The Evening Report - March 28

Denmark tackles food waste. More measles cases.

🍃Environment & Energy⚡️

🇩🇰

Denmark has launched a first-of-its-kind effort to reduce the huge amounts of perfectly good food that ends up in the garbage. According to the food waste think tank ONE/THIRD each year 100 million potatoes, 11 million raw eggs, and 26 million food packages end up in the garbage.

The Danish Environmental Protection Agency estimates that people throw away almost 900,000 tonnes of perfectly edible food every year.

In order to address this mountain of waste, Danish Food Minister Jacob Jensen has launched a roadmap to come up with a concrete plan to drastically reduce these numbers.

"In Denmark, the mountain of food waste grows daily. We waste far too much food that could be donated. We must regain respect for food. It will benefit both the climate and our wallets. In particular, I am pleased with the strategy's focus to remove rules that make it unnecessarily troublesome for companies to contribute to the fight against food waste, for example in the form of donating surplus food."

Over the next three years, there will be a major effort working with stakeholders and industry to table concrete measures to reduce food waste. The work will focus on removing red tape, bringing food companies on board, setting up public kitchens, analyzing the environmental and economic consequences, developing communication strategies, and possibly creating a National Food Waste Day.

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As people are bombarded by weather being obliterated and related climate change events and reports in the media the Danish Meteorological Institute is trying to put everything into perspective.

The agency asked itself if the weather really has gone crazy and then set out to examine 150 years of Danish climate data to see if they could find an answer.

Climatologist Mikael Scharling:

“My clear feeling is that there has been far more focus on the climate and in the media and also a lot more attention to the many new weather records. In any case, it is something that we here at DMI get a lot of questions about from the media. When we at DMI have to comment on trends in weather and climate, we usually compare with data that is far back in time, and when we do that, we can at least see that the frequency of the ‘classic’ weather records has changed significantly in recent decades.”

After examining all the weather data going back to 1874 it has concluded that since the 1990s there have been “significantly more” heat records broken than in all the years before.

“We can see that since the turn of the millennium, there have been many new records both in temperature, precipitation, and sunshine. In particular, there have been several record-warm years since the year 2000. The most recent heat record was set in September 2023. While the most recent cold record was set all the way back in December 1981. The temperature both globally and nationally is increasing and will continue to rise in the future.”

DMI adds that on top of warming temperatures, Denmark will see huge swings between drought-like weather and massive amounts of rainfall. In particular, the winter months will also become wetter and wetter in the years ahead.

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The latest climate barometer from Green Power Denmark has found that the energy transition is now moving at a snail’s pace in the country. Last year, just one wind turbine was connected to the power grid. While the number of solar power installations fell significantly compared to previous years.

CEO Kristian Jensen says this spells big trouble for Denmark’s ability to reach its goal of quadrupling green energy production by 2030.

“The red warning lights are flashing for the green transition. Unfortunately, 2023 was not just one bad year. When it comes to land-based wind turbines, development has effectively stalled. It is unsustainable with the serious climate challenge and security policy situation we are in.”

Just ten municipalities in Denmark account for more than half of all renewable energy development across the entire country

Jensen says it is long overdue for the government to get rid of all the red tape.

“There is no shortage of applications for new wind turbines and solar cells. But the municipalities have to go through a labyrinth of environmental bureaucracy and heavy planning and appeals processes. It requires a lot of resources and can seriously delay or stop the projects outright.”

Green Power Denmark is also asking the government to set up a pool of funding to help municipalities invest in the green energy transition.

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Last year, the Danish government introduced zero emission zones in Denmark’s four biggest cities, and if some Copenhagen politicians get their way, more will be coming in the near future. However, only the federal government has the power to actually make that change. Currently, the zero-emission zone legislation dictates that each city can only have one such area where diesel and gas vehicles are banned from driving. The legislation does stipulate that the law must be reviewed after a three-year period.

