Today in Denmark: A roundup of the news on Thursday
Denmark joins Ukrainian mine clearing coalition, Covid and influenza cases down, high-profile politician from far-right party joins Moderates and more news from Denmark on Thursday.
Denmark confirms support for Ukraine mine clearance work
Denmark will continue to support mine clearance in Ukraine in the form of financial support along with training and material assistance, the defence ministry said in a statement this morning.
“Since the start of the invasion, Denmark has taken a large responsibility for contribution to Ukraine’s fight for independence and we will naturally continue to do this,” Defence Minister Troels Lund Poulsen, currently at a Nato summit for defence ministers in Brussels, said via the statement.
The mine clearance coalition is led by Lithuania and seeks to increase the capacity of the Ukrainian military to remove mines.
READ ALSO: Denmark's military spending now in line with Nato GDP target
Vocabulary: minerydning – mine clearance / mine sweeping
High profile far-right politician joins centrist Moderates
René Christensen, once the deputy leader of the national conservative Danish People’s Party (DF), announced yesterday he had quit DF and joined the centrist coalition partner the Moderates.
Christensen is not currently a member of parliament, having lost his mandate at the 2022 election, but was a senior DF figure having represented the party as an MP from 2008 until 2022. He was deputy leader until January last year.
The Moderates will “not be changing our immigration policies” as a result of Christensen joining, the spokesperson for the party’s parliamentary group, Henrik Frandsen, told news wire Ritzau.
The centrist party espouses “firm but fair” immigration rules and backs foreign labour and international students in Denmark. It is also firmly pro-EU, in contrast to DF, which has long been a vehement opponent of immigration and an EU sceptic.
Vocabulary: partihop – change of party / defection between political parties
Covid-19 and influenza cases in decline
This winter’s wave of respiratory infections like Covid-19 and influenza continues to dwindle, according to the latest weekly update released by the national infectious disease control agency, State Serum Institute (SSI).
The number of hospitalisations with both diseases was down last week compared to the week before.
RS virus cases are also falling, the institute said.
While there was a high incidence of all respiratory infections in December, influenza cases did not peak until late January.
Vocabulary: faldende – declining
Denmark gets wettest start to February in over 10 years
At the half-way stage in February, more rain has so far fallen in Denmark than the average for the entire month.
In the first half of the month, some 59 millimetres of rain on average have fallen nationally.
That is more that 20 percent over the monthly average of 50.3 millimetres of precipitation – a figure that applies to the month as a whole.
Detailed data on rainfall goes back to 2011 and at no time since then has more been registered in the first half of the month.
While the first half of this month suggests February 2024 is going to figure high on the all-time list of wet months of February, this is by no means certain – due to the potential for uneven distribution across the month and the high existing record.
To become the wettest February in Denmark ever, 2024 will have to outdo and incredibly wet second half of the month in 2020, which finished on 135 mm of rain for the month.
Comments
See Also
Denmark confirms support for Ukraine mine clearance work
Denmark will continue to support mine clearance in Ukraine in the form of financial support along with training and material assistance, the defence ministry said in a statement this morning.
“Since the start of the invasion, Denmark has taken a large responsibility for contribution to Ukraine’s fight for independence and we will naturally continue to do this,” Defence Minister Troels Lund Poulsen, currently at a Nato summit for defence ministers in Brussels, said via the statement.
The mine clearance coalition is led by Lithuania and seeks to increase the capacity of the Ukrainian military to remove mines.
READ ALSO: Denmark's military spending now in line with Nato GDP target
Vocabulary: minerydning – mine clearance / mine sweeping
High profile far-right politician joins centrist Moderates
René Christensen, once the deputy leader of the national conservative Danish People’s Party (DF), announced yesterday he had quit DF and joined the centrist coalition partner the Moderates.
Christensen is not currently a member of parliament, having lost his mandate at the 2022 election, but was a senior DF figure having represented the party as an MP from 2008 until 2022. He was deputy leader until January last year.
The Moderates will “not be changing our immigration policies” as a result of Christensen joining, the spokesperson for the party’s parliamentary group, Henrik Frandsen, told news wire Ritzau.
The centrist party espouses “firm but fair” immigration rules and backs foreign labour and international students in Denmark. It is also firmly pro-EU, in contrast to DF, which has long been a vehement opponent of immigration and an EU sceptic.
Vocabulary: partihop – change of party / defection between political parties
Covid-19 and influenza cases in decline
This winter’s wave of respiratory infections like Covid-19 and influenza continues to dwindle, according to the latest weekly update released by the national infectious disease control agency, State Serum Institute (SSI).
The number of hospitalisations with both diseases was down last week compared to the week before.
RS virus cases are also falling, the institute said.
While there was a high incidence of all respiratory infections in December, influenza cases did not peak until late January.
Vocabulary: faldende – declining
Denmark gets wettest start to February in over 10 years
At the half-way stage in February, more rain has so far fallen in Denmark than the average for the entire month.
In the first half of the month, some 59 millimetres of rain on average have fallen nationally.
That is more that 20 percent over the monthly average of 50.3 millimetres of precipitation – a figure that applies to the month as a whole.
Detailed data on rainfall goes back to 2011 and at no time since then has more been registered in the first half of the month.
While the first half of this month suggests February 2024 is going to figure high on the all-time list of wet months of February, this is by no means certain – due to the potential for uneven distribution across the month and the high existing record.
To become the wettest February in Denmark ever, 2024 will have to outdo and incredibly wet second half of the month in 2020, which finished on 135 mm of rain for the month.
Join the conversation in our comments section below. Share your own views and experience and if you have a question or suggestion for our journalists then email us at [email protected].
Please keep comments civil, constructive and on topic – and make sure to read our terms of use before getting involved.
Please log in here to leave a comment.