News

03 Dec 2019, 09:21 AM

Iraqi Gets 6 Yrs for Attacking Taxi Driver, Police Officer

STA, 2 December 2019 - The Nova Gorica District Court has sentenced Iraqi citizen Al Hamdani Yassin Amar to six years in prison for assaulting a taxi driver and a police officer, and an attempted car theft in the Nova Gorica area in July. After serving his sentence, he will be deported from Slovenia.

The 26-year-old defendant was not present in court for the sentencing on Monday, after confessing to the crimes at a pre-trial hearing last week.

Prosecutor Ana Radovanović Širok sought a two-year prison sentence for assault on the taxi driver, another four years for assault on a police officer, and five months for attempted car theft, or a total of six years.

Judge Igor Majnik agreed with her proposal and issued a six-year prison sentence for the 26-year old, who is in custody.

The Trade Union of Police Officers (SPS) expressed indignation over the length of the sentence already after the pre-trial hearing. It argued that the man had committed serious crimes, and that a police officer had been a victim.

The trade union said it saw the sentence as a "complete devaluation of life, security and personal integrity of all police officers and all citizens who could found themselves in the role of the injured party".

In July, the Iraqi man entered a taxi in Vrtojba but only a few kilometres later, it became clear to the taxi driver that the man did not have enough money to pay for the ride to Ljubljana, so he pulled over on the expressway and wanted him to leave the car.

But the 26-year-old resisted and attacked the taxi driver with a hobby knife. Two police officers rushed to the scene to find the driver bleeding from his neck and saying he had been attacked by a man in the near-by taxi.

The taxi driver had escaped from the vehicle and took the keys with him, while the Iraqi man attempted to hotwire the car to get to Ljubljana on his own.

As the police officers approached him, he responded with threats and started running towards one of them with the knife shouting, police said.

The officer fired a warning shot, but that did not stop the man so he shot him in the leg.

03 Dec 2019, 04:50 AM

Morning Headlines for Slovenia: Tuesday, 3 December 2019

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.

A schedule of all the main events involving Slovenia this week can be found here

This summary is provided by the STA:

Cerar meets Dačić as he starts official visit to Serbia

BELGRADE, Serbia - Foreign Minister Miro Cerar met his Serbian counterpart Ivica Dačić as he started an official two-day visit to Serbia. The visit is part of the two countries' preparations for a joint 17 December government session, but the pair also discussed EU enlargement and the situation in the Western Balkans. Cerar was quoted by the Slovenian Foreign Ministry as saying that Slovenia would make an effort for EU enlargement to the Western Balkans to be given a fresh impetus with the new European Commission and the EU's new foreign policy chief Josep Borrell. "But just as enlargement must continue and the start of negotiations with North Macedonia and Albania must be launched, so must continue the dialogue between Serbia and Kosovo. Status quo benefits nobody," he said.

Slovenia wants focus on reducing illegal migrations

BRUSSELS, Belgium - Slovenia advocates a comprehensive approach to migrations in the future EU migration and asylum policy. The underlying goal must be to reduce illegal migrations, Interior Minister Boštjan Poklukar told a session of the EU's Justice and Home Affairs Council. It is necessary to relieve the burden on countries in the management of migrations and establish a new European asylum agency. Poklukar also highlighted the costs incurred by local communities along the border, for example damage to infrastructure, and said the EU should make allowance for such damage in its financial plans.

Lower chamber overrides both state budget-related vetoes

LJUBLJANA - The National Assembly overturned both vetoes the upper chamber imposed last week to block the state budget for 2020 and 2021, meaning the 2020 budget will start to be implemented on 1 January as planned. The bill on the implementation of the 2020-2021 budgets had been vetoed due to insufficient funding of municipalities and an emergency bill had been vetoed for envisaging a lump sum increase in pensions instead of a rise in percentage form. Prime Minister Marjan Šarec said common sense had prevailed.

Pahor does not think arbitration report release useful

LJUBLJANA - President Borut Pahor commented on the latest row over the parliamentary report on the arbitration intelligence scandal in a televised interview on Sunday, finding that while the report was useful for the country, its publication at the moment was not. This was because "the neighbouring country or some third party could take only what benefits them from the report", Pahor explained in the interview with public broadcaster TV Slovenija.

