June 10, 2021 - Barbara Matić won the gold medal at the World Judo Championships in Hungary!

In the category of up to 70 kilograms, the Split judo fighter defeated the Japanese judo fighter Yoko Ono in the final thus achieved the best result in the history of Croatian judo.

Index.hr reports that Matić solved the fight with a great move 40 seconds before the end and defended herself masterfully until the end to reach the gold medal.

The 26-year-old Matić withstood the terrible attack in the last 28 seconds with her incredible defense and big heart, and then triumphantly raised her hands in the air to celebrate.

Matić thus continued with great results this season. In October, she achieved one of the best results of her career in Budapest after winning gold at the Grand Slam in Budapest, beating three medal winners from the last World Championships.

She also won the SN Athlete of the Year award and won silver at another Grand Slam as part of the IJF World Tour in Antalya, Turkey. She was in great shape before the European Championships but had to miss it as she tested positive for coronavirus. However, she made up for everything at this World Championships by winning the gold medal. She will go to the Olympic Games full of confidence.

Croatian judo fighters have not yet finished their performance in Hungary. On Friday, Karla Prodan will compete in the category up to 78 kilograms, and Zlatko Kumrić will be looking for a medal in the category up to 100 kilograms. Ivana Maranić will be looking for a place in the Olympic Games in the 78 kg category on Saturday.

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ZAGREB, 10 June 2021 - After his first meeting with Prime Minister Andrej Plenković and his ministers, Zagreb Mayor Tomislav Tomašević said that nobody can be satisfied with the rate of reconstruction in Zagreb and that he expects a new era of cooperation between the city and the state.

Tomašević and Plenković met in Government House and discussed cooperation between the government and the City of Zagreb after the 22 March 2020 earthquake and the situation regarding the city's finances. Finance Minister Zdravko Marić, Physical Planning, Construction and State Assets Minister Darko Horvat and Deputy Zagreb Mayors Danijela Dolenec and Luka Korlaet also participated in the hour-long meeting.

The main topic of the talks, held on the day that the first house with a red label in Zagreb was demolished, was post-earthquake reconstruction.

"We are glad that the demolition of damaged buildings is finally starting. Today three are being demolished, and more will follow in the days to come," said Tomašević.

Admitting that nobody can be satisfied with the rate of reconstruction, he said that the City of Zagreb would from now on be a proper partner so that the process is accelerated, particularly with regard to filling out application forms for apartment buildings.

Horvat and Tomašević announced that they would conduct a working meeting on Tuesday to discuss handling construction waste material as temporary landfills are full, as well as ways to accelerate reconstruction.

Not one decision on reconstruction will be political but based on expertise

"Bulldozers are positioned at three locations in Zagreb and buildings are being demolished," Minister Horvat said and added that the ministry had so far sent 36 decisions for demolition to the Reconstruction Fund and that another 18 decisions would be forwarded this week.

Responding to accusations by the fund's director, Damir Vanđelić, that the ministry was a bottleneck in making decisions related to reconstruction, Horvat said that the problem was no longer the ministry but the Fund itself.

"(Vanđelić) received the first decision for demolition on 20 April and he managed to arrange the first works on 10 June. We are no longer talking about expediting the adoption of decisions but about the implementation of public procurement for bulldozers to appear in the field. That isn't a job for the ministry but for the fund's director," said Horvat.

He added that he would insist on the current reconstruction model and on decisions that were not political but based on expertise.

By the end of the month, the fund will have on the desk some 60 decisions for demolition of the 169 that were received by the ministry. As for the remaining applications, the relevant documentation is being collected and property-rights relations are being dealt with, he added.

He stressed that 3,800 applications for reconstruction that had been submitted in Zagreb had still not been resolved because they involved buildings that did not have legal building permits.

Tomašević stressed that city authorities would contribute to expediting the process of reconstruction by helping citizens complete application forms and conducting quick inspections for damage carried out on the remaining buildings that had not undergone such inspections.

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ZAGREB, 10 June 2021 - Croatia's government on Thursday decided not to increase motorway toll fares this summer after it did not apply the seasonal increase also in the summer of 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

The lower motorway toll prices will remain in force in a bid to contribute to efforts to boost the business activity in the tourism and transport sectors.

Thus, the state-run motorway operator HAC has been authorized not to apply the summer price list between 15 June and 14 September when motorway toll fares are 10% higher than out of the season. 

The financial effect of this measure is estimated at HRK 77.5 million, Transport and Infrastructure Minister Oleg Butković said.SFor the latest news from Croatia, follow TCN's dedicated page.

June 10, 2021 -  Do you ever wonder how life was formed? Always dedicated to scientific progress, the Ruđer Bošković Institute chemist team made progress in life formation research supporting the theory that the first molecules needed to develop life were formed on the surfaces of minerals in pre-historic times.

