May 28, 2022 - Last night, a major storm in northern Croatia affected the areas of Varaždin, Čakovec, and Koprivnica, tearing down trees, public lighting, and flooding streets. The inhabitants of Varaždin, informed in advance, parked their cars in underground garages.

A new storm in the north of the country, the wind in Bukovac uprooted a tree

A strong wind accompanied by heavy rain and pea-sized hail hit the north of Croatia last night after 10 pm, reports Index.hr.

From the field, the worst was in the area of ​​Štrigova, Ludbreg, and again Veliki Bukovac, where a strong wind knocked down a tree near the NK Bukovčan playground. The hail was small, but it was pouring heavily, and the wind was strong and took some parts off the roofs of people trying to protect their homes from the damage caused by hail the size of tennis balls on Wednesday afternoon.

Varaždin residents hid cars in underground garages

In Ludbreg, citizens report that it looked as if "heaven and earth had merged", but so far there is no information about the damage. There was also a hailstorm in Gornji Međimurje, but it is not yet known if anything was damaged.

The people of Varaždin frantically hid their cars in underground garages last night for fear of hail and new damage that many suffered on Wednesday. However, apart from heavy thunder and showers, there are no reports of damage in Varaždin, and fortunately, there was no hail.

Storm in Podravina: Felled trees and lighting, flooded underpasses

The storm hit Koprivnica and the surrounding areas. At around 11:30 pm, a stormy wind and heavy rain, which in some places turned into hail and thunder, ravaged Podravina. The stormy wind destroyed trees all over the city of Koprivnica, and the heavy rain made the road impassable, reports Glas Podravine.

The aforementioned local portal states that the wind not only destroyed the trees, but also public lighting infrastructure. Underpasses, roads, and pavements were also flooded. Emergency services quickly went to the scene and cleared the roads.

The wind broke off parts of many trees and part of the roads were temporarily rendered unusable. Firefighters are still removing fallen trees from the roads. Traffic was suspended until further notice over the Koprivnica underpass, which was also totally flooded. 

In Koprivnica, 16 liters of rain per square meter fell, and in some villages, such as Torčec, even more. Emergency services are on the ground to enable the smooth flow of traffic.

For more news about Croatia, click here.

May 27, 2022 - At the first World Rowing Cup in Belgrade, the Sinković brothers secured a direct place in the semifinals with the fastest time in their group.

They were ahead of the Dutch crew by 4 seconds and the Belgian crew by 15 seconds. The semi-final race is scheduled for tomorrow at 10:25 am, and the brothers will immediately face the Poles who had the fastest time in the second qualifying group. 

"We did the first race, it was definitely not according to plan. It was a bit chaotic, in the first 500 I caught up first, then Martin so we were behind by a lot. But we said let’s fight to the end and we won. In the end, we are satisfied with the race!" said Valent Sinković.

"Nothing went according to plan, except that we won according to plan. It’s good that it happened now, not in the semifinals or the finals when we still couldn’t catch the competition. The group was a bit lighter than the others though, so we managed to get back. I hope that we will do the remaining two races the way we know, the best we can and that we will take the medal in the end!" said Martin Sinković

Sisters Ivana and Josipa Jurković took second place in the women's double sculls in the qualifying race, but it was not enough for a direct place in the finals, so they will try to win their place in the finals on Saturday morning at 9:50 in the rematch. Brothers Anton and Patrik Lončarić took fourth place in the qualifying race, and through the rematch, they managed to reach the semifinals, which are scheduled for Saturday at 10:11.

Dora Dragičević achieved the fourth time in the qualifying race and tried to reach the finals through the rematch, but she took the fourth place again with a time of 08: 12.52.

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

May 28, 2022 - Croatian boxer Luka Plantić advanced to the semifinals of the European Championships in Yerevan in the light heavyweight category up to 80 kg, thus securing at least a bronze medal!

The 25-year-old Olympian defeated Armenian Hambardzum Hakobyan 5-0 in the quarterfinals unanimously by the judges after a relentless, fierce fight in all three rounds; likely the most ferocious battle ever seen at the European Championships. In an unprecedented clash that went into three rounds and several complex exchanges of blows from both sides, Luka Plantić shook the strong, aggressive Armenian in the third round and secured a European medal and semifinal spot, reports Gol.hr.

Plantić will box in the semifinals on Sunday, May 29, in the evening program against Serbian Russian Artyom Ageyev.

