Rīga is the 63rd most expensive city in the world, but the Latvian capital is less costly than either of its Baltic counterparts, according to a new study by the Swiss banking group UBS.

Oslo, Norway, tops the list of the bank’s latest “Prices and Earnings” study, UBS announced in a Feb. 28 press release. The study updated the bank’s 2003 ranking of purchasing power in 71 cities around the world.

Copenhagen, because of the changing value of Denmark’s national currency, has risen to the second most expensive city, while cities in the United States have become relatively less expensive.

“The weak U.S. dollar has seen U.S. cities fall in the global price rankings, so that a shopping spree in the U.S. is now an attractive proposition for Europeans,” UBS said.

Tallinn, the capital of Estonia, ranked 47th, between Dubai in the United Arab Emirates and Manama in Bahrain. Vilnius, the capital of Lithuania, ranked 52nd, between Sao Paulo, Brazil, and Caracas, Venezuela. Rīga, meanwhile, was listed between 62nd-ranked Lima, Peru, and 64th-ranked Sofia, Bulgaria.

As a measure of purchasing power, the study also looked at how many minutes a person has to work to afford a Big Mac hamburger. In Rīga, it’s 44 minutes, while in Tallinn it’s 46 minutes. In Vilnius, however, a person would have to spend nearly an hour—57 minutes—to earn the sandwich.

While the March 1 deadline for submitting proposals by mail is just around the corner, the Latvian Foundation will accept e-mailed proposals through March 10, the grant-making organization has announced.

The U.S.-based foundation supports educational, artistic and literary projects, scientific research and cultural events related to the Latvian people and their ethnic identity. Since the foundation was created in 1970, it has granted more than USD 1.3 million in support for projects worldwide.

The foundation seeks proposals in three different monetary categories: small projects requesting up to USD 2,000 in funding; medium projects requesting USD 2,001 to USD 5,000; and large projects requesting from USD 5,001 to USD 8,000.

The foundation’s board of directors will review all proposals and decide which to put to a vote of the foundation’s members. Members are expected to cast ballots this autumn and results are to be announced in November.

Last year the four largest projects receiving funding were for the planned performance of the musical “Eslingena” in Latvia, for the film Sibīrijas bērnu atmiņas, for a youth-oriented Web site focusing on Latvian history, and for an electronic book on Latvian oral history durng the 20th century.

Further information is available from the Latvian Foundation’s new Web site, www.latviesufonds.info (Macintosh users of the Safari browser may encounter problems viewing the site).

The duo Valters un Kaža with their song “The War Is Not Over” won the national final Feb. 26 and will represent Latvia in the Eurovision Song Contest in Kiev, Ukraine, on May 21.

Valters un Kaža (Valters Frīdenbergs and Kārlis Būmeisters) are members of the group Putnu balle, which includes six former members of the children’s choir Dzeguzīte. The lyrics and music for the song were penned by Mārtiņš Freimanis, lead singer of the pop group Tumsa.

The performance earned 28,211 votes in national telephone balloting.

Second place went to Agnese un Intars (Agnese Kuplēna un Intars Upenieks) for their performance of “Sing It! Swing It!”, while third place went to Ksenija (Ksenija Jakuņina) for her performance of “In the Heat of the Night.” The newspaper Neatkarīga Rīta Avīze noted that voting activity this year was dramatically lower than in both 2004 and 2003.

Ten finalists competed in the contest, Eirodziesma 2005, held in Ventspils and broadcast nationally on Latvian State Television.

The Eurovision Song Contest marks its 50th anniversary this year. This will be Latvia’s sixth time competing. Latvia’s Marija Naumova won the contest in 2002.