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 receives Statehood Day congratulations from abroad

LJUBLJANA - President Borut Pahor has received congratulations on Statehood Day from numerous heads of state and monarchs, including from Pope Francis, US President Donald Trump, French President Emmanuel Macron and Russian President Vladimir Putin.

Slovenia's Dončić wins NBA Rookie of the Year honours

NEW YORK, US - Slovenian basketball sensation Luka Dončić has crowned his successful first year in the NBA by being selected Rookie of the Year, to become just the second European player ever to win the accolade, after Spain's Pau Gasol in 2002.

Slovenia hosts European-Chinese space data symposium

LJUBLJANA - An international symposium on the Dragon 4 initiative started in Slovenia on Tuesday and will last until Friday. The meeting aims to strengthen European-Chinese cooperation by developing opportunities for using space imaging for various purposes, including in agriculture and to address climate change. The initiative by the European Space Agency (ESA), the Chinese Ministry of Science and Technology and the National Remote Sensing Center of China (NRSCC) has brought together some 600 scientists.

Purič supports strong cohesion policy at EU ministerial meeting

LUXEMBOURG, Luxembourg - Minister of Development and Cohesion Policy Iztok Purič called for strong EU cohesion policy in 2021-2027 and against sudden drops in cohesion envelopes as he took part in a session of EU ministers responsible for cohesion in Luxembourg on Tuesday.

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

STA, June 25, 2019 - Slovenian basketball sensation Luka Dončić has crowned his successful first year in the NBA by being selected Rookie of the Year, to become just the second European player ever to win the accolade, after Spain's Pau Gasol in 2002.

Dončić is also only the fourth international player ever to win the honours in the 73-year history of the National Basketball Association (NBA), with Canada's Andrew Wiggins (2015) and Ben Simmons of Australia (2018) being the remaining two.

The latest accolade for the 20-year-old comes after he won gold with Slovenia at the 2017 EuroBasket, and the European champion title with Spain's Real Madrid in 2018. He was also named the most valuable player (MVP) of the EuroLeague that year.

After conquering Europe, Dončić was selected with the third pick in last year's NBA Draft to become a member of the rebuilding Dallas Mavericks, the team which won the championship in 2011 and which has been facing a decline since.

The Slovenian played 72 games for the Texas team to establish himself as a de facto leader as the ageing superstar Dirk Nowitzki was bidding farewell from professional basketball. The Mavericks finished the season with a 33-49 record to miss out on a playoff berth.

In the process, Dončić scored a triple double in eight games, which puts him among the best rookies ever in this department - trailing only the legendary Oscar Robertson (26 in the 1960/1961 season) and Ben Simmons (12 in the 2017/2018 season).

Named after the former Philadelphia Warriors head coach Eddie Gottlieb, the NBA Rookie of the Year trophy has been conferred since the 1952/53 season, with the best newcomers in the world's strongest basketball league being picked by reporters from the US and Canada.

As many as 16 winners of the award went on to win the league MVP award, while 19 of them who are no longer active or are deceased having already been inducted in the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame.

Dončić has been named the NBA Rookie of the Year ahead of Trae Young of the Atlanta Hawks, for whom he was swapped on the draft night to end up in the Mavericks, and last year's first pick DeAndre Ayton of the Phoenix Suns.

While the battle for the accolade with Young was close during the whole last season, Dončić nevertheless stood out with his numbers, averaging 21.2 points, 7.8 rebounds and 6 assists to win six consecutive Western Conference Rookie of the Month awards.

By securing the averages of at least 20 points, seven rebounds and five assists per game four games left to play in the regular season, he became only the second rookie to reach those benchmarks in the history of the league along with Oscar Robertson.

In this respect, he was ahead of NBA greats such as Michael Jordan (28.2 points, 6.5 rebounds and 5.9 assists), Magic Johnson (18, 7.7 and 7.3) and LeBron James (20.9, 5.9 and 5.5).

Dončić is successfully taking over from Goran Dragić as the best Slovenian basketball player as Dragić is entering the last year of his four-year contract with the Miami Heat.

Dragić has so far been the best Slovenian in the NBA, with the 33-year-old from Ljubljana being named an NBA All-Star for the first time in 2018, after making the All-NBA Third Team in 2014 as a member of the Phoenix Suns.

Dončić, who is yet to become an All-Star, was close this year, coming second only to LeBron James in the fan voting portion of the selection process. He was not as favoured by the league's players and the media panel though.

June 25, 2019

In 1478 marauding Turkish akinji cavalry destroyed Slovenia’s first independent peasant territory, which was established after the first Slovenian peasant revolt in Carinthia several months earlier.

