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NEW YEAR

Denmark announces harsher punishments for fireworks offences

Harsher penalties are to be introduced for people who set off fireworks at police and emergency services or at passers-by on the street.

Denmark announces harsher punishments for fireworks offences
Fireworks on sale in 2019. Photo: Niels Christian Vilmann/Ritzau Scanpix

Punishments meted out for such offences will become a third more severe than they are currently.

Copenhagen Police announced the rule change in a statement in connection with a firework safety campaign, Ritzau reports.

People who intentionally endanger others using fireworks can, under current laws, be punished with between 10 and 60 days in prison.

If a public servant like a police officer is targeted, the culprit can face between four and nine months in jail.

Both types of offence will now be subject to stronger sentences.

READ ALSO: 228 injured by New Year 2020 fireworks in Denmark

“The new, sharper punishment underlines that there can be serious legal consequences if you set off fireworks at others,” Copenhagen Police director Anne Tønnes said in the statement.

Lars Weiss, the lord mayor of the Danish capital, said the majority of residents act responsibly when it comes to fireworks.

“But last year, we unfortunately saw that some people were incapable (of being sensible) and were therefore a danger to their surroundings,” Weiss said in the statement.

Denmark restricts the sale of fireworks so they can be purchased from December 15th until New Year's Eve and set off from December 27th.

READ ALSO: Why does Denmark go so crazy for New Year's Eve fireworks?

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RUSSIA

Russia announces no New Year’s greetings for France, US, Germany

US President Joe Biden, France's Emmanuel Macron and German Chancellor Olaf Scholz will not be receiving New Year's greetings from Russian leader Vladimir Putin, the Kremlin said on Friday.

Russia announces no New Year's greetings for France, US, Germany

As the world gears up to ring in the New Year this weekend, Putin sent congratulatory messages to the leaders of Kremlin-friendly countries including Turkey, Syria, Venezuela and China.

But Putin will not wish a happy New Year to the leaders of the United States, France and Germany, countries that have piled unprecedented sanctions on Moscow over Putin’s assault on Ukraine.

“We currently have no contact with them,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters.

“And the president will not congratulate them given the unfriendly actions that they are taking on a continuous basis,” he added.

Putin shocked the world by sending troops to pro-Western Ukraine on February 24.

While Kyiv’s Western allies refused to send troops to Ukraine, they have been supplying the ex-Soviet country with weapons in a show of support that has seen Moscow suffer humiliating setbacks on the battlefield.

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