Category Archives: Denmark

Hand grenades thrown near Israeli embassy in Copenhagen

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In separate incident, Swedish police launch investigation after shots fired at Israeli embassy in Stockholm

Police in Denmark and Sweden are investigating after hand grenades were thrown near the Israeli embassy in Copenhagen and shots were fired at the Israeli embassy in Stockholm on Tuesday night and the early hours of Wednesday morning.

Three Swedish men were arrested in the Danish capital on Wednesday on suspicion of involvement in two explosions near the Israeli embassy at 3.20am in the Copenhagen district of Hellerup.

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Anti-immigration mood sweeping EU threatens its new asylum strategy

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The bloc’s migration pact, finally agreed after a decade of talks, is already in peril as states outdo each other in efforts to get tough

In 2015, when more than 1.3 million people headed to Europe, mostly fleeing a brutal war in Syria, the response of Germany’s then chancellor, Angela Merkel, was to say “Wir schaffen das” (“We can manage this”), and open the country’s borders.

Less than a decade later, and faced with a flow of irregular arrivals less than 10% of what it was at the peak of the bloc’s migration crisis, EU capitals are increasingly saying, “No, we can’t”. Or, perhaps more accurately, “We won’t”.

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Mouse crawling out of meal forces plane to make early landing

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Rodent posed risk to electrical wiring on Scandinavian Airlines flight from Oslo to Málaga

Airline meals hardly carry high expectations but this week a passenger faced more than just a disappointing supper after a mouse crawled out of their meal, forcing their flight to make an unscheduled landing.

The incident occurred during a Scandinavian Airlines (SAS) flight from Oslo to Málaga on Wednesday, forcing the plane to land in Copenhagen, the company said on Friday.

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South Korea reveals new evidence of ‘violent and systemic’ forced adoption abroad

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Hospitals and adoption agencies appear to have colluded to force single mothers to give up children, commission finds

South Korea has found new evidence that mothers were forced to give up their children for adoption in countries including Australia, Denmark and the United States.

At least 200,000 South Korean children had been adopted abroad since the 1950s, but allegations have emerged that hospitals, maternity wards and adoption agencies systematically colluded to force parents – primarily single mothers – to give up their children.

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Cleared man’s claim to wife’s fortune blocked as judge rules he did kill her

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Family of Paula Leeson sued Donald McPherson after criminal prosecution over fatal drowning collapsed

A man who stood to claim a £4.4m estate from his wealthy wife has had his inheritance blocked by a judge who ruled he killed her.

The family of Paula Leeson, 47, who was found dead in a swimming pool in a Denmark holiday home in 2017, sued her husband, Donald McPherson, 51, for unlawful killing after a criminal prosecution collapsed when there was not enough evidence.

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Anti-whaling activist to stay in Greenland jail while extradition decided

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Paul Watson fighting efforts byJapan to have him stand trial there for 2010 confrontation with whalers

A Greenland court has ordered the anti-whaling activist Paul Watson to remain in custody until 5 September pending a decision on his possible extradition to Japan.

Watson, an American-Canadian who has been detained since his arrest in Nuuk in July, had appealed against the court’s decision, the statement on Thursday added.

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Danish wind power giant Ørsted delays major US offshore project

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News follows scrapping of two other Atlantic windfarms and axing of hundreds of jobs as costs surge

The Danish company developing the world’s largest offshore windfarm in the North Sea has been forced to delay a major project off the north-east coast of the US, months after cancelling two nearby developments and cutting hundreds of jobs.

Ørsted has pushed back the start of commercial operations at its 704 megawatt Revolution Wind project off the coast of Rhode Island and Connecticut by a year, to 2026.

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Tuesday briefing: How Copenhagen is helping tourists go green

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In today’s newsletter: As visitors overwhelm Venice, Barcelona and other famous cities, a model rewarding travellers for being more responsible could inspire other municipalities

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Good morning. Today we’re taking a little trip to Copenhagen to explore a new pilot initiative designed to reward tourists for “climate-friendly actions”. The CopenPay scheme has been designed to encourage visitors to act a bit more responsibly and think about their impact on the environment during trips to the Danish capital.