Luka defeated great fighters from Georgia and Armenia in Yerevan. Until the semifinals, the Russian Ageyev, who fights under the Serbian flag, eliminated Pole Goinski, then the first seed Spaniard Yalidov, and in the quarterfinals, Bulgarian Nikolov. The Russian is an excellent technician; he moves great and hits as a counterpuncher. He is one of many Russian boxers on the Serbian national team led by Russian coaches at the European Championships in Yerevan.

Last year, Luka Plantić competed at the Olympics and was one step closer to the quarterfinals at the Olympic Games in Tokyo, as well as at the World Championships in Belgrade - he lost both fights by close, dubious decisions of the referees.

The Sesvete native and member of BK Salona from Solin has so far been the world runner-up in the junior seniors (2014), and in the same year, he won a bronze medal at the Youth Olympic Games in China.

Filip Hrgović won the last medal for Croatia at the European Senior Boxing Championships in 2015.

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

May the 28th, 2022 - Croatian olive oil's top quality is recognised throughout the world and has won countless awards in numerous prestigious international competitions. Croatian olive oil has once again wowed in the Big Apple, with Croatia being placed third in terms of the quality of its much loved produce.

As Poslovni Dnevnik writes, at the recently held New York International Olive Oil Competition, NYIOOC World, Croatia came in third place in terms of the number of medals won, right after Italy and Spain, as reported by Maslina/Olive.

Croatia has outdone itself when it comes to its olive oil yet again by coming third, as last year the country came fourth in this, the largest and most prestigious olive oil competition held in Manhattan, right in the middle of New York, Croatian olive oil also overtook the USA, leaving the Americans in 4th place.

In addition, Croatia is the best in terms of the percentage of success of its reported olive oils. Out of 112 registered samples from across Croatia, 96 of them received medals, representing 86 percent of success, and this is by far the best performance of olive oil from all countries that registered more than 40 of their samples.

Croatian olive oils won a total of 96 medals, of which 66 were gold and 27 were silver. Dalmatian olive growers won the most medals for the Republic of Croatia with their oils - a total of 55 medals.

Admittedly, the highest number of gold medals for Croatia was won, unsurprisingly, by the Istrians this year. Last year the Dalmatians took that place. The Dalmatians won 29 gold medals, while the Istrians took home 37.

Olive growers from Zadar County won a total of 11 awards, of which seven were gold medals and four were silver. Gold: Lepur (2), Bovan, Plastic, Lalin, Vulin and Morovic. Silver: Dr. Vlatkovic (2), Skopic and OP-Ko-milfa.

Olive oils from all over the world competed in this New York competition, and a total of 543 gold and 257 silver medals were awarded globally.

In terms of the number of medals won, Italy came first place with 158 medals, followed by Spain with a total of 128 medals, Croatia took third place with 96 medals, the United States came in fourth place with 94 medals and Greece landed fifth place.

For more, check out Made in Croatia.

May the 28th, 2022 - Hrvatska postanska banka has celebrated thirty long and successful years of operations with the acquisition of a brand new bank, Nova hrvatska banka (New Croatian bank).

As Poslovni Dnevnik writes, the celebration of 30 years of Hrvatska postanka banka's operations comes after a record 2021 in which the bank achieved the best net profit in history in the amount of 202 million kuna, asset growth increased to a massive 27.9 billion kuna, and it enjoyed a capital adequacy ratio of 25.7 percent.

“At Hrvatska postanska banka, we have many reasons to celebrate, in addition to achieving the best business results in history, we've got a new member within our group, Nova hrvatska banka, which is now stabilised and operating successfully. After a successful 30 years of doing business, we're continuing to strongly build the development path of the bank, providing significant support to the economic recovery of the country,'' said Marko Badurina, President of the Management Board of HPB.

The recently held celebration was also attended by Prime Minister Andrej Plenkovic, who said that he congratulated Hrvatska postanska banka on everything they had done for the Croatian banking system, especially in terms of the bank's distribution, which is very accessible to Croats today. The Prime Minister emphasised the exceptional readiness of Hrvatska postanska banka to integrate Nova hrvatska banka, along with the approach of the Croatian Government and the Croatian National Bank.

Hrvatska postanska banka was first founded in October 1991 with its headquarters in the City of Zagreb, and throughout a history full of milestones, it has continuously strengthened its market presence. It established its first branch in Split in 2003, when the network began to expand rapidly throughout the country, and its presence in Dalmatia was further strengthened by the successful merger of Jadranska banka back in 2019.

