RIGA, June 5 (Xinhua) — The referendum on Latvia's membership in the European Union (EU) will be held on September 20, according to the bill passed today by Saeima, parliament of the Baltic state.
      As reported, the general vote on joining the European Union (EU) would be effective if at least one half of the electorate, which had participated in the last Saeima elections, take part in the vote. The decision on joining EU turned over for the general vote, is to be accepted if a majority back Latvia's membership in EU.
      At least 497,543 voters have to take part in it, according to estimates from the Central Election Commission conducted on the basis of amendments to the Latvian Constitution. Theoretically, slightly less than 250,000 votes would be enough to make the decision on joining EU. Latvia received an invitation to join EU in Copenhagen on Dec. 13, 2002 and it could become a full-fledged member of EU on May 1, 2004.

      MOSCOW — Of the Latvian National Opera's four Bolshoi Theater performances, its two stagings of "Aida" were notable only for Gintaras Rinkevicius' skillful conducting and Inesa Galante's fine soprano.
      Riga's Latvian National Opera came to town last week with two performances each of George Frideric Handel's "Alcina," at the Bolshoi Theater's New Stage, and Giuseppe Verdi's "Aida," in the main Bolshoi auditorium.
      With "Alcina," the Latvian troupe brought something fresh and unusual to the Moscow operatic scene, an opera of the baroque era sung and played in something approaching authentic style and given a staging which imaginatively combined elements of the composer's own time with those of the present day. "Aida," on the other hand, offered nothing of note except an interesting portrayal of its title role and good leadership in the orchestra pit.
      First performed at London's Covent Garden Theater in 1735, "Alcina" counts among the last and best of Handel's 40-odd operas. The Alcina of the opera's title is a sorceress, holding sway over an island kingdom to which she has lured and holds under her spell a host of innocent travelers and adventurers. Among Alcina's captives is a knight named Ruggiero, and the opera's story centers around the attempt, ultimately successful, of Ruggiero's bride-to-be, Bradamante, to free her loved one and put an end to Alcina's magic powers.
      For all the glorious music that Handel lavished on his operas, it is by no means easy to make them acceptable to modern audiences. Wisely, the LNO chose to make cuts in the long succession of recitatives and arias and thereby reduce its running time, with intermissions, to a little over three hours. And perhaps luckily, they found in Kristina Wuss, a young guest from Germany, a director able to squeeze a maximum of action from the opera's essentially static libretto, without at the same time doing damage to its musical fabric.
      Bolshoi Theater
      The Latvian Opera's two stagings of George Frideric Handel's "Alcina" last week were inventive and capably executed.
      While not neglecting the opera's darker side — represented mostly by a mime troupe of slaves — or its central theme of love conquering adversity, Wuss managed to enliven the proceedings, and at times turn them into madcap comedy, by presenting Alcina and her fellow sorceress sister, Morgana, as a pair of lovesick neurotics.
      The second performance of "Alcina," as seen last Friday, featured a strong trio in the female roles. What the Alcina of soprano Sonora Vaice may have lacked in purity of voice she more than compensated for in technique and accuracy, as well as in a wonderfully convincing descent from haughty queen of the island to outcast ex-sorceress. With her, Evita Zalite brought a lovely soprano and some appropriately distraught acting to the role of Morgana, while mezzo soprano Antra Bigaca sang and played a stylish and elegant Bradamante. Though not on par with their female colleagues, the male members of the cast — three tenors and a bass — were at least never less than adequate. Conductor Andris Veismanis, with an excellent orchestra of chamber proportions, led the proceedings with energy and fine feeling for period style.
      The LNO's "Aida," seen at its first performance on May 29, proved rather old-fashioned in its approach, with rather garish decor and costumes that seemed to mix designs and symbols from various periods of ancient Egyptian history with what looked like patterns based on the folk art of Latvia or one of its near neighbors. Added to that were an almost total absence of discernible stage direction and singing of mostly mediocre quality. In short, this was an "Aida" pretty much on the same level as that which the Bolshoi itself currently presents.
      Apart from the skillful conducting of Gintaras Rinkevicius and the fine playing of his orchestra, the evening's only real redeeming feature came in the form of its Aida, soprano Inesa Galante. Familiar to local audiences the past two seasons as the best of several sopranos taking on the title role in the Bolshoi's borrowed production of Francesco Cilea's "Adriana Lecouvreur," Galante once again proved to be a singer of real class. Hers is not the big dramatic soprano voice usually heard in the role of Aida. But what she lacks in volume, she more than makes up for in purity and focus. Perhaps she overdoes her rather astonishing pianissimos. At times, in "Aida" at least, they seemed out of place. Still, as in "Adriana Lecouvreur," her overall performance was one of real distinction.
      At the other end of the vocal ladder was the opera's Rhadames, Chinese-American tenor Warren Mok. Sounding gravelly on the low notes and both audibly and visibly straining to reach the high ones, he seemed totally miscast. As for his acting, it consisted mostly of alternating semaphoric gestures, first thrusting out the right arm alone, then both arms, then back again to the right arm.
      Later this month, the Bolshoi's opera troupe pays the Latvian National Opera a visit, taking to Riga its productions of Sergei Prokofiev's "The Love for Three Oranges" and Giacomo Puccini's "Turandot."

