27 i 28 veljace i 5 oujka, od 20 sati, MM Centar SC i Hrvatski filmski savez predstavit ce program RECENTNI HRVATSKI VIDEO I EKSPERIMENTALNI FILM u Millennium Film Workshop Inc./ 66 Eest 4th St., New York, N.Y. 10003/ newyorkoj instituciji , smjetenoj u samom centru na Mannhattanu, koja se bavi prezentiranjem, distribucijom , produkcijom te edukacijom u podrucju medijskih umjetnosti, posebice umjetnickog videa i eksperimentalnog filma te fotografije . Millennium Film Workshop osnovana je 1966, i jedna je od najranije utemeljenih medijsko-umjetnickih centara u SAD . U njenim su prostorima gostovali mnogi prominentni avangardni filmski umjetnici, iz Europe , Azije i Amerike, te su svojim angamanom, izgradili kultno zanimanje za program koji ta ustanova provodi. Imena poput Stana Brakhagea, Jacka Smitha, Jonasa Mekasa, Yann Beauvaisa, Kena Jacobsa, Take Iimure nezaobilazna su u kreiranju filmova “druge vrste”, onih veoma osobnih filmova koji u svim relevantnim filmskim krugovima su ocijenjenim gotovo vrhunskim umjetnickim radovima, a nastali su na margini tehnoloki veoma razvijene kinematografije. U Millenniumu su se predstavile mnoge relevantne medijske kuce poput Lightcone iz Pariza, Lux iz Londona, Canyon Cinema iz San Francisca, a ovo je drugo gostovanje u tom prostoru predstavnika zagrebackih medijskih institucija MM Centra SC i Hrvatskog filmskog saveza. Organizator je u Personal Cinema Series 2004 ukljucio i hrvatsku produkciju , ponajvie radi toga to je ta produkcija, pogotovo u posljednje vrijeme, veoma cesto prisutna na europskoj medijskoj sceni, gdje se sustavno predstavlja. London Film Makers Co-op, Lux Cinema London, Copenhagen Nodada Galerie I Kanonhalle, Oxford Pegasus Theatre , neka su od mjesta u kojima su hrvatski medijski kustosi i teoreticari predstavili na adekvatan nacin suvremeno hrvatsko medijsko podrucje, prolih desetak godina. RECENTNI HRVATSKI VIDEO I EKSPERIMENTALNI FILM podijeljen je u tri programa u prvom programu prikazuje se radovi usredotoceni na konstantne mijene prostora urbane geografije a snimljeni su u poststrukturalistickom obliku. U drugom dijelu programa autori ispituju relacije vezane za kretanje, akustiku i estetiku, ali I simboliku vode dok u trecem programu, pokuavaju pronaci nove izraajne mogucnosti koristeci se pritom noebicnom dokumentaristikom i izmjenjenom naracijom. Autori , zastupljeni u programu generacijski se krecu od pionira video umjetnosti i eksperimentalnog filma na ovim prostorima, poput Gorana Trbuljaka, Dalibora Martinisa, Brede Beban , Ivana Ladislava Galete, Tomislava Gotovca preko umjetnika srednje generacije Vlade Zrnica, Zlatka Kopljara, Dana Okia, Tine Leko, Vladislava Kneevica do najmladih autora, diplomanata sa Likovnih akademija iz Zagreba i Splita, Ivane Jelavic, Vlaste anic, Gorana kofica, Marijana Crtalica . Ukupno ce se predstaviti radovi 29 umjetnika koji djeluju u naoj zemlji ali ih je i veliki broj aktivnih u inozemstvu. Pri odabiru autora , odnosno njihovih radova razmiljalo se o ukljucenju onih autora koje se pored eksperimentalnog filma i videa bave i ostalim, ne manje vanim podrucjima likovnih umjetnosti, video instalacija, performancea, fotografije, ready-madea, kako bismo mogli americkoj publici predstaviti radove umjetnika to je moguce cjelovitijeg umjetnickog opredjeljenja.
Istovremeno cemo sudjelovati u projektu predstavljanja americkih autora medijske scene, avangardnog filma i videa u suorganizaciji s voditeljem/selektorom Millenniuma , gosp. Howardom Guttenplanom. Program americkih eksperimentalista obuhvaca period od 1990-2000. a predviden je za prikazivanje krajem lipnja, pocetkom srpnja, 2004. godine, na Medunarodnom festivalu novog filma i videa u Splitu, ali i u ostalim gradovima u Hrvatskoj te u nekim glavnim gradovima regije.
Projekt predstavljanja suvremene hrvatske medijske scene bit ce potpomognut od strane Ministarstva kulture RH i Gradskog ureda za kulturu, a organizatori se zahvaljuju ucesnicima u programu, te producentskoj kuci Factum i agenciji Tip Tours.

