STA, 1 October 2020 - Students are returning to faculties for in-person lectures as the new academic year starts on 1 October against the backdrop of strict anti-coronavirus measures. While professors are happy to see students back in lecture halls, they are utterly unhappy with having to wear face masks while teaching.

Under the national guidelines, drafted by education and health authorities, the winter term will be held at faculties if all safety recommendations can be observed.

The guidelines also recommend a "hybrid model" - a mix of live and distance learning, while distance learning is recommended only for exceptional cases.

However, just a few days after the guidelines were adopted, the government has ordered compulsory face mask wearing in all indoor public places.

The new rule also applies to students and teachers regardless of whether they keep the recommended safety distance of 1.5 metres.

"Professors are outraged, they are convinced they cannot teach for several hours with a face mask," University of Ljubljana Chancellor Igor Papič has told the STA.

He recalled the original guidelines under which students could take the mask off in lecture halls if they kept a safe distance, so he believes this will affect the quality of the teaching process.

Universities have brought the issue to the attention of the Ministry of Education, Science and Sport, urging it to allow plexiglas barriers instead of masks.

But Minister Simona Kustec, although noting very different circumstances from previous years, is convinced students will get quality teaching.

"Foremost, we have to bear in mind the care for the health of students and of all staff in higher education," she was quoted in her ministry's release.

Until yesterday, some 60,600 students enrolled, of whom 13,400 freshers, but the exact number of students in this academic year will be known in mid-November.

The three public and three smaller private universities as well as over 40 mostly private higher education establishments with a concession have made over 46,400 posts available for first-year regular students (tuition fee is paid from public funds) and paying students.

The bulk of new posts - over 9,000 - were available at the University of Ljubljana, the country's largest and oldest, which in 2019 had a total of over 37,000 students.

The coronavirus situation will also affect this year's generation of freshers, who will be left without welcome parties traditionally organised by the universities and student organisations at the start of the academic year.

Still, faculties will welcome them at special receptions on the premises, while they will also receive key information at lectures in the first week of studies.

The pandemic has also slashed Erasmus+ student exchange programmes, as many students are cancelling or postponing their studies abroad to the summer term or the next academic year.

Slovenia's Centre for Mobility and European Educational and Training Programmes (CMEPIUS) expects the figure to halve.

The figures for the winter term are even worse - while almost 1,140 students opted for student exchange the previous winter term, the figure plummeted to 396 now.

Some have nevertheless decided on distance student exchange but since they will stay in Slovenia they will not be entitled to CMEPIUS funding.

An aggravating circumstance is definitely the prospect of quarantine: students are not allowed to quarantine at student dormitories.

Some Slovenian institutions as well as their partner institutions abroad have thus decided to cancel student exchanges for the winter semester altogether.

The Ljubljana University told the STA it expects some 600 foreign students at present, considerably below the around 2,100 figure from recent years.

STA, 28 September 2020 - Last weekend seemed to have been ripe with unwise decisions on roads in eastern and south-eastern Slovenia. The police recorded a total of 18 cases of drink driving in the Dolenjska, Posavje and Bela Krajina regions in merely seven hours.

Ten persons were found to be driving with 0.52 milligrams of alcohol per litre of breath in their system, whereas eight exceeded that amount, the Novo Mesto Police Department reported on Monday.

In Slovenia, the legal limit is 0.24 milligrams of alcohol per litre of exhaled air.

A total of 405 drivers were stopped on Saturday evening with the police checking their psychophysical condition as well as penalising traffic violations.

One of the offenders exacerbated the situation by driving without a valid driver's licence while his partner and kid were present in the car. The vehicle was impounded by the police.

Drink driving also left a mark on Sunday when two car accidents occurred. In both of them the persons responsible for the crash were under the influence of alcohol.

On Sunday afternoon, an inebriated 52-year-old lost control over her vehicle at a roundabout near Sevnica in Posavje and crashed into a traffic sign. She recorded 1.74 milligrams of alcohol per litre of breath.

The Črnomelj police in Bela Krajina meanwhile dealt with a 22-year-old who steered off road and hit a traffic sign as well in the night to Sunday with 0.61 milligrams of alcohol per litre of breath found in her system.

