BRUSSELS, Belgium (AP) -- NATO diplomats signed membership documents with seven eastern European nations Wednesday, allowing them to join next year in an expansion hailed by the alliance as "a turning point in the building of a Europe reunited and free."
      Accompanied by warm applause from representatives of the 19 NATO nations, foreign ministers from Romania, Bulgaria, Slovakia, Lithuania, Slovenia, Estonia and Latvia approved the formal protocols of adhesion in an emotional ceremony at alliance headquarters.
      "Today we feel like winners," said Romanian Foreign Minister Mircea Geoana. "A dream of generations of Romanians has come true."
      Following ratification by parliaments in all 26 nations, the newcomers will join the alliance in May 2004. Once they join, they will be covered by NATO's core security guarantee, which states that an attack on one member is considered an attack on all.
      Ministers from the three Baltic states, which broke free from Soviet rule more than a decade ago, stressed the importance of NATO's security umbrella.
      "Latvia will never against stand alone in the face of a threat," said Foreign Minister Sandra Kalniete.
      Under NATO procedures, diplomats from NATO's existing 19 members signed the protocols with the approval of ministers from the seven applicants, but the ministers did not sign the documents themselves.
      NATO leaders had invited the seven to join last November at a summit in the Czech capital, Prague, in a powerful symbol of unity among former Cold War foes.
      "Future historians will recognize that this decision to open NATO's doors has been a turning point in the building of a Europe reunited and free," NATO Secretary General Lord Robertson told Wednesday's ceremony.
      The United States, which strongly supported the expansion of NATO east into the former Warsaw Pact, has received strong backing from most of the newcomers for its Iraq war buildup. In marked contrast, longstanding NATO members France, Germany and Belgium opposed the push for war.
      U.S. Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld welcomed the eastern Europeans' pro-American sentiment as representing the views of a "new Europe," while French President Jacques Chirac denounced their refusal to back his anti-war stance.
      "This is a momentous day for NATO," said Nicholas Burns, the U.S. ambassador to NATO. "The United States congratulates these seven nations for their dedication to the alliance and the broader transatlantic relationship."
      Further underlining the demise of Cold War divisions, five of the new NATO members plan to join the European Union in May 2004 along with Poland, Hungary and the Czech Republic, which entered NATO in 1999.
      Romania and Bulgaria must wait until 2007 before they can enter the EU.
      In Slovenia -- the only one of the seven NATO candidates to have a referendum on the alliance -- 66.2 percent of citizens voted Sunday to support their country's membership.

      RIGA, Latvia (AP) -- Latvian sailors who defied Soviet orders and joined the U.S. Atlantic convoys of World War II have become front-page news in their homeland.
      The sailors' story -- banned from history books and newspapers during five decades of iron-fisted Soviet rule that ended in 1991 -- had been virtually unknown among the country's 2.4 million residents.
      Now, a series in Latvia's Chas newspaper is telling the tale of eight Latvian-flagged freighters that remained abroad when Red Army troops occupied the Baltic Sea nation on June 17, 1940.
      Josef Stalin's regime ordered all Latvian vessels to return home, and threatened to deport the families of any rebellious sailors to the Gulag labor camps. Dozens of ships did return -- and some of their crews vanished into Siberia.
      But crews on eight ships refused and, along with Latvian embassies in Washington and London, became remnants of an independent Latvia.
      After the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor in December 1941, the Latvian ships ferried coal, rubber and other raw materials needed by the United States to wage war in Europe. By this time, the Latvian nation was already suffering through three years of Nazi occupation.
      "In their minds, they were fighting the Germans to free their country," said Irina Shneidere, a Latvia University history professor familiar with the ships.
      The ships ran a gantlet of German U-boats as they plied the ocean between South America, Europe and North America. Only two survived the war, by which time Latvia was again under Soviet rule.
      Off the coast of the U.S. state of North Carolina -- later dubbed "torpedo alley" because U-boats sank dozens of merchant ships there -- the first Latvian freighter, the Ciltvaira, was torpedoed on Jan. 18, 1942. Only two of its 32-man crew perished.
      "When it was sunk, it was as if one eighth of what remained of an independent Latvia was gone," said Alex Krasnitsky, the Chas journalist who researched the story with the help of Latvian emigres in the United States.
      The Ciltvaira shipwreck near Nags Head, N.C., remains a popular site for scuba divers. On land, a Nags Head street bears the ship's name.
      "We couldn't fight back this time, but probably our next ship will be armed, and then we can do something about it when the devils attack," the Ciltvaira's radio operator, Rudolph Musts, was quoted as saying in a 1942 story in The News and Courier of Charleston, South Carolina.
      While the Latvian freighters had no significant weaponry, some went down with a fight anyway.
      Off the coast of Barbados on Feb. 27, 1942, the Everasma rammed and sank a surfacing German U-boat. But a few hours later, having suffered collision damage herself, the freighter proved an easy target for an Italian submarine. It torpedoed the Everasma, then finished her off with its deck guns.
      Most Latvian sailors who survived the war received U.S. citizenship and never returned home. None are thought to be alive today.
      In Latvia, the Chas articles have become the focus of political and popular attention.
      Several lawmakers in Latvia's Saeima parliament this week were seen quietly discussing the articles and pointing to pictures of the ships. City officials in Riga, the capital, said they might rename eight streets after each vessel.
      "Europe and America knows its history, but our history was kept from us," said Shneidere, the historian. "We are still learning about what really happened to our country and who our heroes are."

