Zagreb - The family of Ankica and Grgo Katalinic wanted to build a street specially leading to their house for their 75th wedding anniversary, but local authorities turned the request down, the Jutarnji List daily said Friday.

Ankica, 97, and Grga, 95, live without electricity and tap water in a mountaintop village, reachable only after a several-hour hike on a narrow path. All others in the village Katalinici - after which Grga's family was named - either long-since died or left.

Prague - Croatia could conclude its accession talks with the European Union by the end of 2009 and join the 27-member bloc by the end of the decade, EU Commissioner for Enlargement Ollie Rehn said Thursday.

"The next year of 2009 is bound to be ... the year of Western Balkans and Eastern Partnership (as Croatia could be) concluding the negotiations by the end of next year," he told reporters in Prague after meeting Czech officials.

Brussels- Croatia has made good progress, but still has much to do in the fields of judicial reform and competition before it can start European Union membership talks next year, European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso said Tuesday.

Barroso was speaking after a meeting in Brussels with Croatian Prime Minister Ivo Sanader.

"I congratulated the prime minister and his government for the good progress in the (EU) accession negotiations over the past months. Of course, there is still much work ahead," Barroso said.

Zagreb - The management of Croatia's INA oil company said the 2,800 kuna (557 dollars) per share bid for a majority package by Hungary's MOL was "acceptable, the Zagreb stock exchange said Monday.

The bid was for a 31-per cent stake in INA that is not at present included in the 44-per cent state ownership. MOL already holds 25 per cent.

The 31 per cent of the capital is held by a veterans' fund, while the remainder is in the hands of private and institutional investors. At 2,800 kuna per share, MOL has put a
28-billion kuna price tag on INA.

Zagreb - Despite soaring fuel prices, Croats still prefer petrol-driven cars to the more economical diesel models, according to a survey released Friday.

More than two-thirds of all new cars registered this year run on petrol, and just 32 per cent used diesel, a survey by the Promiocija Plus agency said.

The General Motors' brand Opel retained the number one slot in

Croatia, with a 14-per-cent share among the 63,400 new cars sold so far in 2008.

Renault followed with 9.65 per cent and Volkswagen with 8.81 per cent.

Munich- A Croatian exile was jailed for life Wednesday for organi