The revolting peasants of Carinthia managed to gain control over their farming territories for several months earlier that year, meaning they stopped paying duties to the landowning nobility of the Holy Roman Empire and transferred some of these taxes to their peasant association instead. During the revolt, the influential Simetinger farming family was chosen as its leadership, peasants established their own courts and claimed control over the church through public election of the priests.

The so-called simetingers also gained the full support of the miners and countryside artisans. Citizens of Beljak (GER: Villach) and glassworkers of Hüettenberg helped them buy military equipment.

On June 1^st the Holy Roman Imperial army began preparations to subdue the rebelling peasants, however their counterattack was overtaken by the invasion of Turkish plundering cavalry on June 25, 1478.

The northward expansion of the Ottoman Empire started with the 1371 takeover of Macedonia, continued with the defeat of the Serbian army in Kosovo Polje in 1389, then with conquering Bulgaria in 1396, and following the fall of Constantinople in 1453 Turkish troops advanced northweast, reaching the borders of the Holy Roman Empire in 1469.

The nobility and clergy locked themselves into their castles while the Turks looted and killed across Carinthia. Turkish raids were conducted by akinji, irregular and unpaid Turkish troops whose main goal was partially gathering information but mostly to demoralize the locals by pillage and destruction. Because these raids became quite common, people started to build fortresses known as tabor. A tabor was usually a church built at the top of a steep hill surrounded by a wall. Some of these simple fortresses were later transformed into castles (such as Pobrežje by Kolpa). People also organised guards on the hillsides, who lit bonfires when Turks were approaching, thereby spreading word of the danger.

However, the rebel peasant army of about 500 people didn’t stand a chance against some 20,000 akinji troops in 1478. After slaying the rebelling peasants, the Turks proceeded to loot across Upper Carinthia. After the withdrawal of the Turkish troops the authorities under the Holy Roman Empire put the remainder of the  peasant rebel on trial and sentenced them to death for treason.

STA, 24 June 2019 - Its own state, especially for a nation as small as Slovenia's, is an asset in its own right, President Borut Pahor said as he addressed the national ceremony in Ljubljana's Congress Square on Monday, the eve of Statehood Day, which marks the day in 1991 when parliament passed the needed documents to declare independence.

"The establishment of an independent state 28 years ago is the most glorious milestone of our national history", and it "makes us an equal part of the global architecture", said Pahor.

He recalled the May Declaration, a document read in Congress Square 30 years ago in which writers and other groups called for democracy, a sovereign Slovenia and its integration with Europe.

"I don't think there is a national political manifesto more clear, more inspiring, more visionary and more brief than this one," he stressed.

Taking a look ahead, Pahor said parents and grandparents had the responsibility to enable their children a decent future to the best of their abilities.

This means "creating a tolerant society in which everyone can express themselves freely while also respecting the dignity and freedom of the other".

It also means "creating a society which is economically and socially strong and well integrated, but also competitive and solidarity-based enough so that it can create a lot and excellently, and distributes fairly what it has created".

It moreover implies acting to tackle climate change, and always address even the most complex of problems in a peaceful manner, according to Pahor.

Although we don't know what the future holds for us, we do know that in case of new watershed moments we will be able to take action more effectively because we are sovereign and have our own state, stressed Pahor.

The national ceremony is being attended by a number of politicians and other high-profile guests, including Prime Minister Marjan Šarec and Speaker Dejan Židan.

Prior to the ceremony, the National Assembly met for a ceremonial session it holds before major national holidays, and Pahor hosted a reception for the relatives of military, police and civilian victims of the independence war, which broke out when the Yugoslav People's Army attacked the newly-declared state.

"We must never forget that Slovenia was attacked after it declared independence, but successfully countered the attack in a war," Pahor said at the reception at the Presidential Palace, which was also attended by Šarec as well as the defence and interior ministers.

War veterans used the occasion to urge the government to regulate the status of disabled war veterans who have not yet had their status recognised.

Rudolf Lah from the Association of Disabled War Veterans and Families of the Fallen in the 1991 War urged the government "to recognise our sacrifices and tackle the problems which we have been pointing to at all annual receptions".

Drago Koprčina, who heads the association, told the STA the Marjan Šarec government had appointed a task force to address the open issues.

Official statistics show that the ten-day independence war claimed the lives of 19 Slovenian soldiers and police officers, with another 182 Slovenians wounded.

