Belgrade  - The Serbian parliament on Wednesday overcame opposition to open a debate on a crucial pre-membership treaty with the European Union and several other major issues, including Kosovo.

Legislators were discussing ratification of the Stabilization and Association Agreement Serbia signed with EU. The treaty is a major step towards membership, but needs to be approved by all 27 member- states.

Brussels  - The European Union should reward Serbia for the capture of war-crimes indictee Radovan Karadzic by implementing a deal on trade liberalization, the EU's top official said Wednesday during a visit of Serbian President Boris Tadic to Brussels.

And European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso said that he believed Serbia could become a candidate for EU membership as early as in 2009 if it continues to bring in key reforms.

Describing the July capture of Karadzic as a "milestone" and a "historic moment," Barroso said "I think it should be acknowledged by implementing the trade-related parts" of a broader political deal which the EU and Serbia signed in the spring.

The Hague - The former vice-admiral of the Yugoslav Navy responsible for the shelling of the historic city of Dubrovnik has been released after serving most of his sentence for war crimes, the UN war crimes tribunal said Tuesday.

Court president of the UN's International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia, Fausto Pocar, announced in The Hague on Tuesday that Miodrag Jokic, 72, had on July 24 served two-thirds of his seven-year sentence for the destruction of Dubrovink and was being released in consideration of good conduct.

Belgrade  - The Serbian government was due Thursday to discuss a proposal by an Austrian consortium to terminate a major highway construction deal.

Salzburg-based Parr and Vienna-based Alpine last year won a 1.1 billion euros (1.61 billion dollars) contract to build a 320- kilometre highway from Serbia's border with Hungary to Pozega in the southwest of the country.

The deal-included a 25-year concession to Alipne and Porr, during which they would recoup their investment from fees levied on traffic using the road.

Amsterdam  - The International Criminal Tribunal for former Yugoslavia (ICTY) in The Hague released a statement on Wednesday saying it held a former spokesman of the ICTY-prosecution office in contempt of court.

Florence Hartmann, described by the ICTY as "a one-time spokesperson of a former tribunal prosecutor" has been summoned to appear before the tribunal.

In the statement, the ICTY wrote that Hartmann was summoned "for knowingly and willfully disclosing information in knowing violation of an order of a chamber."

Oslo - A Norwegian of Bosnian descent went on trial in Oslo Wednesday, accused of torture and other crimes against Serbian civilians during the Balkans war.

Mirsad Repak, 41, pleaded not guilty to the charges, which date back to 1992 before he fled to Norway and was granted Norwegian nationality.

Charges were brought against him on the basis of information provided by Bosnian authorities.

Repak's lawyer called for the case to be dropped on the grounds that it was based on a section of the penal code that did not come into force until after the crimes were committed.

Defence lawyer Heidi Bache-Wiig said it was not permissible to apply laws in a back-dated manner.