Artefacts believed to date back to 980s found by girl metal-detecting in cornfield last autumn
Nearly 300 silver coins believed to be more than 1,000 years old have been discovered near a Viking fortress site in north-west Denmark, a museum has said.
The trove – lying in two spots not far apart – was unearthed by a girl who was metal-detecting in a cornfield last autumn.
Continue reading...Moscow using spy ships disguised as fishing vessels to monitor potential sabotage targets, say broadcasters
A joint investigation by the public broadcasters of several Nordic countries alleges that Russia has established a state-run programme using spy ships disguised as fishing vessels aimed at giving it the capability to attack windfarms and communications cables in the North Sea.
The investigation quotes a Danish counter-intelligence officer who claims the sabotage strategy is designed to be implemented in the event that Russia and the west enter a full-blown conflict.
Continue reading...‘Emotional’ posthumous discovery of 16-year-old hedgehog gives conservationists hope for the mammals’ future preservation
A 16-year-old European hedgehog called Thorvald has been crowned the oldest in the world, smashing the previous record by seven years.
The male hedgehog lived near the town of Silkeborg in the centre of Denmark. Dr Sophie Lund Rasmussen, from the Wildlife Conservation Research Unit (WildCRU) at Oxford University, who led the Danish Hedgehog Project that discovered Thorvald, said she was overwhelmed when she discovered how old he was.
Continue reading...Union leader says cancelling religious holiday dating from 1600s is threat to Danish welfare model
The Danish government’s plan to abolish a public holiday to help fund the defence budget amid the war in Ukraine is putting Denmark’s cherished welfare model at risk, the country’s biggest trade union confederation has warned.
“It’s a big threat to the Danish model,” said Lizette Risgaard, the head of the FH confederation, which has 1.3 million members in a country of 5.9 million inhabitants. “Politicians should stay out of labour market issues. If they go through with this they will be imposing their will and violate our agreements,” she told AFP on Wednesday.
Continue reading...Constantine was forced into exile in 1967 after clashing with military rulers, who later abolished monarchy
Greece’s former King Constantine II, whose nine-year reign coincided with one of the most turbulent periods in the country’s political history, has died at a private hospital in Athens, his doctors announced late on Tuesday. He was 82.
Constantine, a cousin of British monarch King Charles III, died “of a stroke”. He was admitted to an Athens hospital last week with breathing problems, Greek media reported.
Continue reading...Copenhagen eatery, regularly ranked as one of world’s best, will become a test kitchen, billed as a food laboratory
The Copenhagen restaurant Noma, one of the world’s top eateries, with three Michelin stars, will close at the end of 2024 to reinvent itself as a food laboratory.
“To continue being Noma, we must change … Winter 2024 will be the last season of Noma as we know it,” the restaurant’s representatives wrote in a post on Instagram.
Continue reading...At least eight countries experience record high temperatures of ‘almost unheard of’ heat, say meteorologists
Weather records have been falling across Europe at a disconcerting rate in the last few days, say meteorologists.
The warmest January day ever was recorded in at least eight European countries including Poland, Denmark, the Czech Republic, the Netherlands, Belarus, Lithuania and Latvia, according to data collated by Maximiliano Herrera, a climatologist who tracks extreme temperatures.
Continue reading...UK prime minister joins Nordic and Baltic leaders at summit on countering Russian aggression
Rishi Sunak will meet UK troops in Estonia and Nordic and Baltic leaders at a summit on countering Russian aggression, where he will say leaders must sustain or exceed their lethal aid support to Ukraine and their political backing.
Monday’s meeting will come after the UK prime minister was reported to have unnerved some in Whitehall by asking for a “Goldman Sachs dashboard” on the progress of the war and how UK military supplies are used, according to the BBC.
Continue reading...New coalition’s proposal to remove Great Prayer Day from calendar met with criticism by church and business owners
Denmark’s new government, the country’s first left-right coalition since the 1970s, has got off to an unpopular start with the announcement that one of its earliest policy proposals is to scrap a bank holiday.
The Social Democrat prime minister, Mette Frederiksen, appointed right-leaning political rivals as key ministers in her new reform-oriented government on Thursday, after close-run parliamentary elections last month.
Continue reading...Swedish prosecutor says ‘complex’ investigation and analysis continue to see if suspects can be identified
Traces of explosives have been found at the sites of September’s multiple leaks from the Nord Stream gas pipelines, confirming that the breaches were the result of sabotage, Sweden’s prosecution authority has said.
“Analysis that has now been carried out shows traces of explosives on several of the objects that were recovered” from the scene in the Baltic Sea, Mats Ljungqvist, the prosecutor leading the investigation, said on Friday.
