News archive of May 2022

Izola – The coastal town of Izola is ready for the 18th iteration of the Isola Cinema International Film Festival, which will take place from 1 to 5 June. Lovers of art film can look forward to 41 carefully picked feature and 71 short films, which will mostly be screened at three open air and two indoor venues in Izola.

Leipzig – Three vending machines offering poems by Slovenian, Austrian and Leipzig-based poets will be set up in Leipzig, in eastern Germany, on June 1.

The project is the brainchild of poet and writer Matthias Göritz, currently serving as a professor of creative writing in Louisiana. Göritz will also moderate the opening event, according to the Leipzig Literaturhaus.

Ljubljana – Slovenia’s annual inflation hit 8.1% in May, the highest rate since 2002, on the back of soaring fuel and food prices, the latest Statistics Office figures show. The monthly rate stood at 2%. Liquid fuels were almost 43% more expensive than a year ago, contributing 1.9 percentage points to the headline rate. Food prices, having risen by more than 11%, added another 1.7 points.

Brnik – Starting on Tuesday, the French carrier Air France will operate two daily flights to Ljubljana airport from Charles de Gaulle airport (Paris) during the summer months. The carrier will fly to Paris from Ljubljana in the morning and in the afternoon. Passengers will be able to take a return flight to Ljubljana in the afternoon and in the evening, said an Air France spokesperson.

Ljubljana – Farming in Slovenia has to be sustainable with an emphasis on economically efficient production, environment protection and social sustainability, said Irena Šinko, the candidate for agriculture minister, in her presentation at the relevant parliamentary committee, which endorsed her in a 10:4 vote today.

Ljubljana – A total of 380 new cases of coronavirus were confirmed in Slovenia on Monday, a 51% drop from a week ago, while no Covid patient died, Health Ministry data shows. A total of 31 patients were still hospitalised for Covid-19 as their main condition on Tuesday morning, 5 fewer than on Monday, including two in intensive care.

Ljubljana – The company Nova Obzorja, which publishes weekly Demokracija and web portal Škandal24.si, has a new majority owner. The two-third majority share has been transferred from Hungarian company R-Post-R to NovaTV24.si, the company running the Nova24TV news television channel.

Celje/Slovenj Gradec – Four individuals and two legal entities are suspected of the criminal act of burdening and destroying the environment in relation to the dumping of over 500 tonnes of waste gypsum containing high levels of heavy metals on agricultural land in the northern region of Koroška.

Brussels – Janez Janša, the outgoing prime minister, urged the EU and the west to focus on military assistance to Ukraine rather than on sanctions as he arrived for the second day of meetings at the EU summit on Tuesday.

Sanctions are not the key issue, he said, adding that the EU needed to step up military assistance to Ukraine given the Russian army’s rapid advances in Donbas.

Ljubljana – Asta Vrečko announced that her priorities as culture minister would be a development-oriented and inclusive culture policy, an overhaul of media legislation and of the status of the self-employed, as well as systemic investment in culture. The parliamentary Culture Committee endorsed her bid in a 9:6 vote on Tuesday.