ZAGREB, 21 August, 2022 -  In the last 24 hours, Croatia has conducted 2,384 coronavirus tests, and 27% of them, that is 639, have turned out to be positive, the national COVID-19 crisis management team reported on Sunday.

There are currently 6,529 active cases, and of them, 587 are hospitalised patients, including 22 patients placed on ventilators.

In the last 24 hours, 12 patients have succumbed to COVID-19, and Croatia's COVID-related death toll now stands at 16,571.

Since the first registered case of this infectious disease on 25 February 2020 in the country, the health authorities have diagnosed 1,206,587 cases while performing over 5.1 million tests.

So far, 1,183,487 have recovered, including 1,005 in the last 24 hours.

To date,  2,317,041 persons have received at least one shot against this infectious disease, and nearly 69% of adults have fully been vaccinated.

August 21, 2022 - Filip Hrgović beats Zhilei Zhang after a tough 12 rounds and is the new mandatory challenger for the IBF world heavyweight title. 

Filip Hrgović is the new mandatory challenger for the IBF heavyweight world champion belt. Filip won by a unanimous decision against Zhilei Zhang and thus achieved the biggest success of his career in the IBF world heavyweight title eliminator fight at The Jewel in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. 

This is only the third time that Hrgović did not end the fight with a knockout, and this was Zhang's first loss in his 26th professional appearance. So far, he had 24 wins and one draw with 19 knockouts.

The most difficult and important fight of Filip Hrgović's professional boxing career turned out to be just that. Chinese boxer Zhilei Zhang was just the kind of opponent needed in a fight that serves as the mandatory challenger for the world title, according to the IBF organization.

The challenge was thrown at the best Croatian heavyweight, who turned the fight around after losing halfway through. 

Filip didn't really get off to a bad start. He controlled the first round well and seemed to find a rhythm with Zhang at the start, and was in control until the last half minute when Zhang got a left hook. Filip then fell to the floor for the first time in his career, which resulted in losing 10:8.

Filip returned in the second part in the best possible way, but in the third, he inexplicably fell and started having big problems. He stopped being active and let Zhang take the third and fourth rounds at the expense of several good shots.

However, Zhang's fatigue was unquestionable, and in the tenth round, Hrgović had the best boxing, was dominant, and seemed to be heading for victory. Zhang came back once again in the 11th round with several good shots.

The last round belonged entirely to Hrgović, who asked for a break, but Zhang, despite his increasingly obvious fatigue, held on until the end. In the end, they both raised their hands, believing they had done enough to win.

However, according to the judges, Hrgović was better. Two judges scored 115-112, which meant that the Croatian heavyweight took eight rounds, while according to one judge, he took seven and won the fight 114-113.

All in all, a hard-fought victory as it should be for the chance to become IBF world champion. 

"This was a real war in the ring; this is for my father who died a few months ago; this is for you, Pero Hrgović, a special man! He and my beautiful wife gave me the energy to do this. Look at how beautiful she is; she's an angel, guys, be careful", said Hrgović and then added:

"It was a very tough fight, I was losing, but then in the second part, I gave it my all and hit him hard. For the last six rounds, he just stood there; I wasn't shaken at all by the knockdown. I have to be honest; he surprised me. He's better than I thought. It was a tough fight, but I think I won."

Hrgović will fight the winner of Oleksandr Usyk-Anthony Joshua for the world title.

To follow the latest sports news in Croatia, follow TCN's dedicated page.

August 21, 2022 - The fantastic week for Croatian tennis player Borna Ćorić continues as he advances to the final of the ATP Masters 1000 tournament in Cincinnati with a 6-3, 6-4 victory against British tennis player Cameron Norrie. Ćorić will play in the Cincinnati Masters final on Sunday night against Stefanos Tsitsipas.

Ćorić will thus play in the final of the Masters 1000 tournament for the second time. It happened for the first time in Shanghai in 2018, and on this occasion, he will face Greek tennis player Stefanos Tsitsipas for the Cincinnati Masters title. 

Once again this week, Ćorić was more than convincing in Cincinnati. After a great fight and victory in a difficult three sets against Rafael Nadal, Ćorić, who entered this tournament as the 152nd player in the world, beat Bautista Agut and Auger Aliassime. And now he's celebrating against the 11th player in the world.

Norrie opened the match better and took a 3-1 lead, only for Ćorić to string together five games and reach 1-0 in sets. At the same time, Ćorić won most of those five games convincingly.

In the second set, Ćorić continued to dominate in his service games. He kept the Briton at a great distance, while on the other hand, he often threatened his opponent with a break. The score was 2-2, and after that, he kept the advantage and calmly brought the match to an end. Ćorić used three of seven break chances and Norrie one of two.