In return for small environmental actions – like cycling to attractions or fishing litter out of the canals – visitors have been rewarded with small gifts such as free ice-cream and museum tours.

Climate crisis | Hot weather inflamed by carbon pollution killed nearly 50,000 people in Europe last year, with the continent warming at a much faster rate than other parts of the world, research has found. Heat-related mortality was highest in Greece, with 393 deaths per million people.

Ukraine | Ukrainian forces have captured 1,000 sq km (386 square miles) of Russia’s bordering Kursk region, Kyiv’s top commander has claimed, as Vladimir Putin vowed a “worthy response” to the attack. 121,000 people have fled the region since the incursion began.

UK news | A shop security guard has described how he overpowered a knifeman as he stabbed an 11-year-old girl and her mother, 34, in a “horrific” and apparently random attack in London’s busy Leicester Square in front of shocked workers and tourists.

UK news | A “series of errors and misjudgments” in Valdo Calocane’s mental health care led to him being discharged, despite repeatedly not taking medication and showing signs of aggression, months before he killed three people in Nottingham, a report says. The Care Quality Commission warned of “systemic issues with community mental health care”.

Technology | Labour MPs have begun quitting X in alarm over the platform’s direction, with one saying Elon Musk had turned it into “a megaphone for foreign adversaries and far-right fringe groups”. Meanwhile, Donald Trump gave a rambling interview to Musk on the platform that was marred with technical issues initially preventing many users from watching the conversation.

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Polish man sentenced to four months in prison for attacking Danish PM

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Mette Frederiksen suffered whiplash and was ‘clearly shaken’ by incident in Copenhagen in June, court hears

A man has been sentenced to four months in prison after being found guilty of attacking the Danish prime minister.

The 39-year-old Polish man – who Danish authorities ruled could not be named by the media – punched Mette Frederiksen in the right arm, causing the prime minister to lose her balance, while she was in Copenhagen during campaigning for the EU elections.

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Novo Nordisk cuts profit outlook after weaker sales of weight-loss drug Wegovy

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Danish company, which also makes Ozempic, faces increasing competition from US rival Eli Lilly

Novo Nordisk has cut its annual profit expectations after posting weaker-than-expected sales of its weight-loss drug Wegovy, fuelling investor concerns over growing competition and sending its shares lower.

The Danish drugmaker’s market value has soared over the past year, making it the most valuable company in Europe, on the back of the success of its obesity and diabetes injections Wegovy and Ozempic, used by celebrities including Elon Musk and Oprah Winfrey. However, the company is facing increasing competition from its US rival Eli Lilly’s drugs Zepbound and Mounjaro.

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Anti-whaling activist Paul Watson could face up to 15 years’ prison in Japan if convicted

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Watson, founder of Sea Shepherd and co-founder of Greenpeace, has been arrested on an international warrant and is facing charges including accomplice to assault and ship trespass

Anti-whaling activist Paul Watson could face up to 15 years in prison in Japan, after the founder of US-based group Sea Shepherd was arrested on an international warrant in Greenland earlier this month.

According to the Japan Coast Guard, Watson, who is also a co-founder of Greenpeace, is facing charges including accomplice to assault and ship trespass, after he was arrested on an international warrant in Greenland.

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Neolithic population collapse may have been caused by plague, researchers say

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DNA studies suggest disease was central to devastating collapse of northern European population 5,000 years ago

A devastating population collapse that decimated stone age farming communities across northern Europe 5,000 years ago may have been driven by an outbreak of the plague, according to research.

The cause of the calamity, known as the Neolithic collapse, has long been a matter of debate.

