Genocide suspect Mladic is extradited after appeal fails

NEW: Ratko Mladic's extradition appeal is rejected His lawyer says Mladic would not be able to participate in a trialHe has been joking, the prosecutor saysMladic is wanted on charges including genocide

Belgrade, Serbia (CNN) -- Bosnian Serb genocide suspect Ratko Mladic lost an appeal against extradition and will be sent to an international tribunal to face charges, prosecutor Vladimir Vukcevic said on Serbian television Tuesday.

Mladic's lawyer said earlier that he expected to learn Tuesday whether the former Bosnian Serb general will get new medical exams. Lawyer Milos Saljic argued that Mladic would not be able to participate in a trial at the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia because of his ill health.

Saljic wants Mladic examined by specialists "who can investigate his specific needs," including a gastroenterologist, cardiologist, psychiatrist and neurologist.

Mladic, 69, is wanted by the tribunal in connection with the massacre of nearly 8,000 Muslim men and boys at Srebrenica in 1995, among other charges. He was captured Thursday after more than 15 years in hiding.

The court has already ruled Mladic is fit to stand trial.

Saljic is also applying for Mladic's unpaid pension from the years when he was in hiding, he said, saying he was acting on behalf of Mladic's family.

Chief prosecutor Vladimir Vukcevic denied Monday that Mladic was in poor health, saying that he was "lively and joking," and had asked for Russian classics to read. He said Mladic would be sent to The Hague within days if his extradition appeal fails.

Mladic's son, Darko, told an ultranationalist rally Sunday that that his father is sick.

"He needs medical treatment that he is not getting," the younger Mladic said.

He described his father as "a freedom fighter," and said he had "defended his own nation, defended his people, which was his job."

The younger Mladic called on protesters to keep the demonstration peaceful on Sunday, but protesters clashed with Serbian police at the demonstration.

Nearly 20 people were injured in the violence -- seven police and 12 civilians -- according to police. They said they made more than 100 arrests.

The Serbian Radical Party held its protest Sunday in front of Serbia's parliament building.

Mladic gave himself up without a fight Thursday, despite having two handguns, according to Rasim Ljajic, the government minister in charge of searching for fugitive suspected war criminals.

Officials located Mladic in a village called Lazarevo, north of the Serbian capital, after culling information from his former comrades, those who supported him financially and his close family members, Ljajic said.

It is not clear what source led investigators to the former military commander.

His arrest clears a major hurdle that once stood between Serbia and its long-awaited entrance into the European Union, but the move could also usher in political backlash from the country's electorate, some of whom consider Mladic a hero.

The massacre at Srebrenica, which sparked international outcry and preceded a NATO bombing campaign, is now remembered as the worst atrocity in Europe since World War II.

Mladic is accused of presiding over the five-day slaughter in July 1995, where Muslim men and boys were systematically executed in what was described at the U.N. war crimes tribunal as "the triumph of evil."

Mladic's forces encircled the town, a U.N.-declared "safe area" where thousands of Bosnian Muslims had sought refuge, allegedly conducting wholesale slaughter and rape, despite the presence of a few hundred lightly armed Dutch U.N. peacekeepers charged with protecting the area's residents and its refugees.

The former general is considered the last of the fugitive war criminal suspects in the region, following the capture of Bosnian Serb leader Radovan Karadzic and former Serbian President Slobodan Milosevic, who died in jail in 2006 during his trial at The Hague.

A medical team has determined that Mladic is healthy enough to be extradited to face a war crimes tribunal, a court spokeswoman in Belgrade said Friday.

While the war crimes suspect suffers from several chronic conditions, the team said there are no immediate problems barring a move.

This comes after five doctors examined Mladic Thursday night, according to Saljic, the lawyer.

CNN's Nic Robertson and Ivan Watson contributed to this report.

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White House fails to end impasse on federal budget

By Mark Wilson, Getty Images

President Obama addresses the media in the White House briefing room on Tuesday.

EnlargeCloseBy Mark Wilson, Getty Images

President Obama addresses the media in the White House briefing room on Tuesday.

Since the Republican House and the Democratic Senate remain divided, the government is days away from having its legal authority to spend money expire. Congress must pass a bill by midnight Friday to avert a shutdown of most federal agencies.

GOP: Party seeking dramatic changes in Medicare and MedicaidBUDGET: House GOP proposes nearly $6 trillion in cutsAfter the White House meeting, the participants gave simultaneous — if different — accounts:

•President Obama. "We are now closer than we have ever been to getting an agreement," he said in a surprise briefing. "The only question is whether politics or ideology are going to get in the way of preventing a government shutdown."

•Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev. "The Tea Party is driving the House of Representatives. It's not a matter of a number. We can get them their number. It's ideological with them."

•House Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio. "We're going to fight for the largest cuts possible — real cuts, not more smoke and mirrors," he said.

Reid and Obama object to GOP proposals to cut funding for Planned Parenthood and the Environmental Protection Agency.

Two hours later, Boehner and Reid met again. Their spokesmen released identical statements saying they "had a productive discussion." Obama said he wants them back at the White House today. The House has voted for $61 billion in cuts from this year's budget. The Senate and White House have offered $33 billion.

Two previous shutdown showdowns have ended with short-term "continuing resolutions," funding the government two or three weeks at a time with $4 billion to $6 billion in cuts.

This time, all sides have said they don't want a stopgap bill. Even so, House Appropriations Committee Chairman Hal Rogers, R-Ky., has drafted an extension that would fund the Defense Department through September — and the rest of the government for another week. Total cuts: $12 billion.

No vote is scheduled, and Obama said he won't sign another short-term extension unless it's only for a few days to hash out a final, long-term deal.

Even as the president was working to avert it, his Office of Management and Budget was preparing for a government shutdown.

Deputy OMB Director Jeff Zients e-mailed federal agencies Monday that "given the realities of the calendar, good management requires that we continue contingency planning for an orderly shutdown."

Zients told agencies to share their secret contingency plans with top managers. But Bill Dougan of the National Federation of Federal Employees, urged him to also "share these plans with the hardworking federal employees who will be impacted the most by a government shutdown."

The House Administration Committee also released a shutdown plan, saying Capitol Hill employees necessary for security or for members to fulfill their constitutional responsibilities would continue to work through a shutdown. The only offices that will "definitely" shut down are the gift shop, visitor's center, botanic gardens and the flag office.

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