STA, 9 July 2019 - The United States government is offering millions of dollars for information that could lead to the arrest of Slovenian citizen Mihael Karner and two accomplices suspected of having made millions of dollars selling steroids online.

The US State Department has offered up to five million dollars each for information helping in the arrest of Karner, his brother Matevž Karner and Matevž's wife Alenka Karner, who have been the target of US law enforcement for several years, according to a message circulated by the US Embassy in Slovenia on Tuesday.

Mihael Karner has been described by the US government as a "drug trafficker allegedly responsible for the manufacture and distribution of hundreds of thousands dose units of anabolic steroids to the US" using a complex scheme of websites and shell companies.

In a 2010 federal indictment he was charged with conspiracy to distribute anabolic steroids, conspiracy to import anabolic steroids and conspiracy to launder money.

Mihael Karner and his wife were arrested in Austria in late 2011 but managed to avoid extradition to the US by challenging an extradition order until they were released on bail, by which time they returned to Slovenia, which does not have an extradition agreement with the US.

What is more, until 2008 selling anabolic steroids had not been a crime in Slovenia, which made the country a safe haven for the Karners. Even a US request for asset forfeiture was denied by a Slovenian court.

The family live in Slovenia and last year Mihael Karner announced a major real estate development in Ljubljana believed to be worth millions.

Learn more about Karner, and the reward, here

STA, 9 July 2019 - Slovenian experts are calling for adjusting government policies to allow people to age decently and to enable companies to get enough labour force, as the world is preparing to observe World Population Day on 11 July.

The main problem in Slovenia is a low birth rate and subsequent population ageing, which could be contained with a higher birth rate or young immigrants, Janez Malačič from the Ljubljana Faculty of Economics has told the STA.

Related: Slovenia’s Aging Population, in Graphic Form

Slovenia's total fertility rate - the average number of live newborns per woman in reproductive age - stood at 1.62 in 2017, just above the EU's average of 1.59.

An ageing population comes with many challenges, such as a shortage of labour as young people are leaving the country, while mostly low-skilled migrant workers are coming to Slovenia.

Some problems also stem from differences among regions, as "people are leaving less developed areas, where towns are getting depopulated, some of them already completely depopulated".

This is particularly a problem in border areas but also in some large towns, Janez Nared from the Anton Melik Geographical Institute at the ZRC SAZU has told the STA.

He sees a solution in making these areas stronger economically and in turning them into an attractive living environment for young people with quality services.

Nared believes this is where new housing estates should be developed, but warns the issue should be approached in a comprehensive manner based on an in-depth analysis.

In 2008-2017, the number of residents dropped in more than 70% of Slovenia's 212 municipalities, with the trend bound to continue, says Nared.

Projections show that more than 90 municipalities will see their populations drop by more than 10% in the coming 20 years.

By 2038, some municipalities will have one young person aged under 15 to five or six elderly aged 65 or more, which will seriously affect the labour market, education, social security and the pension system, consequently presenting a major pressure for the national budget, he says.

The UN declared World Population Day in 1989, two years after the global population reached five billion.

UN data shows there are now 7.5 billion people in the world, but the figure is projected to rise to over eleven billion by the end of the century.

World Population Day will this year focus globally on reproductive health, with calls to decision makers to enable women access to services key to reproductive health.

All our stories on demographics in Slovenia are here

STA, 9 July 2019 - Telecoms operator Telemach, which holds about a fifth of the country's mobile telephony market, is on track to losing a portion of wireless spectrum that had been awarded free of charge in 2008 to a company it acquired almost five years ago.

The Agency for Communication Networks and Services (AKOS) has decided to take back two 5 MHz slices of spectrum in the 2100 MHz band, which amounts to less than a tenth of total spectrum that Telemach has at its disposal.

The decision will be effective on 30 September, until which time a public call for bids for the spectrum will be issued. Telemach will be allowed to bid, AKOS said on Tuesday.

Telemach told the STA the move would not affect its users since they have enough spectrum, and it said it would mount a challenge at the Administrative Court.

As for participating in the announced tender, the company said this would "depend on the tender conditions and the company's assessment as to whether the acquisition of additional frequency under the tender conditions is technically and economically justified."

