STA, 2 August 2019 - The operator of Slovenia's sole maritime port of Koper is hosting on Friday a delegation from Nagoya, the largest Japanese port in terms of transshipment, for talks on how to expand cooperation. Koper has no direct commercial maritime link with Japan, while it does cooperate with the Japanese Ocean Network Express (ONE).

The delegation featuring more than 30 representatives of the public and private sectors, the port of Nagoya and the chamber of commerce and industry from the city is in Slovenia before making stops in Italy and Croatia.

Representatives of Luka Koper presented the Japanese with the advantages of the port of Koper and the Adriatic Sea in general.

Japan is a major trade partner to Luka Koper, with last year's transshipment reaching almost half a million tonnes. The bulk of the transshipment are containers and cars, with Japan being one of the largest car producers in the world.

The port of Nagoya is the largest and busiest trading port in Japan, with an annual transshipment of 197 million tonnes, including 2.7 million container units and 1.4 million cars.

Luka Koper chairman Dimitrij Zadel told the press on the sidelines of the visit that efforts were being made to establish a direct link with Japan, noting that the port had been cooperating with ONE as of last year.

Today's presentation was also attended by representatives of Japanese companies which are already present in the region.

Tamas Tanarki of the Hungarian subsidiary of Yusen Logistics said that in the last decade, Japanese investors had started taking the Adriatic route into account and perceiving it as a good solution for their cargo transport.

He sees no much room for the Adriatic ports to compete with the North Sea ports in the near future, but he said it was realistic to expect that trade with these ports could increase by between 10% and 15%.

Tanarki thinks that what is important for the ports in north Adriatic is to agree on cooperation, as Trieste, Koper and Rijeka are only 70 kilometres apart, which is considered as one sole port on the global scale.

STA, 2 August 2019 - Macro stress tests conducted by the Slovenian central bank have shown that the country's banking system is stable. "In the baseline as well as stress scenario, the Slovenian banking system has been shown to have appropriate capital adequacy," Banka Slovenije said on Friday.

"Slovenian banks are relatively well capitalised and have improved the quality of their credit portfolios, which is the consequence of successful reduction of non-performing exposure in recent years," the central bank said.

The stress tests were conducted using two macroeconomic scenarios designed to check the resilience of banks to shocks.

The baseline scenario considered the most likely macroeconomic trends through 2021 based on the bank's own forecasts, with the stress scenario assuming a downturn - a contraction of the economy by a cumulative 2.3% over three years.

Macro stress tests are top-down exercises for the entire banking system and are seen as complimentary to supervisory stress tests, which are bottom-up exercises focused on each individual bank.

What follows is a weekly review of events involving Slovenia, as prepared by the STA.

If you’d like to keep up on the daily headlines then follow those here, or get all our stories in your feed on Facebook.

FRIDAY, 26 July
        LJUBLJANA - The government officially confirmed Slovenia's ambassador to the EU Janez Lenarčič as the country's candidate for European commissioner and submitted his candidacy to Brussels. The pick was met with criticism from some parties in the coalition as well as the opposition Democrats (SDS).
        LJUBLJANA - Preliminary findings showed that the freight train derailment that led to a massive kerosene spill near Hrastovlje on 25 June had been caused by a broken rail switch. An investigation into why the rail switch broke will be conducted by an independent institute specialising in metals.
        LJUBLJANA - The household appliances group Gorenje generated EUR 567.5 million in revenue in the first six months of the year, up 1.6% on the same period in 2018. However, the company posted a net loss of EUR 29.5 million.
        HRASTNIK - Glass maker Steklarna Hrastnik posted EUR 33 million in revenue for the first half of 2019, a 11% year-on-year increase, and a net profit of EUR 5.9 million, a 54% improvement. The company told the STA that its glass packaging division had been the main driving force behind the successful results.
        KOPER - The passenger terminal at Koper, Slovenia's sole maritime port, welcomed 55,000 cruise line passengers by 26 July with more than 109,000 expected to arrive at the port by the end of the season.

