The Evening Report - April 18
Climate goals easier promised than delivered. WHO’s bird flu concerns increase.
🍃Environment & Energy⚡️
🇩🇰
Don’t put away that winter jacket just yet. The Danish Meteorological Institute says a cold air front is arriving from the north. It will put a damper on warm spring weather and could drive temperatures, at least overnight, back below freezing in some areas of the country. There is even the possibility of hail or sleet in spots this weekend. Sunday night may be particularly cold.
Daytime highs will hover between 8 and 11 degrees and frost is again a risk overnight. Southern Denmark will get more rain to start the weekend, which may help stave off frosty nights.
🇸🇪 ❄️
Sweden’s spring dreams have been broken. The Swedish Weather Agency (SMHI) has forecast freezing temperatures and issued a yellow weather alert due to rain and snow predicted to begin to arrive today. The snow alert extends to central Svealand and Götaland, around Lake Vättern, south of Örebro, western Östergötland, parts of Jönköping County, as well as parts of Kalmar. The agency is forecasting heavy snow flurries with about five to 10 centimeters hitting the ground.
Over the next few days and through the weekend expect colder weather over most of Sweden with temperatures falling below freezing at night.
🇦🇹
Wild weather swing in Austria. On Sunday the town of Villach recorded its hottest April day ever when temperatures soared over 30 degrees. Then just 48 hours later there was snow, and at times a lot of it at that.
Meteorologist Scott Duncan:
“It is not uncommon to get large swings in temperature in April but this is top-end extreme. An impressive season flip in just 48 hours.”
🇦🇪
Dubai experienced something this week that it was totally unprepared for, severe flooding. The desert city had two years worth of rainfall over the course of a single day. With no pumps, no proper drainage systems, and a sewer built without severe flooding in mind the city was woefully unable to deal with the downpour and floodwaters. City streets and even the Dubai airport were underwater on Wednesday meaning that even if people were able to navigate the streets turned rivers to get to the airport all flights in and out were cancelled.
🇩🇰
The Danish government’s carbon storage hopes have taken a big hit. Tenders were issued for biogas companies to bid on storing 500,000 tonnes of CO2 annually. However, interest has fallen well short of expectations with just a few companies taking part. Between them, they will only store 160,350 tonnes of CO2 per year, roughly a third of the targeted amount.
Government Expert Advisory Chair Peter Møllgaard told DR that this is a pretty disappointing outcome.
“It has turned out to be a worse result and more expensive than expected. CO2 capture and storage is a very important means of achieving the 2030 [climate] target of a 70 percent reduction in emissions, so it is a setback for a climate policy that has really not succeeded to a great extent.”
Climate and Energy Minister Lars Aagaard concedes that the government has been overly optimistic about its CO2 storage hopes. He says that another round of tenders is coming and this time they will be open to other companies and not just targeted at the biogas industry.
🇸🇪
The Swedish city of Helsingborg has pledged to be carbon neutral by 2030 but key to its climate pledge is having a carbon capture and storage facility. The hope is to have the facility built by 2027 in the same area where a garbage incinerator currently produces electricity and heat for the city. However, an investigation by Swedish national broadcaster SVT has concluded there are some major challenges in the city’s plan.
First is the prohibitive cost of building and operating such a facility.
Chalmers Energy Technologies Professor Tobias Mattisson:
“Without government support, it will likely be a pure loss business.”
According to Öresundskraft, Helsingborg’s publicly owned energy company, at least 20 other players across the country are also seeking government funding for similar projects. It says even if the government steps up with funding it will already be spread too thin for everyone.
Another huge problem is finding suitable places to put all the captured carbon. Öresundskraft is hoping to pump it into the bedrock under one of the countries neighbouring Sweden. Currently, they are investigating the possibility of storing carbon in Denmark.
Linköping University Environmental Change Assistant Professor Anders Hansson:
“The storage site aspect is by far the most difficult part to solve.”
