News

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.