March 4, 2020 - The Golden State Warriors made an incredible comeback to celebrate 116:100 against the Denver Nuggets. Dragan Bender left a positive mark on the team and coach in his final contracted game with the Warriors. 

Gol.hr reports that Dragan Bender played his most effective game this season after he recently signed a ten-day contract with the Golden State Warriors. In a turnaround against Denver, Bender recorded 14 points, five rebounds and two assists, and shots in play percentage of 55.6 percent.

The former fourth NBA draft pick thus likely bought himself another ten-day contract, and possibly a chance to stay with the Warriors for the rest of the season. If you ask coach Golden State coach, Steve Kerr, he would absolutely give Bender at least ten more days.

''I'd love to give him another ten days,” Kerr said after the game.

This was the final day of Dragan Bender’s first 10-day contract. Steve Kerr: “I’d love to give him another 10 days.” pic.twitter.com/qNBYDo4vSl

— Anthony Slater (@anthonyVslater) March 4, 2020

After three very disappointing years in Phoenix, Bender's NBA career looked like it might be over by the age of 21. However, he did get a chance with the Bucks, who signed him for two years. However, Bender didn't manage to stay there for long and played only seven games, averaging 3.7 points and 2.9 rebounds in 13 minutes on the court.

Milwaukee had bigger ambitions than to develop Bender, who still failed to prove himself to coach Mike Budenholzer. The Bucks picked up veteran Marvin Williams, who they needed to make the playoffs. In order to get Williams, they had to give up one player on the roster.

Less than two weeks later, Bender was signed by the Warriors, where he got a chance to play 23.4 minutes per game and somehow made an impression on coach Kerr. Kerr gave Bender a chance in the starting five in three of the five games, but he delivered the best off the bench. He is currently averaging 6.2 points and 6.6 rebounds.

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

March 4, 2020 - At the Croatian Tourism Ministry, Minister Gari Cappelli and his associates received representatives of the tourism sector (representatives of hoteliers, travel agencies, small family hotels, Croatian Chamber of Trades and Crafts and Tourism) to coordinate and transmit the most important information related to coronavirus and its impact on the tourism sector in Croatia.

HRTurizam reports that sector representatives reported on the situation in their fields of activity, while the Ministry of Tourism provided relevant information on procedures within its scope and at the level of state institutions.

At the meeting, it was emphasized that the situation in the tourism sector, with precautions taken and the current stagnation, which in these situations is normal and worrying, is optimistic and there is a high level of confidence on both sides. Equally, it was emphasized that the work of the Croatian Civil Protection Headquarters in Europe was praised as an example of good organization and action and will be taken over by other countries.

Also, it was concluded that in this situation, the most important is the coordinated action of the public and private sector in order to transfer information in a timely and accurate manner, the Croatian Tourism Ministry points out.

“The Government of the Republic of Croatia is aware of the importance of the tourism sector for the overall economy, which is why it is important for the Ministry of Tourism to receive information from the private tourism sector in accordance with which we will be able to take appropriate measures at the Government level and find solutions for possible assistance measures. We are keeping the coronavirus situation under control, and we are pleased to hear that the entire tourism sector is supporting the efforts made so far to overcome current challenges as effectively as possible,” said Tourism Minister Gari Cappelli.

The meeting also emphasized the application of sanitary standards in hotels and other catering establishments, which are generally important to adhere to, especially in situations where the spread of infectious diseases is possible.

Otherwise, the Croatian Tourism Ministry has placed a section on its website where visitors can find procedures and safeguards for tourism stakeholders, as well as other useful information related to the coronavirus situation.

Furthermore, Ex-Yu Aviation announced that Croatia Airlines is currently experiencing a 17% decline in booking numbers over fears associated with the coronavirus, for both international and domestic flights.

“During February we saw a modest decrease in bookings being made for March and April, as well as the coming months. This shows that our passengers are hopeful the situation with the coronavirus will improve as time passes by," the airline said.

“The situation can change for the better or worse, depending on whether the virus will further spread," Croatia Airlines concluded. 