Zagreb, 22. veljace, 2004
MM Centar SC
Hrvatski filmski savez
Ivan Paic
urednik programa

Lana's Rain Movie Premiere

There is a movie opening in Chicago on the Feb. 27th and 28th at the Music Box theatre.

It is called "Lana's Rain" and it was filmed in Chicago and Croatia.

The character of Lana is that of a Bosnian Croatian.

I have spoken with the main distributor for the movie. If anybody is interested he will sell us tickets for $6.00 instead of the full price of 8.75. If anyone is interested in going, contact me. jkkirin@juno.com

He is looking for big support to get this film released across the country. Stars of the movie will be present both nights.

It is for either night February 27th and 28th

7:20pm and 9:40pm.

For more info go here.

http://www.lanasrainthemovie.com/

Joe Kirin

Louis Zorich and Olympia Dukakis star in classic play "AGAMEMNON."

Aquilla Theatre Company, lauded for its stylish adaptations of the classics, kicks off its first full New York season with Aeschylus' revenge tragedy, in a new translation by Director Peter Meineck.

John Jay College Theater, 899 Tenth Avenue between 58th and 59th Sts, Phone 212-39-6200 Subway: A, C, B, 1, 9, to 59th St at Columbus Circle. Tickets full price are $60. Ask for discount. Tue - Sat 8 pm, Sun 3 pm.

Louis Zorich (1924) born in Chicago to Dalmatian parents. He is a character actor, who appeared in the "Fiddler on the Roof" in 1971 and many other films. With his wife, actress Olympia Dukakis, Zorich co-founded the "Whole Theater" in Montclair, New Jersey in 1972, maintaining it for 18 years before they close it and moved to California.

Katarina Tepesh tepeshk@aol.com

Discovering the Girls of Croatia

With more than 1,000 miles of coastline, Croatia is set to become Europe's next great playground. But it's not just the deserted islands or the beautiful beaches that are attracting men from all over. It's the gorgeous women. We sent a reporter to see what all the fuss was about -- and he wasn't disappointed. BY JASON HARPER

http://www.mensjournal.com/toc/index.html

-----Original Message-----
Dobar Jutro!
Here is the address you need:
www.mensjournal.com

Article: The Girls of Croatia written by Jason Harper.

Thank you and have a great day!
Michelle Dunaj

Call for Papers to a conference in Dubrovnik

Universität Maribor - Pädagogische Fakultät - Institut für Germanistik

unter Mitwirkung von

Universität Graz - Institut für Translationswissenschaft
Universität Zagreb - Philosophische Fakultät - Abteilung für Germanistik
Inter University Centre Dubrovnik

veranstalten das erste internationale Symposium zum Thema

TRANSLATOLOGIE ALS KOMMUNIKATIONSBRÜCKE IN DER EU

vom 27.9. bis 1.10.2004 im Inter University Centre und Hotel "Lero" in Dubrovnik (Kroatien)

