Every day, we're witnesses to injustice in Croatia, but there are still some people who make positive changes. One of them is Bozidar Novoselec and his team in the Sracinec Municipality. But, what they got in return is a pure reflection of envy, also known locally as "zagorski jal".

As Varazdinske vijesti reports on the 6th of March, 2020, a few years ago, municipalities had to pay water management fees at the expense of Croatian Waters (Hrvatske vode). This increased the amount paid by households by about 200 percent, and of course, it happened that some households belonging to socially disadvantaged locals could no longer pay for it. More and more unpaid bills meant potentially more foreclosures on the most economically vulnerable locals of Sracinec and Svibovac Podravski.

And that is where the so-called crime of the Sracinec Municipality and the mayor is hidden - they didn't immediately send the ''debtors'' foreclosures. Because of this, they now have to pay high fines. Bozidar Novoselec has been charged with a fine of 40,000 kuna, and the Municipality of Sracinec has been hit with a 200,000 kuna fine.

"We in the Municipality of Sracinec are neither robots nor bureaucrats; we've been chosen by our locals, we're at their service and we're here to help. As soon as we saw the payment slips that we, as the Municipality, were forced to send to households, it was clear to us that a large number of payment slips would remain unpaid. We're well aware of all of the households facing financial difficulties, we know of many older men and women who live alone and can barely make enough money for food. By sending foreclosures to these people, their survival would be jeopardised. Every year, we help people when they're cut off from electricity or gas, we distribute assistance to retirees, and it's important to know that social welfare is not the responsibility of the Municipality but of the state. We all know what foreclosure means - this means that the obligation to pay a hundred kuna bill can increase to 1,000 kuna for a bailiff. According to the interpretation of the law, we should have sent foreclosures to all locals who owed money. We didn't want to do that. I can only say that the verdict is based on the law, but it isn't based on justice,'' stated Novoselec.

You're probably now rightly thinking, who would sue a man who helps poor people who can barely survive on their low wages or pensions? Novoselec explains: "The municipality and myself were reported by one individual for not sending out any foreclosures to his fellow citizens. A misdemeanor charge has been filed, and the court has now imposed these draconian sentences [on us]. Unfortunately, due to the personal political ambitions of an opposition municipal councillor, who should be primarily aiming to help the residents of the municipality, we'll be forced to send out foreclosures in regard to any bill that hasn't been paid within the stipulated time. This is absolutely unacceptable to me, given the times we live in.''

Isn't it interesting how much some people are indebted due to their ''need'' to live a luxury life, and no attention whatsoever is given to them? Yet when someone does a good deed to those who actually are in need, other people can't wait to find a way to criminalise it and punish them.

Follow our dedicated politics page for more.

As Poslovni Dnevnik/Bernard Ivezic writes on the 7th of March, 2020, the success of the Miret startup via the Kickstarter campaign is significant if one knows that in one single day, it reached the level of turnover serious players and companies in that industry enjoy, with one third of its sales coming from exports.

It is a well known fact that startups in Croatia, as well as their respective successes, are mostly related to technological products, therefore it came as somewhat of a surprise when the Croatian Miret startup did things differently. It was on Kickstarter, the globally dominant crowdfunding platform, that this domestic company closed the largest sale of running shoes ever produced.

In one day, the Miret startup sold shoes in the amount of a quarter of a million kuna. In three days, it is expected that they will sell them for more than 50,000 euros, and the campaign on Kickstarter will last for a whole month.

The success of the Miret startup is interesting for many reasons, and the reasons for the level of interest isn't exclusive solely to startups, but also to much larger companies in Croatia, especially those looking for ways to expand their sales abroad. The first and obvious reason that makes the Miret startup and its campaign interesting is the initial sales volume.

A relatively new brand of Croatian-made trainers, Miret, which lacks the logistics of larger, more experienced players, has managed to reach the daily sales of far larger players in its industry.

Another thing that makes the Miret startup interesting is that in one single day, it immediately raised its share of its foreign sales to 30-40 percent. Namely, after Croatia, the next largest number of supporters, and consequently buyers of these Croatian shoes, come from the USA, Slovenia, Germany and Austria.

