Monday Morning News & Notes
COVID wave rolls across Europe. Border challenges in Finland.
🍃Environment & Energy⚡️
🇮🇸
Residents of the evacuated town of Grindavik in Iceland won’t be returning home anytime soon. The danger posed by a build-up of volcanic activity underneath the town continues to threaten a major volcanic eruption.
Director of the Icelandic Civil Defense Department Víðir Reynisso said over the weekend that it will be a long time before it is safe for residents of the town to return home. The current volcanic and seismic activity has already damaged pipes and other infrastructure even as it continues to bubble away.
“This plus uncertainty about earthquakes means that the residents of Grindavík must prepare to live elsewhere in the coming months.”
The Norwegian Meteorological Agency says it is continuing to register seismic activity underneath the town but it is seeing "fewer and smaller earthquakes as time goes on".
That is not necessarily good news as the agency notes that it is a likely indicator that magma is reaching higher in the earth’s crust signaling a probable eruption to come.
🇪🇺
European Electricity industry lobby group Eurelectric is warning that the EU electricity grid is not keeping up with the rapid pace of renewable energy expansion. It says lagging power grid upgrades are creating a bottleneck in getting more clean energy plugged into the grid..
Eurelectric Head Leonhard Birnbaum:
"In the past, we have expanded the share of renewables, basically by leveraging the reserves that we had in the existing infrastructure. In more and more regions of Europe, we've just used up the reserves. The grid is becoming more and more of a bottleneck."
The result is a growing queue of renewable energy projects waiting to plug into the network. According to Bloomberg News in Spain and Italy alone, there are more than 150 gigawatts of wind and solar capacity just sitting and waiting for a connection to the power grid.
The European Commission is due to table plans later this month to spur more investment in the power grid.
🇩🇰
60 years after it was declared extinct in Denmark a fish called hvidfinnede ferskvandsulk has been spotted in Susåen, the largest river on Sjælland. The fish were seen and identified by Danish Environmental Protection Agency staff while doing routine monitoring of the riverway.
Biologist Lasse Nyholm credits a concerted effort to bring the fish back.
“This shows that den hvidfinnede ferskvandsulk have settled in with the new natural conditions in the river, which allow them to spawn and have offspring.”
Since 2018 Næstved Kommune has been working to catch the species of fish in other parts of Scandinavia and reseed them in the river. The fish are crucial for the protection of the thick-shelled painter mussel, a protected species in Denmark, due to the symbiotic relationship between the fish and the mussel.
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Municipalities across Denmark are watching rivers rise and sewers threatening to overflow as the rain pours down again. The rainfall is just days removed from another epic downpour that saturated large swaths of the country. The problem is particularly acute on Sunday in the municipalities of Stevns, Køge, Greve, Solrød, and in Odder near Aarhus.
It has been a soaking wet fall in Denmark. It was the wettest October in 25 years and halfway through November and already an entire month’s worth of rain has come down.
All of this is a wake-up call for Denmark’s municipalities. Climate change means higher water levels and more floods.
Aalborg University Associate Professor in Sustainability and Planning Birgitte Hoffmann says it is time for the kommunes to step up and build more water-resilient communities.
“It is largely the municipalities that have to come in and plan this. They must do this in cooperation. And then the citizens and the property owners also have to get involved, because we have to handle the rainwater on our own land. And it is also very important that we get some legislation to back all this up. It is very clear that climate change is affecting Denmark. Over the past 100 years, our landscape has changed, and the establishment of cities has made us extra vulnerable to the increased amounts of rain. That's the bad side of it. The good side is that over the last 10 to 15 years we have developed some approaches in Denmark, where we have learned how to make room for the water.”
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It has been a month since Denmark’s eastern coast was hit with historic flooding and some fairly serious issues still remain. Vordingborg Kommune has now confirmed that some kind of heating oil or diesel fuel was caught up in the flood waters and has contaminated at least 16 homes that were flooded in the town of Præstø. The Kommune commissioned professional inspections after residents complained of smells and in some cases experienced nausea. Testing found benzene and hydrocarbons inside the homes in excess of acceptable health limits. The Kommune is now working to assess how large an area has been impacted.
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The historic flooding event may be the most expensive of such in Denmark. The Danish Natural Damages Council has received about 3,000 claims for flood damages, slightly exceeding the previous record number of claims made after 2013’s Storm Bodil. With a final figure still yet yet to be determined the cost for the claims so far has already exceeded a billion kroner. The majority of the claims are for damaged buildings and over half of those are summer homes.