SATURDAY, 27 July
        VRŠIČ - National Assembly Speaker Dejan Židan addressed the annual ceremony at the Russian Chapel below the Vršič mountain pass, saying that the chapel had become more than a place of reverence and a symbol of the deep friendship between the Slovenian and Russian nations. The ceremony featured senior officials from Russia and representatives of the Russian Orthodox Church, as well as Slovenian President Borut Pahor and Prime Minister Marjan Šarec.
        BRUSSELS, Belgium - European Transport Commissioner Violeta Bulc took stock of her outgoing term in an interview for the STA, noting that the EU was first to start discussing the vision of zero transport emissions by 2050. She is also very proud of the transport agreement with the Western Balkans, labelling it the biggest achievement in relations with the region.

SUNDAY, 28 July
        ZAGREB, Croatia - Smiljana Knez, who is wrapping up her term as Slovenia's ambassador to Croatia to become an aide to President Borut Pahor, told the STA in a valedictory interview that a lack of trust was the biggest obstacle preventing relations between two countries from thriving.
        LJUBLJANA - After the government proposed a series of tax tweaks to reduce labour taxation, coupled with higher taxes on capital which would partly offset the loss of revenue, the Finance Ministry revealed that the missing amount would be secured through more effective tax collection. An extra EUR 160 million is to be produced through a proactive approach that would make tax collection more effective.
        LJUBLJANA - The approval rating for the Marjan Šarec government increased further in a poll commissioned by the commercial broadcaster POP TV, while Šarec overtook President Borut Pahor as the most popular politician. The poll, conducted by Mediana, shows 57% of those questioned supporting the government, up 3.1 points on the month before; 11.4% are undecided and 31.5% oppose it.

MONDAY, 29 July
        LJUBLJANA/MARIBOR - The Competition Protection Agency (AVK) cleared the merger of Dnevnik and Večer, the publishers of the second and third largest daily newspapers in the country. The joint company is to have a 40% share on the print media market, which is believed to have been the reason why the deliberations of the AVK on the case took a whole year.
        LJUBLJANA - Slovenia slipped one spot to rank 31st among 129 countries in the 2019 Global Innovation Index, released by the World Intellectual Property Organisation, and business school INSEAD. Switzerland continues in the lead as the world's most innovative country, followed by Sweden and the US.
        LJUBLJANA - Chief of the General Staff Alenka Ermenc launched a disciplinary procedure against the head of the Trade Union of Soldiers (SVS), Gvido Novak, over his alleged grave violations of army discipline. While the SVS said he was being prosecuted for his unionist activities, the General Staff claimed the procedure had been launched due to his actions as a member of the armed forces.
        LJUBLJANA - The newspaper Dnevnik reported that former State Secretary at the Education Ministry Andreja Barle Lakota was among the ten people who have been indicted for alleged abuse of office in a case involving Armenian healer Ruben Papian. He was allegedly paid tens of thousands of euro between 2009 and 2011 by three Slovenian education institutions for two studies allegedly written by Barle Lakota.
        
TUESDAY, 30 July
        LJUBLJANA - The Fiscal Council warned that some of the measures included in the pension reform blueprint could jeopardise the long-term sustainability of public finances. Under the changes, the pensionable base for men with the full 40 years of service would increase from 57.25% to 63.5% by 1 January 2025, a figure that is already in place for women.
        LJUBLJANA - As part of an ongoing upgrade of the rail line between Maribor and the Šentilj border crossing with Austria, three bids were submitted for the construction of a demanding new section. The lowest bid was submitted by a local consortium headed by Pomgrad and including Kolektor Koling, SŽ-ŽGP, GH-Holding and Gorenjska Gradbena Družba, according to the Infrastructure Agency.
        LJUBLJANA - Researchers at the Ljubljana Faculty of Medicine presented the discovery of a new molecular mechanism of action in ketamine that they say opens up new potential for development of fast-acting antidepressants. Ketamine, a medication used primarily as an anaesthetic, is already applied to treat depression in the US but not yet in Europe.
        LJUBLJANA - Slovenia's population stood at 2,084,301 on 1 April, which is 3,400 more than at the start of January, the Statistics Office reported. The increase however comes on account of a larger number of foreign citizens, with the number of Slovenian citizens in fact decreasing.

