News roundup - Tuesday, 18 April

Farmers give up on talks with govt, announce new rally

LJUBLJANA - Representatives of farmers, who have been at loggerheads with the government over environmental and other restrictions and policies they said are making it near impossible to continue farming, announced they were giving up on negotiations after two weeks. They will organise a new protest rally next week and step up activities if needed. The main demands of the farmers include the adjusting of new environmental rules so as to stay within realistic limits still allowing farming, a re-examination and reduction of Natura 2000-protected areas, the refraining from new taxes, clear and simple rules and the adjustment of direct payments and other funds they receive to cope with inflation.

Parliamentary commission reports SDS MP to authorities

LJUBLJANA - The parliamentary commission investigating suspected unlawful financing of political parties said it had reported Zoran Mojškerc, a deputy for the opposition party Democrats (SDS), to the authorities over suspicious deals. The commission also slapped him with a fine because he would not answer questions. The commission interviewed Mojškerc at the end of March, inquiring about his former company Geopolar Zaščite, which manages media portal Utrip-Ljubljana and Notranska.si, and his cooperation with Boštjan Aver, a candidate of the SDS for top posts at several state-owned companies.

Judges urging govt to raise their pay

LJUBLJANA - Judges issued a statement on Monday urging the government to immediately eliminate pay disparities in the public sector and raise their pay. Should it fail to act by the end of the month, judges will resort to "additional measures", reads their joint statement. The judges believe that their situation must not and should not depend on the goodwill of whichever government is in power. They say that the current government publicly acknowledged that the salaries of judges should be improved, "and that the pay disparities due to which judicial pay lags behind other pay in the public sector by more than 20% in some cases should be eliminated".

Faculty of Electrical Engineering boosting cybersecurity

LJUBLJANA - The Faculty of Electrical Engineering has set up cutting-edge infrastructure in its telecommunications lab for research and prototyping to boost cybersecurity in modern data environments. It includes Ethernet and IP-network, 5G-mobile core and radio access network, tools for monitoring and profiling cyberattacks, internet of things, cloud infrastructure and data ecosystem. Users have a wide range of services and capabilities available for experimenting and conducting tests in advanced usage scenarios, including emulation, DPI and advanced analytics.

Drago Jančar wins literary award in Italy

UDINE, Italy - Writer Drago Jančar received on Saturday the 30th Latisana per il Nord Est international literary prize, handed out to writers who were born or live in the Italian regions of Friuli Venezia Giulia, Trentino-Alto Adige and Veneto, or Austria, Croatia and Slovenia, or whose works are set in these regions and countries or deal with themes relating to them. Jančar accepted the prize for his novel In Ljubezen Tudi (And Love Itself) translated into Italian by Darja Betocchi. The jury praised his "selected prose" and the "masterpiece translation" by Betocchi, which presents to Italian readers a story of love, hatred and the consequences that the war has left on the protagonists and Jančar's birth town of Maribor, the publisher Beletrina wrote.

Slovenians from abroad to present their art in Ljubljana

LJUBLJANA - The Government Office for Slovenians Abroad is starting a series of events this evening at which ethnic Slovenian artists from around the globe will present their work to Slovenians at home. The first to appear in Ljubljana as part of the In the Homeland series will be young Slovenian minority writer Alex Kama Devetak from Italy's Gorizia. Devetak is the winner of the 2021 Urška Young Literature Festival and author of the 2022 collection of short stories Nedaleč (Not Far), his debut.