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

Mayor Milan Bandic wants to expand the Zagreb tram network and introduce a tram from Kvaternikov trg (Kvaternik's square) to a residential location close to Zagreb's Franjo Tudjman Airport. Will the mayor's Zagreb Airport tram project manage to get off the ground?

As Vedran Marjanovic/Novac writes on the 4th of March, 2020, the City of Zagreb's administration has announced that Geoprojekt and Elektroprojekt will produce the Zagreb Airport tram project's technical documentation for the construction of the line which will go from Kvaternikov trg to the settlement of Velika Kosnica, located close to Zagreb's Franjo Tudjman Airport, for a price tag of three million and 683 thousand kuna.

The offers put forward by Geoprojekt and Elektroprojekt weere selected as the most favourable of all at a public tender launched by Zagreb's Public Procurement Office, initially announced back at the end of 2016. However, according to the latest information from the Public Procurement Office, the value of the contract has since increased by 683 thousand kuna.

According to the general urban plan of the Croatian capital city, the new tram line would connect Kvaternikov trg and Velika Kosnica with a total length of seventeen kilometres, or 8.5 kilometres with a two-lane traffic line. The aforementioned length doesn't take into account any possible extensions of the tram line from Velika Kosnica to the City Stadium in Velika Gorica and Zagreb Airport.

The envisioned Kvaternikov trg-Velika Kosnica or ''Zagreb Airport tram'' route will be divided into four different sections. The first section relates to the construction of the line along Heinzelova in order to directly connect Kvaternikov trg with Ulica grada Vukovara (Vukovar street). Two sections then relate to the construction of the tram line along Radnicka cesta (road), across Savisce all the way to Domovinski most (Homeland bridge) and the rest relates to the line from Domovinski most to Velika Kosnica.

The planned ''Zagreb Airport tram'' route envisages twelve tram stops, and ZET wouldn't introduce any new tram lines according to the aforementioned guidelines, but would divert the number 2 line now operating from Crnomerec to Savisce. According to the plans, the two would connect the railway and bus stations to Velika Kosnica, or to Zagreb Airport, when the route leads to the airport.

Preparations for the construction of the tram line to Velika Kosnica began back at the end of 2016, when Zagreb Mayor Milan Bandic announced that the railway would be finished in 2019, and the total value of the investment stood at 50 million euros. Considering the fact that the contract with Geoprojekt and Elektroprojekt has been established only now, it's uncertain when the construction of the line could actually begin.

Make sure to follow our dedicated business page for more.

ZAGREB, March 4, 2020 - The current migrant flow from Turkey to Europe is not the same as in 2015 when Germany said refugees and migrants were welcome, Croatian President Zoran Milanović said on Tuesday, recalling that Ankara then was not as involved in the war in Syria.

Speaking on RTL television, the president said he was confident the situation would calm down and that he saw the latest developments as a consequence of a rushed decision of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan who, because of the death of over 30 Turkish troops in conflicts in Idlib, Syria, "reacted impulsively".

"I understand him to a certain extent but Turkey is involved in the conflict there in a way in which it was not involved in 2015."

Milanović said he was confident there would not be a repeat of the 2015 migrant crisis, which he called "unprecedented".

He recalled that migrants were currently heading for the Turkish-Greek border but that they had not entered Greece and said he did not think they would.

He voiced confidence that it will not be necessary to deploy the Croatian army along the Croatian border.

He said that during the 2015 migrant flow, the Croatian police did their job but that the army did the bulk of the logistical part.

The president said that under international humanitarian law, people must not be returned back to where they were in danger, recalling that during the 1990s war Croatia took in hundreds of thousands of refugees from Bosnia and Herzegovina, although "we ourselves had problems."

In this case, "even five years ago, the people coming from Turkey were in no danger at all," he said.

Asked why he chose Slovenia and Austria for his first visits as president and not BiH, Milanovic said BiH had been his first stop when he was prime minister.

