Croatia News - CroatiaPress.com

Zagreb, May 16 (CP) – Some 40 Croatian Radio Television (HRT) journalists have signed a petition against programming director Domagoj Buric who wrote a memo inciting more ‘homeland’ emotions being expressed in an upcoming TV show.

Journalists of the ’30 in the Shade’ show have received a memo earlier signed by the programming director Buric demanding of them to spice-up the show with sentiments that would denote to the ‘boys from the other side of the border’ that the Croats are still very much into strong homeland feelings.

The signatures do not represent a petition, but rather a call to the HRT general manager and professional organisations to state their views on this and not a demand for the sacking of Buric.

The move by Buric is reminiscent of the early 1990’s when HRT was very much a force which promoted homeland feelings and where people who were against such conduct or did not have the right blood cells, as they might have been Serb or part-Serb were being expelled from work and banned from entering the HRT building regardless of their expertise and ability.

Zagreb, May 15 (CP) – Croatia has come 49th out of 55 countries on the world competitiveness list with all EU members fairing better, but with Croatia doing better by four places than the previous year.

The list for 2008 was published by the Institute for Management Development (IMD) headquartered in Lausanne and has seen Croatia’s position shift by four places, but still being outdone by new EU members Bulgaria and Romania.

The best positioned have been the US, Singapore and Hong Kong.

Croatia is expected to introduce a string of reforms in several areas like the efficiency of its economy, which may result in its competitiveness improving. Croatia has done best in the tourism revenue segment.

Slovenia and Poland have enjoyed the most improvement over the past year, leaping by eight places, while Ukraine has dropped by as many places.

This has been the third year that Croatia has been included in the IMD world competitiveness yearbook.

Zagreb, May 15 (CP) – The journalists of the Slobodna Dalmacija daily are protesting against the management’s decision to move the paper’s headquarters from Split where it had been based for the past 65 years to the nearby Dugopolje.

At a meeting of the journalists they expressed dissatisfaction with the decision to move the headquarters of the paper from the coastal city, as it is seen as a symbol of Split.

The meeting has not been looked upon benevolently by the paper’s management and there have been threats of sacking.

The paper’s owner EPH has not been available for comments.

Zagreb, May 14 (CP) – Zarko Puhovski, who had been at the helm of the Croatian Helsinki Committee (HHO) for quite a long time has resigned from the position at Wednesday’s plenary session of the organisation.

It is believed that Puhovski stepped down due to differences with the HHO current president Ivo Banac over the policy waged by Banac which had reached it pinnacle in the case of the forced hospitalisation of Mirjana Pukanic, the estranged wife of the co-owner of the Nacional weekly magazine, Ivo Pukanic.

Zagreb, May 13 (CP) – The police and neighbours came upon a gruesome discovery on Tuesday, as they discovered a totally decomposed body in bed in a locked flat in the centre of the Croatian capital Zagreb.

The body of a woman who had gone missing a long time ago was discovered in a bed in a flat in the attic of an apartment building as neighbours broke in in an attempt to figure out whose the flat was.

Although the body of the deceased woman was far too decomposed for it to be identified, the documents found on the spot seem to point to her identity and according to them she was born in 1924.

The woman occupied the flat in 1961.

There had been no indications that the woman died a violent death.

Zagreb, May 13 (CP) — Deputy Prime Minister and Economy Minister, Damir Polancc, announced in Umag on Monday night that individual privatization plans for all Croatian shipyards have been completed.

It is expected that the plans will be adopted at Governments next session.

The deadline for their delivery to Brussels expires at the end of June.

Zagreb, May 12 (CP) – A strong rise in the minutes of mobile telephones used in Croatia has been recorded in the first quarter of 2008, reports the State Statistics Bureau.

A growth of 24 percent has been recorded year-on-year with a drop of fixed telephony usage of nine percent.

The current three mobile telephone networks in Croatia have 4.5 million customers.

The rise in text messages sending has also been recorded of 32.5 percent year-on-year and multi-media messages (MMS) of which 8.74 million have been sent, up 50 percent year-on-year.

Zagreb, May 12 (CP) – Croatian tennis player Marija Abramovic who ended up stranded in Lebanon, as violence there spiralled out of control, has managed to leave the country for Syria aboard a ship.

The Jounieh tennis tournament organisers Abramovic was attending had organised the pull-out of Abramovic and other tennis tournament participants via Syria where they will be boarding planes for their respective countries.

The Croatian Foreign Ministry has warned Croatia citizens who are in Lebanon to leave the country as soon as possible and those planning to travel there to drop their plans.

Lebanon has seen a rise in voilence over the past few days between pro-government armed forces and Hezbollah loyalists.
 

A team of 32 policemen who are to be dispatched to keep law and order at the European Soccer Cahmpionships is to be presented to the public.

The 32-strong team is to assist their Austrian and Swiss colleagues in working and communicating with Croatian football fans at the championships.

Zagreb, May 11 (CP) – Croatian tennis player Marija Abramovic is stranded in Lebanon as political unrest shuts down the Beirut airport.

The 20-year-old Croatian tennis player is unable to leave Lebanon following the tournament she played in Jounieh and is looking for alternative ways to leave the country.

Abramovic is hoping to leave the embattled country, which has seen days of violence between pro-government armed forces and Hezbollah loyalists.