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Today in Denmark For Members

Today in Denmark: A roundup of the news on Friday

Michael Barrett
Michael Barrett - [email protected]
Today in Denmark: A roundup of the news on Friday
A parade during the Smukfest music festival on Thursday, which had climate change as a key theme. Photo: Mikkel Berg Pedersen/Ritzau Scanpix

PM Frederiksen speaks about Quran burnings, review clears union boss of breaking law and research project looks for ticks in nature areas. Here’s the news from Denmark on Friday.

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Danish public to help map tick zones 

Ticks, a small insect that can bury itself in the surface of the skin and carry a small risk of causing serious illness, are to be mapped in Denmark with the help of public contributions, news wire Ritzau reports.

Professor of molecular and medical biology Karen Angeliki Krogfelt and colleagues from Roskilde University have begun a project that will gather data on the insects using information submitted by the public.

So far, the project has received over 2,600 registrations of tick and tick bites from residents in Denmark, via the specially-purposed website flåtinfo.dk.

“It is very valuable. Ticks are spread out everywhere in nature so it’s hard for us as individuals to find out how many ticks there are in Denmark and how often you’ll encounter them,” Krogfelt.

Vocabulary: flåter – ticks

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READ ALSO: What you need to know about ticks in Denmark and how to avoid them

Union boss did not break law in harassment case: legal review

A review by lawyers for trade union confederation Fagbevægelsens Hovedorganisation (FH) has concluded that its former leader Lizette Risgaard did not break the law in three cases where complaints were lodged against her for inappropriate behaviour towards male staff.

“There was not a case of acts which were in breach of the law. But our assessment is that Lizette Risgaard as a leader with a prominent position of power displayed inappropriate behaviour in several instances,” FH acting leader Morten Skov Christiansen said at a press briefing.

The review meanwhile cleared the FH leadership of making errors in its response to the matter. Risgaard stepped down from her position when the allegations were reported by Danish newspapers in April. This week, the former leader denied abusing her power in an extended interview with media Finans.

Vocabulary: upassende adfærd – inappropriate behaviour

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PM says books should be ‘read, not burned’

Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen has spoken for the first time about the recent spate of Quran burnings in an interview with conservative broadsheet newspaper Weekendavisen.

In the interview, Frederiksen argues that burning books is not a statement, and that laws restricting it therefore do not impinge on freedom of speech.

“I don’t like it when people burn books. And until not many years ago, you couldn’t do it without consequence in Denmark,” she said in reference to a blasphemy law that was repealed in 2017.

“So there are many aspects in this, but our being in a new geopolitical reality naturally plays a part,” she said.

READ ALSO: Danish opposition parties unite against plan to restrict Quran burnings

Vocabulary: omkostningsfrit – without cost/consequence

Foreigners in Denmark targeted by phone scammers

Police have urged foreign nationals in Denmark to be on alert after a spate of phone scams targeting foreigners.

Copenhagen Police and the National Special Crime Unit (National enhed for Særlig Kriminalitet, NSK) yesterday issued a joint warning to foreign nationals in Denmark following reports phone scammers are targeting internationals.

“Criminals claiming to be from the police or other governmental authorities are now targeting foreigners living in Denmark in an attempt to persuade them to provide personal information or bank details,” NSK stated.

Such calls should be ignored, with police urging those targeted to hang up immediately.

“It is important to know that neither the police, the Ministry of Justice nor any other Danish governmental authority will ever ask for your personal information, your MitID, NemID or bank details by phone or email, just as you will never be asked to transfer money to third party bank accounts,” Copenhagen Police said.

Vocabulary: bedrageri – fraud

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