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TODAY IN DENMARK

Today in Denmark: A roundup of the news on Friday

Two aircraft return to Copenhagen amid bomb threat, Randers files new complaint against Nordic Waste, Danish Medicines Agency finds possible link between hives and Moderna Covid vaccine and more news from Denmark on Friday.

Today in Denmark: A roundup of the news on Friday
Svanemøllen Beach near Copenhagen, pictured earlier this month. Photo: Liselotte Sabroe/Ritzau Scanpix

Two planes evacuated in Copenhagen after bomb threat 

Two aircraft flying to Stavanger in Norway were yesterday forced to turn around and return to Copenhagen because of a bomb threat, Copenhagen Airport confirmed in a post on social media X.

Both planes were evacuated when they landed in Copenhagen.

“We can confirm that a flight to Stavanger has returned to Copenhagen due to a suspected bomb threat. We are working with the relevant authorities who have begun their work, and all passengers have been evacuated,” the airport wrote, before adding in a follow-up tweet that two aircraft, not one, were involved.

All passengers were “safe and well” in the airport, Copenhagen Police later tweeted. The matter has now been placed in the hands of the authorities, the airport said.

Norwegian media VG reported that a Norwegian airlines flight to Stavanger was the first to be turned around, followed by a SAS flight with the same destination.

“The threat was so unspecific that this [second] flight was also asked to land,” Copenhagen Aiport spokesperson Lise Agerley Kürstein told VG.

Vocabulary: evakueret – evacuated

Randers files new police report against Nordic Waste 

The Nordic Waste scandal has begun to rumble forwards again with the local authority, Randers Municipality, yesterday filing a police report against the company for “additional violations”.

That comes after the government’s legal advisor’s this week said DSH Recycling, a company with the same owners as Nordic Waste, can be held liable for costs resulting from the landslide at Nordic Waste’s soil treatment plant in December last year.

The new report to police is related to violations of environmental protection acts, Randers Municipality said.

“We are still in a very serious environmental situation with his case, and we will consistently report whenever we find violations of the environmental permit or legislation,” municipal official Jesper Kaas Schmidt told newswire Ritzau.

Schmidt said he would “certainly not” rule out further reports.

Vocabulary: bestemt ikke – certainly not

Chronic hives a ‘possible side effect’ of Moderna Covid vaccine

Danish Medicines Agency (Lægemiddelstyrelsen) tests suggest that chronic hives are a potential side effect of the Spikevax Covid-19 vacine, which is produced by Moderna.

Based on a total of 360 European cases, the agency found a “probable” connection in 58 cases, while a “possible” connection applied in 228 cases.

A suspected side effect can be categorised as either probable, possible or unlikely.

The results are early and further investigations are needed, team leader Martin Zahle Larsen of the Danish Medicines Agency told Ritzau.

Hives are a type of skin rash with red, raised bumps that can be itchy and uncomfortable. Most cases potentially linked to the vaccine emerged 7-13 days after the third dose was given.

Vocabulary: nældefeber – hives

Europe needs to step up circular economy efforts: EU agency

Europe must accelerate efforts to transform its economy into a circular one focused on reusing or repurposing materials to cut waste, a necessity if it is meet climate targets, the European Environment Agency warned yesterday.

“Decisive action is essential to drastically reduce waste, prioritise reduction of resource use, improve recycling rates and improve the introduction of products that are designed for circularity from the outset,” the Copenhagen-based agency said in a statement.

“We are still far from the ambition to double the Union’s circularity rate by 2030,” the EEA said, adding that there was a “low or moderate likelihood” that EU’s ambitions would be “achieved in the coming years”.

“We need an additional policy push,” Daniel Montalvo, a climate expert at the agency, said at a press conference according to newswire AFP.

At the heart of the problem, according to the EEA, are business models in which products have a very short lifespan — if they are even used at all.

“Business models primarily revolve around mass-producing products, often sacrificing quality, and this results in early breakdown or premature obsolescence,” the EEA said.

