STA, 15 April 2022 - Easter is the biggest holiday of Christianity but apart from religious ceremonies, it is mainly about traditions handed down for centuries that are still observed both by religious and non-religious people in Slovenia. This year it will be especially festive with in-person events returning after two years of Covid restrictions.

Stores will be closed on Monday, April 19th

Days immediately after Palm Sunday are spent cleaning up, tidying and decorating the home in preparation for Easter. Some will have started preparing dishes typical for this time of year, which have not changed much for centuries.

Good Friday is more of a quiet day as believers remember Jesus's suffering and death on the cross. It is the only day on the Catholic calendar that masses are not celebrated. The believers observe a strict fast.

Meanwhile, the smaller Protestant community, centred in the north-east of the country, will hold their main Easter service on Friday. The altar will be covered in black cloth with a thorn crown placed on top.

All Easter dishes need to be ready on Saturday to be taken for blessings in wicker baskets and many a home will be sprinkled with holy water and blessed with holy fire.

A typical Easter basket includes "pirhi", the elaborately decorated hard-boiled eggs, ham, horse radish, the potica cake, and selected local specialities.

These have not changed much since the times of the celebrated polymath Janez Vajkard Valvasor. In his 1689 Glory of the Duchy of Carniola he lists smoked ham, salted beef, hard-boiled eggs and a wreath-shaped cake weighing up to 17 kilos as the dishes that were taken to blessings at the time. He also describes regional variations of the basket.

Evangelical Bishop Leon Novak says their community does not bless Easter dishes. Instead, kids hunt for Easter Bunnies.

The culmination of Easter for the Catholic community will start with Easter vigils at churches on Saturday evening. Sunday morning will start with resurrection masses with Easter processions, accompanied by bell-ringing.

Anton Jamnik, the auxiliary bishop of Ljubljana, says that the rich and festive liturgy, involving a lot of symbolism, singing as well as silence, attracts more people than usual to churches.

This year will be the first time since the start of the Covid-19 pandemic that Easter ceremonies will be held in person. Moreover, churchgoers will no longer have to wear facemasks.

STA, 14 April - The Murska Sobota synagogue (Sinagoga Murska Sobota), which was demolished in 1954, has been revived in virtual form as part of the Interreg Danube project based on a few photos and incomplete plans for the building dating to 1908-1954. Using virtual reality headsets, visitors can now enter the synagogue or take a stroll around it.

The goal was to present this "extraordinary element of Jewish cultural heritage" to locals and visitors again, said
Brigita Perhavec and Daniel Ulčar from the Institute for Culture, Tourism and Sport, head of Pomurje Museum Metka Fujs and Art Rebel 9 CEO Matjaž Požlep as they presented the project.

The synagogue in Murska Sobota was the work of renowned Jewish architect Lipot Baumhorn, who designed 25 synagogues and Jewish temples, and was build in the Hungarian architectural style in 1908.

During the Second World War, when local Jews were taken to concentration camps, mostly Auschwitz, the town bought the building and decided to demolish it in 1954.

The decision was made because the building was in poor condition, so it could not be used, while the few dozen Jews who returned from concentration camps had no money to finance the renovation.

The virtual synagogue is part of the Rediscover project of exploring the hidden Jewish heritage of the Danube region within the Interreg Danube project, featuring partners from Hungary, Romania, Serbia, Croatia, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Montenegro and Germany.

Apart from the virtual synagogue, the Murska Sobota Institute for Culture, Tourism and Sport also made records of tangible and intangible Jewish cultural heritage and organised various activities, including the Days of Jewish Culture in Murska Sobota, a Jewish trail, and an exhibition presenting Baumhorn's work and the Jewish community in Murska Sobota.

STA, 14 April 2022 - Foreigners in Slovenia have problems because of lengthy procedures at administrative units (Upravne enote), warned participants of a round table debate hosted on Thursday by the Legal Network for Protection of Democracy, an NGO. The delays occur because of understaffed offices for foreigners, inefficient organisation, and the nature of administrative procedures.

The delays in administrative procedures involving foreigners in big cities, especially Ljubljana, go beyond what is reasonable and justifiable, said the participants.

Currently, 15,000 applications by foreigners are waiting to be processed at the Ljubljana administrative unit, which said that it would introduce special staffing measures to process them within six months.

Ukrainian refugees who have requested temporary protection have further increased the workload.

Different categories of foreigners are in a tough spot because of the lengthy procedures, including students (some 4,100 in Ljubljana and 15,000 in Maribor) as well as guest lecturers and researchers, the University in Ljubljana said.

