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TODAY IN DENMARK

Today in Denmark: A roundup of the news on Monday

Police destroy Billund bomb threat object, fire services finish work at Børsen, cold nights likely to make roads icy this week and more news from Denmark on Monday.

Today in Denmark: A roundup of the news on Monday
The scene at Billund Airport on Saturday after the airport received a bomb threat. Photo: Pressefotos.dk/Ritzau Scanpix

Police destroy object involved in Billund Airport bomb threat 

An object that was handed in at Billund Airport on Saturday as part of a bomb threat, and which was suspected of containing explosives, was destroyed last night in a so-called controlled explosion by military explosives specialists, Southeast Jutland Police confirmed in a statement.

Billund, Denmark’s second largest airport, reopened late on Saturday after a man was arrested in connection with a bomb threat that forced its evacuation.

READ ALSO: Denmark airport reopens after bomb threat, man arrested

During the search in Billund airport in central Denmark, police arrested a man in his thirties and removed an object “likely to contain explosives”. He has since been remanded in police custody until May 17th.

Whether or not the object actually contained explosives will be clarified by the results of chemical tests.

Vocabulary: sprængstof – explosives

Fire service hands over Børsen to police and builders

The fire service in Copenhagen, Hovedstadens Beredskab, has finished work at the old Stock Exchange after last week’s fire and has handed over the building to police and construction workers, the fire service’s director Jakob Vedsted Andersen said at a short briefing this morning.

That means police can now access the burnt-out part of the building to commence forensic examinations.

“The police have had difficulty getting into the building until we had stabilised it. We’re now getting to a stage where the police can get in and look at some things,” Andersen said.

Vocabulary: adgang – access

Cold spring weather could mean slippery roads

Warm spring weather has not really arrived yet in Denmark, and this week’s temperatures are unlikely to change that.

Motorists are advised to check conditions for potential icy roads ahead of early morning journeys this week, meteorologist Klaus Larsen of met office DMI told newswire Ritzau.

“A little rain will fall during the week and that can mean that when it’s freezing, you might get what we call freezing wet road surfaces,” Larsen explained.

“So during the mornings you should probably give way in a lot of parts of the country. Reduce speed a bit, because it could well be slippery most mornings,” he said.

Vocabulary: give agt – give way

Controversial stud farm auctioned off after bankruptcy

The stud farm Viegård Stutteri, which was in the news last year after activists accused it of mistreating horses and police dug up a number of partially decomposed animals to investigate the matter, has now been sold off at auction after the owners went bankrupt.

The owners were eventually cleared of any charges after investigations showed the dead horses were not malnourished when they died.

The stud farm went for 8.51 million kroner according to local newspaper Viborg Stifts Folkeblad.

Vocabulary: stutteri – stud farm

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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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