"At the beginning of the match, I wasn't on the court, and I didn't feel the ball very well. But I found the right rhythm quickly, started serving better, and that was the key to victory," said Borna after the match, who scored seven aces in the victory with a first-serve percentage of only 43 percent.

In his career, the 25-year-old Ćorić won two ATP tournaments, Marrakech in 2017 and Halle in 2018. He played his last final two years ago in Saint Petersburg, and in the same year, he played his last match against Stefanos Tsitsipas at the US Open, which Ćorić won 6-7(2), 6-4, 4-6, 7-5, 7-6(4).

Sunday is a new challenge, this time for the winner of the Masters 1000 tournament in Cincinnati.

To follow the latest sports news in Croatia, follow TCN's dedicated page.

August the 21st, 2022 - As fires continue to rage across Europe, with even colder countries like the United Kingdom having been the frequent victim of what are, in that country, freak incidents involving wildfires, Croatia is no exception. According to one expert, 71% more Croatian wildfires have broken out in 2022 than back in 2021.

As Morski writes, the Croatian coast is a victim of wildfires every summer, but this year has caused concern among those who follow such situations. In an interview with HTV 4 recently, chief fire commander Slavko Tucakovic assessed this summer as having, at least so far, been quite exhausting for fire brigades, due to the large number of Croatian wildfires, prolonged periods of drought and horrifically high temperatures.

''This year we've had as many as 71 percent more fires compared to last year, and as for the burnt areas, they're 170 percent larger this year,'' he stated.

Over the last month, there were no less than 30 outdoor fires, and on one day as many as 84 Croatian wildfires were recorded. With exceptional efforts with the help of the air force, they were all brought under control very quickly. Only a couple of days ago there were 40 active Croatian wildfires raging, but the current situation is good, it's stable, calm and under control,'' assured Tucakovic, noting that this year a firefighter tragically died near Orasac close to Dubrovnik, as did a civilian on the island of Hvar. He once again called on people to follow all of the proper instructions in regard to fires.

Mines which are still sitting under the ground are also a particular problem for Croatian wildfires

When extinguishing the fires in more rural, difficult to access areas of scrubland, firefighters are worryingly still coming across remaining mines, which poses an additional, potentially extremely serious problem.

When asked whether at the end of this year's summer tourist season, someone should be held responsible for all of the problems which arose from slow canadair repairs and the like, Tucakovic replied that he can only say that a complete analysis of all of the interventions will be carried out, everything will be put down on paper and preparations for the next fire season will begin immediately. He also referred to the potentially devastating crime of arson, praising the police for doing their job very well, given the fact that a large number of criminals were discovered and dealt with this year as well.

For more, make sure to check out our dedicated lifestyle section.

August the 21st, 2022 - Only emergency vehicles and those with specially issued permits can enter Dubrovnik Old Town by car, but delivery vehicles are continuing to cause issues for the UNESCO-protected tourist Mecca.

As Morski writes, for the residents of the historic core of the Pearl of the Adriatic, the same old story is being repeated and relived almost every day. Despite the extremely clear rules for vehicles entering Dubrovnik Old Town which is shielded by exceptionally well-preserved Medieval walls, delivery vehicles constantly violate local communal rules, so the city administration has decided to put an end to this with a proven method.

In the area of ​​Ploce Gate which leads you into the walls of Dubrovnik Old Town, local municipal wardens fined the driver of delivery vehicle extremely heavily recently for illegally entering a part of the old city centre in said vehicle.

The City of Dubrovnik has since announced that the Municipal Police Department, following an event in which a delivery vehicle entered the historic centre through Ploce Gate without any of the proper authorisation to do so, turned the driver back and charged them a hefty fine of twelve thousand kuna in total.

Due to continuous violation of the city's very clearly and simply explained decision to not allow any vehicles into Dubrovnik Old Town unless they're emergency vehicles or have special permission to be there, the City of Dubrovnik will implement a passage control system by means of the lifting of pneumatic bollards at the entrance to the heart of the historic core from Ploce Gate.

The move will see the city utilise a physical barrier to prevent any would-be violators from carrying out illegal activities such as entering with a vehicle that cause communal disorder in the UNESCO-protected area of Croatia's southernmost city.

For more, make sure to check out our dedicated lifestyle section.

August the 21st, 2022 - Funds for the proper development of one of two Croatian islands of volcanic origin have now been approved. The Planet Brusnik project is likely to impress.

As Morski writes, Split-Dalmatia County approved the necessary financial resources for the Geopark Vis Archipelago, more precisely for the "Planet Brusnik" project, which should contribute to the promotion and preservation of the area's overall natural history and heritage through the creation of educational materials and a workshop on the traditional skill of dry-wall construction.