      RIGA, Latvia (AP) — Latvia's highest court lifted restrictions Friday that limited the amount of Russian-language broadcasting on radio and television stations in the ex-Soviet Baltic republic.
      Many Russian speakers, who make up nearly 40 percent of the Baltic state's 2.4 million residents, said a law requiring 75 percent of all commercial broadcasts be in Latvian was discriminatory.
      Latvia's Constitutional Court agreed, and struck down the law in a 5-2 decision.
      "It's clearly a violation of freedom of speech and freedom of information and doesn't hold up under international law," Aivars Endzins, the court's head judge, told The Associated Press.
      Twenty-four members of Latvia's 100-seat Seima parliament who represent Russian speakers filed a lawsuit earlier this year asking the court to overturn the law.
      Regulators temporarily closed one popular radio station aimed at Russian speakers last year they said violated the regulation. The station had approximately 250,000 listeners.
      Latvian-based Russian-language radio stations often fulfilled the language requirement by playing Latvian songs and commercials in the early morning, after prime-time broadcasts ended.
      Many Latvians said the broadcasting laws, adopted after Latvia regained independence amid the 1991 Soviet collapse, stemmed from a fear that their native language would be overwhelmed by Russian, which Moscow favored.

      STOCKHOLM, Sweden (AP) — The leaders of six Baltic Sea nations pledged their support Friday for the euro and called for improved maritime safety.
      The prime ministers of Sweden, Denmark, Finland, Estonia, and Latvia and the foreign minister of Lithuania met in Stockholm to exchange views ahead of a June 19-21 European Union summit in Thessaloniki, Greece.
      "I think it would be to the benefit of all countries in the Baltic region if we participated together in the euro," said Danish Prime Minister Anders Fogh Rasmussen, whose country rejected the common currency in a 2000 referendum.
      "We all want to join as soon as possible," his Swedish counterpart Goeran Persson added at a joint press conference.
      Swedish voters will decide whether to adopt the common currency in a Sept. 14 referendum. Polls show opponents are ahead by as much as 15 percentage points. Britain is the only other EU country that hasn't adopted the common currency. The British government is widely expected to announce Monday that it won't do so in the near future.
      Leaders for the Baltic nations predicted they would quickly adopt the euro after joining the EU next year.
      "I personally think it's highly illogical to have a union and still separate currencies," Latvian Prime Minister Einars Repse said.
      Estonian Prime Minister Juhan Parts and Lithuanian Foreign Minister Antanas Valionis predicted their countries would adopt the common currency by 2007.
      Persson said the group would send a letter urging the EU Commission in Brussels to give high priority to tougher maritime safety restrictions in the Baltic Sea.
      "The vessels going in the Baltic Sea are not always of the highest quality. We need therefore to phase out single-hulled tankers by 2010."
      Current EU members already have agreed to phase out single-hulled tankers by 2010, but Russia, which also borders the Baltic Sea has not.

      RIGA, June 6 (Xinhua) — The Latvian opposition People's Party (TP) on Friday submitted a bill to the parliament, asking for a vote of "no confidence" against the current government led by Prime Minister Einars Repse.
      "The nation is tired of this government's irresponsibility and destructive experiments. The time has come for a renewal of stability and a law-based state," TP chairman Atis Slakteris said, adding that the government has had enough time to meet its promises made to the people.
      Slakteris believed TP has "good prospects" for overthrowing the government since many other parties are dissatisfied with Repse's performance. The TP leader said his party could set up a new government along with several right-wing parties, but he ruled out the possibility of joining forces with the National Harmony Party or For Human Rights In A United Latvia.
      The current government, which was approved in a record time of 10 minutes in November 2002, is a coalition government formed by four parties, comprising of New Era Party, Latvia's First Party, Farmers and Greens' Union and Union for Fatherland and Freedom.
      Krisjanis Karins, an official from Repse-led New Era Party, said that the government will continue its work and in his view, a demand on the premier's dismissal is a "normal move from the opposition." Slakteris said the parliament will have to review the bill at the next parliament session on June 12.
      Officials from other ruling coalition parties-Latvia's First Party, Greens and Farmers' Union and Union For Fatherland and Freedom-had promised they would not support TP's "no confidence"
      bill.

