Thanks to its enviable geographical diversity with a vast network of pristine rivers and lakes, Slovenia is awash with fun water-related activities. From a relaxing swim or paddle-boarding trip, to adrenaline-pumping white-water adventures, the country is dotted with numerous water sports locations which become especially inviting during hotter summer months.

The region that stands out in terms of outdoor recreation is undoubtedly the mountainous area of the northwest, and Slovenia’s Julian Alps have become a mecca for rafting enthusiasts. Each year, the Soča River, appropriately labelled the Emerald Queen, attracts thousands of locals and tourists who come to tackle its amazing rapids. The Soča offers all levels of difficulty as it carves its way through the mesmerizingly gorgeous valley of the same name. Other rivers, including the Sava, Upper Savinja, Krka and Kolpa, are superb rafting destinations where you can enjoy a fantastic selection of rapids and pools, accompanied by spectacular countryside.

Besides rafting, many regions of Slovenia pride themselves with excellent kayaking conditions. The wild Soča, the slightly calmer Sava Dolinka and the easy flowing Kolpa are unquestionably the main kayaking rivers, but for those who are looking for some slow-paced paddling, the Ljubljanica is the river to venture down. Flowing through one of Europe’s greenest capitals, the Ljubljanica takes you from the protected marshlands straight into the Ljubljana’s vibrant centre, combining sightseeing with physical recreation. And for the more advanced kayakers, a slalom course on the Sava River on the outskirts of Ljubljana ensures superbly versatile practice runs.

Another increasingly popular water activity in Slovenia is the peculiar yet exhilarating sport of canyoning. It involves a unique way of exploring nature’s wonderful architecture by jumping, abseiling and sliding down hidden gorges with narrow passages, stunning waterfalls and crystal-clear pools in a surreally beautiful environment. Slovenia is home to numerous canyoning locations of varying difficulty. From the relatively demanding variations found at Fratarica and Grmečica, to more family-friendly descents at Jereka and Sušec – canyoning presents an exciting combination of adventure and sport where you can discover nature’s mysteries up-close and personal.

Whichever water activity you decide to engage in, remember that safety is paramount. Joining an organised group led by a professional guide who supplies you with all the necessary equipment and knowhow is the recommended way of traversing down Slovenia’s rivers and gorges.

If you’re interested in exploring the great outdoors in Slovenia, then check out the tours on offers at Slovenia Activities

STA, 30 June 2020 - Opposition parties bar the SNS spoke on Tuesday of independent police work in the investigation into ventilator procurement and called on the government to take a cue from the resignation of Interior Minister Aleš Hojs. Coalition parties were mostly reserved, an exception being PM Janez Janša, who said it is time to end "selective justice".

Commenting on today's house searches conducted over suspected abuse of office in the March procurement of medical ventilators and the resulting resignation of Hojs and Police Commissioner Anton Travner, former PM Marjan Šarec of the opposition LMŠ said the "entire government is ripe for resignation".

"Attempts to conceal things with attacks on the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) and the entire police force show that the independence of the prosecution authorities is a thorn in the side of those in power," tweeted Šarec, who feels an early election is the only way forward.

Tanja Fajon of the SocDems, the second largest opposition party, said Slovenia was dealing with a crime of epic proportions that seems to go all the way to the top of the government instead of focusing on the major challenges ahead.

Fajon, who suspects the government "failed to prevent the house searches", argued the conspiracy theories being peddled are merely an attempt to divert attention. The government has no political and moral clout left, she added, calling on Janša to resign.

Luka Mesec of the Left said Hojs and Travner resigned "over regret they didn't manage to discipline the police to a point where there would be no more criminal police following their own conscience and professional ethics".

Mesec, who expects PM Janez Janša will now try to appoint somebody "who will do a better party job in the police force", added the government has already turned to its known strategy - "personal discreditation and attacks on criminal police officers, which is unheard off". The Left will protect the independence of the police and wants an early election, he said.

Alenka Bratušek of SAB said Hojs's resignation showed he "had a somewhat peculiar notion" about how the police force operated. While saying she was content the police were doing their job and not shying away from investigating government officials, Bratušek argued that such probes were too often only a show for the public.

She does feel that the time is ripe for Janša "to face the mirror" as well and assume responsibility for the opaque procurement of PPE during the crisis. Bratušek spoke of the possibility of an no-confidence motion in the entire government, mentioning DeSUS as a coalition party that could be won over to secure the needed absolute majority.