Science explores our present reality, but also the past. With many knowledge or credible theories on evolution, the very basic questions such as „how life came to form“, remain unclear. But why?

„Given that condensation (the process of water vapor turning back into liquid) of free amino acids is thermodynamically unfavoruable process in the water medium, it is a great mystery how it came to the formation of peptides before life on earth“, states the Ruđer Bošković Institute (IRB) press release.

It's worth noting that the thermodynamically unfavourabale process means the process is irreversible, which means it can't be reconstructed, and that's why scientists can see the formation of peptides, chains that connect amino acids that are crucial for life.

So, meet prebiotic chemistry – a study of chemistry dedicated to address and discover how organic compounds formed and self-organized for the origin of life, but so far without consensus.

But, progress is made once again thanks to the always active IRB. IRB's chemist team (José G. Hernández, dr Krunoslav Užarević, and Ph.D. student Tomislav Stolar,), in collaboration with colleagues from the pharmaceutical company Xellia (dr. sc. Ernest Meštrović, mag. chem. Saša Grubešić and dr. Nikolaom Cindro from the chemical department at the Faculty of Science (PMF), University of Zagreb), showed that with mechanochemical activation in a solid-state, the amino acids (organic compounds that combine to form proteins, with both being considered „the building blocks of life“) - such as glycine or alanine form peptides on mineral surfaces.

This supports the theory that life molecules could've been formed on Earth's mineral surfaces. The paper titled „Mechanochemical Prebiotic Peptide Bond Formation“, published in the prestigious Angewandte Chemie scientific journal published on behalf of the German Chemical Society presents these findings in greater detail.

Stolar, Užarević and Hernandez © Ruđer Bošković Institute

„In this research, we showed that mechanochemical activation of free glycin ground with ball mill allows the new oligomers (molecules made of few similar or identical repeating units) by adding minerals that are basic components of earth surface and meteorites. With the identification of organic and inorganic molecules present in the Solar system, it's important in laboratory conditions to develop suitable processes that would explain the presence of these molecules. Such fundamental knowledge can then be applied in modern synthetical chemistry“, said a member of the IRB chemist team Tomislav Stolar. Stolar also participated in developing a new material known as CuZn-MOF-74 on which TCN previously wrote about.

The research was financed by the  Croatian Science Foundation (HRZZ), and the next step is to apply this knowledge to synthesize new chemicals, which was one of the purposes of the research described by HRZZ.

IRB adds that the fact that various geological processes change the earth's surface, there is no historic evidence that could definitely answer how life on Earth was formed. It is believed that the first simple molecules triggered complex molecules to form in a process called chemical evolution and from that, life further continued to develop. Liquids, solid surfaces, or the phases between the two could've been potential conditions for these reactions, and mechanical energy sources were most likely found in meteor strikes, erosion, earthquakes, and more while thermal energy was most likely supplied by geothermal sources.

Learn more about Croatian inventions & discoveries: from Tesla to Rimac on our TC page.

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ZAGREB, 10 June 2021 - PM Andrej Plenković said on Thursday that vaccination against COVID-19 with the first shot had slowed down due to a decline in citizens' interest and he called on them to get immunized so that a vaccination rate of 50% could be achieved by the end of June and the remaining anti-epidemic measures lifted. 

"I urge once again those who have not done it yet not to hesitate. That is the only way to completely get back to how we used to live because the first dose already provides effective protection against serious forms of the disease," he said at a government session.

He noted that positive epidemiological trends were continuing, with the seven-day incidence having been restored to the level of 10 months ago, which, he said, is owing to a growing number of people who have been vaccinated and those who have acquired immunity, as well as owing to warmer weather and responsible behavior.

He warned, however, that of the adult population, 40.8% had been vaccinated with at least one dose even though enough doses had been secured for the percentage to be much higher.

"We should not stand by and watch countries that were less successful than us in the fight against COVID-19 become more successful in vaccination. By getting vaccinated we are protecting not only our health and lives but also our economy, jobs, salaries, freedom, and the right to a normal life," he stressed.

It is important to vaccinate the planned 50% of adults by the end of June so that epidemiological restrictions could continue to be eased. If that is not done, the tourist season will be at risk, which means additional losses for our economy, he warned.

"We cannot afford that luxury. In addition to the pandemic, Croatia was hit by two earthquakes and that has cost us as much as four pandemics. That situation is specific and that is why the economy must return to the path of continual growth and recovery," Plenković said.

He particularly called on young people to set an example to others, be brave, trust science, and get vaccinated.

Plenković also recalled his meeting with representatives of associations for the protection of domestic violence victims, which was held on Wednesday to acquaint those associations with the planned changes to the Penal Code to be discussed by the government today.

