Croatian rock star's controversial San Jose appearance

One of Croatia's hottest rock stars is scheduled to play at an offbeat venue in San Jose on Sunday, despite an international protest from the Simon Wiesenthal Center, a prominent Jewish humanitarian agency dedicated to fighting anti-Semitism, racism and genocide.

Marko Perkovic, 42, is slated to play at the Arc of Willow Glen, a banquet hall that seats about 300.

But while he sings to thunderous crowds of about 50,000 in southern Europe, he also has been criticized for what some say is his tacit support of fans who show up at his European concerts wearing T-shirts with fascist symbols and perform a Nazi salute.

Perkovic's concerts in Cleveland and Toronto were canceled, largely due to pressure by the Wiesenthal center. He did perform at alternate venues just outside both cities. Perkovic is better known by his stage name, "Thompson," for the type of submachine gun he used while serving in the Croatian army.

"If this were me, and I were accused of what he's been accused of, I'd want to set the record straight really fast," said Mark Weitzman, the New York director of the Simon Wiesenthal Center's task force against hate.

Weitzman stops short of calling Perkovic a neo-Nazi or Nazi sympathizer, but he says his "passive acceptance" of some fans who are apparently Nazi-leaning "seems to be creating an environment where fans are glorifying fascism and he doesn't seen to be telling them 'no.' "

But Perkovic has spoken out against fascism, according to George Corluka, who managed the singer's New York concerts. Perkovic does not speak English, and so Corluka said he was speaking on the singer's behalf.

"He hasn't been silent about this controversy," said an e-mail Corluka sent to the Mercury News on Friday. "At every concert Marko states that he is not a fascist or a Nazi, nor does he support them."

Corluka's e-mail also implied that Perkovic is the victim of a smear campaign concocted, perhaps, by Serbians who deplore anything that has to do with Croatian nationalism.

Perkovic kicked off his North American tour Nov. 2. San Jose appears as the last stop listed on his Web site.

Members of San Jose's Croatian Catholic Church helped arrange the visit for the band that sometimes sounds a bit like Iron Maiden, and sometimes like an ethnic folk rock band.

According to the U.S. Census Bureau, about 4,000 residents claim Croatian ancestry in Santa Clara County. Many are hurt that their community's image is being tarnished by claims about a pop idol who, they argue, is simply passionate about his country.

"We would not bring him here if these things were true," said church council president Aldo Stemberga of Menlo Park. "They are all lies."

There have been no reports in the United States of neo-Nazi behavior or large counterprotests surrounding Perkovic's music.

One of the most recent controversial flash points was a huge June concert in Croatia's capital, Zagreb, where fans were seen sporting Ustasha T-shirts and other paraphernalia. The Ustasha were Croatian fascists and Nazi collaborators during World War II.

In an article in the International Herald Tribune following the concert, Perkovic told the reporter that he had never raised his own arm to make a fascist salute. Nor, he said, did he encourage people to wear Ustasha uniforms. As for the Ustasha slogan he uses, he said it was a traditional Croatian saying that predated World War II.

But critics argue that Perkovic should tell fans, emphatically, at his concerts that if they salute Hitler, or wear Ustasha T-shirts, he doesn't want them there. They ask whether fans could imagine Mick Jagger or Billy Joel allowing this type of behavior, and not speaking out against it.

The Wiesenthal center also pointed to Perkovic's 2002 performance of "Jasanovic/Stara Gardinska," a song Weitzman says venerates concentration camps where thousands of Jews, Serbs and gypsies died. The agency also points to some YouTube videos that use Perkovic music overlaid with photos displaying fans wearing neo-Nazi garb.

But Croatian-American Irena Ukalovic-Halsey, 39, of Los Altos Hills has translated Perkovic's songs into English. They are not hateful, she said.

And she notes that the YouTube videos aren't Perkovic's doing or, necessarily, his responsibility. She also wonders whether, in a crowd of 50,000 this past summer, Perkovic would have noticed a small group raising hands in a Hitler salute. She said some of her relatives attended the concert and didn't see any of this behavior. This issue is important, and has been a source of internal conflict for her, she said, because she's proud of her birthplace, but is also friends with Jews. And so Ukalovic-Halsey and her Croatian au pair are going to Sunday's concert, at $45 a pop, to witness the band for themselves.

"I do like his music," she said. "I like his message of unity and patriotism that he sends. If there was an ounce of bigotry or anti-Semitism that I noticed, there's no way in this world that I would go. My research has not proven any of the allegations to be true. I want to see for myself, and I imagine that I'll find nothing."

But Weitzman, from the Wiesenthal Center, said Perkovic will be on his best behavior on tour in North America, including his stop in San Jose. He added that he hopes this will be the singer's "future direction."

England's Owen out of Euro qualifier against Croatia

England striker Michael Owen is set to miss Wednesday's crucial Euro 2008 Group E qualifier against Croatia at Wembley after an injury.

Owen pulled up with a thigh injury after shooting at goal 34 minutes into England's 1-0 friendly win over Austria on Friday and motioned to the bench to take him off.

Peter Crouch scored the winner for England against Austria in an international friendly at the Ernst Happel Stadion, Vienna. The goal came in the 44th minute.

England are already missing captain John Terry and forward Wayne Rooney because of injuries while central defender Rio Ferdinand is suspended for the Croatia match.

A draw for Croatia and a win for the Russians would effectively end England's qualifying hopes and make Wednesday's encounter with the group leaders all but meaningless.

Brazil's national soccer team, Ronaldinho travel to Peru

In Rio de Janerio (Brazil), Brazil's national soccer team and its star player Ronaldinho, recovering from injury, travelled Friday to Peru to get ready to play their World Cup qualifier game against its Peruvian counterpart on Sunday.

Ronaldinho, twice named Federation of International Football Associations' (FIFA) Player of the Year, is recovering from an injury suffered in a game for Spain's Barcelona soccer club.

"It is less swollen," the striker said in a televised interview Friday before departing to Peru. "We're in the final phase of treatment. I still don't have full confidence, and in some movements it still hurts, but there's still time until the game. I think I'm going to play."

Brazil tied 0-0 against Colombia and defeated Ecuador 5-0 in its two previous qualifier games.

Brazil's soccer team, five times World Soccer Cup champions, trail leader Argentina by two points in the 10-nation South American qualifying tournament. Brazil next faces Uruguay on Wednesday in Sao Paulo.

In Canberra (Australia), Dutchman Dick Advocaat has turned down offers from Football Federation Australia to coach the Socceroos for next year's World Cup qualifiers, local reports said Saturday.

The FFA is reportedly holding crisis talks this weekend after Advocaat, who was set to be confirmed in the role this weekend after attending Australia's friendly against Nigeria in London, knocked back an offer to coach the national team.

Just 81 days before Australia's opening World Cup qualifier in February, the FFA has to renew its search for a coach and find a big-name overseas coach to replace Dutchman Guus Hiddink.

Reports said Advocaat has accepted a new deal to remain with Russian club Zenit St Petersburg, said to be worth $3.6 million a year.

Advocaat coached the Netherlands at the 1994 World Cup and also guided South Korea to the 2006 finals. He has also won club titles with PSV Eindhoven and Glasgow Rangers.

England's confidence has been downfall, says Bilic

The Croatia coach Slaven Bilic has attributed England's struggle to qualify for Euro 2008 to being "a bit too self-confident".

England need other results to go their way and must beat Croatia, who lead Group E, next Wednesday if they are to reach the finals in Austria and Switzerland next summer.

And the former West Ham United defender told today's Football Focus on BBC1: "The group was difficult. Maybe your approach was a little bit too self-confident in this campaign."

Bilic suggests England may have under-estimated some of their Group E opponents.

"Because it is not easy to come to Croatia and to get something from a game. It is not easy to play in Russia. It is not easy to play Macedonia.

"And it's very difficult to play in Tel Aviv. So maybe you were expecting you were to cruise the group, but it's a very difficult group."

Bilic did, however, lend his support to his England counterpart Steve McClaren, saying: "As a club manager you need a couple of years to make or build a team. In a national team you need three or four years because you do not have them every day. You have them once a month for five days.

"It's not Steve McClaren's fault and I really feel for him and hope he is going to continue."

Croatian property 'not ideal for investment'

An expert has commented that Croatia is more suited to holiday homes than property investment.

Mark Tweddle, chief analyst at Property Secrets, said Croatia does not offer good finance options, meaning investors could be forced to buy using cash.

Furthermore, the country is not popular among retirees, he continued, as the cold winters make it unsuitable.

Those investors looking for higher returns could be better advised to look to the markets of the Czech Republic, Bulgaria and Romania, said Mr Tweddle.

It could help if Croatia were to be admitted to the EU, he commented, adding: "You have had other countries join [the EU] in the last few years where you have got much more low risk, better finance, better rental [opportunity] and a stronger economy."

However, according to Dream Croatia, specialists in property throughout the country, the number of tourists holidaying to Croatia has been increasing since 1995.

It claims that in 2002, over 120,000 British and Irish tourists travelled to Croatia.

Goran Visnjic Acknowledges Daughter Lana

Actor Goran Visnjic has acknowledged that he is the father of 8-month-old Lana Lourdes, without having a DNA test performed. Although he had several opportunities to arrive to Croatia for testing paternity, the actor decided to acknowledge the girl as his daughter.

Visnjic also committed to paying a 9,000 kuna monthly alimony. The child’s mother, Mirela Rupic, requested an alimony of 10,000 kuna, so the final amount will be decided at a court hearing scheduled for November 27.

Children Washing Fashion Industry’s Laundry

Many fashion industry companies have stationed their production in developing countries, which implies cheap workforce, raw material and location.

Gap: children work for children

People and the media were shocked by last month’s announcement by The Observer that the known American brand Gap was exploiting underage children in its factory in India. The shocking fact is that their workforce is younger than ten years of age and are working in unacceptable conditions for up to 19 hours a day without any financial compensation – so they could produce clothes for the brand that is known for its campaigns using celebrities such as Madonna, Sarah Jessica Parker, Helena Christensen and Alek Wek.

Fashion companies that soiled their reputations by exploiting children as labour force are: Nike, Levi Strauss, Reebok, Puma, Adidas, Ralph Lauren.
The American fashion company Gap has in the past two years suffered a significant drop in the sale of their clothes. Only in April this year their sales decreased by 16 percent.

Ironing wrinkled reputation

Ashamed by the report, Gap pledged strict control of their textile factories in India in a bid to prevent the exploitation of children. They also announced an investment of 200,000 dollars to improve working conditions and announced an international press conference next year to announce their solutions regarding the problem of children exploitation.

The company’s president, Marka Hansen, addressed consumers with an open letter stating that children who worked for Gap in New Delhi would be paid until they reach the age for legal labour, when they will offer them jobs.

They will also receive wages and the education they deserve, says the letter Marka sent to companies’ web sites.

Subcontractors serve the industry for washing hands

Bhuwan Ribhu, the founder of the New Delhi nongovernmental organisation Backpan Andolan, applauded the suggestion that child labour in India be made illegal. They said they believed child workforce will be eliminated. That is a good start, he said. Is organisation cares for 14 children younger than 14 years of age who were taken by police from the Gap factory at the end of October. The children will remain in the children’s home pending the completion of the investigation and the court’s certificate approving their return to their home villages in western Bengal.

We firmly believe that it is not acceptable for children to work at clothes lines. The reports are very disturbing and we are taking the situation very seriously. All of our distributors and their subcontractors are obliged to guarantee that they will not use children as workforce in production. In this situation, it is evident that one of our distributors breached the agreement and a full investigation is underway, gap’s spokesman said after the media published evidence last month. Last year Gap cancelled contracts with 23 factories, claiming they did not meet the business conditions.

Shireen Miller, the leader of the Save the Children organisation, said it was the Gap’s responsibility to check on production conditions and entire production chains, even the fields where cotton is produced for their products.

According to official sources, the number of children working in India is 12 million, while unofficial sources speculate the number in fact reaches 60 million. Laws in India ban the employment of children younger than 14 at risky jobs, which includes jobs in the textile industry.

In Croatia workers are exploited in free zones

According to the Croatian Alliance of Independent Unions, there are no recorded cases of exploiting children in the fashion industry in Croatia, but there were still such cases in other sectors.

- In the textile industry there is no exploitation of underage children because there are not enough jobs even for the older. The textile industry in Croatia is sinking, it has been reduced to a third of what it used to be. But the exploitation of children has been recorded in bakeries (mostly with Albanian owners), the sale of goods on stands, beggary and car washing (with the Roma) – president of the Alliance, Ana Knezevic, said.

However, she stressed that Croatia did have a problem that workers in free zones face.

- The purpose of free zones has been exploited very much: better conditions, no customs fees, no taxes and of course, not paying workers in line with the law. As far as the production of Benetton near Osijek is concerned, there was a strike last year – Knezevic added.

Croatia allows work after 15 years of age, that is, after completed primary school.

A new slice of Pi

Croatian artist won privilege of drawing for illustrated version of Yann Martel's novel

In 2005, Tomislav Torjanac received an email in his small mountainside town in rural Croatia informing him that a U.K. publisher had launched a worldwide competition to commission artwork for a proposed illustrated edition of Life of Pi, the internationally celebrated novel by Canadian writer Yann Martel.

The slimness of the odds of winning, given how widely the net was being cast, wasn't the initial cause of Torjanac's reticence.

"I'm not a fan of competitions," says Torjanac during a phone conversation from his home in Orahovica, population 5,000. "I'm not a competitive person by nature. But my apprehension was outweighed by my love for Yann's book.

"I love the introspective quality of the writing and the fact that it allows for multiple interpretations of its plot and the message it conveys. And, dare I say, the book is very painterly, so that certainly helped."

Torjanac's willingness to set aside any qualms, enabling him to emerge from an original field of 1,600 aspirants, is a welcome outcome, not only to admirers of Martel's imaginative yarn but also to book illustration enthusiasts. The new edition, in stores now, is stunning.

"In a sense, Tomislav won quite easily," says Martel, who will discuss the project publicly at Harbourfront Centre's Brigantine Room Tuesday as part of the International Readings series. "First of all, there was the painterliness of his style. You could see the swirls of the brush. You could see ridges of paint. I really liked that. I liked the physicality.

"What we liked was the point of view of seeing everything from Pi's perspective. You never see Pi. In the novel, Pi is never described. It's a first-person narrative. Pi is looking out. So if you had an illustration that looked at him, it would reverse the gaze of the novel."

The novel's first incarnation enjoyed a phenomenal run in its own right. Life of Pi, originally published in Canada in 2001, has sold more than 6 million copies in 40 languages and won the Man Booker Prize in 2002. It tells the story of a teenager, named Pi, who survives a shipwreck during his family's emigration from India to Canada and is forced to survive in a lifeboat for more than 200 days in the company of an adult Royal Bengal tiger.

The idea of coming out with an illustrated version of the book was proposed by Martel's U.K. publisher, Jamie Byng of Canongate, who ended up serving with the author and others on the final selection committee, after the entries were winnowed to 60 and, later, six finalists.

"Some of the people had a brilliant vision for one or two of the illustrations but didn't quite have the narrative stamina to recount the whole story. They ran out of steam," recalls Martel, talking by phone from a literary festival in Mexico.

The author and the artist worked closely together on the process, deciding which scenes to depict. In all, the text features 40 illustrations, from full-page artworks to smaller representations. Torjanac's process marries traditional oil painting with digitization. The visibility of the brushwork is a standout characteristic of his work.

"I paint with oil on a board," he explains. "Then I take a digital photo of the result. I have this graphic tablet, which is like a cordless mouse that looks like a mouse. It enables me to do some colour corrections, add some detail, stuff like that.

"We tried not to overcrowd the book with illustrations. My intention was to complement the book, not to compete with it."

Mission accomplished, in the mind of the author.

"The illustrations complement the text, capturing the spirit of it in a different language," Martel says. "In a sense, it's symphonic. It's like you're reading the prose and that's one instrument, let's say the violins, and then with the illustrations you have the burst of the trumpets."

Owen ruled out of Croatia tie

Michael Owen has been ruled out of England's match against Croatia on Wednesday after sustaining a strained thigh against Austria last night.

The Newcastle striker pulled-up 34 minutes into the match in Vienna and was replaced by Jermaine Defoe.

England coach Steve McClaren revealed after the game that Owen would not be fit enough to take part in the potentially vital Euro 2008 qualifier against Croatia.

McClaren is already without Wayne Rooney, who was injured in training earlier this week, and the coach admitted Owen's absence would be "a massive blow".

He added: "It was a strange one, it was Michael's standing foot. He's pulled his thigh and unfortunately he's out."

But McClaren claims he has belief in the strikers who will replace the injured pair on Wednesday night.

He said: "We believe we can win on Wednesday without our two centre-forwards, and there is enough in that dressing room, enough spirit, that we can do it.

England will also be without their first-choice centre-backs John Terry and Rio Ferdinand, but the manager says that the squad must pull together.

The under-pressure manager said that while there were still games to go he had not given up hope of qualifying and retained the belief that Wednesday's encounter would still be a meaningful match.

Defoe is now likely to partner Peter Crouch in attack for the match against Croatia while McClaren will pick between Sol Campbell, Joleon Lescott and Micah Richards to form the centre of his defence.

HNS` Just Society and Four Reform Projects

Programme of HNS president Vesna Pusic and Radimir Cacic promises powerful growth and development of Croatia.

We present you the main guidelines of Croatian People`s Party (HNS), taken from their official web site.

HNS` Fourfoil – reform project for new Croatia

Organisation of democratic institutions in the past 15 years has been accompanied by a powerful role of the state and politics, unjust and disruptive privatisation, mass impovernment of the citizens and the disappearance of the middle class as a base of a stable and free society. In this period, HNS – liberal democrats, were a step ahead in advocating high standards when it came to the protection of human rights and the values of liberal democracy.

Positions on the necessity of civil state developing with all citizens being politically equal, regardless of their ethnic background, European orientation and institutional organisation, as well as co-operation with the neighbours, region countries and strategies of exiting war and post-war traumas, based on recognising, individualising and processing responsibility and guilt for crimes committed during the war, have all become general standards in Croatian politics, accepted by all relevant political parties.

Today, when we face new challenges and possibilities, HNS is again opening new spaces and offering new solutions through four reform projects:

JUST SOCIETY

NEW SOVEREIGNTY

DECENTRALISATION

RAPID ECONOMIC GROWTH

Common denominator for HNS` developing political goals is CROATIA OF A POWERFUL AND STABLE MIDDLE CLASS.

Powerful middle class means a stable and advanced country, dynamic economy, high level and freedom of scientific and cultural creativity, as well as the awareness of inalienable dignity and freedom of citizens.

Just society

HNS – liberal democrats will strongly insist in the upcoming period on the forgotten or lost distinction of a just society with equal chances, determining minimum standards that Croatia must ensure in order to organise a just society for all its citizens.

A just society means good and articulate laws, new public administration directed at citizens and their private and business needs, the disappearance of corruption, personal and business certainty and equality before the law.

Special attention will be directed at:

The right to work and income sufficient for a decent living, availability of health care for all citizens, availability of all levels of educations (free transport for pupils, students` loans=, just pensions which are sufficient for a decent living (the same pension conditions – the same amount of pension), social protection with a guaranteed minimum of life necessities, social tickets and articulate social rights and incomes, rights of the disabled according to their level of disability and not the way it should be treated, measures against corruption, especially in judiciary and public administration, as well as equal development of Croatia.

New Croatian sovereignty

By Croatia approaching full European Union and NATO membership, a new approach has been opened when it comes to sovereignty and the possibilities and resources of independent administration. Therefore, determining strategic systems and special policies within them is one of the fundamental issues Croatia will realise management based on national interests when it comes to redefining its own sovereignty.

The most important ones are: managing territory (agricultural land, coast and islands), national parks, nature parks and protected landscapes, cultural-historic cores of settlements), environmental protection, self-efficiency when it comes to producing foods, maintaining sovereignty over fundamental natural resources (exports of drinking water, mine wealth, forests), managing money flows (monetary sovereignty, possibility of leverage on the banking market), managing energy sources (distribution of electric energy, oil pipelines and gas pipelines, renewable energy sources)and managing large infrastructure systems (roads, telecommunications, systems of links).

Decentralisation of authorisations, resources and education

From a decentralised country where around 50 percent of budget resources was locally collected and spent at the beginning of 90`s (where local authorities elected chiefs of police) the Republic of Croatia has turned into a highly centralised country where more than 90 percent of resources poured down and was spent (in conformity with such policy in ministries, primary school headmasters were appointed, as well as headmasters of other educational, health and cultural institutions).

HNS has been advocating decentralisation of authorisations, resources and education for a long time, as well as the subsidiarity, according to which spheres are set on that level where they can be best realised.

HNS places special attention to:

Decentralisation of authorities and resources in education, health, social care, culture, spatial planning, traffic and utility services infrastructure where the strength of local and regional self-administration would double at least in the first step; equal regional development as an expression of geographical, economic, traffic, historic and cultural special features of Croatian regions and a generator of increasing total strength of the country; more just distribution of tax money with total income from income tax going to regional and local self-administration and all income from profit tax to central state administration; creating regional centres of excellence and regional development agencies as preconditions for decentralisation of education and taking over authorisations on local levels; change of electoral law that will enable direct election of local and regional leadership and more powerful participation of citizens in administration.

Rapid economic growth

It will not be possible to realise any of the previously mentioned goals without a rapid economic growth in the minimum amount of 6 percent per year and the state taking over where such growth cannot be realised without it.

The state much create conditions for increased productivity, competition and efficiency of the economy, improvement of educational and expert quality of population able for work and a 50 percent increase of citizens with university degrees, with special emphasis on improving the quality of managers and the development of managerial education.

The development of infrastructure is essential as a basic precondition of the economic development, as well as the informatisation and restructuring of state administration.

Key assignment for the state is to ensure conditions for free and stable entrepreneurial activities with the following measures:

Defining and stimulating those types of entrepreneurialship and economic activities that have greatest chances of succeeding in every region as well as in microregions, clear and stimulating tax system, developing models of public-private partnership on a state and local level and mobilising capital which is not included in the budget (real estate market, pre-accession funds), stimulating export (especially of small land medium companied on international markets), solving the status and making agricultural lands function, as well as real estate that is not being used due to ownership relations not being solved, unique and envisioned land policy and a model of protection ad development of the coast zone, measures of monetary policy in the function of economic growth, clear and efficient legal and jurisdictional system, efficient public administration, clear rules and supervision of market tenders; creating an economic environment for the increase of interest of potential foreign direct investors for Greenfield and Brownfield investments.

Ancic confirmed for 08 Heineken Open

Mario Ancic, the 2006 finalist at the Heineken Open and a former top-10 ranked player who reached an ATP high of No 7 in July 2006 has confirmed he will play at January's 2008 Heineken Open.

The 23-year-old has a current ATP entry ranking of 86 and will be granted a wildcard if required by Heineken Open tournament director, Graham Pearce.

If there's a bizarre injury situation or bad luck story for a tennis player over the past two years Ancic was involved in it.

The Croat missed nearly six months of 2007 due to illness, but still managed to reach two quarter-finals including the Tennis Masters event at Madrid where he beat James Blake but lost to Novak Djokovic. The previous week he had also reached a quarter, this time at Stockholm.

There were other good individual victories throughout the year including a win over Tommy Haas at the Masters Series tournament in Cincinnati and a fourth round appearance at the Australian Open where he beat Dominik Hrbaty in the third round but lost an epic battle in five sets to Andy Roddick in his next match.

It was in Marseille against Andreas Seppi that things started to go wrong for Ancic as he retired with mononucleosis until August.

He returned at Masters Series at Montreal but withdrew from tournament play at the US Open a few weeks later with a shoulder injury.

At the 2008 Heineken Open he is wanting to start afresh and put all injury problems behind him in what will be his fourth appearance in Auckland.

He first played in 2004 where he beat New Zealander Simon Rea but lost in the second round to Rafael Nadal.

Two years later their were victories over Mark Nielsen, Andy Murray, Fernando Gonzalez and Stanislas Wawrinka before being beaten in the final by an in-form Jarkko Nieminen.

Early this year at the Heineken Open Ancic won his first round over Czech, Lukas Rosol but lost to Mardy Fish in the second round.

"Mario is a great talent to have coming back to the Sovereign singles at the Heineken Open. He has a huge amount of talent and has proved his popularity with crowds at the tournament. Not only has he excelled in Grand Slams during his career he is a former finalist at the Heineken Open.

"Mario has been top-10 and is also a wonderful ambassador for his sport. He will be keen to use the tournament as a staging point for a full year on the ATP circuit without any health problems," says Heineken Open tournament director, Graham Pearce.

The past history of Ancic is rich with success from an early age. He practiced with countryman Goran ivanisevic from 10-years-old and still has the record as the last man to beat Roger Federer at Wimbledon - first round 2002.

His best performance in Grand Slams has been at Wimbledon where he made the semis in 2004 (lost Roddick) and the quarters two years later (lost Federer). He also reached the quarters on clay at Roland Garros in 2006 (Federer).

He has three career singles titles to his credit including a repeat win on grass at 'shertogenbosch and a title at St Petersburg.

In 2006 he spent time off the circuit due to a knee injury sustained from a jet skiing accident in Croatia and also suffered a back injury.

He played in the 2005 Davis Cup winning Croatian team and has a sister, Sanja who plays on the WTA circuit.

The Heineken Open featuring the Sovereign singles and doubles will be held at the ASB Tennis Centre, January 7 - 12, 2008 with the first two days of qualifying January 5 - 6, 2008 at the Albany Tennis Park, Oteha Valley Road, Albany starting at 10am each day.

