Pahor meets pope to mark 30 years of diplomatic ties
VATICAN CITY, Vatican - President Borut Pahor met Pope Francis during an official visit to the Vatican to mark the 30th anniversary of diplomatic ties between Slovenia and the Holy See. The pair noted the importance of dialogue and discussed the situation in the Western Balkans, the Ukraine crisis, as well as bilateral cooperation. Pahor also met Cardinal Pietro Parolin, the Vatican's Secretary of State, and Archbishop Paul Richard Gallagher, Secretary for Relations with States. He also met his Italian counterpart Sergio Mattarella over a private dinner, which makes Pahor the first foreign head of state or government to meet Mattarella in the latter's new term.
Golob's party in lead in RTV Slovenija poll
LJUBLJANA - Freedom Movement, the party of Robert Golob, leads the field in the latest poll commissioned by RTV Slovenija, ahead of the ruling Democrats (SDS). One out of five respondents said they would vote for Freedom Movement, an increase of 6.8 percentage points from January. The SDS gained three points to 15% ahead of the opposition Left, which added 2.6 points to 7%. Golob also tops the ranking of most popular politicians ahead of President Borut Pahor and Speaker Igor Zorčič.
Daily Covid case count down for 4th day
LJUBLJANA - Slovenia logged 5,512 new coronavirus cases on Sunday as the daily tally dropped for the fourth straight day on the same day a week ago, this time by over a third. Another 18 Covid-19 deaths were reported. Government data shows 441 patients are hospitalised with Covid-19 as their main condition plus 116 at intensive care units. The former figure is up by 48 and the latter down by three from yesterday. The 7-day average of new daily cases dropped to 12,657.
Slovenia's excess mortality rate at 15% in 2021
LJUBLJANA - Slovenia recorded an excess mortality rate of 15% last year, when the Covid-19 epidemic was in full swing. Fresh data from the Statistics Office shows the worst month was November, when 49% more people died than the average for the same period in 2015-2019. According to provisional data, a total of 23,177 people died in Slovenia in 2021, which is 2,589 more than in 2019 - before the outbreak of the coronavirus, but 839 (3%) fewer than in 2020. That year the excess mortality rate was at almost 19%.
Annual inflation speeds up to 5.8%
LJUBLJANA - Slovenia's annual inflation ran at 5.8% in January, the highest since August 2008, picking up pace from 4.9% reported at the end of last year mostly due to costlier fuels and energy. Consumer prices rose by 0.4% from December, chiefly due to pricier food and gas, fresh data from the Statistics Office shows. Measured with the harmonised index of consumer prices, an EU-wide standard, Slovenia's annual inflation ran at 6%, up 0.9 percentage points from December.
Petrol set on becoming market leader in Croatia
ZAGREB, Croatia - Nada Drobne Popović, the CEO of energy group Petrol, told the Croatian newspaper Večernji List that, following last year's takeover of Crodux, Petrol aims to become the leading provider of motor fuels in the Croatian market. She projected that sales in Croatia will exceed those in Slovenia by 2025. With the acquisition of the Croatian chain of service stations, the Slovenian group become the second largest provider in Croatia by number of service stations and the region's leader.
Steklarna Hrastnik reportedly faces wave of resignations
HRASTNIK - A number of workers gathered in front of the headquarters of glass manufacturer Steklarna Hrastnik to protest to the company's management. Some workers also announced handing in their resignations, with the number unofficially expected to be between 40 and 60 - around 10% of the entire workforce. According to Radio Slovenija, the majority of the dissatisfied employees who have decided to terminate their contracts are foremen. The management said this was not an expression of wider discontent among the employees.
Culture Day ceremony celebrates top achievements in arts
LJUBLJANA - This year's main ceremony dedicated to Culture Day highlighted the constructive response of artists in any crisis. The Prešeren Prizes were conferred at the event on the eve of the public holiday, as philologist and translator Kajetan Gantar and conductor and musicologist Mirko Cuderman received the main national accolades for lifetime artistic achievement, and six Prešeren Fund Prizes for individual accomplishments were also conferred.
Slovenian mixed ski jumping team wins gold at Beijing Olympics
BEIJING, China - Slovenian ski jumpers Nika Križnar, Urša Bogataj, Timi Zajc and Peter Prevc won the gold medal in the mixed team normal hill event at the Winter Olympics to make history as the first nation to win the event in its Olympic premiere in Beijing. This is the third medal for Slovenia in ski jumping and in general at this Olympic Games.
Olympics: Kline 10th in downhill, Hrovat 7th in giant slalom
BEIJING, China - Boštjan Kline placed 10th in the Olympic men's downhill for what is the best ever achievement for Slovenian male alpine skiers in the discipline. Meanwhile, Meta Hrovat placed 7th in the women's giant slalom in an improvement on her previous best Olympic result in the discipline, the 14th place in PyeongChang in 2018.
Čadež's Steakhouse receives Special Mention in Clermont Ferrand
CLERMONT FERRAND, France - Animation filmmaker Špela Čadež has received a Special Mention at this year's Clermont-Ferrand International Short Film Festival for her animated short Steakhouse in what is the tenth international award for the film, the Slovenian Film Centre said. Čadež is also a recipient of this year's Prešeren Fund Prize.