Environment Minister Magnus Heunicke is not on board with adding more zones. He spoke to national broadcaster DR

“To ensure mobility and that the zones do not lead to a negative environmental effect due to detours, we propose the limitation of a maximum of one zone.”

Copenhagen is working toward the goal of phasing out fossil fuel vehicles by 2030. Other European cities are also working on variations of the same goal.

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Denmark’s South Fyn Archipelago has been designated a global geopark by UNESCO. It means the area stretching from Faaborg-Midtfyn over to Svendborg and out to Langeland and the island of Ærø is now a recognized natural area full of geographical history to be studied and experienced. It is a unique area and was one of the largest flooded landscapes during the Ice Age.

It now becomes the third geopark-designated area in Denmark and joins an exclusive club of 213 geoparks around the globe.

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Five months after October’s historic storm surge battered and bruised one of Denmark’s national treasures, the white cliffs of Møns Klint, the area is still trying to recover. The storm took out all five staircases leading to the beach and triggered large landslides. Due to the soaking wet winter months that followed there have been more landslides since and they still remain a threat today.

Beach access is totally cut off and the cliff-top path has been largely wiped out. A new path is set well back from what could be unstable edges has been created but the Danish Nature Agency continues to urge visitors to use their common sense.

The hope is that at least one staircase can be rebuilt and be ready for use sometime this spring. However, the continued risk of landslides is making it extremely difficult for workers to do any repair work safely.

If you have previously visited Møns Klint you probably won’t recognize it now with landslides over the last several months completely reshaping the area. Among other things, landslides have carved out a 200-meter peninsula that sticks out into the sea.

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Denmark has very little nature left but Slagelse Kommune and Den Danske Naturfond (Danish Nature Foundation) are working together to make sure an invaluable wetland is preserved. The municipality and the foundation have shelled out 57 million Danish kroner (about $11.2 million Cdn) for 260 hectares that will become a new nature reserve. The land will be at the foot of the Great Belt Bridge on the Sjælland side.

“It is one of the treasures we have to look after. A salt marsh like this one houses a multitude of life, and that must be secured. We have a very special responsibility for that in Denmark because there are so few of these places.”

The nature area is expected to be completed in three to five years and it will be accessible to everyone.

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With months of one flooding event after another changes are being made all over Denmark. Some municipalities are working on flood barriers and mitigation efforts but at Feddet Strand Resort in Sjælland, the owners are conceding that the water has won. They will now relocate 230 campsites out of an area that flooded during last October’s historic storm surge. They will let the flood zone just revert back to nature.

The owners say it will cost them in the short term but their hope is that by letting nature back in the resort more attractive to visitors in the future and they can recoup their losses over the long run.

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A post-mortem of the flood response in the Danish municipality of Aabenraa during last October’s huge storm surge has found abundant room for improvement. Emergency notifications were not sent to the media as they should have been. Due to human error, warning sirens were activated over the entire municipality instead of just in the flood zone. Text message alerts were sent to the deaf and hard of hearing without specifying exactly where the flood alert area was. And on it goes. That is according to a report from the National Emergency Management Agency and the National Police.

Emergency response agencies are acknowledging all of the missteps and will improve training and preparation exercises in order to ensure an improved response next time. A meeting will also be held with police to ensure everyone is on the same page and working together. The National Emergency Management Agency says while obviously mistakes can happen it is promising that the next time an emergency impacts Aabenraa residents can rest assured the response will be much better than the one they got in October.

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Can eelgrass and seaweed help prevent erosion along Denmark’s coast when big storms blow through driving pounding waves into the coastline? One municipality is working to find out. In Hørsholm they are launching a project where eelgrass, seaweed, and sand are stacked together along the coast.

City and Environment Manager Katrine Langer:

“We place it along the coast, thereby, the seaweed can help hold the sand so that when it storms and it rolls in with big waves, it will be firmer so that the sand does not erode into the sea again.”

The effort is being funded by the European Union’s Power 4 Bio project.

