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TODAY IN DENMARK

Today in Denmark: A roundup of the latest news on Monday

Copenhagen Metro back running after outage, Danish PM condemns Iranian drone attack, new agreement on suicide prevention, and more news from Denmark on Monday.

Today in Denmark: A roundup of the latest news on Monday
The entry to the M3 and M4 lines of the Copenhagen Metro. Photo: Ida Marie Odgaard/Ritzau Scanpix

Copenhagen Metro out of service on Monday morning 

All trains on the Copenhagen Metro’s M3 and M4 lines were out of service on Monday morning between 5.30am and 6.45am due to a technical issue, the metro said on its homepage on Monday. By 6.45am, the trains were running to plan. 

Danish vocabulary: efter planen – according to plan

Denmark’s government announces agreement on suicide prevention 

Denmark’s government on Sunday announced that it had struck a deal with all the other parties in parliament over a plan to better prevent suicides. 

Under the agreed plan, the government hopes to reduce the number of people who commit suicide by a third by, among other measures, increasing the capacity of Denmark’s suicide prevention clinics by 40 percent, improving the follow-up and monitoring of people at risk of suicide. 

Currently, around 600 people commit suicide in Denmark a year, a number which has been broadly stable since 2010. 

“Suicide is a terrible tragedy for the individual and for those closest to them who tragically lose a family member or a close friend,”  Sophie Løhde Jacobsen, Denmark’s health minister, said in a press release. “That is why we must do more to prevent suicide and suicide attempts, and with the action plan we are putting in place better help for people in deep crisis.” 

Danish vocabulary: at forebygge – to prevent 

Danish prime minister condemns Iran’s attack on Israel 

Denmark’s prime minister, Mette Frederiksen, condemned Iran’s drone attack on Israel on Sunday, warning that it would worsen regional conflicts .

“This creates a risk of greater conflict in the Middle East. My thoughts are with the many who have feared for their safety throughout the night,” she said on X. 

Iran launched more than 300 drones and missiles at Israel on Saturday night, an attack it said was a response to Israel’s attack on an Iranian diplomatic building in Damascus on April 1st. The Damascus strike killed a senior member of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guards, as well as eight other officers.

On Friday evening, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs wrote on its website that there was an increased risk of military escalation and attacks against Israel. The situation was described as “unpredictable”. It is advising against all travel to both Iran and Lebanon.

Danish vocabulary: frarådes – is advised against

Nine out of ten cancer patients ‘treated on time’ 

Over 91 percent of cancer patients in Denmark now receive treatment within the maximum time promised by the country’s regional health authorities, according to new figures. 

According to the data, in 7.2 percent of the cases, treatment is not started before the deadline because of the state of the patients’ health or because they do not want treatment. In a further 1.2 percent of cases they have to wait longer dur to capacity shortages, but are informed about their rights and options, and in only 0.3 percent of cases, are patients’ rights not respected. 

Karin Friis Bach (R), who chairs the Health Committee for Danish Regions, which represents Denmark’s five regions, celebrated the “fantastically good numbers” . 

“That tells me that we have good cancer treatment, fantastically good cancer treatment in Denmark, and it’s really nice to get confirmation of that on the back of the other stories that we’ve recently been hearing,” she told the Ritzau newswire. 

Danish vocabulary: kræftbehandling – cancer treatment

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TODAY IN DENMARK

Today in Denmark: A roundup of the news on Tuesday

Right wing party defends use of Mette Frederiksen deepfake, parties want mink breeder compensation cut, Billie Eilish announces Royal Arena concerts and more news from Denmark on Tuesday.

Today in Denmark: A roundup of the news on Tuesday

Party criticised over deepfake satire video of prime minister 

The far-right Danish People’s Party (DF) has been criticised for sharing a video that uses ‘deepfake’ techniques to misrepresent Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen.

In the video, Frederiksen is made to appear as if she is saying the government plans to cancel Christmas, Easter and Pentecost holidays after already scrapping Great Prayer Day.

A small stamp is visible in the corner of the video signalling that it is not real footage of Frederiksen.

The centre-left Socialist People’s Party (SF) and the Liberal (Venstre) party, a partner in the coalition government, have both criticised the video.

“DF’s AI video of the prime minister is very funny in terms of content, but a political party using deepfakes is extremely concerning and I don’t think DF actually understands the potential for (ab)use of deepfakes,” SF’s digital spokesperson Lisbeth Bech-Nielsen tweeted.

DF leader Morten Messerschmidt has rejected the criticism, saying the video was clearly meant as satire.

Vocabulary: satirisk – satirical

Politicians call for lower compensation price for mink skins

SF and the Social Liberal (Radikale Venstre) want the state compensation mink fur farmers to be renegotiated. Both parties voted for the compensation plan in 2021.

The parties new positions come after a commission concluded that the most realistic unit price of a mink fur is lower than the price used to set compensation, media Zetland writes based on a leaked document.

The Social Liberal food spokesperson Christian Friis Bach called the issue a “scandal” in comments to Zetland.

Mink breeders receive compensation based on a price of 333 kroner per skin, while the commission has ruled that the most likely price is 247 kroner.

READ ALSO: Danish mink fur breeders received ‘too much compensation’

Vocabulary: afgørelse – ruling

Billie Eilish to play two concerts in Copenhagen in 2025

One of the world’s biggest names in pop music will play to fans in Copenhagen next year after Billie Eilish announced two dates at the capital’s Royal Arena almost a year to the day, on April 28th and 29th 2025.

The concerts, confirmed by Live Nation Denmark in a press release, are part of Eilish’s upcoming world tour “Hit Me Hard and Soft”, in which she will play across Europe as well as in Australia and the United States.

Ticket sales for the two concerts will begin on Friday, according to the press release, with prices starting at 440 kroner.

Vocabulary: verdensstjerne – international star/celebrity

Foreign workers in Denmark ‘create 300 billion kroner of value’

Almost one in eight people in paid employment in Denmark is a foreign national, meaning workers from abroad create a huge amount of value for the country, the Confederation of Danish Industry said in a new analysis.

Based on Statistics Denmark data DI found that, between 2013 and 2023, the number of foreign nationals working full-time in paid employment in Denmark increased from 147,000 to 309,000.

The 2023 level is equivalent to 13 percent of overall employment in Denmark being attributable to foreign labour, DI said.

“You cannot overestimate the importance of international labour in Denmark,” DI’s deputy director Steen Nielsen said in a statement.

“If they had not been here and made the contribution they do, we’d not have been able to produce goods, treat the sick or build the amount of houses we need,” he said.

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