News roundup - Saturday, 3 August

Two Carinthian Slovenians to get highest state decoration

KLAGENFURT, Austria - Bernard Sadovnik and Ingrid Gasser, prominent members of the Slovenian minority in the Austrian state of Carinthia, will be honoured with the Grand Badge of Honour of Carinthia, the Slovenian media in Carinthia have reported. They will receive the highest decoration in Carinthia for advocated for the overall development of the state in their respective fields. Sadovnik is the president of the Community of Carinthian Slovenians (SKS) and the mayor of Globasnitz (Globasnica), while Gasser heads the Kulturwerkstatt Gasser cultural workshop in Ludmannsdorf (Bilčovs).

Storms cause some trouble in central, northeastern Slovenia

LJUBLJANA - Storms with strong winds and hail caused some trouble in the central and northeastern Slovenia on Friday afternoon and evening, with firefighters having to remove uprooted trees from roads, cover damaged roofs and pumped water out of flooded buildings. The Civil Protection and Disaster Relief Administration recorded a total of 249 incidents, and regional centres in Celje, Ljubljana, Maribor, Murska Sobota, Novo Mesto, Ptuj, Slovenj Gradec and Trbovlje activated 106 firefighting units.

Tratnik 8th in men's individual road race in Paris

PARIS, France - Slovenian cyclist Jan Tratnik finished eight in the men's individual road race at the Summer Olympic Games, which was won by Belgian ace Remco Evenepoel (6:19:34), even though he had to switch to another bicycle only three kilometres before the finish line. Tratnik was one minute and 16 seconds behind the winner, who grabbed the gold ahead of the silver-medallist Valentin Madouas of France (+1:11) and the bronze medallist Cristophe Laporte, also of France.

Slovenian women's handball team out of Olympics

PARIS, France - The Slovenian women's handball team lost to Sweden 23:27 (14:11) in the last match of the preliminary round of the Summer Olympic Games to get eliminated from the tournament with only one win in five games. In its debut Olympic appearance, Slovenia managed only to beat South Korea in Group A, while losing to Denmark, Germany, Norway and Sweden, losing any chances of advancing to the quarter-finals.

Aluminium product maker Kety Emmi's profit down 20% last year

SLOVENSKA BISTRICA - Kety Emmi, a Slovenska Bistrica-based maker of aluminium products owned by Polish group Aluform Spolka, generated EUR 41.5 million in sales revenue in 2023, which is 10% more than in the year before, while net profit dropped 20% to EUR 1.4 million, shows the company's annual report. The company, which employs 400 people, said it managed to increase the sales last year despite the challenging conditions, including the war in Ukraine, high energy costs and declining orders.

Sports-filled summer spurs major growth in TV sales

LJUBLJANA - This year's sports-filled summer, marked by events such as 2024 Euro and the Olympic Games, has boosted sales of new TVs. Some retailers are reporting up to three-fold increases in sales. Harvey Norman for instance said its sales for TVs with a diagonal of at least 216 cm more than tripled in June and July this year. Significant increases were also reported by Merkur, which recorded a 32% year-on-year rise in the number of all TV sets sold in June and July, and Mercator 25%.

Slovenia, Austria open joint environmentalist exhibition

GORNJA RADGONA - A travelling exhibition by the Austrian Foreign Ministry opened in the neighbouring towns of Gornja Radgona in Slovenia and Austria's Bad Radkersburg. The exhibition titled Touch Nature, which strives to present the topics of climate and sustainability which are important for both Slovenia and Austria, and it also tries to visualise the connections between the countries, will be displayed on the bridge between the two towns and in the two former customs houses.