November 13, 2019 - Dario Saric scored 18 points on Tuesday night in the Phoenix Suns' defeat to the LA Lakers, while Bojan Bogdanovic contributed 12 points to the Utah Jazz victory.

The Phoenix Suns lost to the LA Lakers 115:123 at home. Saric played 35 minutes and in that time, scored 18 points (shots in play 7/11, three-pointers 4/6), adding seven rebounds and two assists.

defense : optional pic.twitter.com/BxcTYIGaqt

— Phoenix Suns (@Suns) November 13, 2019

The Lakers were too strong for Phoenix last night, with Anthony Davis scoring 24 points with 12 rebounds, Kyle Kuzma scoring 23 points, and Le Bron James adding 19 points and 11 assists. Devin Booker was the best for the Suns with 21 points and Aaron Baynes with 20.

Utah Jazz managed to beat the Brooklyn Nets at home 119:114, even though they were behind 15 points during part of the game. Bojan Bogdanovic scored 12 points in 30 minutes on the court (shots in play 5/13, three-pointers 1/3) and added four rebounds, one assist, and one steal.

Donovan Mitchell was the game's best scorer with 30 points, and Rudy Gobert added 18 points and 15 rebounds. Kyrie Irving was the best for the Nets with 27 points.

The Philadelphia 76ers beat the Cleveland Cavaliers at 98:97 at home, and Joel Embiid scored 27 points with 16 rebounds in the win, which was his fifth double-double of the season. Embiid's dunk 13.2 seconds before the end brought Philadelphia the win.

Kevin Love and Jordan Clarkson each scored 20 points for the Cavaliers and Ante Zizic did not play. The Portland Trail Blazers lost 99-107 to the Sacramento Kings.

Mario Hezonja played 23 minutes and scored two points (shots in play 1/4, three-pointers 0/1) with three rebounds and two assists. Bogdan Bogdanovic led Sacramento with 25 points and ten assists, while Damian Lillard scored 27 points for Portland.

NBA Game Results played November 12:

Miami Heat - Detroit Pistons 117:108
Indiana Pacers - Oklahoma City Thunder 111:85
Philadelphia 76ers - Cleveland Cavaliers 98:97
Chicago Bulls - New York Knicks 120:102
Denver Nuggets - Atlanta Hawks 121:125
Phoenix Suns - Los Angeles Lakers 115:123
Utah Jazz - Brooklyn Nets 119:114
Sacramento Kings - Portland Trail Blazers 107:99

Source: HRT

To read more about sport in Croatia, follow TCN’s dedicated page. 

Croatia is one of those countries that many people seem to think is just the coast, and that that coastline is constantly calm, boiling hot, and boasts an always gentle Adriatic sea. People can be forgiven for that thought, and the same is true for many Mediterranean countries that rely heavily on tourism. Think Spain, Turkey and Greece - countries where everyone seems to make the mistake of thinking they're the lands of constant sunshine.

Croatia, for all of the gorgeous weather and seemingly endless hours of sunshine it does boast, is much more than just the coast, and there is much more to the climate of this little country than the beating rays of a harsh, dry sun and the soft lapping of a warm Adriatic.

Bura and jugo are two words that even the most clueless of foreigners will be quick to learn if they spend any time at all along the Dalmatian coast outside of summer. These winds are powerful, indiscriminate and often cause all sorts of material damage. These winds prevent even the most experienced of salty sea dogs and professional sailors from even daring to venture out to sea, and they turn the sparkling blue, usually flat Adriatic into what could be a sight from the middle of a grey, stormy Atlantic ocean within a very short period of time.

Interested to learn more about the winds that batter the Croatian coast? Click here for all you need to know about jugo, a beastly and unforgiving southeastern wind.

The winds affect the sea, and the waves that the Adriatic can produce are quite unexpected indeed. As Morski writes on the 13th of November, 2019, the record for the highest wave on the Croatian Adriatic has now been broken.

The Croatian Hydrographic Institute measured the new, record breaking wave on November the 12th, 2019 at 16:00.

This wave was recorded in the sea near Dubrovnik near the islet of Sv. Andrija. The maximum height of that wave was Hmax = 10.87 metres.

Although lighthouse keepers recorded the passage of a large wave over the top of an eleven-metre-long crane in the late 1980s, this is the first official confirmation that the highest waves on the Adriatic are recorded on this Elaphite island, which lies seven nautical miles west of Dubrovnik.

Officially, the highest Adriatic wave of 10.8 metres in height was measured in February back in 1986. That wave also occurred during an ''attack'' by stormy jugo winds.