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:

New US chargé d'affaires in Ljubljana appointed

LJUBLJANA - Susan K. Falatko has taken over as the new chargé d'affaires at the US Embassy in Slovenia, succeeding Gautam Rana. Falatko previously headed the US State Department office in charge of the Western Balkans from 2017. Announcing the news, the embassy quoted Falatko as saying that "I look forward to continuing to strengthen our extensive bilateral relationship in the years to come". The US has been without an ambassador in Slovenia since last summer, when Brent Hartley concluded his three-year term. Falatko's predecessor Rana has left for a post in Algeria.

GRECO to evaluate separation of legislative and judicial powers in Slovenia

STRASBOURG, France - The Council of Europe's Group of States against Corruption (GRECO) has decided to launch an ad hoc evaluation of separation of legislative and judiciary powers in Slovenia. In a press release GRECO said that the decision was taken "against the background of a procedural initiative by the National Council to start investigating the 'political responsibility of state prosecutors and judges'". In mid-June the Slovenian upper chamber of parliament demanded that an investigating commission be established to look into potential political motives of criminal cases brought against National Council member Franc Kangler.

Commissioner presents EUR 109m check for Koper-Divača track

LJUBLJANA - European Transport Commissioner Violeta Bulc symbolically presented a check of EUR 109 million in EU funds Slovenia had secured for a rail expansion between the port Koper and the inland hub Divača to Infrastructure Minister Alenka Bratušek. The money will be spent to build seven tunnels on the new route. The European Commission has so far earmarked EUR 153 million for Koper-Divača, Bulc said about the project whose total price tag is EUR 1.2 billion. Bratušek said the goal was to launch the new track by 2026, noting Slovenia was in talks with the Commission on another EUR 80 million for the rail expansion.

State is asset in its own right, Pahor says at Statehood Day ceremony

LJUBLJANA - On eve of Statehood Day, President Borut Pahor said having its own state, especially for a nation as small as Slovenia's, was an asset in its own right. He noted as he addressed the national ceremony in Ljubljana the establishment of an independent state 28 years ago was "the most glorious milestone of our national history", and called for creating a tolerant society in which everyone can express themselves freely while also respecting the dignity and freedom of the other. Prior to the ceremony, the National Assembly met for a ceremonial session, and Pahor hosted a reception for the relatives of military, police and civilian victims of the independence war, which broke out when the Yugoslav People's Army attacked the newly-declared state.

PM addresses troops abroad ahead of Statehood Day

LJUBLJANA - Prime Minister Marjan Šarec addressed Slovenian troops stationed abroad, thanking them for their work in a video call on the eve of Statehood Day. He called for a joint celebration of "Slovenia's birthday", without political disputes, adding that "there will be plenty of time for politicking after the holiday". After the conference call with the heads of missions, which took place behind closed doors at the Defence Ministry, Šarec noted that Slovenia contributed significant part of its capacities to preserve peace and stability in the world.

Pahor says political stability could be basis for big projects

LJUBLJANA - President Borut Pahor told the public broadcaster RTV Slovenija late on Sunday that the current political stability in Slovenia could be used to push through major projects such as reforms of the health and pension systems. He assessed Slovenia was a safe country but nevertheless called for enhanced border protection in the light of migrant influx. He said in the interview that he was working well with Prime Minister Marjan Šarec but wished for more cooperation with the main political forces in the country.

Šarec party tops party ranking of POP TV poll

LJUBLJANA - The ruling Marjan šarec List (LMŠ) tops the party ranking of this month's POP TV public opinion poll, which was released on Sunday evening. Support for the LMŠ was at 16.6% this month, followed by the opposition Democrats (SDS) with 15%. The junior coalition Social Democrats (SD) are third with 7.6% support. Support for the government remains relatively high at 53.9%, while 32% of the respondents believe that the cabinet is doing a poor job.

Nearly all distributable profit of Delavska Hranilnica to go for dividends

LJUBLJANA - The Delavska Hranilnica savings bank will allocate nearly all of its distributable profit for dividends, its shareholders decided last week. Owners will get EUR 5 a share, which means that EUR 2.4 million out of a total of EUR 2.5 million in distributable profit will go for dividends. The AGM also backed a new recapitalisation, ordering the management to increase the avings bank's capital stock by EUR 8.9 million through one or more bond issues. In the past three years, the savings bank has already increased its capital stock from EUR 5.8 million to EUR 20.3 million.

Autobiographical debut novel wins Kresnik

LJUBLJANA - The publisher Delo honoured late on Sunday writer Bronja Žakelj with the Kresnik prize, the most prestigious award for novels in Slovenia, recognising her debut Whites Are Washed at 90 (Belo Se Pere na 90) as the best novel of the year. The novel is an autobiography that starts with an idyllic childhood but soon becomes very trying for the author who lost her mother when she was a teenager, then lost a brother and fought cancer herself. Žakelj is only the third woman author to receive the EUR 5,000 prize since it was first handed out in 1991.