On top of all of the aforementioned, a very special tourist experience will be the sailing of workshop participants on a traditional Komi boat, as the park's management team announced.

The island of Brusnik is located about thirteen nautical miles away from the popular Komiza in the west-southwest direction. Although its area is only small, spanning a mere 0.049 square kilometres in total, Brusnik is highly specific because of its geological, natural, cultural and historical heritage. Back in 1951, it was first listed as protected as a geological monument of nature due to the magmatic origin of the rocks from which it was formed, which is a great rarity in the Adriatic Sea since the islands in these waters are mainly formed from carbonate rocks such as limestone and dolomite. The island of Brusnik and the island of Jabuka are the only Adriatic islands made from igneous rocks.

Brusnik is an island that "grows", and we can find conglomerates of pebbles all the way to the top of the island, which indicates a recent uplift of the island. Brusnik's pebbles and stones are entirely made up of grey deposits of diabase (a type of igneous rock) of various sizes that are overgrown with algae from the sea, which gives this unique place on the Adriatic an extraterrestrial colour of sorts.

In the middle of the island there is a gorge with a depression filled by the sea, which the local fishermen from nearby Komiza took advantage of and created basins with sea water out of handy larger pebbles for keeping hold of things they'd caught, including lobsters.

On Brusnik's large slope, you can see the remains of fishermen's houses built from large diabase pebbles using the dry-wall construction method which is both typical and traditional all over both mainland Dalmatia and on Dalmatian islands. Such miniature houses and shelters, once covered with pine branches from the nearby island of Sveca, served as places for salting bluefish in barrels and as shelter for fishermen from the harsh elements such as the beating sun and winds. There are several endemic species on the island, among which the most famous is the Brusnik black lizard.

The island of Brusnik otherwise belongs to the NATURA 2000 ecological network, and since back in 2019 it has been protected by the UNESCO label.

For more, make sure to check out our dedicated lifestyle section.

August the 21st, 2022 - One of the lakes at the City of Zagreb's popular Bundek park has dried up during the longest and harshest period of drought the country (and much of Europe) has experienced in a decade.

As Poslovni Dnevnik writes, the ongoing and long period of drought that has affected Croatia and the rest of Europe this summer has started to leave serious consequences on agricultural crops and other forms of greenery, and the pictures of dried up, baked sunflowers and corn from the fields of Slavonia and Baranja show that we're yet to feel the most serious consequences of this damage.

Fortunately, unlike some other European countries which quite remarkably includes the United Kingdom, famous for its rain and green land, Croatia doesn't yet have a problem with water supply, but due to low water levels in the rivers, restrictions on river traffic were introduced for safety reasons.

Croatian water levels are now at the lowest they've been over the last ten years, but the Sava River is still 40 centimetres higher (-298 cm) below the historic lowest levels in history (-338 cm) from back in 1993.

The small lake in Zagreb's popular Bundek park has almost completely dried up, and the last time such scenes were seen exactly ten years ago at the height of yet another long period of harsh drought, which lasted for as long as seventeen months.

For more, make sure to check out our dedicated lifestyle section.

August 20, 2022 - Another Špancirfest in Varaždin has kicked off. This year's is the festival's 24^th edition, and the organisers are expecting three hundred thousand visitors.

As Poslovni reports, On Friday 19^th August, the 24^th Špancirfest began in Varaždin, which is one of the longest-running Croatian summer events. Over the space of ten days, it brings more than five hundred programs, concerts, street performances, plays, dance and other contents, reports HRT.

Photo: Matija Habljak (Pixsell)

The soul of Špancirfest, which will last until August 28, are the street performers who will come to Varaždin this year from all over Europe. The street performer list is made up of mobile performers, among whom there will be drummers, costumed performers, stilt walkers, etc.

The musical part of Špancirfest will offer its audience a diverse program on four main and several smaller stages on the streets and squares of the historic core of the city. An essential part of the Festival is the theater program at Villa Bedeković.

Director of the Varaždin Tourist Board, Jelena Toth, told Hina that more than 500 different programs will be held as part of Špancirfest in the next ten days on the outdoor stage of Varaždin's historic city center. The program is diverse and expects a large number of visitors. Toth reminded that last year the official number of visitors was 230 thousand, and in 2019, before the pandemic, it was 300 thousand.

Photo: Matija Habljak (Pixsell)

"We hope that this year we can approach the figure of 300 thousand again. Of course, a lot depends on the weather. We really did our best to organise Špancirfest, to equip the space, and to design quality content", said the director of the Varaždin Tourist Board, noting that the only thing that is not within their control is the weather.

All festival programs will be held outdoors, while tickets only need to be booked for the programs at Villa Bedeković.

For more, make sure to check out our dedicated Lifestyle section.