WEDNESDAY, 31 July
        LJUBLJANA - Consumer prices in Slovenia grew at an annual rate of 2% in July, up from 1.8% in June and the highest level since the end of last year, even as prices declined by 0.7% at the monthly level due to summer clearance sales. Prices in the group housing were the biggest drivers of inflation.
        LJUBLJANA - President Borut Pahor marked the tenth anniversary of a meeting between him, in the capacity of prime minister, and his then Croatian counterpart Jadranka Kosor, which led to the signing of the arbitration agreement, with a series of tweets calling for the implementation of the arbitration award. He stated Croatia should not be treated "like a spoilt child who only does what it wants".
        CELJE - The chemical company Cinkarna Celje saw its sales revenue drop by 5.6% year-on-year to EUR 92.7 million in the first half of the year. Net profit meanwhile plummeted by 57% to EUR 9.7 million.
        LJUBLJANA - The government endorsed the financing of local infrastructural projects this year and in 2020 in three municipalities that are affected army activities. In line with the decision, the Defence Ministry will allocate EUR 1.7 million for infrastructure projects in the municipalities of Pivka, Ilirska Bistrica and Brežice.
        STOCKHOLM, Sweden - Slovenian football champions Maribor qualified for the third round of the UEFA Champions League qualifiers by eliminating AIK in Stockholm by virtue of scoring more away goals. Maribor had to work extra time as the regular time ended with a 3:3 tie on aggregate.

THURSDAY, 1 August
        KOPER - Port operator Luka Koper selected C Gradnje and its business partner Pro-concrete for the construction of a parking garage with 6,000 parking spaces and expansion of car terminal capacities. The value of the project had been estimated at some EUR 19 million.
        LJUBLJANA - Slovenian mountaineers Aleš Česen, Luka Stražar and Brit Tom Livingston learnt they will receive the Piolet d'Or, the top award in mountaineering, for their ascent of Latok I in August last year. They were only the second expedition that ascended the 7145-metre peak and the first ever to climb the mountain's north face.
        MARIBOR - UKC Maribor, Slovenia's second largest hospital, will conduct an internal inquiry on suspicion of mass unauthorised access to the health records of a Maribor judge who was recently brutally assaulted. A special commission is to check whether hospital staff or even some outside the hospital had accessed the health records of Judge Danijela Ružič, who suffered severe injuries in an assault in front of her Maribor home in mid-June, Večer reported.

If you’d like to keep up on the daily headlines then follow those here, or get all our stories in your feed on Facebook.

What follows is a weekly review of events involving Slovenia, as prepared by the STA.

FRIDAY, 13 September
        LJUBLJANA - Interior Minister Boštjan Poklukar proposed that Slovenia and Austria form joint police patrols to police the Slovenian-Austrian border, as he hosted his Austrian counterpart Wolfgang Peschorn. Saying it was a good proposal, Peschorn said the Austrian government would examine it to see if it could fully contain the migration pressure.
        LJUBLJANA - Slovenian central bank governor Boštjan Vasle urged authorities to employ a diverse set of measures since monetary policy is not enough in the current complex situation. Risks to the global economy are growing, threatening to further curb growth and further reduce inflation, he said, pointing to trade wars, China's cooling and Brexit.
        LJUBLJANA - The Civil Aviation Agency received the annual report for 2018 from Adria Airways, which the struggling German-owned airline had to submit as a condition to keep its operating licence. Civil Aviation Agency director Rok Marolt told the STA that the decision on whether the carrier would keep the licence would probably be taken by the end of October.
        CELJE - Foreign Minister Miro Cerar announced an expansion of the commercial diplomacy service and Economy Minister Zdravko Počivalšek measures to help reduce businesses' dependence on EU markets, as they addressed Day of Slovenian Diplomacy at the International Trade Fair in Celje.
        SEŽANA - Ivan Šopov of North Macedonia received the Central European Initiative prize as part of the Vilenica International Literary Festival. He impressed the jury with the draft for his debut novel, in which he intends to explore the topics of individual responsibility and collective madness.

