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TODAY IN DENMARK

Today in Denmark: A roundup of the news on Friday

Thousands of lightning strikes, shocking figure for child poverty in Copenhagen, Danish rider returns for Tour de France and more news from Denmark this Friday.

Published: 28 June 2024 07:12 CEST
Today in Denmark: A roundup of the news on Friday
Denmark's Olympic rowing team take a Viking boat for a spin on Roskilde Fjord on Thursday. Photo: Mads Claus Rasmussen/Ritzau Scanpix

31,000 lightning strikes registered in Jutland

Thunderstorms across southern and western Jutland night brought over 31,000 lightning strikes in the region, broadcaster DR reports.

Residents in the area also report hailstones that, in a least one case, we big enough to rip through terrace roofing.

The storms signal the end of the hot weather spell this week, with more moderate temperatures forecast this weekend.

Vocabulary: lynnedslag – lightning strike

5,000 children ‘live in poverty’ in Copenhagen

As many as 5,000 children in Copenhagen live in poverty according to a new review from the city’s municipal Finance Committee (Økonomiudvalg).

Around half of the children live in the Brønshøj-Husum, Bispebjerg and Nørrebro districts. The number represents around five percent of the total number of children who live in the city.

More should be done to support charities that fight child poverty, Karina Vestergård Madsen, an elected municipal councillor said.

“What we need focus on is support for organisations in civil society like Save the Children and Mødrehjælpen who can give them some good experiences which they can’t afford,” she said to DR.

Vocabulary: fattigdom – poverty

Road-rusty Vingegaard set for Tour de France duel with rival Pogačar 

Two-time Danish Tour de France champion Jonas Vingegaard faces a serious challenge in the form of longstanding rival Tadej Pogačar when the tour sets off from the Italian city of Florence on Saturday.

Team Visma’s Vingegaard hasn’t raced since suffering multiple fractures in a fall in March but recently declared himself fit for the Tour, the biggest event in cycling.

Vingegaard’s fall offers Slovenia’s Pogačar a chance at revenge for the brutal manner in which the Dane crushed him on two Alpine stages late in the 2023 edition.

“I’ve tested my legs a little and to be honest, I’ve never felt so good on a bike,” Pogačar, a back-to-back winner in 2020 and 2021, told news agency AFP.

“Everyone thinks that I’m going to win the Tour every year, but I didn’t win the last two times,” he said.

Vocabulary: et styrt – a fall/crash (on a bike)

Blaze at Tax Ministry put out by firefighters

A fire at Denmark’s Tax Ministry yesterday was swiftly extinguished after the building was evacuated.

A fire broke out on during the morning on the roof of the building in central Copenhagen which houses Denmark’s Tax Ministry as well as some residential flats.

The building is located very close to the Old Stock Exchange (Børsen), which suffered a devastating fire earlier this year. The Tax Ministry building is a modern building, unlike the historic Børsen, and is on the opposite side of Copenhagen Harbour on Nicolai Eigtveds Gade.

READ ALSO: Why have there been so many fires in Copenhagen this year?

Vocabulary: den modsatte side – the opposite side

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TODAY IN DENMARK

Today in Denmark: A roundup of the news on Monday

Mixed weather as Roskilde drenched, youngsters to help catch underage alcohol sales, new labour rules and more from Denmark on Monday.

Published: 1 July 2024 09:05 CEST
Today in Denmark: A roundup of the news on Monday

Sunny start before rain and clouds arrive from west 

Photos from the Roskilde Festival, the largest music festival in Scandinavia and a huge annual event in Danish culture, show a camping area already transformed into puddly bog three days before the concerts begin.

Heavy rain this weekend has made this year’s Roskilde a damp experience so far, but there will be some sun today, offering hope things can dry up before the festival area opens.

Sunny weather in the first half of the day is likely to be gradually replaced by some clouds and rain, but this is more likely in the west of the country.

“It is most likely there will be showers in the southwestern part of the country,” broadcaster DR’s weather presenter Simon Brix said in an update.

“We have to say that the temperature will be more moderate for the summer here on July 1st,” he added.

Vocabulary: forvandlet – transformed

Authorities to use young ‘control shoppers’ to check stores’ compliance on tobacco

The Danish Safety Technology Authority (Sikkerhedsstyrelsen) will from today send people as young as 15 into supermarkets and other stores to attempt to buy cigarettes, snus and alcohol.

The aim of this unusual take on mystery shopping is to ensure stores comply with age limit laws on selling the products, DR reports.

Staff are obliged to ask for ID if there is doubt as to whether the customer is above the minimum age.

Interest organisations for the stores have criticised the move, calling it a “slip of the rule of law” which is “using a cannon to shoot sparrows”.

Vocabulary: at skyde gråspurve med kanoner — using a cannon to shoot sparrows (idiom meaning excessive force)

New law on recording working hours  

From July 1st, all Danish employers are required to introduce a working hours registration system that makes it possible to measure the daily working hours of each individual employee.

Under the new law, workers will only need to register deviations from agreed or scheduled working hours, but will have to open the app or web page if they, say, pop out to the dentist or stay late to finish a presentation. 

Under the law, employers are required to keep these records for five years.

READ ALSO: KEY POINTS: What changes about life in Denmark in July 2024?

Vocabulary: at stemple ind – to clock in (at work)

Roof intruder at Denmark-Germany Euros game wanted to take ‘good photos’

German police said a 21-year-old man who climbed onto the roof of the stadium during Denmark’s 2-0 defeat against the hosts on Saturday wanted to document the stunt.

The intruder at the Westfalen stadium in Dortmund told law enforcement after his arrest he only wanted to take “good photos”, local police said in a statement.

The man was spotted in the rafters of the stadium on Saturday at 10:11 pm during the last-16 match, police said.

Authorities “observed the 21-year-old continuously”, using police drones and a helicopter to illuminate the roof and track the situation, they said.

“At no point was there any danger to other people in the stadium,” police said.

“The man finally followed the police’s instructions and returned to a walkway under the roof at 11:44 pm,” and was arrested.

Play in the match was interrupted in the first half due to intense thunderstorms around the stadium and rainwater pouring onto the pitch from the roof.

Denmark were beaten after having a goal narrowly ruled out and then conceding a penalty for the first German goal, both through the intervention of the Video Assisted Referee.

 

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