News roundup - Saturday, 18 March

Justice minister welcomes ICC's arrest warrant for Putin

LJUBLJANA - Justice Minister Dominika Švarc Pipan welcomed the decision of the International Criminal Court (ICC) to issue an arrest warrant for Russian President Vladimir Putin as a historic step in efforts to prosecute those responsible for crimes committed during the Russian aggression in Ukraine. She said it was an important signal to Russia's military and civilian leaders that they are subject to international prosecution, especially for crimes against children.

Muženič reinstated as NBI director with full term

LJUBLJANA - Darko Muženič, who was re-appointed the director of the National Bureau of Investigation in an acting capacity last July, has been reinstated as the NBI director with full powers after he reached a settlement with the State Attorney's Office over his unlawful dismissal in May 2020, the newspaper Dnevnik reported. Confirming the report, the General Police Administration said that the court dispute had no bearing on his term, meaning that his five-year term will end in May 2024.

Slovenians in Carinthia unhappy with new language curricula

KLAGENFURT, Austria - Organisations representing the Slovenian minority in the Austrian state of Carinthia have taken issue with the new curriculum for bilingual primary schools under which more school hours are reserved for German language classes than for Slovenian classes. They argue that proposal violates the law on minority education in Carinthia, which stipulates that all bilingual lessons must be held to the same extent in both languages.

Slovenia's Klinec first woman ski jumper to surpass 200m mark

LJUBLJANA - Slovenia's Ema Klinec became the first woman ski jumper to surpass the 200-metre mark in an official competition by landing at 203 m at the Vikersund ski flying hill in Norway as part of training for Sunday's event. The mark was later surpassed by Alexandria Louitt of Canada, who landed at 222 m to set the new world record for women. Klinec was close in the last series, landing at 221m while gaining considerably more points that Louitt because she started from a lower ramp.

Marguč 3rd in last Snowboard World Cup parallel slalom event

BERCHTESGADEN, Germany - Slovenian snowboarder Rok Marguč finished third in the final parallel slalom event of the season in the men's World Cup in Germany's Berchtesgaden. Marguč finished behind Austria's Fabian Obmann as the winner of the event and Obmann's compatriot Arvid Auner, who was second. The 36-year-old Slovenian, who was the fastest racer in the qualifiers, defeated Cody Winters of the US in the third-place match.

Households' production of wastewater up in 2021

LJUBLJANA - Slovenia generated 232.6 million cubic metres of wastewater in 2021, 16% more than the year before. Households produced 31% of the total amount, the Statistics Office said. Released ahead of World Water Day, data shows that 84.9 million cubic metres of water was supplied to households in 2021, accounting for nearly 50% of all water consumption. More than two-thirds of wastewater was treated before being discharged from sewerage systems back into the environment.