Hvar Arsenal Presented in Prestigious European Online Magazine
January 13, 2021 – On the occasion of receiving the prestigious recognition of the European Heritage Awards 2020, a large article about the famous Hvar Arsenal, the most important public building in Hvar, was published in the renowned European Diplomacy & Economics Online Magazine.
As reported by Branimir Tončinić, Croatian National Tourist Board Director in Austria, the publication was created due to cooperation between the CNTB Representation in Austria, the Hvar Tourist Board, and the magazine's editorial board.
The announcement states that Hvar Arsenal is the winner of the Europa Nostra award, the most prestigious European award in the field of heritage, which the European Union has been awarding since 2002. This year, the award was given to 21 projects from 15 countries, and Arsenal is the winner in the conservation category. Recognition was given for the restoration and strengthening of the load-bearing structure of the Arsenal. Given the current situation, this year's awards ceremony was held virtually for the first time.
The Arsenal building, located in the center of Hvar town, the most important port on the island, has been carefully restored and successfully transformed into a living cultural center for visitors and the local community. The Croatian Ministry of Culture and the Ministry of Regional Development and European Union Funds were partners to the City of Hvar in the 30-year project of the Hvar Arsenal reconstruction, which ended in 2019.
An independent jury, made up of heritage experts from across Europe, selected the award winners, following a detailed evaluation of the nominations submitted by organizations and individuals from 30 European countries.
"This valuable revitalization project has adapted a significant building to the modern needs of the community and added a new cultural dimension to the tourism of this area. It represents a long-term effort to ensure Arsenal preservation as a site of high cultural heritage. The stratification of the 16th-century building and later 18th-century theater has been properly recognized in conservation work. Such localities are proof of international trade's long history in Europe, and their location in the port is significant, where they still play an important role as a place of connection," said the jury.
European Diplomacy & Economics is a magazine intended for professionals in diplomacy and a wider audience throughout the European Union. It covers economics and culture, is published twice a year in 10,000 copies, and is headquartered in Vienna.
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Opposition MP Demands Data on Post-War Rebuilt Houses Destroyed in Quake
ZAGREB, 13 January 2021 - Anka Mrak-Taritas of the GLAS party has asked the relevant state office to provide her with data on the number of properties reconstructed after the 1991-1995 Homeland War.
According to a press release issued by GLAS, Mrak-Taritaš says that it should not have happened that properties reconstructed in 1996 were destroyed in the 29 December earthquake, which took seven lives and caused extensive damage in Sisak-Moslavina County.
She said that the authorities were obliged to investigate any wrongdoing in the process of reconstruction under the 1996 law on reconstruction, underscoring that human lives were endangered in those rebuilt houses that were damaged by the recent disaster.
The lawmaker sent the request to the central state office for reconstruction and housing, insisting on the list specifying builders hired for the 1996 reconstruction and engineers and experts hired for supervision of the reconstruction in formerly war-stricken areas.
Mrak-Taritas says that information should be available to the general public.
Signal in Banovina to Improve, Reconstruction of State Roads to Begin, Butković Says
ZAGREB, 13 January 2021 - Transport and Infrastructure Minister Oleg Butković said on Wednesday that the phone signal in rural and border areas of Banovina would soon improve and that the reconstruction of state roads in that area should soon begin.
Answering a reporter's question about mobile and phone signals in the quake-hit Banovina, Butković said he had spoken with all telecoms, who had very soon after the earthquake restored the existing signal, so the signal was now as it was before the 29 December earthquake.
"However, since the signal coverage in rural and border areas of Sisak-Moslavina County was rather poor in general, this is an opportunity to improve that situation," Butković said.
He explained that telecoms had planned to temporarily place mobile base stations at six locations until new base stations are built, adding that it will done very soon and improve the signal even in those rural and border areas.
Speaking about damaged roads in Banovina, Butković said that state roads and bridges sustained about HRK 70 million of damage and that several landslides occurred.
The Croatian Roads company has gained in the situation on the ground, the minister said adding that the process of repairing the infrastructure would soon start.
"The process has already begun, the Croatian Roads company will very quickly... contract it and the reconstruction of state roads will start."
Butković said that the government would next week make a decision to allocate HRK 25 million to the County Road Administration, as they had estimated that that was the amount they needed to repair all county roads.
