Croatia News - CroatiaPress.com

Zagreb, April 3 (CP) – The body of a 55-year-old Swedish national was discovered near a car bearing Swedish number plates by the Merag-Cres road on Wednesday afternoon.

Initially, the police thought the man had been killed, but later indications pointed to suicide.

The car near which the body was found was set alight.

A post-mortem s still in progress and more will be known once it is completed.

Zagreb, April 2 (CP) – The Social Democratic Party leader Zoran Milanovic has signed a petition in favour of NATO membership being put to a referendum.

Milanovic explained that such important decisions need to be made through a joint effort by politicians and citizens.

He added that SDP was in favour of Croatia joining NATO, but is at the same time supporting the idea that this cannot be done without a referendum on the issue being staged.

The SDP leader believes that Croatian citizens would vote in favour of NATO membership if a referendum was to be held.

Zagreb, April 2 (CP) – According to the latest poll conducted by Promocija Plus claims some 60 percent of those polled were in favour of Croatia joining NATO, but at the same time 76 percent want to see a referendum on the issue held.

The not so good news is that EU membership support has dropped by three percent compared to last month and now stands at 50 percent.

Although it is now clear that a large number of Croats wish for a referendum to be held on NATO membership, it is yet to be seen whether NGOs can gather enough signatures for a referendum on NATO membership to actually be staged.

Zagreb, April 2 (CP) – An attempt to workout in his self-made gym cost a 17-year-old youth from Sesvete near Zagreb a serious injury.

The young man was attempting to do chin-ups on a homemade piece of workout equipment when it gave way, the young man falling and rendering himself unconscious.

He was urgently rushed to hospital where he is receiving treatment.

Zagreb, April 29 (CP) – Following protests by secondary school pupils across the county on Monday who were voicing their disapproval over the introduction of the final school exam without proper preparations, the Education Minister Dragan Primorac has announced that the whole operation was to be postponed for a year.

Primorac put some of the blame on his assistants saying that he was always told that the pupils were well informed about the new type of exam and only now had he learned that this was not so.

The final state exam for last year secondary school pupils is an anti-corruption measure where pupils depend only on their knowledge, explained Primorac.

The bottom line is that the pupils managed to voice their disapproval of the ongoings and secured that the final state exam is introduced next year, which will give both the schools and the pupils, a year during which to get better acquainted with the necessary procedures.

Zagreb, April 2 (CP) – At a diner reception held for US President Bush on Friday evening four top Croatian athletes will be among the 60 invitees.

Blanka Vlasic, the world high jump champion, Lino Cervar handball team coach, Dino Radja once a top basketball player and Sanja Jovanovic, Croatia’s record-breaking swimmer will be attending Friday’s reception.

Regular citizens wanting to meet Bush will have a chance to attend his speech to be held in a square in front of the parliament building and that of the government. However, all those attending will have to produce an invitation they will get from their local authorities if they are lucky to request them before all are given away.

Several protests are planned across the city some against NATO membership and others against US-led Iraq war.

Zagreb, April 1 (CP) — The resignation of Croatian Television (HTV) director Robert Sveb is to be discussed at a special session of the HRT programming council on April 10.

This was decided at Tuesday’s meeting. Sveb had resigned due to disagreements with the HTV leadership regarding the loss of rights to World Handball Championships broadcasts, the Championships being held in Croatia in 2009.

Bozo Susec, Blago Markota and Drazen Siriscevic refused to comment claims that one of them will be the next director.

Claims regarding a drop in HTV ratings have been denied at the session and it was said that some shows were enjoying increased ratings.

Zagreb, April (CP) — Ret. Croatian army general Ivan Korade has been charged with quadruple murder following the killing spree in his village of six days ago and for the abduction of a woman and injuring of another man.

The abducted woman is the mother of two men who Korade had a fight this past summer.

The police believe that Korade is still hiding in the area around his village and possibly in a secret room in his home.

More than 500 riot police are searching for him.
 

Zagreb, April 1 (CP) — Health Minister Darko Milinović will be attending a working meeting with county prefects and hospital directors to address the functioning of the hospital system on Tuesday.

It is expected that details regarding reforms Milinović announced yesterday could be made public, where hospitals would receive enough money to cover all expenses as of today.

However, the sector’s workers’ union has said that no program however good can salvage the health system with a current deficit of two billion kuna.

Zagreb, April 1 (CP) — At the ATP Masters Series tournament underway in Miami USA, Croatia’s Mario Ancic defeated Juan Monaco of Argentina on Monday in the third round of play 7:6, 4:6, 6:1.

Ancic’s next opponent will be Nikolay Davydenko of Russia.