Lastly, carbon capture and storage is a fledgling industry and it lacks a complete large-scale value chain from capture, to transport, and storage.
Öresundskraft Commercial Director Soraya Axelsson:
“The technology is there, it is possible to transport carbon dioxide and there is a lot of knowledge about how to actually store carbon dioxide. But getting it together into a complete value chain, that's probably the biggest challenge.”
🌎
As the world’s oceans continue to see record-high heat waves many of the planet’s coral reefs have gone from sporting all colours of the spectrum to becoming ghostly white. According to the U.S. National Ocean and Atmospheric Administration in the last year alone 54 countries and territories have reported mass bleaching of their coral reefs due to warming ocean waters. The NOAA calls it a “global mass bleaching event” spanning the Atlantic, Pacific, and Indian Oceans.
Coral bleaching is triggered by irregularities in the ocean water, which causes the coral to expel the colourful algae that live in its tissue. Without those algae, the corals cannot survive.
🇩🇰
Oxygen depletion is pushing the marine ecosystem to the brink in the Baltic Sea. The extraordinarily wet winter has helped wash phosphorus from city sewers and nitrogen from agricultural manure into the sea. Both have contributed to already critical levels of oxygen depletion in Baltic waters.
Staff from the University of Denmark’s National Institute of Aquatic Resources have been out assessing the situation on their marine research vessel and they have returned with grim news.
DTU-AQUA Section Head Marie Storr-Paulsen says they found huge sections of the Baltic where there was absolutely no oxygen along the sea floor. She says Baltic cod stocks, which feed on the sea bottom, are in rough shape.
“Unfortunately, things are not going well with the stock of cod in the Baltic Sea. They are very small and thin, and there are much fewer of them than we have seen before.”
Oxygen depletion occurs when nutrients like phosphorus and nitrogen wash into waterways feeding algae, which bloom and die. The dead algae drift to the sea bottom and decompose and that process consumes oxygen. The more algae, the worse the problem becomes. To make matters worse heat enhances the process.
Storr-Paulsen says storm activity has helped push oxygen into Baltic waters but not in near high enough quantities to even remotely address the overall crisis. She says a concerted long-term international effort is needed to save the Baltic Sea.
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The Danish government has reached a green agreement that will see huge amounts of money going to a range of environmental challenges including the planting of forests, climate protection, and the safeguarding of drinking water.
Here are some of the highlights:
1.2 billion Danish kroner over six years is earmarked for climate adaptation projects like building dykes and other flood mitigation efforts. Some of the money will also go to a funding pool that municipalities can apply for.
550 million Danish kroner will go to cleaning up the sins of the past namely old factories and other facilities that have left behind a toxic legacy, like PFAS pollution.
200 million kroner will go to, among other things, buying and protecting land around vital sources of drinking water.
705 million Danish kroner will go, at least in part, to expanding district heating in order to get people off of gas boilers. This is one of the key planks in the Danish government’s plan to reach carbon neutrality. The one caveat is this funding is front-end loaded and next year it will be reduced by half.
Tax on diesel will increase by 50 øre (Danish cents). That puts Denmark somewhere between Sweden (lower) and Germany (higher) for taxing diesel. That is the stick. The carrot is 150 million Danish kroner over the next two years for temporary reductions in additional taxes that diesel vehicle owners face. About 700,000 people in Denmark own a diesel vehicle. The government is hoping that between the stick and the carrot a good chunk of them will switch to electric.
Farmers will get some compensation for climate agreements that require things like dairy farmers having to use special feed additives. The clincher to get broad party support for this compensation is that it is tied to the eventual introduction of a carbon tax on agricultural emissions.
Funding has also been dedicated for a marine nature fund.
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The Danish parliament has adopted legislation protecting marine environments. Among the newly adopted actions are a ban on heavy oil in Danish arctic waters, protection of coastal ecosystems from oil, and a mandate that the scrapping of old ships be done in an environmentally sound way.