🇬🇧 🇩🇰

Gardening season is beginning and in Britain this year sphagnum is no longer an option for gardeners. The British government has determined that harvesting the popular garden helper is just too damaging for the environment. It has banned the sale of sphagnum for everyday use. Harvesting each kilo of sphagnum results in 1.5 kilograms of greenhouse gas emissions.

Here in Denmark, Aarhus University Professor Jørgen E. Olesen thinks Britain did the right thing and the Danish government needs to follow their example.

“I think we should avoid sphagnum in our products. It should be something we phase out. It will never be sustainable.”

Sphagnum is harvested from bogs, invaluable wetlands that act as massive carbon sinks. In fact, a peat bog the size of a football field can sequester more carbon than an entire rainforest. Conversely, draining them for industrial purposes or to harvest sphagnum releases all of those emissions back into the atmosphere.

To understand why bogs are nature’s superweapon against climate change you can watch this video I filmed in the UK on efforts to restore invaluable wetlands and bogs.

Harvesting sphagnum from Danish pest bogs is estimated to have resulted in emitting 42,600 tonnes of CO2 emissions in 2021 alone.

🇩🇰 🌍

Are you in the market for an EV? If so opportunity might be knocking. Danish electric car manufacturer Fisker is in deep financial trouble. It has posted a massive deficit and its shares have tumbled to the point that the New York Stock Exchange has suspended trading and might even delist them entirely. In a desperate bid to stay afloat and get the cash flowing the company has slashed the price of its Fisker Ocean electric SUV. The list price has been reduced by 39% and is now selling at $37,499 USD, which is a price reduction of $24,000.

🇸🇪

Three days after talking about a new energy policy calling for a massive upscaling of wind and solar power production the Swedish government has rejected a large offshore wind farm proposal. The application from Svea Wind would have seen wind turbines erected in the Baltic off of the coast of the Sörmland region.

Project Manager Per Edström is stunned by the decision.

“This is a project that has the potential to supply 8% of Sweden's electricity consumption in the form of renewable electricity, and we know that electrification is a key in the energy transition. This project would have also supplied electricity to a region where there is currently a large deficit, and where there is a nationally important industry, and large emissions that must be eliminated.”

🇪🇺🇩🇰

After relentless, and sometimes violent, protests by farmers across Europe, the EU has folded and abandoned many of the agricultural measures in the bloc’s much-heralded Green New Deal. After already rolling back a requirement to phase out the use of pesticides in order to try to initially appease farmers European politicians have now also exempted agriculture from nine other environmental requirements. Among them are requirements covering nature restoration, crop rotation, and a mandate to leave certain portions of farmland fallow.

Danish Agriculture Minister Jacob Jensen was among those voting to relax climate requirements on farmland.

“We see some opportunities in also being able to follow a path that makes it more flexible and thus easier for farmers to be able to deliver on the environmental and climate goals we politically agree on.”

The rolling back of environmental regulations on agriculture will now have to be approved by the European Parliament.

Environmental groups are livid as EU politicians back down.

Green Think Tank Concito’s Food and Consumption Project Manager Simone Højte spoke to DR:

“We think it is a shame. I mean well, you can lift some of the administrative burden that many farmers experience without having to relax the requirements for them. This has the consequence that we do not get a high level of [environmental] ambition from the EU. It is left up to the individual countries. They want to show action and that they listen to the farmers. They are adapting their policies even though they have worked hard for the latest agricultural reform for example. The demonstrations in the street have had an effect.”

🇪🇺🇸🇪

The European Union wants to extend free movement between member countries to include Europe’s sprawling train systems. The EU has proposed a common European rail system with trains traveling unimproved across borders and train engineers who share a common language. It is tabling €30 billion to make it happen.

Currently, trains traveling from one country to another need to stop and change locomotives and staff at each land border. This can add to delays and create logistical hurdles.

Swedish EU parliamentarian Charlie Weimers is not a fan of the proposal.

“We do not think it is in Sweden's interest that EU funds are used to expand other countries' railway networks. Not least in the old communist bloc, which has badly neglected railways. What we have to do in Sweden is of course to maintain our railways so that you can trust that the train runs on time, which is not the case today.”

