Umea captures Europe's cultural capital 2014 title

STOCKHOLM (Reuters Life!) - Umea, a small university city in the far north of Sweden, has been selected as Europe's Capital of Culture for 2014, becoming the northernmost city in Europe to win the one-year title.

The Swedish Arts Council said on its website on Tuesday a jury chose the city of about 75,000 based on a strong application that promoted the Sami culture of the region.

The Swedish city will share the 2014 title with a Latvian city, to be chosen next week.

The title, which has been given out since 1985 on a rotating basis through EU member states, is currently shared by Lithuania's Vilnius and Austria's Linz.

(Reporting by Mia Shanley, editing by Paul Casciato)