News Archive - February 2011

In early December, Minister of Finance Franc Križanič revealed a new strategy aimed at revitalising Slovenia’s gaming industry. The plan quickly drew criticism, not least from Economy Minister Darja Radić. Is the strategy really a sensible blueprint for the future of the industry? Or is it a move primarily aimed at securing speedy investment in Slovenia’s largest gaming company?

Thousands of Libyans in the eastern city of Tobruk have been celebrating after breaking free from Muammar Gaddafi.

Speaker of the House of Commons of the British Parliament, John Bercow, was received by his Slovenian opposite number Pavel Gantar as he started a two-day visit to Slovenia on Monday. The officials discussed the role of parliaments in both countries and pointed to the crisis of legitimacy of parliaments.

Colonel Gaddafi has made a defiant and inflammatory speech on Libyan state television. It lasted over an hour.

Thousands of people filled the main square in Ljubljana to prepare a hero's welcome for newly-crowned world giant slalom champion Tina Maze.

A police station in Tobruk is set ablaze by anti-government protesters – scenes of unrest have spread across Libya with the east of the country appearing more and more to be under the control of protesters.

Small businesses stepped up threats of civil disobedience on Tuesday over growing unhappiness with the government's economic measures by announcing they would stop paying taxes in March. The government responded by saying that a number of measures demanded by small businesses would be adopted as early as Thursday.

Bahrain police stormed a Manama square on Thursday to clear activists camped out there as anti-government protests in the Middle East and North Africa, inspired by revolts in Tunisia and Egypt, gathered pace.

The Constitutional Court heard cases for and against a referendum on the pension reform in a public session on Tuesday. The trade unions, which called the referendum, said that banning the vote would curb the right of the people to decide on their future, but the government countered that without the reform the pension purse would go bankrupt.

Thousands of pro-government demonstrators have been shown on Iranian State Television following Monday’s clashes which left two people dead.

Slovenia's economic diplomacy received praise on Thursday for becoming a true "service" for businesses expanding to foreign markets, but businessmen and diplomats gathered at a discussion of the Manager Association also said there was ample space for improvement.

After hundreds of thousands of Egyptians packed into Cairo’s Tahrir Square in a major outpouring of anger against President Hosni Mubarak, the US finally firmed up its stance on the uprising.

Thousands of Egyptians stood their ground in Tahrir Square overnight while President Hosni Mubarak clung onto power despite the resistance to his autocratic rule.

Oil was headed for a second straight week of gains as Egypt's volatile situation kept markets on edge ahead of Friday prayers, while investors awaited U.S. employment data expected to give direction to prices later in the day.

Australians voiced relief and surprise after one of the world's most powerful cyclones spared the nation's northeast coast from expected devastation on Thursday, with no reported deaths despite winds tearing off roofs and toppling trees.

The end of last year saw the celebration of the 20th anniversary of the Slovene Plebiscite, an act unparalleled in modern Slovenian history, in which an overwhelming majority of the nation decided to claim their right to self-determination. The result was a sovereign and independent Slovene state, but has the time come to take stock of the past two decades and throw some light on the growing pains of the new democracy?

Early elections in Ireland have been set for February 25.