Minister: Measures Yielding Results, However Caution is Still Needed
ZAGREB, 13 January 2021 - Health Minister Vili Beroš said on Wednesday that for the first time since 22 December, Croatia today registered the number of hospitalised COVID patients below 2,000, and the daily number of deaths linked to this infection below 30.
Over the past 24 hours, Croatia has registered 1,135 new cases of the coronavirus infection and 26 related deaths, the national COVID-19 crisis response team said on Wednesday morning when 1,993 COVID patients were being treated in hospitals, including 193 on ventilators.
Beroš told a news conference that despite a fall in coronavirus numbers, citizens should be on alert.
"Our well-balanced (anti-epidemic) measures are producing results," he added.
Although the number of patients in Zagreb's Arena sports centre, repurposed into a makeshift centre for treatment of COVID patients with moderate to serious symptoms, had fallen to 12, the minister said that the this makeshift centre would not yet been closed.
"We will not rush with its closure," Beroš said adding that the authorities would remain braced for new surges, if necessary.
He admitted that no solution had not still be found for the storage of the infectious waste from the two COVID hospitals in Zagreb, and added that the authorities continued searching for the best possible solution.
Downward trend in coronavirus numbers
The head of the Croatian Institute of Public Health (HZJZ), Krunoslav Capak, informed the news conference of downward trend in coronavirus numbers.
In the first three days of this week, the new coronavorus infection cases fell by 30.6% compared to the corresponding period last week.
Croatia's 14-day incidence rate per 100,000 population is 334.4 cases, with Dubrovnik Neretva County having the lowest rate (165.8) while Međimurje County had the highest rate of 536.7 cases per 100,000 over a 14-day period.
To date, more than 35,000 Croatians have been vaccinated
Since Croatia started rolling out COVID vaccinations, more than 35,000 people have been vaccinated, and of them 16,425 are healthcare staff, while 15,848 have been residents of nursing homes.
In addition, 3,373 members of emergency services in the quake-hit area of Sisak-Moslavina County received first jabs of COVID vaccination last night, Capak said.
He added that so far, the authorities had received 86 reports on side-effects of the vaccination, and each of them will be dealt with by the special task force.
Some reports will be rejected, and claims from some reports will be registered, according to Capak who noted that a majority of side-effects were mildly elevated body temperature, swelling or pain around the injection site, headache. We had some serious side effects that had occurred, he added.
MP Peđja Grbin's Website Most Visited Parliament Website
ZAGREB, 13 January 2021 - The personal website of Social Democratic Party (SDP) MP Peđa Grbin is the most visited MP website of the new parliament, and the parliamentary club with the most visited website is that of the Homeland Movement, according to statistics published by the national legislature on Wednesday.
Since 22 July, when the 10th parliament was formed, Grbin's website had nearly 3,022 visitors.
The personal websites of another 13 MPs had over a thousand hits, and those were the sites of: SPD MPs Mirela Ahmetović and Sabina Glasovac, Sandra Benčić (We Can!), Boris Milošević (SDSS), Miro Bulj (Bridge), independent MP Karolina Vidović Krišto, Branko Bačić (HDZ), Nikola Grmoja (Bridge), Stephen Nikola Bartulica (Homeland Movement), Hrvoje Zekanović (Sovereignists), Krešimir Ačkar (HDZ), Miroslav Škoro (Homeland Movement) and Dragana Jeckov (SDSS).
MPs' personal website include information on their date of birth, education, party affiliation, the beginning of their term of office, their membership in parliamentary committees, lists and the constituency in which they were elected, as well as contact information.
In the past few years, the most visited websites were mostly those of former MPs, including HDZ's Goran Marić, Stevo Culej and Milijan Brkić, Goran Aleksić (Snaga), Branimir Bunjac (Human Shield).
Website of Homeland Movement visited 4,208 times
The website of the Deputy Club of the Homeland Movement had 4,208 hits, followed by the HDZ Deputy Club (3,572 hits) and the SDP Deputy Club (3,484 hits).
The largest number of hits was generated on 22 July, when the 10th parliament was formed and citizens visited 62,807 web pages.
The most searched keywords in the Google search engine were connected to the observation of Victory Day, Homeland Thanksgiving Day and Croatian Veterans Day on 5 August. The parliament's article on that public holiday was the most read article in the observed period (10,083).
More than 4 million hits
The Croatian parliament's websites last year had slightly more than four million hits. Nearly 522,000 unique visitors generated about 970,000 unique visits, and on average each of them opened four pages per visit and stayed for about three minutes.