Make sure to follow our dedicated lifestyle page for more.

As Novac writes on the 12th of November, 2019, there have never been better figures for the tourist season for the island of Vir. With 127,085 overnight stays realised in October alone, it outshone many other destinations across the country.

The total tourist turnover in overnight stays in the period from January the 1st to the end of October saw the island of Vir acheive 2,587,930 overnight stays in total, finishing in seventh place in the list of Croatia's top 10 destinations for 2019.

Dubrovnik achieved better results in October with the figure of 407,722, Zagreb with 234,703 and Split with 181,058. Zadar, Rovinj, Opatija, Poreč, Labin and Konavle remain behind Vir, Croatia's new record holder, writes Zadarski list.

Vir is also the new Croatian record holder in another statistical segment of tourist traffic monitoring, which is overnight stays realised in non-commercial accommodation, and the figures for that in October amounted to 125,216. In the same categories, Vir is the ''traditional champion'' of Croatian tourism in terms of the total figures realised so far in 2019.

The figures for October also show something else - that 98.5 percent of the tourist traffic on this island during the aforementioned period was achieved on the basis of individual traffic, which indicates an increasing number of ''weekenders'' and property owners during the post-season on the island.

In terms of sporting events, the favourable weather in October brought 127,285 overnight stays to Vir, an increase of 25.1 percent, of which 83.3 percent was generated by Croatian guests. When looking at the picture of foreign arrivals, Slovenians realised the most overnight stays, while the highest growth was recorded by guests from Germany. In addition to the Slovenians and the Germans, Austrian, Slovakian and Czech passport holders also recorded solid figures in October.

With regard to the total data so far, out of 2,587,930 overnight stays realised on Vir since the beginning of the year, 1,435,520 overnight stays were realised by domestic tourists, ie 55.5 percent of them, and 1,152,410 were realised by foreign guests, which is 44.5 percent, with total growth of four percent. The highest number of overnight stays was recorded by Slovenian citizens with 295,345 such stays acheived, followed by Germans with 223,415, followed then by Hungarians, Slovaks, Czechs, Austrians, Poles, Bosnians, Swedes and Swiss citizens.

These figures have further strengthened Vir's position, not only on the list which showcases Croatia's top 10 national destination elite, but in a general touristic sense. This positive trend has also been confirmed by the higher number of tourist arrivals in general, which was expressed in October by significant growth of 16.4 percent.

In October, 458,710 overnight stays realised by tourists were recorded at the level of Zadar County as a whole, making it the fifth Croatian county in tourist terms behind Split-Dalmatia, Dubrovnik-Neretva, Istria and Kvarner.

Make sure to follow our dedicated travel page for much more.

The island of Murter will have to wait at least a further three years for its first luxury hotel complex to be built in the Municipality of Tisno. The project's investor is Russian Aleksej Frolov.

As Novac/Dora Koretic writes on the 12th of November, 2019, back at the end of October, an investor, Aqua Relaxio, asked the Municipality of Tisno to extend its planned construction start date by three years, which, by a contract signed with Tisno back in 2014, had been defined by the end of 2019.

By that date (according to the contract) Aqua Relaxio was to start realising its 95 million euro luxury five-star luxury hotel in the Prisliga-Jazine area, where Frolov's company had purchased a land worth 30 million kuna from the Municipality of Tisno.

Their official request, which was publicly announced on the local self-government unit's website, explains that the inability to start construction from the contract was due, among other things, to the delayed process of conceptual design of the complex. The conceptual design was originally designed by an architect from nearby Šibenik, Nikola Bašić, but the investor later decided to choose architect Boris Podrecca, a Slovene-Italian architect, after Bašić apparently "could not make the necessary and required adjustments" to the design.

Therefore, Podrecca's design solution turned out to be a better concept for the investor, but, as was clarified later on in the explanation provided, its cost exceeded the budget of around 30 million euros, which is why the investor ordered a revision of the concept.

"As all of the above required additional time and because of the impossibility of obtaining concessions at the planned maritime domain intervention, as well as the impossibility of defining a concession area with the Ministry of Maritime Affairs, we were unable to obtain the relevant building permits for the request," the company's statement explained, but its director, Anastasia Petričević, didn't want to comment on it officially.

The Municipality of Tisno's Ivan Klarin has more or less confirmed the above statement, claiming that the deadline for the beginning of construction has been extended and because changes to the urban plan have to be done.

