Optimal acceptance of Croatian Klapa FA Lindjo in Italy

NONOSTANTE LA PIOGGIA IMPROVVISA LA MUSICA HA SAPUTO CREARE UN'ATMOSFERA MOLTO SPECIALE... (13/07/05)

    Ieri sera, martedĂŹ 12 luglio, il concerto del gruppo corale femminile croato KLAPA FA LINDJO è iniziato con un’ottima accoglienza di pubblico. Purtroppo, dopo i primi 15 minuti di esibizione, un improvviso quanto violento acquazzone ha interrotto l’esibizione e colto di sorpresa il pubblico presente…Grazie alla disponibilitĂ  e alla dinamicitĂ  delle ragazze croate, il concerto è ripreso pochi istanti dopo in versione completamente acustica sotto i portici di piazza S. Francesco con grande apprezzamento del pubblico rifugiatosi in massa al riparo e raccoltosi attorno alle cantanti. Un’atmosfera davvero surreale e magica per un’ora di fuori programma…

    Per mancanza di spazio, purtroppo, l’Orchestra Classica della Scuola di Musica G. Sarti di Faenza non ha potuto esibirsi ma, in ogni caso, alcuni dei suoi giovani componenti hanno improvvisato un’apprezzatissima session di musica dixieland.

    Appuntamento questa sera in piazza S. Francesco a Ravenna con la formazione bosniaca TUZLANSKI ORNAMENTI e la FILARMONICA G. VERDI – BANDA IMPROVVISA di Loro Ciuffenna (Arezzo), ore 21.15. 

http://www.sonora.ra.it/news.htm 

Quick Computer translated (http://babelfish.altavista.com/tr)

    Yesterday evening, 12 tuesdays July, the concert of the choral group feminine Croatian KLAPA FA LINDJO have begun with an optimal acceptance of public. Unfortunately, after the first 15 minuteren of exhibition, unexpected a how much violent heavy shower has interrupted the exhibition and picked of surprise the public present... Thanks to the availability and the dinamicitĂ  of the Croatian girls, the concert is resumed little moments after in completely acoustic version under you carry us of S. public square Francisco with great appreciation of the public sheltered in mass to the shelter and raccoltosi around the singers. A surrealistic and indeed magical atmosphere for an hour outside program... For space lack, unfortunately, the Classic Orchestra of the School of G. Music Knows you of Faenza has not been able to exhibit itself but, in every case, some of its component young people have improvised a apprezzatissima session of music dixieland. Appointment this evening in S. public square Francisco to Ravenna with Bosnian formation TUZLANSKI ORNAMENTS and FILARMONICA G. GREENS - UNEXPECTED BAND of They Ciuffenna (Arezzo), hours 21.15.

Croatians in London July issue

Sun 17th July, 2005

Croats in London Newsletter No. 11 July 2005

Welcome to the eleventh issue of Croats in London. CIL appears in the first week of every month.

This month: Interview with Michael Donley, author of Marco Polo's Isle - Sketches from the Dalmatian island of Korcula, CSPYN's National Day Celebration at City Hall.

For CIL Newsletter Archive click here.
Interview with Michael Donley, author of Marco Polo's Isle - Sketches from the Dalmatian island of Korcula


How did you first get interested in Korcula?

We knew Croatia - Yugoslavia as it then was - through my parents in law in the 1960's. In fact, when I first met my wife they had just been on holiday there and brought back various souvenirs and drinks and so it was always in our consciousness.

And then we went to Dubrovnik ourselves - before the independence of Croatia - and fell in love with the place and spotted one of the first package holidays after the war of independence. It was at a hotel on the island of Korcula that was first to re-open after the war because most of the hotels had been full of refugees. We took it from there, we just kept going back. We got to know everybody. I think it was my wife who said - I was a writer, retired, and had published a book on French literature - "Look, why don't you write about something more popular? This place could get spoiled. So write the book now before it does."

Was that the reason to write the book?

I thought I would capture this moment in time, Korcula, Dalmatia as it enters the new millennium. A newly independent country, open to the West, there's going to be a lot of influences, some of them more dangerous than the war. I would capture that moment in time.

Do you think Korcula will change dramatically?

Everywhere changes. I don't think it will change dramatically. The people are very proud of what they've got. What they've got is not just for tourists, not just for foreigners its for themselves for first of all.

