Almost two years on from the first protests against Bashar Assad's regime, in late January 2011, Western leaders, David Cameron among them, are desperate for the civil war in Syria to end. Deeply hostile to the regime in Damascus, but alarmed by the growing prominence of al-Qa'ida supporters in the ranks of the opposition, they yearn for Mr Assad to go before the Islamists become unstoppable.

Serbia is to blame for the vast majority of atrocities committed during the 90s wars in the Balkans, but Serbs were also murdered and expelled from their homes

When I visited Borko's 15th floor flat in Belgrade, I commented on the stunning view from his rooftop terrace. He laughed: “Yeah it was a great spot to watch the Nato air raids too.”

The Serb nationalist Tomislav Nikolic has won the presidential elections in Serbia, defeating the pro-European and reform-oriented incumbent Boris Tadic.

A pro-European Union candidate and a nationalist opponent are headed for a run-off in Serbia's presidential elections, while the ruling pro-Western party is likely to form the next coalition government, independent pollsters said.

With the conviction of Charles Taylor, warlords can no longer rest easy

Goran Hadzic's arrest paves way for his country's entry to the EU

The flamboyant folk singer Svetlana Raznatovic, better known as Ceca, will spend eight months under house arrest and pay a €1.5m (£1.3m) fine as part of a plea bargain approved by a court in Belgrade yesterday.

The former head of Serbia's police force was jailed for 27 years yesterday for war crimes, crimes against humanity and the murders of at least 724 civilians in Kosovo 12 years ago. Dressed in dark blue suit and white shirt, Vlastimir Djordjevic remained emotionless as the presiding judge, Kevin Parker, passed sentence at the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia in The Hague.

Serbian President Boris Tadic yesterday became the first Belgrade official to visit a site where more than 200 Croatians were massacred at the beginning of the war that tore the former Yugoslavia apart.

Serbia has no financial strength, its clubs collude with 'ultras' and fans can travel without visas – so its problems are unlikely to go away soon.

No one who ever got into besieged Srebrenica will forget it. Crammed with Muslim refugees from all over eastern Bosnia, the price of its resistance to the surrounding Bosnian Serbian army was unbelievable suffering.

Re-invented by the Victorians, under the name of Boadicea, Boudicca was presented as an idol of nationalism, of British warrior tradition and, somewhat incongruently, as a figurehead of imperialism, even though this was the thing she had fought against.