Croatia News - CroatiaPress.com

Zagreb, February 29 (CP) – Two Croats Ivan Ljubicic and Mario Ancic have managed to make it into the semi-finals of the PBZ Zagreb Indoors on Thursday.

Top seed Ljubicic beat Russian Teimuraz Gabashvili 6-2, 6-7, 6-3, while Mario Ancic defeated Robin Haas of The Netherlands 6-3, 3-6, 6-3.

Now the two Croatian players are to be pitted against each other in Friday’s semi-finals, while the other two players in the semi-finals are Ukrainian Sergei Stakhovsky and Simone Bolleli.

Zagreb, February 29 (CP) — The Slovene Kanal-A television has reported that it had proof that some land plots in the Buje municipality, the ‘disputed territory’ south of the Dragonja river, were sold by the Istrian authorities to new owners, although the land is owned by the Slovene state fund of agricultural land.

The TV station criticised PM Janez Jansa and Foreign Minister Dimitrij Rupel for not reacting to this earlier, although they had been informed of this.

Kanal-A has described the situation as a potentially biggest dispute between the two countries since 1991.

Zagreb, February 28 (CP) — The Hague Tribunal’s (ICTY) chief prosecutor Serge Brammertz has stated following a meeting with Justice Minister Ana Lovrin in Zagreb that there was no doubt that the good cooperation between Zagreb and the ICTY would continue in the same good manner as before.

The two discussed future cooperation modes, particularly regarding the accessibility of Croatian archives and witnesses, as well as their protection.

Brammertz is visiting Zagreb for the first time in the capacity of ICTY chief prosecutor. He replaced Carla del Ponte at the post.

Zagreb, February 28 (CP) – An Austrian national has died in Thursday morning’s car crash near the town of Zabok on the Zagreb-Macelj road as she was heading in the direction of Zagreb and her mother, a Bosnia-Herzegovina national, suffered serious injuries.

The vehicle the 32-year-old was driving swerved off the road, the car catapulted from the motorway.

The driver was killed on the spot, her mother’s injuries are said not to be critical.

Zagreb, February 28 (CP) — The Croatian Telecommunications (T-HT) has published 2007 business results stating net profit of 2.47 billion kuna, up 11.6 percent from 2006.

Nearly all of the profit is to be paid out to shareholders at 29.56 kuna per share, bringing the dividend to be received by citizens who bought T-HT shares during the public offer to 1,862 kuna.

Zagreb, February 28 (CP) – The Association of Croatian Travel Agencies has announced that the prices of package tours to Croatia will remain at last year’s levels with a small number of hotels increasing prices by about five percent.

It was stated that by scrapping tourism subsidies and slapping on a 10 percent VAT for accommodation services and 22 percent for excursions in 2006, Croatia had lost about 36,000 organised overnight stays in 2007 and the growth of that segment had stalled.

It was also stated that the Kosovo situation is not expected to impact Croatia’s tourism.
 

Zagreb, February 28 (CP) – The new chief prosecutor of The Hague Tribunal (ICTY) Serge Brammertz is arriving for his first working visit to Zagreb.

Brammertz will be meeting with senior Croatian officials including Justice Minister Ana Lovrin.

The former Belgian chief state prosecutor has announced close cooperation with all the countries investigating war crimes and sees the arrest of the four key indictees that are still at large as a priority.

Brammertz has said that he did not expect the Tribunal to close in 2010, as planned, as some of the proceedings will not be completed by then.

Zagreb, February 28 (CP) – Croatian high jumper Blanka Vlasic has captured her sixth win this season in German town of Weinheim by clearing 205 centimetres.

Blanka had to make a two-week break from training due to injuries and a cold.

Her closest rival in Germany was German Ariane Friedrich who improved her personal best result and came in second with 202 centimetres.

Vlasic is preparing for her next challenge, the World Athletic Championships in Spanish Valencia where she will be going for gold.
 

Zagreb, February 28 (CP) – Only top seed Ivan Ljubicic and unseeded Croatian player Mario Ancic made it to the quarterfinals of the PBZ Zagreb Indoors, while Roko Karanusic, Lovro Zovko and Marin Cilic were beaten by their opponents.

Ljubicic beat fellow countryman Lovro Zovko, further reducing the number of Croatian players left in the tournament.

Ancic managed to beat German Denis Gremelmyer to reach his first quarterfinals in Zagreb.

Ljubicic will be playing Teimuraz Gabashvili of Russia, while Ancic will be playing Robin Haase of the Netherlands on Thursday.

Zagreb, February 27 (CP) –The Arsenal striker and Croatian national team player Eduardo da Silva has left the London hospital he was being treated at after a horrific injury to his foot on Saturday.

Arsenal is to decide where Eduardo will be further treated. He will be wearing a cast for the next six to eight weeks and this will be followed by gradual physiotherapy.

It is now clear whether Eduardo will be remaining in Great Britain, travelling to Croatia or a third country.