For example, in Lumbarda village. Some foreign investors wanted to build a golf course. At local meetings it was decided they did not want this. They wanted development and improvement but they wanted it to be organic with themselves very much involved. They will stick up for themselves. Everywhere in the world changes, but it will not be disastrous (for Korcula). They have the example of Spain and Greece and all the mistakes not to copy.

There is a lot on language and music, especially klapa, in the book. Why are you interested in those areas?

I was a linguist originally. French was my language and I did post-graduate research into it. Part of that training I went abroad, to North Africa - Tunis - in 1961. It expanded my interest in foreign languages. I loved it so much I decided that I did not want to return to England to follow a university career I wanted to live abroad. I started to work with the British Council teaching English overseas.

I had sung in a choir in Oxford which had used Old Slavonic. So when we went to Croatia I realised that many of the words were sort of similar. I am the sort of person that if you put me into a country I start speaking the language - badly I suppose - but I just pick it up. That goes hand in hand with my interest in music. My father was very musical, my son is very musical. Naturally when I got to Croatia, I was interested in Klapa and other Dalmatian music which is less well known. Klapa is probably easier for Westerners to understand.

I notice in your book there are comparisons between Croatia and the UK. Can you tell us your views on the difference the quality of life, and life generally, between Croatia and the UK?

It seems to me that Dalmatia reminds me of my England of the 1950s. I was born in 1940, and so I was a teenager in the 50's. I grew up in small town in Lancashire. The way everybody knew everybody else, everywhere was safe - you could leave your door open - it was a happy, peaceful decade. Dalmatia reminded me of that. It was in some sense like coming home. Being a Catholic myself it was very relaxing living in a Catholic country, whereas in England you feel a little bit like an outsider, especially in Southern England.

It's not old fashioned though; people have mobiles and so on. A wonderful mix of the old and new. Quite a bit of the best of the old and the best of the new.

How was your book received in Croatia?

Very well. Obviously it is in English. We took out copies ourselves for a promotion at the beginning of May. That went down very well. It was in the Hotel Korcula and the place was packed. Local bookshops and tourist outlets have taken it. I am working on translations with French and German publishers. A Zagreb distributor may be interested in publishing it in Croatian.

Finally, do you believe that Marco Polo came from Korcula?

I don't see why not. There is quite a lot of documentary evidence. Korcula was part of the Venetian empire at that time. Saying he is Venetia is like an Indian saying he was British during the time of the British empire. Old documents says the man came from Dalmatia. He certainly was not born in Venice. On balance I think he was born in Korcula.

Marco Polo's Isle - Sketches from the Dalmatian island of Korcula by Michael Donley is published by Spencer & Glynn. ISBN 0 954989406 

www.croatsinlondon.com 

Justice At Last?

Embassy, July 13th, 2005
COLUMN
By Gwynne Dyer
Srebrenica: Justice At Last?
Sometimes diplomats can be very stupid. Right through late June and early July, British diplomats in the Balkans pushed the notion that the July 11 commemoration of the massacre of almost 8,000 Muslim men and boys by Serbian and Bosnian Serb troops at Srebrenica 10 years ago was an ideal opportunity for everybody there, including Serbian, Croatian and Bosnian Muslim leaders, to issue a joint declaration of "reconciliation and apology." To their surprise, the victims didn't think this was such a good idea.

What happened at Srebrenica on July 11, 1995 was an act of genocide, carried out with meticulous attention to detail by Serbian and Bosnian Serb troops after the Dutch military force that was supposed to defend the UN-declared "safe area" delivered almost the entire Muslim population of the town into their hands without a fight. Neither Muslims nor Croatians had any reason to apologise for the horrors at Srebrenica. It is the Serbs and the Dutch who need to apologise -- but most Serbs are still in deep denial.

In recent weeks, both the Serbian parliament in Belgrade and the Serbian caucus in the Bosnian parliament have refused to adopt or voted down proposed declarations that would have denounced the Srebrenica massacre. Somebody even planted two very powerful bombs near the memorial centre in Srebrenica, although they were discovered and disarmed in time. The reformist Serbian president, Boris Tadic, insisted on showing up for the ceremony, but his presence was condemned equally by Muslim survivors and by his own fellow Serbs.

Forgiveness and reconciliation must happen one day, but it cannot even get onto the agenda while the chief organisers of the Srebrenica genocide, former Bosnian Serb political leader Radovan Karadzic and his military chief General Ratko Mladic, are still free and still seen as heroes by many other Serbs. Both men have technically been on the run since NATO forces imposed a ceasefire and a kind of UN trusteeship on Bosnia in 1995, but they moved freely around Serbia until their patron, Serbian president Slobodan Milosevic, was overthrown and delivered into the hands of the UN in 2001. Even now, they are hidden and protected by many willing Serbs.