Im Zeitalter der Informationstechnologie und der multilingualen und interkulturellen Kommunikation, spielt die Translation (Translatologie) in sehr vielen Bereichen eine nicht mehr wegzudenkende Rolle. Die zunehmenden Globalisierungsprozesse und die nahezu revolutionären Entwicklungen im Bereich der Kommunikation und Translationswissenschaft haben die Berufe des Übersetzers und Dolmetschers verändert und erfordern zunehmende Interdisziplinarität.
Die Europäische Union öffnet im Jahr 2004 ihre Tore für zehn neue Beitrittsländer. Für 2007 ist bereits die nächste Erweiterung der EU angesagt. Die Bewahrung der Sprachenvielfalt und somit der kulturellen und sprachlichen Identität der einzelnen Länder gehört zu den Grundprinzipien der Europäischen Union. Der europäische Kulturdialog steht heute innerhalb und außerhalb der EU vor neuen und großen Herausforderungen. Zu deren Bewältigung muss und kann die Translatologie im Kontext der interkulturellen Toleranz und der demokratischen Prinzipien ihren Beitrag leisten, wobei auch den sog. "kleinen Sprachen" angemessene Bedeutung zuerkannt wird.

Beiträge zu folgenden Themenfeldern sind erwünscht:

1. Translatologie im Kontext der EU Erweiterung
2. Die Bedeutung der Übersetzungs- und Dolmetschertätigkeit für den "Ausbau" der europäischen Nationalsprachen
3. Interkulturelle Kommunikation und Toleranz
4. Kroatische und slowenische Literatur in deutschen Übersetzungen (vice versa)
5. Translatologie und Lexikographie
6. Maschinelle und elektronische Übersetzungsprogramme
7. Ausbildungsmöglichkeiten für Berufsübersetzer und Dolmetscher in Südosteuropa

Es ist geplant, die rezensierten Beiträge des Symposiums in der wissenschaftlichen Zeitschrift "Informatologia" zu veröffentlichen.
Die Abstracts sollen sowohl in deutscher als auch in englischer Sprache verfasst werden. Für jeden Vortrag stehen 20 Minuten zur Verfügung, die anschließende Diskussionszeit beläuft sich auf 10 Minuten. Ein detailliertes Symposiumsprogramm wird Anfang Juni zugeschickt.
Den Teilnehmern am Symposium wird eine Unterbringung zu Sonderpreisen im Hotel "Lero" angeboten (www.hotel-lero.hr).

Die Abstracts (von maximal 1000 Wörtern) sind spätestens bis

20. Mai 2004

an folgende Adresse oder e-mail zu senden:

Vlasta Kucis (Symposiumskoordinatorin)
Universität Maribor - Institut für Germanistik
Pädagogische Fakultät
Koroska cesta 160
2000 Maribor
Slowenien
e-mail: asta.kucis@siol.net
e-mail: vlasta.kucis@uni-mb.si
www: iuc.hr

Tel: ++386 2 229 36 08; ++386 41 615 272
Fax: ++386 2 251 81 80; ++386 3 5816 533

Tagungssprache: Deutsch

Symposiumsgebühr: 100.- EUR (für alle Teilnehmer)

Organisationskomitee:

Prof.dr. Karmen Teran-Kopecky - Universität Maribor
Vlasta Kuci - Universität Maribor
Milka Enceva - Universität Maribor

Programmausschuss:
Prof.dr. Erich Prunc - Universität Graz
Prof.dr. Mirko Gojmerac - Universität Zagreb
Doz.dr. Nike Kocijancic-Pokorn - Universität Ljubljana
Prof.dr. Pavao Mikic - Universität Zadar
Prof.dr. Regina Hessky - Universität Budapest
Prof.dr. Ana Dimova - Universität Schumen
Prof.dr. Vesna Kondric-Horvat - Universität Maribor
Dr. Rudolf Bartsch - Goethe Institut Inter Nationes Zagreb
Dr. Anja Holderbaum - Universität Heidelberg

Wir freuen uns auf Ihre Teilnahme und erwarten Sie in Dubrovnik!

Jesus, he's hot

Hung on a cross, accidentally scourged, Jim Caviezel recounts trials of Passion Despite his strict moral code, actor all the buz

SEAN DALY
SPECIAL TO THE STAR

LOS ANGELES— Pope John Paul II took a long hard look at Jim Caviezel and asked, "What have you learned in playing Jesus Christ?"

"Well, Holy Father," Caviezel replied, "I've been hanging around with the Italians lately, and I am starting to think that Jesus was Italian."

"Why is that?" the Pope asked.

