News

Children’s Week began on Monday in Slovenia, under the auspices of the Slovenian Friends of Youth Association.

In his introductory remarks at his hearing in the European Parliament in Brussels on Wednesday, Janez Lenarčič, to whom European Commission President-elect Ursula von de Leyen has entrusted the crisis management portfolio, promised to dedicate all his energies and almost three decades of experience in international and European fora to help alleviate suffering and provide relief to people affected by crises, both in the EU and around the world.

To mark International Day of Older Persons, the theme of which this year is “The Journey to Age Equality”, Cankarjev Dom in Ljubljana hosted the 19th Festival of the Third Age, which ran until Thursday and featured ten expert panel discussions and more than 200 educational and cultural events. Around 17,000 people visited the festival over the three days.

The government has endorsed changes to the aviation act that create a legal basis for the state to subsidise crucial air links with the country following the collapse of flag carrier Adria Airways, if this proves necessary.

Since Slovenia became an Associate Member of the European Space Agency (ESA) at the initiative of the Ministry of Economic Development and Technology, led by Zdravko Počivalšek, activities in the field of space and space technology have increased significantly, and ESA has chosen Slovenia as the location for the training of astronauts for future missions.

Young people in Slovenia will be again protesting against the authorities doing nothing or too little to tackle the climate crisis and preserve the environment.

The Klagenfurt-based Slovenian-Austrian author Maja Haderlap is to receive an Austrian Art Prize which comes with a EUR 15,000 cheque. The award ceremony will take place at the Federal Chancellery in Vienna on 25 November.

The past few days in Slovenia have been dedicated to celebrating Mobility Week, which features the introduction of sustainable mobility actions. A record number of 78 Slovenian municipalities participated in the event this year, and the common theme of this year’s Mobility Week was the slogan ‘Walk with us!’, under which numerous organisations promoted the advantages of walking.

Six astronauts from five space agencies are training in Slovenia these days for space missions as part of the CAVES programme by the European Space Agency (ESA). Training in caves presents the astronauts with environments and situations very similar to spaceflight, to help them transfer the learning from their caving expedition to space.

Rogla, the well-known Slovenian winter tourism centre, is now offering guests a new experience, a panoramic treetop trail, where they will be able to walk along the elevated pathway among the treetops and get to know Pohorje from a different perspective.

On the 20th anniversary of the adoption of the Slovenian Constitution, the National Assembly and the Constitutional Court have prepared a joint project called The Constitution in a Comic Strip. The strip, which was drawn by Zoran Smiljanić, uses the language of comic strips to make complicated legal ideas sound interesting, educational and fun – even for kids, but not just for them.

It has become a tradition for our September issue to draw attention to topics related to Slovenian literature and themes associated with the Bled Strategic Forum. These two areas are a platform for presenting Slovenia's art, cultural heritage, successful projects in science and business, tourism, cuisine, and more. When a successful project or an interesting person captures our attention, we always feel an urge to share the story with you.

Between 13 and 15 September 2019, the Republic of Slovenia and the Slovenian Armed Forces (SAF) will host the NATO Military Committee Conference in Chiefs of Defence session with the participation of all allied armed forces and the highest NATO military representatives. The aim of the conference is to enable Chiefs of Defence and strategic commanders to exchange views on topical defence and security matters important for the Alliance as part of its peacekeeping and security efforts.

Minister of Agriculture, Forestry and Food Aleksandra Pivec is on a three-day visit to Canada, where she is attending the 56th Apimondia International Apicultural Congress. During her visit she met with several apiculture representatives from all over the world, and at the fair she presented Slovenia as a beekeeping country.

Slovenia is up five spots in the latest biannual global Travel and Tourism Competitiveness Report, standing at 36th place among the 140 countries surveyed by the World Economic Forum (WEF). Economy Minister Zdravko Počivalšek commented on the improvement by saying that Slovenia was on the right track in the field of tourism.

On Tuesday, the European Research Council (ERC) published the results of a call for proposals from researchers who are just beginning their research careers. Among the 3062 project proposals submitted, 408 were selected for funding, including two Slovenian projects.

It was on 15 July, that the first British Airways flight landed at Ljubljana Airport – after long 18 years. The flight connection between London Heathrow and Ljubljana will run until 2nd of September, every Monday and Friday.

A group of researchers from the Jožef Stefan Institute has discovered what they describe as an entirely new kind of matter that cannot be understood with existing physics and which opens up an entirely new field. Their paper was published in the latest issue of Nature Materials.