Janša expects trouble for govt, early election

LJUBLJANA - Opposition Democrat (SDS) leader Janez Janša expects "an early election sooner or later" because the government coalition is running out of "sweets" to distribute among voters, "which will cause big trouble". If fragmented, minority governments do not last long, Janša said as he commenced on political developments on the sidelines of an event marking the 30th anniversary of the DEMOS government. The current coalition will "keep the government alive for a while longer, but all they can do is harm", said Janša, whose SDS won the 2018 election but could not form a government as practically all parties rejected working with it.

Minister Pivec's future uncertain as report confirms wrongdoing

LJUBLJANA - Agriculture Minister Aleksandra Pivec of the Pensioners' Party (DeSUS) is staying on for the time being even if a report by the Economy Ministry, which was released by news portal Pozareport on Monday, accuses her of wrongdoing in an EU-funded tourism project. Her party boss Karl Erjavec, whom Pivec will challenge for the party leadership in January, said it should be PM Marjan Šarec to decide whether she was still fit to stay on as minister. Pivec reiterated she had done nothing wrong, but announced she would be willing to step down if she lost Šarec's trust. Šarec said he would take a decision after studying the report and talking to Pivec.

Low expectations as climate change conference starts

MADRID, Spain - As the UN Climate Change Conference COP25 opened in Madrid, Slovenian experts and activists do not expect a major breakthrough. Climate researcher Lučka Kajfež Bogataj believes the debates will again go in circles about emissions and historical questions about who is to blame for the situation. She believes this is fruitless because there is no absolute truth about blame. "When we are talking about survival, GDP and economic growth must take a back seat."

Potočnik says Just Transition Fund a good and necessary idea

BRUSSELS, Belgium - Former European Commissioner Janez Potočnik told the STA as a European Green Deal is soon to be revealed by the new European Commission that a fair distribution of burdens will be key for a successful transition to a zero-carbon economy. He believes the emerging Just Transition Fund is a good and necessary idea. "The fact that the Commission is starting its term with a green deal as its first priority task is an important shift, which should not be underestimated," he said.

Importance of dialogue stressed at DEMOS ceremony

LJUBLJANA - President Borut Pahor hosted a reception to mark the 30th anniversary since the formation of the Democratic Opposition of Slovenia (DEMOS), which won the first multi-party elections in 1990. He recalled how dialogue had played an important role in Slovenia's path to independence and stressed that "national unity for independence did not just appear out of nowhere".

Report: C-bank vice governor fails to dispel tax evasion suspicion

LJUBLJANA - The Commission for the Prevention of Corruption has found that Marko Bošnjak, vice governor at Slovenia's central bank, is unable to provide evidence that he has paid tax from the rent he gets for his apartment in Ljubljana, public broadcaster RTV Slovenija reported. Bošnjak was unavailable for comment, but said through his lawyer the procedure was not over yet, as he could still turn to the Administrative Court. The central bank has not yet received the commission's report.

Return on state equity projected to decrease in 2020

LJUBLJANA - Slovenian Sovereign Holding (SSH) expects the state assets under its management to yield a somewhat lower return in 2020 than this year. The draft asset management plan submitted by SSH to the government last week projects a 5.9% return on equity in 2020, down from an estimated 6.2% this year, as a result of the slowdown of economic growth, regulatory demands, and the sale of state-owned banks, which had produced generous dividend yields in previous years.

IMAD sees social protection funding as main challenge

LJUBLJANA - Labour shortages and financing of social protection systems are the main challenges for Slovenia that demand public policy action, the government macroeconomic think tank IMAD points out in its latest annual publication Economic Issues. The two challenges "already significantly affect our community, and will do so even more in the future, which is why they demand public policy measures". To ensure that the social protection systems are sustainable, many public policies should be adjusted, both on the expenditure and revenue sides, it added.

Unior selling its tourism subsidiary Unitur

ZREČE - Unior, a group specialising in forged metals and tools, announced it was selling its tourism company Unitur after it reached a deal to sell its tourism business with creditors a few years ago. As part of a deal to restructure its loans, Unior agreed in 2016 that it would sell its tourism business. Unior has already sold RTC Krvavec, a firm managing the ski slopes on Krvavec, while Unitur manages the Zreče spa and Rogla ski centre.