      RIGA, Latvia (AP) — Latvia's parliament has sparked a trade dispute with its Baltic neighbors after slapping import taxes on pork, a regional staple, to protect its struggling farmers.
      The tax, approved by the 100-seat Seima in an 85-0 vote late Thursday, applies to pork imported to Latvia from European Union countries, Poland and neighboring Estonia and Lithuania.
      "Our farmers are in a critical condition," Indulis Emsis, chairman of the Seima's agriculture and regional development committee, told The Associated Press Friday. "This was the best idea we could come up with to protect the local market."
      Latvian farmers make up about 15 percent of the country's 2.4 million residents. They've been struggling from stiff competition from other European producers who can typically produce more pork more cheaply.
      Estonia's Foreign Ministry accused Latvia of violating free-trade agreements signed between the three former Soviet republics. It also contended the new import taxes run counter to the rules of the World Trade Organization, a body all three Baltic states belong to.
      All three countries are slated to join the EU next year, and its common market. The governments have also worked jointly to push for EU admission, touting the advantage of unfettered trade among their countries, which count more than 7 million residents among them.
      But Latvia's decision could threaten that process.
      "We're deeply concerned Latvia took those protective measures virtually on the eve of EU membership," Lithuanian Foreign Ministry spokesman Romas Svedas said. "It threatens the smooth development of business relations and could slow the integration of the Baltics into the European market."
      Emsis said the move was mandatory, citing the fivefold increase in pork imports since it regained independence amid the 1991 Soviet collapse, and the need for more money to pay pig farmers subsidies.
      The 42-cent per kilogram tax will be applied after preset quotas for each country are reached. Estonian producers have an annual quota of 2,371 tons, Lithuania 254 tons, Poland 878 tons and EU countries 2,640 tons.
      According to Latvia's statistics office, Latvia imported 5,397 tons of pork from Estonia, 1,822 tons from Lithuania, 1,363 tons from Poland and 3,165 tons from the EU in 2002.
      The tax is effective immediately, but will be abandoned in May when Latvia formally joins the EU.

      PRAGUE, June 9 (Reuters) — Poland's resounding "yes" to European Union entry in a weekend referendum should help pave the way for the remaining candidate countries to hold successful votes, analysts said on Monday.
      By far the biggest of 10 candidates due to join the EU in May 2004, Poland was a concern for European leaders who feared low turnout could scupper the accession process.
      Polish election law meant turnout had to reach 50 percent for the vote to be valid. The fears went unrealised as just short of 59 percent of voters went to the polls, with 77.5 percent of voters backing EU membership.
      "I think there's an element of competition between the countries that makes the Polish referendum quite significant," said Heather Grabbe at the Centre for European Reform in London.
      "Basically, do the Czechs, for example, want to reject the EU if Poland and Slovakia said "yes." If it's so evident that all your neighbours think it's a great idea, then for voters, it doesn't make sense not to come in (to the EU)."
      "In general, Poland always was the big question mark and now the most difficult step has been taken," Latvian political scientist Zaneta Ozonlina told Reuters.
      "The more countries that vote "yes," the more difficult it will be to go against the tide," she added, noting Latvia was unlikely to have problems with low turnout as voter activity is usually high in the small Baltic state.
      ENDING COLD WAR DIVIDE
      With the Polish vote out of the way, the project to expand the 15-nation bloc eastward across the old Cold War divide remains on track.
      Of the 10 candidates, only Cyprus has chosen not to put EU accession to the popular vote. Voters in Hungary, Lithuania, Slovenia, Malta and Slovakia have already given their blessing in referendums, but big "yes" votes in several countries were nearly scuppered by voter apathy.
      In Slovakia, the referendum scraped through with just 52 percent bothering to vote, while in Hungary, just 46 percent voted, although both countries gave a resounding "yes" to EU membership.
      Czechs will vote in their referendum this weekend. Support, according to opinion polls, is well above 70 percent.
      With no minimum turnout requirements, the Czech vote is unlikely to fail, analysts said, though some Eurosceptic sentiment -- voiced mainly by President Vaclav Klaus -- could coax some "no" votes out of those who are undecided.
      Estonia and Latvia are due to hold referendums in September. The two former Soviet states are also strongly in favour of pulling back the Iron Curtain once and for all.
      In Cyprus, the House of Representatives is expected to ratify EU membership, probably by July.
      Analysts have blamed decades of communism in eastern Europe and pallid pro-EU government campaigns for the lack on interest in the votes. Governments, they say, have failed to spark voters to embrace an opportunity their leaders portray as finally casting aside decades of totalitarianism, poverty and insecurity.
      (Additional reporting by Erik Brynhildsbakken in Riga)