''The extension of the deadline was approved because of the illogical request that the bypass, which is to be built by the Municipality of Tisno, be included in the urban plan of the project, which has never been a practice because it's unclear why something built by a local government unit would enter the UPU of a private project. However, the municipality will comply with this request, we'll initiate a new modification of the UPU under a shortened procedure, but it will take us five to six months,'' Klarin said.

The request that pushed back the deadlines for the hotel's construction came from Šibenik-Knin County, which is run by HDZ, which of course has caused people in some circles to suspect that the extension of the deadling for the implementation of the construction of the first luxury hotel on the island is actually due to politics, because the Tisno Municipality is run by SDP.

Either way, it is more than likely that the project will not be completed in 2020 as was initially planned.

The conceptual design was presented to the councilors in Tisno back in June 2018 when the construction of a complex which will boast 80 rooms, 50 apartments and 25 luxury villas was announced. The project also included the construction of a harbour with 25 berths, and in addition to tourist facilities, the complex should also offer its guests health services such as detoxification, weight management programs and anti-stress programs.

Make sure to follow our dedicated business page for more.

November 13, 2019 - Croatia national team player Ivan Rakitic opened up about the tough times at Barcelona and losing his place in the starting lineup after five years at the club.

“They took my ball. I am sad," he said in an interview that will be released Thursday on Spanish TV Movistar. 

Coach Ernesto Valverde has left Rakitic on the bench in his last two championship games against Levante and Celta Vigo. He has appeared in ten games this season, playing just 255 minutes, which is the least by minute among Barcelona's seven midfielders.

“I understand and respect the decisions of the coach, the club, or anyone. I have given a lot during these five years at Barcelona and I want to continue to enjoy it. I'm 31, not 38, so I feel I'm at my best,” said Rakitic.

He said he was hit emotionally by being losing his place in the squad because he had been a member of the starting line-up since joining the club.

“How does my younger daughter feel when you take away her toy? She's sad. I feel the same way. They took my ball away, so I'm sad,” said the Croatian midfielder.

Rakitic has been Barcelona's most used player since Ernesto Valverde took over the team in the summer of 2017, and has won the Spanish Championship twice during those two seasons. But since the start of this season, Rakitic has only been in the starting lineup once -  and Valverde didn’t even include him in the player list for one of the games. 

“I like to show my feelings. When you need to cry, that is okay. When I need to celebrate, I celebrate, like winning the silver medal with Croatia at the 2018 World Cup,” he noted.

Valverde said last month that he had more midfielders this season than in previous seasons, and the Barcelona administration has not yet revealed anything about the situation with Rakitic, who has a contract until the summer of 2021.

Last summer, Barcelona brought in 22-year-old midfielder Frankie de Jong from Ajax for €75 million, who has played the most minutes among the midfielders in 16 games so far.

"¿Cómo se siente mi hija cuando le quitan un juguete? Triste. Yo me siento igual. Me han quitado la pelota, me siento triste".

Rakitic, el jueves 14 en #UniversoValdano pic.twitter.com/E8iQVqd0O1

— Fútbol en Movistar+ (@MovistarFutbol) November 12, 2019

Rakitic returned to Barcelona from Zagreb on Monday after attending the national team reunion. Doctors of the Croatia national team examined him and found that due to pain in his Achilles tendon, he could not play against Slovakia in the last qualifying match for the European Championships on Saturday. A source close to Rakitic said that he traveled from Barcelona to Zagreb with the pain already. 

After returning to the club, he was examined by Barcelona doctors on Tuesday, who confirmed the issue with his Achilles tendon. It is not yet known when he will be back on the pitch. 

Rakitic practiced separately from teammates at Barcelona's camp on Tuesday and was not included in the player list for a humanitarian friendly match that Barcelona will play on Wednesday in the southern city of Cartagena.

Translated from HRT

To read more about sport in Croatia, follow TCN’s dedicated page. 

ZAGREB, November 13, 2019 - Minister of Labour and Pension System Josip Aladrović said on Tuesday that he would send education-sector trade unions an invitation to a meeting to be held on Wednesday, when the government would present its final offer to union demands, adding that he hoped that after that, the strike in primary and secondary schools would end.

"I would like to say that a meeting will be held tomorrow, today we will send an invitation and we expect the unions will respond to see what the government wishes to offer," Aladrović told reporters in Government House after disgruntled union leaders said earlier in the day that they had not been called to continue negotiations with the government.

Aladrović however did not wish to reveal what the government intends to present as its final offer seeing that the unions insist on a 6.11% increase in the job complexity index in the education sector.

