News roundup - Monday, 27 January, until 3pm

Ljubljana, 27 January - Below is a roundup of major events on Monday, 27 January, until 3pm local time:

FM says Trump's Palestine displacement proposal unacceptable

BRUSSELS, Belgium - Slovenia does not agree with forced displacement of the Palestinian nation, Foreign Minister Tanja Fajon said following a statement by US President Donald Trump that Palestinians should leave Gaza and that he would like to "clean out" the entire strip. She believes this could amount to grave violations of international humanitarian law. The EU must take a firm stance against this, she said. Slovenia recognised Palestine last year, she noted, adding that Palestinians had the right to their territory.

Fajon says visits to Lebanon and Syria expression of support

BRUSSELS, Belgium - Foreign Minister Tanja Fajon said that her upcoming visits to Syria and Lebanon would be an expression of support for the changes in the countries. Regarding Lebanon, where a new president and a new prime minister took over in mid-January after two years of political deadlock, Fajon said that the international presence in the country was "exceptionally important" at this moment. Fajon announced she would be visiting the two countries a week ago but is yet to say when the visits would take place.

Slovenia still awaiting Serbia's explanation on expulsion of activist

BRUSSELS, Belgium - Slovenia plans to "act accordingly" but is still awaiting explanations after Serbia expelled a Slovenian activist who took part in an NGO workshop in Belgrade last week, FM Tanja Fajon said. Along with other countries whose citizens were expelled, Slovenia has demanded explanations from the Serbian Foreign Ministry but unlike Croatia, it has not lodged a formal protest. Speaking ahead of a meeting of EU foreign ministers, Fajon said she would inform the EU's foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas of the expulsion and that she had already talked to her Austrian counterpart Alexander Schallenberg about it.

Regulated fuel prices at multi-month highs

LJUBLJANA - Fuel prices will rise significantly on Tuesday. Petrol will be 2.7 cents more expensive at EUR 1.55 per litre, an eight-month high, while the price of diesel will go up by 3.8 cents to EUR 1.619, the highest it has been since October 2023. Heating oil will likewise be 3.8 cents more expensive, costing EUR 1.218 per litre, the Ministry of the Environment, Climate and Energy said. The new prices for petrol and diesel apply only outside the motorway network.

Some schools cancel classes after bomb threats

LJUBLJANA - Over 200 schools and kindergartens across Slovenia received e-mail threats of a potential use of explosives. The police have assessed the threat as a low-risk security event, but some schools have nevertheless cancelled classes for the day. The schools received an AI generated message similar to the ones recorded in some other countries. Because it was assessed as posing low risk to security, schools and kindergartens were advised to continue the educational process. While in most schools students and staff returned to class after the initial scare, some have sent kids home and expect to resume classes on Tuesday.

Study in Slovenia shows HPV vaccine to be highly effective

LJUBLJANA - Slovenian girls and women who have been vaccinated against HPV, a virus that causes cervical cancer, are far less likely to be diagnosed with precancerous conditions, even though the national vaccination rate remains low, a large new study in Slovenia has shown. The study looked at two cohorts, women in the first vaccine-targeted birth cohort (born between 1998 and 2001) and in the last cohort before vaccination was introduced (those born between 1994 and 1997). The researchers looked at high-grade lesions that are considered precancerous to find that the incidence thereof was 42% lower in girls and women who had been vaccinated. This is despite Slovenia having a very low HPV vaccination rate of around 50%.

Business sentiment unchanged in January

LJUBLJANA - Business sentiment in Slovenia remained unchanged at -2.6 percentage points in January. At the annual level it rose by 0.4 points, show Statistics Office data. The indicators in services and manufacturing rose over the month before, by 0.3 and 0.1 points, respectively, while the construction industry indicator was flat. Consumer sentiment meanwhile deteriorated by 0.3 points and sentiment in retail was down 0.1 points.

Survey unemployment up slightly in December

LJUBLJANA - The survey unemployment rate in Slovenia stood at 5.2% in December, up 0.1 percentage points on the month before. Compared to a year ago, it was 1.8 points higher, the Statistics Office said. It is estimated that roughly 55,000 persons aged 15-74 were unemployed, of which 59% were men and 47% women. The monthly survey unemployment figures are modelled rather than based on actual labour force surveys, which is why they are less reliable than quarterly figures.

Iskra to build production plant in Bosnia, logistics centre in Serbia

LJUBLJANA - The Slovenian privately-held electronics group Iskra has announced plans to build a new production facility in Bosnia-Herzegovina and a new logistics centre in Serbia this year. The financial details of the plans have not been disclosed. Iskra has said that it will build a new facility in Nova Topola in the Republika Srpska entity of Bosnia-Herzegovina. It will span 12,000 m2, increasing the production capacity and creating new jobs. Iskra also plans to set up a new laboratory equipped with advanced testing devices at the Croatian electric cable manufacturer Elka, which the group acquired in May 2021.

Unique exhibition to present complexities of 20th century

LJUBLJANA/NOVA GORICA - One of the main events of the Nova Gorica-Gorizia European Capital of Culture will be a permanent exhibition on the complexities of 20th-century history. Housed in a former warehouse adjacent to the Nova Gorica railway station, it will shed light on the area's multiculturalism and troubled past, project director Kaja Širok has told the STA. Called the European Platform for Interpretation of the 20th Century (EPIC), the project is due to open in May to mark 80 years since the end of the Second World War.

POP TV poll: Govt rating down again

LJUBLJANA - Support for the government continues to drop, with fewer than 30% of respondents in the latest POP TV poll saying the cabinet is doing a good job, while nearly 55% believe it is doing a poor job. The opposition Democratic Party (SDS) remains at the top of the party ranking, followed by the senior and junior coalition partners, the Freedom Movement and the Social Democrats (SD), the only parliamentary party to gain ground, albeit minuscule.

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