35-44-year-olds with five each in the cohorts of 45-54 years and 55-64 years and four among 65-74-year-olds.

Nine of the new cases are among persons who had already been in quarantine, while one of the imported cases caught the virus in Greece.

"Greece has become a country with a growing number of infections and we have quite a lot of tourists there. It's thus just a matter of time when we'll start telling them to come back," Milan Krek, the head of the National Institute of Public Health, told Radio Slovenija.

Since infections are moving into older age groups, hospitalisations will likely increase. Krek appealed on relatives of residents in aged care facilities to keep visits at the minimum and follow precaution to keep care homes free from Covid-19.

STA, 6 September - Slovenian riders made history at the Tour de France yet again as Tadej Pogačar won the 9th stage and Primož Roglič came in second to take the overall leader's yellow jersey.

Swiss rider Marc Hirschi (Sunweb) made an escape 50 kilometres into the 153-kilometre mountainous stage between Pau and Laruns, only to get caught up by Roglič (Jumbo Visma), Pogačar (UAE), Egan Bernal (Ineos) and Mikel Landa (Bahrain McLaren) 1.7 kilometre ahead of the finish line.

The devilish tempo was dictated by Roglič, a pre-race favourite for the overall victory, who secured the virtual yellow jersey on the climb to the Marie Blanque pass, while Hirschi was the first to break into sprint.

Although the Swiss was in the best position to win the stage, Pogačar blasted past him, followed by Roglič, who squeezed ahead by a whisker just before the finish line, so Hirschi had to settle for the third.

The finish in Laruns was where Roglič won his second Tour de France stage win two years ago for the 4th spot overall. This time he has become the first Slovenian ever to claim the leader's jersey of the most prestigious cycling race in the world.

"The yellow jersey is great. It's our goal and I hope to have it on in Paris. This was definitely a good stage for us," Roglič, 30, commented for RTV Slovenija, after taking the leader's jersey off Briton Adam Yates (Mitchelton-Scott).

Overall, Roglič is now 21 seconds ahead of Columbian Egan Bernal (Ineos Grenadiers) and 28 seconds ahead of France's Guillaume Martin (Cofidis). Pogačar advanced to 7th overall with a lag of 44 seconds behind his compatriot.

Roglič lauded his young rival. "I'd like congratulate Tadej first, today we changed places from the fourth stage. He is really strong," he said, referring to the first Slovenian double win at this year's Tour. This is their third such feat including the Tour of Spain last year.

"It'd be great if everything was so easy. What can I say, Slovenians have obviously become a cycling powerhouse, just like the Colombians," he said.

"I only wanted to gain as much time as possible overall, but I saw we didn't gain much compared to competition. That's why I tried to get the bonus seconds in the last few metres. I don't really know how I did it, I just sprinted as fast as I could," Pogačar commented on his feat.

STA, 5 September 2020 - President Borut Pahor and his Croatian counterpart Zoran Milanović attended on Saturday a memorial ceremony honouring the victims of the Fascist concentration camp Kampor on Rab island.

According to Pahor's office, this was the first time that the two countries' presidents attend the annual event together.

Prior to the ceremony marking the 77th anniversary of the liberation of Kampor, Pahor and Milanović laid a wreath to the monument of the victims of the camp, known as one of the most notorious Fascist camps in the Second World War.

Pahor wrote that the joint gesture "symbolised the importance of friendship and a shared awareness of the need to preserve memory, which should also serve as a warning".

"The decision to come to Rab and bow the the victims of the Italian concentration camp Kampor together with Croatian President and friend Zoran Milanović was urgent and simple", he said.

Predsednika sta položila venec k spomeniku žrtvam italijanskega fašističnega terorja Kampor. To je prvič, da sta se slovenski in hrvaški predsednik skupaj poklonila spominu na žrtve taborišča Kampor. pic.twitter.com/B6PDjLAWDp

— Borut Pahor (@BorutPahor) September 5, 2020

Pahor added that on the occasion of the 75th anniversary of the end of the Second World War he wanted to personally and on behalf of Slovenia honour the memory of the victims of the camp that saw so many people suffer and die.

He warned that "any form of intolerance and hatred begins with words and small actions, with small evil gestures that grow into serious evil before most people even realise it. This is how it came to Fascism, which showed its face here on Rab".