The changes envisage the ex officio prosecution of sexual harassment as well as the prosecution of revenge porn, which is the distribution of sexually explicit images or videos of individuals without their consent, made by a partner in an intimate relationship. They also envisage stronger protection of children and vulnerable groups.

The government also plans to amend the Domestic Violence Act.

For all you need to know about coronavirus specific to Croatia, including travel, border, and quarantine rules, as well as the locations of testing centers and vaccination points across the country, make sure to bookmark our dedicated COVID-19 section and choose your preferred language.

ZAGREB, 10 June 2021 - In the past 24 hours, Croatia has registered 184 new COVID cases while seven people have died, the national COVID-19 response team said on Thursday.

There are currently 1,290 active cases in the country, including 482 hospitalized patients, 48 of whom are on ventilators.

A total of 358,245 cases of coronavirus have been registered since the outbreak of the disease in February 2020 and 8,110 people have died. A total of 348,845 people have recovered, with 217 of them recovering in the past 24 hours.

Currently, 6,865 people are in self-isolation.

To date, a total of 2,065,437 people have been tested for the virus, including 5,435 in the past 24 hours.

By 9 June a total of 1,986,929 doses of vaccines were administered. So far 1,370,306 people have received at least one dose while 616,623 have received both shots.

For all, you need to know about coronavirus specific to Croatia, including travel, border, and quarantine rules, as well as the locations of testing centers and vaccination points across the country, make sure to bookmark our dedicated COVID-19 section and choose your preferred language.

June 10th, 2021 - An Autonomous robotic system, Project SeaClear, will collect waste from the ocean floor, and the first tests will be conducted in Dubrovnik-Neretva County. 

Every year on June 8, the United Nations celebrates World Ocean Day, in which many countries join them, including Croatia. European projects also contribute to conservation, including the SeaClear project in the Dubrovnik-Neretva County, implemented by the DUNEA Regional Agency and the University of Dubrovnik, as the only Croatian project partners.

Metković News reports, marine litter is currently one of the biggest global problems because, apart from the environmental negative impact, it poses a huge risk to human health in general, with huge economic consequences. Today, there are more than sixty million tons of waste in the world's oceans, of which approximately more than ninety percent are on the seabed.

The system, unique in the world, which will be developed through the SeaClear project, explained Professor Bart De Schutter from the Center for Systems and Control of the Technical University of Delft, which is also the project holder. "Currently divers clean this waste from the seabed, especially in tourist areas. However, this is an expensive solution and can sometimes pose a danger to divers", explains De Schutter.

"The SeaClear system works as follows; we have a surface vessel and two underwater robots. A slightly smaller robot is an observation robot. It scans the seabed with a camera and sonar. This robot maps where the waste is and what kind of waste it is. The robot can also distinguish waste fractions from living things, such as fish and seaweed. To accurately distinguish between animate and inanimate worlds, advanced algorithms are used. After the observation robot recognizes the waste, it sends this data to another underwater robot equipped with a gripper. This robot goes to the identified waste fraction, picks it up with a grapple, and puts it in a large basket. The handle is designed with a special safety structure, so the fish can easily escape if it is accidentally picked up", explains De Schutter.

"The gripper was the most difficult hardware component to develop, but even that is now ready. Researchers at the Technical University of Munich have constructed a prototype, so now we can really start testing the whole system,” says De Schutter. These features will be displayed in three pilot areas where an autonomous robot system will be installed: one system to clean the port in the port of Hamburg with the end-user of the Hamburg Port Authority (Germany), the second in the tourist area of ​​Dubrovnik, near the island of Lokrum and the third on the area of ​​Mali Ston Bay which is an area from the mariculture sector. The first tests are planned for September in the pilot areas of Dubrovnik-Neretva County, and various components of the system will be tested in real conditions.

The SeaClear project, full title "Search, Identification, and Collection of Marine Litter with Autonomous Robot," aims to develop autonomous robots for cleaning waste from the seabed and is funded in one hundred percent by HORIZON 2020. The project provided more than six million for the area of ​​Dubrovnik-Neretva County, and the Regional Agency DUNEA and the University of Dubrovnik are the only Croatian partners.

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ZAGREB, 10 June 2021 - The Croatian ministry of tourism and sport has adopted three ordinances about the reduced tax burden and tax exemption, which would enable businesses in the tourist trade to have 118 million more kuna at their disposal.

The changed regulations about the exemption from payment of some of the accommodation surcharge lump sum and membership fees for the local tourist boards were published in the Official Gazette on Thursday.

Minister Nikolina Brnjac says in a press release that she is sure that this tax relief in the amount of 118 million kuna "will definitely facilitate the efforts of hotels, campsites, private accommodation renters, family farms, and nautical tourism companies to do business more easily" and also help them to alleviate the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic.

(€1 = HRK 7.5)

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