Croatia News - CroatiaPress.com

Zagreb, April 10 (CP) – The Social Democratic Party (SDP) electoral convention that was held on Saturday resulted in the current president Zoran Milanovic retaining his position and capturing 78.88 percent of the vote in the first election round.

The two other candidates, Davorko Vidovic and Dragan Kovacevic had captured 11 percent and nine percent of the vote respectively.

Milanovic took over presidency of the SDP after its first president Ivica Racan died a year ago.

Zagreb, May 10 (CP) – Former Croatian tennis star Goran Ivanisevic and his common law wife Tanja Dragovic have returned from the United States after a two-month self-imposed exile.

The couple and their young children had fled Croatia after it was revealed that Ivanisevic was having an affair with a local model.

Following several bust-ups with the media and photographs that appeared, from which his partner Tanja had learned of his infidelity, she threw him out of their home.

In a bid to patch-up their relationship, Ivanisevic managed to persuade Dragovic to leave Croatia for the United States for a while to sort out their relationship.

After arriving in Croatia, the Ivanisevic family was left behind and Ivanisevic headed for Rome, where he is appearing at a veterans’ tennis tournament.
 

Zagreb, May 9 (CP) – Croatia’s best track and field athlete Blanka Vlasic has won another athletic meet – the Super Grand Prix in Qatar by managing to clear 203 centimetres a season record, but failing to make the 205 on Friday.

The meet is a great preparation for the upcoming Beijing Olympics.

Zagreb, May 9 (CP) – A pilot-project of registering limited companies via e-mail has ended its six-month run at the northern Croatian town of Varazdin’s commercial court.

The Hitro.hr project enables the setting up of a limited company online in three steps within a 24-hour period.

During the six months of the project being implemented some 198 companies were established in this way.

The idea is to set up such a service at all commercial courts throughout Croatia.

Zagreb, May 9 (CP) – A charter on cooperation was signed between Sofia, Bulgaria and the Koncar company from Croatia, which represents the first step in Sofia buying trams from Koncar.

Croatian-made trams are to go for a test-run in Sofia in September.

Sofia is facing a rehaul of its electrical tram system and is looking for a new supplier of trams that are in line with environmental standards.

Zagreb, May 9 (CP) – Croatian rock music critic and author of a number of books on the topic, Drazen Vrdoljak, has died aged 58 in Zagreb.

Vrdoljak, known as a ‘living encyclopaedia’ of pop music had been hosting numerous music shows on radio and TV and had been the one to introduce the Croatian public to such forms.

He is also the author of several books on pop music and had interviews top rock and pop musicians for Croatian electronic and print media.

Vrdoljak is also known as the man who had been behind the programming of the renowned Kulusic music club in the 1980’s when the ‘new wave’ rock bands in Croatia were very much alive.

Vrdoljak was born in the coastal city of Split and had started publishing reviews in the 1970’s.

He is the recipient of a number of prizes, including the one for the special contribution to the Croatian discography industry.

Zagreb, May 8 (CP) — The Austrian state prosecution in Vienna has received a request for an investigation against president Stjepan Mesic’s advisor Sasa Perkovic. He is accused of putting pressure on ret. Gen. Vladimir Zagorec during a secret meeting in 2007 who he demanded of to provide information in exchange for certain concessions.

The request is expected to be granted or rejected within six weeks. If a court procedure is launched, one of the witnesses will be Vladimir Zagorec.

If found guilty, Perkovic is facing up to a year in jail.

Zagreb, May 8 (CP) – A large stash of ammunition and arms hidden in a well near the coastal town of Zadar was discovered by police on Thursday.

Among the stash were several hand grenades, a cluster bomb filling, mines and thousands of pieces of munitions.

The well is situated in Biljani Donji in the Zadar hinterland and is not the first to have harboured such hazardous items.

The stash was transported to a military range in the vicinity and destroyed.

Zagreb, May 7 (CP) — University students across Croatia are holding a protest, despite the fact that the Education Minister Dragan Primorac, said all their demands would be met following a session of the student council on Tuesday.

Students are demanding, education free of charge for all bachelor programs, they also want to complete their studies according to conditions that were in effect when they enrolled and would like to see higher enrolment quotas.

Zagreb, May 7 (CP) — The second and final round of negotiations regarding Croatian membership in the North Atlantic alliance is being held today at the NATO headquarters in Brussels.

The protocol for Croatia’s accession is expected to be signed by early July, after which it is to be ratified by member countries. The Croatian flag could join others at the NATO Headquarters by spring of next year.