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This summary is provided by the STA:
Rest of secondary school students returning to classrooms on Monday
LJUBLJANA - All secondary school students who have been learning remotely will return to in-person teaching on Monday, the government decided as it conducted its weekly review of coronavirus restrictions. The change comes after schools reopened in mid-February, but only final-year secondary students returned to classrooms to prepare for school-leaving exams. Starting next week, primary school students in grades six to nine will have to wear masks at all time in class. - More on this story
Daily coronavirus count climbs again to 1,209
LJUBLJANA - Slovenia's daily coronavirus case count rose to 1,209 on Tuesday, an increase of more than 10% from the same day a week ago, as the 7-day average of new cases increased to 761, having already dropped to 736 the day before, data released by the government show. Eleven patients with Covid-19 died. The number of patients hospitalised with Covid-19 inched down further to 516 after 54 patients were discharged yesterday. The number of patients in intensive care units dropped by two to 82.
Vaccination of teachers to start next week
LJUBLJANA - Slovenia is planning to start mass vaccination of teachers against Covid-19 next week, Jelko Kacin, the coordinator for the logistics of mass vaccination, announced as he visited a vaccination point in Ljubljana. If everything goes according to plan, Slovenia could administer about 240,000 doses of Covid-19 vaccines in March, which is about half the capacity, said Kacin, adding that between 500,000 and 600,000 people could be inoculated a month or roughly 30,000 per work day.
Tomc, Zver, Bogovič did not back changes to EPP rules of procedures
BRUSSELS, Belgium - Three of Slovenia's four MEPs from the European People's Party (EPP) did not back changes to the rules of procedure allowing the European People's Party (EPP) to suspend or exclude a member party from its ranks. Ljudmila Novak, the fourth Slovenian EPP MEP, voted for the changes, having been one of its proponents. The overhauled internal rules are seen as paving the way to exclude Hungarian PM Viktor Orban's Fidesz, which already announced its quitting the EPP after the vote.
Massive investigation into money laundering scheme
MARIBOR - A total of 28 house searches were carried out by the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) in relation to a suspected money laundering scheme worth millions of euros involving shell companies and the withdrawal of large amounts of cash from bank accounts. It unofficially involves Slovenian tax advisor Rok Snežič and Bosnian citizen Dijana Đuđić. In addition to Slovenia, house searches were also carried out in Croatia and Bosnia-Herzegovina as the scheme is being investigated that allegedly involved a number of Bosnian citizens, with Snežič as the mastermind.
Slovenia sees decline in joblessness in February
LJUBLJANA - After three months of growth, Slovenia's registered unemployment total dropped by 3.8% in February to 88,051. Still, the number of people registered with the Employment Service as being out of a job is 13.6% higher than the same month a year ago. On another positive note, the number of newly registered unemployed fell month-on-month as well as year-on-year as the number of those who found a job increased.
US imposes anti-dumping duty on Slovenian aluminium
WASHINGTON, US - Slovenia is one of the countries subject to new US anti-dumping duty on common alloy aluminium sheet imports under a decision taken by the US Department of Commerce on Tuesday, with the dumping rate for the country set at 13.43%. Talum, the Kidričevo-based aluminium manufacturer, told the STA they were not exporting to the US so the new duty would not affect them directly, but it would have an indirect impact, as such measures increased risks for the whole European economy.
Slovenia's GDP measured in PPS nearing 90% of EU average
LJUBLJANA - Slovenia's per capita GDP measured in purchasing power standard (PPS) reached 89% of the EU's average in 2019, an improvement of two points from 2018. Western Slovenia reached 106% of the average, whereas the country's other cohesion region, Eastern Slovenia, only reached 73%, the latest Eurostat data show. Having posted solid economic growth in 2014-2019, Slovenia's GDP gradually converged towards the EU average in this period after its gap had been widening for several years.
TEŠ decides against waste co-incineration
ŠOŠTANJ - TEŠ has decided not to introduce co-incineration of non-hazardous waste after the Šoštanj city council voted against it, the Šoštanj-based coal-fired power station told the STA. It will also discontinue a procedure to have its environmental permit changed to allow co-incineration. The Šoštanj council voted against co-incineration as the first of three neighbouring municipalities in January, arguing emissions would be its most problematic aspect.
Slovenia pledges guarantee for EIB Pan-European Guarantee Fund
LJUBLJANA - The National Assembly passed legislation enacting Slovenia's EUR 70 million guarantee for the Pan-European Guarantee Fund, a new mechanism of the European Investment Bank (EIB) designed to help business cope with the effects of the coronavirus pandemic. In total, the fund will provide EUR 25 billion in guarantees pledged by EU member states equal to their share of EIB capital.
Legislation adopted to crack down on fictitious residence registrations
LJUBLJANA - The National Assembly passed legislation designed to end fictitious registrations of residence, a widespread practice uncovered in recent months. The amendments to the residence registration act will crack down on fictitious registrations at addresses that are not residential, or residential addresses where the size of the living quarters clearly precludes the registration of a large number of people.
Left's amendments to STA act passed
LJUBLJANA - The National Assembly voted 48:38 in favour of amendments to the act governing the STA that require the STA English Service to report on the work of NGO. The English Service already reports on NGOs, but the law on the STA does not stipulate this as an explicit requirement, even as it includes such a provision for the Slovenian-language service. The amendment was backed by the centre-left opposition, the coalition SMC, and one minority MP.
Majority of news neutral, biased news more anti- than pro-government, survey shows
LJUBLJANA - A survey of ten major news portals in Slovenia in 2020 has shown that the majority of news, except on the portal Nova24TV.si, is unbiased. Among articles that were flagged as biased, those that were critical of the government far outnumbered pro-government reporting. "The majority of the analysed media has a recognizable political and ideological flavour. In general the government is treated in clearly less favourable terms than the opposition, leftist views dominate over rightist views," says the study conducted by the Media Faculty at the end of last year.
10 years since launch of ACER, first EU agency in Slovenia
LJUBLJANA - Today marks ten years since the Agency for the Cooperation of Energy Regulators (ACER) launched its operations in Ljubljana as the first and so far only EU agency based in Slovenia. Focusing on the smooth running of the EU's single electricity and gas market, the agency was established by the EU's third energy package with the goal to prevent monopoly in the sector and help consumers.
Only third of convalescent plasma suitable for Covid-19 treatment
LJUBLJANA - Only a third of plasma from those who recovered from Covid-19 contains sufficient amounts of neutralising antibodies to be used as treatment for Covid-19. The Blood Transfusion Centre said it had taken plasma or blood from 1,800 individuals who recovered from Covid-19 since July 2020. Antibody contents are highest in the blood or plasma of those who suffered stronger symptoms and had donated plasma within four to six weeks after the onset of illness.
Slovenia gets new seismic hazard map
LJUBLJANA - The national Seismology Office has presented a new seismic hazard map for Slovenia. The upgraded danger levels and risk assessment are based on the new findings of the past two decades. Areas with the highest earthquake hazard in Slovenia are the Posavje region in the east, the Novo Mesto area in the south-east, the capital Ljubljana and certain areas in the north-west and west of the country, particularly around Kobarid, Bovec and Idrija.
Križnar wins bronze in women's large hill at Nordic worlds
OBERSTDORF, Germany - Slovenia's Nika Križnar won the bronze medal in the women's large hill competition at the Nordic World Ski Championships in what is the fourth medal for Slovenian ski jumpers there. Križnar, who already has silver in the women's team event, scored 287.1 points from the two jumps, falling behind the gold-medallist Maren Lundby of Norway (296.6) and the silver-medallist Sara Takanashi of Japan (287,9).
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