Despite improving, Latvia still is seen as the most corrupt of the Baltic countries, according to the latest Corruption Perception Index published by the Berlin-based watchdog group Transparency International.

Latvia placed 52nd in the latest survey, tied with the Czech Republic, Morocco, the Slovak Republic and Sri Lanka. Last year, the index ranked Latvia 59th.

The index, based on polls of business people, academics and country analysts, measured how experts view the level of corruption in 102 nations.

Estonia tied with Taiwan at 29th, down one notch from last year’s survey. Lithuania increased by two to 36th, tied with Belarus, South Africa and Tunisia.

In reporting the results, Transparency International expressed dismay that more than half the countries earned less than 5 on its 10-point scale of corruption. Estonia’s score was 5.6, but Lithuania’s was 4.8 and Latvia’s 3.7. According to the survey, Finland is perceived as the least corrupt nation in the world, while Bangladesh is the most corrupt.

President Vaira Vīķe-Freiberga today met in Rīga with about 50 Latvian youth, including 20 participants in this year’s “Sveika, Latvija!” program sponsored by the American Latvian Association.

The president told the students that anyone who views themself as Latvian is important to Latvia, according to the president’s press service.

This year’s “Sveika, Latvija!” trip is the ninth such excursion for Latvian-American youth. The students met with youth from Ainaži and Kuldīga.

A credit card processing company in Latvia has been warned by the Michigan attorney general that it is violating the state’s laws against child pornography.

Rīga-based Trust-Bill.com is one of six companies Attorney General Jennifer M. Granholm said is breaking the law by processing credit card payments for Web sites that deal in child pornography. If the companies don’t stop accepting payments, they could face criminal prosecution.

“By going after the online money changers of the child porn world, we are trying to target a choke-point in the industry,” Granholm said in a press release. “Even if a Web site is located in a foreign country, we can cut off its business if we disable its ability to accept credit card payments from U.S. customers.”

The Trust-Bill.com domain name is registered to Anatoly Loginov, who is associated with a software company called SIA Sadeks, according to domain name and business data maintained by VeriSign and Lursoft Ltd. Latvians Online was unable to contact Loginov and Trust-Bill’s Web site could not be accessed as this story was being published.