EU Wants Slovenia, Croatia To Resolve Border Row This Week

"E.U. Enlargement Commissioner Olli Rehn Monday stressed the need for Croatia and Slovenia to settle this week their border dispute which is hampering Croatia s bid for E.U. membership. 'It is really the moment of truth now and we should all try to settle this before the European council' summit meeting Thursday Rehn said as he entered E.U. foreign ministers talks in Luxembourg. The foreign ministers were to hold talks with their Croatian and Slovenian counterparts on the sidelines of the talks. 'I certainly hope that we could complete and conclude the process ' said Rehn."

Source: AFP

Recession hits Slovenia in Q1, budget gap to widen

"Slovenia fell into recession in the first quarter, data on Tuesday showed, and the government forecast a budget shortfall of 6 percent of GDP this year.

Analysts said the figures released by the statistics office did not bode well for the country that was the fastest growing euro zone member in the past two years, but a mild improvement of quarterly GDP data was still possible later in the year.

The office said gross domestic product (GDP) had dropped 8.5 percent year-on-year in the first quarter, following a 0.8 percent fall in the last quarter of 2008. It said April exports fell 29.7 percent year-on-year and imports shrank 34.9 percent."

Source: guardian.co.uk

Defence Ministry Introduces Safety Measures after Robbery

"Defence Minister Ljubica Jelusic told the press on Tuesday that the ministry has introduced strict safety measures after 20 mortars were stolen from a warehouse near Postojna last week. She also disclosed that the ministry was missing destruction records of 57 hand grenades and 12 rocket propelled grenades (RPG)."

Source: STA