Today in Denmark: A roundup of the news on Wednesday
Siren tests, Denmark to send NATO battalion to Latvia, hospital directors fired over scandal and wolf sighting was actually a dog. Here are the news stories from Denmark on Wednesday.
Sirens to be tested today
If you’re in Denmark today you are very likely to hear sirens, either from fixed loudspeakers or from your phone.
Each year, Denmark tests the physical sirens that authorities can use to warn the population if there is an emergency situation. The tests take place on the first Wednesday in May at noon.
This year, a new system that allows warnings to be sent to mobile devices will be tested for the first time. Here's all the information you need.
Denmark to send NATO battalion to Latvia in 2024
Denmark will send a NATO battalion to Latvia next year to help support the Baltic state following Russia's invasion of Ukraine, the defence ministry said yesterday.
"As of mid-2024, Denmark will make a battalion available to NATO for the defence of the Baltic states, which will be deployed in Latvia part of the year and the rest of the year in Denmark, where it will be on standby ready to go to the Baltic states in the event of a crisis," a ministry statement said.
The battalion is expected to made up of between 700 and 1,200 troops, news wire AFP reports.
"The composition and the size of the battalion, as well as the duration of the specific deployments, will depend on NATO and its allies' needs", as well as the Danish forces' deployment possibilities, the statement added.
Former Soviet states on NATO's eastern front have called for the alliance to boost defence capacity in the region.
Denmark is already part of a permanent NATO mission in the region dubbed the Enhanced Forward Presence and last March sent 225 soldiers to Estonia.
Vocabulary: tropper – troops
Government pledges 1.7 billion kroner in military aid to Ukraine
The government will meanwhile send 1.7 billion kroner worth of military aid to Ukraine "to support the forthcoming Ukrainian offensive," the defence ministry also said yesterday.
The donation package included mine clearing vehicles, ammunition and financial support for the procurement of air defence, the Danish Ministry of Defence said in a statement.
"The equipment in the donation package is essential to pave the way for Ukrainian tanks and mechanised infantry on the front line," acting Defence Minister Troels Lund Poulsen, was quoted saying in the statement.
"The new military donation package is our largest to date, bringing the total Danish support to almost 11 billion kronor," Foreign Minister Lars Løkke Rasmussen said.
In January, Denmark pledged 19 French-made Caesar howitzers to Ukraine, including some still on order, and in April it announced that it was buying -- together with the Netherlands -- 14 Leopard 2 tanks to give to Ukraine.
Vocabulary: militær støtte –military aid
Hospital directors fired over long waiting times for cancer patients
Cancer patients at Aarhus University Hospital were recently reported to have waited considerably longer than a Health Authority standard for treatment after their diagnosis. The scandal has now cost two directors at the hospital their jobs, news wire Ritzau reports.
The decision was announced by the Central Jutland health authority in a press statement yesterday.
In March, media reported that 293 bowel cancer patients at the hospital waited longer than they should have to undergo surgery between January 2022 and February 2023. The figure has since increased to 313.
The government subsequently announced a “regeneration plan” for cancer treatment at the national level.
Vocabulary: uvildig undersøgelse – independent inquiry
READ ALSO: What exactly is wrong with the Danish health system?
Prime energy drink 'not legal' for sale in Denmark
Sales of the ‘Prime’ energy drink, made popular by social media influencers, are illegal in Denmark, the Veterinary and Food Administration has stated.
The agency has advised five different companies in the last week to cease selling the imported product, it said in a statement.
The drink can include ingredients not approved for sale in Denmark because they have not been given the relevant health approvals.
Local media TV2 Kosmopol last week quoted a police officer who said that customers “shouted and screamed and disturbed traffic” outside a store in Copenhagen where free samples of Prime were being offered.
Vocabulary: læskedrik – sports drink
Vejle wolf was not a wolf after all
In yesterday’s roundup we wrote that local residents had spotted a wolf near the harbour in Vejle, and that the sighting had been confirmed by a local nature guide.
But the identification has proved to be an error and the animal is not in fact a wolf but a dog named Max, local media TV Syd and Vejle Amts Folkeblad report.
Both media managed to track down the owner of the dog, which is a mix of Siberian husky and Alaskan malamute. Friday’s sighting was not the first case of mistaken identity in which Max has been confused for a wolf, the owner said.