Slovenia's Apotekar wins gold in judo at European Games

MINSK, Belarus - Slovenian judoka Klara Apotekar won the gold medal at the European Games in the women's 78 kg category, bringing the medal tally for the country in the sport to two. The 21-year-old athlete from Celje defeated Guusje Steenhuis of the Netherlands in the finals after beating German Luise Malzahn in the semis with an ippon after two and a half minutes of added time. This is the second medal for Slovenia at the competition which replaces the European Judo Championship, after Maruša Štangar won the bronze on Saturday in the women's 52 kg category.

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

Along with Slovenia being discovered as a hidden gem another story that seems to swing by on an annual basis is the one about IKEA opening a store in Ljubljana. However, before you get your hopes up, and perhaps postpone the purchase of a bookcase from another retailer, we present a brief history of the long-delayed project, with the implication that you may still have to leave the country for a visit.

2014

The first news under the headline “IKEA Coming to Ljubljana” seems to come in April, 2014, with a report in the Slovenia Times that:

Swedish furniture giant Ikea is interested in buying a 84,000 square metre plot in Ljubljana's shopping district BTC, the business daily Finance reported on Tuesday. According to unofficial information, Ikea is in talks to buy the plot, owned by insurer Zavarovalnica Triglav, for a sum between EUR 19.3m and EUR 22.7m.

The report quotes a spokesperson for BTC City as saying that it will be at least 18 months – until end last quarter of 2015 – before construction begins.

2015

All’s quiet on the IKEA front until about a year later, March 2015, when the Swedish furniture giant signed a preliminary agreement on the purchase of a plot of land in Ljubljana's BTC City.

2016

At around the time when construction was supposed to have been underway, the next news suggested that things were still at a preliminary stage. Ljubljana’s Mayor, Zoran Janković, no doubt as anxious as the citizens he presides over as to when he’ll be able to get a reliable supply of meatballs, easy-to-assemble furniture, free paper tape measures and pencils, announced in January 2016 that the board of the Swedish company had just confirmed plans to expand to Ljubljana. Reports in the Swedish media indicated that the store would now open in 2018.

Notably, the Mayor said in early 2016 that the negotiations with IKEA had already been going on for nine years.

2017

Eighteen months later, and in September 2017 IKEA issued a press release saying that it had chosen the companies who would build its store and the needed infrastructure in Ljubljana, with the project now waiting for an environmental permit before the building permit could go force.

2018

In February the Slovenian media reported that demolition work had already begun on the site of the proposed store, but that construction work, and indeed any further developments, remained in limbo due to the unresolved status of a planned access road.

On 7 June, 2018 the headline news was "IKEA gives Janković an ultimatum". The report states that the firm “has found a solution in a new spatial planning law that allows investors to request an emergency procedure for changing the relevant zoning plan. It filed the application on 4 June.” On June 19 it was reported that the company would need to conduct a traffic study to show that a new road between Kajuhova and Ameriška streets should be constructed to provide access to the planned store.

A further report in October 2018 said that the project was still on hold until Ljubljana Municipality agreed to build the road.

2019

In February of this year, some months after the store was original due to open, Ljubljana City Council unanimously endorsed a decision that allowed IKEA to finally start building its store in BTC City, even though the required access road south of the planned centre has not yet been built due to ownership complications. The report concludes that IKEA will soon start construction of the 30,000 sq-metre store, which could open in 2020 and provide around 300 jobs.

While we hope the story ends next year with a successful opening you can be sure we’ll continue monitoring the situation, so perhaps stay tuned part 2 of this series in 2024.

Related: BTC City as a Food Destination

STA, 23 June 2019 - After years of natural increase in population, Slovenia has seen a natural decrease in population for the second consecutive year in 2018, as the number of births dropped to below 20,000 a year for the first time in a decade.

Data from the Statistics Office show that 19,585 people were born in Slovenia last year and 20,485 died. The number of deaths was 0.1% lower than in 2017, while the number of births dropped by 3.2%.

Average age at death has been increasing gradually, climbing to 77.9 years. On average, men died at 74.1 years, while women died at 81.6 years of age.

Related - Food, Alcohol, Sex, Marriage, Divorce & Death: Recent Statistics on Slovenia

Meanwhile, girls born in Slovenia last year have a life expectancy of 84 years and boys of 78.3 years. Life expectancy has increased by 7.3 years for women and 9.5 years for men over the course of the past three decades, the Statistics Office said.