The 2008 tournament will feature live scoring as well as live streaming of play and audio podcasts.

International seminar on sustainable energy

A seminar on sustainable energy development at a regional level has been held to foster an exchange of experiences and views between the regional authorities of Europe’s maritime periphery on a number of political and administrative issues.

The seminar was organised in Croatia by the EU’s Conference of Peripheral Maritime Regions (CPMR). Malta was represented by Giovanna Debono, Minister for Gozo.

Mrs Debono addressed the seminar on the second day, saying that Gozo shared similar challenges with other island regions but in addition it had the added challenge of double insularity. She said that Gozo was totally dependent on mainland Malta for its energy supply and was well connected to it.

She said that a sustainable energy policy for Europe was important, as it not only ensured a secure and environmentally-sound energy supply, but also aimed to reduce dependence on imported energy and sought to replace it by locally-available renewable energy sources. Initiatives to reduce energy demand coupled with investment in clean and more eco-efficient technology also contributed to this objective, as well as to the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions.

The EU, she said, should take a flexible approach to the issue of renewable energy – an approach which takes due account of the specificities and realities of island regions, especially when setting benchmarks and targets, and emphasised the need for CPMR to continue to foster the exchange of experiences and best practice as this enabled regions to learn from each other.

The CPMR was set up in 1973 comprising around 30 regions. Today, more than 150 regions from 26 countries, representing more than 170 million people, make up the CPMR. It is divided in six geographical commissions including the Islands’ Commission and the Inter-Mediterranean Commission, of which Gozo is an active member.

Police hold Canadian accused of war crimes in Croatia in Michigan jail

A Canadian accused of Croatian war crimes against civilians is to be held without bond in a Michigan jail pending a hearing next month.

Goran Pavic, 42, was arrested Wednesday after crossing the Ambassador Bridge into Detroit. The U.S. Customs and Border Protection service said the trucker's name was on an Interpol list of Serbs wanted for war crimes by the Croatian government.

The U.S. government wants to extradite Pavic to face charges. But his attorney questions whether a valid extradition treaty is in effect and whether alleged war crimes are subject to that treaty.

A U.S. Magistrate judge set a Dec. 4 hearing on the issue.

Two battle fronts will be on parade at Wembley before Croatia match

British troops will make a lap of honour at Wembley during England's Euro 2008 qualifier against Croatia next Wednesday. The service men and women, who have all recently returned from Iraq and Afghanistan, will parade before the game.

The event has been organised by the British Forces Foundation which says it will allow the crowds to thank the army, navy and air force personnel publicly for their efforts in the Middle East. Images from the parade will be relayed to troops serving overseas.

Mark Cann, the director of the foundation which stages overseas troop entertainment, said: "We at the British Forces Foundation do not pass judgment on the rights and wrongs of wars but do think the people who serve their country, on behalf of governments the public elect, deserve the utmost respect and appreciation for what they do. We are enormously grateful to the Football Association for starting the scheme."

Geoff Thompson, the FA's chairman, said: "Where better than the national stadium, before our national team takes the field, for us to show our appreciation of not just the select few with us at the match, but British men and women serving their country around the world?"

Meanwhile, the 1966 World Cup winner George Cohen has launched a withering attack on England under Steve McClaren, branding the current crisis as "absurd". Cohen is distraught at England's struggle to qualify for Euro 2008, accusing the players of lacking passion and calling for McClaren to be replaced. The former Fulham full-back also claims the influx of foreign players has crippled the national team.

"I hope we get through but it's absurd that we are struggling to progress from this group," he said. "Qualification should have been a matter of course but what is obvious now is that we're not as good as we were. We have been awful.

"Ordinary teams give us hard work. Some of them are no better than Championship sides and the fact we can't see them off is unacceptable. I find it upsetting when I watch this England team. Look at the sides we play - some of them are genuine third-world countries. We should be beating some of these sides hands down. They don't want to play badly, but you can't say they're up for it. They don't look enthusiastic.

"McClaren's position becomes untenable if England fail to qualify. If they gave Sir Alf Ramsey the sack, they can get rid of this guy. He's been around the England team for several years, yet in the last four major competitions we've been outrageously poor. Morale is obviously poor and that's down to the manager. We look depressed. McClaren just has plan A, there's no plan B. I'd appoint Martin O'Neill as his replacement - if he wants the job. He'd be strong enough to tell the players they're not giving enough, doing enough or maybe not even good enough."

Cohen is convinced the influx of overseas players is responsible for England's shortcomings and predicts more doom and gloom for the future. "For many years we've been bringing too many foreign players in. It's helped our league tremendously but it's done nothing for our youth or England teams. We've been saying this for 15 years that we'd get to this point. Even Sir Alf Ramsey said we've got too many foreign players coming in and he could see what was going to happen."

Greece u21 1/1 vs. Croatia u21

This is a U21 qualification match between Greece and Croatia.

I am from croatia and i will tell you some big news for this match which is important why i will go on Greece here.

Croatia will miss many many important players like:
Ilicevic - he is important and best player in Croatia u21 squad, he dont have replacement and his miss is huge problem from Croatia team, he is playmaker, heart of this team
Kalinic - best scorer in croatia league and important and best striker in croatia u21 team, without him croatia will have much less chance to score here.
Lovren - stone of defense in squad, apsolutely important part of defense and without him croatia squad iwll have wholes in match and in defense
Sharbini - best player in Rijeka squad, same profile like ilicevic, big form he is and one more big miss in our team
Prahic, Ipsa - this players are also regular in our defense and without them i dont need to say what it will looks like
Madzukic - player who become star this season, one of best player in this team he is called in A squad so no chacne to be here

This is 7 regular players from croatia u21 team, that is more than HALF team and that is huge problem in croatia team.
Without them they are at least 60% poorest team than they are so Greece are hugeee favourite here in this match.
I see only one winner here and that is home team, i give them huge chance here for win with this problem in Croatia team.

Russia considering Croatia's arrest warrant for ex-Yugo general

Russia is «considering technical issues» regarding a Croatian arrest warrant against an ex-Yugoslav army general who reportedly lives in Moscow, a senior official was quoted as saying Friday.
Russia's Deputy Prime Minister Alexander Zhukov did not say whether Gen. Veljko Kadijevic, Yugoslavia's last defense minister and a key player in the
country's bloody breakup, would be handed over to Croatia, B92 television reported.
«Our institutions are considering the technical issues,» Zhukov was quoted as saying by the Belgrade-based TV station. «This has recently come up and there are no complications.
He gave no other details.
Zhukov was in the Serbian capital Friday for meetings with Belgrade officials.
Croatia accuses Kadijevic of war crimes in eastern Croatia, where his Yugoslav army troops bombed several towns, reducing some to rubble and forcing thousands to flee their homes.
About 10,000 people were killed in the Croatian war, which ended in 1995.

Kadijevic denied the accusations in an interview this week on Serbian state television, filmed in Moscow.
Croatian Justice Minister Ana Lovrin has said she expects Russian police to arrest Kadijevic, if he lives there.
Kadijevic, a longtime general in the communist-run former Yugoslavia, is known to have had close ties to the Russian military.

Taylor expecing Barry recall for Croatia clash

GRAHAM Taylor believes Gareth Barry will be back in an England starting berth at Wembley next week.

Barry has been rested in Austria tonight after a series of impressive diaplays,with Frank Lamp-ard preferred.

Former Villa and England boss Taylor believes it is with a view to Wednesday's potentially critical Croatia game.

"To me it suggests he will play against Croatia," Taylor said. "I can't see Steve McClaren playing his full team against Austria, though they may all be involved.

"I think Gareth has done enough in the last few games not to have to play in a friendly to prove himself.

"While I've never been of the opinion that Steven Gerrard and Frank Lampard can't play together - England have won more matches with them than they have lost - Gareth's natural left-foot does give the team balance in central midfield."

Joe Royle, the former Manchester City manager, had a similar interpretation.

"I'd be surprised if Barry is dropped," said Royle. "He has been one of the few successes of late - even against Russia I thought he did okay.

"I feel a bit sorry for him if he's out. But next week's match is more important."

Former Blues and England legend Trevor Francis believes David Beckham could eventually be the fall guy on what would be his 100th cap.

"I couldn't understand why Lampard was dropped so I'm not going to argue he shouldn't come back," said Francis. "But Barry has played so well for England he does not warrant being left out.

"I would play all three and leave out Beckham, who no longer plays top-level football. Every player would like to win 100 caps but you cannot pick an international team on sentiment."

Barry himself said recently: "The pressure is always there with England no matter what happened in the last game.

"Fans at Villa expect me to perform at high levels every week anyway so it is no different for my country.

"There is no way I would ever take my place for granted with England.

"Not even world class players who have been around the scene for five to 10 years do that so it would be silly for me to do that."

England striker Owen out of Croatia match

England striker Michael Owen has been ruled out of Wednesday's potentially crucial Euro 2008 Group E qualifier against Croatia at Wembley.

Owen pulled up with a thigh injury after shooting at goal 34 minutes into England's 1-0 friendly win over Austria on Friday and motioned to the bench to take him off.

"It's a massive blow," manager Steve McClaren told Sky Sports. "Injuries are part of football and unfortunately I do believe we'll need to win on Wednesday to qualify and we go in without two centre halves and two centre forwards."

England are already missing captain John Terry and forward Wayne Rooney because of injuries while central defender Rio Ferdinand is suspended for the Croatia match.

McClaren's men can only watch on Saturday when their group rivals Croatia and Russia face Macedonia and Israel respectively.

A draw for Croatia and a win for the Russians would effectively end England's qualifying hopes and make Wednesday's encounter with the group leaders all but meaningless.

Euro 2008: Who can qualify?

Fancy predicting who will be at Euro 2008 in the summer?

Confused as to the permutations involved?

How do Scotland qualify? Is Steve McClaren right to remain defiant? Can Northern Ireland give Fernando Torres and co an unwanted summer break?

Read below as setantasports.com spells out the possible scenarios ahead of the final two rounds of Euro 2008 qualifiers, as well as providing links to our individual match previews.

Group A:

The last thing a journalist needs on a Friday morning is a conundrum like Group A, where four teams can still qualify.
Poland are in the driving seat and can guarantee their place in Austria and Switzerland with just one win from their last two games, which are Belgium(h) and then Serbia(a).
Portugal will also fancy their chances of booking a ticket for the summer, with four points out of a possible six against Armenia(h) and Finland(h) necessary to make them uncatchable in Group A.
Anything less would bring Serbia and Finland into contention, who are currently three points behind Luis Felipe Scolari’s men in the table.
Finland’s game in Portugal is the one to look out for. After drawing in Helsinki a Finland win would eliminate the Portuguese providing the Finns also triumph over bottom nation Azerbaijan, setting up a complicated and unpredictable ‘mini-league’ with Serbia should they beat Kazakhstan(h) and Poland(h).

Group B:

Quite simply, everything comes down to Scotland’s massive qualifier at home to Italy as Group B reaches a thrilling crescendo.
A Scotland win guarantees their place in Euro 2008. Italy would then need France to lose in Ukraine to keep their hopes alive when they meet Faroe Islands.
An Italy win eliminates Alex McLeish’s Scotland.
A draw eliminates Scotland if France avoid defeat in Ukraine and Italy do likewise against the Faroes.
However, Scotland could still qualify with a draw if France lose, courtesy of their better head-to-head record.

Group C

With Greece already through Group C comes down to a straight shoot-out between Norway and Turkey.
Thankfully for drama fans, the pair meet on Saturday in a winner-takes-all contest.
Assuming both sides win their final matches with Malta(a) and Bosnia-Herzegovina(h) respectively, Norway will qualify by avoiding defeat in Oslo. Turkey must win.

Group D

One would fancy Germany and Czech Republic to go through from this group. They are seven points clear with two games remaining – it would take something special to mess that up.

Wales and Republic of Ireland meet in a game has no real significance, save for pride.

Group E

Time for the mathematics that Steve McClaren must know better than how to get to the job centre.
If Croatia win or draw in Macedonia, they qualify regardless of their final day trip to Wembley.
If Russia win in Israel and at home to Andorra, they qualify also.
England need one of these two scenarios not to happen, meaning they can rescue a dire situation with victory over Croatia.

England are playing Austria in a friendly on Friday night as they wait for their fate to become clear.

Group F

Table toppers Sweden need one point from games against Spain(a) and Latvia(h) to guarantee their place in the European Championships, although they will instantly qualify if Northern Ireland fail to win both their matches against Denmark(h) and Spain(a).
Nigel Worthington’s men must win both matches and then hope Sweden fail to pick up any points, or Spain lose their home encounter with…Sweden.
Spain need one victory to rubber stamp their place in the summer tournament, while Denmark must win games against Northern Ireland(a) and Iceland(h) and hope Spain are left pointless in their final two matches.

Group G

With Romania through all focus is on Marco van Basten’s Holland side, who need just one win to see off the challenge of Bulgaria.
Holland play the group’s worst two sides, Luxembourg(h) and Belarus(a), so Bulgaria will be holding out little hope of qualification.
Should the unthinkable happen and Holland pick up less than two points, Bulgaria could progress with wins over Romania(h) and Slovenia(a)

Audiobooks – Listening and Reading

Legendary US sit com “Friends” featured a sketch in which Chandler tries to quit smoking and plays a tape before bed time, persuading him to get rid of this bad habit. A problem arose: the tape was intended for women so we spent the next half hour screaming with laughter, following our crazed hero who was suddenly faced with his feminine side. And when Joey added a part to the tape where he persuades Chandler to make him sandwiches every day? Unforgettable…

Apart from its humour, this episode remained in the back of our heads as one of the first encounters with audiobooks, recordings of texts.

Listen to what I am reading

Audiobooks are made like songs by your favourite bands are. They are recorded in a studio and then released on CD`s, cassettes or are offered for downloading online. Often, even though not always, they are read by the author, and if the author does not have a pleasant voice, then a famous hot shot from the radio or film world jumps in. Such a recording, instead of chapters in the printed version, is divided into many smaller recordings, lasting up to several minutes so that the listener might continue “reading” as desired.

In practice, audiobooks are not that different from your average album. You simply place the desired book in your stereo or mobile player and press “play”. It is up to you and your listening concentration. As most people are used to absorbing information visually, as least as books go, often a period of adjustment to the new audio format is necessary.

I am listening to what I want

Recorded books follow the colourful variety of their printed counterparts when it comes to themes, therefore apart from various self-help texts, you can find world`s greatest fiction hits as audio editions. Apart from recording previously printed editions, certain companies, like the BBC for example, release only audio editions. Still, this is rare.

Audiobooks are not too common or popular, as far as Croatia goes, at least, but the situation is a bit different in the world. The world audiobook market is worth billions of dollars and versions that can simply be downloaded online are most popular versions. Such distribution format is most simple for the publishers, who do not have to worry about the quality of CD`s for instance, but for the listeners as well, especially today when almost every mobile phone has a build in MP3 player.

I am listening to you as an open book

Such form of releasing texts seemed unnecessary to many at first. Books in printed form have been around for centuries, and even the blind, who seem to be the ideal focus group for audiobooks, have their printed editions that are “read” with fingers. Still, the situation is not that simple. When a user posted a comment on a forum, stating he never takes the printed versions, but uses audiobooks exclusively, he was attacked by most of other users who defended the “sanctity” of the printed book. With this even the hard core audiophiles proved that the printed book will probably never be out of style. But when the same user explained he has a reading disorder, and that the audio editions are the only way to enjoy literature, mass apologising occurred.

The main purpose of audiobooks is not just to help people with special needs, but to enable “healthy” individuals to enjoy literature that is impossible to use as “ordinary” books. Audiobooks are listened to while driving, at work, at all the special places where most people listen to music.

Still, audiobooks are not for everyone. Many will find it hard to get used to listening to texts or simply do not like the voice of the person reading a certain edition.

Bombardier gets US$62M order for amphibious planes from Croatian government

Bombardier Inc. (TSX:BBD.B) said Thursday that the Croatian government has placed a US$62-million order for two more amphibious firefighting aircraft.

The contract will bring the Croatian fleet of Bombardier 415 planes to six.

The latest sale includes spare parts, pilot training and equipment enabling the aircraft to perform medical evacuations and emergency relief.

"The Bombardier 415 is - by its special design concept - an efficient and highly productive firefighting aircraft and is the reference in the industry," stated Michel Bourgeois, president of Bombardier's amphibious division.

"With the addition of our multipurpose equipment, it has the flexibility to be used for more purposes than fighting fires."

Bombardier has delivered 65 of the amphibious planes to Croatia, France, Greece, Italy, Ontario, Quebec and Spain since they entered the market in 1994. Forty-one are in operation in the Mediterranean region and took part in fighting devastating fires in southern Europe last summer, capable of completing up to nine water drops per hour.

In addition, 25 older CL-215 aircraft remain in service fighting fires in Europe.

Bombardier's volatile shares were down 21 cents or 3.8 per cent to $5.31 Thursday afternoon on the Toronto Stock Exchange.

Another Balkan war?

The Serbs in Bosnia and Kosovo have threatened to restart the Balkan wars in Bosnia-Herzegovina that destroyed the Former Yugoslavia in the 1990s if the United Nations grants independence to the disputed region of Kosovo.
These threats from the Serbs to make war in one location (Bosnia) because they do not get what they want in another place (Kosovo) is a terrible indication of the terror-minded Serb population and political leadership as it was similar types of statements that caused and started the most inhumane wars in this half of the century as the Serbs began their campaigns of national slaughter which have changed the world and caused many more problems including a radicalisation of militant Muslims worldwide as well as desperate situations all across South Eastern Europe. The Serbs are represented as half of Bosnia’s population, although they live in their own separate region in Bosnia, and are a violent but shrinking segment of the Kosovo population. Recent alarming statements from Serb leaders and paramilitaries have promised violence and killing if the Kosovo question is answered.
Can the world tolerate, and will the world benefit from, another terrible bout of extreme violence and murder from the Serbs, or will the world and particularly the United States be harmed diplomatically and militarily or financially if the Serbs carry out their plans of violence and ethnic slaughter reminiscent of the 1991-1995 wars in Bosnia and Croatia and in Kosovo in 1999?
The US will most likely suffer diplomatically, militarily and financially if the Serbs re-ignite their campaigns of violence, ethnic killing and beastly behavior against any groups in Bosnia, Kosovo or Croatia. Years of American peacekeeping as well as tens of billions of dollars will de destroyed by the Serbs’ extreme violence and ethnic hate.

Kalinic ruled out for Croatia

Croatia have been handed a blow with the news that Hajduk Split striker Nikola Kalinic will not be available for the Euro 2008 qualifying double-header against Macedonia and England.

A knee injury has curtailed his involvement, with coach Slaven Bilic moving to call-up Dinamo Zagreb forward Mario Mandzukic as his replacement.

Mandzukic was in line to play for the Under 21 side but has now been promoted to the senior ranks.

"I'm sorry I had to take Mandzukic from Under 21 manager Drazen Ladic because I know he is an important player for them," said Bilic.

"But we have to secure our Euro 2008 spot.

"I need four healthy forwards, and because Igor Budan and Bosko Balaban are injured and Mladen Petric will only start training on Wednesday, I had to call him."

Croatia's squad contains Manchester City defender Vedran Corluka, Portsmouth midfielder Niko Kranjcar and Arsenal striker Eduardo.

Full squad:

Pletikosa (Spartak Moscow), Runje (Lens), Galinovic (Panathinaikos), Simic, Robert Kovac (Borussia Dortmund), Josip Simunic (Hertha Berlin), Corluka (Manchester City), Drpic (Dinamo Zagreb), Kenezevic (Livorno), Vejic (Tomsk), Leko (Monaco), Babic (Real Betis), Srna (Shakhtar Donetsk), Modric (Dinamo Zagreb), Vranjes (Werder Bremen), Pranjic (Heerenveen), Kranjcar (Portsmouth), Vukojevic (Dinamo Zagreb), Niko Kovac (Salzburg), Petric (Borussia Dortmund), Olic (Hamburg), Eduardo (Arsenal), Rakitic (Schalke), Mandzukic (Dinamo Zagreb).

Bilić ready to achieve finals goal

Croatia coach Slaven Bilić says his side are ready to go as they look for the point against F.Y.R. Macedonia on Saturday that would confirm their place at UEFA EURO 2008™.

'Strong desire'
"We're ready," Bilić told uefa.com. "We have a strong desire, motivation and great character which should ensure we make it." Croatia top Group E with two games to play and will want to celebrate qualification ahead of Wednesday's final match against England at Wembley.

Nervousness
Bilić has been his usual open and talkative self in the build-up to the game in Skopje – but with the finish line in sight, the 39-year-old was showing slight signs of nerves. Will their new favourites' tag weigh heavily on Croatia? Bilić's team had to come from behind to win the home leg in March, waiting until the 87th minute for Eduardo da Silva's deciding goal. Which suggests the absence this weekend of F.Y.R. Macedonia's star striker Goran Pandev will not remove the sting from a competitive Balkan derby.

'Strong team'
"Of course I'm glad that Goran Pandev isn't playing," Bilić said. "He's a great player and Macedonia look weaker without him on paper. But it won't make our job much easier. Even without Pandev, they are a good and strong team. I don't want to talk about England. We're only thinking about Macedonia and we will prepare the same way for both matches."

Defensive strength
Bilić was capped 44 times by Croatia during a seven-year international career. He developed a formidable central defensive partnership with Igor Štimac which was the cornerstone of Croatia's successes at EURO '96™ and the 1998 FIFA World Cup. The current side are following in that tradition, with only the Netherlands and France having conceded fewer goals in qualifying – three to Croatia's four – a source of pride for the former HNK Hajduk Split centre-back.

'Proud'
"I'm proud, not only as a former defender, but also because the defence is the basis of every successful team," he said. "We play attacking football, more than half our team are attack-minded, and we can play attacking football precisely because we have a good defence which opens up a number of options. We have not just conceded few goals, we have also limited our opponents to few opportunities."

Special atmosphere
Should Croatia prevail in Skopje, they will likely deprive England, a country with a population ten times greater than their own, of a place in Austria and Switzerland. Croatia may not have the largest pool of players to choose from, but according to Bilić their continued success should come as no surprise. "We have always had great players and great talent. In addition we always have a great spirit. We have a special kind of passion that we feel in our national team. I'm not saying other teams don't have it, but it's something special in our team."

Economy and Politics in Croatia

See if you can guess which leading Croatian prime ministerial candidate made the following statements.

Is it Ivo Sanader, the incumbent whose crowning achievement has been to re-brand his Croatian Democratic Union, HDZ as an internationally-minded, market-friendly party of the European centre-right? Or is it Ljubo Jurcic, prime ministerial candidate of the Social Democratic Party, SDP, comradeship of ex-communists, party of the red rose?

On Croatia’s response to globalisation: “We need to remember, we are 12 hours from Silicon Valley, and we are 12 hours from Tokyo.”

On taxes: “We have to prepare the atmosphere for tax cuts.”

On labour policy: “Croatia should have a freer, more flexible labour market including free movement of workers… and this also means importing labour.”

On work ethic: “In Croatia now there is a cult of idleness. We cannot be better off if we do not start to work harder. The government should create an atmosphere for this. It is a psychological, sociological problem.”

On industrial policy: “Yesterday I visited a state-owned company that dries fruit. The capacity of the company is enough for all of Europe, but its amortisation is too high. It cannot cover administrative costs. I asked them if they had a business plan. No business plan. Basically, they had been lazy. In my approach there is no money for a company like this, because there is no future. It’s a sunk cost – finito.”

On how to boost long-term economic stability: “We need to create conditions for a free market, for competition. Competition is the key.”

On whom he would bring into his cabinet, if given the choice of any economist in the world: “It would be Maurice McTigue. He was minister in seven ministries in New Zealand. He is a man who reformed New Zealand from a situation like Croatia’s today, with a high external debt. He is the most acknowledged expert worldwide in this area today."

McTigue, a former businessman and pragmatic anti-socialist, became a hero of free-market economists when he entered government, made huge cuts to New Zealand’s state workforce, slashed agricultural subsidies to zero, shredded the rulebook of big government and put New Zealand to work, sending productivity and profitability heavenward.

If you guessed that these quotes come from Sanader, you were wrong.

Jurcic, the Social Democrat, made the first six statements in a lengthy sit-down interview with the Financial Times, during which he looked ahead to economic reforms he would embrace if his party prevails in closely-fought parliamentary elections on November 25. His praise of McTigue came later, in an interview with Vecernji List, the Croatian daily.

What do we make of this?

The idealist’s hope is that Jurcic means what he says – that he actually wants to rattle Croatia’s status quo by “levelling the playing field”, empowering individuals and the private sector, discarding disincentives to competitiveness and disrupting official corruption.

The cynic’s presumption is that Jurcic, like every politician, wants to be all things to all people. To anti-socialists who believe that individual liberty extends into the economic sphere, he offers soundbites like those above. To anti-HDZers, he is equally happy to challenge the status quo. Yet to others including SDP lefties and undecided voters – many of whom want jobs and stability above all – he offers contradictory ideas, promising not to rock the boat too much.

Who is right about this economist who, to so many people’s surprise, is within striking distance of becoming Croatia’s next prime minister?

One senses that the average voter is perplexed, for who in Croatia isn’t both hopeful and cynical? There is so much to gain in a country that underperforms economically as conspicuously as Croatia does. Yet there is so much to lose in a country that is, after all, growing economically and that, with Sanader’s help, has succeeded in getting itself on course for EU accession just in the nick of time.