On the opposite side of the argument is his Swedish Parliamentary colleague Karin Karlsbro:

“It's about Europe's trains speaking the same language. The investments we are talking about here involve, among other things, shortening the distance between Copenhagen and Hamburg by two hours, and that plays a huge role for us who travel from Sweden to southern Europe.”

The EU also wants to double train traffic on its high-speed lines by 2030 to move even more people.

🇪🇸

A crisis is unfolding in Barcelona. Spain has been suffering a long winter drought compounded by record-high temperatures. As spring arrives and the march begins towards what will assuredly be a scorching hot summer the city’s water reservoirs are at a mere 15%. As it suffers its worst drought on record and rainfall remains an exceedingly rare event the area around the city has become a desert.

Spanish Channel 3 Meteorologist Tomas Molina:

“It's really bad. I have been a meteorologist for 38 years and have never seen so many dead trees.”

Last month, Catalonia declared a drought emergency and introduced tough water restrictions for the whole area including Barcelona.

🇫🇮

Finland is currently enduring a large national strike and the ongoing labour dispute is having a knock-on effect on gas supplies. Finnish gas station chain operator Neste has announced this week that it can no longer guarantee sufficient fuel supplies at its stations across the country. A number of them are already running low on gas and diesel.

The strike-related fuel shortage has also caused the Helsinki Regional Transport Authority to announce earlier this week that service on bus routes in the Finnish capital may soon grind to a halt as its buses run out of fuel.

🦠Outbreaks🦠

🇩🇰

Four new measles cases have been confirmed in Denmark. So far this year nine people have been infected with measles, of those the most recent five cases have all been in Region Midtjylland (Central Denmark) according to the Danish Statens Serums Institute. It is urging doctors, especially those in Midtjylland, to keep a sharp eye out for any possible measles activity.

In Denmark, people can get a free MMR (measles, mumps, and rubella) vaccination. The vaccine is available to adults born after 1974, who have never had measles and have never been vaccinated. Adults born before 1974 can also get vaccinated if their doctor recommends it. It is a one-time vaccination and it is available at vaccine clinics and can also be administered by a family doctor.

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For a third week in a row coronavirus activity as measured by wastewater surveillance (blue line) has stayed “at a low level. However, it is extremely uncertain how accurate that assessment is due to a lack of overall testing and the fact that this week’s surveillance assessment is based on a single day of testing due to technical problems.

From what little the Statens Serum Institute can tell respiratory infections remain low across the board. The institute says COVID hospitalizations are “at a low level”. While influenza indicators also continue to fall including related hospitalizations. RS virus cases are also flatlining.

Respiratory virus-related hospitalizations by virus type/ Statens Serum Institute.

🇸🇪

In Sweden, COVID hospitalizations (87) have crept upward (+6) while intensive care numbers (2) dropped slightly (-3).

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Sweden will begin its spring COVID booster dose program next week. It is the only Nordic country to launch such an effort at this time of year.

People who are eligible for a vaccination top-up can already book appointments in many Swedish regions. That includes Region Stockholm where vaccination bookings opened last Monday.

In Sweden, all elderly seniors over 80 and those over 65 living in a care home can get another booster dose.

Vaccinations can be administered at health centers when scheduled but they are available for walk-ins at various vaccine clinics. As always seniors in care will be inoculated in their residence

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An increase in the proportion of unvaccinated children born in Finland during the pandemic is raising concerns. The Finnish Institute of Health says that 1.7% of children born in 2021 were completely unvaccinated up from 1.4% from the year prior.

Expert Doctor Anniina Virkku spoke to the Finnish news agency STT:

“Although the increase is small, and appears marginal right now, we need to keep an eye on the trend, so that the proportion of unvaccinated people does not increase in future age groups. Of course, the first thing that comes to mind is whether this coronavirus pandemic has some kind of effect on the increase in the proportion of unvaccinated children.”