Danish Environment Minister Magnus Heunicke says the resolution passed with unanimous support from parliament.
“We continue our efforts for our heavily pressured water environments in groundwater, lakes, streams, fjords, and out at sea.”
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It was a lake then it was farmland and now it will become a lake again. 120 million Danish kroner (about $23.6 million Cdn) is being spent on a massive nature restoration project on the northern tip of Sjælland. This week excavators began the work of restoring Søborg Sø (lake), which was once one of Sjælland’s largest. The work will take two years and once finished the lake will be surrounded by a nature area of about 300 hectares in size
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A herd of Scottish cows has been helping to restore a wetland in Northern Sjælland in Denmark. For 15 years the Galloway cattle have been a part of a biodiversity project at Klevads Mose.
Danish Nature Agency Special Consultant Charlotte Mølgaard:
“The cows go and eat, fart, and shit, and this provides a buffet of different living options for insects and flowers.”
The project has been so successful that the cow’s grazing area will be doubled from 15 to 30 hectares with the hope of attracting more animal species and rare plants to rediscover the bog.
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Salmon fishing season kicked off this week in Denmark. You have to go to the rivers of Western Jutland to try your luck though and even then you probably won’t get any bites. The National Institute of Aquatic Resources (AQUA) notes that the number of salmon caught by anglers last year was the lowest number ever recorded. This is despite the fact that the overall number of salmon has been increasing for the last ten years. The institute blames the torrential rains over the winter, which have caused a lot of sediment to flow into the creeks and waterways. Salmon lay their eggs on the bottom of rivers and streams and if those eggs are then covered by sediment it will wipe out the salmon fry.
This year fishermen are only allowed to catch one salmon per waterway. Take more than that and you could face a fine of up to 2,500 Danish kroner (about $490 Cdn).
🇪🇺
The latest EU barometer poll to be released before this year’s parliamentary elections shows that across the European Union, the two biggest issues for voters are security and defense. However, that is not the case in Sweden where climate change is the top concern.
In Denmark, security was by far the top issue with climate change coming in second.
For voters in Finland, defense and security were also the biggest issues while the future of Europe came in second.
🇩🇰
The tallest onshore wind turbine in the world is being put up at the port in Thyborøn on the west coast of Jutland. The main tower has now been installed by Vestas. Once up and running the 15 MegaWatt wind turbine will stand an impressive 266 meters high, for comparison that is taller than the pylons on the Storebæltsbroen (Big Belt Bridge) connecting Fyn and Sjælland.
🇩🇪🇪🇺
Germany's Federal Parliament, the Bundestag, has given the green light to a monumental €20 billion energy law designed to finance the creation of a national Hydrogen Grid. Berlin's energy initiative is one of the most ambitious in the EU. This massive undertaking is projected to span over two decades and aims to transition the more stubborn sectors like steel, aviation, and maritime industries away from fossil fuels.
Germany's commitment to the energy transition has been further intensified by its vulnerability to disruptions in Russian gas supplies. The nation aims to be climate-neutral by 2045, surpassing the EU Green Deal goal by five years. Additionally, Berlin targets that at least 80% of its electricity consumption will come from renewable sources by 2030. The Hydrogen Core Grid, stretching over 9,700 km, is deemed essential for decarbonizing the remaining sectors of the economy. With the financing secured, Vice-Chancellor and Energy Minister Robert Habeck stated that construction could commence soon.
To facilitate the Hydrogen Core Grid's development, Berlin plans to support the initiative by covering grid fees until 2055, with a rollout expected by 2025 for all operators. Operators will levy grid fees on customers, but the German government intends to intervene, capping these fees to ensure they remain competitive. This approach aims to foster a globally competitive German industry while simultaneously expanding the grid.