In Zagreb, one hears people mumbling about “the lesser of two evils” and “the devil you know”. Such despair sounds unexceptional, but it is the bane of the democracy for which so many Croatians and people of other nations in central and eastern Europe risked so much within recent memory. For voters, election day of all days is not a time to feign ignorance and powerlessness.

One must make some kind of educated choice, and voters are not without reference points. They should be aware of at least two.

First, whatever one thinks of the HDZ, there is little disputing that its economic policy agenda, during its past four years in government, has been overwhelmed by the daunting task of preparing for EU accession. Grilled on economic policy, Damir Polancec, deputy prime minister under Sanader, almost unvaryingly answers back with reference to the EU.

Yes, relations with the EU are hugely important, but Croatia must heed a lesson already grasped retrospectively by the EU’s newest member states: national interest must define the way to accession, not the other way around. To do otherwise is to accept inertia.

Almost nothing could be worse for the political and economic health of a once-daring transition country such as Croatia, which has the potential to be better than “like the EU”, but which must challenge its cozy, top-heavy power structure in order to compete more effectively worldwide.

Second, whatever Jurcic might do as a prime minister in an SDP-led coalition government, what he has already accomplished as a candidate is extremely important.

He has shown sufficient intellectually agility and honesty to acknowledge that Croatia has real policy choices to make within the broad EU accession track. After all, the EU now contains not just Germanic, French, British and Nordic economic models but the comparatively radical economic models of countries like Estonia and Ireland.

Indeed, Jurcic may be too agile intellectually for his own practical political good. He does contradict himself. He criticises industries that under-perform in this unforgiving age of global competition, and yet he says that the former Yugoslavia had “quite good industry”. He aims to empower small and medium sized enterprises, yet one of his policy suggestions is the creation, by the government, of advisory “project teams” – an idea that carries a whiff of central planning, though the candidate strongly denies it.

However, there is some strength in this approach. If Jurcic is of two minds, it is because Croatia is of two minds, too. There is a strong popular sense that the country can do better, and yet the electorate has a certain aversion to risk.

Perhaps Jurcic’s embrace of this contradiction makes him appealing to voters who are likewise flummoxed. Would it make him a good prime minister? It might give him a strong starting point, from which to introduce reforms, or it might render him ineffective. If the latter is true, the most likely result would be that the SDP and its coalition partners would be overwhelmed politically, much as the HDZ has been, by the immense job of preparing for EU accession.

It would be a pity to be left wondering after November 25, as one still wonders today, what Croatia would be like if it really dared to ditch the status quo, scrapping the legacy of its half-discarded socialist economy once and for all.

Croatia 'wants green tourism trade'

Tourist authorities in Croatia have announced plans to make its holiday industry more eco-friendly.

The Croatian National Tourist Board (CNTB) stated that it was reviewing it marketing plan in order to promote the country as a good destination for environmentally-aware people.

Although it said it did not plan to dispense with its current strategy of presenting Croatia as an unspoilt alternative to the Mediterrean, CNTB expressed a desire to put more emphasis on its green credentials.

Niko Bulic, director of the organisation, told Travel Weekly: "We don't want to rush into change, but we want to do more to encourage eco-tourism."

He added that visitors to the country had the opportunity to see how many people enjoyed a traditional lifestyle, benefiting from locally-sourced goods such as fish, grapes and other types of food.

This follows a recent report by the European Union which said that Croatia was making "substantial progress" with its negotiations on achieving full membership.

England 'too self-confident', says Croatia coach Bilic

England were too self-confident going into their qualifying campaign for Euro 2008, according to Croatia coach Slaven Bilic.

If Russia win in Israel on Saturday, Steve McClaren's team will be all but eliminated from next summer's finals in Austria and Switzerland.

But Bilic, whose team are top of Group E and play England next Wednesday, told the BBC in an interview: "The group was difficult.

"Maybe your (England's) approach was a little bit too self-confident in this campaign."

England were placed in their perilous position after losing 2-1 to Russia last month in Moscow. They also lost 2-0 away to Croatia and recorded scoreless draws with Macedonia and Israel.

Bilic, who was a defender in the English Premiership with West Ham and Everton, believes England underestimated the other teams in their group.

"It is not easy to come to Croatia and to get something from a game," he said. "It is not easy to play in Russia. It is not easy to play Macedonia.

"And it's very difficult to play in Tel Aviv. So maybe you were expecting you were to cruise the group, but it's a very difficult group."

But Bilic had some words of support for under-fire McClaren, whose future as England coach will surely hinge on his team's qualification or not.

"As a club manager you need a couple of years to make or build a team," Bilic said.

"In a national team you need three or four years because you do not have them every day. You have them once a month for five days.

"It's not Steve McClaren's fault and I really feel for him and hope he is going to continue."

Elegant Akvinta vodka wins another top design award

Elegant Akvinta, a super premium vodka from Croatia, has won another top award for its outstanding design. Created by UK design consultancy Lewis Moberly, the distinctive packaging of Akvinta has received a silver medal in the luxury spirits category at the prestige, international Pentawards in Monaco.

Since its launch last year, Akvinta has been presented with four design awards as well as a silver award for taste in the recent International Wine and Spirit Competition.

The design of Akvinta, based on a wine bottle shape, reflects the luxury positioning of the brand, the warm style of the Mediterranean and the quality and purity of the spirit.

Distilled from finest Italian wheat, the pure spirit is then blended with natural spring water in Croatia and filtered through charcoal, marble, silver, gold and platinum to create an exceptionally smooth and polished taste.

John Jeffrey, UK brand director for Akvinta, says: “Akvinta tastes great, setting it apart from other more traditional northern, blue and frosted design styles. The eye- catching packaging interests consumers and the trade alike and encourages them to try it, opening the door to listings and sales”.

Since the launch of Akvinta in the UK earlier this year, part of an international brand roll out, the 40% vodka has been listed in bars such Light Bar, the Purple bar at Sanderson, Nov 5 Cavendish Square and Crazy Bear.

During tastings with bartenders in London, the clean, fresh taste of Akvinta has met with wide approval. Tasting notes refer to Akvinta as having a citrus nose with a round peppery mouth feel and a pleasant, creamy wheat finish.

Akvinta has received the following recognition for its packaging excellence:

US Creativity Annual Awards - Gold for professional achievement and extraordinary talent

Mobius Advertising and Design Awards - Certificate for outstanding creativity

The Drinks Business, Vodka Masters - Gold Medal

Pentawards - Silver

Akvinta will retail at around £35 per 70cl bottle.

Mediterranean is shark danger zone, warns report

Conservationists believe 30 of the sea's 71 cartilaginous species are vulnerable to extinction, mainly due to intensive fishing and the decline of their habitats.

Also the species have a tendency to grow slowly, mature late and produce few young, meaning that these predators - vital to marine food webs and ecosystems - are in serious decline, according to the World Conservation Union (IUCN).

It says better enforcement of existing bans on deepwater fishing, drift nets and slicing off sharks' valuable fins might ease pressure on populations. But internationally agreed catch limits for those species that are fished, rather than caught accidentally, are also needed.

The shortfin mako and porbeagle, both prized for their meat and fins, are among 13 "critically endangered" species, the most at-risk group.

The Maltese skate, found only in the Mediterranean, and whose populations are thought to have dropped by four-fifths because of bottom-trailing fisheries, is in similar danger.

The giant devil ray, whose females can grow to five metres (17ft) and give birth to just one pup per pregnancy, is on the "endangered" list, the next most serious group.

So is the feared great white shark. The shark that inspired Jaws is more under threat in the Mediterranean than in any other waters, where it has a lesser global conservation rating of "vulnerable".

Only one species, the Portuguese dogfish, has a better rating in the Mediterranean than elsewhere. This deep-sea shark is found at depths of nearly 4,000 metres and may be benefiting from a 2005 ban on fishing below 1,000 metres.

The IUCN brings together governments, non-governmental organisations and about 10,000 scientists and experts. The report from its shark specialist group and its centre for Mediterranean cooperation, says 30 species in the sea are threatened with extinction - 13 critically, eight endangered and nine vulnerable.

Another 13 are assessed as "near-threatened", while there is a lack of information on 18 species to classify them. Only 10 species are "of least concern".

Claudine Gibson, one of the report's authors, said: "From devil rays to angel sharks, Mediterranean populations...are in serious trouble.

"Our analyses reveal the Mediterranean Sea as one of the world's most dangerous places for sharks and rays. Bottom dwelling species appear to be at greatest risk in this region, due mainly to intense fishing of the seabed."

Alen Soldo of Split University, Croatia, said: "We are particularly concerned about the porbeagle and mako sharks in the Mediterranean. Our studies reveal persistent fishing pressure well in excess of the reproductive capacity of the species."

Sonja Fordham, deputy of the shark specialist group, said country officials should heed the dire warnings and "change the current course toward extinction of these remarkable creatures."

Ian Ferguson, a specialist on Mediterranean sharks, said in research published nine years ago that fewer than one shark bite a year on humans had been recorded in the sea - an average of 0.42 cases annually. This is despite the millions of visitors to the region, the presence of 46 shark species – 16 measuring three metres or more - and 15 of them being classed as potentially dangerous.

At present there are no catch limits for fished sharks and rays in the Mediterranean. Eight species are listed on international conventions relating to Mediterranean wildlife but only three have received any protection as a result: the white and basking shark in EU and Croatian waters, and the giant devil ray off Malta and Croatia.

Kitchener man could be extradited to Croatia

A Kitchener man being held by U.S customs officials will appear in a Detroit court this morning accused of war crimes.

42 year old Goran Pavic was arrested last week trying to cross the border after U.S. authorities say his name matches on an interpol list of a persons wanted in connection with war crimes.

Pavic has been in Canada with his family since 1997 and has crossed the boarder for the trucking company he worked for a number of times.

Coalition: President, Church Should Leave Politics

Mesic, as the president of all citizens should leave room for parties to battle for the trust of the citizens, said Friscic.

The presidents of the coalition HSS (Croatian Peasant’s Party) and HSLS (Croatian Social Liberal Party) and Djurdja Adlesic, told the president of Croatia Stjepan Mesic and the Church, to not interfere with the pre-election campaign, because that is not their place.

At the rally with the citizens of Split, Friscic compared Mesic to sporting personalities that play for all of Croatia, stressing that he as the president of all citizens of Croatia should leave room to the parties to battle over the trust of the voters.

- Nobody in the campaign talks about the real problems that can best be seen in the example that today, a large number of Split’s residents, despite the strong winds and cold weather, patiently wait in line at the fish markets in order to get some sardines – said Friscic, and added that this is the real picture of life in Croatia.

“Did the defenders die for a country that somebody would sell off?”

Friscic mentioned the allegations that he is a Euro-sceptic, saying that it can not be all the same in which way Croatia enters the EU. If the protection of Croatian interests means euro-scepticism, then the whole coalition and I are euro-sceptics for trying to preserve the Croatian sea, land and forests, claims Friscic.

- Those who call upon the defenders in this campaign, should ask them if they died for a country that someone would like to sell now – said Friscic.

His coalition partner Durda Adlesic pointed out the fact that the pre-election campaign has come down to open conflicts between HDZ (Croatian Democratic Union) and SDP (Social democratic Party).

- The conflict is being led by the presidents of those parties, and we especially regret that this campaign will be remembered for the conflicts of the president Stjepan Mesic and the Church, as well as sports personalities interfering in politics – concluded Adlesic.

No Tolerance For Small or Big Fish In Court

HDZ member Ana Lovrin stated that anticorruption in Croatia is achieving better results, even high functionaries are trialed for corruption.

Today at a press conference held at the party’s headquarters, HDZ (Croatian Democratic Union) member Ana Lovrin, referring to the European Commission’s latest report, stressed that the reform of the judiciary is in full spreading and that in the last two years it has showed evident results.

- The number of unsolved issues in courts ishalved, and the number of unsolved land-registry issues is reduced by 60% - Lovrin said. She continued stressing that the digitalization of land registers has been carried out and through the internet it is possible to make an inspection in whatever cadastral plot.

Through the Judiciary Academy, there has been an improvement of judges and state attorneys and a right to free legal help regardless of the social status has been provided.

Doctors, judges and high representatives are trialed for corruption.

As regards corruption, Lovrin said that the space for the equal information system of the public administration has been reduced and national programs for the fight against corruption are being carried out.

- public exams within the education system are encrypted, property cards for judges are introduced, a law on financing political parties has been passed, as well as a law on the direct election of mayors and heads which will reduce the corruption of counselors – the member of HDZ stressed.

Lovring also referred to the report of Transparency International, according to which the anticorruption programmes in Croatian have the best results this year compared to the year 1999.

When told that the European Commission’s report however states that in Croatia not one high representative is being trialed for suspicion of corruption, Lovrin refused these staements showing that at the moment 44 cases are being carried out, among which doctors, judges and representatives are being trialed.

- We do not tolerate any corruption, any kind of it is harmful, and before the court there are no differences between small and big fish – Lovrin concluded.

CROSCO to provide drilling services to RWE-Dea with Crosco National 801

CROSCO Integrated Drilling & Well Services Co., Ltd. is pleased to announce that CROSCO will be providing drilling services with CROSCO 3000 HP drilling rig National 801 for RWE-Dea Nile GmbH (RWE). Drilling services will be provided in Egypt and will commence prior to the 2007 year end.

The National 801 drilling services contract amends a previous agreement where CROSCO was to have provided drilling services with CROSCO 2000 HP drilling rig Emsco 602 for a two year period. The rig change was done to meet RWE's new requirements.

Emsco 602 is also expected to be mobilized to Egypt on a long term contract, in mid 2008, upon completion of a drilling services contract for Gulfsands Petroleum PLC (Gulfsands) in Syria. Meanwhile, CROSCO 1500 HP drilling rig Emsco 401 will be mobilized to Syria to provide drilling services for Gulfsands under a 2 year contract.

CROSCO is an integrated onshore and offshore drilling and well services contractor. The company has a fleet of 66 modern drilling, workover and geoservices rigs as well as one semi-submersible and one jack-up. CROSCO also has under bareboat contract Diamond Offshore jackup rig Ocean King and CROSCO provides maintenance and spare part management on ENI's Libyan Sabratha production platform. In addition, with state-of-the-art western equipment, CROSCO provides the following services: well testing, coil tubing, nitrogen, cementing, stimulation, logging, mud, coring, fishing and directional drilling.

CROSCO is currently providing services in Oman, UAE, Syria, Egypt, Libya, Italy, Hungary, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Slovenia and Croatia. CROSCO has been providing services internationally since 1958 and has provided services in 34 countries for many of the world's most recognized oil companies. The company has ISO 9001, ISO 14001 and OHSAS 18001 certification from Bureau Veritas Certification Croatia. CROSCO has an annual revenue surpassing US$ 200 million. The company's headquarters are located in Zagreb, Croatia.

Croatian hooligans flirt with Nazi ideology

Zagreb - Only an appeal by a group of celebrities persuaded Hajduk Split hooligan fans to abandon jerseys which featured a belligerent eagle and a declaration of membership of the Hajduk Jugend (Hajduk Youth). But before dropping the insignia, the fans threatened to "chop off the legs" of Tvrtko Jakovina, a Croatian philosophy professor who had been criticizing the hooligans' flirt with Nazi ideas.

The bird and the inscription on the jerseys had drawn strong associations with the 1933-1945 Nazi dictatorship in Germany and the Hitler Youth organization which trained and indoctrinated German youth.

The jerseys are only one of many similar cases at football stadiums, basketball arenas and other sports.

"During the 1990s we allowed a wave of such incidents, which the state leadership tolerated, even incited... that has consequences," Jakovina recently told the Slobodna Dalmacija daily.

"The public was infected by the view that those are 'our boys' and should be forgiven."

After declaring independence in 1991, Croatia fought the Yugoslav army, Serb paramilitaries and insurgents who controlled a third of its territory until 1995.

The scars of World War II, when Croatia was set up as Hitler's puppet-state and implemented Nazi racial laws, along with the conflict of the last decade has led to a surge of racial supremacists, many of them grouped around football clubs.

Dinamo Zagreb vice-president Zdravko Mamic frequently curses his opponents as "enemies of Croatia" and "children of Yugo (military) officers."

Jakovina said: "Those are all symptoms of insecurity, even fear of the Serbs. We can't get away from comparing with our neighbours and that, along with World War II history, always drags us downward."

The animosity is not directed against the Serbs. Fans in Split, Croatia's large Adriatic port, have in the past vehemently jeered black players, mimicking monkeys each time Africans or Brazilians would touch the ball.

Not only young, under-educated and probably drunk fans tend to act as racists, but some prominent figures have also been revealed as such.

"A black man can't coach Croatia's national team. I don't remember any black manager of a major team," the president of the national football organization, Vlatko Markovic, said last year.

The remark matched the blunder by Croatian Olympic official Antun Vrdoljak, who said: "All our boys want to be (as basketball stars) Toni Kukoc or Dino Radja, but I haven't heard of any wanting to be black."

Those and other pejorative statements were never punished in Croatia, but at best swept under the carpet.

Politicians are ambivalent, because they make use of football and its fans. For instance, in campaign for the November 25 parliamentary polls, the entire Dinamo Zagreb football club publicly backed Prime Minister Ivo Sanader's Croatian Democratic Union.

The club poster promoting Sanader was also signed by brothers Niko and Robert Kovac, both born in Berlin, as well as by naturalized Brazilians Carlos and Etto or players without the right to vote, such as Frank Guella of the Ivory Coast, German Georg Koch and Brasilian Jorge Sammir.

Hrvoje Prnjak, analyst and author of a book on Dinamo Zagreb's violent "Bad Blue Boys", told Deutsche Presse-Agentur dpa: "The resilience of various forms of chauvinism surrounding sports in Croatia is not just a deformation of the traditional sports animosity of us against them.

"It is a product of the climate of exclusiveness that was created from the independence onward.

"The children of the 90s, born at the time when patriotism was measured with intolerance against others, just reflect their family matrix in the stands."

In his words, the phenomenon is declining, but too slowly at least partly owing to the tolerant stance of the authorities.

Getting a grip in Croatia

See if you can guess which leading Croatian prime ministerial candidate made the following statements.

Is it Ivo Sanader, the incumbent whose crowning achievement has been to re-brand his Croatian Democratic Union, HDZ as an internationally-minded, market-friendly party of the European centre-right? Or is it Ljubo Jurcic, prime ministerial candidate of the Social Democratic Party, SDP, comradeship of ex-communists, party of the red rose?

On Croatia’s response to globalisation: “We need to remember, we are 12 hours from Silicon Valley, and we are 12 hours from Tokyo.”

On taxes: “We have to prepare the atmosphere for tax cuts.”

On labour policy: “Croatia should have a freer, more flexible labour market including free movement of workers… and this also means importing labour.”

On work ethic: “In Croatia now there is a cult of idleness. We cannot be better off if we do not start to work harder. The government should create an atmosphere for this. It is a psychological, sociological problem.”

On industrial policy: “Yesterday I visited a state-owned company that dries fruit. The capacity of the company is enough for all of Europe, but its amortisation is too high. It cannot cover administrative costs. I asked them if they had a business plan. No business plan. Basically, they had been lazy. In my approach there is no money for a company like this, because there is no future. It’s a sunk cost – finito.”

On how to boost long-term economic stability: “We need to create conditions for a free market, for competition. Competition is the key.”

On whom he would bring into his cabinet, if given the choice of any economist in the world: “It would be Maurice McTigue. He was minister in seven ministries in New Zealand. He is a man who reformed New Zealand from a situation like Croatia’s today, with a high external debt. He is the most acknowledged expert worldwide in this area today."

McTigue, a former businessman and pragmatic anti-socialist, became a hero of free-market economists when he entered government, made huge cuts to New Zealand’s state workforce, slashed agricultural subsidies to zero, shredded the rulebook of big government and put New Zealand to work, sending productivity and profitability heavenward.

If you guessed that these quotes come from Sanader, you were wrong.

Jurcic, the Social Democrat, made the first six statements in a lengthy sit-down interview with the Financial Times, during which he looked ahead to economic reforms he would embrace if his party prevails in closely-fought parliamentary elections on November 25. His praise of McTigue came later, in an interview with Vecernji List, the Croatian daily.

What do we make of this?

The idealist’s hope is that Jurcic means what he says – that he actually wants to rattle Croatia’s status quo by “levelling the playing field”, empowering individuals and the private sector, discarding disincentives to competitiveness and disrupting official corruption.

The cynic’s presumption is that Jurcic, like every politician, wants to be all things to all people. To anti-socialists who believe that individual liberty extends into the economic sphere, he offers soundbites like those above. To anti-HDZers, he is equally happy to challenge the status quo. Yet to others including SDP lefties and undecided voters – many of whom want jobs and stability above all – he offers contradictory ideas, promising not to rock the boat too much.

Who is right about this economist who, to so many people’s surprise, is within striking distance of becoming Croatia’s next prime minister?

One senses that the average voter is perplexed, for who in Croatia isn’t both hopeful and cynical? There is so much to gain in a country that underperforms economically as conspicuously as Croatia does. Yet there is so much to lose in a country that is, after all, growing economically and that, with Sanader’s help, has succeeded in getting itself on course for EU accession just in the nick of time.

In Zagreb, one hears people mumbling about “the lesser of two evils” and “the devil you know”. Such despair sounds unexceptional, but it is the bane of the democracy for which so many Croatians and people of other nations in central and eastern Europe risked so much within recent memory. For voters, election day of all days is not a time to feign ignorance and powerlessness.

One must make some kind of educated choice, and voters are not without reference points. They should be aware of at least two.

First, whatever one thinks of the HDZ, there is little disputing that its economic policy agenda, during its past four years in government, has been overwhelmed by the daunting task of preparing for EU accession. Grilled on economic policy, Damir Polancec, deputy prime minister under Sanader, almost unvaryingly answers back with reference to the EU.

Yes, relations with the EU are hugely important, but Croatia must heed a lesson already grasped retrospectively by the EU’s newest member states: national interest must define the way to accession, not the other way around. To do otherwise is to accept inertia.

Almost nothing could be worse for the political and economic health of a once-daring transition country such as Croatia, which has the potential to be better than “like the EU”, but which must challenge its cozy, top-heavy power structure in order to compete more effectively worldwide.

Second, whatever Jurcic might do as a prime minister in an SDP-led coalition government, what he has already accomplished as a candidate is extremely important.

He has shown sufficient intellectually agility and honesty to acknowledge that Croatia has real policy choices to make within the broad EU accession track. After all, the EU now contains not just Germanic, French, British and Nordic economic models but the comparatively radical economic models of countries like Estonia and Ireland.

Indeed, Jurcic may be too agile intellectually for his own practical political good. He does contradict himself. He criticises industries that under-perform in this unforgiving age of global competition, and yet he says that the former Yugoslavia had “quite good industry”. He aims to empower small and medium sized enterprises, yet one of his policy suggestions is the creation, by the government, of advisory “project teams” – an idea that carries a whiff of central planning, though the candidate strongly denies it.

However, there is some strength in this approach. If Jurcic is of two minds, it is because Croatia is of two minds, too. There is a strong popular sense that the country can do better, and yet the electorate has a certain aversion to risk.

Perhaps Jurcic’s embrace of this contradiction makes him appealing to voters who are likewise flummoxed. Would it make him a good prime minister? It might give him a strong starting point, from which to introduce reforms, or it might render him ineffective. If the latter is true, the most likely result would be that the SDP and its coalition partners would be overwhelmed politically, much as the HDZ has been, by the immense job of preparing for EU accession.

It would be a pity to be left wondering after November 25, as one still wonders today, what Croatia would be like if it really dared to ditch the status quo, scrapping the legacy of its half-discarded socialist economy once and for all.

Government of Croatia Adds Two Bombardier 415 Amphibious Aircraft to its Fleet

Today, Bombardier Aerospace announced that the Government of Croatia has placed a firm order for another two Bombardier 415 amphibious aircraft. With this order, the Croatian government is increasing its fleet to six Bombardier 415 aircraft.

The contract is valued at approximately $62 million US, and includes spare parts, pilot training and multi-purpose equipment that will allow this aircraft to perform medical evacuations and emergency relief.

"This sale to the Croatian government, further demonstrates the trust our customers have in the Bombardier 415 amphibious aircraft and its ability to meet their emergency needs. The Bombardier 415 is - by its special design concept - an efficient and highly productive firefighting aircraft and is the reference in the industry. And, with the addition of our multi-purpose equipment, it has the flexibility to be used for more purposes than fighting fires," said Michel Bourgeois, President, Bombardier Amphibious Aircraft.

"During the summer of 2007, many countries in southern Europe were ravaged by devastating fires. During this tragic, and seemingly increasing common occurrence, our Bombardier 415 aircraft played a pivotal role in limiting the damage and helping neighboring countries to contain and suppress the fires," added Mr. Bourgeois. "With this purchase, Croatia is establishing itself as a true emergency resource center in the region."

Since delivery of the first Bombardier 415 aircraft in 1994, Bombardier Aerospace has delivered 65 Bombardier 415 aircraft to firefighting agencies in Croatia, France, Greece, Italy, Ontario, Quebec and Spain, with 41 aircraft in operation in the Mediterranean region. In addition, 25 CL-215 piston aircraft remain in service fighting fires in Europe.

The Bombardier 415 aircraft has a maximum speed of 224 mph (359 km/h). In an average mission of six nautical miles (11 kilometres) distance from water to fire, it can complete nine drops within an hour and deliver 14,589 U.S. gallons (55,233 litres) of fire suppressant.