Virkku highlighted that while vaccinations are sometimes postponed, the proportion of children born in 2021 who are not fully vaccinated may decrease over time.

There are also regional differences with vaccination coverage higher in eastern Finland and lower in the western parts of the country.

🇨🇦

COVID hospitalizations have eased across Canada. In the week ending March 26, there were 1,758 total hospital beds in use by a coronavirus-infected patient, which is 98 fewer than the week before. Almost all of those reductions were in general admissions where there were 1,682 patients, a week-to-week decrease of 96. There were just two fewer people in an ICU as numbers went from 78 to 76. The number if severely infected people requiring a ventilator remains unchanged at 73 for a fourth consecutive week.

🇺🇦/ 🇷🇺 War

🇵🇱NATO/ 🇷🇺

NATO is mulling over the idea of shooting down Russian missiles that stray too close to the borders of member nations. That is according to Polish Deputy Foreign Minister Andrzej Szejna who made the comment on a Polish media outlet earlier this week.

“Various concepts are being analyzed within NATO, including for such missiles to be shot down when they are very close to the NATO border.”

Early last Sunday morning, Poland and NATO Air Command each scrambled response fighters after a Russian cruise missile crossed the border into Poland and then spent 39 seconds in Polish air space before continuing on to its target in Ukraine. This is the third such incident since the war in Ukraine began.

🇩🇰/ 🇷🇺

Concern continues to grow in Denmark about the so-called ‘shadow fleet’ of aging oil tankers with suspect registration and insurance that are shipping Russian oil in order to skirt sanctions.

Danish media outlet Danwatch has published an investigation where it found that ten such ships identified off of the northern tip of Denmark were sailing without insurance and with registry designed to hide the ship’s true owners.

According to maritime analysts Kpler in two and half months between December 1 to February 18, 191 oil tankers from Russia traversed Danish waters with a good chunk of them with suspect or outright bogus insurance coverage.

Danske Lodser is a Union that offers professional pilots to ships sailing from the North to the Baltic seas to help them navigate through Danish waters. Chair Mikael Pedersen says often the shadow fleet ships refuse the offer but on some occasions, Danish pilots have gone onboard. He says they found old ships with poorly trained crews.

The concern from the Danish side is that these old oil tankers with dodgy insurance and poorly trained crew will crash into another ship causing a catastrophic oil spill. A spill that there might be no insurance to cover leaving Denmark with a sizable clean-up bill. Already one of the shadow fleet tankers, a ship called MS Andromeda, crashed into another vessel off of Northern Jutland. No oil spill was detected in that case.

The other problem is that Denmark, like other maritime nations, has signed ironclad international treaties giving ships the right to sail through its waters whenever it is a “harmless passage.” In other words, Denmark would need an extremely good reason to stop these, or any other, tanker.

🇩🇰🇦🇷🇺🇦

Denmark has signed a letter of intent that could see 24 Danish F-16 fighter jets sold to Argentina. Danish Defense Minister Troels Lund Poulsen signed the letter of intent in Buenos Aires this week. The proposed sale is valued at 2.1 billion Danish kroner (about $414 million Cdn).

Geopolitics likely played a role in the warplanes heading to Argentina and not Ukraine. The United States has to sign off on any sale or transfer of F-16s because they are made in America. The United States was likely trying to counter Chinese efforts to sell its JF-17 fighters to Argentina thereby gaining some influence in South America.

Liberal Alliance Party Defense Spokesperson Carsten Bach told DR he would have preferred the F-16s go to Ukraine but understands the decision to sell them to Argentina.

“We would have liked to see these F-16 aircraft donated to Ukraine in the long term, but we have to say that the Americans have probably compromised a bit with the Danish position as well and have allowed us to actually donate the F-16s to Ukraine, and I'm happy about that.”

Denmark is donating 19 F-16s to Ukraine, the first of which should arrive sometime later this year.