Vocabulary: fejlbedømmelse – incorrect judgement
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Sirens to be tested today
If you’re in Denmark today you are very likely to hear sirens, either from fixed loudspeakers or from your phone.
Each year, Denmark tests the physical sirens that authorities can use to warn the population if there is an emergency situation. The tests take place on the first Wednesday in May at noon.
This year, a new system that allows warnings to be sent to mobile devices will be tested for the first time. Here's all the information you need.
Denmark to send NATO battalion to Latvia in 2024
Denmark will send a NATO battalion to Latvia next year to help support the Baltic state following Russia's invasion of Ukraine, the defence ministry said yesterday.
"As of mid-2024, Denmark will make a battalion available to NATO for the defence of the Baltic states, which will be deployed in Latvia part of the year and the rest of the year in Denmark, where it will be on standby ready to go to the Baltic states in the event of a crisis," a ministry statement said.
The battalion is expected to made up of between 700 and 1,200 troops, news wire AFP reports.
"The composition and the size of the battalion, as well as the duration of the specific deployments, will depend on NATO and its allies' needs", as well as the Danish forces' deployment possibilities, the statement added.
Former Soviet states on NATO's eastern front have called for the alliance to boost defence capacity in the region.
Denmark is already part of a permanent NATO mission in the region dubbed the Enhanced Forward Presence and last March sent 225 soldiers to Estonia.
Vocabulary: tropper – troops
Government pledges 1.7 billion kroner in military aid to Ukraine
The government will meanwhile send 1.7 billion kroner worth of military aid to Ukraine "to support the forthcoming Ukrainian offensive," the defence ministry also said yesterday.
The donation package included mine clearing vehicles, ammunition and financial support for the procurement of air defence, the Danish Ministry of Defence said in a statement.
"The equipment in the donation package is essential to pave the way for Ukrainian tanks and mechanised infantry on the front line," acting Defence Minister Troels Lund Poulsen, was quoted saying in the statement.
"The new military donation package is our largest to date, bringing the total Danish support to almost 11 billion kronor," Foreign Minister Lars Løkke Rasmussen said.
In January, Denmark pledged 19 French-made Caesar howitzers to Ukraine, including some still on order, and in April it announced that it was buying -- together with the Netherlands -- 14 Leopard 2 tanks to give to Ukraine.
Vocabulary: militær støtte –military aid
Hospital directors fired over long waiting times for cancer patients
Cancer patients at Aarhus University Hospital were recently reported to have waited considerably longer than a Health Authority standard for treatment after their diagnosis. The scandal has now cost two directors at the hospital their jobs, news wire Ritzau reports.
The decision was announced by the Central Jutland health authority in a press statement yesterday.
In March, media reported that 293 bowel cancer patients at the hospital waited longer than they should have to undergo surgery between January 2022 and February 2023. The figure has since increased to 313.
The government subsequently announced a “regeneration plan” for cancer treatment at the national level.
Vocabulary: uvildig undersøgelse – independent inquiry
READ ALSO: What exactly is wrong with the Danish health system?
Prime energy drink 'not legal' for sale in Denmark
Sales of the ‘Prime’ energy drink, made popular by social media influencers, are illegal in Denmark, the Veterinary and Food Administration has stated.
The agency has advised five different companies in the last week to cease selling the imported product, it said in a statement.
The drink can include ingredients not approved for sale in Denmark because they have not been given the relevant health approvals.
Local media TV2 Kosmopol last week quoted a police officer who said that customers “shouted and screamed and disturbed traffic” outside a store in Copenhagen where free samples of Prime were being offered.
Vocabulary: læskedrik – sports drink
Vejle wolf was not a wolf after all
In yesterday’s roundup we wrote that local residents had spotted a wolf near the harbour in Vejle, and that the sighting had been confirmed by a local nature guide.
But the identification has proved to be an error and the animal is not in fact a wolf but a dog named Max, local media TV Syd and Vejle Amts Folkeblad report.
Both media managed to track down the owner of the dog, which is a mix of Siberian husky and Alaskan malamute. Friday’s sighting was not the first case of mistaken identity in which Max has been confused for a wolf, the owner said.
Vocabulary: fejlbedømmelse – incorrect judgement
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