The aircraft is also being offered in a multi-purpose version, the Bombardier 415MP, which can be used in a variety of specialized missions such as search and rescue, environmental protection, coastal patrol and transportation.. Currently, a Greek Bombardier 415 aircraft is equipped with the MP configuration.

Croatia dreams of escape from the usual western Balkan troubles

EACH November the European Commission issues reports on candidates for European Union membership from the western Balkans. These are awaited, rather like school reports, with some trepidation. This year's put Kosovo and Bosnia bottom of the class. Serbia's behaviour leaves much to be desired. Croatia comes top—but it could do better.

The next few weeks are busy in the Balkans. On November 17th Kosovo Albanians go to the polls. A week later it is Croatia's turn. Bosnia is looking for a new prime minister. Looming over all is the future of Kosovo, which may soon declare unilateral independence from Serbia. Yet Croatia hopes that it may be the one that gets away from the Balkan gloom.

Croats have reason to feel pleased with themselves. Last month their country was elected to the United Nations Security Council. In April it may be invited to join NATO. A Croat heads a new Balkan regional group based in Sarajevo. “It is no longer a question of light at the end of the tunnel,” says Miroslav Kovacevic, a close ally of the prime minister, Ivo Sanader. “We are out of the tunnel. Ten years ago we were constantly on the agenda of the Security Council; now we are on the council.”

Vladimir Drobnjak, Croatia's chief EU negotiator, is bullish too. He says the country aims to be ready to join in 2009. But he admits that a big problem is administrative capacity. Croats who need something from the government, such as a paper or permit, know all about this. They find it almost as infuriating as the clogged justice system and corrupt bureaucracy.

At least the economy is doing well, with growth expected to be 5.9% this year. Unemployment recently hit its lowest level since the end of the war in Croatia in 1995. Foreign investment is pouring in. But Masa Kovacevic, at the UN Development Programme, notes many things that could be done much better. Youth unemployment is 29%. The Serb and Roma minorities still face severe discrimination. Former war zones remain blighted.

The two main parties are running neck and neck before the election. The ruling Croatian Democratic Union has been hit by accusations of corruption. Its leaders respond that revelations of misdeeds in high places are proof that they are doing something about it. Not so, says Andrea Feldman, a civil activist. “There is no sense of responsibility in this government,” she says. The commission's report notes tartly that “no indictment or verdict has been issued in any high-level corruption case.”

Whether the Social Democrats can capitalise on this to win is uncertain. Ivica Racan, their longstanding leader, died in April. His successor is Zoran Milanovic, a former diplomat, but internal politics will make Ljubo Jurcic, a more lacklustre figure, prime minister if the party wins. Croatia's future EU membership should still be secure, even if it comes later than 2009. That is more than can be said for any other western Balkan country.

War crimes watchdog believes Pavic would get fair trial in Croatia

There's a growing likelihood that war crimes suspect Goran Pavic can get a fair trial in Croatia, says an international organization that monitors human rights there.

"The trend points to a more balanced and fair handling of war crimes prosecutions," Mary Wyckoff, a human rights lawyer, said from Croatia.

However, prosecutions still fall short in some areas.

"Considerable problem areas remain," Wyckoff said.

That's is no comfort to Pavic's family in Kitchener, who assert his innocence. They fear he won't get a fair trial if extradited to face charges in his native land.

"This whole situation right now is not fair, and I can't even imagine what it will be like over there," said Pavic's sister, Gorana Krstic.

"If international organizations say they are improving, that doesn't mean that they have improved their system. I think he belongs in Canada."

Wyckoff works for the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe, which monitors the prosecution of war crimes. Canada is among 56 states in the organization.

Pavic, 42, is in U.S. custody in Detroit, after a routine background check revealed a Croatian warrant for his arrest. He was detained crossing the border in his job as a trucker.

A Canadian citizen who immigrated in 1997, Pavic is alleged to have belonged to a group of Serb paramilitaries who are said to have killed, tortured and deported Croat civilians in 1991 and 1992. Thirty-five civilians were not seen again and are listed as missing.

Specifically, it's alleged Pavic helped beat a man while illegally searching his house, and helped force civilians at gunpoint onto buses, to expel them from their village of Sotin.

The allegations have not been proved in court. They are based on 36 witness accounts from survivors who allege that they knew Pavic well, because he was from the same area.

Currently, more than 100 war crimes proceedings are underway in Croatia, involving 300 people. That's after a war from 1991 to 1995 left an estimated 20,000 dead, deeply dividing the country along ethnic lines.

The organization that Wyckoff represents seeks to end impunity for Croatian war crimes, while ensuring that trials are fair. She responded to Record questions in writing.

According to Wyckoff, problems with past Croatian prosecutions have included:

Concerns that Serbs are prosecuted more strongly than Croats.

Problems obtaining testimony of witnesses who live outside of Croatia.

Poor legal arguments by defence lawyers appointed by the courts.

However, the judicial system there is improving. For example:

Some suspects from Croatian armed forces are now being prosecuted for crimes against Serb victims, although these cases remain the exception.

Last year, an equal number of Serbs and Croats were arrested for war crimes, and an equal number were convicted.

A summary of 2006 prosecutions, by the international agency, states, "Croatia continued to make advances toward even-handed war crimes prosecution, particularly in regard to newly initiated cases."

Wyckoff did not address the allegations against Pavic. But some aspects of the case against him suggest judicial fairness.

Two of his 16 co-accused were tried and acquitted last July, based on conflicting witness testimony, media reports indicate.

Also, Croatian courts have refused to let prosecutors try Pavic in his absence, saying more should be done to bring him to trial.

That led to an Interpol alert seen by U.S. border guards.

Krstic, 41, was in Detroit yesterday, waiting to visit her brother in jail. He has another court hearing Dec. 5.

"He's not well," she said. "He's a very emotional person. He's physically big, but he's very, very emotional. And I'm so, so worried about him."

Currently, Croatia is seeking 1,500 people suspected of war crimes, or convicted at trials from which they were absent. About 600 are named in Interpol warrants.

The Pavic arrest highlights international co-operation in bringing these suspects to justice.

In recent years, eight countries, including the U.S., Germany and Australia, have deported or extradited war crimes suspects wanted by Croatia. At least 10 countries are currently conducting extradition proceedings, including the U.K., Norway, Italy and Russia.

Last year, 11 war crimes suspects were arrested in nine countries outside Croatia. Two suspects were extradited to Croatia from Bulgaria and the U.S.

Wyckoff said it's not uncommon for foreign courts to balk, at first, at extradition requests.

In past years, foreign courts would raise concerns about fair trials, cite national barriers to extradition, or cite diplomatic immunity.

Some ongoing extradition requests have stalled at the first courts to hear them.

Here's how Croatia handled war crimes prosecutions in 2006:

69 suspects were indicted, including 60 Serbs, eight Croatians and one Albanian. This includes Pavic.

27 suspects were arrested, including 13 Serbs and 13 Croatians.

Four suspects were released, including three Serbs and one Croatian.

20 verdicts were issued, with an overall conviction rate of 80 per cent.

The chances of conviction for an individual Serb or Croatian were the same, at 50 per cent.

The average sentence was 8.5 years, based on 16 convictions.

35 per cent of lower court decisions were overturned on appeal.
However, after working their way through various courts, "most extradition requests have been granted," Wyckoff said.

It appears Pavic faces an uphill battle, challenging extradition to Croatia from the U.S. The U.S. government fought off challenges to carry out a similar extradition last year.

A war crimes suspect, arrested in South Dakota, was returned to Croatia by the U.S. to face trial after a routine background check turned up a Croatian warrant for his arrest.

That suspect, an ethnic Serb like Pavic, had settled in the U.S. as a refugee in 2000. After the Croatian warrant against him came to light in 2002, he lost a three-year legal battle to prevent his extradition.
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FYR Macedonia - Croatia

Within Touching Distance For Croatia

Croatia need one point from their two remaining Group E games to qualify; FYR Macedonia can finish no higher (or lower) than fifth. So the incentive is all with Croatia, and so is the momentum: Slaven Bilic's side are unbeaten in this campaign, having won eight and drawn two of their ten games to date.

They can get the point they need in Skopje on Saturday or at Wembley on Wednesday, but it seems inconceivable they will miss out now, having put themselves in such a strong position. They go into this game three points ahead of second-placed England, who have played a game more, and five ahead of second-placed Russia, and they will want to qualify as Group winners.

Impressive Bilic

The tactically shrewd and highly articulate Bilic (pictured) was the key defender in Croatia's "golden" period of 1994-1998, and a vital member of their World Cup bronze-medal winning squad in France '98.

After his illustrious playing career (Hajduk Split, Karlsruher, West Ham, Everton and back to Hajduk Split), Bilic - who has a law degree and played in heavy metal band called Rawbau - managed the Croatia under-21 football team with Aljoša Asanović during the qualification rounds for the European Under-21 Football Championship of 2006. They topped their group but missed out on the finals after losing a two-legged play-off to Serbia and Montenegro while Bilic was in hospital undergoing back surgery.

He was the unanimous choice to succeed Zlatko Kranjčar as national team boss, taking over on July 25, 2006. With assistants including Asanović, Robert Prosinečki, Nikola Jurčević and Marijan Mrmić, Bilic took the team to Russia for their first official game under his management and earned a goalless draw in what was the opening game in this campaign.

He remains unbeaten as manager in competitive matches, following up that point in Moscow with five straight victories - Andorra 7-0 (h), England 2-0 (h), Israel 4-3 (a), FYR Macedonia 2-1 (h) and Estonia 1-0 (a). The return with Russia in Zagreb also ended 0-0, since when Croatia have beaten Estonia 2-0 (h), Andorra 6-0 (a) and Israel 1-0 (h).

The Russian Factor

Croatia would already be qualified had Russia not turned the tables on England so dramatically in the last 20 minutes of their clash in Moscow last month. That 2-1 Russian victory meant Croatia needed a further point to make sure.

And it also meant that Russia rather than England - whom Anglophile Bilic had been backing - now look likely to qualify with Croatia. Russia require a win in Tel-Aviv to overtake second-placed England, and would then merely need to beat whipping-boys Andorra, so qualification is firmly in their own hands.

Russia's Dutch coach Guus Hiddink has said that a Russian defeat in Israel on Saturday is "impossible." Israel might still have something to say about that, but the experienced Hiddink said: "I'm calm. A victory over Israel would practically secure our qualification. After all our hard work, a defeat in Israel is simply impossible."

While Russia conclude their campaign in Andorra on Wednesday, Croatia will be playing against England at Wembley. If FYR Macedonia pull off a shock in Skopje and become the first team to beat Bilic's team in this campaign, Croatia will need at least point off Steve McClaren's side.

Mid-Table Macedonians

As for FYR Macedonia, they have won three, drawn two and lost five of their ten games so far in Group E. They've beaten Andorra twice, along with everybody else, but lost five out of six games against the teams above them in this Group. The exception was a 0-0 draw away to England that has ultimately inflicted significant damage on the Three Lions' campaign.

Srecko Katanec's side will finish fifth unless they can beat Croatia on Saturday while Russia beat Israel, then earn an away win in Tel-Aviv themselves on Wednesday. That unlikely trio of results would ensure that FYR Macedonia finish fifth.

Rested for the Croatia game or dropped for Lampard?

Steve McClaren's decision to relegate Gareth Barry to the bench for tonight's friendly with Austria met with a mixed reaction from educated observers with most agreeing Aston Villa's captain has reason to feel aggrieved.

Graham Taylor, the former England manager, presumed McClaren must be resting Barry for Wednesday's Euro 2008 qualifying game against Croatia.

"To me it suggests he will play against Croatia," said Taylor, who managed Barry at Villa Park. "I can't see Steve McClaren playing his full team against Austria, though they may all be involved ."

Taylor added: "I think Gareth has done enough in the last few games not to have to play in a friendly to prove himself. While I've never been of the opinion that Steven Gerrard and Frank Lampard can't play together – England have won more matches with them than they have lost – Gareth's natural left-foot does give the team balance in central midfield."

Joe Royle, the former Manchester City manager, had a similar interpretation. "I'd be surprised if Barry is dropped," said Royle. "He has been one of the few successes of late; even [in the recent defeat] against Russia I thought he did OK. I feel a bit sorry for him if he's out. But next week's match [against Croatia] is more important. This is a friendly which maybe gives Steve a chance to look at a few things."

The solution, said Trevor Francis, was to omit David Beckham. "The team doesn't surprise me because Steve McClaren, whenever asked about them, before and after games,always says Gerrard and Lampard play well together. He obviously feels they can work. I also feel they can, though it may not be a combination you'd pick in an ideal world."

The former England international and ex-Premier League manager added: "I couldn't understand why Lampard was dropped so I'm not going to argue he shouldn't come back, but Barry has played so well for England he does not warrant being left out. I would play all three and leave out Beckham, who no longer plays top-level football. Every player would like to win 100 caps but you cannot pick an international team on sentiment."

Gerry Francis, the former England captain, agreed. "The Beckham situation is incredible," he said. "It's like playing for Wormwood Scrubs, then England. You wouldn't have done it for Bobby Moore or Bobby Charlton. It is a joke."

He added: "Barry's done well, but so have Lampard and Gerrard in the past."

Steve Claridge, the much-travelled former player, now a pundit, said: "I've got no problem with the change. I understand Barry might feel hard done by but he's not been left out because he's played badly, he hasn't. He's being left out for someone who is better. No disrespect, but if you offered any manager in England Barry or Lampard, they would take Lampard."

Claridge added: "It made sense not to change the team for Moscow, but that midfield isn't going to win you the European Championships. This one just might. The shape and balance is better.

"People will say that Lampard and Gerrard have played badly together but they are missing the point. It's about the four in midfield, not just the two in the centre. The last time this four played together was against Brazil [in June] and they did well. The problems they had in the World Cup were different. The whole team defended too deep. If we keep a high line and get Beckham on the ball up the field the whole team will benefit.

"It's rubbish to say that Lampard and Gerrard cannot play together. They can complement each other. One can sit and one can go."

England Need Help, Croatia & Russia Don't

When the draw for the Euro qualifying groups was made, the general view - especially in England - was that Croatia and England were the best bets from Group E to reach the finals in Austria and Switzerland.

Now, with just two matchdays to go, those two are still in the frame, but while Croatia need just one point to qualify, England's destiny is out of their own hands, their hopes hanging by a thread with Russia poised to edge Steve McClaren's team out of contention and into the international wilderness.

Croatia have conducted an outstanding, unbeaten campaign under the tactically astute Slaven Bilic, with striker Eduardo da Silva contributing ten of their 25 goals. In contrast, England have dropped crucial points - and Russia, guided by the wily Dutch coach Guus Hiddink, have taken advantage of those lapses to put themselves in a strong position to accompany Croatia through to the finals.

The most dramatic match in the Group was in Moscow last month when England were leading Russia (whom they had recently beaten 3-0 at Wembley) by a goal to nil with 20 minutes to go. Had they held on to that lead, both they and Croatia would have qualified that night,

But what McClaren described as five minutes of madness completely changed the landscape of the group. Russian substitute Pavluchenko equalised with a 69th minute penalty, then added a second in the 73rd to claim both the three points and control over their own fate.

While the Russian victory delayed Croatia's near-certain qualification - they need only a point in FYR Macedonia on Saturday or in England four days later to be sure - it also moved Hiddink's side to within two points of England with a game in hand over the Three Lions.

This means that Russia will qualify if they beat Israel and Andorra - even if England conclude their campaign with victory over Croatia at Wembley next Wednesday.

It has to be assumed that Russia will triumph against Andorra - England cannot expect any favours from a country who are on a run of 28 consecutive Euro qualifying defeats, and whose record in Group E reads played 10, lost 10, scored two, conceded 39.

So if England are to stand any chance, they are relying on Israel. If the Israelis beat Russia on Saturday, then England need only to draw (or win) against Croatia to guarantee qualification. If Russia draw in Israel, then England will need to beat Croatia in their final match to go through, given that a Russian win in Andorra is a near certainty.

If Russia win in Israel - and it is rumoured that Chelsea's Russian owner Roman Abramovich has offered the players hefty financial incentives to do so - they will be one point ahead of England with one match, against whipping boys Andorra, to play.

There is another scenario, albeit an unlikely one.

If Croatia should lose in FYR Macedonia, then an England win over the Croats by a three-goal margin would put them above their rivals. A 2-0 win would also be enough, but a two-goal winning margin in which England conceded a goal (such as a 3-1 victory) would not be enough, because Croatia's away goal would give them the head-to-head advantage.

It seems improbable that Croatia, who have not lost yet in ten qualifiers (won eight, drawn two), would stumble to two defeats in five days with the prize so near.

Of course, if Russia drop points against Israel then any England win over Croatia will do the trick for McClaren.

It is tempting to identify their defeat by Russia in Moscow as the pivotal result in England's campaign, but in fact the damage was done a year ago, when a disastrous goalless draw at home to FYR Macedonia was followed by a tactical shambles in Zagreb that saw Croatia win convincingly 2-0. England again did themselves no favours in March when they were held to a goalless draw in Tel-Aviv by Israel.

Now McClaren must hope the Russians find Israel as difficult to break down as his team did. The attention on England has tended to detract from the Russian campaign, but they have lost just once (at Wembley), taken points off the Croats both home and away (two 0-0 draws), and earned six victories. Four of the five goals they've conceded were against England, so in their other eight matches they've conceded just one (a 1-1 draw with Israel at home).

Israel's own hopes were ended when they went down 3-0 at Wembley against England, so they will be playing for national pride against Russia - but having to do so without playmaker Yossi Benayoun, whose injury was as big a blow to England as it was to Israel.

The Israelis look likely to finish in fourth place, above FYR Macedonia (5th), Estonia (6th) and Andorra (7th).

Sven hails elegant Corluka

Manchester City manager Sven-Goran Eriksson believes Vedran Corluka has all the attributes required to be a successful modern-day defender.

Corluka, 21, joined the Citizens in a deal reported to be around the £8million mark in the summer from Dynamo Zagreb.

And Eriksson has been impressed by the technical ability of the Croatia international defender, who has made 15 appearances for his new club.

"Vedran is not an aggressive type defender but elegant," Eriksson told the club's official website.

"Despite his age he knows how to solve problems and reads the game so well.

"I don't like to see us just hitting balls up to the strikers. One and two touch football, accurate passing and keeping possession are all things we work on constantly.

"I don't know what his best position is, but I would say he would be a very good centre-half.

"I think the future is to have footballers at the heart of the defence not just big, strong centre halves that are technically not that good.

"The ideal is to have two tough tacklers and headers of the ball who can also play football when they have it at their feet."

Party Leader: We Will Be Easy-Going With PM

Death always causes sincere condolences and it is sad that tensions have to be cooled down by such happenings, Milanovic said.

n the next days SDP (Social Democratic Party) will be easy-going with Ivo Sanader, party president Zoran Milanovic said during a meeting with the citizens in Krapina. He stressed that SDP sent Sanader a letter of grievance for his father’s death.

- Death is always causes sincere condolence and it is sad that tensions have to be cooled down by such happenings – Milanovic said.

PM’s Father Dies, PM Withdraws From Campaign

Primitivism Temporarily Out of Campaign?

The president of SDP commented the gathering of Croatian economists in Opatija, as well as the statements of Sanader and President Mesic. He said that he would rather speak about SDP’s programme than about Mesic.

- Mesic is not a candidate for these elections anyway, and he does not have a programme for the elections – Milanovic said. He stated that it is logical that premier Sanader defends the results achieved by his government, but, the facts speak differently, Milanovic said.

- This country is not on the edge of collapsing, and no one said that, but the settled trends are negative, and the settled processes are not managed. They allowed things to go their way, this is a fact – Milanovic stated using the commonly used sentence: the way to hell is paved with the best intentions.

- Croatia is more and more in debt and what is produced will not be enough cover up the debts – Milanovic said worried.

‘Jezenirac is paid as a general, but answers only to the Holy See’

President of SDP commented the topic upon the Church and politics, saying, in disagreement from President Mesic, that bishops are not democratically elected and they can not speak in the name of the believers of whom hundreds of thousands will vote for SDP.

- The question is whether some things in the contract with the Holy See should have been different. In fact, it should have not happened that the Croatian poverty paid military ordinariate Jezerinac, that he is paid as a general, and that he does not answer us at all, but only to the Holy See – Milanovic said, adding that something like this does not exist in any country in Europe.

Some sportsmen drive expensive cars around Croatia, but they do not pay taxes anywhere.

When asked to comment the commitment of sportsmen in the election campaign, Milanovic said that he is not sure if they many sportsmen understand the Croatian society of the last years.

- Some of them save money in Monte Carlo, drive extremely expensive cars through Zagreb and Split with the table plate of that city, but they do not pay taxes anywhere – Milanovic stated, concluding ‘If the prove that this is fine, let them express their position’.

ASBIS Expands Corsair Memory Distribution to Balkan Region

ASBISc Enterprises Plc (ASBIS), a leading supplier of computer components to the EMEA emerging markets, has extended the distribution agreement with Corsair Memory, a leader in the design and manufacture of high-speed memory modules, to include the Balkan countries of Serbia, Croatia and Slovenia.

The current extension complements the initial agreement which authorises ASBIS
to distribute Corsair products in Ukraine. ASBIS will now also distribute the whole range of Corsair products including the flagship DOMINATOR™ line of performance memory, as well as mainstream performance XMS family, ValueSelect and Server product lines to the growing IT markets of Serbia, Croatia and Slovenia.

As a pioneer in high-speed module design, Corsair focuses on supporting the special demands of mission-critical servers and high-end workstations, as well as the performance demands of extreme gamers and overclockers.

Among the memory products which will now be available via ASBIS offices in the Balkans is Corsair's flagship DOMINATOR™ line of performance memory, which is designed for the unique demands of the serious enthusiast community. Featuring patent-pending Dual-path Heat Exchange (DHX) technology, the DOMINATOR family maximizes on performance, minimizes on heat, all the while running with heightened reliability and stability. The DOMINATOR line has set world performance records and won numerous awards.

Corsair's mainstream performance memory solutions are the XMS family. The XMS family includes XMS2 DHX, featuring innovative DHX technology now in the mainstream; XMS Xpert, the first modules with real-time display of parametric data; XMS Pro Series, gaming memory with real-time activity LEDs; and XMS2, high-performance DDR2 modules with black heat spreaders. The XMS Family also includes DDR1 solutions in XMS, available in either black or platinum heat spreaders.

Corsair's Value Select memory brings quality and compatibility standards to cost-effective products for today's most popular desktops and laptops. Value Select is available in DDR1 and DDR2.

ASBIS will also offer Corsair's large range of ultra-reliable server memory for mission-critical servers and high-performance clusters.

Greening of the Sea Gives Adriatic States the Blues

The pristine waters of the Adriatic have long been the boast of the countries with coastlines alongside it. Azure in colour and much cleaner than the adjoining Mediterranean, they are a major draw for the growing numbers of foreigners holidaying in Slovenia, Croatia, Montenegro and more recently, Albania. With the decline of heavy industry in all, these waters constitute a precious economic asset.

Now they face a new danger. Year by year, an insidious green underwater predator is making its stealthy advance, disturbing the marine environment as it does so and turning pristine sandy and rocky seabeds into thick carpets of waving green fronds.

The state of the once clear waters around the Ligurian island of Elba is a stark warning of what the Adriatic may expect. Formerly home to beds of dazzling coral and molluscs, they were a paradise for divers. “Today, no one goes there for diving,” Professor Francesco Cinelli, a marine biologist at the University of Pisa, laments, peering into the water at the village of Marina di Pisa. “The seabed is covered by a green carpet”, he explains.

Professor Cinelli is talking about Caulerpa Racemosa, an invasive algae that has spread like wildfire in the Mediterranean, and now threatens to do the same in the Adriatic.

The plant is not merely unattractive. Forming dense colonies on all types of seabeds, in both clean and in polluted waters, it transforms the characteristics of its adopted habitat, dramatically reducing the variety and abundance of other underwater fauna. Rapidly growing on all surfaces and in both cold and warm water, it blocks out the sunlight that smaller marine plants need, causing their death. In addition, the algae releases alkaloid substances that kill all other organisms in its vicinity. By destroying rival flora as it covers the seabed, it also impairs the survival of fish and molluscs that feed on other underwater plants, or which require bare sand or rock as a habitat. Sole and spider fish are especially endangered, as they require sandy seabeds.

“When Caulerpa covers the seabed like a carpet, these species lose their natural habitat,” says Ante Žuljević of the Institute for Oceanography and Fishery in Split, Croatia. The spread of the algae into the rest of the Adriatic and the Mediterranean, therefore, will deplete economically viable edible fish stocks as well as deter divers and tourists. Seas renowned for numerous fish species and for the beauty of their underwater landscape could turn into monotonous underwater deserts.

Scientists say if governments in Italy, Slovenia, Croatia, Montenegro and Albania fail to take concerted action to eradicate the scourge, it is likely to spread beyond their control. Yet in spite of the serious nature of the threat, governments in the Adriatic region have so far shown no sign of cooperating among themselves, nor have they actively sought advice from other EU countries, such as France, Italy and Spain, which have already faced this problem and worked together to limit the damage.


Coming to a sea near you

The existence of Caulerpa Racemosa in the Mediterranean was first noted some 80 years ago. A tropical species originating in the Red Sea, it came through the Suez Canal in the early 1930s and gradually took over more than 50,000 hectares of the seabed. Designated by the European Commission as a serious threat to marine biodiversity some ten years ago, it has since advanced across the Mediterranean and into the Adriatic with growing speed.