According to the Slovenian president, European peace is based on reconciliation between two of the biggest opponents, the German and French people. This reconciliation is also the cornerstone of today's EU, "an alliance where we want to achieve a better life, while it is still and always will be above all a project of peace".

Some 15,000 Croats, Slovenians and Jews, including about 1,200 children, experienced the horrors of the camp in the 14 months and a half of its operation. Croatian sources suggest at least a fifth of all internees died there because of abuse, famine and disease.

Pahor and Milanović also used the opportunity for bilateral talks to "continue and reaffirm the good and friendly cooperation between the two countries", the president's office said.

Milanović picked Slovenia for his first trip abroad after his appointment at the beginning of the year. He held a working meeting with Pahor in Otočec at the end of February.

The presidents also held talks in Ptuj in mid-May after Milanović laid a wreath to the victims of post-war killings in Maribor's Dobrava cemetery.

STA, 6 September 2020 - Four victims of fascism, known among Slovenians as Basovizza Heroes, were remembered with a ceremony on Sunday at the site where they were executed 90 years ago following a short trial before a Fascist court in Trieste.

Slovenian patriots Ferdo Bidovec, Fran Marušič and Alojz Valenčič as well as Zvonimir Miloš, a Croat with close links to the Slovenian community in Trieste, were executed on 6 September 1930 in Basovizza common.

They were sentenced to death in what is known as the First Trieste Trial for an attack on the newspaper Il Popolo di Trieste. The other 12 defendants were sent to prison.

Tried under Fascist laws, the four are still formally "terrorists", something their relatives would like Italy to change, especially because the other Slovenian patriots and antifascists sentenced to death at the Second Trieste Trial in 1941 were posthumously rehabilitated.

The Slovenian ethnic minority in Italy cherishes the memory of Basovizza Heroes with annual commemorations, which are also often attended by Slovenian officials.

The victims of the first and second Trieste trials were also posthumously honoured with Slovenia's Golden Order of Freedom for their fight against Nazism and Fascism and for loyalty to Slovenian identity in the darkest times of Italianisation.

What is one of the highest state honours was bestowed on them in 1997, on the occasion of the 50th anniversary of the reunification of Primorska region with Slovenia.

In July, President Borut Pahor and Italian President Sergio Mattarella visited the Memorial to Basovizza Heroes alongside paying a visit to the Foiba of Basovizza, a karst pit which for Italians symbolises post-war summary killings by Partisans.

The move was seen by some as an act of reconciliation between the nations which had been on the opposite sides in the past, and as a revision of history by others.

Today's commemoration was addressed by Slovenian parliamentary Speaker Igor Zorčič, by Marija Bidovec, Ferdo Bidovec's niece, by Peter Močnik, a secretary of the SK Slovenian minority party, and by the head of the regional institute for the history of WWII resistance movement, Mauro Gialuz.

Addressing a sizeable gathering, Zorčič said the Basovizza Heroes had become a symbol of resistance to a murdering and oppressive regime and ideology that incited hatred and violence among people. They are heroes of the free Europe built on the foundations of anti-Fascism and resistance to all ideologies in the name of which people oppressed and killed each other.

The ceremony was attended by people from both sides of the border, including several senior officials, among them Minister for Slovenians Abroad Helena Jaklitsch, Slovenian Ambassador to Italy Tomaž Kunstelj, General Consul in Trieste Vojko Volk and Slovenian senator in Rome Tatjana Rojc.

In his address, Trieste Mayor Roberto Dipiazza said he did not deem the Basovizza Heroes terrorists. He mentioned Pahor's and Mattarella's joint visit to the Basovizza memorial and foiba and the symbolic return of Trieste Hall among the gestures that he said inspired hope for the future among the Slovenian and Italian communities.

Several other speakers noted the latest events as a new piece in the puzzle of reconciliation between the two nations and called for full rehabilitation of the Basovizza Heroes.

Later in the evening Archbishop of Ljubljana Stanislav Zore was to say mass at the local parish church, whereas Italian Senator Tatjana Rojc, a Slovenian minority member, delivered a speech.

The four patriots were also remembered in Slovenia with two commemorations on Friday, one in front of the University of Ljubljana and the other at the memorial to Basovizza Heroes in Kranj.

Historian Štefan Čok spoke about the values and message of Basovizza on Saturday at the memorial in Basovizza, and a number of events are planned for next week.

One of the highlights will be the presentation of Milan Pahor's book about Borba, an underground organisation whose members the four Basovizza victims were.