The decision is based on an ruling by the Administrative Court, which examined the awarding of the spectrum to Tušmobil free of charge in 2008 and decided the agency needed to make a new decision.

The awarding of the spectrum is also the subject of a criminal trial, with former AKOS director Tomaž Simonič charged with abuse of office for giving the spectrum to Tušmobil in exchange for an apartment provided by Mirko Tuš, at the time the owner of Tušmobil.

Telemach acquired Tušmobil in 2014 in a move that bolstered its mobile offerings and made it the number 3 wireless operator in Slovenia.

STA, 8 July 2019 - Slovenian President Borut Pahor and his Turkish counterpart Recep Tayyip Erdogan discussed a rise in illegal migrations on the Balkan route as they held a bilateral meeting in Sarajevo on Monday on the sidelines of a SE Europe cooperation event.

Predsednik Pahor se bo nocoj udeležil delovne večerje ob zaključku predsedovanja BiH Procesu sodelovanja v Jugovzhodni Evropi (SEECP), ki poteka v Sarajevu. Ob robu obiska se je PRS Pahor sestal s predsednikom Republike Turčije Recepom Tayyipom Erdoğanom. pic.twitter.com/jKUOyEX4dR

— Borut Pahor (@BorutPahor) July 8, 2019

Pahor told Erdogan about the recent rise in the number of migrants entering Slovenia illegally from Croatia, Pahor's office said in a release.

Erdogan in turn outlined Turkey's plans about the four million refugees in Turkey, complaining the EU was not fully meeting its financial commitments related to them.

The two presidents are worried that the situation in the Middle East could worsen, and hope that a diplomatic solution will be found to the Iran nuclear deal issue.

Bilateral relations were another topic on the agenda, with Pahor and Erdogan sharing a view there were many opportunities to further develop and deepen political dialogue and economic cooperation.

Pahor met Erdogan before a working dinner of the South-East European Cooperation Process (SEECP) summit, which brings Bosnia-Herzegovina's SEECP presidency to an end.

The Slovenian president had decided to attend the summit due to enhanced dialogue with all Western Balkan leaders and as a sign of support for Bosnia.

The summit will draw to a close on Tuesday with a plenary session and the adoption of a closing declaration.

However, Bosnia will not formally hand its presidency over as planned since Kosovo has sent any representative to the summit in protest of Bosnia's treatment of its representatives.h

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 enhance controls on border with Croatia

ILIRSKA BISTRICA - Prime Minister Marjan Šarec said that security on Slovenia's southern border would be beefed up, including with new equipment such as drones and an expansion of the border fence, after meeting with Ilirska Bistrica officials and civil society representatives to discuss the situation on the border with Croatia. Šarec, visiting the south-western town along with Interior Minister Boštjan Poklukar and Police Commissioner Tatjana Bobnar, said that he understood locals' feelings of unease about the situation.

Pahor and Erdogan discuss illegal migrations

SARAJEVO, Bosnia-Herzegovina - Slovenian President Borut Pahor and his Turkish counterpart Recep Tayyip Erdogan discussed a rise in illegal migrations on the Balkan route as they held a bilateral meeting in Sarajevo on the sidelines of a SE Europe cooperation event. Pahor told Erdogan about the recent rise in the number of migrants entering Slovenia illegally from Croatia, Pahor's office said in a release. Erdogan in turn outlined Turkey's plans about the four million refugees in Turkey, complaining the EU was not fully meeting its financial commitments related to them. The two presidents are worried that the situation in the Middle East could worsen, and hope that a diplomatic solution will be found to the Iran nuclear deal issue.

Slovenia, Croatia present views on border arbitration in court

LUXEMBOURG, Luxembourg - Slovenia reiterated its stance that by not implementing the 2017 border arbitration award, Croatia is violating EU law, as it presented its view in an oral hearing of the European Court of Justice (ECJ) about the admissibility of Slovenia's lawsuit against Croatia. While Croatia argues arbitration does not fall under the ECJ's jurisdiction, because borders are a matter of international rather than EU law, Slovenia stressed the lawsuit was not about the border, because the border had been set in the 2017 award. The EJC advocate general will present his legal opinion on the case on 6 November, while the Slovenia side expects the decision on admissibility at the start of 2020.