      RIGA, June 10 (Reuters) — The Latvian economy grew 8.8 percent in the first quarter as the small Baltic state continued to defy a global slump, the statistics office said on Tuesday, prompting the Finance Ministry to raise their full-year outlook.
      "GDP has grown in all sectors, but primarily this increase was due to the following rises -- 17.3 percent in trade, 6.8 percent in transport and communications and 17.5 percent in construction," the statistics office said in a statement.
      The EU candidate posted a 3.7 percent rise in gross domestic product (GDP) in the first quarter last year before growth jumped on domestic spending and Western firms and investors turning to the low-cost Baltic region amid a global slowdown.
      By the fourth quarter last year, economic growth reached 8.3 percent for a full-year rise of 6.1 percent -- one of the highest growth rates in Europe.
      "We expected a very high increase in the first quarter because there has been a very high increase in construction and transportation," the Finance Ministry's head of economic analysis, Daiga Gulbe, told Reuters.
      "I expect that we will increase the forecast for the year to somewhere over 6.0 percent," she said, adding the Finance Ministry's current full-year 2003 forecast was 5.5 percent.
      Analysts' forecasts for Latvian first-quarter GDP growth had ranged widely between 6.0-9.0 percent due to uncertainty about the current phase of the fast-expanding economy.
      The statistics office said GDP totalled 1.3 billion Latvian lats for the first quarter in current prices.
      The ex-Soviet republic is one of 10 mostly East European countries invited to join the European Union in May 2004, pending a September referendum.

      TALLINN, Estonia (AP) — Pro-European Union camps in Estonia and Latvia, dubbed the most skeptical of the 10 candidate countries, said Tuesday their chances of joining were boosted by the approval of referendums in Poland and other countries.
      Opinion polls in both Baltic states show between 55 percent and 60 percent of residents back entry into the European bloc, though in recent months the figure has sometimes fallen close to 50 percent amid concern about a loss of sovereignty to the EU.
      But passage by Poland this weekend, as well as the overwhelming support in Lithuania last month is creating momentum, EU supporters contend.
      Hungary, Slovakia, Slovenia and Malta have also approved EU referendums. The Czech Republic votes this week, and Estonia and Latvia in September. Cyprus is leaving the choice to parliament.
      The chairman of Estonia's foreign affairs committee in Parliament, Marko Mihkelson, said his countrymen will have the yes results in mind when they go to polling stations on Sept. 14.
      "It somehow makes our decision easier," he said. "After the Czech referendum, ours is the next one. And after a row of 'yeses,' I can't imagine the Estonians saying no to the EU."
      Hannes Rumm, head of the Estonian government's EU information office, said the yes vote in Lithuania, which saw 91 percent vote in favor, had a strong influence on Estonians, including those who were wavering on membership.
      "For hesitaters, Lithuania's a role model," he said. "Their thinking is, 'If Lithuania did it, we have no choice but to follow them. There will be a border between us and them if we don't. And we broke out of the Soviet Union together, it's only right that we join the EU together.'"
      Uno Silberg — who heads Estonia's No to the EU Movement — said Estonians would draw a different conclusion: that the series of candidate countries were railroaded into voting yes and that this will turn even more Estonians off to membership.
      "In all these votes, it's only one side, supported by the government and by officials from outside the countries, that was heard," he said. "It's all been very unfair campaigning."
      He added that he still had hope of defeating the 'yes' camp.
      Rumm said recent surveys bore out the positive effect of the favorable votes this year, with one showing backing for the EU leaping from 50 percent to 59 percent after Lithuania's decision -- with some 10 percent of those asked saying they were still undecided.
      But Latvian parliamentarian Krisjanis Karins said he wasn't counting on momentum carrying EU backers like himself to victory Sept. 20, when Latvia will be the last EU candidate to a referendum.
      "It's not a done deal yet," he said.

