Slovenia is far above the EU average in the processing of waste plastic packaging.

Three years ago, news of the birth of “baby dragons” at Postojna Cave circled the globe.

Prime minister Marjan Šarec addressed participants of the 10th conference of Slovenian scientists and businesspeople from Slovenia and around the world at the Institut Jožef Stefan (IJS).

In its assessment of the fulfilment of the Schengen rules and standards, the European Commission wrote on Tuesday that Croatia has met the conditions for joining the Schengen Area.

At Cankarjev Dom, prime minister Marjan Šarec addressed those attending the event to announce the winners of the Slovenian Gazelle awards, which are given by Dnevnik to successful Slovenian companies.

According to the latest gender equality index for the 28 EU Member States, Slovenia is in 11th place, 0.9 points above the average. As announced today on the Ministry of Labour, Family, Social Affairs and Equal Opportunities website, the top three countries are Sweden, Denmark and France and the bottom three are Slovakia, Hungary and Greece.

The UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO)’s theme for this year’s World Food Day is “Our actions are our future. Healthy diets for a zero-hunger world”. The theme is intended to raise awareness of obesity and increasing hunger around the world. Despite the growing hunger, hundreds of tons of food are thrown out every day around the world.

The Dutch non-profit organisation Green Destinations has released its Sustainable Top 100 list for this year. This year’s list includes 31 destinations in Slovenia, in other words all of the destinations that were awarded gold or silver medals under the Slovenia Green tourism scheme, according to the Slovenian Tourist Board (STO).

On Wednesday and Thursday this week, Slovenian Industry Day was held at the European Organization for Nuclear Research (CERN) in Geneva. At the two-day event, which was attended by representatives of 25 Slovenian firms, the Slovenian government is promoting the cooperation of Slovenian companies with CERN.

On Wednesday, Slovenian foreign minister Miro Cerar in his role as keynote speaker inaugurated the Slovenian-Austrian year of neighbourhood dialogue 2019-2020 at the Festival Hall in Ljubljana.

Slovenia received prestigious Emerging Nation in Eno-Gastronomy award 2019 and CNN published a list of the most beautiful lesser-known European destinations, and it included Lake Bohinj.

Children’s Week began on Monday in Slovenia, under the auspices of the Slovenian Friends of Youth Association.

In his introductory remarks at his hearing in the European Parliament in Brussels on Wednesday, Janez Lenarčič, to whom European Commission President-elect Ursula von de Leyen has entrusted the crisis management portfolio, promised to dedicate all his energies and almost three decades of experience in international and European fora to help alleviate suffering and provide relief to people affected by crises, both in the EU and around the world.

To mark International Day of Older Persons, the theme of which this year is “The Journey to Age Equality”, Cankarjev Dom in Ljubljana hosted the 19th Festival of the Third Age, which ran until Thursday and featured ten expert panel discussions and more than 200 educational and cultural events. Around 17,000 people visited the festival over the three days.

The government has endorsed changes to the aviation act that create a legal basis for the state to subsidise crucial air links with the country following the collapse of flag carrier Adria Airways, if this proves necessary.

Since Slovenia became an Associate Member of the European Space Agency (ESA) at the initiative of the Ministry of Economic Development and Technology, led by Zdravko Počivalšek, activities in the field of space and space technology have increased significantly, and ESA has chosen Slovenia as the location for the training of astronauts for future missions.

Young people in Slovenia will be again protesting against the authorities doing nothing or too little to tackle the climate crisis and preserve the environment.

The Klagenfurt-based Slovenian-Austrian author Maja Haderlap is to receive an Austrian Art Prize which comes with a EUR 15,000 cheque. The award ceremony will take place at the Federal Chancellery in Vienna on 25 November.

The past few days in Slovenia have been dedicated to celebrating Mobility Week, which features the introduction of sustainable mobility actions. A record number of 78 Slovenian municipalities participated in the event this year, and the common theme of this year’s Mobility Week was the slogan ‘Walk with us!’, under which numerous organisations promoted the advantages of walking.

Six astronauts from five space agencies are training in Slovenia these days for space missions as part of the CAVES programme by the European Space Agency (ESA). Training in caves presents the astronauts with environments and situations very similar to spaceflight, to help them transfer the learning from their caving expedition to space.