The only opposition party leader to echo Hojs's reasoning that the police's operation was politically motivated was Zmago Jelinčič of the National Party (SNS).

"Certain leading staff in the police force are politically appointed and undermine the police's professional work," he said, expressing surprise over Hojs's resignation and arguing he had expected "Hojs would start cleaning up at the police force".

Meanwhile, the coalition parties were mostly reserved in their reactions today so far, with the ruling Democrats (SDS) and New Slovenia (NSi) initially refusing to comment.

SDS head and PM Janša responded later with a letter entitled Selective Justice, in which he said he would not comment on an ongoing procedure, but wanted to comment on the "double standards in the priority choices of the NBI, the prosecution, and the judiciary".

Janša wrote that it is "political sympathies and media pressure" that have been governing the choices of all three for some time as opposed to the scale of the crimes.

He said that no epilogue had been seen for other "hundreds of millions of euros" worth of crimes in the healthcare system, no house searches conducted related to a suspected EUR 1bn in money laundering for Iran at NLB bank, and no criminal complaints filed against the owners of several media outlets despite ample evidence of "harmful contracts and annexes through which these factories of rotten news are attached to taxpayers' money".

Janša argued that selective justice and the "general politicisation of a part of the repressive apparatus prevents a normal functioning of parliamentary democracy in the country".

"It is therefore our duty and it is high time that we secure a consistent honouring of the Constitution and laws and equal standards for everybody," Janša concludes.

Meanwhile, the Modern Centre Party (SMC), whose head and Economy Minister Zdravko Počivalšek is also being investigated, has not yet commented, while DeSUS head Aleksandra Pivec said she expected the investigation would be conducted in a fair and objective manner.

She urged the calming of political passions and also did not comment on Hojs's views. Asked how the developments will impact the coalition, she said things were still underway. "Once more will be known, I expect the coalition partners to also sit down, get familiar with the facts and then adopt decisions," she said.

All our stories on the PPE scandal can be found here

STA, 30 June 2020 - Interior Minister Aleš Hojs told the press on Tuesday that he had tendered his resignation to PM Janez Janša and that Janša accepted it. Hojs, who suggested the investigation into ventilator procurement showed the police were serving the deep state, added he had accepted the resignation of Police Commissioner Anton Travner before that.

Hojs linked the resignation to the house searches conducted today by the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) at several locations, including with Economy Minister Zdravko Počivalšek. Media have reported police suspect abuse of office in the March procurement of medical ventilators.

Hojs said he had been informed that the sting operation was under way by Deputy Police Commissioner Jože Senica at around 8am this morning. An hour later he was informed that Počivalšek, a protected person, had been deprived of his liberty for the duration of the house search.

Hojs believes that today's developments are politically motivated, that the procedures are political, which is why he accepts "political responsibility, as this responsibility rests with the minister". Thus he offered his resignation to the prime minister, who has already accepted it.

"As a minister I never interfered in the work of the police in the sense of whom and why to investigate. My position was always that order needs to be introduced for everybody in this country, meaning that all crimes need to be investigated," Hojs said, while defending his decision to have internal oversight conducted at the NBI.

He added that it was impossible to ignore that there were scores of shelved procedures at the prosecution and at courts and that he "cannot accept that the directing of the police is not done so much by the police commissioner or anybody else who should be doing it, meaning the entire structure within the police".

Instead, argued Hojs, the police force is directed "by the weekly Mladina, by prosecutors who have proven in the past to mostly lead procedure against politically inappropriate persons - meaning against the right".

According to Hojs, they have but one goal - "to discredit the ministers, the prime minster and achieve the much desired collapse of this coalition and preservation of all privileges that they have been afforded all these years by the centre-left coalition, the SocDems always being a part of it".

"It will be hard to convince me that this is not a political police force, change my view that the police are serving the deep state and not the citizens," said Hojs, whose resignation letter speaks of structures that are allegedly still linked to the Communist secret service UDBA and the Communist Party.

Hojs wrote that "despite that change at the top of the police force and staffing changes carried out so far by the police commissioner, I assess that the UDBA-Party-based structure of the decisive segment of the police force, in concert with the prosecution and judiciary of the same origin, is still so deeply anchored in the system as to prevent me from effectively depoliticising and changing the police force".

Security expert Miroslav Žaberl expressed concern over this statement, saying it suggested that the changes made to the police force by Hojs were political and not based on professional criteria.