After its initial appearance off Libya about 20 years ago, it moved to the coastal waters of other Mediterranean countries on sea currents. Man inadvertently carried these marine hitchhikers on the bottoms of ships, their anchors and on fishing nets and diving equipment. Each time an “infected” boat anchored or discharged ballast water at a port of call, algae fell off and found new habitats.

Arriving later to the Adriatic, Caulerpa Racemosa has, in the last three years alone, spread in Montenegrin waters from two to eight locations. The biggest infested area is around the Luštica peninsula at the entrance to the Bay of Kotor, where the algae has spread over two square kilometres. Two new outbreaks were recently spotted there and in the immediate vicinity of the resort of Budva, south of Kotor. By late August, it was estimated that the algae covered a total of over four hectares of the Montenegrin seabed.

In Croatia, the scourge is worse. After first appearing near the Pakleni Otoci, a group of islands in central Dalmatia, a total of 54 locations have become infected. It was also reported recently in the waters off the island of Mljet, a national park whose blue seas are an important attraction for visitors.

The fact that the algae has no natural enemies in the Mediterranean has assisted its spread. So has insufficient awareness of the seriousness of this problem. Long after it appeared, France, Italy and Spain failed to take much notice, and by the time they realised the nature of the threat, it was too late.

Today, the waters off Elba are not the only ones in the Mediterranean suffering massive infestation. Much the same has happened to the seabed off Monaco, on the Cote D’Azur, according to Thierry Thibeau, a researcher from Nice University. There, the algae has driven out rival flora and fauna. “Divers don’t want to dive around Monaco since there is only a green carpet of Caulerpa there now,” Thibeau maintains.

Sound of Music Heals Wounds in Former Yugoslavia

“Once a friend, always a friend, and I made friends first and foremost through music,” says Kebra, otherwise known as Branislav Babić, lead singer of the Serbian rockband, Obojeni Program. “Nationality is not important when it comes to that.”

Back in 1991, Kebra found himself in a situation in which nationality, unfortunately, was everything; a Serb, he was doing military service in Vinkovci, in northern Croatia, as hostility engulfed Yugoslavia.

His musical links saved him. Peering out across the barracks fence one day at a crowd of angry Croatian civilians and police, he spotted a friendly face: Goran Bare, fellow rocker from the Croatian band, Majke. Somehow they communicated and the following night, with Bare’s aid, Kebra got hold of civilian clothes, jumped over the fence and escaped on foot to Hungary.

Kebra and his band are now again performing in Croatia. That fact, and the friendly reactions of the audiences, shows that despite the difficulties still plaguing relations between the countries of the former Yugoslavia, its cultural bonds have proven hard to break.

“If matters were left to ordinary people, I think this would function without any problems,” Kebra says, of the renewed exchanges between Serbia and Croatia. “But if ‘culture’ is left to politicians, then it depends on them and they will always find reasons to obstruct things.”

Shortly after Kebra fled Vinkovci, the Yugoslav Army bombed the town, unleashing the war that was to rip through the former Yugoslavia from Croatia to Bosnia and later Serbia, leaving in its wake death, displacement and destruction.

As new state frontiers sprung up within Yugoslavia, so too the cultural scene shattered. But an alternative, pacifist, crowd kept the flame alive, and with time, and since peace has returned, cooperation and exchange have flowered, and not only in the field of so-called “high culture”.

Today, cultural exchange is more and more mainstream, as a common language and interests create opportunities for artists and business alike, whether it’s avant-garde theatre, award-winning film, or turbofolk music.

While increased cultural mobility still faces opposition from those who want to maintain the isolation of the war years, some hope for the recreation of a wider, Balkan culture. For others, the Scandinavian model is more appealing, the separate but closely related states showing how a larger, regional, cultural space can operate.

Free of ideology, they hope a similar kind of community can emerge in the Balkans, increasing artists’ opportunities and profits while at the same time helping to bring about the gradual reconciliation of peoples still traumatised by war.


A “cultural common market” went up in smoke

“It was impossible to stay here and not be a member of the team,” recalls Rajko Grlić, a leading Croatian film maker and one of many of the former Yugoslavia’s artists to suffer the fallout of the cultural collapse brought about by war. Declared persona non grata in Zagreb, having continued to work in the early 1990s with Serbian colleagues on several films – Virdžina, as a producer, and Čaruga, which he directed – Grlić eventually left to study and later teach in the US.

And it wasn’t only because Croatia’s artistic atmosphere changed. “At the same time, many people, mostly in Belgrade, switched overnight from opposing socialism to taking up nationalist positions. My disappointment was immense,” he explains.

The popular Croatian singer and songwriter, Arsen Dedić, a star in Yugoslavia since the early 1960s, felt the same. As wars raged in Croatia and Bosnia, Dedić strove to maintain contacts with colleagues and singers from other former Yugoslav republics. “How could I hate a friend from Belgrade, or Kemal Monteno from Sarajevo or Slavo Dimitrov from Macedonia?” he asks.

When peace came in 1995, these pioneers made the first steps towards re-establishing closer cultural contacts. Matters progressed only slowly, however. Feelings of hatred between the peoples – a legacy of the huge numbers of war victims - constituted a serious obstacle. The process did not gather speed until after 2000, when a new, more tolerant political climate started to replace the nationalist hysteria of the previous decade.

Today, the biggest music stars of the old Yugoslavia, such as Arsen Dedić from Zagreb, Momčilo “Bajaga” Bajagić from Belgrade, Zabranjeno Pušenje from Sarajevo, and Goran Bregović, frontman of Bijelo Dugme, the 1970s rock band from Bosnia, once again perform to packed concert halls throughout the former state. And it’s not just nostalgia for evergreens. Contemporary bands are doing the same, suggesting that apart from a common memory, there exist also common, contemporary interests and tastes.

Legacy of War Crimes Hinders Balkan Reconciliation

A tiny room in a crumbling barracks in Belgrade, formerly temporary lodgings for construction workers, has been home to Gojko Eraković, his wife and daughter for 12 years.

An ethnic Serb from Croatia, Eraković, 47, fled his hometown of Benkovac in 1995, when the Croatian Army launched an operation, codenamed Oluja [Storm], to end the four-year revolt of the republic’s Serbian minority.

Eraković considers himself lucky because he fled the town before Croatian forces arrived. “Those who stayed in their homes were arrested,” he recalls. “The others saw their houses set on fire.”

More than a decade after the 1995 Dayton peace agreement ended the wars in Bosnia and Herzegovina and Croatia, Eraković is one of many suffering from their legacy. As thousands of atrocities, which were committed in those years, remain unresolved, it has become all too easy to blame whole nations instead of the individuals responsible. A deep mistrust pervades relations between the countries that emerged from these bloody conflicts, and many ordinary people are reluctant to travel from one to another, not least the refugees.

With politicians seen as responsible for - or, at best, reluctant to dispel - the myths and prejudices that underlie this state of affairs, much has been made, at the international community’s behest, of the role and responsibility of judiciaries to determine the facts about the conflicts of the 1990s. Soon to be wholly in the hands of local courts, work is underway to make sure this happens fairly and effectively.

But the task is daunting, bearing in mind their record so far. In particular, Serbs from Croatia fear a wave of in-absentia trials held in the Croatian courts during the early 1990s, of questionable validity in the eyes of many legal experts. Thus, although he lives in grim conditions in Belgrade, Eraković does not want to return to Croatia for fear of being arrested on trumped-up charges for war crimes. “They arrested two of my friends for alleged war crimes only to release them after several months,” he recalls. “I don’t need the same experience.”

Resolving this problem is one aim of the recent work of prosecutors in the region to jointly overcome a whole range of nationality and residence problems plaguing their work. There are some signs that progress has been made to circumvent the impasse posed by extradition rules, which have so far allowed many suspects to escape their day in court by taking out dual citizenship.

But others think progress is limited, and blame this not on the lawyers, but on a lack of political will. With sovereignty issues still so sensitive, however, dramatic developments are unlikely. Indeed, it took the shocking attack on New York on September 11, 2001, to establish awareness of the new, international nature of crime and push the deeply integrated, allied and peaceful member states of the European Union to relax their extradition rules and open up their criminal justice systems to one another.

Ultimately, experts say, such cooperation depends on trust in one another’s legal systems to administer justice. And while trust is all too rare a commodity among the former foes of the Balkans, it remains its most precious: the ultimate precondition to thawing the invisible barriers that keep its people from moving freely.

PM Applauds Transfer of HSP Members to HDZ

The premier said every vote from the centre to the right wing should go to the HDZ as the scattering of votes was in opposition’s favour.

On the first day of the electoral campaign in Croatia, a bus with the image of the president of the Croatian Democratic Union (HDZ), Ivo Sanader, carried top officials of the ruling party on a visit to Nova Gradiska, Lipik and Slavonski Brod where numerous citizens, sympathisers and party members greeted them.

‘When I see you in such numbers I am even more sure of victory’

-When I see you in such numbers and motivated I am even more sure in our electoral victory. In elections on November 25 we will chose the character of our future for the next four years – Premier Sanader said.

-The HDZ is proud to look back at the past four years. We opened 740 new farms, we are introducing gas all over Croatia, the first section of the Vc Corridor Sredanci-Djakovo is being completed, water is being introduced to areas that have not had water – the HDZ president recalled.

He added that Croatia was making progress in all segments and that his party, contrary to the opposition, is offering a programme and not a fight for positions and new taxes.

-The HDZ will not introduce new taxes. I want to stress that we will build the Peljesac bridgeand the constructor is Slavonski Brod’s “Djuro Djakovic”, with which we are securing jobs in that company – Sanader said.

‘Every vote from the centre to the right wing should go to HDZ’

In his speech Sanader greeted all former members of the Croatian Party of Rights (HSP) who transferred to the HDZ in the past several days. He accentuated that every vote ‘from the centre to the right wing’ should go to the HDZ. The dissipation of votes to small parties is in favour of the HDZ’s political rivals, Sanader said.

He added that his government advocated an equal development of all Croatian counties, and so it shall be in the future.

He reiterated that the HDZ opposed new taxes, the legalisation of drugs, and was for the introduction of mandatory high school education.

Later the HDZ delegation arrived in Vukovar where Sanader said that Croatia was seeking justice for the victims of Vukovar because the victims of Vukovar, Ovcara and Vukovar Hospital were not merely victims and symbols of Vukovar, but also of Croatia, Europe and the world.

-If The Hague will not try Radic, Croatia will – Sanader said, with thousands of sympathisers applauding him.

He also mentioned Croats in Bosnia-Herzegovina, whom he said were exceptionally important because they too gave their lives for the freedom of Croatia.

Slavenka Drakulic: Euro-Consumer and Design Critic

I, too, can vouch for that feeling of belonging to Europe when I take a look at my own bathroom (which is also a toilet), even though Croatia is not yet a member of the EU. Still, we will become members in a short while, in exactly three years, as our politicians like to tell us. That is, we're almost there – as I can see on detergent boxes of both Ariel and Omo.

It looks promising because I, too, am addressed in my local language. And just like Stasiuk, I marvel at the fact that my language is recognized, or at least, that the market recognizes Croatia. After all, does the market not come before politics? Some say that it decides politics. Procter&Gamble now have a factory in the Czech Republic and soon they will probably have one in Croatia. It will provide jobs to at least some of our 17% unemployed (that's the unofficial number – officially we have 11%). I continue to marvel about the "brighter future" or about paradise in spe.

"But then, looking at the detergent box, I notice that there's a difference between those who are in the EU and those of us who aren't: though we have information printed on the box in our language, the instructions for use are printed on a sticker and glued to it! No, we aren't there yet; I see that Stasiuk is a step ahead of me.

"Unlike Stasiuk, I'm a woman. Therefore, my bathroom contains more than a detergent, but all sorts of creams and shower gels, oils, and hair products. And I'm not ashamed to admit that at all. On the contrary, I waited a long time to see these Lancôme and Helena Rubinstein, those Estée Lauder and Givenchy and Chanel and Dior products right there, on my shelves. Or better said, I waited to be able to buy them in shops in Zagreb, instead of buying them in Graz or Trieste or some other western city I happened to visit.

"They are more expensive in Zagreb, but that's the price I'm prepared to pay to have them here, at hand. Because, of course, like most women, I believe that a skin-smoothing massage exfoliator, a "moist, luscious cream, enriched with hyper-oxygenated plant oil", will not only leave my skin as silky-soft as a baby's, "but will produce" – and this is even more important – "a feeling of bodily harmony and an immediate sense of wellbeing". In short, it promises to work a miracle. Like most women in the East or in the West, I believe in these kinds of miracles. So much so, that I throw away empty jars of fancy products with a heavy heart. From time to time a suspicion overcomes me, and I ask myself all sorts of normal, but superfluous questions, such as: Why do I need all these cosmetics? (I don't, nobody does.) Why does every part of my body need another cream? (It doesn't.) But that's only in certain moments of weakness, when my belief in cosmetics, the market, advertising, capitalism, the West, democracy, human rights, etc., undergoes a crisis – something every religious person will understand. When I don't question the idiocy of spending money on these useless trivia, I enjoy using them.

"Actually, I enjoy the look of my bathroom today because I'm old enough to remember the bathroom of my parent's apartment in the early fifties, when Plavi radion washing powder was the only one that existed. Or an even earlier bathroom with no washing powder whatsoever, just a bar of Jelen soap...."

Medak Pocket trial: Witnesses testify about mother's death

ZAGREB -- Two protected witness gave evidence Wednesday at the war crimes trial of Rahim Ademi and Mirko Norac.

They are accused of the murder of civilians during a September 1993 Croatian Army operation in the Medak Pocket, in what was formerly the Serb-dominated Krajina region of Croatia. The Hague Tribunal has referred their case to Croatian judiciary.

The witnesses, son and daughter, described the murder of their mother, B.P., from the village of Čitluk. Seventeen days after the operation, she was found in a location some two kilometers from the village, with one bullet in the back of her head, several more in her chest covered, and severed fingers on her right hand.

Her son, who had been a driver of military medical vehicles at the time, told the court that he had found his mother’s body with the assistance of a Croat woman.

The witness said that he had heard numerous accounts of crimes, including one where Croatian soldiers had tied one of Čitluk’s inhabitants, a mentally retarded man, to the back of a car and had driven him around a garden, adding that, later in Korenica, he saw the mangled bodies of a number of civilians whose faces had been uncovered for the purposes of identification.

He described Čitluk as a village populated solely by civilians who made their living through farming and cattle breeding, and that, for their own protection, they had formed their own guard armed with Papovka semi-automatic rifles and the odd automatic.

“Had the Croatian Army known how many of them there were, they would just have walked into Čitluk,“ said the witness, and explained that Serb soldiers had been stationed at their headquarters in the village of Počitelj, where UNPROFOR troops had also been present.

The witness confirmed that prior to the operation, a number of Serb artillery positions had been located in the Medak Pocket.

Mirko Norac’s defense team challenged the witness’s testimony, claiming that other evidence pointed to B.P. being killed by an explosive device.

The victim’s daughter said that she had known nothing of her mother’s fate, other than that she had been shot in the chest, though she described the Croatian assault on Čitluk and the flight of civilians to Medak.

She said that after the village had been taken, it was burnt to the ground, and that fire and smoke could be seen all the way from Medak, and that she could hear the shouts of Croatian troops, who, she claimed, proceeded to celebrate and distill spirits.

According to the witness, besides houses, farm buildings housing livestock were also destroyed and burnt to the ground.

At the beginning of the trial, Presiding Judge Marin Mrčela read out part of evidence documentation, chiefly expert reports on the discovered bodies and remains.

A report by Belgrade expert Zoran Stanković was read out on the injuries to ten or so Serb prisoners arrested during the operation, and who, prior to being exchanged, were held in prisons in Gospić, Otočac, Rijeka and Karlovac.

Stanković said in his report that the prisoners had been beaten and starved, and had been denied medical treatment.

After these witnesses failed to respond to court summons concerning the matter, the court offered them a guarantee that they would not be arrested on entry into Croatia for other alleged crimes, and that according to the new schedule, some of them would be questioned at the end of November.

Kranjcar Following In The Footsteps Of Prosinecki

Nico Kranjcar revealed that the impact made by former Croatian superstar Robert Prosinecki at Portsmouth influenced his decision to come to Fratton Park.

Pompey playmaker Niko Kranjcar explained that the man former chairman Milan Mandaric sensationally brought to Pompey for a season in 2001 was one of his all-time heroes.

Speaking to PfcTV, Kranjcar added that fellow countryman Prosinecki’s move to Portsmouth made the south-coast club well-known back home in Croatia, and thus when manager Harry Redknapp came calling he already felt it was the right move to make.

Kranjcar is currently training with Croatia in the build-up to their remaining qualifying games against Macedonia and England.

A draw against Macedonia on Saturday will see Croatia home and before going off to join the squad Kranjcar spoke candidly about the influence of one of his football idols.

“Robert Prosinecki was one of the all-time great players I looked up to and tried to model myself on,” Kranjcar told PfcTV.

“He had great technique and was just a fantastic player and he really enjoyed his experience in English football as much as anywhere.

“Unfortunately he had a few injuries in his career but he was a world-class footballer who was a dream to watch.

“I didn’t just enjoy watching him on the playing field during matches but on the training pitch as well.

“He talked about the atmosphere at Pompey and his life in England, so of course this was in my mind and an influence when joining the club.

“Figures like Robert and Milan Mandaric raised the profile of Pompey so much in Croatia.”

Kranjcar explained how watching and participating with his father Zlatco in training sessions made him fall in love with the game as a boy.

Kranjcar’s father made 474 appearances and scored 206 goals for Dinamo Zagreb, SK Rapid Wien and VSE St Polten.

He also won 11 caps for Yugoslavia and another two for Croatia when they gained independence. He was coach of the Croatia national team from 2004 to 2006, selecting his son.

“I first knew I wanted to be a footballer at the age of five or six when I used to watch my father with Rapid Wien in training sessions in Austria.” Kranjcar said.

“It was his influence in taking me to the training ground that made my mind up and being close to really great players was a bonus.

“I used to go on the training field to kick the ball at that really early age and they used to have to quit the training sessions to get me off.

“I loved playing the game and loved training and doing different things with the ball. I never saw football as a profession, more a love - and still do today. That expresses itself in my game.”

Kadijević talks to Croatian television

A former Yugoslav defense chief wanted in Croatia on war crimes charges has spoken to that country's state television.

General Veljko Kadijević told HRT reporters that the Yugoslav People's Army (JNA) did not stage aggression against Croatia.

He added he is "aware that his image in Croatia is negative."

"In Serbia too, nationalists believe I should have taken the chance to physically destroy Croatia. This is why I am the arch-traitor to the Serb people, while in Croatia I am the epitome of evil and a war criminal," Kadijević said in Moscow, where he now resides.

Croatia alleges that the JNA behavior in the 1991-1992 war in that former Yugoslav republic is tantamount to aggression against a sovereign nation and wants Kadijević, then the defense minister, to stand trial charged with war crimes.

HRT aired only parts of the interview, the first the former general granted the Croatian media after the war.

Josip Šarić, who interviewed Kadijević, said it was difficult to make contact with the general, due to the fact his name is also on an Interpol arrest warrant.

"The Russians don't extradite, but they do arrest persons Interpol is after. Therefore people around Kadijević were very careful […] it took a month to arrange the meeting," Šarić said, and added it took place in a building in downtown Moscow.

The whole interview will be broadcast at a later date, Zagreb daily Jutarnji List said in its report.

Croatia PM Takes Campaign Break

Zagreb _ Croatia’s Prime Minister, Ivo Sanader, is taking a break from the election campaign until Tuesday because of his father’s death.

A statement, issued by the prime minister’s centre-right Croatian Democratic Union, HDZ, said that “Dr Ivo Sanader has stopped all pre-election activities so he can be beside his mother and family” during the period of mourning.

Elections to the Croatian Parliament are due to be held on November 25 in Croatia and November 24-25 abroad.

A government session, scheduled for Thursday, has been postponed until further notice.

Ante Sanader died in a Split hospital on Wednesday after a long and serious illness.

All radio and television commercials featuring the prime minister in his capacity as leader of the HDZ will be withdrawn until next Tuesday, according to Croatian media reports.

Ivo Sanader received the news of his father’s death following an election rally on Wednesday in the port city of Rijeka after he had spent the entire day campaigning in Primorje-Gorski Kotar county.

Possible clashes among fans at Macedonia-Croatia match

Macedonian police have credible information indicating possible incidents by Croatian fans who are to arrive in Skopje on Saturday to watch Macedonia-Croatia WC qualifier.

Macedonian Interior Ministry's spokesman Ivo Kotevski told Makfax news agency that Skopje Stadium will undergo security upgrades ahead of Saturday's match. Security upgrades also have been authorized in Skopje's central area as well as in other sites.

Some 1.500 Croatian football fans are expected to arrive in Skopje, mainly of the most extreme fan groups Bad Blue Boys from Zagreb, Torcida from Split and Armada from Rijeka. Some fans are expected to arrive in Skopje on Friday, and the rest on Saturday.

Some Croatian media said Croatia's extreme football fans hinted at the possibility for clashes at Skopje Stadium, including incidents in the city. Croatian police confirmed the allegations.

Tilgin Delivers IP Home Gateways to Croatia Alternative Operator

Tilgin has been selected by Eastern European system integrator DSC and its local partner Optima OSN Inzenjering to provide Croatian alternative operator Optima Telekom with CPE equipment.

According to Tilgin, this initial order represents the first commercial sale to Croatia for the company’s Vood 452w gateway for ADSL2+ home connectivity, which will function as an integrated part of the Optima Telekom network. Optima will also use Tilgin’s VCM centralized remote management system with TR-069 functionality enabling them to deliver a high quality managedVoIP service to its subscriber base of approximately 100 000 Croatian homes.

Roland uvanic, president of the Board of Optima Telekom said that strong sector growth means that European alternative operators like Optima Telekom are now able to compete on the same playing field as their incumbent counterparts, and Optima has a clear vision of its role in this developing Croatian market. The backbone of their core network is made up of the latest cutting-edge technologies and uvanic believes that Tilgin’s CPE solutions fit this strategy very well.

Ola Berglund, CEO at Tilgin said in a statement that DSC’s decision to utilize Tilgin’s equipment for its work with its local partner Optima OSN Inzenjering and Optima Telekom is a solid endorsement for the quality of their solutions.

Berglund noted that it also proves the success of their developing indirect sales channel. Tilgin intends to continue developing their indirect sales model with both local and global systems integrators as well as local distributors such as DSC.

“Using a strong regional distributor is both a cost- and time-efficient way of winning new business, maintaining middle-sized customers, increasing revenue and broadening our customer base,” added Berglund.

Zagreb Mayor Says He Will Not Run Again

Zagreb’s mayor said he will not run for mayor any more as three mandates were enough.

The mayor of Zagreb, Milan Bandic, told reporters yesterday that he would not run for another term as the city’s mayor because three mandates in that position were enough.

His statement surprised everyone who know and follow Bandic’s work because his attitude towards the function of mayor and candidacies left the impression of a man who will use all his might to remain in that position for as long as possible.

Today Bandic refused to comment his statement of yesterday, but deputy president of the Croatian Democratic Union (HDZ), Jadranka Kosor, told Media Servis she was convinced that somebody from her party would be the next mayor of Croatia’s capital, adding she could consider running herself.

Local elections for Zagreb will take place in two years’ time and that will be the first time that the mayor is elected directly and not appointed by the party that wins in elections as has been the case so far.

Canadian man arrested in Detroit accused of war crimes in Croatia

A 42-year-old Canadian accused of war crimes against civilians in his native Croatia is expected to remain in a U.S. jail cell at least until Tuesday.

That's when Goran Pavic is to appear in U.S. District Court, facing extradition to the Balkan country he left more than a decade ago.

Pavic's family says he was detained at an American cargo facility last Wednesday night, shortly after crossing the Ambassador Bridge into Detroit. It was a trip Pavic, of Kitchener, Ontario, had made dozens of times in his job as a long-haul trucker.

Pavic's name was on an Interpol list of Serbs wanted for war crimes by the Croatian government, the U.S. Customs and Border Protection service said.

For two days, his employer was left in the dark, puzzled that their tracking system showed his truck packed with soap and benches bound for Florida remained parked at the border, and that Pavic's cell phone went unanswered, relatives said.

Pavic's arrest has also left his family in Kitchener frustrated by the lack of answers from officials on both sides of the border.

Garana Kristic said she believes her brother has been caught up in a "political game" directed by the Croatian government. She said her brother had no role in crimes against civilians during the fighting following Croatia's declaration of its independence from Yugoslavia in 1991.

She's appealing to the Canadian government to intercede in the case but said the Detroit office of the Canadian consulate had yet to speak with Pavic at the jail.

Since learning he was being held Friday, Pavic has been allowed to make several collect calls a day, Kristic said.

"I know my brother is not guilty of anything," she said Sunday night. "I am devastated."

U.S. officials have hailed the arrest as a move protecting Americans and portrayed Pavic's return to Croatia as imminent.

"The capture, detention and future extradition was made possible as a result of the tireless efforts of customs officers and immigration agents at the border that keep this country safe," Gary Calhoun, acting director of the Port of Detroit, said in a news release.

Croatia: CPI accelerated further in October

CPI inflation remained on an upward path, accelerating further in October to 4.3% y/y, vs. the 3.9% recorded in the previous month. On a monthly basis, the strong pressure from September (+1.2% m/m) moderated and growth amounted to 0.3% m/m.