As of July, parliament's website were most often accessed by mobile devices (107,697), followed by desktop computers (76,048) and tablets (3,895).
Dubrovnik City Gets Four Electric Cargo Bikes, Porter Service Also Planned
January 13, 2021 – As part of the EU project City Changer Cargo Bike, Dubrovnik City procured four electric cargo bikes for city companies. Also, to solve crowding and carrying luggage in the historic city core, Mayor Mato Franković revealed that one company is interested in organizing a porter service.
As Dubrovnik.net reports, as part of the EU project City Changer Cargo Bike, the City of Dubrovnik procured four electric cargo bikes for city companies. Two bicycles are intended for the needs of Čistoća company – one of them will be used on Elafiti islands, namely Lopud. The Vrtlar company workers will be using two other bikes in parts of the town where there are no cars, such as Lapad Bay or the historic core.
Electric vehicles – vehicles of the future
Among 20 cities, the City of Dubrovnik received about one million kunas in non-refundable funds spent on electric bicycles, salaries, project documentation, and the exchange of experiences. This project's goal, which is part of the HORIZON 2020 program, promotes urban mobility through innovative solutions. The total value of the project in all 20 project partners is 28.5 million kunas.
"With this project, we continue to transform the city, turning to the technology of electric vehicles, which are the vehicles of the future. In cooperation with Croatian Electricity Company (HEP), charging stations for electric vehicles are being set up. We are also preparing an electric bus project, and the car-sharing project has come to life quite well considering the overall pandemic situation," said Dubrovnik Mayor Mato Franković presenting the City Changer Cargo Bike project.
Electric cargo bikes. Čistoća workers on the left, Mayor Mato Franković on the right. / Source: Dubrovnik.hr
Such bicycles for delivery could make everyday life easier for caterers, traders, delivery services, and citizens. Since this is a pilot project, the mayor says it remains questionable whether the project will come to life and whether more new electric cargo bikes will be procured.
They will learn from the European cities of Utrecht, Cambridge, San Sebastian, and Copenhagen, where the use of cargo bicycles has proven to be very economically viable and effective, especially in their pedestrian or "car-free" zones.
Porter service and transportation of elderly citizens
Franković believes that Dubrovnik should also turn to electric vehicle technology. He points out that the City is also working on electric taxis, but first, it is necessary to ensure all the technical prerequisites in the city. The first electric buses were already planned, but that project was postponed due to the coronavirus pandemic. Hopefully, they will be implemented soon.
In addition to reducing CO2 emissions, which is a great environmental benefit of electric cargo bikes, they also reduce noise and crowds in cities. Due to the many tourists who visit Dubrovnik every year, Dubrovnik citizens encounter noise due to suitcases being dragged through the streets in the early morning hours. This destroys the sidewalks, too. Is it likely that this problem could be solved soon?
Crowds in Dubrovnik / Copyright Romulić and Stojčić
"We also have a new idea that arrived recently – the porter service. One company is interested in organizing a porter service for the area of the entire historic core. Our citizens are protesting on suitcases in the early morning hours when they are dragged through the streets. With the porter service, that problem would be solved. Porters would come, take the suitcases, load them on the electric vehicle, and drive them out of town. The suitcases would end up at the airport, where the owner would then take them over," Franković explained.
And besides the porter service, one of the ideas of using electric cargo bikes is to transport senior citizens from the historic center to buses or taxis. Depending on how the project with electric bicycles develops, Franković announced that citizens would be able to use them.
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New Border Rules for Croatia from Countries with New Covid Strains
January 13, 2021 - The Croatian Civil Protection Headquarters announced new border rules for Croatia for travelers coming from countries with the new Covid strains, specifically the United Kingdom and South Africa.
Jutarnji List reports that the National Civil Protection Headquarters made a new decision on crossing the Croatian border, which restricts non-mandatory arrivals to Croatia, especially from countries where the new strain of coronavirus is spreading, such as the United Kingdom and South Africa. The Croatian Institute of Public Health will adopt the list of these countries and special epidemiological measures will be applied to passengers from these countries, Chief of the Headquarters, Davor Bozinovic, said at a press conference, explaining that the decision is not related to citizenship but to the area the traveler is coming from.
"Passengers from these countries must show a negative 48-hour PCR test when entering Croatia and will be ordered to 14 days of isolation. At the moment, the United Kingdom and South Africa are on that list," Bozinovic said.