SOVA did its job to provide for security of arbitration task force

LJUBLJANA - Slovenia's intelligence agency SOVA had adequately instructed Slovenia's staff about security risks, so it cannot be blamed for the 2015 wire-tapping scandal related to the Slovenia-Croatia border arbitration process. However, its advice had not been fully heeded. Several commission members visited SOVA today to talk to the staff who had coached the task force working on Slovenia's arbitration case, the chair of the parliamentary Intelligence Oversight Commission, Matej Tonin told the press. Tonin added he could "credibly confirm" that Simona Drenik, the agent in the arbitration case who was recorded talking over the land-line phone with Jernej Sekolec, Slovenia's member of the international tribunal, had not worked for Croatia's intelligence service.

Iraqi man shot by officer after stabbing taxi driver

NOVA GORICA - An Iraqi man injured a taxi driver with a knife and attacked a police officer in the Nova Gorica area on Sunday afternoon. News portal 24ur.com says police are investigating whether the incident was a clash between migrant traffickers. Two police officers responding to a distress call found a taxi driver bleeding from his neck and saying he had been attacked by a man sitting in a near-by taxi. As the police officers approached the alleged attacker, he started running towards one of them with a knife. The officer fired a warning shot and shot the man in the leg.

Slovenia ready to sue Italian radio stations, prefers other solutions

LJUBLJANA - Slovenia is getting ready to sue several Italian radio stations for FM frequency interference in the border area, but while the suits will be ready by autumn, it would still prefer to resolve the long dispute in a more constructive way, government officials said. "We don't harbour the illusion that lawsuits will simply resolve this issue. But they will definitely have an impact, including a financial impact," Public Administration Minister Rudi Medved told the press, hopeful that the lawsuits will "prompt Italian politics into action".

Fiscal Council urges more budgetary restraint amid macroeconomic uncertainty

LJUBLJANA - The Fiscal Council, Slovenia's fiscal watchdog, reiterated in the face of the government's latest budget plans that increasing macroeconomic uncertainties require a more cautions fiscal policy approach. The council wrote that the fiscal goals Slovenia had committed to at the European level were attainable given the current figures. However, it added that the primary structural surplus would also decrease this year even if the fiscal targets are met. "This indicates a continuation of a pro-cyclical expansionary fiscal policy, which we feel is not appropriate in the current macroeconomic circumstances," the watchdog said.

Slovenia completes EUR 350 million bond issue

LJUBLJANA - Slovenia secured EUR 350 million with an additional issue of a 10-year benchmark bond originally issued in January to obtain EUR 1.5 billion. The bond, due on 14 March 2029, has an annual coupon interest rate of 1.1875% and was sold at a price of 109.875%. The issue, which was well oversubscribed, was lead managed by Goldman Sachs International Bank, Jefferies and JP Morgan.

DeSUS to hold election congress in January

LJUBLJANA - The coalition Pensioners Party (DeSUS) decided to a hold an election congress on 17 January. Karl Erjavec, the party's head since 2005, said it was too early to say whether he would run for another term. DeSUS has been on a downward trajectory for some time, winning only five seats in the National Assembly in 2018 and recently failing to secure an MEP post. Asked to comment on speculation that Igor Šoltes, the former Court of Audit head who failed to get reelected MEP standing on DeSUS's slate in this year's EU vote, could succeed him, Erjavec said this was up to the congress to decide and would also depend on his decision to potentially stand again.

Sunday storms caused havoc in central, eastern Slovenia

ROGATEC/PTUJ - Heavy rain, winds and hailstorms that hit the central and eastern parts of Slovenia on Sunday afternoon caused havoc in 63 municipalities and damaged hundreds of buildings as well as crops and forests. The hardest hit municipalities were Zagorje ob Savi, Rogatec and Rogaška Slatina. Ptuj also suffered severe damage. The hardest hit municipalities were severely affected in particular by the swollen Medija and Sotla rivers, according to the Civil Protection and Disaster Relief Administration.