· The October figure was roughly in line with our expectations. Food and non-alcoholic beverage prices increased 0.3% m/m, which pushed the headline figure up, but considerably below the September increase (+2.5% m/m). As expected, clothing and footwear prices (+3.8%) contributed to a monthly basis price increase, at most (due to seasonal reasons).

· On a yearly basis, food prices had the most negative impact, which, in combination with the low base from the end of last year, should produce higher CPI figures in the last quarter of 2007. Oil prices should put pressure on the CPI figures, either directly or through a spillover effect from producer prices. Still, one part of the oil price increase should be offset by the currently weaker dollar, thus alleviating part of the inflation pressure.

· As far as 2007 is concerned, we expect the average figure around 2.7%, while the year-end figure is expected at slightly above 4%. Next year is expected to bring pressure, at least in 1H08 (expected figure in the 4-5% range), as the base effect should continue to negatively influence the y/y rates. Besides the mentioned supply-side pressure, some hikes in administrative prices in the postelection period may occur, boosting the pressure further.

Croatia look to sew up Euro berth in Macedonia

Croatia need only a point against Macedonia in their penultimate group game on Saturday to qualify for Euro 2008 but the Group E leaders are well aware of the dangers of playing for the draw.

Croatia top the group with 26 points from 10 games, ahead of England on 23 from 11 games and Russia on 21 from 10 games. They play England in their last match at Wembley on Nov. 21.

A draw in Skopje will see Croatia through, and coach Slaven Bilic -- who has yet to lose a match since taking over in 2006 -- said he was confident his players could do it.

"We have enough knowledge, quality, morale and strength to take this last step and qualify for Euro, which we've deserved," he said.

Bilic has few injury worries with only Borrusia Dortmund striker Mladen Petric recovering from concussion. He will probably be replaced by in-form Ivica Olic of Hamburg SV.

While the Croatians need only a point to qualify, Hertha Berlin defender Josip Simunic said the team should focus on taking all three points.

"If you start the game thinking that you need a draw, you may end up losing. It's a well-known thing," he said.

Arsenal striker Eduardo da Silva is convinced Croatia and Russia will go through.

"I think this Saturday we will know that Croatia and Russia have qualified," the forward told the Jutarnji List daily.

"The English have squandered their chances and I think we'll be able to go Wembley almost as tourists."

Macedonia, who have no chance of qualifying, will be without top scorer Goran Pandev. The 24-year old Lazio striker is nursing a thigh strain and his absense is a huge blow for coach Srecko Katanec.

"We know what he means for our team. But we'll try to give our best in the two (remaining) matches," Katanec said.

"Croatia are favourites but we'll try to stage a surprise."

Probable teams:

Macedonia - Petar Milosevski; Nikolce Noveski, Igor Mitreski, Goce Sedloski; Goran Popov, Velice Sumulikoski, Darko Tasevski, Vlatko Grozdanoski; Goran Maznov, Ilco Naumoski, Stevica Ristic

Croatia - Stipe Pletikosa; Dario Simic, Josip Simunic, Robert Kovac; Vedran Corluka, Darijo Srna, Niko Kovac, Luka Modric, Niko Kranjcar; Ivica Olic, Eduardo da Silva (Reporting by Zoran Radosavljevic, additional reporting by Zlatko Krstevski in Skopje; Editing by Peter Rutherford)

Croatian Politics Polarized Ahead of Ballot

The governing Croatian Democratic Union (HDZ) is tied with the opposition Social Democratic Party (SDP), according to a poll by Puls published in Jutarnji list. 30.3 per cent of respondents would back either party in this month’s general election.

Support for the SPD fell by half a point since August, while backing for the HDZ increased by 1.6 points.

A coalition encompassing the Croatian Peasant Party (HSS), the Croatian Social Liberal Party (HSLS) and the Littoral and Highland Region Alliance (PGS) is third with 5.5 per cent, followed by the Croatian Pensioners Party (HSU) with 5.3 per cent, the Croatian People’s Party (HNS) also with 5.3 per cent, the Croatian Right’s Party (HSP) with 4.6 per cent, and the Democratic Centre (DC) with two per cent, and the Istrian Democratic Assembly (IDS) with 1.9 per cent.

In November 2003, Croatian voters renewed their House of Representatives. The nationalist HDZ—led by Ivo Sanader—garnered 33.9 per cent of the vote and 66 seats. Sanader formed a coalition government with the Democratic Centre (DC).

In January 2005, Stjepan Mesic of the HNS won Croatia’s presidency with 65.93 per cent of the vote in a run-off against Jadranka Kosor of the HDZ.

In June, Zoran Milanovic, a young politician who had only been in the party for a short time, won the SDP’s internal election and will lead the political organization into the 2007 ballot.

On Nov. 11, Sanader called the SDP’s political program "the best propaganda for HDZ" because—according to him—people disagree with it. The prime minister claimed the opposition’s platform is based on "only two concrete points" that are "very bad for Croatia, and they are the legalization of drugs and the introduction of new taxes."

The legislative election is scheduled for Nov. 25.
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8-Year-Old Croatian Girl Learns Philanthropy Begins with One Small Gesture

For a young Seattle girl growing up with parents from war-torn Croatia the idea of celebrating National Philanthropy Day is about as far fetched as flying to the moon. But for Jenny, age 8, by learning the principles of saving, spending and sharing she has taken a simple idea that dates back to lessons John D. Rockefeller learned from his parents to become a child philanthropist, and in the end put her savings to work saving the life of one abandoned cat.

Thursday, November 15 is National Philanthropy Day, a day designed to recognize and pay tribute to the great contributions that philanthropy has made, and Seattle based Moonjar LLC wants to remember not only Jenny and her story, but looks to raise a new generation who is taught how to save, spend and share.

“Everyday we receive stories from children who have been positively affected by using our philosophy of saving, spending and sharing,” said Eulalie Scandiuzzi, founder of Moonjar LLC. “The story of Jenny, whom I personally taught to use the Moonjar Moneybox, finding a skinny abandoned cat and then happily using her ‘share’ money to help nurse the cat back to health is particularly heart-warming. Since that day, Jenny has used her Moneybox savings to help her parents build a new home.”

Scandiuzzi, a mother and philanthropist, created Moonjar in 2001 because she identified a pressing need for parents to teach their children about wise money management practices, including how to work toward goals, and how to fulfill their dreams.

“To be a philanthropist you don’t need a large amount of money. All it takes is one small gesture and a consistent drive to have an impact on the world,” Scandiuzzi added.

Goran Visnjic's Shocking ER Return

If Luka knew what was waiting for him, he might've stayed in Croatia. After several months in his native country tending to his ill father, a clueless Dr. Kovac (Goran Visnjic) finally returns to Chicago in tonight's ER (10 pm/ET, NBC). And what a homecoming he'll get.

As viewers know, Luka's wife, fellow doc Abby Lockhart (Maura Tierney), hasn't been in the best emotional shape lately. Lonely and overwhelmed by work and new motherhood, Abby has gone back to boozing, leading to a very bad choice involving emergency-room chief Kevin Moretti (Stanley Tucci). Let's just say that she's harboring some guilty secrets.

"Through the years, we talked about having Abby fall off the wagon," Tierney says. "It's a great idea now because she's been happy for a while — it's time to mess with her a little."

And how. "Kovac has never seen Abby drunk," says Visnjic, "and he doesn't at first know what's going on. When he starts to understand, he tries not to pressure her." His patience will be tested in upcoming episodes as he learns more about Abby's transgressions. "Some fans may be upset we're taking their happiness away," says exec producer David Zabel. "I would say we're just complicating it for a period of time."

This is Visnjic's first time back with the cast since his contract ended last May (although he had a solo cameo a few weeks ago). Taking a break from the feature film Helen (opposite Ashley Judd), he'll appear in four ER episodes this fall and return for a promised final three in early '08. "It was just like coming back after a long vacation," he says about his reception on set. "It was very cool."

While love hurts for Abby and Luka, a new romance blooms between Dr. Tony Gates (John Stamos) and hospital chaplain Julia Dupree (24's Reiko Aylesworth). This week, they seal the deal at Tony's place. Says Aylesworth, "The relationship will really start to grow" when the pair travel to rescue Tony's foster daughter, now living with her grandparents. Will the passion last between the tightly wound doc and the fun-loving woman of God? "She doesn't usually stick around too long," confides Aylesworth, who so far has signed on for at least seven episodes.

But it's Abby and Luka's relationship that longtime fans really hope will last. If it's up to Visnjic, there's only one choice — when he and Tierney end their run on the show this spring, their characters' commitment should be intact. "If not," he jokes, "I'll shoot my producers."

Europe Sees Croatia As Mature Democracy

The mayor of Slatina, Ivan Rostas asked the gathered to support HDZ in the elections, because they had done a lot for their city.

HDZ (Croatian Demcratic Union) held a pre-election rally in Slatina. Many members and sympathisers came to support their candidates and show them support.

The full cinema hall in Slatina was welcomed by their mayor, and president of the city board of HDZ, Ivan Rostar. He said that in less than two years since HDZ has been in power there, the city has taken on a whole new look.

Elections – a moment of great responsibility

- Thanks to HDZ, many capital projects have been carried out, and that is only a small part of what we have started and made. These elections are a moment of great responsibility, but also of great opportunity to continue what we have started. This is why we should support list number 8, the list of HDZ – said Rostas to the citizens.

Other candidates from HDZ in the IV electorate also addressed the public, which include: Tajana Doric, Ivica Buconjic, Tomislav Ivic, Miroslav Skoro, Ivica Kirin and the president of the Virovitica-Podravina county board of HDZ, Josip Djakic.

“Croatia needs to let these people remain in control of national business, because they have proven themselves capable”.

The president of the Croatian parliament, and vice-president of HDZ, Vladimir Seks, also addressed the public.

- This magnificen rally in Slatina is a sign of support and trust for HDZ and its politics, and its intentions to lead the country again. Croatia is a country that has achieved very high democratic standards – said Seks. He added that Europe sees Croatia as a country with mature democracy, a country with a developed market economy, a country in which the principles of social justice, human rights and freedom are highly respected.

Seks then mentioned the things that stand behind that evaluation: “political work, and the results of the political work of the Croatian Cabinet and HDZ”. He also said that this was the evaluation of the Croatian public, and that they show their support through their many rallies, where the results of HDZ’s Cabinet can be seen.

In these four years, said Seks, Croatia has strongly changed in all segments, and great progress has occurred that can be seen in Croatia’s economic growth rate of seven percent, and added that this strong economic growth is what has enabled new jobs.

- We in HDZ consider that this is one of the reasons why Croatia needs this team, these people need to remain in power and control Croatian affairs, because they have proven themselves to be capable. They also solve the large and burning issues of Croatian society – concluded Vladimir Seks.

Croatia to push ecotourism

The Croatian National Tourist Board is reviewing its marketing plan to put more emphasis on the country’s ecotourism product.

Zagreb-based CNTB director Niko Bulic said the slogan ‘The Mediterranean as it once was’ has successfully helped Croatia recover from the Balkan wars in the 1990s and will be kept for 2008.

He said: “We don’t want to rush into change because the slogan says everything about Croatia, but we want to do more to encourage ecotourism.

“Tourists can come here and see how people live traditionally, how they produce food, fish, harvest olives and grapes. We want to put that in to the tourism offering.” He hopes a new marketing plan will be approved by the end of 2008.

Bulic said 2007 visitor numbers to Croatia have increased for the eighth year running to 11 million, which brings it close to the 12 million identified as the most the country can handle without being overrun by tourists.

He said: “We don’t want mass tourism. We want quality over quantity.” Germany is the biggest market, with 1.55 million, while 270,000 visitors will come from the UK this year. Russia is up 38% to 150,000.

Bulic said: “Some 85% of tourists come by car. We have performed miracles in creating the motorway network in the past eight years. It has opened Croatia to central Europe.”

Croatia's INA swings to Q3 profit on higher sales, prices

Croatia's INA-Industrija Nafte DD swung to a third-quarter net profit on increased crude oil sales volumes, higher gas sales price and higher sales volumes of EURO IV quality products from its own refineries.

The company posted net income of 80 mln usd for the three months ended Sept 30 compared to a loss of 3 mln a year ago as revenues rose 12 pct to 1.26 bln usd from 1.11 bln.

EURO 2008 Austria-Switzerland ENGLAND ON BRINK Countdown to Austria & Croatia clashes

Steve McClaren's squad have been warned they are facing the most emotionally distressing night of their careers if England fail to qualify for Euro 2008.

England failed to qualify for the World Cup in 1994 and a 2-0 defeat in Holland proved crucial. Geordie winger Andy Sinton, in the team that night, revealed the torment Graham Taylor's squad felt in the dressing room.

"We were devastated, numb, there was an empty, hollow feeling and a few of the lads shed tears.

"If the results don't go for them this weekend, it will be the lowest point in their careers, the one that really hurts. They will beat Croatia on Wednesday to go out with a bang, but it will hurt in front of that Wembley crowd knowing they haven't qualified.

"From a personal view, you don't get many chances to play in tournaments and that was for the World Cup so there are all sorts of emotions running through your mind...is it my last chance, you are part of a team that has let everyone down. There were people in tears. I was just quiet. The dressing room was like a morgue afterwards. We knew the dream had slipped away.

"It was the most disappointed dressing room I have been in. It was the lowest point for my career and many of the others in there too. The tears are genuine, you can't just put them on."

HBK: We Will Gladly Promote Unity With Orthodox Ch

HBK representatives agree the document is a positive move because it will lay the corner stone of unification for the two churches.

The pope is 'first amongst the patriarchs', Rome is the 'first seat', the Roman Catholic Church 'lies within love'. These are conclusions from a meeting of Catholic and Orthodox Church representatives, held a month ago in Ravenna, stated in the meeting`s secret document, which was published by Italian La Repubblica daily.

Document`s significance

This document, which has great historic significance, lays the corner stone of two “opposing” Churches uniting after nearly 1,000 years of division for the East and West. This is especially visible in Croatia and the region, seeing how Croatia was a certain wall between the two Churches. Anyway, representatives of both Churches in Croatia welcomed such a document, but they point out that it is yet another in line of documents that try to unite the two Churches.

- We rejoice at every move when it comes to uniting the Catholic and Orthodox Church and we will gladly promote unity in both Churches. This is a task for all Christians – dr. Jure Zecevic told Javno, secretary of Ecumenism Council at the Croatian Bishop Conference (HBK).

When asked how might the unification refelct on Croatia, considering the Croatian Homeland War that has left great consequences, especially among people, Zecevic replies that true Christians can only rejoice at the fact.

He points out that Croatia can be proud with the ecumenism it cherishes.

HBK spokesperson Zvonimir Ancic commented the unification of the Orthodox and Catholic Church, who also welcomes every move towards unity of Churches.

- This was one of the fundamental directions of the Catholic Church after the Second Vatican Council. I welcome everything that contributed to the absolute unity of all churches – Ancic concluded.

Episcope of the Serbian Orthodox Church Jovan Pavlovic was not available for a comment because, as his office notified us, he was abroad on an official visit, as well as the Zagreb Paroh Milenko Popovic. But Popovic`s “colleague” who refused to introduce himself upon answering the telephone, did not sound too thrilled by the unification.

Paroh Boskovic: The Schism must be surpassed

- The Ravenna dosument is nonsense, this is probably ecumenical approaching and not unification – our collocutor concluded.

However, Serbian Orthodox Church Oaroh in Slovenia Peran Boskovic had more to sa, who welcoms any unification among Christians.

- We look at Christians uniting with great liking and everyone must work to surpassthe Schism – Boskovic told us over the telephone from Ljubljana. But, the Paroh did not wish to comment the document before seeing it.

Problems of the Orthodox Church

However, the problems might be in the Prthodox Church itseld because there are 15 of them and each must independently agree on the unification. Unlike the Catholic Church which has only one ruler, the pope, Benedict XVI in this case.

- When it comes to the Orthodox Church, every one must individually agree on the unification, while the Catholic Church has only one ruler, the pope and it is the way the pope decides – Zecevic explaines.

To be precise, church officials will not respond on the document passed in Ravenna.

Calvin Klein Now In Croatia

The Croatian market is now richer by one beauty label with the designer name Calvin Klein.

Calvin Klein is a well known designer name in the world of fashion, but beauty as well. After clothing and perfumes, the American fashion house is aware of the complex chain and the needs of the fashion industry, and has now completed its assortment with clothing, perfume and makeup.

The new line of Calvin Klein beauty makeup was ceremonially presented to the Croatian media today in the restaurant Spoon. The theory part of the presentation was held by guests from the CK Beauty company from Milan, whilst the visual appearance was taken care of by makeup artist Tomo Vrban, and singer Indira Vladic Mujkic was in the role of a model.

Experts from Milan stressed in their presentation that they have chosen the perfume chain Limoni for sales in Croatia, and not a large distributor. CK aesthetics and style have been turned into a modern formulation for the face, eyes, lips and nails. Innovative products are marked by their attractive prices (around 20 dollars for lipstick), and luxury packaging that attracts various groups of women. The aim: sexy, urban and an unmistakable look.

Croatia: 72% off with a last minute hotel deal

Dubrovnik on the southern tip of Croatia is one of the country's top destinations thanks to its nearby islands, beaches, hilly peaks and a stunning old town.

Holidaymakers looking for a last minute getaway to Dubrovnik can get a 72 per cent discount on a stay at the President Hotel, which sees prices fall to £65 per night for a double room.

The offer is valid up to November 27th 2007, and includes buffet breakfast.

Steve Hickner – Croatia is Wonderful!

Zagreb citizens had the opportunity to see the Croatian premiere of US box office hit “Bee Movie” at the second night of Animafest, The World Festival of Animated Film. The premiere was dignified by the arrival of co-director Steve Hickner, who directed the film together with Simon J. Smith after the script of famous comedian Jerry Seinfeld.

Hickner is an animated film veteran and he has hits like “Shark Tale”, “Over the Hedge”, “Little Murmaid” and ”Who Framed Roger Rabbit”. His latest film “Bee Movie” landed in the first place of the US box office, where it made a fascinating sum of 72 million dollars in its first week.

Exclusively for Javno web site, Hickner speaks of “Bee Movie”, Jerry Seinfeld and impressions of Croatia.

How do you like it in Croatia? Have you been here for a long time?

- Just today. We came in yesterday afternoon, so we had yesterday afternoon and today is the first full day.

What are your first impressions of our country?

It`s wonderful! People are very friendly and it`s been very fun. We`re gonna get some extra time after tonight, we`re gonna have a couple of days to go around and see things and that`ll be great.

Do you have plans where you wanna go?

No, I have no idea! We first wanna walk around the city `cause we`ve never seen it. That`ll be fun.

How do you think Croatian public is going to like “Bee Movie”?

Well, I, I hope they like it.

What are your thoughts about the first place of the American box office?

Well we`re very happy about that because it doesn`t happen very often that a film moves from number two to number one.

How was it like working with Jerry Seinfeld?

Oh, it`s wonderful. Jerry is the most incredible collaborator you could ever hope to work with. He`s a very fun guy. Nobody likes to laugh more than Jerry Seinfeld.

Are we going to see some Seinfeld-type comedy here like in the show Seinfeld?

Yes, we`re definitely gonna get some of that observational humour that is trademark Seinfeld.

Croatia wins UN Security Council seat

Croatia won a non-permanent seat in the UN Security Council for 2008-2009 during the General Assembly vote last week. The country's biggest rival for the position, the Czech Republic, withdrew its candidacy in the second round, allowing Croatia to easily win the two-thirds majority necessary.

Costa Rica, Libya, Vietnam and Burkina Faso also won non-permanent seats in the Council. The 15-member body has only five permanent members and the two-year term for the newly elected non-permanent members begins on January 1st.

"After the international recognition of the Republic of Croatia and ending of the Homeland War, this is the biggest achievement since our independence," Prime Minister Ivo Sanader said, returning from New York after the October 16th vote.

President Stipe Mesic played a vital part in the lobbying process, renewing Croatia’s relations with African and Asian states and members of the non-aligned movement, established with the former Yugoslavia. The election was an "exceptional recognition of Croatia and its foreign policy", the president said.

For the first time since independence, Croatia now has the opportunity to take on a key role in global decision-making processes. For a country that not long ago was struggling to emerge from isolation and war, the Security Council seat is another welcome sign of the dramatic progress made in recent years.

As the celebrations died down, Croatian officials began planning their agenda in New York. Some issues are of direct national concern -- for example, the UN war crimes tribunal at The Hague will be a regular topic on the Security Council's agenda for the next two years. An exit strategy for wrapping up the court's work must be finalised.

Croatia is strongly against closing down the tribunal before the two top war crime fugitives -- Radovan Karadzic and Ratko Mladic -- are brought to justice. "We shall seek justice for all the victims," Sanader said.

Meanwhile, he stressed that Croatia will not use its position to put pressure on Slovenia over the two countries' rival territorial claims in the Adriatic. The prime minister said the main mission of Council membership for Croatia will be to promote political stability in Southeast Europe -- with a focus on Kosovo and Bosnia and Herzegovina.

Organic agriculture in Croatia

Croatia would be able to supply raw organic products to the EU, but more organic products are imported than exported at this point of time. This could change in the future, but structural changes, a better ecological expertise and investments from abroad would be required.

There are currently about 340 companies working according to organic standards on an average of 2.4 hectares of land. The largest of these company has about 200 hectares of land. Altogether, about 5,000 hectares were managed according to organic standards in 2006, representing 0.6 % of the total agricultural land.

Mainly cereals are cultivated, like wheat and corn, followed by grassland, herbs, fruit, wine and olives. There are also about 17,000 hectares of ecological “bee pasture”, of which the certification is worldwide unique. On a large area, wild plants like herbs, berries and mushrooms, which play an important role in the Balkan States, are collected.

In 2001 and 2002, the first ecological guidelines following the European Regulations 2092/91 and the international standards of IFOAM, were released. Croatia has its own logo for organic products. These products are inspected by private institutes, which are accredited by the government.

Bajic Family Marks 10 Years In Chattanooga At Pilgrim Church

This week marks the tenth anniversary of the arrival of the Bajic family from Ranko, Slava, and their son, Marko, to the United States as refugees from the war-torn land of Croatia, a partitioned portion of the former Yugoslavia.

This past Sunday, Pilgrim Congregational Church, UCC, celebrated 10 years of friendship and faith with the family. The certificate presented to them expressed the church's "gratitude for how much they have added to our life as a congregation and meant to each of us personally."

On Nov. 12, 1997, the Bajic family arrived in Chattanooga. As refugees, they were jointly sponsored locally by Bridge Refugee and Resettlement Services and Pilgrim Church. Bridge made the arrangements through the Church World Service Immigration and Refugee Program. Pilgrim Church sent the money for the airplane tickets.

Before they arrived, the church prepared housing and furnishings. Members laid out plans for transportation, English-speaking training, and assistance in procuring jobs. They planned the day-to-day support that is so vital in the early months of transition into a new culture, void of family and friends back in their home country.

The Bajic Family's 10 years have been here has been filled with one milestone after another. Ranko and Slava became citizens of the United States on Aug. 19, 2003, in Knoxville along with 183 other people from 52 countries. They have also celebrated their 25th wedding anniversary here.

Just eight months after they arrived, Marko pulled the body of a five-year-old girl from the bottom of the Chickamauga Dam swimming area, yelled for help, and retrieved someone to perform CPR on the child. Though the girl did not live, Marko's actions were described by Hamilton County Emergency Services spokesman Bruce Garner as "nothing less than heroic."

Ranko started working as a stocker in a small grocery store. When his English improved, Ranko and, later Slava, began working at McKee Bakery where they have worked for better than five years. Joe Davis, a member of Pilgrim Church and the comptroller at McKee, recommended them to the company.

"Both Pilgrim Church and McKee are like family to us," said Slava. Back in Serbia she was a physics and calculus teacher.

Marko was graduated from Ooltewah High School earlier this year. The recipient of one of 12 Grote Scholarships at UTC this academic year, Marko plans to major in chemistry/biobiochemistry and is designated a Grote Chemistry Scholar. He is a pre-med student.

According to Anne Curtis, coordinator of Bridge Service, "Churches like Pilgrim provide a loving, supportive community within which a family can start to rebuild their lives. A refugee resettlement agency can only give very basic services. A part of the church�s ongoing mission is offering a deepening friendship between its members and the family."

Pilgrim Church has sponsored four refugee families through Wider Church Ministries of its denomination, the United Church of Christ (UCC). UCC works in conjunction with the Church World Service Immigration and Refugee Program. They in turn work locally in Chattanooga with Bridge Refugee and Resettlement Services who then works with an interested local church like Pilgrim to make the resettlement happen.

Having the Bajic family as a part of our church family has been such a joy, said Therese Padgett, chair of the Mission and Outreach Commission at Pilgrim. "They are such great and wonderful people."

The Bajic family lived in Seovica, Croatia for six years before war broke out. When hostilities began, they moved to Lacarak, Serbia, but after four years of trying to survive under the circumstances, the family fled to Chattanooga. An adult child, Marko's sister Ljubica, remains in Subotica, Serbia. She serves as a nurse and has a 10-year-old daughter, Anja.

Transcripts Suggest Croatia Conspired to Break Up Bosnia

The highest levels of the Croatian government secretly worked to seize part of Bosnia while pretending friendship with the Sarajevo government, according to documents prosecutors have asked to be admitted as evidence in the case against six high-ranking Bosnian Croat officials currently standing trial in The Hague.

The documents, transcripts of the then Croatian president Franjo Tudjman’s conversations, show Croatian officials believed the West supported it in its undercover bid to prevent a Muslim state being created in Europe.