Several cases of measles recorded in November

LJUBLJANA - The National Institute of Public Health registered seven case of measles in November. One person caught the disease abroad and then infected another five adults in Slovenia, while the seventh case was unrelated to the mini outbreak of the disease. This puts the number of confirmed cases of measles in Slovenia this year to 25, of which two were recorded in foreign citizens. In most of the cases, measles are contracted abroad and brought to Slovenia. There has been a rising global trend of measles infections in recent years, caused mostly by insufficient vaccination coverage, including in Slovenia.

Chestnut Woods wins debut award in Tallinn

TALLINN, Estonia - Stories from the Chestnut Woods won Gregor Božič the first feature film award at the Black Nights Film Festival in Tallinn, Estonia, in what is the first international award for the Slovenian-Italian co-production. Based on Anton Chekhov's short stories and folk tradition of Benečija, an area in eastern Italy populated by ethnic Slovenians, the film features an international cast and crew from seven countries. It won 11 awards at the Festival of Slovenian Film in September.

French-Mexican slasher wins top honours at LGBT film fest

LJUBLJANA - Knife + Heart, a French-Mexican slasher by Yann Gonzalez, won the Pink Dragon, the top honour at the 35th Festival of LGBT Film, which concluded on Sunday. The 2018 film tells the story of Anne, who produces cheap gay porn. The audience award went to Portrait of a Lady on Fire, a French historical drama by director Céline Sciamma that focuses on Marianna, a young painter in the 18th-century France who is commissioned to do the wedding portrait of Héloise without her knowing.

Animated film fest kicks off

LJUBLJANA - The 16th Animateka international animated film festival opened at Kinodvor with a selection of shorts, followed by Bunuel in the Labyrinth of the Turtles by Salvador Simo, a portrait of the surrealist filmmaker Luis Bunuel. The week-long marathon will see 360 shorts and a dozen feature-length films, including 32 in the competition programme, among them Milanka Fabjančič's Liliana, which won the Vesna Award for best animated film at the Festival of Slovenian Film in September.

Iraqi man gets six years for assault on taxi driver, police officer

NOVA GORICA - The Nova Gorica District Court sentenced Iraqi citizen Al Hamdani Yassin Amar to six years in prison for assaulting a taxi driver and a police officer, and an attempted car theft in the Nova Gorica area in July. After serving his sentence, he will be deported from Slovenia. The 26-year-old confessed to the crimes at a pre-trial hearing last week.

Visiting Ljubljana? Check out what's on this week, while all our stories on Slovenia, from newest to oldest, are here

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

02 Dec 2019, 19:53 PM

Luka Dončić Meets Kris in Los Angeles

Luka Dončić (Dallas Mavericks) met with the little boy named Kris who is undergoing an expensive and relatively risky genetic treatment in Los Angeles ahead of the Dallas Mavericks game against LA Lakers last night.

Luka Dončić has joined the fundraising campaign in Slovenia, in which over €3 million was raised to send little Kris with his parents to Los Angeles for a very expensive genetic treatment not yet available in his home country.

Kris is a toddler from Slovenia who suffers from type 1 spinal muscular atrophy (SMA1), a serious genetic disease. If left untreated, the majority SMA1 patients do not reach the age of four, with recurrent respiratory problems being the primary cause of death. A new genetic treatment, Onasemnogene abeparvovec, has been developed and approved by the USA Food and drug administration (FDA) in March 2019, but is still awaiting its approval from the European and Japanese authorities. The price of Zolgensma, which is a trade name of the drug, was set at $2.125 million (approximately €1.942 million), which makes Zolgensma the world’s most expensive medication by far.

Since the drug has not yet been approved in Europe, it is also not part of the health insurance system. For European patients, the drug is therefore available in the USA and at their own expense. The drug is only administered to children under 24 months of age and the disease develops fast, so Kris did not have time to wait for the drug to be approved in Europe and included into the health security system there.

Dončić met with Kris and his family at the basketball court, just before his team beat the LA Lakers 114:100.