STA, 25 September 2020 - The Ljubljana Pride Parade to be held on Saturday is marking two decades since the first protest rally against homophobia was staged in the capital. The LGBTIQ+ community has managed to secure a number of rights since, but its members still do not live as equals in Slovenian society and homophobic discourse is on the rise again.

The roots of the Ljubljana Pride Parade date back to 8 June 2001 when gay poets Brane Mozetič and Jean Paul Daoust were denied entry into the then Cafe Galerija bar in the centre of the city.

Not receiving an apology and formal condemnation, activists first responded to the incident with an initiative involving slow and protracted drinking of mineral water at the bar and then with a rally that was held on 6 July to evolve into the first official Pride Parade a year later.

These events and the path walked since were remembered at several events in June, including with a mineral water drinking debate at the scene of the original sin, an exhibition on 20 years of the Ljubljana Pride Parade, a literary evening and concert, a symposium on LGBTIQ+ rights and web panels on rights in healthcare, legislation, social protection and social inclusion.

The president of Ljubljana Pride Parade Society Simona Muršec has told the STA that members of the LGBTIQ+ community have empowered themselves in the past 20 years, but inequalities persist. Also, they reveal their sexual orientation more frequently, even in the countryside, but reactions have become stronger as well.

"Unfortunately the general mindset is deteriorating. We see, notice and feel an increase in hate speech. There is an increase in very extreme forms of rejecting even the right to LGBTIQ+ individuals existing, let alone to them revealing themselves publicly," Muršec said.

She meanwhile sees the changes that have happened within the community in the last 20 years as one of the main achievements. LGBTIQ+ representatives and activists are better organised today and organisations promote different groups. While the focus 20 years ago was mostly on the needs of gay people, trans and intersex persons are also represented today.

There is practically no local environment today that would not feature LGBTIQ+ members, Muršec said, adding "this is a major step, as 20 years ago a great majority of the countryside still lived in the conviction that such people are not among us or need to stay hidden".

As for key legal gains, Muršec highlighted the civil union act from 2016, which regulates same-sex partnership. "The struggle for this was long and is not finished yet, since a civil union is not yet equalised with marriage."

More and more people are deciding for formal status and LGBTIQ+ members are using legal means. "By getting new practices and legal procedures, it becomes easier to fight for equal treatment," Muršec added.

Equal treatment is one of the fields that the community still wants addressed, with Muršec noting that the attitudes of, say the Ljubljana and Maribor administrative units, to procedures initiated by same-sex couples may still differ.

Returning to people's attitudes in the street and other public institutions, Muršec said LGBTIQ+ persons in small towns still face discrimination, while the school is often a cruel environment as well.

One of the main legal fields highlighted as still discriminatory by LGBTIQ+ members is healthcare and access to health services. Muršec said many still do not get treated in a proper and dignified manner, while she also mentioned the fight for equal access to artificial insemination.

As for social security, she noted that the coronacrisis exacerbated the housing issue of many young LGBTIQ+ individuals, with student homes and meeting points closing. "The general mantra was: go home," said Muršec, while stressing the family is often the primary environment of rejection for LGBTIQ+ individuals.

The community meanwhile also sees the need to join forces with other social struggles. "We cannot pretend that, say, the attack on media freedom is not connected to us," she said, pointing to the example of Poland where LGBTIQ+ persons are being dehumanised and used ideologically in the media for scaremongering.

Saturday sees the culmination of a month of covid-compliant activities staking out the place of the LGBTQ+ community and all who support love, tolerance and respect in Slovenia, with the annual Pride Parade. To deal with the current restrictions there will be 10 smaller gatherings and rallies, but the main focus will still be the parade, which will follow the route shown below.

It all starts at YC Legebitra, at the far  end of Trubarjeva cesta, 76a, by Rog. People will gather there at 16:00, but won’t start walking until 17:00. The route will take you through town and then back the Metelkova at around 20:00. There’s an afterparty at Pritličje that starts at the same time and is being broadcast on Radio Študent, so you can play along at home.

