Free Republic

A group of 26 EU member states is to forge ahead with an intergovernmental agreement on tightening economic governance in the eurozone, following a stormy summit in Brussels that saw the UK sidelined after it overplayed its hand. All 17 euro countries as well as nine of the non-euro countries have said they will make a pact outside the current EU treaty, although the Czech Republic, Hungary, Sweden, Denmark and Bulgaria say they need to seek parliamentary approval of the move first. Only the UK has refused to join. Talking to journalists at 5.30am local time -- 10 hours after...

In Sofia, Croatian ambassador to Bulgaria Danijela Barišić and Leszek Hensel, ambassador of Poland – current holder of the EU Presidency – hosted a celebration on December 9 of Croatia’s EU accession treaty signing. Ambassadors and guests from EU and other countries turned out in force to offer congratulations. Photo: Clive Leviev-Sawyer Croatia signed on December 9 2011 its accession treaty with the European Union and if all goes according to plan, will join the bloc in July 2013. Before the process progresses further, the country must within 30 days from December 9 approve in a referendum accession to the...

The world court ruled Monday that Greece was wrong to block a bid by the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia (FYROM) to join NATO in 2008 because of a long-running dispute over the fledgling country's use of the name “Macedonia.” In a 15-1 ruling, the court found that Greece's veto breached a provisional 1995 deal under which Greece had agreed not to block membership of the country in international organizations if it used the name FYROM, while the matter was submitted to further negotiations. More than 15 years later, mediation over the name is still ongoing. The victory is partly...

Explanation: A single, long exposure captured these star trails above a remarkably colorful sea of clouds. As seen from Medvednica mountain, the surrounding peaks and lights illuminating the clouds from below are north of Zagreb, Croatia. Near the center of the also colorful star trail arcs, the North Celestial Pole is off the upper right edge of the frame. Even though this is the age of the digital camera, the well composed skyscape was recorded using color slide film in a medium format camera. The dreamlike scene's starry sky and ephemeral ocean could be reminiscent of an older age still,...

Ordinary measures are not warranted anymore for I have overcome for you and in Me you reside in the heavenlies. So cast off your flesh when it distracts you from My Will of virtue and Righteousness and "Remain" in "MY" Loyalty for I AM all you need to KNOW! John 15:9 (AMP) 9I have loved you, [just] as the Father has loved Me; abide in My love [[a]continue in His love with Me]. Acts 17:28 28For in him we live, and move, and have our being; as certain also of your own poets have said, For we are also his...

ZAGREB -- Croatia’s Interior Minister Tomislav Karamarko has banned a commemoration and revealing of a monument to Serbs victims who were killed from 1991 until 1995.Monument to killed Golubić Serbs (Tanjug) The minister stressed that the gathering would probably lead to significant violation of public law and order and that it would upset the citizens. He pointed out in the release that the “the ban has removed danger of bigger incidents and unrest”. The Croat authorities have also ordered St Stephen’s Church to remove the monument to Serb victims within three days. The Environment, Spatial Planning and Construction Ministry has...

KFor soldiers from the US stand guard at a barricade at the closed Serbia-Kosovo border crossing of Jarinje. Photograph: Marko Djurica/Reuters Cultural claims persist in regions as Belgrade refuses to acknowledge independence of Kosovo MILEVA PREMOVIC and her neighbours while away the afternoon in the shade of a broad tree. The unseasonable warmth makes it hard to imagine that the green Kapaonik mountains, rising up a few miles away in Serbia, will soon be white with snow and busy with skiers. It would also be hard to believe that bullets were fired and blood shed here just a few days...

A group of gear heads from Croatia has produced a car designed to show that “electric vehicle” doesn’t have to mean “something my granola-eating neighbor drives.” Rimac Automobil, named for its founder, Mate Rimac, unveiled the Concept_One at the International Auto Show in Frankfurt. Designed as a sleek sports car it is powered entirely by batteries, and can, the company says, hit 62 miles per hour in 2.8 seconds, and reach a limit of 190 mph. The batteries carry 92 kilowatt-hours, or enough to power an average American home for three days -- or drive the car 372 miles, enough...

German chancellor Angela Merkel has received undeserved praise for adopting an uncompromising position regarding Kosovo in meetings with Serbian president Boris Tadic. The latest example of a laudatory reaction is the piece [3] by Morton Abramowitz and James Hooper. Abramowitz and Hooper are thrilled that she made it clear to Tadic that “Kosovo would not be partitioned” and that “the area inhabited by Serbs north of the Ibar River was Kosovo territory.” Further, she told the leader of a still-fragile democratic Serbia that the Kosovo issue “had to be resolved before Serbia could enter the EU.” Rather than meriting praise,...

German Chancellor Angela Merkel and Serbian President Boris Tadic On August 23 German Chancellor Angela Merkel visited Belgrade. The first leg of her trip was Zagreb where she met with Croatian leaders. In Belgrade she met with Serbian leaders including a one-on-one session with President Tadic. The upshot was her blunt dictate that Serbia must meet the following demands in order to qualify for consideration of EU membership: progress in the Belgrade-Pristina dialog, normalization of relations including abandonment of parallel structures in Kosovo; administrative and legal reforms, and satisfying the 1995 Copenhagen criteria. Merkel pointed out that Germany would like...

