In the article, the Washington Post journalist Michael Birnbaum describes the actions of firefighters, members of the rescue forces and the Slovenian Armed Forces during the big fire in July that raged in the Goriska Karst.

At the initiative of the United Nations General Assembly, we are celebrating the third International Day of Awareness of Food Loss and Waste. On this day, we call for rational food management.

The Minister of the Environment and Spatial Planning, Uroš Brežan, and the Minister of Labour, Family, Social Affairs and Equal Opportunities, Luka Mesec, participated in the ceremony to mark the opening of the new modern Pod Pekrsko gorco neighbourhood in Maribor. The aforementioned neighbourhood is one of 34 projects to be developed under the auspices of Housing Fund of the Republic of Slovenia, which is supported by the Recovery and Resilience Plan (RRP) and financed by the Council of Europe Development Bank (CEB).

At today's government committees, the government included two new projects in the 2022-2025 Development Programme Plan as in force, and reallocated funds in the state budget for 2022.

State Secretary Marko Štucin attended the opening session of the workshop "ERP and IPA Coordinators as Inspired Leaders" in Bled. The event has been organised as part of the EU-funded project "Structural Reforms Better Integrated Within Fiscal Frameworks - FIR 2".

The Minister of Culture, Asta Vrečko, and the Minister of Economic Development and Technology, Matjaž Han, visited the filming location of the Netflix production “The Union” in Piran, which stars famous actors such as Halle Berry, Mark Wahlberg and J. K. Simmons. The Government contributed monetary compensation in the amount of EUR 2.5 million for the implementation of the film project in Slovenia. The implementation of the project in Slovenia will contribute to an estimated 30,000 overnight stays and the planned use of more than EUR 10 million of the film crew’s funds for preparations and filming here. Over 340 Slovenian workers participate in the project.

Foreign Minister Tanja Fajon and President Borut Pahor presented Slovenia's vision for its candidature for a non-permanent seat on the UN Security Council to the Permanent Representatives of the UN Member States in New York. "During its 30-year UN membership, Slovenia has proven on several occasions its commitment to multilateralism, solidarity and shared responsibility for world peace, security and development. Today, we are committed to this goal more than ever," underlined Minister Fajon.

On the occasion of the World Tourism Day, we publish the message from the Minister for Economic Development and Technology, Matjaž Han.

At today’s meeting by correspondence, the Government of the Republic of Slovenia approved the proposed amendments to five tax acts: the Personal Income Tax Act, the Excise Duty Act, the Tax Procedure Act, the Financial Administration Act and the Fiscal Validation of Receipts Act. The Government also stated its position on amendments to this year’s revised state budget.

Minister Irena Šinko attended a session of the Agriculture and Fisheries Council. As part of fisheries topics, they exchanged views on fishing opportunities for the coming year, including fish stocks shared with the United Kingdom, and the annual consultations between the EU and Norway in 2023. In agricultural topics, the discussion regarding the market situation in the light of war and the state of agricultural production and logistics in Ukraine was at the forefront. The EU Council also learned about the impact of the revision of the Industrial Emissions Directive on agriculture and information about the growing population of wild animals in Europe. The discussion on food labelling and the call to the Commission to supplement the assessment of the proposal for the Regulation on the sustainable use of plant protection products was also important. Minister Šinko also met with the EU Commissioner for Health and Food Safety, Stella Kyriakides. They discussed the Commission’s measures to reduce the use of plant protection products and food labelling.

Minister Dr Emilija Stojmenova Duh is attending the Plenipotentiary Conference of the International Telecommunication Union (ITU), which is taking place in Bucharest. More than 3,000 representatives from 160 ITU Member States at the level of ministers, regulators of information and communication technologies, academic institutions and private companies are attending the conference.

The seventh event of this year's "Slovenian Days in Cleveland 2022" was the screening of the documentary Polka! The Movie, followed by a pleasant gathering with tarragon potica and Slovenian wine!

We started the fifth day of Slovenian Days in Cleveland 2022 with mass in the Slovenian church of St. Mary of the Assumption in Collinwood and continued with the concert of the Megaron Chamber Choir - this time with a program of Slovenian folk songs, which made many people cry!

The sixth event of the Slovenian Days in Cleveland 2022 was marked by cuisine, folk music and Slovenian tradition - traditional Grape Festival at the SNPJ Farm in Kirtland

The fourth day of Slovenian Days in Cleveland 2022 was spent on the beautiful property of the Slovenian St.Clair Rifle and Hunting Club for the traditional fall "Clambake".

At today’s correspondence session, the Government decided that a funeral with military honours will be organised for the late actor, Radko Polič - Rac. It also adopted a position regarding the Fiscal Council’s assessment of the compliance of this year’s draft revised budget and the proposed amendments to the Ordinance on the framework for the preparation of the general government budget for the 2022–2024 period with fiscal rules.

On the margins of the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) in New York, Minister of Foreign Affairs Tanja Fajon took part in a number of ministerial events, held several bilateral meetings, and signed the economic cooperation agreement between the Republic of Slovenia and the Kyrgyz Republic.

Tonight we marked the third event within the project "Slovenian Days in Cleveland 2022" - in the Cleveland Cathedral, with a concert of the Slovenian choir "Megaron" with conductor and composer Damijan Močnik.

At today's session, the Government started discussing proposed tax changes, adopted the proposed act on intervention measures in education for the 2022/2023 school year, increased economic aid to EUR 86 million due to high electricity and gas prices, and adopted the proposed act regulating anew paternity leave and parental protection. It also confirmed the assessment of damage to property and the reimbursement of intervention funds due to the consequences of this summer’s fires in the Karst region. The Government will also finance additional equipment for the societies that played a part in firefighting in the Karst.

Within the framework of the Slovenian Days in Cleveland 2022 we opened an exhibition of sculptures in the Slovenian Museum and Archives. It is entitled "Angels" by the recently deceased Slovenian painter Lučka Koščak, who lived in Switzerland.