With a strong step towards digitalisation which began back in 2014, Hrvatska postanska banka will soon become a leader in digital trends. It was the first in all of Croatia to introduce access to the e-Citizens (e-Gradjani) platform, biometrics for logging in to mobile banking, enabling online account opening, cash withdrawal at ATMs with mobile phones. Thanks to its own network and a partner network of about 1,000 Croatian Post offices, today it is the most accessible bank in all of Croatia.

Hrvatska postanska banka marked its three decades of work in the Republic of Croatia with specially designed activities and socially responsible projects, and it also realised the video series which deals with financial education entitled ''HPB for financial literacy'', which will continue throughout 2022. Continuing the focus on sustainable business and the well-being of the community and its customers remains one of HPB's priority goals for this year.

For more, check out our business section.

May the 28th, 2022 - HBOR is set to facilitate favourable lending to investments through new HBOR loans from the Croatian recovery and resilience funds (Croatian: NPOO).

As Poslovni Dnevnik writes, as part of the National Recovery and Resilience Plan (NPOO), HBOR has started implementing financial instruments that enable extremely favourable lending terms for investments of both private and public sector entities - with interest rates of 0.4 percent or interest rate subsidies of up to 75 percent.

Direct loans with an interest rate of as little as 0.4 percent

Direct loans from NPOO funds will be available to start-up companies (who have been in business for up to 3 years in total), young companies (up to 40 years), companies owned and/or managed by women, enterprises investing in special areas of the Republic of Croatia (assisted areas according to the development index, mountainous areas and islands) and enterprises investing in the commercialisation of research, development and innovation-based projects (RDI projects).

The interest rate for favourable HBOR loans to projects that are mostly focused on green or digital transition and the commercialisation of RDI projects will be a mere 0.4 percent per year, while the interest rate for other investments in competitiveness and resilience will be 0.8 percent per year. Loans will be approved without a fee for processing the request and without a fee for reserving the funds, with a a repayment period of up to 15 years, which includes the possibility of using a grace period of up to 3 years.

Up to 75 percent lower interest rate on existing HBOR programmes

HBOR loans will enable a significant reduction in interest rates for businesses of all sizes in both the Croatian private and public sectors within its existing investment financing programmes: Private Sector Investments, Public Sector Investments and Youth Entrepreneurship, Women and Beginners.

For investments in green or digital transition projects, the interest rate for the borrower can be reduced by up to 75 percent; for investments in special areas of the Republic of Croatia, including public sector investments in earthquake recovery, and investments in RDI projects up to 65 percent, and for other investments that increase competitiveness and resilience - up to 50 percent.

For example, the interest rate for a user of a direct HBOR loan who invests in the green transition project of his manufacturing company under the Private Sector Investment Programme would be 0.375 percent, instead of the current 1.5 percent. This interest rate can be further reduced depending on the area of ​​investment (thanks to subsidies from individual LRUs) and if the company employs a person under 30 years of age.

When HBOR loans are approved by a commercial bank or leasing company, the interest rate it sets for each project is reduced in the same way, thus providing enterprises with a significant reduction in interest rates. Loans from commercial banks and placements of leasing companies with a subsidy from NPOO funds will be available after concluding an appropriate agreement between HBOR and commercial banks, ie leasing companies, and until then, interested parties can apply for loans directly to HBOR.

The total value of these financial instruments, the implementation of which HBOR started, amounts to a massive 1.1 billion kuna. The goal of the financial instruments that HBOR will implement is to encourage the strengthening of investment activity, but also to enable a successful transition to green and digital technologies as the basis for the future sustainability and competitiveness of the Croatian economy as a whole.

Any project that uses NPOO funds through HBOR loans must meet the principles of non-significant damage to environmental objectives (Do No Significant Harm) in terms of excluding ineligible activities, sustainability testing and comply with relevant EU legislation. More details as well as the questionnaire that must be filled out when applying for a loan can be found on HBOR's website.

For more, check out our business section.

May the 28th, 2022 - The residents of Komiza have finally been invited to the public presentation of the new and rather controversial Bisevo hotel, which has attracted reactions across the spectrum from locals.

As Morski writes, a series of controversies has been connected with the project of building a new hotel in Komiza, which resulted a real wave of dissatisfaction among locals, but also from regular guests of this picturesque fishing village on the gorgeous island of Vis.