The European Union has recently recognized the significance of green electricity and gases in transitioning from gas to hydrogen. A new EU entity, ENNOH, will oversee the construction of the H2 network. However, uncertainties remain, with the Bavarian industry lobby highlighting the need for clearer plans regarding hydrogen production, imports, and utilization to instill confidence among investors.
🦠Outbreaks🦠
🌎
The World Health Organization is calling the unprecedented spread of avian flu a “huge concern”. The latest bird flu outbreak has swept across the globe astonishing epidemiologists and health experts by reaching even penguin colonies in the remote Antarctic. It has even jumped to dairy cattle, and in one instance a cat, for the first time ever.
WHO Chief Researcher Jeremy Farrar emphasizes that the biggest concern is if the virus adapts to, and becomes able to spread between, humans. So far there is no evidence that is the case however, since 2003 in cases where there has been direct contact between a person and an infected animal, there have been 889 people confirmed infected with the avian flu. Of those, there have been 463 deaths.
🇩🇰
After a number of avian flu outbreaks this year led to the culling of farmed birds at farms across Denmark, the Danish Veterinary and Food Administration now deems the bird flu risk to be substantially lower. The agency says that farmed chickens, geese, ducks, and turkeys can once again be allowed outdoors. Organic and free-range farmed fowl have been locked inside for almost four months now due to avian flu worries.
The administration says that with most bird migrations, which pose the biggest avian flu threat, having now left Denmark the bird flu risk has been lowered from high to medium.
🇩🇰
COVID activity, as measured by wastewater surveillance, crept upward last week (blue line) while hospitalizations dipped (green line). The Statens Serum Institute continues to assess that virus spread is still at “a low level”. However, the agency also continues to add the caveat that its calculations continue to be increasingly uncertain due to an almost overall absence of testing and surveillance.
Respiratory infection-related hospitalizations from the big three, influenza, coronavirus, and the RS virus, continue to fall and are now approaching rock bottom.
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The Danish Board of Appeals has ruled in favour of Region Midtjylland in a complaint about how it purchased COVID rapid tests for the entire country at the height of the pandemic without putting it to tender.
The Board ruled that in an emergency situation like the pandemic, the region was entitled to make quick decisions that were of significant national benefit. The rapid tests were used by schools, hospitals, care homes, and others. It also noted the region purchased to a "strictly necessary extent" at a time when the global market for such testing products was under massive pressure.
Region Koncerndirektør Anders Kjærulff:
“The ruling is an important recognition of our efforts to ensure efficient and responsible procurement. Even under extraordinary circumstances such as a pandemic, where we were forced to make quick decisions to protect citizens, employees and the entire healthcare system.“
🇸🇪
In Sweden, COVID hospitalizations (59) continue to call (-12) while the number of infection cases needing intensive care (2) crept upward slightly (+1).
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Sweden is eighteen days into its spring COVID booster dose campaign and according to the Swedish Public Health Agency, uptake has so far been underwhelming. Nationally, about 30% of vulnerable seniors over the age of 80 have bothered to get another top-up dose.
State Epidemiologist Magnus Gisslén says the health authorities and the different regions need to do a better job at making sure those most at risk get the jab.
“We really want to emphasize the benefit of taking the COVID vaccine dose that is being offered this spring. Those who took last year's booster dose were found to have a markedly lower risk of ending up in hospital during the late summer and autumn infection wave. Through vaccination, we cannot only reduce human suffering but also relieve the burden on healthcare systems.”
In Sweden, all seniors over 80 and every senior in care over 65 can get another dose of the COVID vaccine. The Swedish Public Health Agency says vulnerable seniors need a top-up dose twice a year to ensure they are protected as much as possible against severe infections resulting in hospitalization or death.
While national vaccination numbers are lacking, inoculation rates at the regional level vary. The agency says some regions have close to 50% uptake while others have less than 10%.