      PRAGUE (Reuters) — The Czech Republic has voted overwhelmingly to join the European Union, paving the way for entry to the bloc of wealthier Western states 15 years after a "Velvet Revolution" toppled communist rule.
      Saturday's results showed Prague was on course to achieve its biggest foreign policy goal since the fall of Communism in 1989 in what was then Czechoslovakia -- now split into the Czech Republic and Slovakia.
      "Today's vote puts an end to the results of the Second World War. We have come back to where we are strong and have great opportunities," Prime Minister Vladimir Spidla told journalists after seeing the results of an exit poll by the SC&C agency.
      Preliminary results of a two-day referendum, issued on Saturday, showed 77.3 percent of those who voted want to join the 15-nation European Union, making the Czechs the seventh of 10 candidates to vote in favor of membership in May 2004.
      Turnout was a low 55.2 percent, but there was no minimum turnout requirement for the referendum to be valid, unlike some applicant countries which experienced cliffhanger votes.
      Spidla said the result gave the government, which has a narrow one-vote majority in the 200-seat lower house, a stronger mandate to carry out key policies such as reforming public finances, needed for the eventual adoption of the euro.
      Poland, Hungary, Lithuania, Slovenia, Malta and Slovakia have approved EU entry in referendums. Estonia, Latvia and Cyprus are the other applicant states.
      "This is a victory. The result is clear. It comes from the old, and from the young, from cities and the countryside," Foreign Minister Cyril Svoboda said.
      SOVEREIGNTY FEARS
      Opinion polls leading up to the vote had predicted strong support for EU entry, but not without some hesitation. Many have seen rising living costs erode the value of social benefits.
      Economic reforms in the 1990s took their toll, especially on pensioners, farmers and labourers who have seen prices jump to close to western European levels, while the average monthly wage has reached only about $580, far lower than EU pay levels.
      Some also feared joining an enlarged EU would water down the country's sovereignty. Even President Vaclav Klaus -- the only leader of a candidate country not to give strong support to accession -- has compared joining the EU to being a lump of sugar dropped into a cup of coffee.
      Klaus, in a departure from every other president whose nation had held an accession referendum, did not make any public statement after the polls closed.
      "Turnout could have been higher, but still it was better than in many candidate countries that had minimum participation requirements," Klaus's spokesman Tomas Klvana quoted him as saying, adding the result was in line with the president's expectations.
      EU entry is expected to bring further convergence between the Czech economy and its richer neighbors, fueling fears that while borders may fall, economic hardship is likely to rise.
      "I don't like the conditions they (the government) negotiated. If I cannot work in the EU, we cannot be a member of the club," said Jiri Adamek, referring to a transition period that allows EU members to bar Czech workers from freely migrating for up to the first seven years of EU membership.
      (Additional reporting by Radek Narovec)

      RIGA, Latvia, June 16 (Xinhua) — The Latvian military contingent as part of the US-led multi-national peacekeeping force in Iraq has already launched its mission in a military base in Kirkuk, Iraq, the Latvian News Agency LETA reported on Monday.
      First Lieutenant Uldis Davidovs, chief of the Press and Information Department at the National Armed Forces, told LETA that Latvian field engineers along with their American colleagues have begun the work of gathering and neutralizing ammunition, twice a week.
      The supply squad servicemen participate in handling freights, driving trucks or repair work, one serviceman coordinates delivery of freights supplied by airplanes. Until last week, Latvian soldiers were located at the military base "Ahmed al Jaber" along with American soldiers, but later departed for a military base in Kirkuk.
      Kirkuk is located in northern Iraq, where the largest and oldest oil fields are located. The Americans took over the oil fields after the military operation was over, and resumed oil drilling there in late April.
      It was reported that Latvia has sent a dozen soldiers to the US-led multi-national peacekeeping force in Iraq.

      VILNIUS, June 18 (Reuters) — Lithuanian Defence Minister Linas Linkevicius said on Wednesday that the small ex-Soviet Baltic state would do all it could to get a NATO military base located on its territory in coming years.
      "We have expressed that desire at many levels and are already seeking it," Linkevicius told reporters after a meeting with visiting U.S. General Richard Myers, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.
      Lithuania and its Baltic neighbours Latvia and Estonia, part of the Soviet Union until its collapse in 1991, are among seven East European countries invited to join NATO next year.
      Russia, which initially objected to the former Baltic satellites joining NATO, strongly opposes putting bases of the defence alliance in any of the three.
      Lithuania wants the base to bolster national security as one of NATO's eastern outposts and help fund much-needed infrastructure improvements.
      Myers praised Lithuania's ongoing military reforms, but said NATO had not made any decisions yet on military bases in the new member states.
      "It won't come automatically and not for several years at least," said Linkevicius, adding that U.S. experts had visited potential sites.

      RIGA, June 18 (Xinhua) — The ten new European Union member countries might need more than 50 years to attain the current EU members' welfare level, and it is estimated that Poland and Latvia will need the longest time-59 and 58 years respectively, a survey has suggested. In a worst case scenario, smoothing out the welfare levels could even take a century, says a latest survey by "The Economist" magazine's "Economist Intelligence Unit" (EIU), which was published by Latvia's largest morning newspaper Diena on Wednesday.
      The EIU's estimates are based on the assumption that the EU aspirants' gross domestic product grows by an average 3 percent a year, and by 2 percent in the EU member countries. This year, though, the economic development has been considerably slow in the EU, while the forecast for Latvia is two times higher. In a worst case scenario, accession to the EU could mean a poorer economic situation to some of the new EU members. However, analysts believe that the EU enlargement presents more advantages than risks.
      According to the most likely scenario, the economies will keep developing thanks to competition and greater liberalization, according to the survey. The survey addresses each country, looking in their economic showings and things that should get more attention, as well as sectors that are likely to suffer after the enlargement.
      In Latvia' s case, fall in transit and euroskepticism are noted.
      The critical sectors include agriculture, where a part of farmers will be pushed out by regional competitors and EU quotas, energy Latvia will be receiving less support from the EU than countries where EU wants to have nuclear plants shut down--and transport. According to EIU analysts, Poland will attain the EU's level of GDP per capita in 59 years, Latvia in 58 years, Lithuania will need 53 years, the Czech Republic 39 years, Slovakia 38, Hungary 34, Slovenia and Estonia 31, Malta 29 and Cyprus 21 years.