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TODAY IN DENMARK

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

Danish PM signs Nordic declaration in Stockholm, parliament to vote on Aalborg motorway, serious health issues with Danish pigs, and more news from Denmark on Tuesday.

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

Danish PM signs deal with Nordic Prime Ministers and German Chancellor in Stockholm 

Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen on Monday signed a joint declaration on Monday along with German Chancellor Olaf Scholz in Stockholm and the prime ministers of the other five Nordic nations

The Nordic Declaration on Competitiveness and Security covered new technologies, the green transition, the growing defense industry and, not least, Ukraine’s freedom.

In a speech, Frederiksen warned of the growing risk of hybrid attacks on Nordic countries from Russia, citing the migrants sent to the Finnish border, cyber attacks and sabotage on infrastructure. 

“Unfortunately, it is probably only the imagination that sets the limits in the coming years. It is quite serious,” she said. “We can do a lot, and it is also in this light that you have to see that we in the Nordic countries meet here together with the German chancellor. It is simply about making our society more robust.” 

She also commented on for the first time on the deep fake video made of her by the  Danish People’s Party, saying that the technology risked damaging democracy. 

“I think that political parties should refrain from this. It is devastating for our democratic conversation,” she said, saying she “of course agrees” with Culture Minister Jakob Engel-Schmidt (M), who said on Monday he wanted to ban such videos using copyright law.

Danish vocabulary: fantasien – (the) fantasy 

Parliament to vote on controversial new Aalborg motorway

Denmark’s parliament is today expected to vote in favour of building a new 20km motorway over the Limfjord, despite criticism of experts and calculations from the country’s roads directorate that it is not economically viable. 

The motorway, which was part of a cross-party infrastructure agreement made in 2021, has generated huge controversy with critics worried about the impact on nature in Denmark’s largest fjord, the likely CO2 emissions generated, and the cost of the project. 

Supporters, on the other hand, argue that the road will bring muhc needed economic growth to Aalborg and North Jutland.

A cost-benefit analysis by the Danish Roads Directorate found that the new motorway would bribg a new loss of 188m kroner. 

The project is supported by parties in the Danish parliamnet comprising a majority of MPs, with only the Socialist Left, Social Liberal Party, Red Green Alliance and Alternative party opposed. 

Danish vocabulary: tabsgivende – loss-making 

Denmark’s biggest hospital to clean Swedish donor lungs 

Denmark’s Rigshospitalet in Copenhagen has struck a deal to share its Ex Vivo Lung Perfusion (EVLP) machine with Skåne University Hospital in southern Sweden, meaning more successful lung transplants can take place in the country. 

The method, which increases the number of lungs suitable for transplantation by as much as 25 percent, has been used in Copenhagen for 12 years. 

Under the new project, Swedish lungs will be shipped to the hospital to be connected to the machine with Danish and Swedish doctors then together deciding which lungs are viable, meaning Swedish lungs could be used for Danish patients and vica versa. 

“By spreading the method, it can provide more lungs for transplantation in Sweden and thus overall in Scandinavia, with which we cooperate to exchange donor organs,” Michael Perch, head doctor at the hospitals’s Department of Heart Diseases and head of the Danish lung transplantation program, told the Ritzau newswire. 

Danish vocabulary: at forbedre sydsvenske donorlunger – to improve donor lungs from southern Sweden 

Danish pigs suffer hoof abscesses, shoulder ulcers, joint inflammation: report  

A survey of 240 checks on Danish pig farms carried out by the Danish Food and Drug Administration have uncovered widespread problems at Danish pig farms, with pigs found to suffer from health problems such as hoof abscesses, shoulder ulcers, joint inflammation as a result of the cramped conditions in which they are kept, a report by the Information newspaper has found. 

“Many of the welfare problems mentioned here are injuries and inflammatory conditions, which are primarily triggered by the way the pigs are kept,” said Lene Juul Pedersen, who researches pigs at Aarhus University

In 90 of the checks, one or more animals were found that had difficulty standing on one leg, could not stand up, or limped severely. In 20, pigs were found with shoulder ulcers, and in 100, pigs were found with hernias.

Danish vocabulary: brok – hernias 

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