Note that masks are needed, and you can lean more on the related Facebook page - more stories on the LGBTQ+ community in Slovenia are here

STA, 23 September 2020 - Social media in Slovenia have exploded with posts about a minor who has allegedly been mistreated by the police in Vransko. She was removed from the bus for refusing to wear a protective mask. The General Police Administration explained that the police officers had to use force due to the passenger's rude behaviour.

The young passenger boarded the bus in Ljubljana on Tuesday, but did not heed the bus driver's warning that she should put on a face mask. The minor then allegedly behaved rudely towards the driver and the other passengers during the ride. The driver therefore informed his boss, who called the police.

The minor first found herself in the police procedure because she refused to wear a protective mask on the bus. The police officers asked her to show her identification, but she did not want to cooperate.

They informed her that they would escort her to the police station, by force if need be, to complete the identification procedure. They ordered the girl to leave the bus, which she refused to do. The officers then used force, took her off the bus and handcuffed her despite her resistance.

The passenger's mother arrived at the scene shortly after and helped the police confirm her identity. The police officers then quickly completed the procedure, the General Police Administration explained.

The minor, who will actually turn 18 tomorrow, admitted that she never wears a protective mask. She also posted a short clip of the event on her Facebook profile and commented that she will not wear a mask anywhere, and that she is a student who has been "fighting for the right to breathe freely from the very beginning".

"Decrees, rules and recommendations are not the LAW! They have no right to punish or fine you," she added.

The circumstances of the police officers' behaviour during the procedure have not yet been fully verified, but this will be done by the commission of the General Police Administration in accordance with the law on police tasks and powers, the police explained.

The latest statistics on coronavirus and Slovenia, and the latest police news on red, green and yellow list countries. All our stories on coronavirus and Slovenia. Can I transit Slovenia? Find out from the police...

STA, 22 September 2020 - The City of Women (Mesto Žensk) international festival of contemporary arts will begin in Ljubljana on Tuesday, running this year in a stretched out format until 12 October. It will feature over 80 women artists, lecturers, curators and activists.

Addressing the press at the outset of the festival, artistic director Teja Reba raised the question of whether talking about gender equality is suitable in a time when the world is facing a pandemic, climate change, growing wealth disparity, unbridled nationalism and bodies in the Mediterranean.

"Yes, more then ever before," Reba asserted, urging everybody "not to stay silent" and join the festival's efforts.

The City of Women 2020 is opening with the launch of an exhibition named The Unforgettable. It features posters around the city of 50 Slovenian Women Who Pushed the Boundaries of Our World.

The exhibition is named after a book that was published on the occasion and will also be discussed at a symposium called 8 Mach Every day and scheduled on 1 October. The focus will be on securing equal opportunities for young people during education and later on in life.

The opening day will moreover be marked by the first screening in a segment dedicated to actress Delphine Seyrig. One programme section is named Disobedient Muses and will look at the video production of the eponymous collective that Seyrig was a part of.

Gender Equality - A Means to Succeeding in Achieving the Seventeen UNESCO Sustainable Development Goals is the title of an international conference that is scheduled for Friday, while the ŠKUC Gallery will feature from 8 October a group exhibition presenting the exploration of the historical and social aspects of cosmetics as a material culture.

Also on the programme is an exploration of the relations between oppressors, systems of persecution and precarity led by the Dublin-based artists Bernie O'Reilly and Maud Hendricks in cooperation with six women based in Slovenia. Inspired by Samuel Beckett's Catastrophe, it is scheduled for 30 September at the Old Powerhouse.

This far from exhausts the list of events, although the performance segment is scaled down this year due to coronavirus restrictions. Two premieres are scheduled nonetheless - Picture Perfect by Simona Semenič and the final part of Nataša Živkovič's trilogy Dodgeball.

From the festival's Insagram

Meanwhile, cooperating with the 8th March Institute, this year's City of Women will also feature the #METOO IN CULTURE campaign, which aims to highlight sexual harassment in the culture sector.

You can see the full programme of events on the official City or Women 2020 website, and also follow on Facebook

STA, 18 September 2020 - Kino Šiška, one of the main music venues in Ljubljana, will fuse online and on-site concerts in the new season due to precautionary measures such as visitor caps. The centre has entered into a partnership with the online platform DICE to deliver livestreams of performances, mostly by Slovenian musicians.

