News roundup - Sunday, 31 March

Golob notes powerful symbolism of Easter in festive message

LJUBLJANA - Prime Minister Robert Golob noted the powerful symbolism of Easter in his festive message to the nation. Addressing the citizens and fellow-Slovenians abroad and around the world, Golob wished everyone a very happy Easter. Its powerful symbolism speaks about the individual's relationship to the community and about the need to peacefully overcome differences. Above all, it tells us that even in the most difficult of times, we can look forward to a new morning, he wrote. He also encouraged learning from the inspiring change in nature with the sprouting of new life.

Celebrating Easter, bishops urge abandoning hate and embracing culture of life

LJUBLJANA/NOVO MESTO - As Slovenian bishops celebrated Easter masses, Archbishop of Ljubljana Stanislav Zore called on believers to cast aside hatred, anger and status-seeking, while the Bishop of Novo Mesto Andrej Saje raised the assisted dying bill by urging them to embrace the culture of life. "Easter is an invitation for us to lay aside everything that keeps us bound, so that we can follow our Saviour with an unhindered step and an unburdened heart," Archbishop Zore said in his sermon in the Resurrection Mass in the Ljubljana cathedral. Meanwhile, in Novo Mesto, Bishop Saje warned that human life, which Christians believe is a gift from God, is no longer inviolable, referring to the assisted dying bill, which is to be put to a popular vote.

Some well-known persons to contest EU elections for anti-vax party

LJUBLJANA - Resnica, the party that evolved from an anti-vaxxer movement during the Covid pandemic, is fielding some well-known figures to run in the European Parliament elections, including actress Tanja Ribič, author Branko Gradišnik, and gynaecologist Sabina Senčar, who picked up nearly 6% of the vote in the 2022 presidential election. The party's nine candidates also include Polona Frelih, a former Russia correspondent for the newspaper Delo, party leader Zoran Stevanović and Bojan Potočnik, a retired army officer who briefly served as acting police commissioner in 2005.

Organ donor rates record high last year

LJUBLJANA - Slovenia is looking back at a very successful year in terms of organ donation. Slovenia Transplant recorded several milestones in 2023, including the number of active donors per million residents passing 30 and the number of actual donors per million exceeding 27 for the first time ever. A total of 186 organs were donated, while 183 patients were still waiting for a transplant at the end of the year. For the first time, at least one potential donor was identified in each of the 11 donor hospitals that are part of the national network. The Ljubljana transplantation centre transplanted 106 organs last year.

Particle pollution elevated due to Saharan sand

LJUBLJANA - Like the rest of the Alpine region, Slovenia has been experiencing increased concentrations of dust particles in the air due to Saharan sand since Saturday. "The weather system that will pass the country on Monday afternoon will wash out the dust from the atmosphere and push it eastwards," Brane Gregorčič, duty meteorologist at the Slovenian Environment Agency (ARSO), told the STA. Due to the phenomenon, airborne concentrations of particulate matter have been significantly elevated, especially PM 10. On Saturday, the highest excess values were recorded in Črna na Koroškem in the north.