      TALLINN, Estonia (AP) -- Three parties hoping to lead this Baltic nation of 1.4 million into the European Union and NATO agreed Thursday to form a new government to replace a year-old caretaker administration.
      The Reform Party and Res Publica party will dominate the coalition. The pro-business Res Publica won 28 seats, and the center-right Reform Party 19, in the March 2 election for Estonia's 101-seat legislature.
      With support from 13 lawmakers of the center-left People's Union, the three parties can form a clear parliamentary majority of 60 seats.
      The outgoing two-party government involved an unlikely coalition of the Reform Party and left-wing Center Party, which differed sharply on economic policies. They had formed a coalition after the previous pro-business government fell apart. In practice, the Center-Reform government proved unable to agree on much and produced few initiatives.
      By contrast, the incoming three-party coalition promises to cut taxes, particularly the country's 26 rate on income; increase spending on education; and raise the benefits paid to mothers of newborns.
      Res Publica leader Juhan Parts, 36, is the alliance's choice for prime minister. His party name means "Republican Party" in Latin.
      The coalition deal will be signed next week, Res Publica party spokesman Allar Tankler said.
      Estonia, along with neighboring Latvia and Lithuania, were invited last year to join the European Union and North Atlantic Treaty Organization.
      Before Estonia can enter the EU as planned in May 2004, the new government will have to sway a skeptical public about the benefits. Estonians vote Sept. 14 in a referendum.
      Recent opinion polls measure support for EU membership at around 50 percent. Leaders of the three parties said they would make campaigning for EU entry a top priority.

      TALLINN, Estonia (AP) -- Juhan Parts, the boyish and brainy leader of one of Estonia's pro-business parties, was nominated as the country's new prime minister Wednesday.
      President Arnold Ruutel formally named Parts, leader of the center-right Res Publica party, as the prime minister-in-waiting one month after voters in this Baltic state of 1.4 million residents elected a new parliament.
      And Parts immediately stressed his desire to take Estonia into the European Union and the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. Estonia, along with neighboring Latvia and Lithuania, were invited last year to join the EU and NATO in 2004.
      "The government being compiled at the president's behest should be clear about Estonia's aspirations to join the EU and NATO. Estonia has to establish its place in the world," Parts said.
      Res Publica, the center-right Reform Party and the center-left People's Union agreed last week to form a new government in place of a year-old caretaker administration. The three parties have a clear parliamentary majority of 60 seats: Res Publica has 28 lawmakers, the Reform Party 19, and the People's Union 13.
      Because Res Publica is the largest coalition party, Parts was the obvious choice for prime minister even though he's a relative political novice. His approval by lawmakers, a formality in the 101-seat Riigikogu, could come next week.
      Parts, 36, directed the country's State Audit Office until 2001, when he quit to enter politics.
      Estonia, which regained independence amid the 1991 collapse of the Soviet Union, has a tradition of electing young leaders to top positions. The country's first prime minister after independence, Mart Laar, was just 32 when he was sworn in. He went on to lead 1992-94 and 1999-2002 administrations.
      The European Union will top the new government's agenda. Before Estonia can enter the EU as planned in May 2004, the new government will have to sway a skeptical public about the benefits.
      Estonians face a Sept. 14 referendum on whether to join. Recent opinion polls measure support around 50 percent. All three coalition parties say they will campaign for a "yes" vote.
      The outgoing two-party government was an unlikely coalition of the Reform Party and left-wing Center Party that agreed on little and produced few initiatives. They had been the only likely combination left after a previous pro-business administration fell apart.
      By contrast, the incoming coalition in this economically dynamic nation promises to cut taxes, particularly Estonia's relatively low 26 percent rate on income, and to increase spending on education.