Third incarnation of apparel giant Mura goes bust

MURSKA SOBOTA - The last remaining bit of Mura, once a huge apparel company, went into receivership. Arum, which was founded by an executive and has been leasing the premises of Aha Mura, has thus become the third failed attempt at salvaging Mura's legacy. Arum was founded in 2015 by Dušan Gomboc, Aha Mura's technical director who saved the company in the last minute before it would have to cease operations a year after it formally entered bankruptcy. Arum leased the premises, machinery and brand, and hired 347 of the remaining 380 Aha Mura employees.

HIT shareholders to get EUR 1.15m in dividends

NOVA GORICA - HIT, Slovenia's leading gaming company, will pay out EUR 1.15 million in dividends in 2019, with the rest of last year's distributable profit, which stood at EUR 4.42 million, remaining undistributed, the company's shareholders decided at their annual meeting. They also gave discharge of liability for 2018 to board member Marjan Zahar and to the supervisory board.

Merger of Ljubljana and Zagreb basketball clubs completed

LJUBLJANA - The shareholders of Ljubljana's Olimpija and Zagreb's Cedevita confirmed what is the first merger of professional basketball clubs from two countries. While Cedevita Olimpija will be seated in Ljubljana, its first head coach will be Croatian expert Slaven Rimac, who coached the Zagreb team in the past season. On the players' front it has been confirmed that the team will also feature 27-year-old small forward Edo Murić, who was among those who won the European Champions title for Slovenia in 2017.

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

STA, 8 July 2019 - Prime Minister Marjan Šarec said on Monday that security on Slovenia's southern border would be beefed up, including with new equipment such as drones, after meeting with Ilirska Bistrica officials and civil society representatives to discuss the situation on the border with Croatia.

Šarec, visiting the south-western town along with Interior Minister Boštjan Poklukar and Police Commissioner Tatjana Bobnar, said that he understood locals' feelings of unease about the situation.

Ilirska Bistrica Mayor Emil Rojc pointed out that the number of illegal border crossings had doubled since Poklukar's first visit to the area.

"We've never said there was no migration issue," said the prime minister, adding that the need for strengthening border controls had been acknowledged.

Šarec announced the expected arrival of additional soldiers to the area as well as the deployment of new police equipment, including border patrol drones, and expansion of the border fence.

However, Šarec also said that Slovenia's border patrol had been effective in meeting set expectations and that "we cannot settle for various forms of fear-mongering, which are sometimes politically-motivated as well".

Šarec will also visit the Kostel and Črnomlje municipalities later today.

STA, 6 July 219 - The average speed recorded on Slovenian roads lowered in 2017 and 2018 compared to 2014 and 2015. The strictness of speed limits correlates to the number of violations, with the latter being more common at night. Drivers do not usually exceed the limit by more than 10 km/h, shows a study by the Traffic Safety Agency.

Recorded speeds on highways and expressways do not vary depending on the day or night, while drivers on other roads are on average faster during the night.

The study included 135.87 million of measurements of 37 speed traps between the start of 2017 and the end of May this year.

The lower the speed limit, the higher the share of drivers exceeding it - at the 50 km/h speed limit, over 35% drivers violate the limit, while at the 30 km/h limit, over 70% of them are too fast but they mostly do not exceed the limit by more than 10 km/h in general.

The 50 km/h limit area stood out because the agency recorded very high violations of driving 180 km/h at two locations within the limit.

Mora than 130 automatic traffic counters also provided data on traffic in March and October in 2017 and 2018. On highways, where the speed limit is set at 130 km/h, the average speed was 110.6 km/h. Between 2008 and 2018, this figure decreased by almost 5 km/h or 4.3%.

Some 13% drivers exceed the highway limit, while around 1% exceed the limit by more than 10 km/h during the day and some 5% during the night.

Drivers on expressways drive on average 99 km/h, with the limit being 110 km/h. During the 2008-2018 period, the average speed there decreased by 5.5%.

The average speed on main roads outside cities, towns and villages increased by some 4% between 2008 and 2015, but started declining after 2015. Some 15% of people driving on such roads exceed the limit during the day (2% exceed the limit by more than 10 km/h), while around 23% do that at night (11% outside the 10 km/h tolerance zone).