Denmark is currently transitioning its Air Force from its aging fleet of F-16s to state-of-the-art F-35 warplanes. However, of the 27 F-35s in order only seven have been delivered and of those, only four are on Danish soil. Lockheed Martin has announced an indefinite delay in delivering the rest of the planes. The Danish government is exploring its options including asking allies if it can buy or borrow F-35s directly from them.

🇸🇪 🇺🇦

The door seems to be opening a little wider for Ukraine to possibly add JAS Gripen fighter jets from Sweden in the war against Russia. Swedish Defense Minister Pål Jonson told the Kyiv Independent this week that “deliberations are underway” about the possibility of donating the Swedish fighter jet to Ukraine.

Last November, the Swedish Armed Forces conducted a classified review evaluating the conditions needed to donate Gripen warplanes to Ukraine. Ukrainian pilots have also had some preliminary training on the aircraft.

🇩🇰 🇺🇦

Ukraine isn’t just waiting for promised F-16 fighter jets to arrive from Denmark but they are also still short 50 or so Leopard 1 tanks that should have been delivered as promised before the end of last year.

Last February, the Danish government promised to refurbish and modernize 80 Leopard 1 battle tanks that it had decommissioned and were sitting in a facility just across the border in Germany. The tanks were supposed to arrive at the end of last year but according to the German Defense Ministry, only 30 of those tanks ever made it to Ukraine.

Danish Defense Minister Troels Lund Poulsen insists that Denmark has in fact lived up to its promises.

“It is no secret that we have had a delay in the delivery of the Leopard 1 tanks. But the truth is also that we are largely on target with the donation of the 80 Leopard 1 tanks that we have promised. I cannot say anything about how many tanks are active in Ukraine, due to operational considerations. But our donation is on target in terms of the tanks being ready for use.”

Poulsen added that some of the reasons for the delays are due to Ukraine itself.

“It also depends on when the Ukrainians themselves are able to use the tanks. It depends on when their crews are trained and when they feel ready to put all the tanks into use.”

The donation was part of a joint effort between Denmark, Germany, and the Netherlands.

Late last year Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy complained that while donations from Ukrainian allies were much appreciated less than half of the promised weapons has actually arrived.

🇫🇷🇸🇪🇩🇰

France has raised its security threat level in the aftermath of the terror attack in Moscow but Denmark and Sweden are both standing pat. Denmark’s threat level remains at the second highest level of ‘severe’ while Sweden’s remains at ‘high’. Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, the war in Gaza, and in the two Nordic countries, the burning of the Muslim holy book the Quran, have all contributed to a heightened concern about possible terror attacks.

Earlier this month German police arrested two suspected ISIS supporters who have been accused of making plans for a terror attack on the Swedish parliament.

🇪🇺🇺🇦

Ukraine is getting a €100 million loan from the Council of Europe’s Development Bank to help families whose homes were destroyed during the Russian invasion. According to the bank Russia has laid to waste about 10% of the housing stock across the entire country during the war so far. That equals nearly 550,000 homes destroyed. The money will be targeted at soldiers, large families, and those with disabilities who have lost their homes. Those who qualify will be able to purchase another home.

Ukraine's Infrastructure Minister Oleksandr Kubrakov says the loan will help more than 2,000 families get new homes.

🇩🇰

The Danish government will use 1.9 billion Danish kroner (about $374 million Cdn) in an emergency package to help with badly needed upgrades to sewer systems in aging military barracks where mold has also become a growing concern. Renovations will begin at Livgarden Barracks in Copenhagen as well as Varde Barracks, Høvelte Barracks, and Vordingborg Barracks.

🇫🇷 🇺🇦

An investigation into the sabotage of the Nord Stream pipelines by French news network France Info is pointing the finger at a former Ukrainian Minister of State as the mastermind behind the operation. At the center of the outlet’s investigation is a sailboat named Andromeda, which has been implicated in the sabotage after investigators found traces of explosives onboard. Journalists tracked the boat’s movements along with cell and satellite phone use by crew members. The rental of the boat itself was done by a Ukrainian businessman. The person the investigation points to at the center of all of this is Valery Zaluzhny, a former minister of state who would have been in charge of Ukrainian Special Forces at the time. Zaluzhny has since been removed from his position by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy. Both have denied any involvement.