The reasons Hojs gave for his resignation show he believes that the force must be rearranged in a way to make it "ours". But the police are in the service of the people and not of political parties, Žaberl said.

The police are independent in their work and no politician can affect police procedure, said Žaberl, adding that the interior minister could not be informed in advance of specific police activities.

The Police Trade Union of Slovenia (PSS) also reacted to Hojs's claims, calling them "unfounded and completely without ground". Since they are damaging to all police officers, the PSS expects an apology from the outgoing minister, the union said.

Responding to the Hojs's and Travner's resignations, Janša thanked them in a tweet for professional and dedicated work they had done in providing safety and preserving health, adding that not everybody at the Interior Ministry "had the same goal".

Hojs, who will continue running the ministry until parliament is officially notified of his resignation, was one of the more exposed ministers after the Janša government took over in March.

He was a proponent of strict lockdown restrictions, who openly criticised the public's behaviour, made headlines in the face of prompt replacements at the top of key positions in the police force, as well as with calls that police take tougher action against the protesters who have been protesting against the government each Friday for over months.

Another story involving Hojs was the Interior Ministry's decision to override a ban on a concert by Croatian nationalist singer Marko Perković Thompson. This earned him an ouster motion by the opposition, which will not be processed now.

The 58-year-old started his political career as a member of Christian democratic parties, last of New Slovenia (NSi), which expelled him in 2016 amid claims he was hurting the party's reputation. Hojs, who served as defence minister in the 2012/13 Janša government, ran on the ticket of Janša's Democrats (SDS) in 2018. He was the director of the Nova24TV media outlet before becoming minister in March.

STA, 30 June 2020 - The National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) is reportedly conducting house searches at 11 locations today over suspected abuse of office in the March procurement of medical ventilators. According to the news portal nezenzurirano.si, police have also visited the Economy Ministry and are investigating the EUR 8.8 million deal with Geneplanet.

The suspects reportedly include Economy Minister Zdravko Počivalšek and his senior aide Andreja Potočnik who was involved operationally in talks with the suppliers of medical and protective equipment.

Police are said to have also visited the Commodity Reserves Agency, which organised the procurement and one of whose senior employees, Ivan Gale, went public in April to speak about heavy political meddling. Gale highlighted Počivalšek and the favouring of Geneplanet, a Slovenian intermediary, in the purchasing of ventilators.

The suspects are reportedly suspected of abuse of office that resulted in grave damage to public finances, an offence that carries a prison sentence of one to eight years.

The criminal instigation, led by the specialised state prosecution, was launched two months ago, after a TV Slovenija Tarča current affairs show that featured Gale and an audio recording of Minister Počivalšek demanding that the Commodity Reserves Agency execute an advance payment to Geneplanet.

The Commodity Reserves Agency wrote that NBI officers visited the agency today and conducted an interview with its former head Anton Zakrajšek and the signatory of the contract with Geneplanet, Alojz Černe.

"The agency has consistently been cooperating constructively with all bodies investigating its past deals," the press release says.

The investigation prompted today the resignation of both Police Commissioner Anton Travner and Interior Minister Aleš Hojs. The latter suggested the operation showed the police were serving the deep state and not the citizens.

While Počivalšek, who is the head of the junior coalition Modern Centre Party (SMC), survived a no-confidence motion in parliament over opaque PPE and ventilator purchases earlier this month, a criminal complaint was also filed against him last week by the editorial board of the weekly Mladina.

The 220 Siriusmed R30 ventilators ordered through Geneplanet, a deal which Gale said had been described by Počivalšek at a meeting as a deal for the senior coalition Democrats (SDS), have been one of the central coronavirus procurement stories.

Critics have warned that the ventilators provided by Geneplanet had been picked even though an expert evaluation group had expressed reservations about them and put them at the very bottom of a list of ventilators deemed appropriate.

While critics also claimed they were outdated, pricey, and mostly delivered without essential additional equipment, the government has defended the purchase by pointing to the circumstances on markets and scarce access to ventilators in what had been the peak of the coronavirus crisis in mid-March.

The contract with Geneplanet was changed after the story broke and as the epidemiological situation improved, so the company ended up delivering 110 ventilators while also buying 20 back. According to the business newspaper Finance, the final price tag was EUR 3.6 million.