Although they were both indicted for genocide, war crimes, and crimes against humanity by the UN war crimes tribunal in The Hague 10 years ago, they have thumbed their noses at international law for a decade because NATO troops either couldn't find them, or didn't try to break through their rings of bodyguards and arrest them because the casualties would be too high.

Now, however, the tectonic plates are finally beginning to shift in the geographical space that used to be Yugoslavia -- now splintered into Slovenia, Croatia, Serbia-Montenegro, Bosnia-Herzegovina, F.Y.R. Macedonia and Kosovo -- because the European Union has finally started to use its leverage. It's more carrot than stick: the real inducement for these countries to turn themselves into law-abiding democracies is that they have been led to believe that they might then qualify for EU membership, with all the prosperity and security that that would imply.

But law-abiding democracies hand over indicted war criminals to international courts when requested to do so, so suddenly the mass murderers who carried out atrocious acts of "ethnic cleansing" become a liability for the governments that had hitherto been protecting them as war heroes.

In 1998, five years after the war crimes tribunal was created the detention centre in The Hague only held five inmates. Now there are 62 detainees, including a former president, a former prime minister, a former defence minister and a former interior minister. Eighteen more are out on bail pending trial, and 56 others have already been convicted and moved to other prisons to serve their sentences.

"This is without doubt the most active and productive period in the life of the tribunal thus far," Judge Theodor Meron, president of the tribunal, wrote to the UN Security Council last month. Twenty men, some of them very senior officials, have surrendered to the tribunal in the past six months, cutting the list of those still wanted to only 10. The missing 10 still include the biggest fish -- Karadzic and Mladic.

The EU's refusal to continue with Croatia's entrance negotiations has transformed Zagreb's willingness to cooperate with the tribunal. Its refusal even to open talks with Serbia-Montenegro until Belgrade stopped stalling has had a similar result: In April General Nebojsa Pavkovic, former head of the Serbian army, surrendered himself in The Hague. There is suspicion that his and other recent wave of "surrenders" was eased by large cash payments by the Serbian government to the families of the indicted men, but the point is that it is actually happening at last.

There is even hope that Karadzic and Mladic may soon be delivered to the tribunal. On July 7 Karadzic's son Aleksandar (Sasa) was suddenly arrested by NATO troops in the Bosnian Serb town of Pale, his father's former capital, and taken away for questioning. Nothing will bring the victims of the genocide back to life, but the hunt is closing in on the killers.

http://www.embassymag.ca/html/index.php?display=story&full_path=/2005/july/13/dyer/

Croatia's Ukic to join Raptors

Sports Friday, July 15, 2005

Time is GMT + 8 hours
Posted: 15-Jul-2005 20:51 hrs

Croatia's international point guard Roko Leni Ukic is to join the National Basketball Assocation's Toronto Raptors for the next three seasons.

Croatia's international point guard Roko Leni Ukic is to join the National Basketball Assocation's Toronto Raptors for the next three seasons, head of his Split CO club told AFP.
.
"I am not familiar with the details of his contract, but I know that everything has been arranged. It is certain," Dino Radja said Friday.
.
The amount of the transfer is three million dollars, according to the local Sportske Novosti daily.
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"Toronto was always my wish," the 21-year-old Ukic told the daily.
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"I will appear in Toronto on October 1," Ukic said adding that he would first play for Croatia at the European basketball championship in September in Serbia. — AFP

http://www.todayonline.com/articles/61674.asp

Yushchenko meets with the president of Croatia

The meeting of presidents of Ukraine and Croatia, Victor Yushchenko and Stjepan Mesić, is held in Kiev.

The Ukrainian side is represented by the state secretary Alexander Zinchenko, the minister for foreign affairs Boris Tarasyuk, the minister of defence Anatoly Gritsenko, the ambassador of Ukraine to Croatia Victor Kirik and other officials.

After the tête-à-tête meeting the presidents intend to join the official delegations and to continue negotiations. It is planned to sign bilateral Ukrainian-Croatian documents, in particular, joint presidents’ communiqué, agreement between Ukraine’s Cabinet and Croatia’s Government about mutual protection of secret information, memorandum about mutual understanding between the open joint-stock company "State export-import bank of Ukraine" and "Croatia bank of reconstruction and development."