"I think that it would be in order to keep the offer for the meeting... We will see tomorrow if there will be any changes," he said.

He also added that the government expected the strike to end. "We expect the end of the strike considering all the increases we have offered through the basic collective agreement and through the optional increase that we offered earlier in the case that the regulation on job complexity indices is not amended."

The government has offered the unions an increase of the base wage of 6.12% next year and that it will analyse the wage system in the public sector and examine job complexity indices in primary, secondary and higher education and in science.

If the regulation on job complexity indices is not amended before 1 July next year, the government is prepared to increase the job complexity index in the education sector by 2%.

Earlier in the day, education-sector unions threatened that if the government did not send them a new offer, they would call on striking teachers to voice their opinion on the government's current proposal which the unions have referred to as "0+0."

"As far as a referendum is concerned, the unions are free to organise it if they consider it to be necessary to inform their membership of the government's proposal," said Aladrović.

With the 6.12% increase and the optional additional increase of 2% the government will have increased wages in primary and secondary schools by more than 1,400 kuna, Aladrović claimed.

"I think that from the financial aspect the government has shown good will in resolving the problem of all those employed in the public sector and state administration. I'm sorry that that has not been recognised," he added.

The continuation of the strike depends on the unions and whether they will accept the government's offer, he said.

"The strike certainly is not a good situation for students and parents. We are nearing the situation when it will be necessary to extend the school year and they certainly need to consider ending the strike. I think that the financial demands have been met and that there is no further need for the strike," Aladrović concluded.

More news about recent strikes can be found in the Business section.

ZAGREB, November 13, 2019 - The European Union and NATO are not mutually exclusive, they are complementary and Croatia has no doubts about NATO's relevance, Defence Minister Damir Krstičević said on Tuesday.

"NATO and the EU have to cooperate. They are not mutually exclusive and we always have to take their complementarity into account. NATO and the Croatian Army are the foundation of security. NATO is the largest, strongest military-political alliance and we have no doubts whatsoever about its relevance," Krstičević told reporters in Brussels when asked to comment on French President Emmanuel Macron's recent statement that NATO had experienced "brain death."

Krstičević was attending an informal meeting of EU foreign and defence ministers, the last prior to Croatia taking over the presidency of the Council of the EU.

"Croatia's presidency is a huge responsibility and a great opportunity to present our beautiful country. We are completely prepared for the presidency," Krstičević underscored and listed the topics that Croatia wishes to highlight in the area of defence.

"Those are the continuation and coherence of defence initiatives that have been launched (PESCO, CARD, European Defence Fund and Military Mobility), with emphasis on developing capabilities and strengthening cooperation between the European Union and NATO, the strengthening of the defence industry and the strengthening of the EU's efforts in Southeast Europe with regard to security and defence," said Krstičević.

More news about Croatia and NATO can be found in the Politics section.

ZAGREB, November 13, 2019 - Norway's honorary consul in Dubrovnik, Tonči Peović, has received the Royal Norwegian Order of Merit, awarded by King Harald V, for his outstanding service.

The medal and diploma were presented to him by the Norwegian ambassador to Croatia, Haakon Blankenborg, at a ceremony in Dubrovnik on Tuesday evening.

Addressing the ceremony, Peović called it a great recognition for his self-effacing work. He said he had been of service to Norwegians visiting southern Croatia and had helped them in cases of loss of documents, traffic accident, hospitalisation and even death.

"Today, relations between the two countries are very good and friendly. We share the same cultural values, and our friendship goes back to the aftermath of World War II. In the tourist season, we have a lot of Norwegians as guests, and this crisis has brought many Croatians to Norway," Peović said.

Blankenborg described Peović as "an important bridge between Norway and Croatia", saying that Norwegians were grateful for his contribution. "For us at the Embassy you are not just an honorary consul, but also an adviser. You always seek solutions and concrete results. You're not just a personification of an honorary consult, but to us Norwegians you are also an institution," the ambassador said.

Blankenborg said that the two countries cultivated excellent relations and that several thousand Norwegians visited Croatia every year.

Peović is the director of the airport on Brač island. He has served as Norway's honorary consul for Dalmatia since 2009 and as Sweden's honorary consul for Dubrovnik-Neretva County since 2015.

King Harald V awards the Royal Norwegian Order of Merit to Norwegians and foreigners abroad for outstanding service in the interests of Norway. The order was instituted in 1985.

More news about relations between Croatia and Norway can be found in the Politics section.