News roundup - Saturday, 20 January

Voice of Pensioners party established

LJUBLJANA - The Voice of Pensioners, a party that emerged out of a series of protest rallies whose main demand was higher pensions, was officially launched in Ljubljana. Its initiator and first president, former Democrats (SDS) MP Pavel Rupar, announced the party would already run in this year's elections to the European parliament. Rupar said the goal of the new party was for to improve the lives of all pensioners, as well as the social conditions for young people and workers.

Two bids submitted new Ljubljana train station

LJUBLJANA - Two bids, both significantly higher than the projected value, have been submitted for the central part of the revamping of Ljubljana's central train station. The publicly funded project is part of the long-delayed Ljubljana Passenger Centre, which has been planned for over 20 years and was last valued at EUR 1 billion. The lower bid was submitted by a joint venue featuring in-house builder SŽ - Železniško gradbeno podjetje Ljubljana, and construction companies Kolektor Igin, CGP and GH Holding.

Altercations with police, material damage reported after anti-Rog protest in capital

LJUBLJANA - Around 100 members and supporters of the self-governing community that was evicted from Ljubljana's former bicycle factor Rog clashed with police and caused material damage estimated at around EUR 22,000 as they held a protest rally on the third anniversary of the demolition of the old Rog centre on Friday evening. Protesting the gentrification of the capital, of which they say the new EUR 27 million arts hub that replaced the squat in October last year is a prime example, the protesters also entered the new centre, targetting it with paint balloons and graffiti.

Women's ski jumpers bag another World Cup win

TOKYO, Japan - Slovenian ski jumpers Nika Prevc and Nika Križnar swept the competition at the women's World Cup event in Zau, Japan, featuring pairs. After Prevc already had no serious challenger in the individual event on the same hill on Friday to record her fifth win of the season, Križnar and her convincingly clinched the first spot today ahead of Canada and Austria.

Slovenian ski jumpers 2nd in team event in Zakopane

ZAKOPANE, Poland - Slovenia's men's ski jumper finished second in Saturday's team event at the World Cup meet in Zakopane, Poland. Lovro Kos, Domen Prevc, Peter Prevc and Anže Lanišek conceded only to the Austrian team, while third place went to Germany. What was the first team event of the season was a kind of dress rehearsal ahead of the Ski Flying World Championships in Kulm, Austria, where Slovenia will defending the title.