Jadranko Prlic, Bruno Stojic, Slobodan Praljak, Milivoj Petkovic, Valentin Coric and Berislav Pusic were senior political and military leaders of the self-proclaimed Croat entity known as Herceg Bosna.

They face 26 charges of war crimes for the expulsion and murder of Muslims in Bosnia during the Croatian-Muslim conflict in 1993.

They are also accused of being part of a joint criminal enterprise to politically and militarily subjugate and ethnically cleanse Bosnian Muslims and other non-Croats from parts of Bosnia that they claimed as Herceg Bosna and to join this territory to a “Greater Croatia”.

Also allegedly involved in this enterprise were Tudjman, former Croatian defence minister Gojko Susak and Mate Boban, president of Herceg Bosna. All three are now deceased.

On October 29, the prosecutors asked the judges to admit into evidence 87 transcripts of president Tudjman’s meetings with various people that took place at the time relevant to the indictment.

Most of these transcripts have already been admitted in part or in full as evidence in other trials held at the Hague tribunal.

Several of the transcripts record how Tudjman ordered regular Croatian troops to be secretly sent to Bosnia to set up checkpoints and to support the Croats living there.

“Gentlemen, we’ve succeeded, we’ve succeeded in getting not just Herceg Bosna, which is what we had. We’ve [now] got - we can say this among ourselves - half of Bosnia, if we’re good at governing it, if we govern cleverly,” said Tudjman at a meeting with representatives Herceg Bosna on November 24, 1995.

Tudjman also regularly referred to Croatia as being on the front line against the expansion of world Islam, and even expressed sympathy for the Serbs because they are fellow Christians.

“Europe and the world are a bit afraid of… the creation of an Islamic [state] in Europe. So that they would even be inclined for a division [of Bosnia] to be carried out between Croatia and Serbia in order to avoid having that separate Muslim state, you know,” said Tudjman on January 8, 1992.

The judges are expected to rule soon on whether all these transcripts will be admitted into evidence against the six accused Bosnian Croat officials.

Hargreaves out of Croatia warm-up

Owen Hargreaves has emerged as a major doubt for England’s final Euro 2008 qualifier with Croatia after pulling out of Friday's friendly with Austria.

The Manchester United midfielder has been plagued by injury troubles since his move to Old Trafford, and his ongoing knee problem has struck again whilst on England duty.

Hargreaves looked to have made a full recovery from a tendinitis problem after starting United’s recent 2-0 win over Blackburn, but he suffered fresh discomfort after the match.

He will definitely miss the friendly encounter with Euro 2008 co-hosts Austria, making him an unlikely starter against Croatia as England boss Steve McClaren looks to shape his team.

"Owen Hargreaves is recovering from a long-term injury," observed an FA spokesman.

"Having discussed it with Manchester United, it was felt he should remain in Manchester for treatment until the weekend - with the emphasis on his fitness for the Croatia qualifier."

Hargreaves still hopes to be available for what could be the decisive match of England’s Euro 2008 qualifying campaign against Croatia, but McClaren will likely opt for Gareth Barry or Frank Lampard alongside Steven Gerrard in midfield as he monitors his team against Austria.

Shaun Wright-Phillips is the only other slight injury worry, although he is expected to return to training on Thursday following an ankle complaint.

Grumpy Cleese helps to win prize

STAR of Monty Python John Cleese is appearing in the latest award-winning ad put together by Cambridge agency, WAR.

The campaign, on behalf of St Ives-based client, golf ball firm Titleist, has won an international award for creativity at an industry gathering in Dubrovnik, Croatia. Cleese features as a grumpy golfer, fed up with technology enhancing the game.

Malta lose twice to Croatia

Croatia beat Malta twice on Saturday, first in the Fira-Aer European Nations Cup Division 2B qualifier, while the other in a football mini-tournament.

The first defeat for the Maltese was in Makarska, Croatia, in which Malta lost 24-9, while in the other valid for the Under-19 UEFA Championship at Lesi Stadium, Ancona, Italy, the Croatians won 3-0.

Malta points in the rugby game came all from a penalty scored by Rohan Spiteri in the first half, while Ryan Borg scored twice.

In rugby Malta will be in action again on Saturday, November 17 when Damian Neill’s side entertains Latvia at Hibernians Ground, Corradino.

Meanwhile in football the Maltese Under-19’s next match will be on Monday against hosts Italy, while on Thursday, November 15 play their third and final match against Montenegro.

What Happened With SDP’s Debt With The Church?

Although he did not specify the amount the Cabinet donated to the Church, Suker asked what is it with SDP’s debt with the Church.

Rumours that the Cabinet donated 70 million kunas to the church in a closed sitting intrigued the journalists who were at today’s press conference, summoned by HDZ (Croatian Democratic Union) in order to summarize the accomplishments in the fiscal decentralization field. HDZ member Ivan Suker adeptly manage to avoid the journalists’ questions asking a counter-question about what happened with the coalition government's debt with the Church, estimated 251 million kunas.

- According to international contracts, we are in debt of financial help with the Church – Suker said and continued saying that the Church’s properties were the most frequent and dearest aim for Serbian aggressors, and these have not been restored after the war. He explained that nothing was done comforming to the law because it is about money from present reserves of the state budget. However, the HDZ member did not want to specify the exact amount which was given to the Chruch.

- Funds were given also in the past years, but statements about us insuring money to the Church for some business are false – Suker concluded.

Talking about fiscal decentralization, he reminded that last year HDZ changed the law on financing local self-administrations units, which turned out to be a good move. In fact, with such a distribution of the incomes of local self-administrations and the state, cities and municipalities earned 1.1 billion kunas until October of this year.

Suker denied all statements that the city of Zagreb lost around 700 million kunas due to this distribution, stressing that Zagreb earned at least 93 million kunas. I addition to this, the HDZ member recalled those mayors who are part of the other political options, and who point to such changes as negative.

- Velika Gorica, Koprivnica and Rijeka earned 46% more compared to the same time period last year – he concluded, adding that the biggest problem of the decentralization is unequal development, and that the right step to take towards the solution of these problems is a move by which the taxes on the incomes would remain in the local self-administration units.

The Croatia game is just a friendly

Tottenham target Alexander Kerzhakov has told England: "Forget about Euro 2008."

The Sevilla striker's taunts were aimed at manager Steve McClaren ahead of Russia's trip to Israel this weekend.

A win for the Russians will almost certainly see them qualify for next year's finals and Kerzhakov has blasted: "England will not be there. Russia will not fail.

"We're going there to win and we will. After the England game, this is the most important game Russia has played.

"Our dream is to go to Euro 2008. Now we are on the verge, we cannot fail."

The Russia hit-man then mocked England even more by adding: "I am sorry for the English. They missed their chance in Moscow so their last game in the group, versus Croatia, will be almost a friendly." Kerzhakov is wanted by Spurs boss Juande Ramos and his agent Sandor Varga said: "He'd love to play in England - That would be his first choice and his style would be suited to the English game.

"I know that in the past both Spurs and Arsenal were watching him."

The 24-year-old has failed to find a place in the Sevilla first team, having to fight for the scraps behind Luis Fabiano and Frederic Kanoute.

"I am sure that everything will be sorted out very soon," added Varga.

"Kerzhakov has a reputation in Europe and has shown what he can do in the UEFA Cup - and has played really well in La Liga."

T-Mobile Croatia forges local partnerships

Croatian incumbent telco T-Hrvatski Telekom announced yesterday that its wholly owned mobile subsidiary T-Mobile Croatia has signed an agreement with domestic retail group Agrokor and Com.Com, part of the country's leading media company Europapress, to launch pre-paid mobile communications offerings under the ‘KMobile’ brand from March 2008. Services will be launched through various member companies of the Agrokor and Europapress groups, including Konzum, Tisak, Duhan Trgovina and Slobodna Dalmacija Trgovina. According to a press release, the partners will target untapped market segments and ‘those with lower penetration’. The deal follows T-Mobile’s recent agreement with Croatian bank Zagrebacka Banka to launch new post-paid services.

Owen Hargreaves has been ruled out of England's friendly international against Austria on Friday night because of persistent knee problems.

Owen Hargreaves has been ruled out of England's friendly international against Austria on Friday night because of persistent knee problems.

The 26-year-old Manchester United midfielder is hoping to be fit in time for the crucial qualifier against Croatia at Wembley next Wednesday, and to that end has stayed at Old Trafford for further treatment.

An FA spokesman said: "Owen Hargreaves is recovering from a long-term injury.

"Having discussed it with Manchester United, it was felt he should remain in Manchester for treatment until the weekend, with the emphasis on his fitness for the Croatia qualifier."

Since joining United from Bayern Munich in the summer, Hargreaves has only been able to make six appearances in the red Devils' first-team, and was forced off with the knee problem late on in the 2-0 win over Blackburn last weekend.

Chelsea winger Shaun Wright-Phillips also missed the England training session today with a slight ankle problem, but is expected to be fit and ready to travel to Vienna.

Macedonia will play versus Croatia not for England, but for itself

Macedonia will play at the Saturday EU qualification against Croatia not for England, but for itself, president of the Macedonian Football Federation Hari Hadzhisterski announced for FOCUS News Agency in an interview. The game in Skopje is of extreme importance for the competition in the E Group. Croatia needs one point to be placed for Euro 2008. If Macedonia wins, England will get a new chance to compete for the EU finals. In this case the British will need a victory with over 2 goals in the host game with Croatia on November 21. we have a psychological precedence because the competition is not crucial to us. Despite that we will seek victory for our own pride and rating in world football. We had a strong game versus Croatia in Zagreb and we lost with 1:2 in the last minute. Now I expect our strong performance to recur and to make the fans happy with the victory’, he added.

Rooney out of Croatia crunch

England and Manchester United were dealt a devastating blow yesterday when Wayne Rooney was ruled out for a month with an ankle injury.

On the day he was named Barclays Player of the Month for October, Rooney hobbled out of United training with damaged ankle ligaments and will miss England's must-win Euro 2008 qualifier against Croatia at Wembley on Wednesday week plus four Premier League games.

It is his second major injury of the season, having been out for a month with a metatarsal injury.

England coach Steve McClaren said last night: 'It is hugely disappointing for us and for him, given the impact he's made in our last two games. It's a blow but one we've been dealt before and it simply means an opportunity for someone else.'

For United, the 22-year-old will miss league games against Blackburn, Bolton, Fulham and Derby as well as two 'dead rubber' Champions League games against Sporting Lisbon and Roma.

Rooney has been in top form with 10 goals in his last nine competitive games.

Discovering Dalamatia

The Dalmatian Coast of the Adriatic covers four counties in Croatia. It has long been the playground for Europe's who-is-who during the Austro-Hungarian empire and during the days of Yugoslavia. The collapse of the former Yugoslavia and the proliferation of discount airlines have opened up this jewel of the Adriatic to the rest of the world. This summer section mates from OB and OF decided to test the waters by island hopping in Central Croatia.

While there are many ferries run by the national ferry line Jadrolinija, the best way around the Adriatic is by your own (or rented) boat. If you were birthed in the sea and tie a bow-line knot in your sleep then you can rent a bare boat from one of the many local companies or international one such as Moorings or Sunsail. If relaxing on the trampoline of you 40ft Cat (For the less nautically inclined readers - A Cat aka Catamaran is a dual pontoon boat that looks like an H) is more your style then you can hire a skippered boat to sail you around the islands.

It is said that there are over a thousand islands along the Dalmatian coast but the main ones for tourists are : Brac, Hvar, Vis and Korcula. While each of the islands are very unique they share many common features that reflect the changing tides of power that this region has experienced over the course of history. Many of the cities are set in sheltered bays. The stone paved streets lead to a light house, an ornate cathedral. The Town is usually set next to the sea with a massive stone castle or other bastion set on top of hillside to protect the town. While the casual tourists never look past these similarities a seasoned traveler finds the differences.

The Island of Brac is probably most famous for the beach at Bol. The beach is a giant golden Sandbar in the shape of V (called Zlatni Rat in Croatian) and draws sunbathers from all over Europe. The town of Bol itself is a rather lively for it size with many open air restaurants and bars. The best part of Bol is that with the right timing just about anyone can pull right up to the dock right on main street and stay for a couple of nights.

If Bol is down to earth and approachable, Hvar town on the island of Hvar is an exclusive club with velvet ropes- it's rumored the Nicky Hilton was there the week prior to the author's arrival. Getting a Dock spot is combination of the size of your boat (apparently size does matter to local dockmasters when you're paying by the foot), how well you speak Croatian and your ability to negotiate. Nonetheless with a bit of persistence even a 40ft sailboat can get a docks spot along the likes the 121 ft Northern Spirit and so on. Hvar has had a history of catering to traveler with the first hotel being founded in 1868.1 The town continues to cater to the jet set crowd with the majority of the action along the main strip by the docks. Not to missed however are the spectacular views of the city, outlying islands and sunsets from the ramparts of Hvar Castle set above the city.

The town of Komiza on Vis has a homely old town feel. Komiza in its heyday used to be a center for lobster and other fishing activities. We were informed that during the early 20th century sea planes landed by the minute to cart away fresh lobster from Komiza to all over the world. Nowadays a spectacular dining experience (and lobster the size of a small child) can be had at Konoba Jastozera, an old lobster farm where the tables are set on wooden planks overlooking the waves.

Refugee vote could be a factor in Croatian elections

Croatia is due to hold parliamentary elections on November 25th, and a large number of Croatian citizens who now live in Serbia are likely to participate. Many are ethnic Serbs who fled Croatia in 1995.

"We will do all the things in our power so that Croatian citizens who are living in Serbia can use their citizens' rights and vote in the next Croatian elections," says Serbian Commissar for Refugees Dragisa Dabetic.

Citizens of Croatia have the right to vote anywhere in the world, as long as they can present valid documents. The process is handled by embassies, consulates or diplomatic missions. The deadline for registration was Saturday (November 10th).

"Our representatives from the Commissariat for Refugees will visit all collective camps, neighbourhoods and places where we know that refugees from Croatia are living," Dabetic said. "We will even provide them with free transport so they can come to the voting places. For most of these people, travelling on the day of elections would be a financial luxury."

Expatriates can vote in Belgrade, Zumun, Subotica, Sombor, Indjija, Sremska Mitrovica and Pancevo, Dabetic says. "If some of them want to travel to Croatia and vote in their local areas they will be provided with free transport," he adds.

According to the most recent data, around 76,546 exiles from Croatia have refugee status in Serbia, while around 100,000 have become Serbian citizens.

Most of the voters -- 49,893 -- are registered in the 9th election zone, which includes areas in Croatia where the majority of ethnic Serbs lived.

In addition to refugees, members of the Croatian minority in Serbia will also cast votes. Around 16,000 ethnic Croats live in Vojvodina, a multiethnic province in the north of Serbia. With dual Croatian and Serbian citizenship, they have the right to vote in both states.

Ex-Yugoslav army general denies war crimes allegations by Croatia

The last defense minister of the former Yugoslavia, sought by Croatia for alleged war crimes, has denied guilt in a rare interview filmed in Russia by Serbian state television.

Former army commander Gen. Veljko Kadijevic — one of the key figures in the bloody breakup of the former Yugoslavia — was interviewed in Moscow, the station said, where Kadijevic enjoys refugee status despite an international warrant for his arrest. It was aired late Tuesday.

Kadijevic, an ethnic Serb, commanded the Serb-dominated Yugoslav People's Army when the federation began crumbling in 1991, triggering a series of bloody ethnic conflicts.

The army had sided with the ethnic Serbs in Croatia and in Bosnia, when they rebelled against the republic's secession from the joint, Serb-dominated federation.

Croatia accuses Kadijevic of war crimes in eastern Croatia where Yugoslav army troops bombed several towns, reducing some to rubble, and forcing thousands to flee their homes.

About 10,000 people were killed in the Croatian war, which ended in a Western-brokered peace deal in 1995.

Gen. Kadijevic denied he had any responsibility for the crimes committed in Croatia. He said the army troops only defended themselves from the Croatian militias.

Kadijevic said that while he served as minister, the Yugoslav People's Army "did not commit war crimes, but tried to defend the country."

He added: "I sleep calmly."

There was no immediate reaction from the Russian authorities to Kadijevic's interview and the Croatia arrest warrant. Kadijevic is known to have had close ties to the Russian military.

Suker: England Can Still Do It

England must beat unbeaten Croatia next Wednesday at Wembley to stand any chance of qualifying for the Euro 2008 finals - and hope that Israel take points off Russia on Saturday or even a victory over the Croats is unlikely to be enough. But one of Croatia's all-time greats - striker Davor Suker - is hoping England can make it to next summer's finals.

Former Croatia international striker Davor Suker wants England to qualify for Euro 2008.

While England's chances of qualifying are dangling by a thread and dependemt upon Israel at least drawing with Russia, Croatia's fate is in their own hands. They need just a draw against FYR Macedonia on Saturday.

Suker originally predicted that both England and Croatia would qualify from Group E, and he still believes so, even though England have made life so difficult for themselves.

"One year ago I predicted that England and Croatia will qualify from this group, and I hope my words come true," he told Sky Sports News.

Croatia's unbeaten campaign is a testament to the tactical acumen of coach Slaven Bilic - and Arsenal striker Eduardo da Silva's prolific return on the goalscoring front.

Suker, who shares with Eduardo the experience of having been an Arsenal striker, is full of has praise for the pair of them.

"We depend on the goalscoring of Eduardo. I would like to have more Eduardos in the team," he said.

"He [Bilic] is a young coach, but he is experienced with types of games. And this is why we have confidence that we will secure a minimum of one point in Skopje."

Croatia's Inflation Rate To Rise In 2007, CB Governor Says

Zagreb _ Croatia's inflation rate will likely rise in 2008 to 4.5 percent, from 2.8 percent in 2007, the country's Central Bank governor said on Tuesday.

Governor Zeljko Rohatinski was quoted by state-run HRT TV as saying that the country's gross domestic product will grow by 5.9 percent in 2007.

Rohatinski was reported as saying that GDP growth will likely slow down to some 5 percent in 2008.

Croatia, formerly part of the now defunct communist Yugoslavia and now a candidate for European Union membership, has enjoyed steady 5-percent growth since 2001, mainly driven by state investment, personal spending and tourism.

The International Monetary Fund has warned that the country's growth is unsustainable over the longer run and has called on the authorities in Zagreb to reduce Croatia's external vulnerability.

According to the report Rohatinski said the Central Bank will "continue to keep the lid on credit expansion." He also announced that the Bank will "continue with its restrictive monetary policy" in 2008.


Rohatinski said foreign debt is expected to stabilize at around 85.5 percent of GDP in 2007 and to drop to 85 percent in 2008.

Croatia no match for other European states

Overseas property investors looking at Croatia as their next investment location would be better advised turning to other European countries such as Romania, Bulgaria and the Czech Republic.

That is according to Property Secrets, an independent analytics firm which has suggested that the rise in interest in Croatia is perhaps more down to people buying second homes as opposed to investment property.

Those considering moving into the area should also be aware that finance is difficult to raise in the country, the firm added.

"If you want to buy a £100,000 or £200,000 property there, potentially you have to do this in cash…So a lot of people are buying holiday homes on the coast rather than investing in property," said Property Secrets chief analyst Mark Tweddle.

"I wouldn't say not to buy, but if you want high returns there are better markets…Like Czech Republic, Bulgaria, Romania…Those kind of countries.

"You have had other countries join [the EU] in the last few years where you have got much more low risk; better finance, better rental [opportunity] and a stronger economy," Mr Tweddle outlined.

Contiki has Croatia, Europe’s hottest destination, covered in 08

Contiki’s new Camping Tour, London to Croatia with seven nights Croatian Island Sailing is the hottest option for budget conscious travellers, and trust us, you simply haven’t camped, ‘til you’ve camped Contiki style, where you’ll live it up in some of Europe’s top campsites with all the best facilities.

On this cross-Continental crusade, you’ll visit 10 countries – France, Belgium (in transit), Netherlands, Germany, Czech Republic, Austria, Hungary, Serbia, Bosnia and Croatia. And from around $103 a day, you’re guaranteed we’ll stretch your dollar so far it’s in danger of snapping!

Just a few of the exciting places you’ll visit include:

* Paris: see the Eiffel Tower, the Louvre, the Arc de Triomphe and other famous sights; enjoy an evening Tour of Illuminations
* Amsterdam: see the canals, gable houses and city by night; visit a cheese farm and clog maker’s house
* Prague: enjoy all the sights, such as Hradcany Castle, Charles Bridge, Wenceslas Square and the Cathedral of St Vitus
* Budapest: see Buda, Pest, the Royal Palace and the city’s other great sights
* Sarajevo: enjoy a scenic drive along the Drina River valley and forest; see the City Bazaar, and the Latin Bridge
* Dubrovnik: see the fortified city and old port; enjoy a scenic drive along the Croatian coastline
* Split: see Diocletian’s Palace
* Croatian Island sailing: enjoy seven nights aboard your sailing ship, with breakfasts and lunches included, visiting exciting ports such as Makarska, Sipan, Hvar and more.

23 days, priced from $1999 per person, twin share (land only), plus food fund of $365, this trip includes 15 nights camping and seven nights aboard the sailing ship, all transport, most meals, loads of sightseeing and the benefit of Contiki’s experienced and fun road crew.

Contiki has been taking 18 to 35s around the globe to experience far off places and exotic cultures for over 45 years, so they know what young people want. Contiki has planned all its trips to include a perfect balance of sightseeing and adventure with loads of free time to do whatever you want, they also make sure the trips are great value making travel loads cheaper than doing it by yourself which means more travel dollars for life’s little luxuries like shopping, sightseeing and going out.

McClaren assured of Croatia date

Steve McClaren will definitely remain as England coach for next Wednesday's Euro 2008 qualifier with Croatia at Wembley even if his side are already out of the competition.

However, even if the worst-case scenario unfolds at the weekend, PA Sport understands McClaren will remain in his job, at least until after the Croatia game to give some time for a more sober reflection on his status.

"Any decision with regard to Steve's position will not be taken until after the Croatia match," affirmed an FA insider.

McClaren knows a Russia win in Isreal on Saturday, coupled with a Croatian draw in Macedonia will effectively signal England's elimination and raise a massive question mark over his job prospects.

The former Middlesbrough manager, who was only appointed as Sven-Goran Eriksson's successor 16 months ago, has already launched a passionate defence of his time in charge and a belief he is the right man to remain at the helm no matter what fate befalls England over the next nine days.

McClaren has already revealed important backing received from senior FA figures, including chairman Geoff Thompson, chief executive Brian Barwick and influential international committee member Sir David Richards, who have all confirmed their desire to back him so long as England can still go through.

At all levels of Soho Square there remains a hope and a belief Israel especially can do England a favour in Tel Aviv and throw the matter back into the hands of McClaren's players.

Certainly, senior figures within the FA are anxious not to pile extra pressure on the coach at such a delicate time, knowing England have been left staring down the barrel of major tournament exits plenty of times since missing the 1994 World Cup and always managed to get through somehow.

Croatia likely to become part of missile shield

Once Croatia joins NATO it could become a part of the largest defense project in the history - South East Europe missile shield, Croatian media quote Romania's NATO Ambassador Sorin Ducaru.

"NATO is considering the possibility for construction of missile shield in Bulgaria, Romania, Turkey, Greece, Italy and Croatia," Ambassador Ducaru said.

The missile shield will not be installed on Croatia's land but in the Adriatic Sea waters, Croatian dailies said.

Romanian Ambassador to NATO for first time publicly brought up the stance that seems to bother NATO members, i.e. the US missile shield in Czech Republic and Poland will selectively defend Central Europe, whilst the Southeastern European countries will remain unprotected.

Croatian ambasasdor to NATO said Croatia, the NATO partner-country, is not included in talks on the construction of a new missile shield. He added that once Croatia joins NATO, the country will decide in which projects it will be included.

More Freediving National Records (UK and Croatia)

The waters have Dahab have brightened the spirits and hopes of freedivers worldwide this week. The astounding news of Sara Campbell has rocked the freediving world, and it seems like her deep karma has affected her colleagues.

The British Freediving Association has announced a new UK Record in Free Immersion for Marcus Greatwood. On the 19th October 2007, Marcus achieved a depth of 61 metres, whereby he had to pull himself on a submerged line to that depth and back again. This took place at the 'Triple Depth' competition, in Dahab, Egypt. The previous record holder had set the depth to 60 metres in 2005.

And in Croatia, miles from the vibe of Dahab, Goran Colak breaks a national static record. He writes "...in Croatia's capital Zagreb existed a long time domination of Kike Curavic in the static apnea discipline... His record was 6:45min, and I did clean 7:01 on first try, on record attempt".

Mr. Colak went on to say that he was nervous with the 50-100 people around the pool, and struggled with his contractions but made a clean finish, on camera. Images of this event can be seen in this link, and also here.

German record holder Anna von Boetticher came home from the Triple Depth competition in Dahab with a 52metre NR in CWF for Germany, and a NR in CNF with a 35 metre dive. Ms. Boetticher comments that she is looking for to the upcoming Worlds, for some relaxing dives. She has walked away with all three German records since she started freediving this year.

"Good job, ladies" said the President to Croatia's first female 8000+ summiteers

5 girls from a Croatian female expedition have reached the top of Cho Oyu.

October 12, two sibling couples were first up: Croatian sisters Darija and Iris Bostjancic summited together with Sherpa brothers Lhakpa Nuru and Ngawang Jangbu. Vedrana Simicevic and Pasang Chhiri Sherpa were on the top as well. All three Croatian women came from the same city of Rijeka - and all climbed without oxygen.