🇳🇴
The Norwegian Institute of Public Health is warning that a whooping cough outbreak may be underway across the country. The positivity percentage for pertussis (whooping cough) has increased steadily in the last few weeks and now sits at 2.1%. Last month, Norway saw 328 whooping cough infections, the most in any month since 2012. There have already been 193 cases so far this month. Young kids five to 14 years old are being hit the hardest.
“It is uncertain whether more testing can explain some of the increase, but it cannot be ruled out that it is the start of an outbreak of whooping cough. A few more weeks of observations are needed to rule out random variations in the number of reported cases per month.”
Other than that all is fairly quiet on the respiratory virus front in Norway. The NIPH says this year’s flu season is over, RS virus infections have bottomed out, and there is very little COVID activity.
Last week, there were 57 flu-related hospitalizations, a number that has been steadily declining since the end of February.
COVID hospitalizations have stabilized according to the institute. There were 35 admissions last week, five more than the week previous. There haven’t been any new ICU patients in the last two weeks.
🇨🇦
The Public Health Agency of Canada still has not updated COVID hospital statistics since March 26. It hasn’t provided a new update for two weeks now.
🇺🇦Ukraine/ Russia🇷🇺
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has officially signed off on an expanded conscription law that widens the age range for men to serve in the military and also removes any limits on how long a soldier is enlisted for. It also requires all men of combat age to provide authorities with information about themselves as well as toughening punishments on draft dodgers.
Ukraine is desperately trying to refresh and increase its army as Russia continues its renewed assaults and ammunition donations from the West run extremely low.
🇩🇰🇺🇦
Weapons package number 17 is on its way from Denmark to Ukraine. The Danish government announced this week that it is allocating 2.2 billion Danish kroner (about $432 million Cdn) for the purchase and donation of weapons, ammunition, drones, the production of missile components, and a “significant maritime donation”.
Foreign Affairs Minister Lars Løkke Rasmussen:
“The situation in Ukraine is critical. The Western countries will have to increase the support so that Ukraine can stand up to Russian pressure. With the new package, we are giving Ukraine more of the military support they need here and now. At the same time, we create the opportunity to invest directly. It is a new initiative which can hopefully inspire other countries to do the same so that Ukraine itself can be able to produce more of the military equipment they so badly need.”
Denmark will work with allies like the Netherlands and the Czech Republic to facilitate the procurement and donations of weapons and ammunition. In essence, the monies will be transferred to those governments who will then use them to buy what is needed and then get it into Ukrainian hands.
The money comes from a special Ukraine fund set up by the Danish government. It says there is about 23.1 billion kroner still left in the fund to finance future donations.
🇩🇰🇳🇱🇨🇿🇩🇪 🇺🇦
European nations are stepping up efforts to donate more air defense systems to Ukraine. Among them, Denmark, the Netherlands, and the Czech Republic, are working together in a coalition to ramp up ammunition production and donations to Ukraine. They will now expand their efforts to include air defense batteries and missiles.
Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen:
“We know that there are [air defense] systems in Europe. Some of them must be delivered to Ukraine.”
German donated another Patriot air defense system to Ukraine in the last week and German Chancellor Olaf Scholz has been busy this week urging allies to follow suit as his country leads a new air defense initiative. Germany is telling allies that air defense systems need to be “immediately” delivered to Ukraine.
For its part, Ukraine is pleading for at least another 30 patriot air defense batteries and more air defense missiles as Russia rains down drones and cruise missiles destroying critical infrastructure.
🇩🇪/ 🇷🇺
German police have arrested two German-Russian dual citizens suspected of what police are calling a “military sabotage plot”. The two are accused of planning to carry out attacks on military and industrial sites using explosives and arson tactics. One of the alleged targets may have been a U.S. military base. Germany’s Federal Prosecutor’s Office also alleged the two were acting on behalf of Russian intelligence.
"The actions were intended in particular to undermine the military support provided by Germany to Ukraine against the Russian war of aggression.”
One of the men who was arrested is suspected of having fought for the Russian army in Ukraine.