Continue reading...Phil Russell says he was four days overdue sending an application to stay he did not know he needed
A British man living in Denmark is being deported from the country because he was four days late with an application to stay there post-Brexit.
Danish MP Mads Fuglede is fighting to stop the deportation which he says is a breach of the spirit of the withdrawal agreement to protect EU citizens’ rights. However, following elections last week and with no new government in sight in Copenhagen, he is worried help may not come in time for Philip Russell.
Continue reading...The 82-year-old monarch rode in a carriage through Copenhagen and was joined by her family, despite recent public row with son
Denmark’s Queen Margrethe II rounded off celebrations marking her 50th year on the throne on Saturday, and was joined by her family despite a recent public row with her youngest son.
The 82-year-old monarch took a carriage ride through Copenhagen and attended a ceremony at city hall.
Continue reading...Mette Frederiksen, the incumbent PM, can form government though may face dilemma over picking leftwingers or moderates as partners
Denmark’s prime minister, Mette Frederiksen, has won a nail-biting election that gave her left-leaning bloc a one-seat majority in parliament – but her pledge to build a broad left-right coalition may mean she struggles to form a stable government.
Exit polls on Tuesday night had suggested Frederiksen’s five-party “red” bloc would lose its majority in the 179-seat parliament, but as the last votes were counted early on Wednesday it became clear that it had secured 87 seats in mainland Denmark.
Continue reading...Mette Frederiksen’s party predicted to have about 23% of vote, which could make former PM Løkke Rasmussen kingmaker
Prime minister Mette Frederiksen’s Social Democrats have finished first in Denmark’s election, exit polls have suggested, but neither the ruling left or rival right bloc are heading for a majority, setting up her predecessor and his new centrist party as kingmakers.
An exit poll by public broadcaster DR on Tuesday predicted that Frederiksen, who was forced to call the vote when an allied party withdrew support, had led the Social Democrats to a score of about 23%, nearly twice that of the second-placed Liberals.
Continue reading...Russia is suspected to have carried out explosions to put pressure on western energy supplies
Liz Truss has said a series of explosions that severely damaged Russia’s undersea Nord Stream gas pipelines were an act of sabotage.
In a joint report delivered to the United Nations last week, the Danish and Swedish governments have claimed that the leaks in the Nord Stream gas pipelines, which can carry gas to Germany, were caused by blasts equivalent to the power of “several hundred kilograms of explosive”.
Continue reading...Official reason to allow children ‘to shape their own existence’ while mother of two princes losing titles ‘shocked’ by decision
Denmark’s Queen Margrethe, Europe’s only reigning queen and the continent’s longest serving monarch, has stripped four of her eight grandchildren of their titles, the palace announced.
The official reason was to allow the four children of her youngest son, Prince Joachim, to live more normal lives, and follows similar moves by other royal families in Europe to slim down their monarchies, the palace said.
Continue reading...Kremlin officials have talked up implications of the gas pipe explosions but there is no reason to expect a western military response
It may never be possible to determine definitively whether Monday’s underwater explosions at the two Nord Stream gas pipelines were the work of Russian sabotage, but it is certainly the way to bet.
The incidents took place close to – but just outside – the 12 mile territorial waters of Denmark’s Bornholm in the Baltic Sea, the kind of calibration that might be expected from a state actor mindful of the country’s Nato membership.
Continue reading...Conservative People’s Party leader takes poll hit after undisclosed meetings and accusations about husband
One of the leading contenders to become Denmark’s next prime minister has stumbled in the polls after revelations of undisclosed meetings and accusations that his husband had made up family links to a former president of the Dominican Republic.
Søren Pape Poulsen, the leader of Denmark’s Conservative People’s Party, announced last week that his marriage was over after it emerged that his husband, Josue Medina Vásquez Poulsen, had no biological relationship to a former president of the Dominican Republic whom he had claimed as an uncle.
Continue reading...Denmark ‘gets ball rolling’ at UN ahead of protests as poor nations call for greater collective commitment
Youth groups in Africa are preparing to embark on a series of climate demonstrations on Friday to highlight the problem of “loss and damage” to poor countries blighted by climate breakdown, as only one rich country has so far stepped up with funding for the problem.
Actions will take place on Friday in Ghana, Ivory Coast, Senegal, Togo and the Democratic Republic of the Congo, with more to follow in some other African nations over the weekend.
Continue reading...Danish director, who won Palme d’Or for Dancer in the Dark, said to be ‘in good spirits’
Lars von Trier, the acclaimed and controversial Danish director, has been diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease, his production company has announced.
In a statement released on Monday, Zentropa – which von Trier co-founded in 1992 with producer Peter Aalbæk Jensen – said the director is in “good spirits and is being treated for his symptoms” while he completes the upcoming final season of his TV trilogy series.
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