STA, 30 June 2020 - The state-owned telecoms company Telekom Slovenije has reportedly sold its troubled subsidiary Planet TV to the Hungarian free-to-air channel TV2, owned by Jozsef Vida, whom media associate with the business network of the Hungarian ruling party Fidesz.

The unofficial news was broken on Tuesday by the editor of the news portal Požareport, Bojan Požar, who wrote that Planet TV, which produces the eponymous TV channel, has been sold for EUR 5 million, with the transaction still outstanding.

Telekom Slovenije, which launched Planet TV in 2012 under the then Janez Janša government, has not confirmed or denied the report.

Speculation that Hungary's TV2 was eyeing Planet TV started in early June, when reports also mentioned Croatian entrepreneur Ivan Ćaleta as a second candidate.

It was reported that the telecoms incumbent had been looking for a strategic partner which would buy a 49% share in the TV production company already at the beginning of January, only to change its mind later on.

According to the newspaper Delo, Planet TV has cost Telekom Slovenije EUR 80 million in the form of capital injections, advertisements, loans and other services since it was launched in September 2012, and has operated in the red all the time.

The latest blow was the Court of Arbitration of the International Chamber of Commerce ordering Telekom last year to pay a EUR 23 million buyout to Antenna Group, the Greek partner who wanted out of the joint venture.

The telco, which thus became the sole owner of Planet TV, saw the buyout significantly reduce its profit last year, which reached a mere EUR 1.2 million.

After initially announcing the search for a strategic partner, Telekom Slovenije said in mid-March that selling the outright stake in Planet TV was also an option.

Planet TV was established by Telekom Slovenije at the time of Janša's 2012-13 government. Telekom also owns news web portal Siol.net, which got a new editor-in-chief after Janša became PM again in March.

Hungarian ownership is meanwhile presently involved in two Slovenian media outlets associated with Janša's Democrats (SDS) - the weekly paper Demokracija and the NovaTV web portal and TV channel.

Al our stories on Slovenia and Hungary

STA, 29 2020 - Various Slovenian cultural NGOs, institutions, festivals and artists are joining forces in a campaign called We are #Open (#odprti) for Culture, a joint platform aimed at raising awareness about the importance of culture. A series of events and action projects will highlight the role of creative endeavours in tackling current and future issues.

At today's press conference marking the launch of the campaign, Matevž Čelik Vidmar, the head of the Architecture and Design Museum (MAO), presented a study by the Centre for Creativity that stresses the role of culture in societal development as well as sustainable economy and dealing with the current burning issues.

"Culture and creative professions are those that could introduce new ideas into society and could be a laboratory for innovative concepts to find a way out of the crisis we are facing right now," he said.

Tibor Mihelič Syed, director of the Ljubljana SMG theatre, said that the joint project would in the long run strive to raise awareness about the role of the cultural, arts and creative ecosystem.

Apart from highlighting that cultural venues are reopening after the corona crisis, the campaign will also pursue long-term goals, such as creating a positive brand reminding the public that culture does not equal useless spending of public funds but is a set of positive values, said Tomaž Simetinger of the Slovenian Cultural Associations Union.

The first part of the campaign, #openstage (#odprtioder), will include some 100 free-of-charge events, taking place during the Slovenian Cinematheque summer open-air cinema between 1 July and 31 August. Museums are joining the action with extended opening times during summer and special events.

The programme, available on odprti.si web page [ed. at the time of writing the webpage was up, but there was no programme – you can follow #odprtioder on Twitter here, and the more general #odprti here], will feature various genres and strive to attract people who were not interested in such events prior to the corona crisis, said Uroš Korenčan, the head of the Ljubljana Puppet Theatre.

The efforts will strive to make a positive change not only in Ljubljana, but also in other Slovenian cities and towns, including Koper, Murska Sobota, Novo Mesto, Nova Gorica, Kranj and Celje. The campaign will try to actively involve other cities as well, leaving no one behind, said Inga Remeta, the head of the Asociacija NGO.

STA, 29 June 2020 - The government lowered the number of persons allowed in public gatherings from 500 to 50 in a correspondence session on Monday. The only exception will be official events licensed by the National Institute of Public Health. The government also indicated stricter oversight of quarantine orders.

 Government spokesperson Jelko Kacin told the press before the government session today that several coronavirus hotspots had emerged recently as a result of parties and other gatherings where social distancing rules had not been observed.

Despite lowering the cap of total attendees, the government will allow the possibility of gatherings of up to 500 people in cases where organisers are able to guarantee social distance and get the go-ahead from NIJZ, like events with seating order and stewardship services. Kacin said that this exception would apply to any rallies.

