Croatian President
boycotts in support of
Tymoshenko
The office of Croatia's President Ivo Josipovic has announced that due to the imprisonment of former Ukrainian Prime Minister Julia Tymoshenko, he will not attend the Central and East European states' presidents meeting in Yalta in the middle of May, reported portal dalje.com.
"Taking into consideration circumstances which indicate violation of human rights in Ukraine, President Ivo Josipovic has decided not to attend the summit of Central European heads of state to be held in Yalta on May 11 and 12," the office said.
Josipovic is not the only head of state to boycott the summit, according to media reports a number of European presidents have made the decision not to attend. Austria's Heinz Fischer and Danilo Tuerk of Slovenia are two to confirm boycotts.
Reports of Tymoshenko's arrest and mistreatment in prison has even prompted threats by Chancellor Angela Merkel in not attending the summit.
source
Global praise for
Croats act of fair play
An act of fair play has seen Croatian football coach Zlatko Kranjcar become the centre of attention of the footballing world, reports portal Dnevnik.hr.
Kranjcar, who is in charge of Iranian first division side Sepahan, has received praise from all over the globe after giving directions to one of his players to purposely miss a penalty his side received.
When the opposition, Al-Nasra, put the ball out of play after one of their men went down injured, one of his Sepahan players intercepted the intended pass back to the opposition and proceeded to try and score. When the Al-Nasra keeper brought him down the referee had no option but to point to the penalty spot.
The Croatian coach, who is the father of Croatian international and Tottenham Hotspurs Niko Krajncar, directed his player to just pass the penalty back to the Al-Nasra goalkeeper. Kranjcar's side went on to win 3-0.
Obama:
Croats should be
proud of its
commitment to reforms
American President Barack Obama has praised the current Croatian government for its commitment to reforms and has said that America and Croatia has developed a close relationship and friendship based on mutual commitment to democracy, freedom, economic development and peace.
Obama was speaking as new Croatian Ambassador to the United States, Josko Paro was presented in the Washington, reported daily Croatia newspaper Vecernji list.
"Croatia is in transition in the early years of the 21st century, it is inspiring. Croatian people should be proud of its commitment to reforms and development. This commitment is rewarded with membership to NATO in 2009 and again after the signing of the Accession Treaty with the European Union where Croatia in 2013 will become a member of the EU." Obama said.
Obama went on to say that the United States admires Croatia's commitment in clearing the way for its Balkan neighbours in their journey towards Euro-Atlantic integration, stressing that the United States and Croatia have strong allies and international partners in NATO, ISAF, KFOR and the UN peacekeeping activities.
