POLITICS
LJUBLJANA - Prime Minister Borut Pahor starting a working visit to Spain on Sunday evening to get acquainted with the priorities of Spain's presidency of the EU in the first half of 2010 and present Slovenia's expectations in this respect. Pahor will be meeting his host and counterpart Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero on Monday.
LJUBLJANA - The Borut Pahor government is perceived as doing a good job by 39% of those polled in the latest Vox populi survey, which is an improvement over the October survey (32.2%), private broadcaster POP TV said on Sunday. The ruling Social Democrats meanwhile overtook the opposition Democrats (SDS) and have a one percentage point lead (22.5% to 21.5%).
FINANCE & ECONOMY
LJUBLJANA - The National Assembly is expected to pass next week the budgets for the next two years as the regular November session continues on Monday with a discussion on the budget documents, which also include a bill on intervention measures during the financial and economic crisis. The draft budget for 2010 envisages a budget deficit of EUR 1.8bn or 5% of Slovenia's GDP, while that for 2010 puts the deficit down to EUR 1.5bn or 4.1% of GDP.
ARTS & CULTURE
LJUBLJANA - Croatian war drama "Crnci" (The Blacks) by Zvonimir Jurica and Goran Devic won the Kingfisher Award, the top award handed out at the 20th Ljubljana International Film Festival (LIFFe), which concluded on Sunday. The jury's honourable mention went to Romanian film "Police, Adjective". The award from the International Federation of Film Critics (FIPRESCI) went to US film "Go Get Some Rosemary" directed by brothers Ben and Joshua Safdie. The audience meanwhile picked "I Killed My Mother" by Canadian director Xavier Dolan, who also wrote the screenplay and played the main role.
SPORT
VELENJE - Slovenian men's handball champions Gorenje Velenje lost at home on Sunday to Germany's Rhein-Neckar Loewen 29:37 (12:19) in the game 6 of the group phase of the Champions League. Velenje now holds a 1-5 record in Europe's elite handball competition.
OTHER NEWS
LJUBLJANA - A law firm has filed a criminal complaint against Mateja Duhovnik, the boss of the national motorway company, DARS, over the 2 October motorway accident in which three young people were killed by a car travelling the wrong way, daily Slovenske novice reported on Saturday. According to the complaint, Duhovnik failed to ensure general safety to people and property on Slovenian motorways, which resulted in the crash on the A1 motorway between Ljubljana and Maribor. Duhovnik as the president of DARS management board "failed to take adequate measures to prevent drivers from taking the wrong way on motorway sliproads", Slovenske novice quoted the complaint.