Supporters from Belgium, the Netherlands, Australia, Bosnia and Herzegovina and Canada are also represented in larger numbers. There are more reasons still. The Miret startup's shoes are not low-priced merchandise. Premium trainer brands in Croatia sell for an average price of 400 to 800 kuna, and often more.

Miret's trainers, which include a Croatian design brand, cost around 570 kuna (85 US dollars), and the Kickstarter campaign just showed that there are people who consider that a very affordable price. Miret produces trainers made from natural materials such as hemp, flax, corn, eucalyptus and wool. In total, they claim that as much as 97 percent of the material in the trainers are natural, making these shoes among the most environmentally friendly in the entire world.

In addition, after three years, the Miret startup's trainers will have almost completely broken down when used for compost. The owners of the Miret startup are brothers Domagoj and Hrvoje Boljar, for whom this is a continuation of the family footwear business, in which they have had their fair share of ups and downs.

Their entry onto the market, and thus the Kickstarter campaign, is in line with the trend of a growing demand for organic products.

The trainer industry is very ''dirty'' when it comes to the environment. The main problem is plastic, both due to the intensive use of petroleum products in the production of the shoes, and due to the fact that they tend to be non-degradable.

As many as sixteen million tonnes of non-degradable footwear end up in the sea annually, and despite the warnings, the problem of waste accumulation in the seas hasn't really been reduced. In 1950, it was estimated that 2 million tonnes of plastic had been dumped in the sea, and today an average of 400 million tonnes per year continues to be thrown into the sea.

Up until now, the level of success we've seen from the Miret startup has generally been experienced solely by technological products on Kickstarter, making what the Miret startup has managed to acheive something special indeed.

Make sure to follow our dedicated business and Made in Croatia pages for much more.

As Novac/Barbara Ban writes on the 6th of March, 2020, behind the name T \ 'n \' D Web hides a young maths and computer science duo - Toni Borina and Damir Numic-Mesa, Croatian students. These two outstanding graduates from Pula High School facilitated the easier work of their professors, as well as their colleagues at the school, with their project, marking another incredible piece of innovation made in Croatia.

Working together with the mentorship of Professor Nikola Vujacic, in a mere two months, the students created a web application within the project "School in the Palm of your Hand", which has already come to life among high school students across Pula.

The Croatian students' product has only been ''out'' for a month, and it is already widely used by professors and students because it provides them with the necessary information about the school's schedule and free classrooms in a very simple way. It can also be used to send SMS messages to inform people of all the important things that are happening in the school.

''School in the Palm of your Hand'' is a project consisting of four websites that make it easier for students and professors in their every day ''school lives''. The app can be used to create approvals for extracurricular activities, for example. There is also an interactive school schedule that can be used to search for schedules by professor, classroom, class and subject, and you can also choose to search for schedules in free classrooms that are available for a lecture,'' explains Damir.

He says that in conjunction with the technology giant from Vodnjan, Infobip, they also created an SMS notification system that allows students to easily send messages.

''This system may, for example, be used by the headmaster to inform students about the absence of a professor and who is giving a lecture or the like, which students wouldn't otherwise be able to find out. At the same time, there is a fourth webpage within the app, the Search Encyclopedia, expressed through the Google Custom Search platform, which allows you to search for specific terms or pages,'' the student says.

The application is available on the Internet at www.skolanadlanu.hr and can also be downloaded on mobile phones. Consideration is also being given to having it placed on the Google Play Store. Toni explains that the Croatian students came up with this idea because their school is big and it often happens that students waste a lot of time finding, for example, one of the professors they need.

''Often there was confusion about the replacements of professors, so we'd not know if there would be substitutes and who would hold our classes,'' says Toni, who has been working with Damir since the beginning of their high school days.

The app is yet another example of innovation not only made in Croatia, but made by Croatian students, and has been in use since February the 7th, 2020.

''It took us two months to complete the project, and the learning of programming languages alone ​​took place as part of a one-year workshop conducted Istria County's Technical Culture Community. The process of learning programming languages ​​has been a long one, in fact, you're constantly learning because you can never actually know everything, and then you start working slowly. We really worked hard on the application every day,'' Damir notes.