      RIGA, Latvia (AP) — Latvian President Vaira Vike-Freiberga is expected to win easy re-election to a second term as president of the pro-West ex-Soviet republic she helped guide into NATO and the European Union.
      Latvia's 100-seat Saeima, or parliament, will decide Friday whether the 65-year-old serves another four years. But given her popularity among all of the country's political parties, analysts have called the vote a formality.
      In Latvia, a Baltic state of 2.4 million, the public doesn't elect the president and the office isn't involved in the day-to-day running of the government.
      Vike-Freiberga has drawn comparisons to former British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher for her tough, no-nonsense air, and for her shock of thick, red hair. She was picked as a dark horse candidate in 1999 -- a year after she returned to the country from Canada, where her family settled after fleeing Latvia in 1945 when she was seven.
      The former psychology professor has also garnered U.S. admiration for throwing the small country's unequivocal support behind the U.S.-led war in Iraq, along with other eastern European countries.
      "Vike-Freiberga is one of the few leaders in the world — and there are under 10 -- that if she called, President Bush would pick up the phone," said Bruce Jackson, who has worked closely with the White House as head of Washington's conservative Project on Transitional Democracies.
      When she first ran, some drew comparisons to the legend that prophesied Latvia would prosper when a woman led the country. In a sense, the mythology seems to be correct. When she took office, the country had negative gross domestic product growth. Since then, it's gained, topping 6 percent in 2002.
      Today, her popularity abroad is easily matched at home, where many credit her for effectively lobbying other countries to approve Latvia's bid to join NATO and the EU. Latvia has already been invited to join both as a full member next year.
      Others have seen her as a relentlessly rational, steady voice in a country with powerful business and political cliques. When the EU and NATO criticized some laws as discriminating against the nation's Russian minority, she pushed for them to be amended -- and they were.
      She seems particularly popular among Latvia's youth, who see their president as a symbol of the West, which they are eager to embrace.
      "Vaira rocks," said 23-year-old Ieva Tuna.
      But critics have accused her of being too cozy with the United States.
      "We need to maintain good relations of course," said Atis Lejins, head of Latvia's Institute for International Affairs. "But we don't need to become more American than the Americans."
      But such criticism does not appear to have stuck, with opinion polls showing her approval ratings as high as 80 percent -- far higher than for any other Latvian leader.
      With her mission of guiding Latvia toward the West accomplished, the next challenge may lie in reconciling it with the East and neighboring Russia. Latvia gained its independence amid the 1991 Soviet collapse.
      Since then, Russia has been critical of the treatment of Latvia's large Russian-speaking minority -- a third of the country's population, and Latvia's pro-West tack.
      Vike-Freiberga made 85 official trips during her four-year term, dozens more than her predecessor, and has entertained scores of world leaders at her official residence, a 14th century castle in the capital, Riga.
      But she has met Russian President Vladimir Putin just once — last week in St. Petersburg.
      "We do not have as intensive a dialogue with Russia as we do with just about everybody else," Vike-Freiberga said.

      TALLINN, Estonia (AP) — Estonian officials said Friday that 2 percent of the small Baltic state remains contaminated by Soviet-era pollution, and said it would take another 10 years and European Union money to clean up the worst areas.
      Estonia's Environment Ministry said about 900 square kilometers (347 1/2 square miles) of the country's of 45,000 square kilometers (17,375 miles) have environmental problems dating back to Soviet rule, most from hundreds of ex-Soviet army bases that once dotted the Baltic Sea coast country.
      Ministry spokesman Rene Reisner said Estonia will apply for a 100 million kroon (US$7 million) grant from the EU to help pay for the cleanup.
      He said Estonia was bound by EU membership treaties to clean up the pollution.
      Estonia, along with Latvia and Lithuania, is slated to join the bloc next year.
      Kertu Kaera, a spokesman for the EU office in the capital, Tallinn, said the bloc was "aware of the environmental problems" and would favorably consider the request for aid.
      After the Soviets occupied the Baltics in 1940, Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania became home to tens of thousands of Red Army troops. The Baltics regained independence amid the 1991 Soviet collapse and Moscow withdrew its last troops from the region in 1994.
      The EU money would be a fraction of what officials say is needed erase all traces of the damage.
      The Environment Ministry has said the damage caused by five decades of Soviet occupation was as much as US$5 billion, or larger than Estonia's entire annual budget of about US$3 billion.
      Reisner said US$1.5 billion is needed to bring the country into compliance with EU regulations by 2013.
      Some of the worst damage was in the coastal town of Paldiski, 50 kilometers (30 miles) from Tallinn where the Soviets had a nuclear submarine pen. The area is still littered with spent shells, though the most dangerous nuclear residue has been contained.
      The nearby islands of Pakri were used for target practice by Soviet bombers that rained explosives on them, then flew back to Russia, said Madis Mikko, a Defense Ministry spokesman.
      Estonian officials have said Moscow should help pay for the cleanup, but agreed that was unlikely to happen.
      "The rest of the world is funding the cleanup of Russia's own environmental problems," Mikko said. "So I have no hope Russia would pay us. But it would be morally correct."