SATURDAY, 14 September
        LJUBLJANA - The two-day meeting of the NATO Military Committee concluded with a commitment that the alliance will continue to carry out the Resolute Support mission in Afghanistan in its present form, as confirmed by the Chairman of the Military Committee, Air Chief Marshal Sir Stuart Peach. He said that NATO remained committed to Afghanistan and that it would continue to carry out the mission, as part of which NATO member states are training soldiers of the Afghan army.
        AJDOVŠČINA - More than 4,000 people gathered to celebrate the day 72 years ago when the Primorska region became part of Slovenia. The ceremony, held on the eve of Primorska Reunification Day, was addressed by PM Marjan Šarec, who said that the people of Primorska were the greatest example of how a "glorious victory, a victory of good over evil eventually gets born out of the biggest sorrow and suffering."
        LJUBLJANA - The opposition New Slovenia (NSi) called for a new national consensus in a bid to digitalise Slovenia. NSi leader Matej Tonin called on President Borut Pahor to assume the role of a coordinator on the path to the consensus, which Pahor later said he was willing to do.

SUNDAY, 15 September
        MADRID, Spain - Cycling sensation Primož Roglič (Team Jumbo-Visma) became the first Slovenian to win a Grand Tour race, as he climbed the podium of the Vuelta. His 20-year-old compatriot, Tadej Pogačar (UAE Team Emirates), completed the three-week race in third place to claim the white jersey of the best young rider.

MONDAY, 16 September
        LJUBLJANA - Damir Črnčec, a senior aide to PM Marjan Šarec, became the target of scrutiny after the news portal Požareport revealed he employed the head of Slovenia's Westinghouse office as head of his private institute, raising concern about possible influence in fledging plans to construct a second reactor at the Krško Nuclear Power Plant.
        LJUBLJANA - President Borut Pahor and his Indian counterpart Ram Nath Kovind reaffirmed their commitment to boost cooperation and friendship between the countries during the first visit by an Indian president to Slovenia. They stressed the importance of global partnership and multilateralism.
        LJUBLJANA - After several failed attempts to implement the late-2014 Constitutional Court ruling mandating full financing of private primary schools, the Education Ministry said it would try to break the impasse by inviting various stakeholders, including all parliamentary parties, to form a task force to build a broad consensus on the issue. Parties were reserved about the plan.
        ZGORNJE JEZERSKO - Mountaineer and extreme skier Davo Karničar, 56, died in a logging accident in his native Jezersko area. Karničar made history on several occasions while skiing down the world's highest peaks; in 2000, he skied non-stop down Mount Everest as the first person ever.

TUESDAY, 17 September
        LJUBLJANA - A report by the Court of Audit found that the government had been unsuccessful in providing access to long-term care services to all those who need them. Only 9% of the 395,127 eligible received care in 2016 and the state had no data on nearly 90% of potential claimants. The government said it was working on long-term care legislation to address these issues.
        LJUBLJANA - Slovenian parliamentary Speaker Dejan Židan hosted his Cypriot counterpart Demetris Syllouris, with the pair announcing a bilateral initiative for cooperation of small countries. The initiative would aim to support the rule of law in the EU and "the end of double morals" in Europe, according to Syllouris.
        BELGRADE, Serbia - The Serbian newspaper Danas reported that NLB, Slovenia's leading bank, submitted a non-binding bid for a 83.2% stake in Komercijalna Banka, the second largest bank in Serbia, offering EUR 450 million, the highest of three bids.
        LJUBLJANA - The government and municipalities failed to agree on the amount of local government funding for the coming two years, so Finance Minister Andrej Bertoncelj set the initially proposed amount of EUR 589.11 per capita in 2020 and EUR 588.30 in 2021, an average of local government expenses over the past four years. The municipalities had wanted a higher amount.
        LJUBLJANA - Adria Airways signed a new collective bargaining agreement with pilots, a move the airline says that "calms down the labour situation at the company" and "allows management to remain focused on stability of operations and provision of services". The Trade Union of Commercial Pilots said they were happy with the terms of the deal.
        LENDAVA/MURSKA SOBOTA - Lendava and Murska Sobota remembered local Jewish families that perished in the Holocaust, as Stolpersteine, granite cubes bearing the names of the victims, were installed in various locations around the two north-eastern cities in high-profile commemorations.