The move comes come in the wake of strict anti-corona restrictions: due to physical distancing rules the number of visitors has been capped at 150 persons in the Kino Šiška main hall, which usually fits 1,000 visitors.

The centre has some experience with interactive livestreamed projects and has been spurred on to provide a new concert platform by the results of a poll exploring alternative ways of holding cultural events.

As of 1 October, concerts at the Katedrala Hall will be given for up to 150 persons, whereas livestreams will come with no restrictions. They will not be free of charge, though, since artists should be paid fair and square for online concerts too, especially in the current circumstances, Kino Šiška said.

Cooperation with DICE, a provider of online concerts by musicians such as Nick Cave, Laura Marling in Björk, will give the project an international dimension and help promote Slovenian performers, who will take centre stage.

On 1 October, zalagasper will lift the curtain on the new season. The duo represented Slovenia at the Eurovision Song Contest 2019 and has been topping the INES chart of up-and-coming musicians in the EU for the second month in a row.

See what’s on at Kino Siška, with the page for the hybrid/hibrid events here

STA, 17 September 2020 - Three economists agreed at a discussion on the budget fund cuts for culture that the sector in Slovenia is in an unenviable situation, and that some systemic solutions could be conceived during the coronavirus crisis, which may also be an opportunity for the sector.

Thursday's discussion, hosted by the Asociacija association of NGOs and individuals in culture, also discussed measures that the culture sector would need to continue to function and develop.

Bogomir Kovač of the Ljubljana School of Business and Economics noted that the supplementary budget provided more funds to the majority of departments, but not for culture, adding that this should be perceived from the economic and political aspects.

From the former, he sees the approach as better than during the 2008 economic crisis, when public borrowing and balanced budgets was one of the main tools for fighting recession.

The way the EU member states are being aided now is different, and there is much more wiggle room to cover deficits, so the supplementary budget is more technical than "economically and politically dramatic."

For Kovač, the culture sector being one of the rare sectors whose funds are being taken away by the government is a very political and non-economic move, "a kind of political punishing of culture".

His colleague Andrej Srakar agreed that culture is being punished and that the new budget is not being particularly strategic, and Marko Jaklič drew parallels with science, which has also been facing fund cuts in recent years.

The economists believe that production is going to suffer the brunt of the EUR 8 million cut for culture, as it is easiest to make cuts there.

Jaklič said that the funds were being taken away under the pretence that certain institutions were not able to operate, which he sees as a wrong approach. Smart countries have not cut budgets for science and culture, he added.

"The mission of culture is to put us in front of a mirror, unless we want to destroy it," said Jaklič, who thinks that Slovenian society does not understand yet that culture is also related to competitiveness of a country's companies.

The economists also noted that the attitude to culture had also shown in the anti-corona legislative packages, which did not cover the culture sector.

Kovač said that no Slovenian government saw an opportunity in culture, and added that if Slovenia wanted to build on its "political identity, which is cultural identity", culture should be in the core of political and economic strategies.

He believes that it would simply not work without a clear political decision that culture is important, and costs and losses are piling up during the crisis and there will also be a group of people "who have been pushed into an impossible position."

Srakar has the feeling that peace and status quo is being attempted to be maintained in culture, while there are several measures which are available but are not implemented, such as the share for culture in public investments and tax breaks for investors.

The economists agreed that culture should be discussed extensively because of its various forms which require different approaches. An alternative option is for the culture sector to propose changes on its own and try to put them into law.

STA, 15 September 2020 - The Slovenian music industry, one of the businesses worst hit by Covid-19, has come up with a set of proposals it wants the government to include in its next anti-corona package. Until all restrictions applying to concerts are lifted and beyond, the Music Industry Coalition ad-hoc group wants wage subsidies and a monthly basic income.

Events such as concerts are limited to 50 to 500 people while all strict recommendations must be respected as well, including social distancing.

There is also a requirement of an eight-metre distance between performers and the audience.

However, the group argues singing is no riskier than talking when it comes to contracting the virus, labelling the eight-metre measure "completely incomprehensible".