"Well, think about it," the actor said. "He didn't leave home until he was 30. He always hung out with the same 12 guys and his mother believed he was God."

Okay, that conversation never actually took place. But it did provide Caviezel with a brief moment of levity during an otherwise serious conversation last week about his new movie, The Passion Of The Christ.

The film, which depicts in graphic detail the torture and crucifixion of Jesus, has already created a firestorm of controversy. It arrives in theatres on Feb. 25, Ash Wednesday.

"It is as it was," the Pope is said to have remarked after seeing director Mel Gibson's account of the last 12 hours of Jesus's life. And the Rev. Billy Graham declared it contains "a lifetime of sermons."

Still, Caviezel — looking more like a movie star than a saviour in a black button-down shirt and brown suede jacket — finds himself defending charges that Gibson's movie is anti-Semitic.

"That's just one attack," he acknowledges, quite matter-of-factly. "There will be others. The sad thing about it is that this is the most Semitic-looking Jesus in history. (Gibson) didn't want any blue-eyed, blonde Christ on the cross."

So to further his own vision of authenticity, Gibson coloured Caviezel's trademark baby blues to brown in post production. He also required his entire cast to speak their lines in a number of dead languages (subtitles are provided in English).

"The Aramaic, the Hebrew and the Latin were much easier than the physical requirements," says Caviezel, who endured eight-hour daily makeup sessions — from 2 a.m. to 10 a.m. — and was struck by lightning while shooting the Sermon on The Mount scene.

"I am about 100 feet away from him and I look over and I see lightning coming out of his ears," producer Stephen McEveety recounted after the bizarre October, 2003 occurrence.

Caviezel's reaction? "I think it was a sign I needed to act better."

The devoutly religious actor — best known for his supporting roles in The Thin Red Line and Frequency — found less humour when he was accidentally whacked several times while filming the many bloody scenes of Jesus's scourging.

"There was a board on my back about a half inch thick, so the Roman soldiers wouldn't hit my back, but one of the soldiers missed, hit me square on the back and ripped the skin right off," he told Newsweek.

"I couldn't scream. I couldn't breathe. It is so painful that it shocks your system."

The crucifixion scene was even more painful. Filmed in —4C weather with extremely high winds, he could only be hung on the cross for 10 minutes at a time, so it literally took days to shoot.

During that time, Caviezel aggravated a prior chest injury and separated his shoulder.

"I would only eat a little bit here and there and I lost 15 pounds," he remembers.

"I was throwing up all the time. With the hypothermia, you can't really digest properly."

So why would someone endure so much suffering for a role?

It could have something to do with his own strong religious beliefs.

Caviezel, 35, was born in Mount Vernon, Wash. and raised in a strict Catholic family along with his brother Tim and sisters Amy, Ann and Erin.

He has never hidden his devotion to the Lord — "I love Him more than I ever knew possible.

"I love Him more than my wife, my family" — and he has even allowed his faith and strong family values to influence his career choices.

Caviezel refused to participate in erotic or topless scenes with Jennifer Lopez in Angel Eyes and Ashley Judd in High Crimes and threatened to walk off the set rather than offend his wife of eight years, Kerri, a high school English teacher.

They met on a blind date in 1993 and travel together each year to Bosnia and Croatia.

"I was there in December visiting an orphanage," he shares.

"These kids have no parents, no family, nothing. There was hand-to-hand killing.

"It was very nasty and provokes a thought in people."

With such deep conviction to religious and social issues, it is a wonder Caviezel became an actor and not a priest.

"It's interesting," he says.

"I came home one day and I told my dad, `I think I am supposed to be an actor.'

"He said, `Jim, if God wanted you to do anything, he would want you to be a priest.'"

But what the 6-foot-2 Caviezel really dreamed about was playing in the NBA. "Most people saw me with a basketball, working on my dribbling, shooting, defence," he said in a 1999 interview.

At the University of Washington, he entertained his teammates with impersonations, so when a foot injury left his hoop dreams on the sidelines, Caviezel's coach suggested he give acting a try.

He made his theatrical debut in the Seattle production of Come Blow Your Horn and moved to Los Angeles at 23 to pursue a career on the big screen.