WEDNESDAY, 18 September
        LJUBLJANA - Almost 200 organisations and more than 8,000 individuals, including environmental NGOs, trade unions, associations representing pensioners, youth and municipalities, made an urgent appeal to the government to recognise climate change as a national crisis and start dealing with it in a comprehensive fashion now. Trade unions called for a new economic model focusing on green jobs.
        LJUBLJANA - Jorge Domecq, chief executive of the European Defence Agency (EDA), paid a visit for talks with foreign and defence ministry officials. He praised Slovenia's cooperation with the EDA but called for increased participation of Slovenian industry in EDA programmes.
        LJUBLJANA - In a bid to end a conundrum about the financing of private primary schools, the coalition Alenka Bratušek Party (SAB) announced it would start collecting signatures to call a referendum as the issue remains unresolved almost five years after the top court decided the state must fund them 100%, not just 85% as is the case now.
        BERLIN, Germany - Economy Minister Zdravko Počivalšek met his German and Portuguese counterparts to discuss preparations for the EU presidency that the three countries will consecutively hold starting in the second half of 2020. Among the possible priorities, Počivalšek, Portugal's Pedro Siza Vieira and Germany's Peter Altmaier highlighted strengthening the EU's internal market.
        KOPER - The Amber Rail Freight Corridor, which connects industrial centres and inter-modal terminals in Poland, Slovakia, Hungary and Slovenia, was formally launched. It connects the Adriatic Sea with the Poland-Belarus border, and represents an alternative to the transport routes between the north and south of Europe.
        LJUBLJANA - Police confirmed they were looking into three cases of simplified debt restructuring that would allow companies owned by Ljubljana Mayor Zoran Janković's sons to write off about EUR 29 million in debt. The Notary Chamber is checking the work of notary Miro Košak in the cases of debt restructuring of Electa Inženiring, Electa Naložbe and Electa Holding.

THURSDAY, 19 September
        LJUBLJANA - The government adopted the draft budgets for 2020 and 2021 after ministries reduced the planned expenditure for next year by a combined EUR 100 million following a downgrade of Slovenia's GDP growth forecast to 2.8% for 2019 and 3% for 2020. Budget users will still have a record EUR 10.35 billion at their disposal in 2020, and almost all of them will get more money than this year.
        BERN, Switzerland - President Borut Pahor met his Swiss counterpart Ueli Maurer on second day of his official visit to Switzerland with the pair calling for deepening what they said to be already good cooperation between the two countries. Maurer offered digitalisation and new technologies as two areas where cooperation could be enhanced. They also discussed topical EU matters.
        LJUBLJANA - The Court of Audit issued a rebuke of consecutive Slovenian governments after determining that strategic planning regarding the exploitation of nuclear energy at the Krško Nuclear Power Plant (NEK) had left the NEK owner in limbo about whether a new reactor at NEK would be built or not. Despite the shortcomings, the court only issued a set of recommendations to several stakeholders.
        LJUBLJANA - The parliamentary Privileges and Credentials Commission decided that a parliamentary inquiry into prosecutions of former Maribor Mayor Franc Kangler would not be initiated until after the Constitutional Court weighed in on the matter at the behest of the prosecution and judiciary.
        LJUBLJANA - The Ljubljana mosque got an operating permit. It is expected to open for prayers after the New Year; however, the official inauguration ceremony is planned for the end of May 2020.
        MUNICH, Germany - The Slovenian men's national basketball team received a special invitation to play in one of the four qualifying tournaments for the 2020 Summer Olympics in Tokyo, to be played next June.