He was reserved in his answers about parties, but said that "the analysis of the patient's age clearly shows where they socialised. The young socialised at private parties which were also attended by guests from abroad."

The commercial broadcaster POP TV meanwhile reported of a lively night life in Ljubljana. While night clubs remain closed, bars are open late into the night, hosting large numbers of patrons.

When asked what the new restriction would mean for weddings, Kacin said the decision was in the hands of couples. They should decide whether the event can be carried out in line with the restrictions.

He also suggested that vulnerable groups should not attend and that the number of people be kept under 50. "A wedding with an infection is not a lovely thing to remember."

Kacin also said that better oversight of those sent into quarantine is a must in order to contain the spread of the virus.

He was critical of the Health Ministry, saying that quarantine oversight, in the purview of the Health Inspectorate, was "absolutely inadequate".

The speaker said that no inspector should be on vacation. "Oversight is needed now, to see who obeys by their quarantine orders, or else, our hospitals will be bursting at the seams come August," Kacin said.

He also said that a special Covid-19 expert task force had explicitly said that oversight must be boosted, with Kacin expressing hope that Health Minister Tomaž Gantar heard the plea.

The Interior Ministry has offered the Health Inspectorate support in oversight and no health inspector should find themselves in a situation where they do not have police support but need it, said Kacin, but did not mention any specific problems.

Four new coronavirus cases in Slovenia on Sunday

STA, 29 June 2020 - Four new coronavirus infections were confirmed in Slovenia on Sunday, when 300 people took the test. Eight Covid-19 patients were in hospital, none of them in intensive care. No deaths were reported either, the government said on Twitter today.

The latest cases bring the tally of active cases to 89, out of the total of 1,585 so far confirmed.

One of the four new cases was confirmed in Ljubljana and the other three in Ravne na Koroškem. Ljubljana now has 17 active cases and Ravne four, according to the tracker site covid-19.sledilnik.org.

As many as 64 new cases were confirmed in the past seven days.

Those included two pupils in two different classes at Škofljica Primary School, the municipality just south of Ljubljana.

Information on the school's website shows the school had been notified of the infections Thursday, a day after the end of school year, whereupon it alerted all the parents.

Headteacher Roman Brunšek told the STA today that the infected pupils were from the same family and that their classmates had been ordered to self-isolate, as were the teachers who had been in contact with them for a while.

Meanwhile, news broke in the evening that at least three Covid-19 cases were discovered today among employees of the UKC Maribor hospital.

While the reports have not been confirmed yet, some media reported that three employees of the hospital's emergency ward have all the symptoms of the disease and that intensive contact tracing is under way.

So far 111 Covid-19-related deaths have been confirmed in Slovenia.

There are presently 6,380 people in quarantine in Slovenia, while 7,190 quarantine orders have been issued since the beginning of June, the Health Ministry told the STA.

Quarantine orders can be issued for healthy individuals who have been in close contact with an infected person. Moreover, people entering Slovenia from red-listed countries are also subjected to two weeks of quarantine.

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:

New restrictions looming as infections keep rising

LJUBLJANA - The government spokesman Jelko Kacin announced that Slovenia would remove Croatia from the green list of Covid-19 safe countries if the daily count of new cases there exceeds 10 per 100,000 residents tomorrow, confirming a two-week trend. Later in the day the Slovenian government lowered the cap on gatherings from 500 to 50, except for events sanctioned by the National Institute of Public Health where sufficient distance between visitors can be assured. The move comes as Slovenia recorded four new cases on Sunday, one in Ljubljana and three in Ravne na Koroškem in the north, bringing the tally of active cases to 89, out of the total of 1,585 so far confirmed.

Govt packs latest Covid-19 measures into new legislative proposal

LJUBLJANA - The government adopted an emergency bill in preparations for a second wave of the Covid-19 pandemic late on Sunday to adopt measures initially planned as amendments to the third stimulus package to avoid a procedural glitch. These include an extension to the furlough scheme until at least 31 July and a legal basis for a Covid-19 tracing app. The app could be made mandatory for infected persons and those placed under quarantine, while being voluntary for everyone else, although government officials argued today for the app, modelled on Italy's or Germany's to be fully voluntary.