He added that their quarantine could be reduced to seven days if they take a PCR test in authorized institutions and if the test is negative.
Persons from third countries coming due to urgent personal reasons such as funerals or medical treatment will have their stay in Croatia limited to a maximum of 12 hours.
"Special rules have been introduced for persons coming to deliver aid for the quake-hit areas. They will be able to enter Croatia with prior consent from the Headquarters, in other words, without a test," Bozinovic added.
Beros: The measures are yielding results, but we must be careful
Minister of Health Vili Beros said that today, for the first time since November 22 last year, we have less than 2,000 hospitalized (1993), and the number of deaths below 30.
"We must continue to be careful. However, we can conclude that our balanced measures are yielding results and that this is the optimal winning formula in Croatia when it comes to fighting the epidemic," Beros. said.
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Deputy PM Announces New Location for Food Distribution in Petrinja
ZAGREB, 13 January 2021 - Deputy Prime Minister Boris Milošević said on Wednesday that in cooperation with the city a food distribution tent would be set up in Petrinja, but he did not want to talk about the new location until they are sure it is suitable.
"I do not want to talk about the location until we are sure that it is suitable. We will definitely inform the citizens," Milošević, who is the deputy head of the task force for dealing with the aftermath of the 29 December earthquake, said in a programme called "Croatian Radio for Banovina".
Asked about people's dissatisfaction with the food served by the state-owned company Pleter, he said that the task force's main idea was that no should be left without a hot meal.
"I hope people will be satisfied with Pleter's meals. Of course, they must meet a certain standard and if the complaints become frequent, we will talk with the Pleter management and do everything to ensure the quality of the meals," Milošević said.
He said that the previous volunteer cooks and hospitality workers had set very high standards when it comes to food and had done a huge job, and he thanked them for it.
He said that the container settlement would not be in Mala Gorica because it was hard to deliver the housing containers there, but that it would be in the Sajmište neighbourhood in Petrinja where citizens would be accommodated, as well as micro and small entrepreneurs in order to enable their temporary operation.
Containers keep arriving in Lekenik
Milošević said that containers kept arriving in Lekenik, where there were currently about 20 of them, and during the day another 30 were supposed to come from Switzerland. The state has to date ensured the provision ofi 475 containers.
According to him, the delivery of prefab containers and mobile homes to remote villages poses a problem due to rural roads being in a poor condition, especially during bad weather.
Milošević said that citizens would therefore definitely be provided with organised accommodation so that they would not wait for containers.
He said that citizens in the quake-hit are would not have to pay electricity bills for heating their temporary accommodation.
Croatia Registers 1,135 New Coronavirus Cases, 26 Deaths
ZAGREB, 13 January 2021 - Over the past 24 hours, Croatia has registered 1,135 new cases of the coronavirus infection and 26 related deaths, the national COVID-19 crisis response team said on Wednesday.
The number of active cases in Croatia stands at 5,300. There are 1,993 COVID patients in hospitals, including 193 on ventilators.
Since 25 February 2020, when Croatia registered its first case, a total of 222,117 people have contracted the novel coronavirus, 4,472 of them have died, and 212,345 have recovered, 712 of whom in the past 24 hours.
There are 18,219 people in self-isolation.
To date, 1,095,705 people have been tested, including 7,713 over the past 24 hours.
City of Split, Owen Wilson, and Salma Hayek Star in New 'Bliss' Trailer
January 13, 2021 - The City of Split, Owen Wilson, and Salma Hayek are the stars of the new 'Bliss' trailer, released by Amazon Prime on Tuesday.
Amazon Prime will release the new film 'Bliss' on February 5, 2021. The sci-fi drama by director and screenwriter Mike Cahill transported Salma Hayek and Owen Wilson to Split back in July 2019. Wilson was often photographed with locals, which you can read more about HERE.
On Tuesday, the trailer for the film was finally released, and in addition to the two Hollywood stars, Split also takes the spotlight.
The main characters of the film are the unfulfilled Greg played by Owen Wilson and the mysterious Isabel embodied by the great Salma Hayek. In short, the two believe they live in a parallel, fictional reality, but that their perfect world soon begins to fade and turns into something utterly ugly. They both have to decide where they actually belong and what’s real in all of this, reports Telegram.hr.
The premiere of the film has been announced for February 5, 2021.
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