      RIGA, Latvia (AP) -- Latvia approved a seven-year ban on the sale of rural property to foreigners Thursday, a move to protect farmers before joining the European Union.
      The ban, which lasts from 2004 to 2011, was part of Latvia's EU membership agreement and its last obstacle, barring a national referendum Sept. 20, to joining.
      The EU had agreed to the ban, which Latvia's Saeima, or parliament, passed 62-6, with 15 abstentions.
      The ban was sought by thousands of farmers, who have a powerful voice in the mostly rural country of 2.4 million residents.
      They worried that foreign investors would buy up most of Latvia's 13 million acres of undeveloped farmland and forest -- about 80 percent of the country's 64,589 square kilometers (24,938 square miles) -- after it joined the EU and resell it at prices out of reach for most Latvians.
      The average Latvian makes 1,740 lats (US$3,100) annually.
      "We need to have time for our farmers to get the land they need while they still can afford it," said Krisjanis Karins, leader of the country's ruling New Era party.
      Latvia plans to offer government-subsidized loans with lowered interest rates to farmers through 2011 to let them buy rural property.
      Only Latvian citizens or EU citizens who have lived and farmed in the country for three years will be able to buy rural land while the ban is in effect.
      The sale of other land, including urban property and commercial real estate, isn't affected by the ban.

      TALLINN, Estonia (AP) -- Cash-strapped opponents of Estonia's bid to join the European Union will get government money to sway voters in a national referendum, officials said Friday.
      "There is a lack of debate in Estonian society about the EU," said Hannes Rumm, head of the government's EU Information Secretariat.
      He hoped the money released by the devoutly pro-EU government would encourage more debate about membership ahead of the Sept. 14 referendum.
      Rumm said 525,000 kroons (US$38,000) would be evenly split between two anti-EU groups, "No to the EU Movement" and "Our Own State." An equal amount of money will go to private, pro-EU organizations.
      Recent opinion polls show 55 percent of the country's 1.4 million residents favor joining, but underlying skepticism about the benefits of EU membership remains. About 900,000 people are eligible to vote.
      The EU last year invited all three Baltic states, including Latvia and Lithuania, to join, citing their swift transition to democracy and economic competition as independent nations. The trio had been Soviet satellites until 1991.
      If majorities vote "yes" in their referendums, all three will become members in May 2004.
      Uno Silberg, head of the "No to the EU Movement," said the money will be useful. But he said it paled in comparison with "the millions and even billions of kroons the 1yes' side has at its disposal."
      Silberg's group doesn't have any offices or paid workers, relying on volunteers and donations. "Our budget is, well, zero," he said.
      Rumm insisted the government, despite regular pro-EU comments made by its leaders, was impartial. He said it would spend money to increase turnout in the referendum but not to "tell people how to vote."
      Opponents claim EU membership will undermine national sovereignty. They often compare the EU to the Soviet Union, with its tendency toward heavy-handedness and centralization. Some anti-EU graffiti scrawled on side streets in the capital, Tallinn, reads "EUUSSR."
      EU enthusiasts dismiss such comparisons. They argue that membership will open new markets spur growth, and reduce problems with Russia, which many Estonians still see as a potential threat.
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      SNAGOV, Romania (AP) -- Leaders from seven Central and Eastern European NATO candidates promised Saturday to help repair the rift in U.S.-Europe ties caused by the U.S.-led war on Iraq.
      Leaders from the Romania, Bulgaria, Slovakia, Latvia, Estonia, Lithuania and Slovenia -- all invited to join NATO during the alliance's summit in November -- said after an informal meeting Saturday that they wanted Europe and the United States to stand together.
      "The unified Europe should not go against the United States, and the United States should not give up on trans-Atlantic cooperation," Slovak Prime Minister Mikulas Dzurinda told reporters after the meeting.
      The leaders did not offer details on how they were going to promote improved U.S.-Europe relations.
      Slovenia is the only country among the seven to oppose the U.S.-led war against Iraq. The other six have opened their air space for U.S. military planes involved in the conflict, or contributed non-combat troops.
      The seven countries also aspire to join the European Union. Five are scheduled to join the union next year, while Romania and Bulgaria are expected to join by 2007.
      Their support from the United States has angered some European leaders, such as French President Jacques Chirac, who warned that their prospective EU membership bids could be endangered by their support for the United States. But union officials have said the stance won't affect their chances of membership.
      "We don't want to choose between Europe and the United States, or between NATO and the European Union," Romania's Prime Minister Adrian Nastase said. "They are not incompatible."
      The meeting was held in a palace that used to belong to the late communist dictator Nicolae Ceausescu. The palace is located in Snagov, a lake resort just north of the Romanian capital.
      The seven leaders also said they would cooperate to ensure that all 19 NATO members ratify their alliance memberships by May 2004, the scheduled date for full admission of the new members. They also said they supported the efforts of Macedonia, Croatia and Albania to join NATO.