      RIGA, Latvia (AP) — Vaira Vike-Freiberga easily won a second term Friday as president of Latvia, the former Soviet republic that she helped guide into NATO and the European Union.
      Latvia's 100-seat Saeima, or parliament, voted 88-6 to let the 65-year-old serve another four years. Two of the ballots were disqualified and four lawmakers were absent.
      In Latvia, a Baltic state of 2.4 million people, the public doesn't elect the president and the office isn't involved in the day-to-day running of the government.
      Lawmakers greeted Vike-Freiberga, who was the only candidate, with a stirring standing ovation when she appeared on the parliament floor after the vote.
      Vike-Freiberga said she would press the government to continue the reforms set in motion after the country gained independence.
      "We are all joined by the understanding that we want to catch up with countries that had a different destiny for 50 years," she said in a brief speech.
      Vike-Freiberga has drawn comparisons with former British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher for her tough, no-nonsense air, and for her shock of thick, red hair. She was picked as a dark horse candidate in 1999 -- a year after she returned to the country from Canada, where her family settled after fleeing Latvia in 1945 when she was 7.
      The former psychology professor has also garnered U.S. admiration for throwing the small country's unequivocal support behind the U.S.-led war in Iraq, as did other eastern European countries.
      Her popularity abroad is easily matched at home, where many credit her for effectively lobbying other countries to approve Latvia's bid to join the North Atlantic Treaty Organization and the EU. Latvia has been invited to join both next year.

      VILNIUS, Lithuania (AP) — Remigijus Audiejaitis is a photographer with little use for the intricacies of the craft.
      When he shoots a picture there's no concern about lighting or whether the f-stop is correct. What's important to him is the sound his subjects make, whether it's the laugh of a shop girl or the backfiring of a muffler on the city streets or the clinking of coffee mugs.
      Audiejaitis, a photographer for four years, couldn't adjust for poor lighting. He's been blind since birth.
      "I take my automatic camera out when I hear something interesting happening around me," the 30-year-old photographer told The Associated Press this week.
      Despite the obvious shortcoming, Audiejaitis's lack of sight has not dampened his desire to take photos. He uses a Kodak Advantix 2000 he purchased a while ago. It's fully automatic, so there's no concern about being out of focus.
      Instead of the viewfinder, he uses the mind's eye to gauge what he hears and then decides whether to shoot or not.
      "I picture rich sounds and my friends develop the film and sort the best images," he said.
      Audiejaitis, who is studying Japanese at Vilnius University, has staged several exhibitions in the city's capital, drawing more than just the curious to see view the pictures.
      Those images focus on the daily life of Vilnius, a 700-year-old city rich with tradition and a deft blend of the old and new: rattling old cars, shouting merchants, and snowplows scraping the pavement with huge shovels in winter.
      The soft-spoken, lanky Lithuanian constantly seeks out new soundscapes. At the moment, he's intrigued by the idea of photographing street brawls.
      "That must be very noisy and vivid, changing every second. It would be easy to get a nice shot," he said, a grin curling his lips. "Dangerous, but extremely interesting."
      Audiejaitis knows the streets of Vilnius' Old Town by their sounds.
      "Every corner here has different acoustics. I never get lost here," he said, walking at a brisk clip through the complex grounds of the University's campus.
      Despite not having sight, his hearing is attuned to the slightest change.
      The sound of a woman laughing brings him to a screeching stop.
      A white walking stick in his right hand, Audiejaitis takes out his Kodak with his left hand and points it in the direction of the girl's peals. He fires off four shots before putting the camera down.
      "I don't take too many pictures. The sixth sense tells me when to use the camera," he said.