02 Dec 2019, 15:55 PM

EU Hearings Start in Slovenia vs Croatia Teran Wine Case (Background)

STA, 2 December 2019 - The General Court of the European Union will start with oral hearings Tuesday related to Slovenia's legal action against the European Commission for granting Croatia a derogation enabling it to use Teran, the name of a red wine protected by Slovenia.

Hearings at the General Court are similar to those at the European Court of Justice. Each side presents their views and then judges ask questions.

The hearings will be similar to the July oral hearing in a case that Slovenia has brought against Croatia due to Croatia's failure to implement the 2017 border arbitration award.

However, judges of the General Court usually ask more questions and the questions are more detailed, and there is also no advocate general.

A ruling is expected a few months after the hearings, the court has said.

The hearings will be open for the public but may not be recorded. A panel of five judges will be ruling in the case, and their identity will be revealed on Tuesday.

EU institutions and member states can express their support to either of the parties involved but other than Croatia no other countries are expected to present their views on the matter.

Slovenia brought the legal action on 15 September 2017, protesting against the Commission's decision to enable Croatia to use the name Teran for a grape variety for the designated Hrvatska Istra (Croatian Istra) wine label under certain terms.

Slovenia, which will be represented by the State Attorney's Office and German lawyer Roland Knaak, argues that the derogation is unlawful and that it would cause economic damage to Slovenian producers of Teran.

Slovenia will argue that the delegated act on Teran, which took effect on 21 July 2017, is null and void because it runs contrary to the principles of EU law, according to the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Food.

The ministry claims that the EU-proposed condition that the name Hrvatska Istra on the wine label is bigger than the Teran name is misleading for consumers, because they can wrongfully assume that this is the protected Slovenian Teran wine.

During the procedure to adopt the delegated act, Slovenia had been presenting numerous remarks related to the procedure and had been arguing that Croatia should have raised the Teran issue during its EU accession talks, before joining the EU.

In a response to Slovenia's action, the Commission reiterated that the delegated act in no way affected the status of the Slovenian protected wine and that the labelling conditions had made sure that consumers would not be misled.

The dispute over Teran broke out in April 2013 at a meeting of EU agriculture ministers in Luxembourg. After Slovenia removed Croatian wine that was sold under the name of Teran from store shelves, Croatia protested and called for a joint cross-border protection of Teran.

The European Commission said at the time that Slovenia had protected Teran as a Slovenian wine on the EU market, so no Croatian wine can be sold under that name, and that Croatia had not opposed to Slovenia's move.

But as the Commission's leadership changed in 2014, rumours started that the Commission was planning to adopt a delegated act on Teran in line with an agreement made during Croatia's accession talks, which Slovenia knew nothing about.

In December 2016, the Commission decided to grant Croatia a "limited exception" in the case of Teran, meaning that the country would be allowed to use the name for wines justifying existing labelling practices.

Subsequently, Slovenia has brought legal action against the Commission. After the General Court delivers its ruling, both parties will have the right to appeal to the Court of Justice of the European Union.

02 Dec 2019, 15:47 PM

Boris Johnson Promises to Make it More Difficult for Slovenians, Other Europeans to Enter UK Post-Brexit

Boris Johnson, the British Prime Minister, has made an election pledge to make it more difficult for EU citizens to enter the UK after Brexit, in the wake of a terrorist attack in London last Friday that has so far claimed two lives. The attack was carried out by a British citizen, born and raised in Stoke-on-Trent, and stopped by a group that included a Polish immigrant wielding a narwhal tusk that he obtained from the wall of a nearby fish market, in a scene that has since been viewed around the world.

After the incident the Conservative Party announced five changes to border rules, including a requirement for Europeans to submit to electronic clearance procedures before entering the UK. Under the proposal EU nationals would need to get clearance to visit the UK using a new Electronic Travel Authorisation, an online form intended “to screen arrivals and block threats from entering the UK,” similar to the Electronic System for Travel Authorization (ESTA) scheme used in America.

However, EU nationals should not feel singled out in having their freedom curtailed in this manner, as Prime Minister Johnson's Brexit plans would also see UK citizens lose freedom of movement to the EU 27 as well as more red tape when they choose to leave the British Isles, thus reducing their opportunities for travel, work, study and more, with the poorest being hit hardest by the changes.