Having signed the documents the presidents will hold a press-conference for Ukrainian and Croatian Mass-Medias. Later on Mesić will visit the Glory Square and lay flowers on a grave of Unknown Soldier.

Mesić's agenda also includes a lunch with the prime minister of Ukraine Julia Timoshenko and a meeting with the deputy chairman of Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine Adam Martinyuk.

Mesić will also visit the National historical and cultural reserve "Sofia Kievskaya" and will conduct the meeting with representatives of Ukraine’s and Croatia’s business circles.

http://en.for-ua.com/news/?id=1372

www.croatianamericanbar.com

If you are an attorney it is my honor to invite you
to be a member of the newly formed Croatian American Bar Association. The
purpose of the Association is to:

promote the advancement of lawyers and law
students of Croatian
heritage in the legal profession;

provide a forum for professional
networking, support, and
exchange of ideas amongst its members;

foster camaraderie amongst its members;

support the provision of legal services to
the Croatian-American
community; and

work with other Croatian-American
organizations on matters of
common concern.

I hope you will take the opportunity
to join so that we can make this new Association a success.
Membership application can be sent via email. Also, please
feel free to circulate copies of the membership application to those who
may be interested.

Very truly yours,
Marko Zoretic

_________________________
Marko R. Zoretic
President
Croatian American Bar Association
1850 Whittier Ave., E201
Costa Mesa, California 92627
Phone: 949-274-5360
marko@croatianamericanbar.com

Malta's Foreign Minister Michael Frendo inCroatia

Foreign Minister Michael Frendo met Croatian President Stejpan Mesic at the Presidential Palace in Zagreb at the start of his official visit in Croatia last Tuesday.

President Mesic and Minister Frendo, while both making reference to the excellent bilateral relations between Malta and Croatia, discussed how to improve trade and investment interchange between the two countries. With regard to the tourism sector, they discussed the development of the cruise liner business and how both countries could collaborate to further the growth of this market in the Mediterranean.

Minister Frendo and President Mesic also spoke about possible collaboration between the transshipment operations in Malta and the ports of Croatia, particularly Rijeka. They agreed that strategically, in economic and business terms, besides being of interest to each other for their own markets, Malta could also act as the gateway to North Africa for Croatia and Croatia as Malta’s gateway to south-eastern Europe.

Dr Frendo reiterated Malta’s support for Croatia’s membership to the European Union and for the rapid opening of negotiation talks now that the framework for negotiations is approved.

President Mesic thanked Minister Frendo for Malta’s support in Croatia’s EU membership bid and said that he looked forward to seeing further increase in bilateral relations between two countries of Europe and the Mediterranean.

Minister Frendo also held talks with his counterpart, Kolinda Grabar-Kitarovic, at the Croatian Foreign Ministry. They agreed to draft a protocol of collaboration between the two ministries which would include closer political cooperation and also the exchange of diplomats on short assignments in each other’s ministries. In this regard the Croatian Minister made reference to the fact that a number of Croatian diplomats had already been trained at the Mediterranean Academy of Diplomatic Studies at the University of Malta and that they had all considered that experience to have been very fruitful.

The two also explored ways in which Malta and Croatia can better promote the business opportunities that exist in their countries. They agreed that foreign direct investment in each other’s economies was to be encouraged and they agreed to invite business delegations to visit the respective countries. Minister Grabar-Kitarovic said that Croatian companies had also expressed interest in investing in Malta in the electronic component sector.

The foreign ministers agreed that other prospects could include collaboration in the tourism sector with respect to the Mediterranean market, investment and trade relating to the pharmaceutical industry and trans-shipment. Croatian Minister Grabar-Kitarovic suggested collaboration between Universities particularly in exchange of students in fields such as archaeology, history and philosophy.

Talks also centred on Croatia’s application to join the European Union. The ministers discussed the action plan which Croatia has set out in relation to full collaboration with the International Criminal Tribunal on Yugoslavia (ICTY) in bringing to justice the fugitive former General Gotovina. Ms Grabar-Kitarovic explained how a new Interior Minister had just been appointed and how measures had been and are continuously being taken to further tighten controls in the quest to bring the fugitive General Gotovina to justice.

Minister Frendo invited Minister Grabar-Kitarovic to visit Malta. After the bilateral meeting the two ministers addressed members of the press.