The next day, Marija Macesic and Jana Mijailovic also reached the summit; Lhakpa Nuru came back up with them together with Dawa Tenzing.

"We are the first Croatian female climbers on the 8000ers," Vedrana reported to ExplorersWeb and included the official site (links section) with congratulation from a proud president!

Croatia borders with Slovenia, where a number of great climbers can be found. Former part of Yugoslavia, the picturesque country fought hard against the Serbs until gaining full independence in 1995.

This season, also Singapore placed its first female 8000+ summiteers on top of Cho Oyu.

Hungary to co-operate with Croatia on biosphere project

Hungary and Croatia are working together to establish a biospehere reserve at the river Dráva, instead of Croatia building a water power plant as earlier planned, reports local portal Sonline.

A co-operation agreement has been made between Hungarian and Croatian nature protection authorities, while Croatian provinces have started creating protected areas on their side. Hungary already has a few biosphere reserves, but this will be the first spanning two countries.

Szabolcs Závoczky, head of the Duna-Dráva National Park Directorate said: "While national parks are large areas where the natural features are not allowed to be changed, biosphere reserves provide much less protection, but still preserve natural ecological systems, plant and animals species and their gene sets for the future. This co-operation is especially important, because this area can be managed only as a whole, as ecological systems and natural habitats do not end at national borders."

There are nearly 500 biosphere reserves in the world including five in Hungary - in the Kiskunság, Aggtelek, Fertő-hanság, Hortobágy and Pilis regions. UN cultural organization UNESCO is stressing the importance of creating cross-border biosphere reserves.

Croatia Is In For Economic Tsunami

HSP began its election campaign today by presenting party programme and candidates for the 5th constituency.

Croatian Party of Rights (HSP) bearer if all lists, Anto Djapic, said that Croatia is in for an economic tsunami. He warned about the difficult situation, especially when it comes to overindebtedness.

-Until yesterday, we did not even know how objectively we are strong. After the Croatian Democratic Union (HDZ) panically attacked HSP a month ago, with the sneakiest political methods, it now goes to show the amount of fear is present in HDZ, especially in the 4th and 5th constituency- Djapic said, commenting yesterday`s transfer of several HSP members from Nova Gradiska to the lines of HDZ.

- HDZ has a reason to panic because HSP is the leading party in Slavonia and Baranja, therefore is being criticised – he added.

Djapic said HSP is one of the leading parties in Croatia that has never failed the basic principles, point of view and credibility, even though they have had their ups and downs as a party.

Also, HSP did nothing wrong to their people in the past 17 years nor did the people betray it at any point.

He said there was no difference between HDZ and SDP, because the only thing they care about is being in power. He wondered how come no government has changed the privatisation model which brought Croatian economy in a tough position and millions of people on the brink of poverty.

Tribunal Probes Croat Journalists

Croatian politicians and journalists condemn move, saying it undermines press freedom.

The Hague tribunal will question eight journalists who defied its rules by publishing confidential information that linked generals accused of ethnic cleansing to Croatia’s ex-president.

The journalists, who come from some of the country’s largest media organisations, will be questioned in Zagreb over the next few days, according to sources in the Zagreb County Court quoted by Croatian media. They run the risk of being charged with contempt of court.

Prime Minister Ivo Sanader and media bodies condemned the summons, saying Croatian media should be allowed to work freely.

Court spokesperson Kresimir Devcic confirmed that a number of people had been summoned, but declined to identify them “because the tribunal requested secrecy”. The tribunal had already demanded a probe into the leak after state television channel HTV publicised the confidential information in late May.

The information relates to parts of a confidential annex to the indictment against Generals Ante Gotovina, Ivan Cermak, and Mladen Markac, who are accused of ordering the killing of at least 150 Serbs during Croatia’s “Operation Storm”, which regained control of a third of Croatian territory from Serb rebels in 1995.

The confidential annex listed ex-president Franjo Tudjman and others as having cooperated with the three generals in their alleged plan to ethnically cleanse Croatia of Serbs. The confidentiality was lifted a few days after the document was leaked.

Recently, editors at Slobodna Dalmacija and HTV, Vladimir Roncevic and Mladen Plese, were questioned on similar grounds. They spoke with the tribunal’s investigators in Zagreb on October 9.

Prime Minister Sanader said he opposed the questioning.

"The media have one of the key duties in a democracy, which is to inform the public,” he told the Vecernji list daily.

Zoran Milanovic, the leader of the Social Democrats, Croatia’s largest opposition party, was more measured in his response, saying the court's rules were obligatory for all, but added that the court's "enthusiasm in screening Croatian media work is surprising".

The Croatian Journalists’ Society, HND, meanwhile, expressed its “serious concern”.

“We call on the court to show more concern for the public interest, which was decisive in the journalists’ decision to publish the controversial information. In democratic societies, the right of the public to know must have priority except in some special cases like for example revealing the identity of protected court witnesses,” said the HND.

Croatian media identified the eight journalists as being former HTV Deputy editor-in-chief Goran Rotim, HTV Editor Djurica Drobac, independent journalist Josip Saric, Vecernji List journalist Davor Ivankovic, Slobodna Dalmacija journalists Sinisa Pavic and Jasna Babic, Jutarnji List journalist Snjezana Pavic and columnist Ivan Zvonimir Cicak.

The court’s rules lay down a punishment of up to seven years in prison or a fine of 100,000 euro for contempt of court. The journalists published the names of a number of Croat and Bosnian Croat officials as co-conspirators with the three generals

The court has earlier convicted two other Croatian journalists, Domagoj Margetic and Josip Jovic, of contempt of court for publishing the names of protected witnesses in another case.
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Croatia, Costa Rica Set for UN Council Seats

The moves by the two countries came after a second ballot of General Assembly voting in which both Croatia and Costa Rica pulled well ahead.

The Czech Republic and the Dominican Republic pulled out of U.N. Security Council elections on Tuesday, clearing the way for Croatia and Costa Rica to win nonpermanent seats for 2008-09.

The moves by the two countries came after a second ballot of General Assembly voting in which both Croatia and Costa Rica pulled well ahead, coming close to winning the two-thirds majority required from the 192-member assembly.

At that point, the Czech Republic and the Dominican Republic decided not to pursue their contests. A further ballot was being held, however, to confirm the required majority for Croatia and Costa Rica.

Earlier, unopposed Libya, Vietnam and Burkina Faso won election to the 15-member council.

Croatia: 55 parties to run in Nov. 25 parliamentary elections

ZAGREB, Croatia: Election officials said Thursday that 55 parties would stand in this month's Croatian parliamentary elections although pollsters forecast a close fight between the ruling conservatives and the center-left opposition.

The campaign starts next week for the Nov. 25 election with the most recent survey showing the governing Croatian Democratic Union and opposition Social Democrats tied with support of 30 percent each. Each party would likely need the help of smaller parties and independents to prevail.

Pollster Puls interviewed 4,000 people for the survey for the Jutarnji list daily and Croatian Television in late October. The margin of error was 3.5 percent.

The two parties differ on some economic, judicial and social issues but neither would alter Croatia's pro-Western course.

Prime Minister Ivo Sanader has transformed the Croatian Democratic Union from a nationalist party into a party whose main goals are Croatia's accession to the European Union and NATO.

Sanader's government has introduced economic reforms and reduced the jobless rate to about 14 percent, from above 17 percent when his government took power in 2003, and achieved economic growth of 4.5 percent.

The government has also opened membership negotiations with the EU and hopes to join by 2010.

But many Croats remain disappointed with their living standards, with an average monthly salary at €670 (US$964).

The Social Democrats' popularity has risen with a new leader, Zoran Milanovic, who has pledged to root out corruption and improve living standards.

About 4.4 million people are eligible to cast votes — including thousands of Croats living abroad — for up to 160 lawmakers. Eight seats are reserved for representatives of Croatia's minorities, and up to 12 for Croats living abroad.

Croatia wins soccer crown

They known as Toronto Croatia, they’re based in Streetsville and they rule the Canadian Soccer League.
Croatia claimed the CSL title last night by taking the league-imposed two-game total goal series 4-1 against the Serbian White Eagles at Esther Shiner Stadium in North York after the two teams battled to a scoreless tie in the second leg of the final.
It was the third title for Croatia in the last seven years. Its two previous titles came when the team played in the Canadian Professional Soccer League.
The league decided earlier in the week to make the final a two-game series in an effort to avoid ethnic tensions between the two factions. The league didn’t want a repeat of last year when bitter battles broke out at two separate games as fans from both sides were allowed into the games. There has been an ethnic rivalry between the two sides that goes back to the days when the former Yugoslavia was their homeland.
As a result, only Serbian fans were allowed into yesterday's game. On Saturday, only Croatian fans were permitted into the stadium. Fans were hand searched as they entered the stadium and no flags, signs or alcohol was allowed.
There were far more fans at yesterday's game than the estimated 200 who attended Saturday’s first leg in bitter cold winds and rain.
But the pro-Serbian fans weren’t able to spark the White Eagles, who faced a three-goal deficit heading into Sunday’s game.
Midfielder Jonathan Bustamante scored twice for Croatia in Saturday’s first leg and Hayden Fitzwilliams and Peter Curic scored once each.

Vintner Mike Grgich receives honorary diploma of honor

Napa Valley vintner Miljenko “Mike” Grgich was presented with a Diploma of Honor from the University of Zagreb in his native Croatia.

He was the only honoree living outside of Croatia to receive the recognition.

Born in Croatia, one of 11 children, Grgich studied winemaking and viticulture at the University of Zagreb and then left to escape communism. He eventually arrived in Napa Valley in August 1958 — just in time for crush.

He has worked for some of the legends of Napa Valley: Lee Stewart, of the original Souverain Cellars; Brother Timothy at Christian Brothers; then almost nine years for André Tchelistcheff at Beaulieu Vineyards; quality control for Robert Mondavi and then winemaker and limited partner at Chateau Montelena, where the chardonnay he crafted won the famed 1976 Paris Tasting, before starting his own winery.

On Independence Day 1977 Grgich and Austin Hills broke ground in Rutherford to build Grgich Hills Cellar. Grgich Hills Estate was founded in 1977 by Grgich and Austin Hills of the Hills Bros. Coffee family.

Croatian rock star canned

A performance by a controversial Croatian rock star, scheduled for Sunday at the Kool Haus concert hall has been cancelled amid concerns his shows glorify the regime in Croatia that collaborated with the Nazis during World War II.

Marko Perkovic is popular in his homeland where his folk-inspired, heavy metal music fills concert venues. But critics say his fans sometimes use the Nazi salute during his shows and wear clothes styled after the uniforms of the Ustasha, Croatia's Nazi-linked government.

"It's the equivalent of people showing up wearing Nazi gear," said Len Rudner, national director of community relations for the Canadian Jewish Congress.

Others have criticized him directly for incorporating slogans used by the Ustasha regime and for referring to concentration camps where 90,000 Jews, Serbs and Gypsies were sent during the war.

"Lyrics that make reference to concentration camps and to throwing Serbs down a river, I consider that kind of problematic," said Rudner.

Rudner became aware of Perkovic in early October when members of Toronto's Serb community voiced concerns to the CJC over Perkovic's planned performances in Toronto and Vancouver.

Christina Vlahos, spokesperson for the Toronto venue said yesterday Kool Haus CEO Charlie Khabouth cancelled the show as soon as he was told about the controversy. The club had received no protests from local residents, but has since received a few emails in praise of the cancellation.

Vlahos said Kool Haus has been told the promoters were still selling tickets to Sunday's show and hoped publicity about the controversy will bring an end to it.

Marija Blazanin, the Toronto-based independent organizer of the North American tour, released a statement from Perkovic saying that he has "always condemned the crimes of the Nazi regime that ruled parts of Croatia."

Blazanin did not immediately return several calls from the Star yesterday.

The Simon Wiesenthal Center, dedicated to fighting anti-Semitism, is among those who have expressed concern about Perkovic, who uses the stage name Thompson – for the American submachine gun he used while fighting for Croatia during the Yugoslav war in the 1990s.

Many of his songs "seem to have a positive message of patriotism and peace," said Mark Weitzman, a spokesperson for the centre. "But there's also an element that appears to glorify the regime that collaborated with the Nazis in World War II and that was responsible for thousands and thousands of deaths of Jews, Serbs and other Croats."

Nenad Milinkovic, a Serbian-American who's president of the board of a Serbian Orthodox church in Manhattan, also had harsh words for the singer.

"It's despicable that in this day and age, a neo-Nazi ultranationalist can glorify the actions of the Ustasha Nazi state of Croatia that murdered Serbs, Jews and Gypsies in Croatian death camps," he said.

Weitzman is urging Cardinal Edward Egan, the archbishop of New York, to cancel a concert scheduled for tomorrow in Manhattan.

Joseph Zwilling, a spokesperson for the New York archdiocese, said church officials were investigating.

Perkovic, 42, says his performances have been misinterpreted.

"I've had enough of the unjustified attacks!" he said after a June concert in the Croatian capital of Zagreb, that drew 50,000 fans. "I'm a musician not a politician. At my concerts I sing about love, God and the homeland – only about that and nothing else."

Thompson claims that he has never made the Ustasha salute and is just a patriotic Croatian performer.

His songs are accompanied by videos showing men dressed as soldiers and carrying weapons. One includes the patriotic slogan "Za dom – spremni!" which means "For the homeland – ready!" The phrase was used by the Ustasha, but also by patriotic Croats since at least the 1800s. Perkovic's tour is scheduled to take him to Cleveland, Chicago, Los Angeles and San Jose, Calif., in addition to Toronto and Vancouver.

Hit cuts ribbon on Croatia gaming complex

Hit Group has opened a new casino and entertainment venue in Umago, Croatia.

The Slovenian operator’s Kristal Gaming and Entertainment Centre features an 80-room hotel; a gaming and entertainment section with 245 modern slot machines, 13 gaming tables and two electronic roulettes; a show room with 120 seats; a conference centre with two halls; two restaurants; and two bars.

The €17m investment is located at the centre of Umago, and the nearest beach is only a kilometre away. More than 60,000 guests are expected to visit the Kristal annually.

Miss Croatia Tatjana Jeremic Goes To China

She was accompanied to the airport by her parents in her new car CHEVROLET AVEO, which she won for – Miss Croatia 2007.

The current Miss Croatia, Tatjana Jeremic, is travelling from Zagreb airport to Sanya, China, for one month to prepare for Miss World 2007. The world contest will take place on Saturday, December 1, 2007at which the 57th Miss World will be chosen.

From November 2 to 22, 2007, Tatjana will visit various cities, regions and sights throughout China together with other finalists, where they will record TV postcards. During their stay in China, the competitors will participate at the welcome dinner for the humanitarian auction of the Red Cross in Peking, a great carnival in Hainan.

The directors of the world competition requires every representative to bring their national flag, a book about the country they come from, 3 stones and pictures of plants specific to their country, in order to present their country to the other participants.

Also, Tatjana will collect money for a humanitarian auction as a present to poor children in China, and will bring a historical clay from pigeon (Vucedolska golubica) because she is from Vukovar.

Before the very end, the girls will present themselves in the “BEACH FINAL”.

She was accompanied to the airport by her parents in her new car, CHEVROLET AVEO, that she won with the title – Miss Croatia 2007.

Croatian visitor numbers reaching record levels

Visitor numbers in Croatia are likely to reach record levels this year, according to official estimates.

Figures cited by IOL Travel showed that during the first nine months of 2007, there were more than nine million foreign arrivals, 6% more than during the same time last year.

Meanwhile, tourists were found to have stayed for a total of 53.4 million nights, an increase of 5% on 2006 and a sign of growing demand for rental accommodation in the former Yugoslav republic.

This has prompted officials in Croatia to predict further growth in its tourist market during the next few years.

Commenting on the country's suitability as a holiday destination, Eduard Kusen of the Tourism Institute said it offered a good infrastructure and lots of visitor attractions.

He added: "Croatia has an excellent geographical position as it is close to tourist markets."

According to the Southeast European Times, Croatia is aiming to become a European tourism "superpower" that could rival countries such as Greece and Turkey in terms of its market share.

Crozilla Nekretnine is the real estate expert in Croatia, Europe

At the moment you can find about 350 offices, 100 storages, 350 Inn's, 30 gastronomy and 40 hotels for rent and buy in every area of Croatia.

You can also buy building and agricultural plots.

If you have to work in Croatia, you will also need a nice place to life. On Crozillas website you will find about 300 stones houses to
buy, 2700 houses to buy and 80 to rent, 4500 apartments to buy and 380 to rent.

The website helps you to find the right object. Search for real estate in the area you want to, select the category, the right size (m²) and the price you imagine.

Why Croatia?
The republic of Croatia has a unique location. It lies at the crossroads of Central Europe, the Mediterranean and the Balkans. It is about the size of West Virginia in the USA. This country has a population of about 4,500,00. Its capital is Zagreb, a beautiful, modern city with a long and rich history and culture.

Convenient Croatia proffered as viable investment location

Landlords looking to expand their portfolio have been advised to consider investing in Croatia.

Peter Ellis, a spokesperson for Croatia Property Services, believes that a booming tourist industry and convenient access makes the country particularly attractive for property market investors - even more so than traditionally-cited hotspots such as Cape Verde.

While Cape Verdeattracts just 35,000 tourists every year, Mr Ellis explained, around ten million people visit Croatia.

"For anybody buying who wants to rent their property out, there are lots of tourists coming here so lots of people to rent it out to," he commented.

"It's not far away; it's only 120 minutes away from Stansted. It's easy to get to; it's cheap to get to. The coastline is magnificent - it's probably the best sailing coastline in Europe."

As well as being accessible from Stansted, operators such as Ryanair also offer flights into Pula from Bristol, Manchester and various other regional airports.

Tourists from central Europe also flock to the country, Mr Ellis claimed, acting to boost demand for rented accommodation further.

This article was brought to you by holidaylettings.co.uk, the UK's No.1 holiday home website.

UK Broker Gains Exclusive Rights to Mortgages in Croatia and Montenegro

As the international property industry widens, the need for international property finance in countries as far a field as the Philippines is becoming increasingly common. In response to this diversification, FFS actively pursues the acquisition of mortgages in some of the world's most unusual countries, namely its emerging markets.

As a completely independent body, FFS is not restricted to overseas property mortgages in just one country. Whilst offering finance solutions in the more familiar environs of France and Italy, FFS also offers international property mortgages in countries as remote as Ghana and the Philippines. In fact it is so dedicated to delivering the highest levels of service to its customers that it is constantly investigating mortgage acquisition in new countries.

As the only UK firm to offer mortgages in both Croatia and Montenegro, FFS can facilitate loans of 70% LTV for both UK and Irish buyers on completion. That FFS is the only broker to offer overseas property finance in these countries is indicative of the exceptional relationships and strong trust it has forged with banks worldwide. It has also engineered 90% LTV mortgages in Poland and special terms for newly formed companies in Romania, as well as staggering 100% LTV mortgages in Turkey.

FFS is also the only international mortgage broker specialising in emerging markets to have gained full AIPP membership. The AIPP is an independent body whose role it is to regulate the international property market and ensure that the industry maintains the highest levels of honesty, integrity and transparency. FFS strive to provide the absolutely highest and most trustworthy levels of service to its clients looking at mortgages for property abroad.

Croatia and F.Y.R.O.M. join the Competitiveness and Innovation Programme

Boosting European competitiveness and innovation does not stop with the 27 Member States. Croatia and the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia are the first non EU/EEA countries to join the Competitiveness and Innovation Programme (CIP) under which the European Commission promotes innovation, entrepreneurship and growth in small and medium-sized enterprises (SME's).

The CIP programme, which runs from 2007 to 2013 with a budget of € 3.6 billion, contains the following 3 pillars:

* Entrepreneurship and Innovation Framework Programme (EIP): EIP fosters the competitiveness of enterprises for example by providing co-guarantees and co-investments for local banks and risk capital funds so that they can improve access for SME's to loan and venture capital finance. EIP also supports providers of business and innovation services in all EU regions or helps to link innovation actors and clusters in European networks.
* Information and Communication Technologies Policy Support Programme (ICTPSP): ICTPSP accelerates the development of a sustainable, competitive, innovative and inclusive Information Society stimulating a wider adoption and more efficient take up and better use of ICT.
* Intelligent Energy-Europe Programme (IEE): IEE promotes energy efficiency and new and renewable energy sources in all sectors including transport.

Commission Vice-President Günter Verheugen, responsible for enterprise and industry policy, said that there are many areas of entrepreneurship and innovation policy where both countries have made excellent progress. Therefore, their participation in the CIP will further consolidate these reform efforts and help them align their policies with those of the European Union, which they aspire to join in the near future.

Croatia General Faces Extradition from Austria

Zagreb- Former Croatian deputy defence minister Vladimir Zagorec, wanted on embezzlement charges in Croatia, can be extradited, an Austrian appeal court ruled on Tuesday, local media reported.

Zagorec, aged 44, who had been living in Austria since 2000, was arrested in Vienna in March.

Croatia accuses him of stealing jewellery, deposited as a guarantee by a German arms dealer in 1993, when he left the ministry in 2000.

As a close aide of the late Croatian President Franjo Tudjman, Zagorec became a general and the most decorated soldier in Croatia's history, although he did not spend a single day in a combat zone.

He had access to and control over several million US dollars of state funds during the war of 1991-95 when he was allegedly buying weapons for the Croatian army in violation of a UN arms embargo imposed on all former Yugoslav republics.

Now Zagorec is a step closer to being returned to face charges in Croatia after Vienna's supreme provincial court upheld a lower court’s decision in July to approve his extradition.

Croatian media reported that in his ruling judge Leopold Viegl concluded that the allegations about Zagorec could not be dismissed.

“Zagorec needs to be extradited so that he can prove his innocence at home”, Veigl was quoted as saying.

The former deputy defence minister’s fight against extradition is not over yet.

Zagorec’s defence lawyer, Gunther Gahleithner, has told media he will appeal to Austria’s Supreme Court for violation of his client’s human rights.

If that appeal is dismissed, Zagorec will almost certainly be extradited to Croatia.

However, the spokesperson of Vienna’s supreme provincial court, Anton Sommerauer, said that Austria’s Minister of Justice, Maria Berger, would still have the authority to prevent Zagorec’s extradition.

Croatia starts building disputed Adriatic bridge

Croatia started building a coastal bridge in the southern Adriatic on Wednesday despite protests from neighboring Bosnia, which has threatened to launch a lawsuit to stop it.

The bridge is meant to link the southern city of Dubrovnik with the rest of Croatia and bypass a small sliver of the coast that belongs to Bosnia.

Croatia controls most of the eastern side of the Adriatic but drivers on its scenic coastal road face two customs and border controls while passing through Bosnia's 12-km (7 miles) stretch of territory.

Bosnia wanted to determine the sea border of the two former Yugoslav republics before the bridge project started.

"Bosnia is not opposed to Croatia's sovereign right to link parts of its territory but this cannot be done in a way that violates Bosnia's rights and interests," said a statement from the Muslim member of Bosnia's three-man presidency, Haris Silajdzic, issued in Sarajevo on Wednesday.

"The foreign ministry has informed the Croatian embassy that Bosnia keeps the right to launch a suit before an international court or arbitration body."

Serb and Croat members of the presidency also disapprove of the bridge. The Croat representative, Zeljko Komsic, said "serious talks about borders and the bridge should start only after (Croatia's) elections".

Croatian Prime Minister Ivo Sanader, whose conservative government faces a national election on November 25, dismissed Bosnia's claims.

"Croatia has respected Bosnia's right to have access to their waters...and we are building the bridge on Croatian territory," Sanader said.

Croatia Cover Up Evidence of Tose Proeski Accident

The Macedonians claim that the investigators did not interview participants of the accident, Ljiljana Petrovic and Georgij Georgijevski.

A Macedonian daily, Vecer, accused Croatia of an irregularly conducted investigation and falsifying evidence. The paper says that the investigators did not question the driver of Tose’s car, Georgij Georgijevski, or Ljiljana Petvoric, Tose’s manager who was also in the car with them at the time of the accident.

The paper slammed the investigative judge, Stjepan Franic, who investigated the case and who recently stated “what has been established has been established”. Now they are asking what has been established when the chief witnesses were not even questioned.

Last moments of Tose’s life

The Macedonians criticised Croatia for having made the omission on purpose.

-Before the accident Ljiljana Petrovic and Georgij Georgijevski got out of the car at a gas station near Nova Gradiska where they bought gas and coffee. Tose stayed sleeping in the reclined passenger seat as his knee hurt – Vecer writes, adding that there was a receipt about the petrol they had bought in the glove compartment. Based on that receipt the workers at the gas station should have been questioned to see when they had been there.

-This evidence is important to establish the time and speed at which the Touareg was moving, since there were no skid marks from breaking – the paper wrote, adding that the investigators did not even try to establish the said facts.

The paper writes that the accident happened some 20 minutes after the stop at the gas station and that the driver did not fall asleep at the wheel because Proeski and Petrovic kept him awake by taking. Since there were no skid marks, Vecer says the driver was caught by surprise and that he had his seat belt on, which is contrary to the Croatian version that says that the driver had fallen asleep.

According to the above facts, the Macedonians are adamant in claiming that the driver of the truck caused the accident when its rear end swerved and collided with Tose’s car. This is backed by pictures of the truck that suffered absolutely no damage apart from the back turn light, while Tose’s car was completely destroyed.

The two-tonne Touareg car was completely destroyed at impact in the front right door that was completely separated from the car, says Vecer.