"We have the Slovenia-Austria-Croatia trilateral initiative. That's the main framework for action in this region, with states that historically have been very close."

Given that the 12th Croatian army contingent is going to Afghanistan on Friday, the president said, "That's certainly the last one. A few days ago, we saw that the Americans too are leaving." As the armed forces supreme commander, he will visit the Croatian troops in Afghanistan before the end of the mission.

More news about the migrant crisis can be found in the Politics section.

ZAGREB, March 4, 2020 - The EU's credibility depends on the European Council's decision in March and on the date for opening accession negotiations with North Macedonia and Albania, an inter-parliamentary conference in Zagreb agreed on Tuesday.

Blocking the opening of negotiations for these two aspirants in October last year, "seriously shook the Union's credibility in the Western Balkans," said MEP Tonino Picula, (SDP/S&D), who is the rapporteur for the Western Balkans and member of the European Parliament's (EP) Foreign Affairs Committee, at the meeting on the European prospects for Balkan countries.

Picula believes that the European Council has to give the green light to Balkan countries at the end of this months because that will "show the EU's credibility." "Enlargement means removing the black hole in the heart of Europe," said MEP Željana Zovko (HDZ/EPP) and a member of the EP's foreign affairs committee.

Zovko said that the "Zagreb summit in May should provide an impetus for EU enlargement." She believes that it is in Croatia's interest to move the Union's borders and that "a new voice of Europe is necessary, a voice that is not selfish and one that cares for European interests."

Genoveva Ruiz Calavera, the Director for Western Balkans at the Directorate General for European Neighbourhood Policy, said that the Union's executive body wishes to revive the process of enlargement which has left its mark on the credibility of European institutions.

I am absolutely optimistic and convinced that we will open negotiations with the two Balkan countries, Calavera said. The EU's credibility depends on that decision, she added.

In February the European Commission released a new methodology for enlargement and Calavera recalled that drawing closer to the Union is primarily based on merits.

The revised methodology is one thing while assessing a country's progress is another matter, she underscored.

Bosnia and Herzegovina and Kosovo are still waiting to be given candidate status. North Macedonia and Albania are waiting for accession negotiations to be opened while Serbia and Montenegro are in the process of those negotiations and can decide for themselves if they wish the new methodology to apply to them.

We are all pleased with a common European future but we wish everyone to adhere to the same values and rules, Dutch MEP Sven Koopmans said.

He believes that there is some doubt about the rule of law in those countries, which sometimes is not respected in some EU members at that.

Belgian MEP Mark Demesmaeker believes that if those countries regress the process should be stopped.

MEP Nathalie Loiseau from France, which was in October outspokenly critical of Europe's enlargement in the near future, said that one should not speak of enlargement but of consolidation with the inclusion Western Balkan countries which she described as European countries.

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

ZAGREB, March 4, 2020 - The Croatian army and police are and have been cooperating and the police are controlling the border and the situation, Interior Minister Davor Božinović said on Tuesday, commenting on the military chief of staff's statement that the army was ready to help the police in case of a migrant wave.

"They exchanged all the data they should and it was never in question whether the army would be engaged if necessary. However, it wasn't necessary and I hope it won't be, Božinović said.

The EU policy is to protect the external borders from illegal entry, he said, adding that EU leaders visited the Greek-Turkish border earlier in the day to show where the EU borders are.

The situation on the Greek-Turkish border is serious but not dramatic, he said.

The new military chief of staff, Vice Admiral Robert Hranj, said the army was ready to help the police and could provide logistical support in case of a migrant crisis.

Under the law, the army can help with transport, medical evacuation, camp construction, as well as provide medical, veterinary and engineering support, he told the public broadcaster.

"The army has operational plans and organised forces that, if so decided, would be activated in border areas... at sea and in the air. In the first stage, 2,500 troops will be ready and more can be mobilised, depending on the political decision," Hranj said.

More news about the migrant crisis can be found in the Politics section.

As Poslovni Dnevnik writes on the 3rd of March, 2020, in addition to opening up lines to new destinations, additional flights are being introduced to many existing destinations to and from Zagreb Airport.