If you’d like to keep up on the daily headlines then follow those here, or get all our stories in your feed on Facebook.

STA, 1 August 2019 - Slovenian mountaineers Aleš Česen, Luka Stražar and Brit Tom Livingston will receive the Piolet d'Or, the top award in mountaineering, in September for their ascent of Latok I in August last year (as reported here).

"Three expeditions will be awarded this year. The two others will be posthumous awards, unfortunately. The solo ascends by David Lama and Hansjörg Auer, who, sadly, passed away in Canada this spring," Česen has been quoted as saying by the website of the Slovenian Mountaineering Association.

BREAKING NEWS: Mountain Equipment Pro Team Athlete Tom Livingstone has made the long awaited first ascent of Latok I [7145m] from the North over 7 days with Ales Cesen and Luka Strazar - https://t.co/PqnzIdX1hN pic.twitter.com/N50kg6xlN2

— MOUNTAIN EQUIPMENT (@MTNEQUIPMENT) August 13, 2018

Česen, Stražar and Livingston were only the second expedition that ascended the 7145-metre Latok I and the first ever to reach the peak over its north face.

This will be the second Pioler d'Or for both Česen and Stražar. The former was part of an expedition that won the award in 2015, while the latter was part of an expedition honoured in 2012.

It will also be the eight Piolet d'Or going to Slovenia, since the award was first handed out 27 years ago. Only last year, Andrej Štremfelj was honoured with the lifetime achievement award.

The awards, given out by the French magazine Montagnes and The Groupe de Haute Montagne, will be conferred at the Ladek Mountain Festival running between 19 and 22 September in Poland.

Related: Books about Slovenia - Alpine Warriors, A History of Modern Slovenian Alpinism

Check the date at the top of the page, and you can find all the "morning headlines" stories here. You can also ollow 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

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

This summary is provided by the STA:

Slovenia to host NATO top body meeting in September

LJUBLJANA - The STA learnt that Slovenia would host on 13 and 14 September a meeting of the NATO Military Committee, the alliance's highest military body bringing together around 400 attendees, among them some 150 top military personnel from NATO countries. Also in attendance will be a civil representative of Iceland, which does not have a standing army.

Govt to extend auxiliary police deployment

LJUBLJANA - The government indicated it is planning to extend the deployment of auxiliary police to help the regular force cope with a spike in illegal migration on the Schengen border with Croatia and with other duties. Under the proposed decree, released on the government web site, auxiliary police will be deployed until the end of the year to help patrol the border and stand in for absent regular police officers. The proposal notes that illegal migration rose by more than 45% year-on-year in the first half of the year. It also notes a deterioration in road safety and the engagement of larger numbers of police officers in providing the security at a number of high-risk events.

Luka Koper picks parking garage contractor

KOPER - The port operator Luka Koper has selected the GIC Gradnje construction company and its business partner Pro-concrete for the project of constructing a parking garage that will feature 6,000 parking spaces and expand car terminal capacities. The parking garage, whose value had been estimated at some EUR 19 million, will increase the company's annual vehicle transshipment amount by 162,000 cars, expand storage capacities and meet the growing demands of clients for covered storage areas as well as improve internal logistics.

Inquiry ordered on suspicion judge's health records compromised

MARIBOR - UKC Maribor, Slovenia's second largest hospital, will have to conduct an internal inquiry on suspicion of mass unauthorised access to the health records of a Maribor judge who was recently brutally assaulted. The Health Ministry has ordered that a special commission check whether hospital staff or even some outside the hospital had accessed the health records of Danijela Ružič, a Maribor judge who suffered severe injuries in an assault in front of her Maribor home in mid-June, the newspaper Večer reported.