Early deaths, meaning before the age of 65, accounted for 16.5% of all deaths last year. They accounted for 22.7% of deaths among men and 10.5% among women.

The share of early deaths has always been higher among men, but is declining for both sexes, said the office, adding that in 2008, the figure was at 32.5% for men and 13.1% for women.

Slovenia continues to be among the safest countries in the EU and in general in terms of infant mortality, with only 1.7 infant deaths per 1,000 live births. In total, 33 babies died last year, of which 22 were boys and 11 girls.

Last year, 10,157 boys were born in Slovenia and 9,428 girls. Ema was the most popular girls' name and Luke continued to reign supreme among boys' names for the 20th consecutive year.

The average age of the mother at the time of her first birth was 29.5 years, keeping with the trend of women deciding to have children at an increasingly later age.

Fifty years ago, most of the women having babies were between 20 and 24 years old, which remained the case up until the 1980s. Last year, most of the women having babies were in the age groups of 25-29 and 30-34.

More than 42% of the mothers were married. Fathers were on average three years older than the mother. Only eight fathers were older than 60 and 47 were younger than 20.

More data on this can be found here

STA, 23 June - The government is drafting legislative changes legalising the increasingly popular electric scooters and the testing of autonomous cars.

E-scooters are currently unregulated and exist in a grey zone, but under changes proposed by the Infrastructure Ministry their use will be allowed in pedestrian areas and on bicycle lanes.

The maximum speed will be restricted to 25 km/h, but in pedestrian areas e-scooter riders will have to keep the speed at walking pace.

Where there are no pavements or bicycle lanes, e-scooters will be allowed on the edge of roads.

In general, e-scooters will be subject to rules on bicyclists, which means they have to have lights. Helmets will be mandatory for underage riders.

A second set of rules deals with autonomous cars, whose testing will be permitted on Slovenian roads provided they are marked as autonomous vehicles.

Drivers will nevertheless have to be present in the vehicle at all times to take over if necessary, and systems must be put in place to record data in real time and hand over that data to law enforcement in the event of an accident.

All autonomous vehicles will have to be insured and their owners will have to notify the police in advance of testing.

The changes are a part of a broader reform law on traffic regulations that has been drawn up by the Infrastructure Ministry and submitted for interdepartmental consultation.

Some of the other changes involve higher fines for using mobile devices while driving, new rules on mixed areas shared by vehicles and pedestrians, and stricter rules on where lorry drivers may park.

In a change that will be welcomed by cyclists, the legislation will eliminate an unintended loophole under which bicyclists had to be completely sober; like drivers of cars, they will be allowed to have a blood alcohol content of 0.5 grams of alcohol per litre of blood.

STA, 23 June 2019 - Slovenia-based industrial companies generated EUR 26 billion in revenue last year, 9.4% more than in 2017, data from the Statistics Office show. The office noted however that about 2-3 percentage points should be attributed to the inclusion of additional industries in the index, among them wood processing, metallurgy and machine repairs.

Industrial revenue has been increasing for years. In 2014, it was at 19.4 billion, the year later it climbed to EUR 20.1 billion, to EUR 21.3 billion in 2016 and to EUR 23.7 billion in 2017, the office said.

Companies making cars and trailers have been at the forefront in the recent years as well as in 2018, when they accounted for nearly 15% of total industrial revenue, followed by production of electric devices (11%) and metallurgy (10%).

Some 75% or EUR 19.8 billion in revenue was generated abroad. Companies making cars and trailers generated 93% of their revenue abroad, followed by companies making boats (86%).

On the other hand, beverage makers generated nearly 75% of their revenue on the domestic market, followed by food companies (71%) and publishing companies (64).

More data on this can be found here

STA, 23 June 2019 - Slovenia and Italy will launch joint mixed border patrols on 1 July, Italy's Interior Minister Matteo Salvini said on Saturday, according to news reports. Slovenia's Foreign Ministry told Radio Slovenia on Sunday that an implementation agreement would be signed in the coming week and confirmed the date of the launch.

After the Slovenian police told the STA that the countries are yet to sign the implementation agreement, the Foreign Ministry said that the document would be signed in the coming week. It did not say who would sign it, however, Prime Minister Marjan Šarec is due in the Vatican on Thursday.

The patrols are to be the same as those patrolling the border between Italy and France, according to a report by the Austrian press agency APA. It adds that so far nearly 800 illegal migrants have been detected entering Italy from Slovenia this year.

The joint patrols were proposed by Slovenia's Foreign Minister Miro Cerar. At the same time, he underlined that internal border controls in the Schengen zone were unacceptable to Slovenia. The issues of security and migrations must be addressed together so as to avoid border controls, he said.