They say that they have tested it out on their colleagues, but also that they are constantly improving it.

''Applications should always be improved. For example, we noticed that the search was slow, so we sped it up,'' Toni points out.

Otherwise, the application, after being developed, was submitted to the county IT and software development competition, where it rightly earned 95 percentage points and won first place, and later it was submitted to a national competition, where the project was rated at 61.5 percent points. But for these young IT creatives who would like to enroll in Zagreb's FER after high school, this isn't the first project of its kind. During the last school year, they tried to programme another platform to help the school.

''Eight icons - The first project we did, was part of a larger team of eight students. The result of this project can be seen at the entrance to our school, at the info point. It has eight icons that make it easy to notify and display current information about school activities, schedules, and more. It's a little bit like this app,'' Damir tells us.

Also interesting was the students' collaboration with the wildly successful Infobip, which came about because some former high school students from Pula also work there.

''We needed the equipment and that's how we started working with Infobip. For example, they bought us computers for the library and donated some of their old equipment to us. Then we decided it would be good for the students to see how that company functions. And so it all started. Then it spread to other schools, but we were the pioneers in this,'' says the students' mentor, Vujacic.

For more applications, products and innovation made in Croatia, follow our dedicated Made in Croatia page.

A more digital Croatia is on the horizon and a farewell to taking entire days off work to wait in pointless queues only to be told incorrect information by a poorly trained clerk could be closer than ever. The Croatian Pension Insurance Institute (HZMO) is another Croatian institution set to place a great big ''E'' in front of its services, and it can't happen soon enough.

As Poslovni Dnevnik/Suzana Varosanec writes on the 7th of March, 2020, the tender for the first two phases of the digitisation of HZMO is now over, and the tender(s) for the following two phases is expected in the last quarter of this year.

The project, named the Modernisation of ICT Support of the Croatian Pension Insurance Institute (HZMO) - or eHZMO, according to director Ivan Serdar, is one of the largest in the entire history of the institution, which truly isn't difficult to believe.

The Institute uses all available tools and channels in its communication, but it still uses traditional methods far more often than it uses modern ones.

''The Institute's large daily data processing system, which continuously caters to more than 1.5 million insured persons, more than 1.2 million pension beneficiaries and more than 150 thousand child allowance users (for more than 300 thousand children), requires modern information and communication technologies. That's why we launched the project and the EU recognised it by awarding more than 144 million kuna in grants for it,'' says Serdar.

The restructuring of HZMO's administration is a necessary step in the points of order launched by this project, especially since some processes date from the early 1980's and rely heavily on the concept of paper documents circulation, which is incredibly embarrassing when application solutions should absolutely cover the paper process exclusively in this day and age.

Unfortunately, the same can be said for the majority of institutions operating within the Republic of Croatia and that is why a digital Croatia that can drag the country into the 21st century is desperately needed. The country holding the rotating EU Presidency asking people for stamps and to take numbers and wait in line? It's more than just a little bit shameful.

As previously stated, the tenders for the first two phases of the project have now been completed and the evaluation of the submitted bids is currently in progress, but for the second two phases - which regards the implementation of the new IT system to cope with basic and support processes, the announcement is expected in the last quarter of 2020 and 145.3 million kuna has been secured for it.

Strengthening efficiency

The project, which is to be officially announced next week, claims to have a significant impact on the efficiency of internal IT processes, which will consequently significantly increase the quality of service to all users. “In layman's terms, it will reduce paperwork and red tape for users in exercising their rights through new and improved e-services.

It will then fully digitise the processes and all of the documentation, and by digitising, HZMO will transform existing processes and rearrange them so that the same or better results are achieved in a much more efficient way.

While it's rather embarrassing that so many processes and procedures in Croatia aren't digitised, it's great to see that a digital Croatia now appears to be closer to reality than it ever has been before.

Make sure to follow our dedicated lifestyle page for more on digital Croatia.

March 7, 2020 - Dario Saric achieved his best offensive game of the season in the 127-117 Phoenix Suns' home win against the Portland Trail Blazers.