BELGRADE -- Today marks the 16th anniversary since the beginning of Croatian army and police Operation Storm that led to the exodus of more than 200,000 Serbs from Croatia. Tadic and Krkobabic in attendance (Beta) Serbian Orthodox Church (SPC) Patriarch Irinej held a memorial service at St. Mark’s Church in downtown Belgrade for the victims of the 1995 military operation aimed against Serb areas of Croatia. The memorial service was attended by Serbian President Boris Tadic, Deputy Prime Minister in charge of refugee issues Jovan Krkobabic, and by other government officials. Representatives of more than 100 refugee and home clubs...

Zagreb/Belgrade 4 Aug. (AKI) - Croatia on Thursday celebrated the 16th anniversary of military operation “Storm” which crushed a Serb rebellion and sparked exodus of some 200,000 Serbs, while Serbia commemorated victims of what it calls the worst ethnic cleansing in Europe after World War Two. Croatian Prime Minister Jadranka Kosor said operation “Storm” was a “brilliant military action” and a great victory which re-united the country. “The Day of Victory we celebrate in peace and freedom, taking our place in the European family of states and nations,” Kosor said. Serbiaian president Boris Tadic said the anniversary was a date...

The Seven(7) thunders are coming into view , As Isaiah( Seer) witnessed (coals of testimony of Jesus Christ) and Ezekiel (Intercessor) Knew , The voices speaking together "AS ONE" , The Head of The Menorah , JESUS God's one and only Son , For The table has been set for the feast , The Bride entreated to come and take a peek , A look at what is about is about to be whole , The Bells of righteousness are about to sound, Raining down Heaven all around , The Coals of Testimony plainly in view , Burning with a...

Serbian authorities have arrested Goran Hadzic, the last remaining fugitive war crimes suspect sought by the UN tribunal for the former Yugoslavia. Mr Hadzic, now 52, led Serb separatist forces during Croatia's 1991-1995 war. Within hours of the arrest, a Serbian court approved his extradition to the Hague. He has been charged with the murder of hundreds of non-Serbs. The arrest comes less than two months after Serbia caught former Bosnian Serb military commander Ratko Mladic. Serbian President Boris Tadic confirmed Mr Hadzic's arrest at a news conference. He said the suspect had been detained early on Wednesday in the...

The Italian government has blocked an investigation into the whereabouts of a massive consignment of weapons removed from a military depot in the Mediterranean, amid speculation that the cargo was secretly supplied to Libya. The weapons were from a consignment that included 30,000 Kalashnikov AK-47 automatic rifles, 32m rounds of ammunition, 5,000 Katyusha rockets, 400 Fagot wire-guided anti-tank missiles and some 11,000 other anti-tank weapons. They were transferred from a store on the island of Santo Stefano, off the north coast of Sardinia, and transported to the mainland where they were loaded onto army trucks , a source familiar with...

ZAGREB — Half of Croatian high school pupils think homosexuality is an illness and two-thirds say gay rights marches should be banned, a poll said Friday. Some 47 percent of final year school students polled said "homosexuality is illness," the survey done by non-government rights group GONG found. More than 64 percent of the 999 respondents in 43 schools said gay pride parades should be banned as they "have a harmful effect on education of young people," the poll showed. On June 11, a gay pride parade in the coastal town Split was marred by violence when anti-gay protestors pelted...

The European Union and Croatia on Friday concluded accession negotiations and thus, the Balkan country will become the 28th Member State of the organization in 2013. "We concluded today that the accession negotiations with Croatia have reached their final stage," said Herman Van Rompuy, President of the European Council.

Natasha Srdoc’s campaign for fiscal transparency terrifies Zagreb’s rulers Croatia may be on the verge of a seismic political earthquake. A new patriotic-populist movement is being born. If it comes to power, it will transform the country - reverberating across the region and impacting the European Union. The leader of this revolution is Natasha Srdoc, founder and chairman of the Adriatic Institute for Public Policy (AI), Croatia’s only Western-style independent think tank. She is willing to do something no other Croatian leader is doing: stand up to Brussels. For years, Mrs. Srdoc has championed the free market, private property rights...

Milivoj Asner Austria has been branded as a "paradise for Nazis" after it emerged that an alleged war criminal deceased in a care home in Carinthia. A spokesman for a Caritas retirement centre in Klagenfurt confirmed newspaper reports claiming that Milivoj Asner passed away today (Mon). He said the Croat perished aged 98 in the institution last week. Asner is suspected of being behind the deportation of hundreds of Serbs, Roma and members of the Jewish community in Croatia’s Ustasa movement during World War Two (WWII). Asner changed his name to Georg Aschner after fleeing to Austria when the Communists...

On the Trip to Croatia "Fidelity of Spouses Has Itself Become a Meaningful Witness to the Love of Christ" VATICAN CITY, JUNE 8, 2011 (Zenit.org).- Here is a translation of the Italian-language catechesis Benedict XVI gave today during the general audience held in St. Peter's Square. The Pope reviewed the trip he made last weekend to Croatia. * * * Dear Brothers and Sisters! Today I would like to speak with you about the pastoral visit to Croatia that I made last Saturday and Sunday. It was a brief apostolic journey that took place entirely within the capital Zagreb, and...