Change of leadership at Slovenia's protestant community
MURSKA SOBOTA - The new religious leadership of the Slovenian protestant community formally took over as Leon Novak was installed bishop of the Evangelical Lutheran Church. Novak likened himself to the captain of a ship using the Bible as a navigational aid. He said that without biblical guidance, the church is "like a ship lost at sea, at the mercy of the sea currents and the mighty waves of philosophies and ideologies". Evangelical believers elect their representatives in a democratic election and Novak, 56, succeeds Geza Filo.
PM says police doing good job protecting border
MARIBOR - Prime Minister Marjan Šarec dismissed criticism about border security and said police were doing a fine job protecting the EU's external border, as he addressed a ceremony late on Saturday marking the 30th anniversary of a major police operation. "Just like [the police] protected the border in 1989, they are protecting it today. If they were not capable of doing that, we would have illegal migrants at all stations, in all cities and everywhere, like we witnessed in certain other countries," he said.
Over 14,000 migrants crossed into Slovenia through October
LJUBLJANA - The Slovenian police recorded 14,066 illegal crossings of the border in the first ten months of the year, up 72% year-on-year. The number of people who expressed the wish to stay in Slovenia was also up, to 4,441 from 3,952, but the figures show most people treat Slovenia as a transit country, with a vast majority of those who submit formal requests leaving the country before their cases are heard.
Graphic novel wins book of year award
LJUBLJANA - An idiosyncratic graphic novel that was originally released in instalments on Facebook won the Grand Prix for book of the year at the Slovenian Book Fair. "Vinjete Straholjubca" (The Bête Noire Vignettes) is a joint project by writer Eva Mahkovic and illustrator Eva Mlinar. The Book Fair jury, comprising literature lovers as well as industry professionals, described it as an "intimate and provocative manifestation of a tangle of lucid ideas by two authors".