He earned small roles in My Own Private Idaho (1991) and Diggstown (1992) and was soon after accepted to the prestigious Juilliard School in New York.

But Caviezel decided to remain in Los Angeles and eventually landed the breakout role of Private Witt, a young soldier trying to navigate the moral course of war in director Terrence Malick's The Thin Red Line.

He has since appeared in Frequency (2000) and The Count Of Monte Cristo (2002), but Caviezel knows that The Passion Of The Christ may well be the work he is most remembered for.

Caviezel says he knew taking on the role of his Lord would be a hefty challenge.

But what if he didn't get it right? Was he ever afraid the one he reveres most might condemn him to a life of eternal damnation?

Caviezel cracks only the slightest of smiles.

"I think he would probably give me a pass because at least I tried."

Special to the star

Beyond Croatia's beautiful beaches and tall cliffs

3 tall basketball players @ NU

The following appeared in the student newspaper The Daily Northwestern
from Evanston, Illinois. John Kraljic

Beyond Croatia's beautiful beaches and tall cliffs, memories of a once
war-torn country remain embedded in the minds of 3 NU basketball players
By Tania Ganguli
February 11, 2004

Two pieces of Vedran Vukusic's identity come together in his bedroom.

A big, square, purple poster is tacked to one of the walls. White
writing on it reads, "Offense wins games, defense wins championships." A
small Croatian flag is taped a few feet away.

It is one of many in the apartment.

"Summer, that's the best part," says Vukusic, leaning his 6-foot-8 frame
across his bed. He can't help but smile when thinking about his hometown
of Split, Croatia. "My coach calls it the best hidden place in the
world."

Vukusic's home -- on the coast of the Adriatic Sea -- is where he and
fellow Northwestern basketball players Davor Duvancic and Ivan Tolic
grew up. Split is a few hours by car from parts of the country that were
engulfed by a brutal, four-year war following Croatia's 1991 declaration
of independence from the former Yugoslavia.

But scenes of war aren't the first thing that pops into these Croatians'
minds when they think of their native land.

Tolic can't put into words what Split is like, but all you have to do is
take a look at his bedroom walls in Evanston to get an idea.

One wall is covered with images of Split. There's a poster of an aerial
view of the town's coast and another showing a secluded beach surrounded
by cliffs towering above two small beachside houses. A Croatian national
soccer team scarf hangs above Tolic's giant Croatian flag on the
opposite wall.

Amidst these icons, flags and pictures, it's no wonder Croatian is heard
as often as English.

"This apartment is technically part of Croatia," Tolic jokes. "Here and
the Croatian embassy."

Duvancic and Vukusic traded Croatia's beaches and mild, coastal winters
two years ago for NU's biting cold and Big Ten basketball. Tolic
followed a year later. Although the players say they miss their
hometown, they agree they are three lucky guys.

The trio, all forwards, say they were lucky to have gotten the chance to
play basketball and study in the United States. In Europe they would
have had to choose between academics and sports.

But 13 years ago their luck manifested itself in a totally different
way. When Vukusic, Tolic and Duvancic were 8 years old, war broke out in
Croatia, a country slightly smaller than West Virginia. Their families
and homes were mostly spared.

Two Croatian Serb girls sit outside the ruins of a pizzeria in Vukovar,
Croatia, in Oct. 1991. Vukovar lies northeast of the city of Split,
where NU basketball players Ivan Tolic, Davor Duvancic and Vedran
Vukusic are from. (Photo by Mark Milstein/ZUMA Press)

"Here you're going to find three people who none of their family members
went to war," Tolic says. "That's really rare. We're a small country
really, so everybody who's capable of going to war goes to war."

It's been more than eight years since the war ended. Now the three
players share a court and a roof in Evanston and are bonded by a common
home and the once war-torn country they left behind.

CONFUSION, FEAR AND LONG WAITS

Vukusic, Duvancic and Tolic weren't even 10 years old when Split was
attacked in 1992, but they distinctly remember what life was like then.

"Fear," Tolic says immediately.