      Russian Day of Memory and Grief — At 4 a.m. on June 22, 1941, an artillery shell rammed into the house where Nina Ladukhina, then 20, lived with her husband and newborn daughter on the Soviet border with the then-independent Latvia. They and several other families of border guard officers ran for their lives east through a thick forest.
      "We, with children in our arms, ran like mad along the road to Kaunas, hoping to board a train to Russia, while the Nazis sped past us on motorbikes," Ladukhina recalled Sunday at the Poklonnaya Gora war memorial, where war veterans gathered to commemorate the 62th anniversary of the Nazi invasion of the Soviet Union.
      June 22, unofficially called the Day of Memory and Grief, is not a national holiday or even a day off, like Victory Day on May 9. But with wartime losses amounting to 27 million people, memories of the invasion remain strong, and war commemorations culminate on these two dates.
      About 1,000 World War II veterans gathered for a solemn, hourlong ceremony at Park Pobedy that opened at noon with the pealing of bells at the Poklonnaya Gora chapel.
      A military orchestra played patriotic tunes, and actors dressed in wartime uniform and carrying red flags marched across the park grounds.
      Young people were few and far between, and the only teenagers who drew any attention were a handful of boys wearing khaki uniforms and greenish-yellow neckerchiefs.
      Asked who they were by a gray-haired woman whose chest was covered with medals, one of the boys replied, "Scouts, a kind of American young pioneer."
      "That's a pity. There are no Soviet pioneers left in Russia," the woman said reproachfully.
      In Soviet times, World War II commemorations were a major part of the patriotic upbringing of younger generations, and war veterans played a crucial role in this process.
      On Sunday, only two Soviet-style young pioneers were visible at an event that two decades ago collected hundreds of them.
      Sunday's ceremony ended with 18 servicemen wrapping a giant garland around the base of the towering war monument at Poklonnaya Gora, a minute of silence for those who died, and guards firing three shots into the air.
      President Vladimir Putin, Prime Minister Mikhail Kasyanov and other senior government officials laid a wreath at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier at the Kremlin.
      Vladimir Valtsev, 81, a retired lieutenant, said there is nobody left from his regiment to raise a glass of vodka with.
      "This ceremony today is for the young to remember the war," he said, as the crowd of veterans slowly dissolved around him. "For us, it provokes only bitter recollections and tears."
      Asked what attracted them to Poklonnaya Gora on Sunday, two 15-year-old girls, Vika and Dasha, said they had heard there was going to be a rock concert.
      "Our friends told us it would be here, but they were wrong," said Dasha, wearing a black bandana over her head. "However, the show here also was touching and cool."

      VILNIUS, June 23 (Reuters) — Environmentalists in Lithuania on Monday urged the European Union to block imminent Baltic Sea drilling by Russia's LUKOIL (LKOH.RTS), claiming Russian authorities were ignoring the ecological dangers.
      "The fragile Curonian spit, a UNESCO World Heritage site, and the entire Baltic Sea are in real danger," Linas Vainius, head of the Lithuanian Green Movement, told reporters during a protest outside the Russian Embassy.
      Vainius said that environmental groups from the Baltic Sea region would urge the EU to take action at a Ministerial meeting of the Helsinki Commission in Bremen, Germany this week.
      Oil major LUKOIL plans by year-end to start exploiting the D-6 Kratsovskoye oilfield near the border between Russia's Kaliningrad enclave and Lithuania.
      The field could produce 12,000-14,000 barrels per day of high quality crude over 30 years. It is about eight kilometres from Lithuania's sea border, which will become an EU border next year when Lithuania joins the bloc.
      "There has been no civilised reaction by the Russian government to appeals for an environmental impact assessment," said Vainius, echoing complaints by Lithuanian officials.
      The ex-Soviet Baltic state's environment ministry has said frequent storms in the D-6 area increased the danger of an oil spill that might threaten the Curonian spit, a 98 km (60 mile) long sandy peninsula between Lithuania and Kaliningrad.
      Opponents also claim the technology that LUKOIL wants to use will constantly leak small amounts of crude into the sea.
      Russian Embassy spokeswoman Maria Idazova denied the charges, telling reporters: "All our companies, including LUKOIL, pay great attention to ecological safety. This particular project applies 'zero-spill' technology."
      She said that Russia had already given Lithuanian environment specialists all relevant information and invited them to visit similar equipment at work in the Caspian Sea.

      MOSCOW, June 25 (Xinhua) — Russia criticized Lithuania on Wednesday for inviting the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) to set up military base in the Baltic country.
      NATO has committed itself not to deploying additional, permanent combat forces on the territory of its new members, Russian Foreign Ministry spokesman Alexander Yakovenko said, so the Lithuanian government "has no legal ground" for issuing such an invitation. "This raises the question, is Vilnius aware of the political and legal aspects of its joining NATO?" Yakovenko was quoted as saying by the local media.
      He was responding to the recent remarks by Lithuanian Defense Minister Linas Linkevicius to the effect that NATO should set up military bases in Lithuania or in neighboring Baltic republics after their admission into the organization.
      Yakovenko added that NATO's commitment was "in line with the Russia-NATO Founding Act on mutual relations, cooperation and security, which also constitutes the groundwork of the Rome Declaration on the new quality of Russia-NATO relations." "This political obligation is of fundamental importance for Russia-NATO relations and has so far been implemented," said Yakovenko.
      "Russia will closely follow the implementation of this set of multilateral military-political obligations by all current and future members of the Russia-NATO Council," he also said.
      Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia, three former Soviet republics, along with other four eastern European countries, have been invited to join the 19-nation NATO in 2004.