Croatian basketball player Dario Saric recorded the best performance of the season for points in the 127-117 Phoenix Suns home win against the Portland Trail Blazers, scoring 24 points in 38:05 minutes on the court (two-pointers 7/9, three-pointers 2/4, free throws 4/5) and also recorded eight rebounds, three steals, and one block.

Saric's best offensive performance so far was the 23 points he scored against Atlanta on November 14 last year.

The Suns dominated the entire game, leading from the first to the last minute, and in the third quarter had the most significant 26-point advantage. 

SUPER DARIO

24PTS, 7REB, 3STLS pic.twitter.com/4QPZjlpUEA

— Phoenix Suns (@Suns) March 7, 2020

The Suns were led by Aaron Baynes with 37 points and 16 rebounds, while Devin Booker added 23 points and 12 assists.

Mario Hezonja was given a chance for Portland and scored three points in 13:03 minutes on the court (two-pointers 0/1, three-pointers 1/1 shot) with three assists and one block. The guests were led by three players who scored over 20 points - CJ McCollum with 25 points, Damian Lillard with 24 points, and Hassan Whiteside with 23 points and 20 rebounds.

Bojan Bogdanovic didn't have the best night in Boston, but the Utah Jazz still beat the Celtics 99-94. In 25:49 minutes on the court, Bogdanovic scored just eight points (two-pointers 1/4, three-pointers 1/5, free throws 3/3) with four rebounds and one assist. Bogdanovic and Mitchell, who scored only 11 points, were offset by Mike Conley, who scored 25 for the Jazz, while the Celtics, without Jaylen Brown and Gordon Hayward, can thank Marcus Smart, who scored 29 points on his 26th birthday. 

20-year-old Luka Samanic made his NBA debut on Friday, spending exactly 12 minutes on the court in the 120-139 San Antonio Spurs loss to the Brooklyn Nets. Samanic missed all four shots but recorded two rebounds and three assists. Samanic got a chance in Brooklyn since Spurs coach Gregg Popovich could not count on LaMarcus Aldridge, Marc Belinelli and Jacob Poeltl.

The Nets won thanks to the triple-double by Caris LeVert, who scored 27 points with 11 rebounds and 10 assists, while DeMar DeRozan, with 24 rebounds, was the best for the Spurs.

Source: Gol.hr

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

March 7, 2020 - The Esplanade Zagreb Hotel hosted a gala dinner to present the third edition of the prestigious gastronomic guide Gault & Millau Croatia.

HRTurizam reports that this event brought together a large number of Croatian chefs, top professionals, and gastronomy enthusiasts. The highlight of the evening was the prestigious culinary trophies by which Gault & MillauCroatia awards to the best chefs whose work recognizes the guide's motto - "Luxury is in the quality, not in the price."

The Gault & Millau Croatia 2020 gastronomic guide is the most comprehensive to date, featuring 202 restaurants, 82 POP restaurants, 101 wines, and 20 hotels.

"Gault & Millau is one of the two most prestigious international gastronomic guides and represents the Croatian gastronomic scene on the international stage, making Croatia a desirable food & wine destination," said Ingrid Badurina Danielsson, Director of Gault & Millau Croatia.

The 'Chef of the Year' by choice of Gault & Millau Croatia 2020 is Danijel Đekić of Monte restaurant in Rovinj.

Sandra and Dane Tahirović from Zora Bila in Split and Robert Benzia from Ganeum in Lovran won the 'Grand Chef of Tomorrow 2020' trophy. The 'Chef of Traditional Cuisine 2020' trophy was won by Silvija Horak from Terbotz in Štrigova and Tvrtko Šakota from Nav in Zagreb. The 'Young Talent 2020' trophy was won by Floriana Ruzic of the San Rocco restaurant in Brtonigla and Matija Jagic of the Brokenships Bistro in Zagreb. Dubrovnik Buffet Kamenica was awarded the 'Best POP 2020' trophy.