02 Dec 2019, 12:15 PM

14,066 Illegal Border Crossings Recorded in October, Most from Pakistan, Algeria & Afghanistan

STA, 1 December 2019 - The Slovenian police recorded 14,066 illegal crossings of the border in the first ten months of the year, which is almost 72% more than in the same period of 2018. The largest groups of migrants came from Pakistan, Algeria and Afghanistan.

August was the month with the highest number of illegal crossings of the border since the 2016 mass migrations, whereupon the number of monthly crossings started dropping as the weather started to deteriorate.

The number of people who expressed the wish to stay in Slovenia was also up. Some 4,441 expressed the intention to seek international protection on contact with the police, up from 3,952 in the year before.

But the statistics show most people treat Slovenia as a transit country, with many who submit formal requests leaving the country before their cases are heard.

Of the over 4,400 who expressed their intention to seek asylum, only 3,350 eventually did so and the vast majority of cases were suspended because people had left, presumably to other EU countries.

The actual number of asylum seekers staying in Slovenia is thus low relative to the overall number of migrants, show figures by the Government Office for the Support and Integration of Migrants.

On 28 November there were 335 persons in asylum centres awaiting the processing of their requests for international protection and 697 residing in Slovenia who have already been granted international protection

All figures below are from official police and Interior Ministry data.

Illegal crossings in January-October, by citizenship

               2018         2019
--------------------------------
Pakistan      2,531        3,777
Algeria         832        1,752
Afghanistan     956        1,519
Morocco         343        1,112
Bangladesh      172        1,090
Syria           620          754
Iraq            466          694
Turkey          221          618
Iran            684          604
Croatia         274          301
Other         1,087        1,845
--------------------------------
TOTAL          8186       14,066

Illegal crossings and requests for asylum in 2018,
first ten months of 2019

Month             Crossings      Asylum requests
               2018    2019        2018     2019
-------------------------------------------------
January         248     319         172      205
February        210     326         223      216
March           210   1,075         129      356
April           644   1,389         274      334
May           1,286   1,306         365      404
June          1,043   1,266         267      287
July          1,119   1,793         287      387
August        1,152   2,379         381      388
September       999   1,988         256      356
October       1,275   2,225         201      417
November        722                 170
December        358                 150
-------------------------------------------------
Total Jan-Oct 8,186  14,066

Persons returned to Slovenian police and persons returned
to foreign authorities by Slovenian police, Jan-Oct

              Returned to          Returned to
            Slovenian police   foreign authorities
Country        2018    2019        2018     2019
------------------------------------------------
Italy           343     235          59       68
Austria          29      77          16       13
Croatia           8      25       3,906    9,653
Hungary          18       5           5        2
Airport         150     211          30       25
------------------------------------------------
Total           548     553       4,016    9,761

Number of requests for asylum and their status in 2018,
first ten months of 2019

Status
                                   2018     2019
------------------------------------------------
Requests                          2,875    3,350
Requests for repeat procedure        40       25
Repeat procedure                     27       47
Solved cases                      2,886    3,234
Asylum granted                      102       62
Asylum denied                       135      102
Procedure suspended               2,372    2,792
Dismissed requests                  277      278
Permanent move                       40        0
Relocation                           21        0

02 Dec 2019, 08:41 AM

Slovenian Book of the Year a Graphic Novel of Horror & Fantasy

STA, 1 December 2019 - An idiosyncratic graphic novel that was originally released in instalments on Facebook has won the Grand Prix for book of the year at the Slovenian Book Fair.

"Vinjete Straholjubca" (The Bête Noire Vignettes) is a joint project by writer Eva Mahkovic and illustrator Eva Mlinar, and the first original Slovenian release by VigeVageKnjige, a publisher specialised in translations of comics and graphic novels.

slovene book of year 3.jpeg

Originally a series of short snippets posted on Facebook between 2011 and 2015, the project morphed into a loosely connected collage of horror stories that the publisher describes as "an attempt to create a literary and visual collection of the grotesque of an elusive genre".

