News

ZAGREB, 22 Oct 2021 - The Croatian parliament on Thursday discussed amendments to the VAT Act proposing a lowering of the VAT rate on feminine hygiene products from 25% to 5% to reduce gender inequality in the national tax system. Anka Mrak Taritaš of the GLAS party, who put forward the amendments, said that during her life every woman in Croatia pays around HRK 8,000 in VAT on sanitary towels and tampons. She recalled that many European countries had lower tax rates for those products and added that the European Parliament in 2019 adopted a resolution on gender equality and taxation policy in…

ZAGREB, 22 Oct 2021 - The Vodnjan-based global cloud communication platform and leading regional IT company Infobip has been named the leading service provider in the Communications Platform-as-a-Service segment by the independent UK analyst house Juniper Research, it was reported on Thursday. Juniper's new tool Competitor Leaderboard provides a visual representation of the competitive positioning of the leaders within a particular market sector. It ranks stakeholders in terms of their market reach, innovativeness, growth capacity and financial, operational and marketing strength. Infobip has been named an established leader in the CPaaS segment owing to the quality and capacity of its own CPaaS platform, solutions for text message control and…

ZAGREB, 21 Oct 2021 - Karlovac's first bee hotel was set up in the arboretum of the Forestry School on Thursday, and the structure imitates the natural habitat of insects that do not have enough space in cities to overwinter and reproduce. This is a project of the Međimurje association "Pinklec" from Karlovac, financed by the utility company "Zelenilo" according to the designs by the public institution Međimurska Priroda (Međimurje Nature), and it was realized by students and mentors of the Forestry School in their workshop. The head keeper of Međimurska Priroda, Velimir Bašek, said that insects would definitely fill…

ZAGREB, 21 Oct 2021 - Istrian police on Wednesday seized an Italian fishing trawler sailing in Lim Bay due to illegal commercial fishing in Croatia's territorial waters. Police officers of the national maritime center for collecting data on technical systems for monitoring the state border at sea noticed on Wednesday at 12.48 p.m. that an Italian fishing trawler had entered the territorial waters of the Republic of Croatia at Lim Bay, the Istria County Police Department reported on Thursday. A vessel from the Pula maritime and airport police station was immediately sent to the trawler, they said, and police officers…

ZAGREB, 21 Oct 2021 - Electricity and gas prices for Croatian households and "a huge share" of businesses will not increase until the end of the heating season early in April, Prime Minister Andrej Plenković said on Thursday. The only ones that could feel the increase are businesses that did not have long- but short-term gas supply contracts, he added. He was speaking to the press in Brussels as he arrived at an EU summit that will discuss the surge in fuel prices, among other things. Plenković said the government had various tools at its disposal that it would use depending on developments…

ZAGREB, 21 Oct 2021 - The main Zagreb Stock Exchange (ZSE) indices fell on Thursday amid modest trading, with the Crobex dropping by 0.16% to 2,046 points and the Crobex10 decreasing by 0.25% to 1,243 points. Regular turnover was just over HRK 4 million, or HRK 500,000 less than on Wednesday. No stock passed the million kuna mark in turnover. The highest turnover of HRK 583,000 was generated by the stock of the Tankerska Next Generation shipping company. Its price went up by 0.92% to HRK 43.8 per share. A total of 39 stocks are traded today, with 13 of…

ZAGREB, 21 Oct 2021 - A commemoration for 56 civilians killed 30 years ago was held on Thursday at the mass grave in Baćin, the second largest mass grave in Croatia after Ovčara. The victims were residents of Baćin, Cerovljani, and Hrvatska Dubica. A dozen residents are unaccounted for. Nobody has been imprisoned for the crime as seven perpetrators are out of the reach of the Croatian authorities. In his address at the commemoration, President Zoran Milanović asked who were the criminals who could execute so many old and infirm people in such a cowardly and cold-blooded manner. He said not…

October 21, 2021 - EKO LAB is a place to learn, exchange knowledge, and experiment to develop critical thinking, creativity, and innovation for high school students. The program is realized through the cooperation of schools, civil society, scientists, and the community, to create conditions to create a more sustainable and responsible future together.  In 2019, the EKO LAB project began, which funds were provided by the Office for Other Governments of the Republic of Croatia within the Croatian-Swiss Cooperation Program. The project leader was the Poreč Association for the Improvement of Life Quality, with Pula High School, Technical School Pula, School…

ZAGREB, 21 Oct 2021 - President Zoran Milanović said on Thursday that Prime Minister Andrej Plenković should "rein his pal in", a reference to Defence Minister Mario Banožić and his decision to send into retirement the commander of the Honor Guard Battalion, Brigadier Elvis Burčul. Speaking to reporters in Baćin, where he attended the 30th anniversary of the plight of local residents in the 1991-95 war, Milanović said that PM Plenković was the minister's "political guardian" and that he was not in conflict with Banožić over Burčul's retirement but that he would guarantee the army protection against "bullying and harassment." "The minister is not relevant here.…

ZAGREB, 21 Oct 2021 - The Hrvatski Telekom (HT), a leading telecom in Croatia, on Thursday presented capabilities of the 5G+ network, which provides a speed of 4 Gbit/s and network response times of only ten milliseconds. However, its commercial use in Croatia is not going to be possible for yet another year or two due to the lack of adequate devices and telephones. "5G+ network is based on 26 GHz frequencies and will cover areas that require the best network performance, and will provide 4 to 8 times higher capacity in areas with the highest requirements for the use of data services," the…