Zagreb Airport (Franjo Tudjman) has so far enjoyed a positive start to 2020. In January, passenger growth was 6.2 percent, while in February it increased by 2 percent, despite the impact on coronavirus-related traffic. This summer's flight schedule has thus seen flights to three new destinations and a dozen additional flights to existing destinations announced.

Domestic carrier Croatia Airlines has announced the introduction of flights to two new destinations, Sofia (Bulgaria) and Podgorica (Montenegro). Both destinations will be available through three flights per week starting in May. From June, Zagreb and Kiev (Ukraine) will be connected by direct flight with Windrose Airlines three times weekly.

Air France will be launching its second daily flight from Zagreb to Paris as of May. Along with Croatia Airlines' daily flights, Zagreb Airport and Paris will be connected with three routes daily. British Airways is adding another four weeks of flights from London (Heathrow) to Zagreb, which will ultimately add up to a total of eleven flights per week between the two European nations.

Croatia Airlines is adding another weekly flight from Amsterdam (Netherlands) to Zagreb Airport, offering passengers a total of eight flights a week from Zagreb to Amsterdam. Air Serbia will add two more weeks of flights from Belgrade, which will reach a total of thirteen flights a week between Belgrade and Zagreb.

Aegean is changing the type of aircraft it uses and will fly an Airbus A319 aircraft during the summer instead of a Q400 aircraft. It will also double its seating capacity on the route to Athens. Croatia Airlines will also increase the seating capacity of flights to Brussels (Belgium), Skopje (Macedonia) and Copenhagen (Denmark) using more A319 aircraft instead of the CRJ1000.

In addition to these scheduled flights, there are also talks going on with two new carriers from Africa and Asia for charter flights for Zagreb Airport's 2020 summer flight schedule.

The situation with coronavirus has a certain negative impact on the traffic in Zagreb, so the situation is being carefully monitored and regular contact is going on between all companies, who are all monitoring their timetable updates on individual direct routes to Zagreb Airport.

Make sure to follow our dedicated travel page for more.

March 4,  2020 - NASA has released a world map of cities that could be endangered by rising sea levels. One point was located near Dubrovnik.

It is summer in Antarctica, and temperatures should be around zero degrees Celsius. However, in February, you could walk around in a spring jacket as the measured temperature was higher than Florida, writes Vijesti.rtl.hr.

Such climate change raises the world's sea level, as the glaciers are continuously melting. In Antarctica, a record temperature of 20 degrees Celsius was recorded at the beginning of February. 

“This summer part of the year is record high. What is dangerous is the fact that it then melts snow and ice, and that snow and ice that is on land raises the sea level once it reaches the sea,” said climatologist and oceanographer Mirko Orlic.

In Antarctica, lakes have formed between glaciers that were not there before, NASA reported. But this is just part of it. Thus, NASA has released a world map of cities that could be endangered by rising sea levels. One point was located near Dubrovnik. Croatia could be hit with a harsh reality in the future.

"Everything is likely, but I am not afraid. It comes down to who is alive and who is dead in the hundred years. I am probably dead, and my descendants should think about what will be then," one citizen said.

The respected climatologist and oceanographer says Dubrovnik was taken as an example, but it is not the only endangered city in Croatia.

"We know that Rijeka is flooded already, as well as Split, Dubrovnik, and some lowland areas. The Neretva Delta is endangered, the hinterland of Zadar. Let's say that all Antarctic is dissolved, which will raise the sea level 57 meters. Of course, this can't happen in 100 years, but it can be because of episodes like this, and will be faster than we thought,” Orlic said.

Some cities on our coast have therefore already taken action. Šibenik-Knin County is the only one in Croatia that has already built coastal sea-level risk plans. Thus, they can advise people where to buy real estate and where their money might end up underwater.

If greenhouse gas emissions are reduced, the sea will rise by about half a meter and the consequences can be seen in 50 years. Stradun may not be underwater, but everyone’s favorite seaside spots may cease to exist.

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