The council has a pool of about 1.3 billion Danish kroner for compensation while the Danish state also guarantees another 200 million kroner to cover damages.
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The Danish government is working on legislation to ban the use of pesticides near wells used to supply fresh water. The government is taking the step after the failure of a volunteer initiative saw agreements reached to protect barely 10% of freshwater wells around the country over the last five years. The issue at hand is the risk of pesticides seeping into the groundwater. However, the earliest the government can enforce a pesticide ban near fresh water wells is in January 2025.
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Danish energy giant Ørsted continues to watch its stock take a beating. The company has torpedoed another big project this time pulling the plug on a large electrolysis plant in Germany saying that it is no longer a profitable venture. This comes after Ørsted also axed two major offshore wind projects in the United States as the company looks to cut its losses.
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Drilling work begins today (Monday) on a project near Aarhus that when completed will become the largest geothermal plant in the European Union.
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Rising interest rates in the United States are spelling trouble for a planned clean green ‘Power to X’ plant near Holstebro in Denmark. One of the project’s major backers is an American company called Plug Power and its finances are under increasing strain due to increasing interest rates back in the U.S., which has caused its stock value to plummet. That in turn is causing “severe financial problems” for the planned Holstebro plant.
‘Power to X’ plants convert electricity produced by green energy sources like wind and solar to hydrogen for storage. The green hydrogen can then be converted back to electricity on demand.
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Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen will lobby wealthier countries to increase financial support for poorer nations in order to fight climate change when she attends the COP28 summit at the end of the month.
The Prime Minister spoke to Ritzau:
“Denmark will push to ensure social balance in the global climate effort. The rich countries must deliver. It is an important piece in securing support for increased global climate ambitions.”
Frederiksen will also lobby for a tripling of global renewable energy production by 2030. The COP28 climate summit is hosted by the United Arab Emirates beginning November 30.
🇸🇪
The Swedish government has decided it is going to lean hard on nuclear power to lock down energy security in the not-to-distant future. A majority of the Swedish parliament has agreed on a nuclear power roadmap, which would see two large-scale reactors producing 2,500 megawatts of power to be built and online by 2035 at the latest. After that, they want to see 10 new nuclear reactors built and online within the following ten years.
However, the ambitious plan will require billions of Swedish kroner in funding and it also hangs on generating serious interest from deep-pocketed energy companies. To that end, the Swedish government is developing a risk-sharing model for interested energy utilities.
🦠COVID🦠
🇪🇺
The European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control has ended its weekly country-by-country COVID assessment in favour of a broader report that includes other respiratory infections of note.
The ECDC says as a whole respiratory infections, driven largely by coronavirus, were increasing across many European countries. Aside from COVID the Agency notes that the winter RS virus infection wave seems to be arriving. RS virus cases have been “increasing rapidly” resulting in increasing amounts of children under the age of 4 being admitted to hospital. While the flu season has yet to really get underway although influenza infections are rising in some countries.
COVID infections were pushing upward in Croatia and Germany while Belgium, Ireland, Malta, and Spain saw infection activity ease.
The pooled EU positivity percentage for COVID is 14%, and it continues to trend upward.
We know very little about variant activity across Europe due to a lack of adequate testing, however, the ECDC says the XBB.1.5 remains dominant but appears to have peaked with BA.2.86 seeing growth.
🇩🇰
A new recombinant coronavirus strain combining traits of the EG.5.1.1 and JN.1 variants has been identified in three different countries including two positive tests in Denmark. The new variant has been titled XDD.
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Since the disappearance of COVID restrictions and the return to ‘normal’ the fall and winter months have become a storm of not just coronavirus but other respiratory infections all swirling around. According to the Statens Serum Institute, it looks like it will be a case of deja vu this winter.
Senior Physician Bolette Søgaard spoke to DR:
“It is autumn, and infection numbers are increasing. It does this every year, and it is probably because we are spending more time inside because there we infect each other more easily. What is surprising right now is that there are so many diseases that are increasing at once.”
The SSI says at the moment it is not a story of just rising COVID infections but rather one of many respiratory infections swirling around. The institute says that coronavirus cases have been increasing for seven straight weeks, a whooping cough epidemic is still ongoing, influenza cases have doubled in the last two weeks, and RS Virus infections are beginning to increase. On top of all of that, there are a lot of mycoplasma cases, a type of pneumonia, with those infection numbers still mounting.
The institute says there were 340 whooping cough infections in the first week of November alone, with the virus still seeing “strongly increasing growth.” Whooping cough is especially dangerous for infants and in some cases can be fatal.
Søborg says after two years during the pandemic with virtually no whooping cough infections, people are more susceptible, especially young children.