Ombudsman condemns hate speech ahead of Roma and Sinti Genocide Remembrance Day

MARIBOR/MURSKA SOBOTA - Human Rights Ombudsman Peter Svetina condemned hate speech in Slovenia as he addressed an event on the eve of the Roma and Sinti Genocide Remembrance Day at the Maribor Synagogue. Slovenia likes to boast about being tolerant and open, having a wealth of cultural diversity, but in reality the opposite is often true, said Svetina. The Roma and Sinti Genocide Remembrance Day is observed on 2 August, when in a single night 75 years ago the Nazis killed nearly 3,000 Roma and Sinti at the Auschwitz concentration camp. Most of the victims were women, children and elderly.

Greenpeace projects environmental slogans on TEŠ cooling tower

ŠOŠTANJ - Activists of Greenpeace Slovenija projected environmental messages on one of the cooling towers of the Šoštanj thermal power plant (TEŠ) early this morning to call on Prime Minister Marjan Šarec to recognise the climate crisis as a national crisis and take immediate measures. Using a projector, the activists wrote slogans on the cooling tower, including The Alarms are Ringing, This Is a Climate Crisis and Take Measures.

Slovenian mountaineers win Piolet d'Or once more

LJUBLJANA - Slovenian mountaineers Aleš Česen, Luka Stražar and Brit Tom Livingston will receive the Piolet d'Or, the top award in mountaineering, in September for their ascent of Latok I in August last year. The threesome were only the second expedition that ascended the 7145-metre Latok I and the first ever to reach the peak over its north face. This will be the second Pioler d'Or for both Česen and Stražar. The former was part of an expedition that won the award in 2015, while the latter was part of an expedition honoured in 2012. It will also be the eight Piolet d'Or going to Slovenia, since the award was first handed out 27 years ago. Only last year, Andrej Štremfelj was honoured with the lifetime achievement award.

Janja Garnbret a Sportswoman of the Year finalist

NEW YORK, US - Slovenia's climbing sensation Janja Garnbret has made it among the ten finalists for the Sportswoman of the Year award for 2019, conferred since 1980 by the New York-based Women's Sports Foundation. Garnbret, currently ranked No. 1 in the world by the International Federation of Sport Climbing, has been picked side by side with the likes of US alpine skiing star Mikaela Shiffrin and artistic gymnastic champion Simone Biles, US track and field athlete Ajee Wilson, US boxer Claressa Shields, US mountain biker Kate Courtney, US Paralympic swimmer Rebecca Meyers, Paralympic triathlete Allysa Seely, UK auto racer Jamie Chadwick and South Korean golfer Jin Young Ko.

Maribor make it to third round of Champions League qualifiers

STOCKHOLM, Sweden - Slovenian football champions Maribor qualified for the third round of the UEFA Champions League qualifiers by eliminating AIK in Stockholm on Wednesday evening by virtue of scoring more away goals. Maribor had to work extra time as the regular time ended with a 3:3 tie on aggregate.

European Junior Olympiad in Informatics taking place in Maribor

LJUBLJANA - Maribor will host at the end of August the third European Junior Olympiad in Informatics (EJOI). Slovenia sees the event, which will feature around 90 competitors from 23 countries, as a good opportunity for promotion of IT, coding as well as the country itself. The competition will take place at the Faculty of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science between 23 and 29 August.

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

We’re huge fans of Janja Garnbret at TSN, the 20-year-old Slovene who’s already won more world championship events than any other athlete, widely seen as the best sport climber in the world, and a hot tip for next year’s Olympics, when climbing will make its debut.

It’s thus a delight, but no surprise, to learn that Garnbret – who excels at both Lead and Bouldering – is among the ten finalists for the Sportswoman of the Year award for 2019, given by the New York-based Women's Sports Foundation since 1980.

Other women on the list are the American alpine skiing star Mikaela Shiffrin and artistic gymnastic champion Simone Biles. Others in the individual sport category also include American track and field athlete Ajee Wilson, American boxer Claressa Shields, American mountain biker Kate Courtney, American Paralympic swimmer Rebecca Meyers, Paralympic triathlete Allysa Seely, British auto racer Jamie Chadwick and South Korean golfer Jin Young Ko.

Anyone can now vote for Janja Garnbret, seen in action below, at the related website, right up until 2 August in Slovenia, or 3 August 6:59am CET. Multiple votes for Garnbret, or other finalists, are possible if you have multiple email addresses.

