Desa Vlahutin, sculptor from Dubrovnik, will open her exhibition on Wednesday, October 11th in Croatian Embassy in London at 7:30 pm. The exhibition will be opened by the Ambassador of the Republic of Croatia in the United Kingdom Igor Pokaz.

Academic sculptor, especially familiar to the citizens of Dubrovnik because of her ‘’Gate of the City’’ sculpture, will exhibit ‘’Cycle 1x8’’ in London. The exhibition consists of eight almost identical sculptures made of highly polished aluminium.

By repeating the same geometric principles with little modification, the author tries to find the meaning of repetition as a path in achieving excellence.

-Every sculpture has its own way of expressing the same idea, the same path. Thus, the ways differ in individual perspective making the same idea different in every sculpture. Combined they form the cyclus that embodies difference in sameness – states the artist and says that as the whole culture is telling you to hurry, the art tells you to take your time and that’s why you should take your time and visit her exhibition.

According to the latest information, Croatia is to introduce Euro as an official currency by 2022.

The Croatian National Bank has prepared a Croatian strategy for the introduction of the Euro, which includes calculations of the benefits and possible risks of entering the Eurozone, and will publish it by the end of this month.

The EU Strategy will serve as a basic document for public debate on the introduction of the Euro, which will be officially opened by the Prime Minister Andrej Plenkovic.

According to local media, if Croatia succeeds in convincing the European Commission and other countries in the Eurozone that it controls the public debt and will reduce it to 60 percent within a reasonable time, it is estimated that the Euro could replace the Croatian Kuna by 2022 or 2023.

The Association of Croatian Homeland War Veterans 1991 (UHBDR91) in cooperation with other veteran associations in Croatia, will present Dire Straits with a gold plaque for ‘’Brother in Arms’’.

In early days of the Homeland War in Croatia, the popular song of the British rock band in a certain way became an anthem of Croatian soldiers, commemorating the innocent victims of war, not only in Croatia but elsewhere in the world.

This touching song was weaved into the video of Gordan Lederer, a cameraman from Croatian Radio Television, who was shot by a member of Serbian paramilitary units on the 10th of August 1991 while filming on the first line of defence near Hrvatska Kostajnica.

Lederer’s video ‘’Banijska ratna praskozorja’’ (‘’War sunrise in Banija’’) from 1991 was composed from his last recordings of members of the 1. Gardijska brigada ‘’Tigrovi’’ (the First Guard Brigade ‘’Tigers’’) during their patrol.

Therefore, the Croatian veterans decided to award The Dire Straits Experience, a tribute band of Dire Straits and present them with a gold plaque at their concert on the 24th of October in Zagreb.

On this occasion, the band will play the greatest hits of the original line up of the popular British rock band and celebrate the 40th anniversary of the band.

Over the past week 20 traffic accidents were recorded in the Dubrovnik area. According to details from the Dubrovnik-Neretva Police Administration there were seven accidents in which drivers were injured and thirteen with only material damage.

During the week police made 586 interventions against drivers of which 282 were for speeding, 72 for drivers not wearing a seat belt, 46 due to improper overtaking and 16 against drivers were under the influence of alcohol.

British low-cost airline Jet2 announced a new line between Dubrovnik and Birmingham in its summer flight schedule for 2018. This is a quick reaction to the collapse of a competing British airline carrier Monarch Airlines, which suspended all transit last weekend. It is also the first reaction with taking over some of the lines on which Monarch Airlines flew this year in Croatia – reports Avioradar.

Although Monarch Airlines flew this route three times a week, Jet2 comes with two flights per week each Tuesday and Saturday from May 26th to November 3rd. Earlier this year, when announcing its summer schedule for 2018, Jet2 also added an upgrade on the Dubrovnik-London (Stansted Airport) line, which partly covers for the absence of Monarch Airlines flights for the next year.

Unrelated to the bankruptcy of Monarch Airlines, Jet2 already announced a new Split-Birmingham line, which will fully fill the absence of Monarch Airlines in Split. Also, the Jet2 will considerably extend the flying season from Birmingham to Split for almost two months longer in the pre-season and for a month longer in the post-season than the Monarch, which this year only flew from  June 25th to October 1st.

The Croatian national airline, Croatia Airlines, has released its winter schedule and although it has added new destinations to the capital Zagreb it has once again ignored Dubrovnik.

New destinations, such as Lisbon and Barcelona have been added to the flights from Zagreb, both having two flights a week. However, the national airline hasn’t added any new flights or destinations to their Dubrovnik winter schedule.

Croatia Airlines will operate to only two cities from Dubrovnik through the winter, Zagreb and Frankfurt. With three flights a week to Frankfurt and twenty-two flights a week to Zagreb this represents exactly the same destinations and number of flights as last winter.

Tourists from the UK, Dubrovnik’s biggest target market, will once again be forced land at the Croatian capital before catching a connecting flight to Dubrovnik. And with Dubrovnik desperately trying to attract tourists throughout the colder months this move from Croatia Airlines is far from supportive.

Next week works on the Batala Municipal Harbor will continue. The last berth will arrive from Sibenik, and depending on the weather conditions, should be installed and the new municipal marina completed.

The planned completion of all works is scheduled for next week by the 20th of October.

Today, the 8th of October, is a national public holiday Croatian Independence Day. It marks a decision made by the Croatian parliament on the 8th of October 1991 to end relations from Yugoslavia and to terminate legal and state ties with the country. Independence Day was made an official public holiday in 2001 and was celebrated for the first time in 2002.

Croatian President Kolinda Grabar-Kitarović congratulated citizens with this message.

“To all Croatians and Croatian citizens in the Homeland and throughout the world, sincere congratulations on Independence Day of the Republic of Croatia. Among the momentous dates in our history, the 8th of October is cherished as the day when the final and irrevocable decision on the independence of the Republic of Croatia became effective. This historical goal was achieved after long centuries of fighting for survival and freedom. Therefore, with gratitude today we recall all those throughout history whose sacrifice in labour and lives contributed to the achievement of this aim. Today, as an independent state which is a full-fledged member of the international community and the European Union, we have all the formal preconditions for our nation and society to develop freely and be affirmed in the world. But the real force of our state lies within us, in our community and self-confidence, in our youth and our faith in the future. I am confident that we will reach all the developmental goals we are striving for. I believe in the future of our independent Croatia.”