The Book Fair jury, comprising literature lovers as well as industry professionals, described it as an "intimate and provocative manifestation of a tangle of lucid ideas by two authors".

The authors have created a rich fantastic world of their own, but they also draw profusely on sources including the Bible, William Shakespeare, Truman Capote and Umberto Eco.

slovene book of year 4.jpeg

The book is "controlled down to the last detail, enhancing the reader's experience of encountering the emerging genre of the graphic novel," according to jury member Domen Fras, a graphic designer.

The award is not confined to any one genre, all books published between 1 October 2018 and 30 September 2019 were eligible. The works were judged as integral pieces of art, with the jury considering not just the stories but also layout, language, graphic design, illustration and photography.

The winner was selected by Slovenian Book Fair visitors from among a shortlist of five very diverse works which included a literary guide to Istria, a poetry collection, and a collection of Facebook posts by Mahkovic, the only author with two shortlisted works.

slovene book of year 2.jpeg

Jury member Nina Kožar said the selection was accidentally heavy on books that were created on modern platforms: three started out on Facebook and one seems like it did.

The award was conferred on the last day of the 35th Slovenian Book Fair on Sunday.

You can buy the book online and direct from the publisher here

02 Dec 2019, 08:22 AM

Gorenje Chief Executive: Company Needs to Change Mindset to Return to Profit

STA, 29 November 2019 - The Velenje-based household appliances maker Gorenje, owned by the Chinese conglomerate Hisense, will finish 2019 in the red but hopes to return to profit next year. According to chief executive Lan Lin, this will require a change of mindset, and it will determine whether a TV production facility will be built in Velenje.

Gorenje last year posted a group net loss of EUR 37.7 million, and chief managing director Lin, who is also the chairman of Hisense International, expects it to be in the red at the end of this year as well.

While refusing to reveal any figures, he said Gorenje's business was worst at the beginning of the year but was improving recently due to measures to improve efficiency.

"The first quarter was very bad. In March, things started changing, and a turnaround occurred in May, then July and August were worse because of collective leave, and we were profitable again in September and October," he said.

According to Lin, Gorenje is doing well in Eastern Europe, while in western Europe, especially in Germany, it is considered a low-end brand. "We wish to change that next year. We must raise quality, and our key goal is to raise the prices Gorenje is getting on the market by at least 10%."

Revenue is expected to rise by 5.5% this year and by at least 10% next year.

Western Europe will be crucial, and Gorenje will also start selling in its network Hisense's products such as TV sets, smartphones, air conditioning and refrigerators on European markets and the Commonwealth of Independent States.

Meanwhile, Hisense will start marketing Gorenje and its Asko brand in the Hisense's sales network across Europe and overseas.

A major boost to the group's revenue is expected to be provided by the Chinese market, where Gorenje and Asko are well received. The premium brands Asko and Atag are on sale in more than 200 partner stores.

Lin expects the group to return to profit next year. "We are counting on some EUR 15 million in profit," he said, adding that the group's problems had been detected and would be tackled "step by step".

One of the measures will be to rejig the workforce, with Lin noting that "every 100 production workers support 40 people in sales, marketing, legal and finance ... while the average in our industry is 20."

According to Lin, Gorenje's profitability is crucial for all future investments. Next year some EUR 45 million should be invested in the development of new products, tools and production lines. "If we don't do that, our products will no longer be competitive in five or ten years."

The group's efficiency is also to be boosted through the separation of production in Velenje from administration, which is to relocate to Ljubljana as Hisense Gorenje Europe. "We must become leaner and integrate into Hisense."

Lin thinks Ljubljana will be a better location for attracting talent from all over Europe and is also more appropriate for meetings.

Gorenje also to plans to build a new TV manufacturing plant in Velenje that would employ 1,000 workers but this will depend on the business results, Lin warned.

The plans for the factory are ready but shareholders have put the project on hold because they want efficiency improvements first, he explained. "If all goes according to plan we will definitely realise this project."

Lin thinks the government will provide a financial incentive for the project but said it would not be substantial and noted that companies should not rely too much on government support.

He also revealed that through Asko, talks were under way for the takeover of German TV manufacturer Loewe and that the outcome of the talks should be known in the next few days.