The winners, one from an individual sport and another from a team sport, will be announced in New York on 16 October.

You can see all our stories and videos of Janja Garnbret here

STA, 1 August 2019 - TrNOVfest, the successor to the Trnfest annual summer festival in Ljubljana's Trnovo borough, will open on Thursday with concerts by the bands Hamo & Tribute to Love and Buržuazija, followed up by shows every evening until the end of August.

The popular festival open-air venue in Karunova Street will also notably see performances by Rambo Amadeus, Zabranjeno Pušenje, Noctiferia, Nipke and N'toko, Soul Fingers and Zaklonišče Prepeva, among others.

The 28th festival, marking the 99th anniversary of the Trnovo Culture Centre, which hosts the festival, will conclude on 31 August with concerts by Tabu and Traffic Religion.

In addition to getting a new name, what is also new about the festival, which used to be free of charge, is tickets, costing five euros.

Iztok Kurnik told the STA on behalf of the organisers that they wanted to offer a diverse programme and explained that payable tickets had been introduced in order to cover the security costs.

Unlike the previous years, the festival will not come to a close with the traditional street festival Emonska Promenada at the end of August.

The 19th Emonska Promenada will have a different concept and take place in a different location, on the Shoemakers' Bridge in the centre of Ljubljana. It will be held between 22 and 24 August.

TrNOVfest’s schedule is perhaps best seen on the related Facebook events page, but can also be found on the official website and this PDF

STA, 31 July 2019 - Interpol has issued an arrest warrant against Slovenian businessmen Sergej Racman, the former owner of the cinema chain operator Kolosej, who is being sought by the Slovenian police in connection with a prostitution ring that was allegedly operating near Nova Gorica.

Racman has recently been indicted as the prime suspect together with 17 persons after the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) completed in January a four-year investigation into prostitution, human trafficking and drug abuse in the areas of Nova Gorica and Maribor.

Following the indictment, which is not yet final, the Koper District Court ordered two weeks ago that Racman be detained, but the Slovenian police have not been able to locate him, putting him on a list of wanted persons.

The police issued last Wednesday an internal arrest warrant and a European arrest warrant against Racman, which was entered in the Schengen information system.

The warrants were followed by Interpol issuing yesterday a red notice, a request to law enforcement worldwide to locate and provisionally arrest Racman.

According to the media, the suspects from the prostitution ring are accused of exploiting a total of 413 girls, mostly from Romania, Ukraine, Albania and the former Yugoslavia, for prostitution in the Marina Sauna Club near Nova Gorica.

Between August 2014 and January this year around 150,000 men visited the club, paying an entrance fee of 60 to 85 euros. A total of EUR 21 million in illegal gains are believed to have been made in the process.

The prosecution claims the ring was led by entrepreneurs Jože Kojc, Dejan Šurbek and Racman, who jointly own the Marina Sauna Club. Šurbek and Racman have been in custody since 23 January, while Racman is still at large.

The media reported that Racman, who has officially been living in Slovakia since 2013, is away on business in Canada.

Slovenia is looking for another six persons through Interpol.

Other stories on this case can be found here, while Interpol's related page is here

STA, 31 July 2019 - The police apprehended on Tuesday a Serbian citizen who was transporting six Turkish Kurds who had entered Slovenia illegally. He was caught only after a chase, during which he caused a traffic accident in Ormož (NE).

As the initial attempt by the police to stop the vehicle failed, the police started following it, with the chase lasting some ten minutes.

Running away from the police, the Serb caused a traffic accident at a roundabout in Ormož, the Maribor Police Department said on Wednesday.

A criminal complaint will be filed against the driver, while the illegal migrants from Turkey will be returned to Croatia.

According to the General Police Administration, a total of 2,018 traffickers in human beings have been apprehended in Slovenia since the beginning of 2018, including 175 foreigners.

Between 1 January and 22 July this year, the Slovenian police have apprehended 188 such traffickers, including 168 foreigners. Detention has been ordered for 156 of them.