Vice-chancellor for student affairs Ksenija Vidmar Horvat said the "system was completely out of control", as people were not notified of the phase their application was in, received false information, and the proceedings were lengthy. She reported of financial and emotional distress and the feelings of stigmatisation.

She warned that this damaged the university's reputation. "We at the university see them as our ambassadors. Sooner or later they will signal to their environment that things are not organised well here," she stressed.

Vice-chancellor for internationalisation and quality Boštjan Markoli echoed this, saying the problem was affecting the university's quality assessments and was causing it to drop in rankings and preference lists. Problems are emerging in winning and implementing projects with time restrictions, he said.

Matija Urankar from the Senica Law Firm said that many foreign investors had cancelled their projects amid administrative procedures because they were too slow and the staff unresponsive. He believes damage was being caused to Slovenia.

According to him, the general administrative procedure act is a big problem, because proceedings based on it are rigid. For example, foreigners must submit documents that do not even exist in their country, he illustrated.

Goran Lukić from Delavska Svetovalnica, an NGO specialising in the rights of migrant workers, said foreign workers waited months, even years for their applications to be processed. He said that in recent months there had been increased interest in employers in Germany, while Slovenia lacked labour force.

Andrej Šter, the head of the Foreign Ministry's consular service, admitted there were problems. "In Slovenia, a foreigner is directly and indirectly considered a security problem and is treated as such. They need to be read, their background checked. Clerks are told to do detailed investigation on them," he said.

State institutions should understand that the "situation as it is now cannot be solved". He proposes several changes, including processing of foreign parties in Slovenia rather than "sending them to be fingerprinted in Ankara". Another problem is an "unbalanced and meagre diplomatic network".

The head of the Trade Union of State Bodies, Frančišek Verk, who was in the audience, said that pay was low, state bodies understaffed and employees under pressure. He was critical of the politicians who he said had in the past ignored warnings that the situation would get worse.

STA, 9 April 2022 - An adult male lynx arrived from the Carpathian Mountains in Romania to the Snežnik plateau on Friday and is adjusting to the new environment in an enclosure. It is the ninth lynx to have arrived from Romania, said partners to the LIFE Lynx project, striving to preserve the Dinaric-Alpine lynx population.

According to LIFE Lynx website, the lynx male will be cared for by hunters from the Jelen hunting area. "At this point it is important not to disturb the lynx, because this is a very timid wild animal," they said.

The location of the enclosure has not been made public and people have been urged not to approach it. The area is under video surveillance, and hunters and inspector also patrol the area.

This is the ninth lynx that has been moved from Romania to Slovenia and Croatia since the spring of 2019. Weighing 27 kilogrammes, it is also one of the largest to be moved as part of the LIFE Lynx project. It shares the first place with lynx Tris, which was moved to Slovenian Alps last year.

The new lynx does not have a name yet and is to be named in cooperation with the centre for large carnivores Dina Pivka.

STA, 29 March 2022 - Firefighters are fighting a major forest fire that broke out on Monday on the slopes of the Baba hill near Preddvor, about 30 kilometres north of Ljubljana. Army helicopters have been activated and now a water bomber from Croatia is to join the effort. A near-by village has been secured, but several firefighters have been injured.

According to the major of Preddvor, Rok Roblek, the priority had been to protect the village of Potoče and prevent even more damage as it will be substantial.

A lot of wood in private forests has gone up in smoke along with several holiday facilities, as the area is a popular hiking point, while additional damage due to erosion is expected later.

Some estimates suggest around 500-700 hectares of land has been affected. Yesterday, 250 firefighters were at the side and today about 100 are fighting the fire, said the head of the intervention, Andraž Šifrer.

The site is difficult to access, stones, rocks and trees are falling on firefighters and several have been injured while vehicles have also been damaged.

Web portal 24ur.com reported of three injured firefighters - two reportedly sustained minor injuries and in one case the degree of injuries has not been determined yet.

Two army helicopters are currently engaged in efforts to contain the fire and another is to join in this afternoon. Defence Minister Matej Tonin said after visiting the site that four helicopters would be secured on Wednesday.

The Kranj police department said that due to the extent of the fire a Croatian water bomber had also been activated. It is to take water from Zbilje Lake, which is half-way between Ljubljana and Preddvor.

According to Matija Zupančič, a pilot of an army helicopter, said strong winds had made firefighting efforts even more difficult yesterday.

Luckily, Černava Lake is close by, so water can be lifted quicker, he said. The army choppers can take 1,100-2,400 litres of water in one lift.

Bojan Kos from the Kranj police department told the press today that information gathered so far suggested that the fire had started on Monday at around 4pm just above the village and then spread towards the top of the hill and on its other side also due to the wind.

Firefighting efforts are expected to continue at least for a day or two, while rain is also forecast in the coming days.