This year also featured a new trophy ‘Šef sale 2020’, which was won by Dragutin Majsak from Vinodol in Zagreb. One of the best ambassadors of Croatian pastry, Dragica Lukin of Villa Soši in Umag, received special recognition for her achievements in promoting Croatian gastronomy and pastry. 360 from Dubrovnik, Monte from Rovinj, Laganini from Palmižana and Sibenik Pelegrini were named the best restaurants.

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

ZAGREB, March 7, 2020 - The European Union supports the agreement on ceasefire in Syria and on the de-escalation of the situation with migrants on the Greek-Turkish border, Prime Minister Andrej Plenković says on his Twitter account after he contacted top EU officials and the Turkish President on the phone on Friday.

After the telephone conversations with European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, European Council President Charles Michel as well as President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, the prime minister of Croatia, the current holder of the EU presidency, tweeted that "we support the agreed ceasefire in Syria and de-escalation of the situation with migrants along the Greek-Turkish border."

Thousands of migrants and refugees are trying to enter the EU after Turkey's claim that its border with Europe is open.

The latest developments prompted the EU Foreign Affairs Council, which was convened in Zagreb on Friday, to adopt a statement on the crisis in Idlib and the situation at the EU external borders.

The statement reads that the Council "acknowledges the increased migratory burden and risks Turkey is facing on its territory and the substantial efforts it has made in hosting 3,7 million migrants and refugees."

"The Council also strongly rejects Turkey's use of migratory pressure for political purposes and restates that the EU and its member states remain determined to effectively protect EU’s external borders, in accordance with EU and international law.

"In this context the Council reiterates the EU's full solidarity with Greece, which faces an unprecedented situation, as well as with Bulgaria, Cyprus and other member states in their efforts to manage the EU's external borders," reads the statement.

Acknowledging Turkey's efforts to stop a migrant wave in 2015, the Croatian Presidency of the Council of the EU calls on Ankara to honour the 2016 agreement.

Addressing the Council in Zagreb earlier on Friday, PM Plenković said the migrants who had arrived at the Greek border in the past few days should return to Turkey.

We think that's the most appropriate option. They are not people who came because of the current situation in Idlib but people who have been in Turkey for several years, he added.

"On Idlib, the Council notes that the recent and continuing offensive by the Syrian regime and its backers, including Russia, is creating untold human suffering and has provoked the worst humanitarian crisis since the beginning of the Syrian conflict," the EU Council says in its statement.

"The Council therefore calls for an urgent de-escalation of the conflict in Syria in order to avert a slide into international military confrontation, and prevent further suffering.

"The Council notes the outcome of the Russia-Turkey meeting yesterday in Moscow and reiterates, in the strongest possible terms, its call on all parties to keep in place an immediate and a sustainable ceasefire, to guarantee the protection of civilians on the ground and from the air and to enable the unhindered delivery of humanitarian assistance by the international community," reads the Zagreb statement.

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

ZAGREB, March 7, 2020 - The European Space Agency (ESA) is counting on Croatia, Head of ESA Brussels Office, Michel Praet said at the end of a two-day workshop - "Space Powering Green Deal and Digital Economy" held at the Zagreb University Faculty of Engineering and Computing.

The two-day workshop on using space technology in collecting data on climate change was organised jointly with the Faculty, the European Space Agency and Croatia's Ministry of Science and Education and was held under the auspices of Croatia's presidency of the Council of the European Union.

The idea behind the workshop was to highlight the importance of space technology in the development of various industrial branches and it attracted leading Croatian and European researchers and entrepreneurs who, thanks to cooperation with ESA, have managed to launch and maintain successful companies.

Praet stated that he was honoured to work for the agency which has the ambition of using know-how in resolving problems and he believes that ESA is a fantastic tool in that regard. That is why, he added, he is proud that Croatia signed an agreement in 2018 to join the ESA and he is certain that Croatia can profit from Europe's space policy. That Cooperation Agreement with ESA signed on 19 February 2018, enables Croatia and ESA to create the framework for a more intensive and concrete cooperation related to ESA programmes and activities.

Science Ministry State Secretary Tome Antičić said that he was certain of good future cooperation between ESA and Croatia and that if Zagreb used that opportunity for cooperation, that can help the country to be much more successful.

More science news can be found in the Lifestyle section.