Slovenians head to the polls on Sunday faced with a choice between a political novice and a former prime minister serving time for corruption and with little hope of returning their troubled country to stability.

The vote will be the second early elections in three years for Slovenia, a once model member of the European Union that has been on a downward spiral since the 2008 financial crisis.

Slovenia's Prime Minister Alenka Bratusek resigned on Monday after losing her party's leadership, opening the way for the troubled eurozone country's second early election in three years.

Bratusek posted her resignation letter on her Facebook page, adding in a separate comment that if the coalition parties supported a snap vote, "we'll go to elections before the summer."

Slovenian center-left Prime Minister Alenka Bratusek said Friday she will seek a vote of confidence in her coalition government with the outcome largely linked to talks over unpopular austerity measures.

"After all we've done, I believe it is right to check whether I still have the confidence of at least 46 MPs (in the 90-seat parliament) for leading the country into a better future," Bratusek told a news conference.

No bailout of crisis-hit Slovenia will be needed, the country's government and the European Commission said Thursday as results of long-awaited bank stress tests were published.

Slovenian central bank governor Bostjan Jazbec announced Thursday that the small eurozone state will need 4.8 billion euros ($6.6 billion) to recapitalize its troubled banks, citing the results of EU-supervised stress tests.

Iran released the last two of eight Slovak paragliders who were arrested in May for allegedly spying, the official news agency IRNA reported on Thursday.

"Two citizens who were arrested for violating the laws of the Islamic republic of Iran were released and handed over to their embassy" on Wednesday, said IRNA.

Slovenia's prime minister, Alenka Bratusek, on Saturday laid the foundation stone for what will be the country's first mosque -- 44 years after the initial request to build it was made.

The laying of the stone, in the presence of a government minister from Qatar which is helping to fund the project, was a "symbolic victory against all forms of religious intolerance", said Bratusek, adding that Europe would not be as culturally rich without Islam.

Eight western Balkan presidents held Thursday their first-ever summit, aimed at promoting cooperation and getting more countries into the European Union, two decades after the bloody breakup of Yugoslavia.

The informal gathering in Slovenia, attended also by French President Francois Hollande, brought together the Albanian president and seven counterparts from the former Yugoslavia -- including Serbia and Kosovo, whose ties remain frayed.

Slovenia on Saturday said it was confident its newly-adopted action plan would stabilize public finances and lead to an economic recovery, a day after international ratings agency Fitch downgraded the crisis-hit country by one notch.

"The consolidation of public finances will follow the objectives that have been clearly set. We will efficiently carry out all the necessary measures drawn in its stability and reform programs," Slovenia's finance ministry said in a statement in response to the downgrade.

Slovenia on Thursday recognized Syria's opposition National Coalition forces as the only legitimate representative of the Syrian people.

"Syrian president Bashar Assad has lost all legitimacy to continue governing Syria and the National Coalition has proved to be a relevant and credible partner in discussions with the international community," the government said in a statement.

Out of a little garage in northeastern Slovenia, comes a new supercar... and it is already joining the ranks of the world's elite, alongside Lamborghini and Ferrari.

Only six months after presenting his first prototype at Monaco's Top Marques event, Aljosa Tusek, 46, has been invited to London's exclusive Salon Prive car show which runs Wednesday through Friday, and customers from all over the world keep calling him.