🇵🇱/ 🇷🇺
Authorities in Poland have arrested a Polish man alleging he was working on behalf of Russian intelligence and was involved in an alleged plot to assassinate Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy. According to Polish Prosecutors and the SBU intelligence agency the suspect had planned to collect and pass on information to Russian intelligence that could have been used to try and assassinate the Ukrainian leader while he was in Poland.
Per a statement from the SBU:
“Thanks to successful actions and quick exchange of information between the countries, it was possible to identify and arrest a recruited agent of the Russian special services on Polish territory.”
If found guilty the man faces up to eight years in prison.
🇸🇪/ 🇷🇺
Radio Sweden is reporting user with Russian IP addresses accessed an online forum where users swapped extremely sensitive information about secret Swedish facilities. The news station cites documents it has reviewed from the Swedish intelligence service (SÄPO). The information in the forum included mapped locations of each facility with exact coordinates.
Over the last year, 12 people who shared the information in the forum have been arrested, charged, and found guilty for the unauthorized handling of classified information.
Swedish National Security Unit Prosecutor Mats Ljungqvist:
“This is exactly the kind of information that foreign powers want and need.”
🇳🇱🇺🇦
The Netherlands has sent three more F-16s to a training facility in Romania where Ukrainian pilots are learning to fly the more modern fighter jets. The Netherlands and Denmark are two of the countries leading the F-16 coalition. Both have said that the first donated F-16s will begin to arrive in Ukraine this summer as pilots are certified to fly them.
🇩🇪🇨🇳
German Chancellor, Olaf Scholz used a state visit to China this week to lobby the Chinese government to use its influence on Russia to try and stop the war in Ukraine. Scholz met with Chinese President Xi Jinping where he used the opportunity to raise the issue of Ukraine.
“China's words carry weight in Russia. That is why I asked President Xi to influence Russia so that Putin finally stops his insane military campaign, withdraws his troops and ends this terrible war.”
Since Russia's invasion of Ukraine, China has refused to criticize the invasion, and has propagated Russian misinformation about the invasion. There is also mounting evidence that China is supplying Russia with materials to fuel its war machine.
🇩🇰🇵🇱
Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen paid a visit to Poland this week where she praised the country for taking the lead in supporting Ukraine and opposing Russia.
“We must build a stronger defense and secure more ammunition and support for Ukraine. Poland has taken the lead here.”
Frederiksen met with Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk to discuss continued support for Ukraine and building out the European defense industry.
🇫🇮🇪🇺/ 🇷🇺
On Friday, EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen will pay a visit the Finland’s closed land border with Russia. There she will meet with Finnish Prime Minister Petteri Orpo. In a press release, the Prime Minister’s Office said that the two will discuss the migration crisis being created by Russia and how the EU and Finland can work together to address Russia’s hybrid warfare.
Finland announced a few weeks ago that it will keep its land border with Russia closed indefinitely due to the threat posed by thousands of undocumented migrants Russia is directing towards the Finnish border. Finland closed its land border with Russia in December after waves of undocumented migrants arrived from the Russian side.
🇸🇪🇺🇦
A number of centrist EU parliamentarians from Sweden have pledged to donate money they receive from the European Union for general expenses to Ukraine. EU parliamentarians receive about €4,300 per month for general expenses like office equipment and other things needed for their parliamentary duties. Declaring the expenses is, oddly enough, voluntary and there is no requirement to return any surplus euros. EU MEPs from four Swedish parties have told national broadcaster SVT that any surplus money will now be donated to Ukraine.
MEPs from the other Swedish parties did not respond when we asked for a comment from SVT.
The amount may seem trivial but in the case of one Swedish parliamentarian who has pledged to send the money to Ukraine her surplus general expenses currently equal almost €90,000.
🇫🇮/ 🇷🇺
Finland’s newly elected President Alexander Stubb says he feels “quite calm” despite tensions between his country and neighbouring Russia.
