The social care center Ezerkrasti has received a donation of surplus goods under the U.S. Humanitarian Assistance Excess Property Program, according to the U.S. Embassy in Latvia.

Among goods donated were bicycles; tricycles; toys; linens; television sets; audio cassette radios; blankets; household furniture; medical equipment and supplies; school equipment and supplies; and office equipment, furniture and supplies, the embassy said in an Oct. 14 press release.

The donation is worth about USD 32,000, according to the embassy.

In Latvia, the humanitarian assistance program is administered by the Office of Defense Cooperation, which is assigned to the embassy.

Latvia has slipped five places in the latest Corruption Perception Index published by the watchdog group Transparency International, and still is seen as the most corrupt of the three Baltic states.

Latvia placed 57th in the latest survey, equal with Jamaica, the Berlin-based Transparency International announced Oct. 7. Last year, Latvia ranked 52nd, but in 2001 was 59th.

The index, based on polls of business people, academics and country analysts, measured how experts view the level of corruption in 133 nations, an increase of 31 from last year’s survey.

Although Latvia’s overall ranking dropped, its score on Transparency International’s 10-point scale improved to 3.8 from last year’s 3.7.

Lithuania, ranked 36th last year with a score of 4.8, dropped to 41st with a score of 4.7 this year. But Estonia, ranked 29th last year with a score 5.6, slipped to 33rd with a score of 5.5 this year.

Finland is perceived as the least corrupt, retaining its top ranking from last year, while Bangladesh continues to be seen as the most corrupt.

Laila Freivalds, whose family fled Latvia during World War II, has been named Sweden’s new foreign minister, replacing the late Anna Lindh.

Prime Minister Goran Persson announced Freivalds’ appointment on Oct. 3, according to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Stockholm. She will take office Oct. 10.

Freivalds, a lawyer, has twice served as Sweden’s minister of justice, first from 1988-1990 and then from 1998-2000, before she resigned in a storm of media attention over what was viewed as a questionable real estate deal.

Freivalds, 61, was born in Rīga in 1942. She is a member of Sweden’s ruling Social Democratic Party.

Lindh died Sept. 11 after being stabbed by a man in a Stockholm department store. The murder remains under investigation.

Sweden’s Acting Foreign Minister Jan O. Karlsson will leave the government when Freivalds begins her duties, the foreign ministry said.