“We have had a lot of people who have not been exposed to whooping cough for a long time, and that results in a bigger infection wave now. We have also seen this with some other diseases. When we reopened society, there are some viruses that became much more widespread than what we have been used to in the past.”
The SSI says in the last two weeks there has been “a significant increase” in RS virus infections, which also poses a heightened risk for young children. In the second week of November alone, there were 225 confirmed RS virus infections. Last winter, the virus was responsible for a massive number of infants being hospitalized. Even now hospitals across Denmark are preparing for a big increase in young children being admitted.
The SSI is urging those eligible who haven’t yet had a COVID booster and/or a flu shot to go and get one as soon as possible. For everyone else, the institute recommends people take every precaution they can including keeping kids away from people with cold and flu symptoms, avoiding large indoor crowds, and washing their hands as diligently as possible.
🇸🇪
The Swedish Public Health Agency says COVID infection numbers are rising fast. It says the number of confirmed infections, which is very underreported due to a lack of testing, is increasing between 30% and 50% each week and has been doing so for the last month. The agency says influenza cases are also rising “although the number is still at a low level.”
Infection-related hospital admissions continue to rocket upward and have reached admissions levels not seen in Sweden since last winter. The health agency says COVID deaths are also increasing slightly.
State Epidemiologist Magnus Gisslén is urging people who are eligible for a COVID booster and an influenza vaccination to go get one as soon as possible.
“The best way to protect yourself against serious illness and death as a result of both COVID and influenza is to get vaccinated. We really want to encourage people who are recommended for vaccination to accept the offer. Those who are over 65 or belong to another risk group need to update their protection so it is good throughout the winter period when viruses are spreading the most.”
Sweden began its fall and winter vaccination campaign on November 1. Two weeks in and 25% of seniors over 80 have been vaccinated, while 19% of those 65 to 79 years old have also been inoculated.
“What we see is that the fall vaccination efforts are really underway in the regions. It is gratifying that so many people have already chosen to update their vaccine coverage, and it is important that work is done to reach everyone who is recommended to get a vaccine. For the high-risk groups, it is important to update their protection so that as few as possible become seriously ill.”
In Sweden, seniors over 65, pregnant women, and people over 18 who are in a high-risk or vulnerable population are eligible to get a COVID booster dose and a flu shot. Children over six months old who are in a high-risk group, people living with those who are immunocompromised, and healthcare workers can also get an influenza vaccination.
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COVID wastewater testing in Sweden is returning results, in some places, not seen since the arrival of the hyper-infectious Omicron variant at the end of 2021. Despite the wastewater results, rising infection numbers, and soaring hospitalizations, Sweden’s State Epidemiologist Magnus Gisslén tells Radio Sweden that it is a different game now and one that people shouldn’t worry about the way they did in the first two years of the pandemic.
“I think it's important to remember that the situation now is very different from a few years ago because now the immunity in the population is so much better. Because we have had vaccinations and just about everyone has had the infection at least once. So most of the people have good immunity and the risk of severe infection with hospitalization and death is very low unless you have underlying health conditions that increase your risk. So the consequences are much less severe than they were before.”
Gisslén says infection waves will continue to roll in but they won’t see the towering numbers of cases, hospitalizations, and fatalities that occurred at the height of the pandemic. He even downplayed the importance of testing, which runs contrary to WHO pleas urging more testing not less, saying that respiratory infection symptoms are so similar to COVID now and the recommendations are the same so the public interest in testing has vastly diminished.
That all said, Gisslén did caution that there is no telling how coronavirus might evolve in the future so we should remain wary.
🇩🇪
COVID numbers are rocketing upward in Germany. In its latest weekly report, the Robert Koch Institute says coronavirus cases have been rising since July. In the last five weeks, the institute has confirmed 95,547 COVID cases, there were 21,764 last week alone. Hospital admissions are also increasing with roughly a third of those infected ending up in hospital for treatment. As of November 14, there were 6,114 infected people receiving hospital care. In the last five weeks over 30,000 people across Germany have tested positive and been admitted to hospital for treatment.
In the last month, Germany has lost another 983 lives to the virus with 97% of those fatalities being seniors over the age of 60. To look at it another way, in the last five weeks in Germany about one out of every 100 people who became infected has died.
Germany is seeing a handful of COVID variants vying for dominance. In the mix are EG.5.1.3, HV.1, EG.5.1.1, and EG.5.1.3.
🇦🇹
More signs of the big COVID wave rolling over Europe right now. COVID wastewater surveillance results in Austria are showing coronavirus activity matching previous all-time highs.