If the takeover is carried out, the TVs would be produced in Velenje.

Asked why Gorenje is reducing its labour force if a new factory is planned, Lin said they were laying off people whom they did not need at the moment.

He would like the work for 100 people to be conducted by 80 people in the future, and they would receive extra pay for the extra workload, while the rest would work at the TV factory.

The Gorenje management is also in regular contact with trade unions, he said, adding that it had proposed a new round of talks only a few days ago. The open issues include a pay raise and the payment of a Christmas bonus.

The group plans to continue selling non-core assets, including some profitable companies, he said.

Hisense remains one of the main UEFA sponsors and next year Gorenje will be promoted at the European Football Championship in what will be its first promotion at such a level, Lin said.

All our stories on Gorenje are here

02 Dec 2019, 04:45 AM

Morning Headlines for Slovenia: Monday, 2 December 2019

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.

A schedule of all the main events involving Slovenia this week can be found here

This summary is provided by the STA:

Change of leadership at Slovenia's protestant community

MURSKA SOBOTA - The new religious leadership of the Slovenian protestant community formally took over as Leon Novak was installed bishop of the Evangelical Lutheran Church. Novak likened himself to the captain of a ship using the Bible as a navigational aid. He said that without biblical guidance, the church is "like a ship lost at sea, at the mercy of the sea currents and the mighty waves of philosophies and ideologies". Evangelical believers elect their representatives in a democratic election and Novak, 56, succeeds Geza Filo.

PM says police doing good job protecting border

MARIBOR - Prime Minister Marjan Šarec dismissed criticism about border security and said police were doing a fine job protecting the EU's external border, as he addressed a ceremony late on Saturday marking the 30th anniversary of a major police operation. "Just like [the police] protected the border in 1989, they are protecting it today. If they were not capable of doing that, we would have illegal migrants at all stations, in all cities and everywhere, like we witnessed in certain other countries," he said.

Over 14,000 migrants crossed into Slovenia through October

LJUBLJANA - The Slovenian police recorded 14,066 illegal crossings of the border in the first ten months of the year, up 72% year-on-year. The number of people who expressed the wish to stay in Slovenia was also up, to 4,441 from 3,952, but the figures show most people treat Slovenia as a transit country, with a vast majority of those who submit formal requests leaving the country before their cases are heard.

Graphic novel wins book of year award

LJUBLJANA - An idiosyncratic graphic novel that was originally released in instalments on Facebook won the Grand Prix for book of the year at the Slovenian Book Fair. "Vinjete Straholjubca" (The Bête Noire Vignettes) is a joint project by writer Eva Mahkovic and illustrator Eva Mlinar. The Book Fair jury, comprising literature lovers as well as industry professionals, described it as an "intimate and provocative manifestation of a tangle of lucid ideas by two authors".

Visiting Ljubljana? Check out what's on this week, while all our stories on Slovenia, from newest to oldest, are here

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

01 Dec 2019, 12:36 PM

BBC Shows Documentary on Boris Pahor, Writer & Oldest Living Survivor of a Nazi Concentration Camp

STA, 29 November 2019 - The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) on Wednesday evening aired a documentary about the 106-year-old Boris Pahor, believed to be the oldest living survivor of a Nazi concentration camp. Pahor, one of the most celebrated Slovenian writers, talks about life and death at the Natzweiler concentration camp.

Pahor tells BBC journalist Alan Yentob about his experiences with Fascism and Nazism in the 63-minute documentary The Man Who Saw Too Much, which is aimed at raising awareness of the horrors that happened in Europe more than seven decades ago.

The BBC crew visited Pahor at his home in Trieste. "Boris, a Slovenian, was born in the tolerant, cosmopolitan city of Trieste in 1913. After World War I, when it became part of Italy and Mussolini rose to power, fascists burned down the Slovenian cultural centre, closed their schools and the speaking of Slovenian in public was banned," BBC says on its website.

In the interview, Pahor remembers in Slovenian the events from 1944, when he was 30 years old. He was arrested by the Gestapo, beaten and forced into a small closet where he thought he would suffocate.

He was then sent to concentration camps. He stayed the longest in Natzweiler in the mountains of Alsace. Nearly half of its 52,000 prisoners died due to forced labour, malnutrition, illness and execution.