The average speed on state main roads and regional roads within urban areas decreased as well - by almost 8%, but as many as 57% of drivers on those roads exceed the limit during the day (some 10% outside the tolerance zone) and 67% of them during the night (some 25% outside the tolerance zone).

The study was conducted at the beginning of June by the Maribor Civil Engineering, Transportation Engineering and Architecture Faculty.

Related: Where to find speed traps in Ljubljana

STA, 8 July 2019 - Updated 17:00

An Iraqi man injured a taxi driver and attacked a police officer in the Nova Gorica area on Sunday afternoon. According to Nova Gorica police, the man attacked the taxi driver after the driver determined that he does not have money to pay for the ride.

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

But the 26-year-old resisted and attacked the taxi driver with a hobby knife.

The Nova Gorica police department said it had been informed of a man injured and bleeding along a road at 5:30pm yesterday.

Two police officers rushed to the scene to find a man 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. The police found the Iraqi man attempting to hotwire the car to get to Ljubljana on his own, the head of the Nova Gorica police, Evgen Govekar, told the press.

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.

The man, believed to be a citizen of Iraq, was transported to the Šempeter general hospital.

According to Govekar, the taxi driver sustained only mild injuries and has already been released from hospital, while the Iraqi man underwent surgery during the night.

Police are still checking the attacker's identity and status in the EU, as he had no documents on him. He had no mobile phone or cash.

The police believe he is a 26-year-old citizen of Iraq who stayed in Germany in 2018 and 2019 and filed for asylum there, only to have his request denied.

In 2017, he stayed in France. He came to Slovenia through Italy and wanted to go to Ljubljana. It is not yet clear where he entered the Schengen zone.

While the circumstances of yesterday's incident are yet to be fully investigated, Prime Minister Marjan Šarec and Police Commissioner Tanja Bobnar, who were touring the towns along the southern border today, assessed that the police officer had acted professionally.

According to Bobnar, he and his partner prevented an even worse scenario. She said that both the police officer and the attacker had received psychological and medical assistance.

The police are actively investigating the case and have so far established that the suspect came from Italy, Bobnar told reporters.

Slovenian police officers rarely use their guns. Police statistics show the entire force records less than one shot at suspect per year.

STA, 5 July 2019 - Biser Bidco, the sole owner of Slovenia's second largest bank NKBM, decided on Friday to pay out EUR 5 million in dividends, leaving EUR 126,66 million in profit undistributed.

The EUR 5 million payout is significantly lower than the year before, when Bidco Biser decided to pay out EUR 45.8 million in dividends. The AGM also granted a discharge of liability to the bank's management and supervisory boards.

The Luxembourg-based company is owned by US fund Apollo, which holds 80% of the company, and the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD).

The two companies signed a contract to buy the Maribor-based state-owned bank for EUR 250m in mid-2015, meeting all the requirements in April 2016.

The AGM comes only a few weeks after NKBM was selected as the best bidder in the privatisation of Abanka. A EUR 444 million sales contract has already been signed, with the transaction pending regulatory approval.

The sale is expected to go through by the end of the year. The NKBM-Abanka merger, which is expected to be wrapped up in the first quarter of 2020, will create the second largest bank group in Slovenia.

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:

Organic farming growing steadily in Slovenia

LJUBLJANA - Slovenia's organic farming sector continues to grow slowly but steadily. There were 3,320 agricultural holdings registered as organic farms last year, a 4% increase over 2017, according to the Statistics Office. Farms holding the status of organic producers represented 4.8% of all farms in Slovenia. The country's total organic produce grew by 27% last year compared to 2017, amounting to over 29,000 tonnes, while the amount of produced vegetables (over 1,800 tonnes) increased by 21% compared to 2017.

Storms bring winds and hail

LJUBLJANA - Storms swept across Slovenia on Sunday afternoon, bringing strong winds, torrential rain and hail. The Štajerska and Pomurska regions in the east seem to have been hit the most, with the storm leaving some 12,000 buildings without power. In the medieval town of Ptuj, wind exceeded 100 km/h. In this part of the country, winds only rarely exceed 70km/h.

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