🇺🇦/ 🇷🇺 War
🇫🇮/ 🇷🇺
As of midnight on Friday this past weekend, Finland closed its southeastern border with Russia. In all, Four border crossings were closed and the crossings were barricaded. The closure was ordered by the Finnish government in response to Russia weaponizing illegal immigration and helping undocumented immigrants to the Finnish border in increasing numbers. On Friday alone more than 220 migrants arrived at the southeastern border crossings before they were shut down.
Since then, the Finnish Border Guard has said that two immigrants forced their way through the border barriers at one of the now-closed crossings into Finland. But after a day of relative calm, it didn’t take long for the problem to simply transition to the next available open border crossing into Finland.
Finnish Border Guard Head of International Affairs Matti Pitkäniitty said on Sunday the Vartius border crossing had to be temporarily closed as the first trickle of illegal immigrants began to arrive. They abandoned their bicycles, the transportation option of choice on the Russian side, and made for the Finnish border snarling traffic behind them.
“Today 19 asylum seekers arrived at Vartius BCP. Heavy traffic and jams, partially due to bicycles left at the border. Traffic at the Vartius border crossing point has been temporarily stopped. Bicycles left on the border hinder traffic. Finnish authorities cannot go into Russia to remove the bikes. Other districts are calmer.”
Picture courtesy of the Finnish Border Guard/ Twitter
Vartius Border Station Director Jouko Kinnunen told Yle that Russian authorities were “actively and systematically” bringing migrants to the border and in cases forcing them across and closing the gates behind them so they couldn’t return to Russia. Kinnunen said that there were indications that some people had even been forced to cross the border against their will.
🇫🇮 🇺🇦
Finland will send its 20th weapons package to Ukraine. The Ministry of Defense made the announcement on Friday. As is the Finnish custom it did not reveal any details of what was in the shipment or when it might arrive in Ukraine.
Minister of Defence Antti Häkkänen:
“What is at stake in Ukraine's struggle is the security environment outlook across Europe and in Finland for the current decade. Together with our allies, we remain unwavering in our commitment to support Ukrainians.”
This latest weapons package is valued at around €100 million pushing Finland’s total support for Ukraine to €1.5 billion since the war began.
🇪🇺🇺🇸/ 🇷🇺
The European Union proposing to ban the sale of tankers used to transport crude oil and other gas products to Russia according to a report from Reuters. Moscow has amassed a large shadow fleet of tankers it is using to bypass sanctions on its oil and gas industry. The European Union is now hunting for ways to kneecap Russia’s end run around sanctions and cripple its oil exports. The proposal also includes putting clauses on the sale of tankers to third countries stipulating the vessels cannot be re-sold to Russia or used to carry Russian crude oil products.
"The price cap mechanism relies on an attestation process that enables operators in the supply chain of sea-borne Russian oil to demonstrate that it has been purchased at or below the price cap," the Commission proposal, seen by Reuters, said."To further support the implementation of, and compliance with, this mechanism while increasing barriers to falsification of attestations, (the proposal) introduces a requirement for attestations to also include itemized ancillary costs, such as insurance and freight.”
The EU is not alone, the United States is also making moves to try and enforce the cap on Russian oil and gas. The U.S. has imposed sanctions on marine companies that have shipped Russian oil sold above the G7’s price cap. The U.S. Treasury Department said it has levied sanctions on three United Arab Emirates-based companies and three vessels owned by them for helping Russia skirt sanctions on its oil.
Earlier this year the G7 and the EU jointly called Russian oil sales at $60 a barrel. Thanks to its shadow fleet, reorienting its oil sales to non-sanctioning countries, and a surge in global oil sales, Russian oil has been selling above the cap price for most of the year.
🇩🇰/ 🇷🇺
Russian authorities have arrested two senior employees of Baltika Breweries, a Russian subsidiary of Danish beer giant Carlsberg, and accused them of ‘massive fraud.’ This is the latest development after Carlsberg, like many Western companies, cut ties with its Russian business over the invasion of Ukraine. They had a deal to sell Baltika but then Russian President Vladimir Putin seized and nationalized the brewery while trying to strong-arm Carlsberg into signing off on the move. Instead, the beer maker accused Russia of stealing their business and pursued its legal options. Carlsberg had eight breweries and over 8,000 employees in Russia.
This latest development drew the ire of Denmark’s Minister of Foreign Affairs Lars Løkke Rasmussen who said the move was “unacceptable” telling DR that he has expressed that unequivocally to the Russian Ambassador. The ambassador in turn has accused Denmark of interfering in internal Russian legal matters.