After World War I, the Balkan nations of Bosnia, Croatia, Slovenia and
Montenegro were grouped with Serbia to create Yugoslavia.

All-out war began in July 1991, a month after Croatia declared
independence. Serbian rebels and Yugoslavian soldiers attacked the newly
independent country.

"(Yugoslavia) included inimical groups," says Marv Kantor, a professor
emeritus of Slavic languages and literature at NU. "The enmity was
mostly between the Serbs and the Croats."

Split was only attacked once during the conflict, but air-raid sirens
sounded several other times -- imprisoning the town in a tense wait.

When the sirens went off, residents of Split -- most of whom lived in
apartments -- rushed to the shelters underneath their buildings.
Children went in before adults. The residents of the complex would
gather there until the attack, or threat of attack, was over. That
usually meant staying underground for several hours.

"You could see, hear (that) people were nervous," Duvancic says. "My
father, he didn't want to get in. He wanted to look around. I don't know
-- he was just crazy like that."

Vukusic remembers his father waking him up at five or six on one
morning.

"All I could hear was bombs ... coming through the air," Vukusic says.
"Some were really close. Afterward we saw where they had fallen. I
perfectly remember everything."

He and his family got dressed and packed some clothes and a bag of food
before heading to the shelter in the basement of their apartment
building. When the attack ended, they went back to their apartments. A
few hours later another siren sounded and the family rushed back down.

Vukusic's building and its immediate surroundings were untouched.
Duvancic's and Tolic's complexes also survived. But Vukusic could see
how close the bombs he heard crackling through the air had hit. Still,
he didn't really comprehend what was happening to his city.

"My mom said I was laughing when we went into the shelter," Vukusic
says. "I can still remember hearing the bombs falling and I was just
having fun. I didn't really know what was going on."

Tolic remembers a different kind of confusion.

"As a little kid you're just like, 'Why are these people attacking us?'"
Tolic said. "'We didn't do anything.'"

'YOU CAN SEE PEOPLE DIE'

A two-hour car ride away from Split, attacks devastated the village and
home where Duvancic's father grew up.

"Everything was destroyed," Duvancic says. "There was nothing left."

His father's village wasn't the only one to meet that fate. Every night
on television, Vukusic would watch a seemingly endless list of attacked
cities scroll down the screen for 15 to 20 minutes.

Government-controlled television stations brought all the gruesome
images of war into Croatian homes daily. Tolic guesses the press spread
propaganda to mobilize the population.

"It was the worst thing I'd ever seen in my life," Duvancic says.
"People waiting for water in line and they throw three grenades in front
of them. You can see people die."

The memories of seeing footage of a man running and then being hit by a
sniper, a child running from a tank and dead bodies on streets still
enrage the otherwise soft spoken Duvancic -- but at least he, Vukusic
and Tolic can still talk about it.

"I had so many friends in Sarajevo and Bosnia," Tolic says. "I knew this
one kid who didn't speak after the war for like five years -- at all. He
couldn't."

Tolic's mother, Ivanka, didn't let him watch much television during the
war, but she says she made sure to explain the situation to her
children.

"It was something that I must explain to them," Ivanka Tolic says by
phone from Croatia. "That everybody is not like (the people attacking).
There are many good people. You couldn't go out of the home and it (was
a) time to be together."

Most Croatians didn't need to be convinced that the war was valid.
People felt a duty to defend their country. The country didn't have a
large enough standing army to defend itself, so volunteers swelled its
ranks.

"We were always under someone's rule, always repressed," Tolic's
brother, Marko, says from Split. "We have a big patriotic feeling."

Seventeen years old and too young to fight, Marko's best friend
falsified documents to say he was 18. He didn't survive the war.

Vukusic's uncle also volunteered. He fought for two years before being
wounded by a grenade.

Vukusic says his father probably would have fought, but his mother
wanted him to stay home. Tolic's father also worked for the police in a
position that couldn't be filled by anyone else.

Duvancic's father worked for the government until a new administration
took power in 1990. At that point he was fired without an explanation.
His mother had quit her job the year before so she could stay at home
with Davor and his younger sister during wartime.

