WHEN Novak Djokovic realised he was the Wimbledon champion, he fell to the ground and covered the grass like a blanket.

The Serbian justice minister has confirmed Ratko Mladic is on plane on his way to The Hague.

Judges have rejected an appeal by war crimes suspect Ratko Mladic seeking to stop his extradition to a UN tribunal.

As he awaited extradition to a UN tribunal, jailed war crimes suspect Ratko Mladic has been allowed to visit the grave of his daughter who committed suicide during Bosnia’s war.

Serbia’s president Boris Tadic said it is time for the European Union to do its part by boosting his nation’s efforts to join the bloc, arguing the arrest of war crimes suspect Ratko Mladic proves it is serious about rejoining the international fold.

Protesters throwing stones and bottles clashed with baton-wielding riot police in Belgrade after several thousand Serbian nationalist supporters of jailed war crimes suspect Ratko Mladic rallied outside the parliament building to demand his release.

PROTESTERS throwing stones and bottles clashed with baton-wielding riot police yesterday in Belgrade after several thousand Serbian nationalist supporters of jailed war-crimes suspect Ratko Mladic rallied outside the parliament building to demand his release.

A JUDGE ruled yesterday that Bosnian Serb general Ratko Mladic, the alleged mastermind of the Srebrenica massacre and other atrocities, was fit to face international justice at a war crimes court.

“WE have ended a difficult period of our history and removed the stain from the face of Serbia,” Serbian president Boris Tadic said in a triumphant press conference announcing the arrest of Ratko Mladic.

BOSNIAN Serb wartime general Ratko Mladic was arrested in Serbia yesterday after years on the run from international genocide charges, opening the way for the state to approach the European mainstream.

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).

General Ratko Mladic, Europe’s most wanted war crimes fugitive, has been arrested in Serbia, the country’s president said 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.

A summit meant to show that Balkan nations can finally overcome past enmities has proved the opposite as a key regional player – Serbia – refused to attend it.

Serbian President Boris Tadic has been fined €400 for toasting Serbia’s football team with champagne after it qualified for the World Cup.

SERBIA expelled the Macedonian ambassador yesterday, reflecting its fury over the recognition of Kosovo’s independence by its closest neighbours.

Serbia's foreign minister predicted that fugitive General Ratko Mladic will be apprehended soon and put on trial at the UN war crimes tribunal, putting to rest an ugly legacy of the Balkan wars of the 1990s.

Thousands of riot police were deployed in Belgrade today preparing for a huge demonstration in support of jailed Radovan Karadzic.

Nationalists were planning a huge anti-government rally in Serbia's capital today as Radovan Karadzic's lawyer predicted the government will try to whisk the arrested war crimes suspect off to the UN tribunal before the protest.

The deadline for Radovan Karadzic to appeal against his handover to the United Nations war crimes court passed today with the lawyer for the ex-Bosnian Serb warlord refusing to confirm he had taken that step.

War criminal Radovan Karadzic has spent his first days in prison getting a barber to return him to the familiar coiffured figure who once terrorised tens of thousands.

Radovan Karadzic is to fight Serbia's attempt to extradite him to the Netherlands to face a war crimes court.

HE WAS accused of masterminding massacres that the United Nations war crimes tribunal described as “scenes from hell, written on the darkest pages of human history”.

Former Bosnian Serb leader Radovan Karadzic, the alleged architect of war crimes including Europe’s worst massacre since the Second World War, was in custody today after more than a decade on the run.

Serbia’s pro-Western president Boris Tadic has declared victory in parliamentary elections, edging out ultranationalists who tried to exploit anger over Kosovo’s independence.

UN police yesterday began returning to the Serb-held town in northern Kosovo where protesters with guns and hand grenades killed one of their colleagues and wounded dozens more.

UN police today began returning to the Serb-held town in northern Kosovo where protesters with guns and hand grenades killed one of their colleagues and wounded dozens more.

UN forces were attacked as they forced Serb demonstrators from an occupied court today sparking a running battle as they faced rocks, grenades and bullets.

Serbia’s president has dissolved parliament and called early parliamentary elections in May.

SERBIAN Prime Minister Vojislav Kostunica resigned on Saturday, dissolving a coalition too divided over the loss of Kosovo to carry on.

Serbian President Boris Tadic said today he will call early elections after the prime minister announced the collapse of the government.

Serbian Prime Minister Vojislav Kostunica today dissolved the government and called for new elections after clashing with his pro-Western coalition partners over Kosovo and EU membership.

SERBS set off sporadic explosions and torched checkpoints between Serbia and Kosovo yesterday to protest Kosovo’s declaration of independence and international recognition of the state.

Angry Serbs set off explosions in northern Kosovo today protesting at the newborn republic’s independence.

Kosovo took another step towards announcing its independence today by creating a government office to handle the concerns of Serb minorities.

THE narrow re-election victory of Serbia’s pro-West president, Boris Tadic, drew EU applause yesterday, but piled pressure on an unstable government in Belgrade as Kosovo prepares to declare independence.

The European Union was quick to congratulate pro-Western Boris Tadic after he won Serbia’s presidential election, beating an ultranationalist ally of former President Slobodan Milosevic by a narrow margin.

Pro-Western incumbent Boris Tadic won Serbia's presidential election today, beating an ultranationalist ally of former President Slobodan Milosevic by a narrow margin.

Serbians were voting today in a run off presidential election that may bring an ally of late hardline President Slobodan Milosevic back to power, before a potentially explosive split by the Serbian province of Kosovo.

European Union foreign ministers will try to overcome differences today over whether to offer Serbia a path to EU membership despite the Balkan nation’s failure to track down suspected war criminals.

KOSOVO’S declaration of independence is a matter of days away, the Serbian province’s prime minister Hashim Thaci said yesterday.

Independent monitors said an ally of late autocrat Slobodan Milosevic had edged ahead of the pro-Western incumbent in Serbia’s presidential election today, but failed to win an outright majority – forcing the two into a run-off.

United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said he expects to receive a report today from negotiators who say they have failed to break a deadlock over the future of Kosovo.

Pro-democratic parties in Serbia have reached a power-sharing deal to form a new government and see off the threat of radical ultranationalists, media reports said today.