🇳🇱 🇺🇦
The Netherlands will table another €2.2 billion for military aid to Ukraine next year. That will push the total amount of Dutch military aid to Ukraine to a total, of €7.5 billion since the war began. The country has prioritized air defense, ammunition supply, and a leadership role in the F-16 training program for Ukrainian pilots.
🇵🇱/ 🇺🇦
The protest by Polish truckers that has blocked border crossings to Ukraine is still ongoing almost two weeks after it started. About 3,000 trucks, most of those with Ukrainian drivers, remain stranded on the Polish side of the border. Ukrainian Deputy Prime Minister Oleksandr Kubrakov says those truckers have limited amounts of food, water, and fuel and their situation is getting dire. Truckers in Poland believe they are being undercut by cheaper Ukrainian transport drivers who have an exemption to cross back and forth across the border with virtually no restrictions.
🇩🇰The Week Ahead Round Up🇩🇰
Monday, November 20:
Denmark’s national men’s football team will take on Northern Ireland in an EURO 2024 qualifying match.
The game will be played in Belfast. It begins at 8:45 p.m.
Wednesday, November 22:
The world’s oldest amusement park opens for its Christmas season. Bakken will be all Christmas all the time from now until December 22. The park’s crooked streets will be transformed into one long Christmas market with all sorts of holiday products, goodies, food, and drinks. You can also grab a classic Danish Christmas lunch at one of the park’s cafes and restaurants or just enjoy the rides.
The park is located at Dyrehavevej 62, 2930 Klampenborg.
Its website is HERE.
Thursday, November 23:
The iconic Danish restaurant Noma celebrates its 20th anniversary today. Noma has earned three Michelin stars and has been named the best restaurant in the world on four different occasions. It is credited with launching the Nordic gastronomic wave and putting Copenhagen on the foodie map.
Unless you made a reservation in 2015 you won’t be able to get a table tonight to mark the occasion.
Friday, November 24:
The delightful gågade in Aarhus will be all about Black Friday this week. It will be a shopping frenzy as stores stay open to 10 p.m. under the canopy of bright Christmas lights.
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The Aarhus Christmas Market opens today. You can find it at the atmospheric and beautifully decorated "Ridehuset" Equestrian Hall. There will be over 85 vendor stalls with all sorts of Christmas crafts, good food, and warm drinks.
The market will be open until December 15.
You find it at Ridehuset, Vester Allé 1, 8000 Aarhus C
And there is more information HERE.
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Odense Zoo reopens for its Christmas season today. Friday night at 4 p.m. the Christmas lights, all 33 kilometers of them, will officially be turned on to kick off the Christmas season. The park will be packed with holiday hygge including events like the advent wreath championships or you can build a fairytale gingerbread house. All that, the animals, and lots more.
The zoo is located at Sdr. Boulevard 306, 5000 Odense C
You can find all the details of their Christmas events HERE.
Saturday, November 25:
Dragør, an easy day trip from Copenhagen, opens its annual Christmas market this weekend. Stalls with all sorts of festive things for sale not to mention a bevy of tasty Christmas goodies will all line the town’s picturesque streets.
The market will be open between noon and 5 p.m. every weekend until December 17.
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Storms Pakhus in Odense will open its annual Christmas market. The two-day event takes place in Odense’s premier street food venue. The pakhuset will still have all of its various delicious food stalls but with the added delight of Christmas decorations, lights, drinks, and treats, along with around 40 stalls selling a variety of Christmas crafts and other seasonal items.
Storms Pakhus is located right in the middle between Odense Railway Station and Odense Harbour.
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The largest Christmas market in Fyn opens again on Saturday at Egeskov Slot (Castle). The market features a whopping 110 market stalls offering everything from Christmas crafts to delicious eats and finely brewed beer. The castle and surrounding grounds will be decked out for the season with lots of food, drink, and fun to be had.
There will also be various entertainment throughout the day along with Christmas carols and even a children’s treasure hunt.
The Christmas market opens at 10 a.m. and goes to 4:30 p.m. on both Saturday and Sunday.
There is a 110 Danish kroner entrance fee for adults while kids get in for 60 dkk.
Find out more information and each day’s itinerary HERE.
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If you are in Denmark you almost have to experience a Viking Christmas and there is no better place than the Iron Age Village in Odense. Travel back in time and learn about the pagan history behind the Christmas we know today. Enjoy mead tasting, and nature walks, and get creative in the many small workshops
Here is the address - Store Klaus 40, 5270 Odense N
And here is the website —> WEB