What exactly is planned to be built, as well as all of the details, should finally be revealed at the public presentation of the project which will take place on Sunday, at 10:00 in the "Boris Mardesić" gallery in Komiza.

The public has been struggling to come across any real details surrounding the Bisevo hotel project, which caused a real storm among the people of the west side of the island of Vis. The initial plan was to build a hotel with 700 beds, which caused justified fears that the communal and traffic infrastructure of this small town with a little more than a thousand inhabitants, wouldn't be able to cope with it.

Then new information came out that the President of the City Council, Edo Bogdanovic, was also the director of Modra spilja d.d., ie a representative of an investor who intends to invest in the new hotel, which has raised the issue of conflict of interest. He said in several media appearances that he didn't see anything controversial in what he was doing.

Then, the investor of the new hotel sued the representative of the civil initiative (SVEZAK) for posting on Facebook regarding the construction of the new Bisevo hotel, so another local group sued Mayor Tonka Maroevic and City Council President Edo Bogdanovic.

After that, the local political party MOVI SE - Nezavisna lista/Independent list Komiza announced that the investor had given up his intention to build a hotel with 700 beds and that he had lowered that number down to 450. 

Then the story began to circulate in the public that Bogdanovic gave the founder of the Independent List MOVI SE attractive space on the waterfront for a restaurant in order to stop his name being withdrawn from the media, which was denied. All in all, there has been a lot of back and forth surrounding the mysterious Bisevo hotel's construction.

In any case, Komiza's locals are eagerly awaiting much more detailed information about the project that awakened many dormant resident spirits, but also raised a number of questions to which the general public has not yet received any clear answers.

For more, check out our business section.

May 27, 2022 - Defending champions KK Zadar overcome home-court disadvantage and come back from behind to win the final game of this year's semifinal series 2:1.

Entering tonight's game both teams had won their home games clearly. Split had opened last Friday with a 74:64 (39:33) victory and Zadar answered with 76:57 (34:36) on Monday to tie the series and enforce today's decisive final encounter. 

The guests had to deal with internal problems during the last days after the police and justice system needed to get involved at the request of board members claiming that management was involved in embezzlement. The hosts were able to celebrate Shannon Shorter receiving the ABA League Top Scorer award last night. 

The 2000 spectators at Gripe saw a proper derby fight in which the Yellows for most of the game looked like they would win this one tonight. In the beginning, it was Zadar who had the better start. It took some time until close to the end of the first quarter before Split conquered its first lead at 16:14 but Zadar closed the quarter with the final points to make it 16:17.

During the second quarter, Jones had an impact with two blocked shots and 4 points from well-executed pick and rolls with Shorter. Ukić came off the bench and also took over more responsibility. The former NBA player scored 10 points and together with some strong effort by Jukić, the home team pulled away to a 36:31 lead at halftime.

Lots of drama then in quarter 3: Split was about to pull away in the race at 47:37 when two fouls against Žganec were not called by the referees, but his unlucky foul as a response was called an intentional one as it stopped a potential fast break. During the following discussion between coaches, players, and referees, a technical foul was issued against the Split bench and Zadar immediately came back to 47:43 and then to 47:45 before recovered Toni Perković gave short relief with a 3 pointer which was directly followed by a 3 from Drežnjak (50:48), an offensive rebound and Drežnjak's 50:50. A foul on Ukić who successfully finished his lay-up lit the gym on fire. Srđan Subotić's Yellows closed the quarter at 62:59 and then recovered their 10-point lead at 67:57 with 7 minutes left to play. 

The summer break will probably not be long enough to analyse what happened next. Even though a 10-point lead is not considered much, it is still a lead that a home team in a decisive game should manage to hold on to. But Split couldn't and it was the players with the blue jerseys once again who managed to celebrate as so often this season. 

Srđan Hellbich's team (top sorters scorers: Thompson 23 points Mavra 18, Drežnjak 14, Carter 13) will now have a chance to defend their title against Cibona Zagreb in a best of 5 series which will begin on Monday in Zagreb. 

Result by quarters: 16:17, 36:31, 62:59, 77:84

Referees: Jovović Alfred, Hadžić Denis, Kruljac Bojan

Boxscore: https://fibalivestats.dcd.shared.geniussports.com/u/HKS/2097197/bs.html 

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