News roundup - Saturday, 22 February

Little Trouble Girls wins FIPRESCI award at Berlinale

BERLIN - Little Trouble Girls, a feature debut by award-winning filmmaker Urška Djukić, won the best film award of the International Federation of Film Critics (FIPRESCI) in the section Perspectives at the 75th Berlinale film festival. Djukić hopes the added exposure that the award will provide will make it easier to raise funds for future projects.

President calls for unity in EU

FRANKOLOVO - It is high time that the EU unite to safeguard the fundamental values upon which it was built, President Nataša Pirc Musar said as she addressed the 80th anniversary of one of the worst war crimes committed by the Nazi forces in today's Slovenia during World War II, the killing of 100 prisoners. The international community is becoming a silent observer of countries wielding their power instead of the power of their arguments, Pirc Musar warned.

Defence expert says Russia emerging as winner from Ukraine war

LJUBLJANA - As the war in Ukraine nears its three-year mark, Slovenian defence expert and the head of the Academic Unit of Defence Studies at the Ljubljana Faculty of Social Sciences Jelena Juvan believes that Russia seems to be emerging from the conflict as the winner, an outcome that the EU has been striving to prevent for three years. She believes the EU had made a mistake in not talking to Russia.

Parties urge support for Ukraine as war enters fourth year

LJUBLJANA - Three years since the start of the Russo-Ukrainian War, nearly all Slovenian parliamentary parties noted the importance of continued support for Ukraine and efforts to find the way for lasting peace. They share the view that Russia is clearly the aggressor and call for unity in Europe regarding its response to the latest developments.

Nika Prevc secures fifth consecutive world cup win

LINZ, Austria - Nika Prevc won the FIS World Cup ski jumping event for women in Hinzenbach. The fifth consecutive win and tenth of the season further consolidated her overall lead less than a week before the start of the FIS Nordic World Ski Championships in Trondheim. Selina Freitag of Germany was second and Jacqueline Seifriedsberger of Austria was third. Prevc's closest rival for the overall win this season, Germany's Katharina Schmid was ninth today.

Slovenian gymnasts take one and two in vault at season opener

COTTBUS, Germany - Gymnasts Teja Belak and Tjaša Kysselef kicked off the artistic gymnastics apparatus world cup season with first and second places in vault. Belak won the competition, earning 13.299 points, while Kysselef was second with 13.266 points. Third place went to Uzbek Oksana Chusovitina with 13.249 points.

Kurentovanje festival opens in Ptuj

PTUJ - Ptuj kicked off its annual Kurentovanje festival with a procession, featuring more than 2,400 performers from Italy, Croatia, Bulgaria and Slovenia. The event showcased over 80 carnival groups presenting traditional carnival figures, among them Kurents, scary sheepskin figures with huge cow bells, Spearmen, men in suits throwing colourful spears, and Rusas, a sackcloth costume for two, believed to bring fertility to animals.