Chief supervisor of 2TDK resigns

LJUBLJANA - Matej Pirc, the chief supervisor of 2TDK, the state-run company established to manage the project of a second rail link to the port of Koper, resigned. No reason was given for his decision, which comes amid speculation that the government was about to replace the entire supervisory board and subsequently the management. The EUR 1 billion-plus investment has been in the spotlight because the government would like for Chinese and Turkish bidders to be excluded from the bidding process based on EU guidelines aimed at preventing social dumping.

EU Commission approves Slovenia's state aid scheme for companies

LJUBLJANA - The European Commission has approved a EUR 600 million state aid scheme for Slovenian companies affected by the coronavirus crisis. Under the scheme, companies from various sectors will receive aid as grants, payment breaks and subsidies. The goal is to help companies stay operational and keep staff, and help them get through their liquidity problems caused by the Covid-19 pandemic. The aid in grants or payment breaks for companies in agriculture is capped at EUR 100,000, for those in fishing and fish farming at EUR 120,000 and for those in other sectors at EUR 80,000.

IMAD says coronacrisis measures must address developmental challenges

LJUBLJANA - The Institute of Macroeconomic Analysis and Development (IMAD) recommends that measures to help relaunch the economy in the wake of the coronacrisis should also target the country's key developmental challenges. The crisis will also expose the fields in which the country failed to make progress, IMAD said in its 2020 development report. The government think tank highlighted as problematic a large share of people in precarious work, systemic shortcomings of long-term care, long waiting periods in health care, the lack of digital skills among the general population, red tape and long procedures.

EU committee warns Slovenia over pay discrimination

STRASBOURG, France - The European Committee of Social Rights warned Slovenia over failure to honour the right to equal pay and opportunities in the workplace regardless of gender. The gender pay gap substantially increased in Slovenia between 2010 and 2017. The committee warned 14 out of 15 member states that had endorsed the collective complaints procedure under the European Social Charter. Eurostat data show women in Slovenia faced a wage gap of 8% in 2017, which compares to EU average of 16%.

Jobless total on continued weekly decline throughout June

LJUBLJANA - Last week, the number of registered unemployed persons was down for the fourth week in a row, staying below 90,000, preliminary data from the Employment Service show. The figure is, however, still below that in March, when the coronavirus epidemic was declared and the government imposed lockdown measures. According to a posting on the service's website, the number of registered unemployed was down by 319 to 89,260 last week.

Worker protest announced against planned lay-offs at Ljubljana airport

BRNIK - The Ljubljana airport trade union is to stage a protest against planned redundancies at Ljubljana airport on Thursday. The in-house union has decided to protest over the decision of the management to launch lay-off proceedings for "a larger number of employees", reportedly around 120 or a quarter of the workforce. "A company that was generating millions in profit regularly in recent years (more than EUR 20 million only in the past couple of years) started to make redundancies almost straight away when faced with this year's epidemic ramifications," the union said about the German operator, which took over from the state in 2014.

Soldiers' union seeks charges over Statehood Day ceremony incident

LJUBLJANA - A soldiers' trade union filed a criminal complaint against an unknown perpetrator on suspicion of slander against the state after the Guard of Honour of the Slovenian Armed Forces was being called traitors ahead of Wednesday's Statehood Day state ceremony. Condemning the conduct, the Union of the Slovenian Soldiers welcomed Defence Minister Matej Tonin's condemnation of the incident, and urged President Borut Pahor as supreme commander to do the same.

SocDems and Left gain ground as LMŠ slips in POP TV poll

LJUBLJANA - The ruling Democratic Party (SDS) lost some ground in the latest monthly poll run by POP TV but continues to command a firm lead, while the opposition Marjan Šarec List (LMŠ) appears to be losing support to the Left and the Social Democrats (SD). The SDS polled at 16.8%, down 1.7 percentage points, as its three junior coalition partners gained ground. The LMŠ in second slipped back by 3.7 percentage points to 10.3%, whereas the Left added 1.6 points to 8.9% and the SD clawed back 1.7 points to 8.3%.

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

STA, 28 June 2020 - Due to a growing number of confirmed new coronavirus cases in Slovenia in the past few days, the government will hold a session on Sunday evening to discuss a bill that would implement emergency measures dealing with the potential second wave of infections.

Unofficial sources say that the measures will be primarily aimed at preventing large gatherings, reported Radio Slovenija.

The government will hence likely amend the ban on public gatherings. Currently, events and assemblies are capped at 500 persons due to coronavirus contagion risk.

