News roundup - Tuesday, 16 January, until 3pm

Watchdog finds no ethics breaches in Golob's interview, but says corruption risk present

LJUBLJANA - The Commission for the Prevention of Corruption has found no ethics breaches in an interview Prime Minister Robert Golob gave for Gallup regarding a talent test offered by the company, but it did detect potential corruption risk and issued recommendations to avoid such risk. As reported by Delo in October, Golob gave an interview for Gallup extolling the virtues of the company's payable CliftonStrengths talent assessment test, which he had used as CEO and later in his Freedom Movement.

Ascent Resources averts Slovenian partner's insolvency amid investment dispute

LJUBLJANA - Ascent Slovenija, a subsidiary of the UK's Ascent Resources, has prevented insolvency proceedings for its Slovenian joint venture partner Geoenergo as it continues to defend its investment in controversial gas extraction in Slovenia amid a dispute with the state. Ascent Resources said last week that Geoenergo, co-owned by two Slovenian energy companies, including Petrol, filed an application to enter self-declared insolvency.

Court decides against staying Animal Protection Act

LJUBLJANA - The Constitutional Court unanimously rejected on Friday the National Council's proposal to stay the recently amended Animal Protection Act. The court decided to deal with the matter as a priority. Branko Tomažič from the National Council said he was surprised by the decision. The amendments in question introduce qualified reporting persons who can report suspected abuse of domestic animals at farms and procedures for the seizure of badly treated animals.

TEŠ workers stole copper from power plant's disused units

ŠOŠTANJ - Several TEŠ power station workers have stolen a large amount of copper from TEŠ's four disused units over a long period of time, allegedly around 100 tonnes, the newspaper Večer reported. The paper speculated that this was an organised activity by a group of workers, because certain things, such as proper earthing, could not be done without permission or orders from superiors. Official information from TEŠ is scarce.

New safety recommendations issued in wake of deadly train accident

LJUBLJANA - The national rail safety authority issued new recommendations designed to improve safety three weeks after a deadly accident in which two workers working on a rail construction site were killed by an oncoming train, apparently due to human error. The Air, Marine and Railway Accident and Incident Investigation Unit at the Infrastructure Ministry recommends that trains slow down to 30 km/h when they pass a construction site, or 50 km/h when workers do not use loud machinery.

Koper celebrating its 1500th anniversary

KOPER - The coastal town of Koper will celebrate 1,500 years of the legend of its founding and the AD 524 consecration of its first bishop throughout this year. A facsimile of the city's laws from 1423 was put on show at the Koper Regional Museum last month and an exhibition on Koper's celebrated personalities and milestones opened today. It will be on until the end of February.

Slovenia take maximum points to next round at Eurohandball

BERLIN, Germany - Slovenia will take two points to the main round of competition at the European Men's Handball Championship after a tight 28:27 win against 2020 bronze medallists Norway on Monday, thanks to Urban Lesjak's goalkeeping prowess in the closing stage of the game. Slovenia have qualified for the main round with three straight victories, having previously defeated the Faroe Islands and Poland.