The capture of Ratko Mladic was hailed this afternoon as a boost for Serbia, for Europe and for the country’s hopes of joining the European Union (EU).

SERBIA took a crucial step forward in its bid to join the European Union yesterday, when EU foreign ministers agreed to examine Belgrade’s candidacy, in reward for softening its stance on Kosovo.

The extradition from Britain of former Bosnian leader Ejup Ganic to face trial for alleged war crimes in Serbia was blocked today.

BEREAVED families and survivors came to bury hundreds of victims of the Srebrenica massacre yesterday as world leaders demanded the arrest of the general whose troops killed the 8,000 Muslim males 15 years ago.

NOTING the inaccuracies in Steven King’s column on Radovan Karadzic and the Yugoslavian wars of the 1990s (October 28), I feel compelled to outline a few historical facts.

ONE of the biggest and most keenly awaited trials of the past half century opened on Monday but without the benefit of the defendant. The infamous Radovan Karadzic, the Bosnian Serbs’ political leader during the Bosnian war of 1992-’95 which left at least 100,000 dead, refused to attend because he said he needs more time to prepare his defence.

BOSNIAN Serb wartime leader Radovan Karadzic announced yesterday he will boycott the start of his genocide trial next week complaining he has not been given enough time to prepare.

MUSLIM victims of the Bosnian war have voiced outrage at the decision to grant early release to a Bosnian Serb ex-president convicted of crimes against humanity.

A mass grave believed to contain dozens of victims of the 1995 Srebrenica massacre has been discovered in eastern Bosnia, officials said.

GENERAL Ratko Mladic, now the Hague’s other most wanted man, gave up information leading to the capture and arrest of ally Radovan Karadzic, it was reported yesterday.

EXUBERANT scenes in Bosnia’s capital Sarajevo greeted the arrest of Radovan Karadzic, but elsewhere in Bosnia the reaction was one of disbelief.

The office of Serbian president said last night that former Bosnian Serb leader Radovan Karadzic had been arrested in Serbia.

IN the coming months, a fundamental decision will be made that will challenge the capacity of the international community, particularly Europe, for conflict resolution.

A Serbian military commander indicted for war crimes has been handed over to the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia in The Hague.

Slobodan Milosevic is to ask a Dutch court to declare that his hand over to the UN war crimes tribunal and his continued detention are illegal.