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First F-16 jets heading to Ukraine after months of training and negotiations

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Dutch and Danish leaders say Ukraine will be ‘flying operational F-16s this summer’ as Kyiv seeks battlefield wins

The first F-16 fighter jets are on their way to Ukraine and will be flying sorties this summer, according to a statement from the Dutch and Danish governments that was released by the White House at the Nato summit.

Dick Schoof, the prime minister of the Netherlands, and Mette Frederiksen, his counterpart from Denmark, said the “transfer process” of F-16s to Kyiv was under way after months of pilot training and political negotiations.

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Man charged over attack on Danish prime minister

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Suspect to plead not guilty after Mette Frederiksen assaulted in a Copenhagen square last month

A Polish man has been charged with assault over last month’s attack on the Danish prime minister, Mette Frederiksen, in a Copenhagen square.

A man walked up to Frederiksen in a square in central Copenhagen in the late afternoon on 7 June and punched her on her right upper arm. The prime minister suffered minor whiplash but was otherwise unharmed.

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‘It is all lining up’: Plan for Ukraine to finally start using F-16 jets this summer

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After delays in delivery and training pilots and ground staff, Netherlands says Ukraine should get first planes in summer

At a military base in the rural south of the Netherlands, Gen Arnoud Stallmann, a Dutch air force commander, said he expected that at some point this summer, F-16 fighter jets would finally take to the skies over Ukraine.

“Around this summertime, it is all lining up,” he said, speaking in front of two disused F-16s inside a hangar at the base, where a recent programme to train Ukrainian air force instructors in maintenance for the jets had just come to a close.

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Danish PM ‘not doing great’ four days after assault in Copenhagen

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Mette Frederiksen gives first interview since assault, saying it was ‘a kind of attack on us all’

Denmark’s prime minister, Mette Frederiksen, has said she is still “not doing great” but will continue to work, in her first interview since she was assaulted in a Copenhagen square last week.

Frederiksen, 46, suffered minor whiplash in the attack last Friday, which is not thought to have been politically motivated. A 39-year-old Polish man was detained on suspicion of assault.

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Danish PM suffers whiplash after assault in Copenhagen

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Attack on Mette Frederiksen unlikely to be ‘politically motivated’, authorities say, as 39-year-old man remanded

An attack on the Danish prime minister, Mette Frederiksen, which left her “shaken” and with a whiplash injury, was probably not “politically motivated”, Danish authorities have said.

A 39-year-old Polish man, who was apprehended after allegedly hitting the prime minister on Friday evening, was remanded in custody until 20 June after appearing before a Copenhagen court, the prosecutor Taruh Sekeroglu told reporters.

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Man arrested after attacking Denmark’s prime minister Mette Frederiksen

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Attack took place in central Copenhagen on Friday but it is unclear whether Frederiksen was injured

A man has been arrested after attacking Denmark’s prime minister Mette Frederiksen in central Copenhagen on Friday.

It was unclear whether Frederiksen was injured by the attacker. The prime minister’s office said in a statement that Frederiksen was “shocked by the incident”, but did not provide further details.

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Security dominating agenda in Baltic states before European elections amid Ukraine war – as it happened

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Conflict with Russia and Europe’s ability to defend itself fuelling concerns across continent, candidates say

Asked how the Liberal Alliance chose to pursue a membership in the EPP, Dahl said “to be quite honest, there is less wokeness in the EPP, and we are strongly against wokeness.”

“We don’t really mind other parties disagreeing with us on areas that are really not the jurisdiction of the EU,” he added.

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Danish firm behind weight-loss drug Wegovy raises profit forecast to £15.3bn

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Novo Nordisk, which is now Europe’s most valuable company, also reports strong sales of diabetes drug Ozempic

Strong sales of diabetes and weight loss drugs Ozempic and Wegovy have prompted the Danish pharmaceutical company Novo Nordisk to raise its 2024 profit forecast to up to £15.3bn, with supply shortages starting to ease.

Europe’s most valuable company, whose stock market value exceeds the size of the Danish economy, has struggled to keep up with runaway demand for the two weight-loss jabs.

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