Croatia News - CroatiaPress.com

Zagreb, April 22 (CP) – A 62-year-old British tourist has died during a walking trip on Croatia’s Mount Biokovo overlooking the tourist resort of Makarska.

Jeremiah Lesley, 62, was walking with a party of fellow tourists in the woods, when he suddenly fell to the ground.

He was pronounced dead at 11:10 am, local time on Tuesday.

Makarska mountain rescue service members had learned from the tourists Lesley was taking the trip with that the man had undergone a vascular operation a month ago, so that strain is being blamed for the man’s death.

Zagreb, April 22 (CP) — The Opatija restaurant Plavi Podrum headed by Croatia’s best known sommelier Daniela Kramaric Tariba has made it onto the list of 100 world’s best restaurants.

Topping the list for the third year running is the El Bulli restaurant at Spain’s Costa Brava.

Zagreb, April 22 (CP) – The network of Liberal Parties of SE Europe has at its meeting in Skopje, Macedonia elected Vesna Pusic as its president.

The goal of the body is solving social, political and ecological problems in the region as well as EU membership.

Liberal parties from Bosnia-Herzegovina, Serbia, Macedonia and Kosovo are part of the Network.

Pusic is the former leader of the Croatian Peoples Party (HNS).

Zagreb, April 22 (CP) – At the Croatian Telekom (HT) annual meeting it has been agreed that most of last years net profit of 2.42 billion kuna be paid out in dividends of 29.56 kuna per share on May 19.

Small shareholders will in line with this decision be receiving around 303,000 kuna, while owners of the package of 63 shares will be paid 1.862,28 kuna.

Small shareholders and institutional investors are currently holding 32.5 percent of the total shares of HT, the larges shareholder and owner of 51 percent of the company being German Deutsche Telekom, which will get 1.23 billion kuna in dividends.

Zagreb, April 21 (CP) – The police have arrested two men suspected of being involved in last week’s robbery of a security van in front of a Zagrebacka Banka branch.

The third suspect is still at large.

The police refused to say whether the stolen money was recovered, due to the investigation still being in full swing.

One of the men was arrested on Sunday afternoon, while the other gave himself up on Monday.

The robbery took place on Friday with some one million kuna being stolen.

Zagreb, April 21 (CP) – A Croatian Homeland war veteran destroyed his neighbours house and killed himself in the process in Vulisinac near Lepoglava on Sunday evening.

It is not clear what drove the veteran to commit such a terrible act, but it is believed the explosion came after an altercation with his neighbour when he stormed the neighbour’s home and ignited a makeshift explosive device.

Prior to setting off the device, the man also shot his neighbour with shotgun pellets hitting him in the head.

The attacker is said to be a homeland war veteran who was proposed as a prosecution witness in the ICTY trial against former Yugoslav People’s Army (JNA) officers Veljko Kadijevic, Blagoje Adzic and Zvonko Jurjevic who together with rebel Serbs are believed to be the most responsible for the destruction of the eastern Croatian town of Vukovar.

Zagreb, April 20 (CP) — A father is to sue a hospital in Dubrovnik after his son was left with gauze in his nasal cavity obstructing his breathing after a tonsil operation.

The seven-year-old suffered breathing problems after he was released home from a Dubrovnik hospital after undergoing a tonsil operation and he could only breath using his mouth. The boy lost his appetite and was completely drained of energy.

The eight day after the surgery the boy told his father something had dropped out of his mouth and that he could finally breath freely.

The parents realised the matter that fell out of the boys mouth was a piece of gauze.

The doctors responsible for the blunder had immediately admitted the mistake, but the hospital’s director, former Health Minister Andro Vlahusic said that the incident had nothing to do with him.

The father decided to sue the hospital, as his boy survived only due to a string of favourable situations.

Zagreb, April 20 (CP) – As many as two venomous snakebites were recorded in Croatia on Sunday, but both victims are said to be stable.

An elderly woman was bit in the foot by a venomous snake in Croatia’s Lika area after which she was rushed to a Gospic hospital in a serious state, but it was later said she was stable.

In just a couple of hours time another case was reported in the Gracac area, where a man was bitten by a snake and was admitted to the same hospital for the same reason.

It is not often that people are bitten by poisonous snakes in Croatia and it has not been recorded that two separate cases had happened on the same day and the victims admitted to the same hospital.

Zagreb, April 20 (CP) – Croatia is to begin its first round of talks on joining NATO in Brussels on Monday in a bid to become a full NATO member in spring of 2009.

The talks are going to be led on the Croatian side by Bianca Matkovic, a Foreign Ministry political issues state secretary.

The talks are to have two rounds, the first including discussions on political and military issues and the other on technical issues.

Croatia had been invited to become a NATO member on April 3 at the NATO Bucharest summit.

Once the negotiations are completed and a protocol on Croatia’s accession is signed, the document needs to be ratified in all NATO member-countries and only then can Croatia become a full member.

Croatia is expected to become a full member of the organisation in spring of 2009.

Zagreb, April 20 (CP) – The veteran Croatian poet and singer/songwriter Arsen Dedic has had eye-surgery that saved his sight.

One of the most famous Croatian musicians and artists had nearly died some four years ago and had to have an emergency liver transplant.

He recovered beyond all expectations and returned to his work with fresh vigour.

Dedic suffered the latest medical scare a few days ago when he lost the vision in one of his eyes and had to undergo emergency surgery, which went well.

The artist is currently celebrating 50 years of his career and his 70th birthday with a new CD release named Rebus (Riddle).