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Today in Denmark: A roundup of the news on Wednesday

Michael Barrett
Michael Barrett - [email protected]
Today in Denmark: A roundup of the news on Wednesday
South Africa's Minister of International Relations and Cooperation Naledi Pandor meets with Denmark's Foreign Minister Lars Løkke Rasmussen at the OR Tambo Building, Pretoria, South Africa March 5th, 2024. Photo: Yandisa Monakali/Reuters/Ritzau Scanpix

Danish aircraft could drop aid in Gaza, influx of smuggled psychedelic mushrooms, mink breeder found guilty under Covid-era law and more news from Denmark on Wednesday.

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Danish aircraft could drop humanitarian aid into Gaza

The government is considering using Danish aircraft to drop humanitarian aid into Gaza, Foreign Minister Lars Løkke Rasmussen said yesterday during an official visit to South Africa.

Gaza is suffering a severe shortage of food, water and medicines, with aid trucks struggling to reach the area over land.

Aircraft are “one of the options we are considering,” Rasmussen said to newspaper Jyllands-Posten.

“But we also have to be realistic and say that an air drop only has the capacity of around half a lorry,” he added.

France and the UK have already sent some aid into Gaza using the Jordanian air force, and the United States has also begun dropping aid into the territory.

Vocabulary: nødhjælp – humanitarian aid

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More psychedelic mushroom smugglers than ever before

A record number of people attempted to smuggle psychedelic mushrooms into Denmark last year, the Danish Customs Agency (Toldstyrelsen) said in a statement.

The agency caught 921 cases of persons trying to bring psilocybin or “magic” mushrooms into the country last year, more than double the 453 cases in 2022.

“We have experienced a drastic increase in the last three years in the amount of detained packages of psilocybin mushrooms,” Jeppe Kjærgaard, director of customs checks at the agency, said in the statement.

The mushrooms are mainly smuggled in the post.

“The parcels come primarily from the Netherlands, but they can come from all over the world,” the agency wrote.

Vocabulary: psykedelisk – psychedelic  

Mink breeder gets conditional sentence for breaking Covid-era ban

A mink breeder in West Jutland village Thyholm broke the law by keeping 126 minks at his home during the Covid-19 pandemic, the Vestre Landsret high court ruled yesterday, upholding a former ruling from Holstebro town court.

Denmark banned mink breeding and ordered all fur farm minks to be destroyed in late 2020 amid fears over Covid-19 mutations in the animals. The ban on the industry has since expired and a major compensation fund given to the farmers after the order to destroy the minks was found to have been issued illegally.

The breeder was given a two-month conditional sentence and his company fined 100,000 kroner for breaching the rules that were in place in December 2021.

The farmer had denied the charges, claiming the minks were not his and he had been looking after them for someone else.

Vocabulary: betinget – conditional

Cargo bike maker recalls four models

The manufacturer of the popular Babboe cargo bike has recalled four models in Denmark after safety standards authorities in the Netherlands raised concerns over the bikes.

Babboe, whose distinctive wooden box designs are distinctive on Danish bike lanes, has now recalled four separate models after suspending the sale of its products in February over the issue.

The Danish distributor of the products, Scandipartner, said in a press statement that the models "Babboe E-City", "Babboe City", "Babboe E-Mini" and "Babboe Mini" were recalled.

Some 550 of the various models have been sold in Denmark in total over the last decade, the company said.

Vocabulary: at tilbagekalde – to recall

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