"There's a high probability of something happening to you (in war),"
Davor says. "The other side had all kinds of guns and weapons. On our
side you don't have anything -- just small groups of people."

The war ended in 1995 with the Dayton Peace Accords, signed under
pressure from officials in the United States. To Duvancic, the foreign
pressure and ensuing peace came too late.

"After they massacre, after they kill a whole town, (the Americans) come
in," Duvancic says. "It all happened before that. It was too late."

HOME COURT

At 5 a.m. on June 20, 1993, Marko Tolic rushed to wake up his
10-year-old brother, Ivan. Game Six of the NBA finals was on TV -- the
Phoenix Suns versus the Chicago Bulls.

"John Paxson hitting a three for the win over Phoenix for the
championship -- I just remember that," Ivan says.

The brothers shared a room and had a line in the middle of it to
separate Ivan's side from Marko's. They bickered as brothers do.

"Ivan was a crybaby," Marko says. "He was always showing his emotions."

"The little crybaby never got beat one-on-one in basketball," Ivan says.

Tolic followed in his big brother's footsteps. He took up basketball
because Marko did and he learned English because Marko had.

"I knew I couldn't go wrong with him," the younger Tolic says.

Now Marko wakes up at 3 a.m. in Split to listen to his brother's games
online.

Vukusic swam when he was younger but eventually grew tired of waking up
for 6 a.m. practices. At 9 years old, he started playing basketball --
the earliest of NU's Croatian trio.

Duvancic also swam and played tennis. In eighth grade he grew taller
than everyone else and decided to take up basketball. Duvancic and
Vukusic played for the same club team and often played against Tolic's
team.

At the end of high school, Vukusic had many options. He could play in
Croatia, Portugal or Slovenia -- or he could go to college. About six
months before graduation, his coach told him and Duvancic about playing
in the United States.

NU head basketball coach Bill Carmody and assistant coach Paul Lee
visited their practice in 2001. They watched the two and some teammates
play five-on-five for 45 minutes. Carmody says the great thing about
recruiting Croatian athletes is they are good students.

"I just told my parents, and my dad was OK with it, but my mom was like,
'No, you're not leaving,'" Vukusic says. "You know how moms are."

He and Duvancic signed with NU in 2001 and are in their third year on
campus. When Tolic decided to come to the United States, he never
doubted he would play for NU.

"I knew I was going to go crazy if I didn't have anyone to talk in
Croatian with," Tolic says.

THINKING FORWARD

Time and a few classes in NU's Slavic Languages and Literature
department have helped the three players better understand the war they
witnessed.

If Croatia were attacked again, Tolic says he definitely would defend
his country. Still, he can't miss an opportunity to joke about the
possibility.

"Actually, I'm a pretty big target out there," Tolic says. "So maybe
not."

But all three also know the devastation that comes with war. When the
United States went to war in Iraq last year, it was a little hard for
Tolic to swallow.

"I told everyone what war is going to bring," Tolic says. "I'm not
against American involvement in anything. I'm just against war in
general."

Adds Duvancic, "There has to be another way to solve things."

War is something you have to experience to understand, says Tolic's
mother, Ivanka. Split was not in danger often, but she says what
happened in parts of their country happened to the whole country. Ivanka
Tolic calls it "a lost time."

Friends and relatives who fought came out of the war having lost years
of their lives.

"Over the years you have fun, work or go to college," Marko Tolic says.
"And they came out of the war with nothing in their hands."

That's something Vukusic, Duvancic and Tolic won't have to face after
NU. They'll leave with degrees which they say will help them in life
after basketball. Tolic and Duvancic say they probably will return to
Croatia.

"Maybe I could go back to Croatia one day and help other kids to come
here," Tolic says. "Whenever people see something on TV about the
Balkans, it's all about war.

"There's more to it."