“I still belong to the category that believes that it is quite impossible that Russia will use any kind of military capacity against Europe.”
Stubb says that Finland has its own highly trained and prepared armed forces as well as the backing of NATO allies. This is topped off with defense agreements with the United States.
🇷🇺/ 🇫🇮
Russia is once again making extreme threats this time aiming them at Finland. According to Russian news agency TASS, Russian Foreign Ministry official Vladimir Yermakov said that Finland abandoned its military neutrality when it joined NATO.
“Finland will become the target of Russia's full-scale political and military countermeasures if Finland allows the transit of nuclear weapons.”
Currently, Finnish laws do not allow for the movement of nuclear weapons through its sovereign territory. However, a decision about whether or not it will allow it in the future is expected to be made by the government later this year.
Russia’s threats also ring hollow, not only because they have repeatedly made inane threats and never followed through, but also because attacking Finland would trigger NATO’s Article 5, causing a military response from all alliance member countries.
🇩🇰 🇦🇷
Denmark has officially sold 24 F-16 fighter jets to Argentina. Head of the Danish Ministry of Defense’s Material and Procurement Agency Kim Jesper Jørgensen and the Argentine Minister of Defense, Luis Alfonso Petri, signed the sales agreement earlier this week. Argentine shelled out 2.1 billion Danish kroner for the warplanes (about $412 million Cdn).
Geopolitics was likely at play in the deal with the United States having a final say about any sale or export of American made F-16s. China had been lobbying Argentina to buy Chinese-made fighter jets. The U.S. has been working to prevent China from getting any toeholds in South America.
The rest of the Denmark’s F-16s have been promised to Ukraine.
Odds & Ends
🇩🇰
It has taken three years of work but an 18-kilometer-long tunnel between Denmark and Germany has been bored and fully excavated. Later this year the work will begin on creating the underground highway that will connect the two countries. The Fehmarn Belt connection between Danish Lolland and the German mainland is expected to be completed in 2029.
Femern A/S announced the completion of the tunnel in a press release:
“It is by far the largest excavation in Denmark's history.”
It also means that Denmark has grown a little. The excavation has meant removing 15 million cubic meters of sand, stone, and soil. It has been used to create approximately 300 hectares of new Danish land, which will be transformed into, among other things, beaches, nature areas, and hiking trails.
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Three years ago Denmark introduced new more severe reckless driving penalties. Since March 2021, police in Denmark have seized 2,966 cars with the intent to confiscate them entirely because their owners were driving recklessly. Under the new much stricter rules, drivers who are drunk, who are street racing, or speeding at over 200 kilometers per hour in any situation, lose their cars on the spot with the possibility of having their car confiscated outright. Vehicles that are confiscated are then auctioned off.
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In Denmark, mothers are taking less maternity leave while fathers are taking more. According to Statistics Denmark, men are taking an average of 25 more paternity days while women are taking 34 fewer maternity leave days. However, the agency notes that women are still taking all the time they are entitled to and the numbers are a bit skewed due to the government’s recent maternity reforms reducing leave from 46 to 37 weeks off.
🇩🇰🇸🇪
Migration from Denmark to Sweden has hit a decade-long high. According to Statistics Denmark, 1,642 people made the move across the Øresund Bridge to Sweden in 2023, the highest number in ten years. That is an 18% year-over-year increase. Experts point the finger at things like sky-high housing prices in Copenhagen chasing people to more affordable climates.
🇳🇱
It appears Amsterdam has reached peak tourism. The city council of the Dutch capital has put a permanent city-wide cap on the number of hotels. This means that no new hotels can be built unless an existing one closes. The city has also capped the number of hotel beds, which means any new hotel can’t have any more beds than a hotel it is replacing. The council has also required any future hotels being built to meet new sustainability mandates.
Dutch media are reporting that the goal of these new rules is to try and limit the sheer number of tourists that pour into the city every year.