Slovenia progressed to the next stage of the European Handball Championship after defeating Montenegro 29:18 in the final game of the preliminary round on Wednesday.

Slovenia and Portugal will prepare for their presidencies of the EU Council in 2021 together, prime ministers Miro Cerar and Antonio Costa agreed in Ljubljana on Wednesday. They believe the countries could enhance business ties in the automotive, pharmaceutical and environmental industries, and in bioscience and logistics.

The man accused of stabbing actor Gašper Tič to death last June pleaded not guilty as he appeared before the Ljubljana District Court in a pre-trial hearing on Wednesday.

The Slovenian Handball Association decided on Wednesday the national team would not leave the Eurohandball in Zagreb as some have insisted, despite its protests against the result of the fixture against Germany being rejected at all levels.

Slovenia's budget deficit halved to EUR 332.4m or 0.8% of GDP in 2017, the Finance Ministry said on Wednesday. Revenue increased by 6.1% to EUR 8.8bn and expenditure grew by 1.7% to EUR 9.2bn year-on-year.

The parliamentary Foreign Policy Committee will discuss Slovenia's potential recognition of Palestine at a session on 31 January. Before that, Foreign Minister Karl Erjavec will discuss the topic with foreign ministers of those EU members which have showed willingness to recognise Palestine.

Prime Minister Miro Cerar rejected on Wednesday a report by the Croatian newspaper Večernji List that an agreement had been reached on resolving the border dispute and that he backed out of signing the document at the last minute. He labelled the report as complete fabrication.

Portuguese Prime Minister Antonio Costa will pay a working visit on Wednesday to discuss business cooperation with his host, Prime Minister Miro Cerar. Topical EU issues will also be on the agenda, as Costa meets Slovenia's top officials.