Today in Denmark: A roundup of the news on Wednesday
Whether primary school students should be 'redistributed,' a Facebook group where priests spill parishioners' secrets, and climate compensation for poor countries are among the top news stories in Denmark this Wednesday.
No more plans to 'redistribute' Danish primary school students
The Ministry of Children and Education has abandoned plans to redistribute Denmark's primary school students to ensure a more "mixed" learning environment, officials tell newspaper Berlingske.
Beginning next fall, secondary school pupils may be assigned a different school based on their parents' salaries.
READ MORE: Why Denmark has changed rules for upper secondary school allocation
Danish priests spill parishioners' secrets in Facebook group
The Danish Data Protection Authority has launched an investigation into a closed Facebook group in which priests from the Church of Denmark appear to have shared private details of their parishioners' lives for more than a decade.
The group is composed of 1,300 members, while about 2,000 priests are employed by the Church of Denmark. According to an investigation by TV2 journalists, who they say were easily admitted to the closed group despite not being priests, discussions included individually identifiable information about families' most personal secrets — including allegations of incest, extramarital children, and children's medical diagnoses.
Danish law requires priests in the Church of Denmark to abide by strict confidentiality rules.
Denmark will pay poor countries affected by climate change
Denmark has earmarked at least 50 million kroner to go to 'poor' countries bearing the brunt of climate change, Danish development minister Flemming Møller Mortensen has announced.
Humanitarian aid organisation DanChurchAid sees the move as a tremendous step forward.
"It is a historic and wonderful initiative," says secretary general Birgitte Qvist-Sørensen. "Climate-related losses and damages have been a topic of debate since 1992, but until now no other rich country has announced any concrete support to tackle losses and damages."
The money will come from a pool of 100 million kroner budgeted this year for climate compensation and climate adaptation in poor countries, Ritzau reports. The Sahel, a semi-arid region of Africa, will be a primary target for the aid.
READ MORE: What's in Denmark's 2023 budget?
Government proposes flight tax to make air travel greener
The Danish government hopes to introduce a 13 kroner tax on all plane tickets, both domestic and international, departing in Denmark. Officials estimate the tax would generate 200-230 million kroner annually that could be put towards prime minister Mette Frederiksen's goal of all-green domestic flights in Denmark by 2030.
Denmark is late to the party taxing air travel, according to Ritzau — neighbors Norway, Sweden, and Germany have already imposed taxes at a rather higher level.
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No more plans to 'redistribute' Danish primary school students
The Ministry of Children and Education has abandoned plans to redistribute Denmark's primary school students to ensure a more "mixed" learning environment, officials tell newspaper Berlingske.
Beginning next fall, secondary school pupils may be assigned a different school based on their parents' salaries.
READ MORE: Why Denmark has changed rules for upper secondary school allocation
Danish priests spill parishioners' secrets in Facebook group
The Danish Data Protection Authority has launched an investigation into a closed Facebook group in which priests from the Church of Denmark appear to have shared private details of their parishioners' lives for more than a decade.
The group is composed of 1,300 members, while about 2,000 priests are employed by the Church of Denmark. According to an investigation by TV2 journalists, who they say were easily admitted to the closed group despite not being priests, discussions included individually identifiable information about families' most personal secrets — including allegations of incest, extramarital children, and children's medical diagnoses.
Danish law requires priests in the Church of Denmark to abide by strict confidentiality rules.
Denmark will pay poor countries affected by climate change
Denmark has earmarked at least 50 million kroner to go to 'poor' countries bearing the brunt of climate change, Danish development minister Flemming Møller Mortensen has announced.
Humanitarian aid organisation DanChurchAid sees the move as a tremendous step forward.
"It is a historic and wonderful initiative," says secretary general Birgitte Qvist-Sørensen. "Climate-related losses and damages have been a topic of debate since 1992, but until now no other rich country has announced any concrete support to tackle losses and damages."
The money will come from a pool of 100 million kroner budgeted this year for climate compensation and climate adaptation in poor countries, Ritzau reports. The Sahel, a semi-arid region of Africa, will be a primary target for the aid.
READ MORE: What's in Denmark's 2023 budget?
Government proposes flight tax to make air travel greener
The Danish government hopes to introduce a 13 kroner tax on all plane tickets, both domestic and international, departing in Denmark. Officials estimate the tax would generate 200-230 million kroner annually that could be put towards prime minister Mette Frederiksen's goal of all-green domestic flights in Denmark by 2030.
Denmark is late to the party taxing air travel, according to Ritzau — neighbors Norway, Sweden, and Germany have already imposed taxes at a rather higher level.
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