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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 latest news on Friday

Denmark announces new defence package for Ukraine, subsidies to museums boosted, economy growing faster than expected and other news from Denmark on Friday.

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

Denmark donates billions to Ukraine for air defence and ammunition

Denmark has agreed to donate 5.6 billion kroner to Ukraine, in its 18th donation package to the country to help it repel Russia’s invasion.

“This is quite a large package: we are currently the country which provides the largest military support to Ukraine pro rata,” Denmark’s foreign minister, Lars Løkke Rasmussen, told the Ritzau newswire. .

Around 2.4 billion kroner is set earmarket for improving Ukraine’s air defences and part will go towards developing Ukraine’s new fleet of F-16 fighter planes, some of which Denmark has given. It is not yet known when Denmark’s planes will be sent to Ukraine. 

“Everyone knows that Ukraine is in desperate straits for better air defences. We have nothing, but we have the resources. We have included that in this package,” Rasmussen said. 

Danish vocabulary: luftforsvar – air defences

Denmark to boost subsidies to museums in new cross-party deal 

Denmark’s government has struck a deal with opposition parties to increase the annual subiduy to museums in the country by 75 million kroner a year, pushing the annual grant to 565.7 million from 2025. 

Under the news subsidy system, museums will be divided into five categories, which will determine how big its basic grant will be. A new national museum board will be set up to assess whether museums will be among those eligible for subsidy or be stripped of state recognition. 

To be categorised as a state-recognised museum, museums must have an annual income of at least 4m kroner and at least 10,000 annual visitors, although this is reduced to 3m kroner and 8,000 visitors for museums on Denmark’s smaller islands. 

The deal was struck between the three government parties and all other parties in government apart from the Alternative and Nye Borgerlige parties. 

Danish vocabulary: museumsnævn – board of museums 

Denmark’s economy growing faster than expected 

Denmark’s economy is growing faster than the government expected, inflation is falling faster, and employment is holding up better, Denmark’s economy minister, Stephanie Lose, said at a press conference announcing the government’s Økonomisk Redegørelse, or financial statement, for May.

“In the past two years, the pharmaceutical industry in particular has driven growth in the Danish economy, while there has been stagnation or decline in large parts of the rest of the economy,” she said. “In the coming years, other industries again look set to contribute to growth. Added to this is the reopening of the Tyra field in the North Sea, which also contributes to growth in GDP.” 

The government has increased its expectation for Denmark’s growth rate since its last statement in December, with it now expecting 2.7 percent growth in 2024, up from the 1.4 percent it expected for the year in December. 

The government has significantly upgraded its expectations of what will happen to the price of domestic property this year. It now expects prices to increase by an average of 3.2 percent in 2024 and 3 percent in 2025, a rise of two percentage points on the 1.2 percent rise for 2024 it expected when it made its last forecast in December. 

Danish vocabulary: forventningen – the expectation

Denmark joins countries calling for asylum centres outside EU

Denmark is one of 15 EU member states who have sent a joint letter to the European Commission demanding a further tightening of the bloc’s asylum policy, which will make it easier to transfer undocumented migrants to third countries, such as Rwanda, including when they are rescued at sea.

The letter, sent to the European Commission on Thursday, comes less than a month before European Parliament elections, in which far-right anti-immigration parties are forecast to make gains.

The letter asks the European Union’s executive arm to “propose new ways and solutions to prevent irregular migration to Europe”.

The group includes Italy and Greece, which receive a substantial number of the people making the perilous journey across the Mediterranean Sea to reach the EU — many seeking to escape poverty, war or persecution, according to the International Organization for Migration.

Denmark’s former government sought to open an asylum reception centre in a third country, with the then immigration minister Mattias Tesfaye visiting Rwanda. But the current govermment has pledged to try and establish centres in a third country through the EU. 

They want the EU to toughen up its recently adopted asylum pact, which introduces tighter controls on those seeking to enter the 27-nation bloc.
That reform includes speedier vetting of people arriving without documents, new border detention centres and faster deportation for rejected asylum applicants.

The 15 proposed in their letter the introduction of “mechanisms… aimed at detecting, intercepting — or in cases of distress, rescuing — migrants on the high seas and bringing them to a predetermined place of safety in a partner country outside the EU, where durable solutions for those migrants could be found”.

Danish vocabulary: modtagecenter – reception centre

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