Filipovic - Koizumi

Mirko Crocop Filipovic, left, a K-1 fighter-turned-member of parliament of Croatia, smiles as he gets a jab from Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi wearing a K-1 glove during their meeting at Koizumi's official residence in Tokyo Friday, Feb. 13, 2004. Crocop was elected as a lawmaker back in his home country in November 2003 after becoming a hero in Japan through his fightings in popular Japanese TV bouts of K-1, a brutal sports that combines elements of karate, kickboxing and taekwando. (AP Photo/Koji Sasahara, POOL)

Ireland hoping for decision onCroatia's EU candidate status by June

10 February 2004

Irish Foreign Minister Brian Cowen, whose country currently holds the European Union's rotating presidency, on Tuesday said he hoped a decision on Croatia's bid to join the bloc will be made during the EU summit in June.

"Ireland will facilitate its consideration by the council with a view to a possible decision on candidate status at the June European Council," Cowen told reporters at a joint press conference with his Croatian counterpart Miomir Zuzul.

Croatia formally applied for EU membership in February 2003 and hopes to acquire official candidate status in June and full membership in 2007.

Cowen commended Croatia for making "remarkable progress in recent years both economically and in the wide-ranging reform process".

Zuzul pledged that his country would continue in that process as it was fully determined to meet all the criteria for membership.

The Croatian minister is due in London on Wednesday for talks with British Foreign Secretary Jack Straw and Defense Minister Geoff Hoon.

Britain and the Netherlands have refused to sign an EU association agreement with Croatia because of Zagreb's failure to fully cooperate with the United Nations war crimes tribunal at The Hague.

In particular, Croatia has been told its EU bid could be in doubt as long as it refuses to extradite fugitive war crimes suspect Ante Gotovina, accused of murdering ethnic Serb civilians during the country's 1991-95 war.

Zuzul will head to Berlin for two days from Thursday, where he will meet German Foreign Minister Joschka Fischer.

Copyright Š 2004 AFP.
http://www.eubusiness.com/afp/040210143119.h7e3xtru

Rumsfeld praises Croatia
Associated Press

Zagreb, Croatia U.S. Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld praised the leaders of Croatia's new government Sunday and encouraged their pursuit of defence reforms designed to make the Balkan nation eligible for NATO membership.

In a three-hour visit, Mr. Rumsfeld also thanked President Stipe Mesic and other government officials for supporting the U.S.-led fight against terrorism. Croatia has a small contingent of military police in Afghanistan but it has not yet asked the Parliament to approve troops for Iraq.

At a joint news conference with Mr. Rumsfeld, Prime Minister Ivo Sanader said, Croatia sees in the United States not only a friend and partner but also an ally. He also said his government supports President George W. Bush's policy of pre-emptive military action to stop terrorists before they can strike.

Mr. Rumsfeld said the Bush administration was eager to continue building better relations with Croatia.

I look forward to the day when Croatia will become a part of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, he said.

Mr. Rumsfeld had been scheduled to fly to London later Sunday to meet with British Defence Minister Geoff Hoon, but he cancelled the stop and was returning directly to Washington. Aides said Mr. Rumsfeld changed plans because he had more time than expected in talks with Mr. Hoon while the two were in Germany on Saturday.

Mr. Rumsfeld was in Munich for a NATO defence ministers meeting on Friday and to attend an annual conference on security policy. He left the conference after meeting privately with Jordan's King Abdullah II, who spoke at the event.

Jordan has provided much-welcomed support for the U.S. military operations in Afghanistan and Iraq, including a major field hospital in Afghanistan. Jordan hosts training for Iraqi police.

Croatia, which gained its independence from Yugoslavia in 1991, has 50 troops in Afghanistan, including 44 military police, as part of the International Security Assistance Force headed by NATO. Croatia also has provided weapons and ammunition for the new Afghan national army.

The Croatian government, which was elected in November, is considering asking Parliament to approve sending troops to Iraq, Mr. Sanader said. He said that any such troops would be focused on humanitarian missions, as opposed to combat.

Croatia is one of three Balkan nations pursuing a Membership Action Plan designed by NATO to achieve the kinds of military reforms deemed necessary to be eligible for alliance membership. The other two countries are Albania and the former Yugoslav republic of Macedonia.

Mr. Rumsfeld was the first Cabinet official to visit Croatia since former Secretary of State Madeleine Albright was in the country in 1999.

http://www.globeandmail.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20040208.wrums0208/BNStory/International/