Natzweiler was the first concentration camp in western Europe to be discovered by the Allies - but the camp was empty, its prisoners had already been taken to Dachau by then.

"Pahor's harrowing descriptions are illustrated with remarkable drawings by fellow prisoners, creating a unique record of conditions in the Nazi death camps. His testimony, along with details from a shocking report into the camp by British intelligence officer Captain Yurka Galitzine and the chilling testimony by SS commandant Josef Kramer, infamous as the Beast of Belsen, combine to tell an extraordinary story," according to the BBC.

Pahor also mentions a section from his best-known book Necropolis about his return to the camp site 20 years after its liberation to find a luxury ski resort there and tourists who knew nothing of the place's past.

Sections of Pahor's books are read out in the documentary aired 75 years after the allies first discovered the horrors of Holocaust by breaking into Natzweiler shortly after the departure of Nazis.

Although the documentary was aired late in the evening, many watched it, and shared their observations on social networks.

It also obviously prompted many to read Necropolis, as Amazon ran out of copies almost immediately.

The documentary will be available on the BBC's website the entire month, but only in the UK.

01 Dec 2019, 10:28 AM

World AIDS Day: Number of Newly Discovered HIV Infections Falling in Slovenia (Feature)

STA, 29 November 2019 - Slovenia is seeing the third straight year with a very low number of newly discovered HIV infection cases, a trend experts attribute to successful preventive care, especially among gay men. Around 1,000 people with HIV are estimated to be living in Slovenia, one in five without knowing. Those who receive treatment mostly cannot transmit the virus.

The National Institute of Public Health (NIJZ) said ahead of World AIDS Day (1 December) that 25 new HIV cases were diagnosed by 22 November this year, ten fewer than in the whole of 2018. Men, 15 of whom gay, accounted for 19 cases, and women for six.

AIDS was diagnosed for one man and four women, all of whom had also been diagnosed with HIV earlier in the year. Two persons with HIV died, while there were no deaths among those diagnosed with AIDS.

The NIJZ believes the relatively low number of infection instances among homosexual men is the result of combined preventive measures, especially easy access to testing and a changed attitude to testing in this population and to getting treatment immediately after diagnosis.

The institute puts the estimated total number of HIV-infected persons in Slovenia at the start of 2019 at slightly under 1,000, with roughly a fifth of them not being aware of the infection.

In order to reduce this share, the plan is to soon bring self-test kits for HIV to pharmacies in Slovenia.

According to Janez Tomažič, an infectiologist at the UKC Ljubljana hospital, efforts have been under way to bring these tests to Slovenia for years.

The moment seems to be arriving now, with Tomažič stressing the need for an affordable price, meaning no more than 20 euros, and for laying down the protocols that follow after a positive test.

Early detection and treatment are key to preventing the spreading of HIV. The vast majority of what the NIJZ says were 657 persons with a confirmed HIV infection receive antiretroviral therapy and as a result the viral load with 600 of them is too low for them to be in danger of transmitting the virus.

The national strategy on AIDS meanwhile also envisages pre-exposure prophylaxis. While this prevention method for at risk groups is presently only being conducted as a test project, Tomažič would like to see it covered by basic compulsory health insurance.

Men who have sexual intercourse with other men remain the group most at risk of infection and Legebitra has been organising tests for this population for ten years. The NGO has a test location in Ljubljana and ten more towns in Slovenia.

Mitja Ćosić of Legebitra has told the STA that testing around the country has proved vital, with the recent period mostly seeing positive tests in non-central areas.

He said the attitude to testing had changed substantially, but added that the stigma concerning testing diminishing at least in this group did not mean that the stigma around HIV was gone.

It is present in particular at locations where people come in contact with HIV-positive persons, meaning especially in health centres where the staff are aware of the infection and engage in inappropriate and discriminatory behaviour, Ćosić said.

Meanwhile, Evita Leskovšek of the NIJZ argued that the successful trend showed all had been done that was possible in this field. She is however worried by the rise in other STDs.

She said awareness needed to be raised further about safe sex, while there is also the need to pay attention to other groups where HIV-infection incidence could increase in the coming years.

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