Milan Krek, the head of the National Public Health Institute (NIJZ), told Radio Slovenija that tightening the ban would be one of the key measures that "reduce risk of the new emergence of infections turning into an epidemic wave".

The daily record of confirmed infections with the novel coronavirus dropped to almost zero in mid-May, however the number of cases has been increasing since mid-June. On 22 June, more than ten cases were confirmed in a single day for the first time since 29 April, show NIJZ data.

Nine new cases were confirmed on Saturday after conducting 625 coronavirus tests, with three cases detected in the coastal Koper municipality.

Govt may be forced to de-list Croatia as Covid-19 safe country

STA, 29 June 2020 - The Slovenian government will be forced to de-list Croatia as a Covid-19 safe country on Tuesday if the number of infections there exceeds 10 per 100,000 residents, government spokesman Jelko Kacin announced on Monday. He said that given the coronavirus curve of the last two weeks, this was expected.

Croatia will in that case be placed on the yellow list, meaning that a warning of the danger will be in place for all Slovenians already in Croatia, those planning to go there, and those returning from the country.

They will be urged to keep safety distance while in the country and contact their doctor if they notice any symptoms of Covid-19 when they return to Slovenia.

Kacin noted that Croatia, which has seen a surge in the number of new infections recently, had decided to lift a ban on nightclub partying, a move Slovenia had not opted for even after the epidemic was declared over.

Kacin said a number of Slovenians had bought tickets for a beach party on the island of Pag.

Slovenia is monitoring the situation very closely, he said, adding that there had also been reports of some problems with counting the new cases in Croatia.

"I think there is plenty of reasons for concern and of course to also take action," he told the press.

The two countries' prime ministers, Janez Janša and Andrej Plenković, have already talked about the issue and would further discuss it over the phone later today, Kacin said.

Slovenia expects Croatia to take certain measures to curb the spread of the virus, including close nightclubs and cancel outdoor parties.

As for other countries in the region, Kacin said the number of infections had been rising drastically in Bosnia and Herzegovina, from which 15 cases had been imported to Slovenia.

The outbreak appears to have peaked in North Macedonia, but no infection has come to Slovenia from there, since this was the first country placed on the red list.

In Serbia, many people were infected at a football match, probably more than official figures suggest, commented Kacin, adding that 16 cases had come to Slovenia from there.

Montenegro currently has two major hotspots, one of them being the result of the match in Serbia. The problem with Kosovo, which is also seeing a surge in new cases, is that relatively few tests are conducted there, Kacin noted. Six cases have been imported to Slovenia from there.

In Albania, the number of new infections is also on the rise.

Meanwhile, Kacin highlighted Greece as a stable and safe country.

Out of the total 44 imported cases in June, one each also came from Croatia, Russia, Kazakhstan, Sweden, US, Austria and Germany.

Slovenia places countries on the so-called red list when they have had more than 40 new daily infections per 100,000 inhabitants for the past two weeks. A 14-day quarantine is obligatory for citizens coming from those countries.

Countries seeing more than ten new daily infections per 100,000 residents over the past 14 days are struck from the green list of Covid-19 safe countries and placed onto an intermediate list.

STA, 28 June 2020 - Slovenian seaside resorts, popular tourist destinations in the country, are seeing a considerably bigger share of domestic guests in the wake of coronavirus restrictions as well as concerns and introduction of government holiday vouchers. Accommodation providers are optimistic, recording growing demand.

What You Need to Know about Slovenia’s Tourist Vouchers to Kickstart the Tourism Industry

Since Thursday, all seaside hotels belonging to the Sava Turizem company are open and have been almost fully booked this weekend. Eurotas hotels on the coast are also seeing increased demand.

Next weekend, the situation will be similar, said Sava Turizem; its hotels in Izola and Strunjan are to be mostly fully booked, whereas the rest will record 65%-70% occupancy rate.

Domestic guests are the majority, followed by tourists from Austria and Germany.

The share of Slovenian guests in Sava Turizem hotels has spiked. Previously, domestic guests accounted for some 30% of all the demand, whereas this year almost 80% come from Slovenia.

Meanwhile, Eurotas hotels at the seaside have also reopened, seeing buoyant demand. Foreign guests are still more common, however the share of Slovenians has increased as well compared to previous tourist seasons.

Moreover, government holiday vouchers have been in the spotlight, with many Slovenians opting to use them or asking about relevant instructions, the company said.