In the News

After years of negotiations (or petty bickering depending on one's general opinion of politics), Slovenia and Croatia were finally able to agree a framework for international arbitration to solve their long-running border dispute - which had seen EU member Slovenia essentially put a hold on Croatian accession talks for much of the past year. The agreement was signed on 4 November and ratified by the Croatian parliament on 20 November, however, Slovenes will be voting on the issue at a special referendum to be held sometime during the first quarter of 2010. At stake is a tiny sliver of land on the Istrian peninsula and Slovenia's free access (or lack thereof) to international waters.

The other big news of the past couple months came courtesy of the right foot of Slovene striker Zlatko Dedić, who scored the only goal in Slovenia's 1-0 upset of Russia on 18 November in Maribor and secured the national team's place at the 2010 World Cup in South Africa. The surprise victory led to several days of celebrations across the country, including an impromptu street party in Ljubljana that lasted till sunrise the day after the match and seemingly left the entire city with a collective hangover.