During his visit to Croatia, Dr Frendo also had a working lunch with Croatia’s Prime Minister Ivo Sanader at the Prime Minister’s offices in Zagreb, in the presence of Foreign Minister Grabar-Kitarovic and other officials of the Prime Minister’s office and the Foreign Ministry. Discussions again centred on European Union issues and on increase of trade and investment between Malta and Croatia. Prime Minister Sanader agreed that Maltese and Croatian entrepreneurs should collaborate in trade and investment in North African markets and in each other’s countries.

He renewed his invitation for Prime Minister Lawrence Gonzi to visit Croatia as soon as his schedule allowed him.

http://217.145.4.56/ind/news.asp?newsitemid=18706
 

Free Admission to Tennis

By Katarina Tepesh

Free admission to US Open Qualifying Tournament starting Tuesday, August 23 – Friday, August 26, 2005. Gates open at 10:00 am at the USTA National Tennis Center.

Come see tomorrow’s Croatian tennis stars today at one of the largest tennis tournaments in the United States. Admission to all US Open qualifying matches is FREE!

Also Free admission Open Practice Day on Sunday, August 28, 2005; Gates open at 11:00 am. Come see your favorite Croatian tennis star up close and personal as they practice for the 2005 US OPEN CHAMPIONSHIPS.

Support Croatian tennis stars IVAN LJUBICIC, MARIO ANCIC, IVO KARLOVIC, KAROLINA SPREM, JELENA KOSTANIC, SANDRA MAMIC, SILVIJA TALAJA, ROKO KARANUSIC, SASA TUKSAR, ZELJKO KRAJAN, MAJA PALAVERSIC COOPERSMITH, LOVRO ZOVKO and others.

Competing among Juniors will be MARIN CILIC, SANJA ANCIC, PETAR JELINIC, IVANA ABRAMOVIC, JOSKO TOPIC, NIKA OZEGOVIC and others.

Playing at US OPEN, Flushing Meadows, Queens, New York from August 29 – September 12, 2005. Prize money is rising from last year and the Men’s and Women’s singles champions will each get a record $1.1 million.

To purchase tickets for 2005 US OPEN, go to TicketMaster.com or call TicketMaster at 1-866-OPEN-TIX

Tickets are available for groups of 25 or more. One Free Ticket for every 25 tickets purchased per session. Call 718-760-6200 menu option #1.

The US Open is the highest annually attended sporting event in the world with more than 625,000 fans. More than 86 million viewers watched the US Open on CBS and USA Network, and international broadcasts reached 199 countries. For more info see www.usopen.org 

Transportation:
Subway at Grand Central Station/Times Square take Flushing bound IRT number 7 train to Willets Point-Shea Stadium stop.

***

Veljko Rogosic - Amazing Test of Human Endurance

Veljko Rogosic (64), four time International Long Distance Swimming Federation World Champion, is on his way to win another world’s best. This outstanding sportsman entered the International Marathon Swimming Hall of Fame in 1998. Rogosic swam La Manche (38 km) in 2004 at the age of 63, to be the oldest ever and the only Croatian to do so!

Rogosic is taking on another professional and personal challenge this summer. A young 64-year-old Croatian legend is swimming a marathon down the entire Adriatic coast, from Savudria in North to Prevlaka in the South - 1,000 km (622 miles) - in less than 60 days!

For more information, map and a daily journal of his amazing adventure, as well as a large photo gallery, please visit: www.veljkorogosic.org .

Please do contact me for any further information, pictures, clips or anything else you may need.

Warm regards from sunny and hot Croatia!

Marina Stanojevic
Press/ Marketing
Team Veljko Rogosic
press@veljkorogosic.org
+385 91 552 4022
 

Mario Carevic training with VFB Stuttgart

Former Hajduk Split midfielder Mario Carevic (Mario Carević) who spent the last season playing in Saudi Arabia could continue his career in Germany if he fulfills the expectation of VFB Stuttgart coach Giovanni Trapattoni.

The 23 year old has left Croatia and Hajduk last summer after playing 102 league game in First Division plus scoring 7 goals, and from then on we lost his trace in Saudi Arabia and Al-Ittihad, a club that just bought Jared Borgetti the best player of Mexico at Confederations Cup in Germany.

Now Carevic appears to be back from Middle East and is accordingly to German media reported to be seen at the training session with VFB Stuttgart. Will he stay or not will probably depend of the Giovanni Trapattoni impressions of the Croat.