Until all the restrictions are lifted and for another three months after that, the group, set up in mid-August, proposes exemption from payment of social security contributions for the self-employed and 700 euro in monthly basic income.

For workers on permanent employment contracts, the state should pay all contributions and taxes, while furloughed workers should have their pay subsidised.

The proposals were drafted with the help of a survey which tried to find the extent to which coronavirus restrictions had affected the music and events industries.

The survey has shown that more than 90% of the respondents have had their income more than halved compared to last year, a condition for state aid in previous anti-corona legislation.

It has also shown that 57% of the industry's workers, among them many self-employed musicians, have been left without any aid since 1 June.

The Coalition estimates the music industry in Slovenia employs around 6,000 people, while the figure for the entire events industry is around 15,000.

Based of the information from concert organisers and from Eventim, which has a 50% share in ticket sales, the loss of income from concerts was estimated at EUR 150-180 million.

Matija Prezelj from the GIZ KOS association of concert organisers told the STA the vast majority of the industry had been left out of the first four stimulus packages.

However, the Economy Ministry has now acknowledged the problems and would propose measures drafted on the basis of the group's proposals be included in the new legislation, he said.

The group also proposes a timeline to gradually lift restrictive measures at concerts so that live events could run without any restrictions in the second half of 2021.

The Music Industry Coalition brings together independent musicians, their trade union and several other associations from the music and events industries, from artists to organisers and support staff.

STA, 11 September 2020 - The young woman who cut off her hand at the beginning of last year to claim insurance, and her partner, who presumably put her up to it, were found guilty of insurance fraud at the Ljubljana District Court on Friday. They were given two and three years in prison, respectively.

Julija Adlešič and her partner Sebastien Abramov attracted a lot of media attention during the trial, including by allegedly getting engaged.

Abramov is also being tried as the suspected murderer of Sara Veber, who was his girlfriend at the time of her death in 2015 in what Abramov claims was a shooting accident.

He has been in custody throughout the trial, while Adlešič was sent into house arrest in May as the court found the chance of a repeat offence has decreased.

Abramov will remain in custody until the verdict becomes final, judge Marjeta Dvornik said, while Adlešič will no longer be in house arrest.

Both claimed throughout the trial they were innocent, and that Adlešič cut off her hand by accident while sawing off tree branches.

Abramov's father, Gorazd Colarič, who was accused of taking part in the scheme along with his wife, was also found guilty and got a one-year suspended sentence on two-year probation. Abramov's mother Tinka Huskić Colarič was found not guilty.

"We believe the sentences are fair and appropriate, and will serve their purpose," the judge said today, noting that the ruling had been made based on evidence and not anyone's appearances.

Adlešič attended the court hearings in flashy outfits, with the defence claiming that a young woman wanting to look attractive was not capable of causing such harm to her body on purpose.

Abramov made life and accident insurance policies for Adlešič with five insurance companies at the end of 2018. In January 2019, when the insurance was valid and the first instalments paid, Adlešič cut off her left hand just above the wrist with a circular saw at Colarič's home.

Only days later, the four suspects filed damages claims with the five insurance companies. But they did not receive any money, as police already started investigating the case.

If the police had not interfered, Adlešič would have received EUR 1.2m in damages and several hundred thousand euro in monthly rent.

The panel of judges agreed that the prosecution's case was solid and that the evidence against the three prove their guilt beyond reasonable doubt.

Huskić Colarič was found not guilty because of insufficient evidence.

The defence announced an appeal today, with Abramov's lawyer Mitja Pavčič speaking of "human rights violations". He said that despite being found guilty his client was "extremely pleased that his mother was found not guilty and that Julija was released from house arrest, but he is disappointed with the conviction."

Adlešič's lawyer, Boris Grobelnik, said his client was happy that she was no longer in house arrest. He said the measure was disproportionate, having lasted 18 months, given that there were no danger she would repeat the offence.

Colarič's lawyer Peter Prus Pipuš said the appeal would focus on the fact that the charges against his client were aggravated during the trial, which ran contrary to the principle that the indictment must not be changed to the damage of the defendant during a court procedure.

The prosecution had demanded four years and six months for Adlešič, five years for Abramov, four for Huskić Colarič and one year for Colarič.