Last year, both the Washington Post and Der Spiegel also reported on the possibility of Ukraine being behind the sabotage.

Of the three official investigations launched after the pipeline explosions, only Germany’s remains active after both Denmark and Sweden ended theirs with no firm conclusions.

🇫🇮/ 🇷🇺

Russia continues to pose the most significant threat to Finland’s security according to the country’s Security and Intelligence Service (SUPO). Acting Director, Teemu Turunen noted there is little indication of Russia altering its behavior along Finland's eastern border, emphasizing that the threat posed by its weaponization of migration remains a serious concern.

Per SUPO’s annual threat assessment report released this week:

“Russia is treating Finland as an unfriendly state, and as a target for espionage and malign influence activities.”

The agency notes the war in Ukraine U.S. buying Finland some time as Russia’s attention and military resources are focused far away from the Finnish border. But it also cautioned against underestimating Russian intelligence operations, emphasizing the need for vigilance amidst evolving tactics, including potential collaboration with criminal organizations.

Turunen also addressed concerns about Russian spies posing as illegal migraines crossing the border. He reassured the public that SUPO has been actively screening individuals arriving at the eastern border, minimizing the possibility of asylum seekers posing a security threat.

🇫🇮/ 🇨🇳

The damaged Baltic Connector pipeline between Finland and Estonia should come back online by the end of next month. Pipeline operator GasGrid Finland says the repair work is proceeding on schedule. At the moment they are getting ready for a new section of pipeline to be lowered to the sea floor to replace the section torn apart by a huge anchor. The company says installation, inspection, and commissioning of the repaired pipeline should be completed by April 22. At that point, the pipeline could potentially come back online.

Last October, a Chinese freighter called NewNew Polar Bear dragged an anchor along the Baltic seafloor tearing apart the gas pipeline and two adjacent data cables. The gas pipeline has been offline ever since. The ship’s crew refused to cooperate with authorities and quickly fled to Russian waters. An investigation into the incident continues. The NewNew Polar Bear is currently in Chinese waters where it has been for months.

Odds & Ends

🇩🇰

On Saturday, April 6, S-trains (S-togs) in Copenhagen will celebrate running the rails for 90 years. To mark the occasion all S-togs will be free to ride that day. Also, 7-11s on train platforms will give away some free goodies. The Railway Orchestra will also hold a free concert at Copenhagen Central Station.

The very first S-tog ran from Frederiksberg to Klampenborg Station on April 6, 1934. Today, the S-train network consists of seven lines covering 85 stations and carrying 350,000 passengers daily.

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Seagulls are in the crosshairs in Sønderborg Kommune where they are literally shooting the birds out of the sky in an effort to drive down population numbers. Over at the city’s Alsion Culture Centre they are trying a different approach. A large nesting box has been built on the roof with the hopes of luring in a Peregrine Falcon. The idea is with such a feared bird of prey in the skies that seagulls will give the area a wide berth. However, Denmark only has somewhere around 15 breeding pairs of the falcons in the country so there is no guarantee the plan will work.

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LEGO has asked a California police department to stop using yellow LEGO figurine heads that it superimposes over pictures of wanted criminals it posts to Instagram. By law in the state even wanted criminals must be anonymous in social media postings. Police have been getting around this by taking some LEGO inspired creative license. But after receiving a cease and desist letter the practice will now come to an end.

🇩🇰🇩🇪

Denmark has maintained border controls along crossings into Germany since 2016 and if the current government gets its way the border checks will continue. It is actually against the law in the European Union for member nations to maintain uninterrupted or permanent border controls. The Danish Ministry of Justice has to request permission from the EU every six months to keep the border checkpoints in place. The EU is actually investigating whether Danish border controls are legal or not and it sounds like the government is now trying to find every justification it can for keeping them in place.

Defense Minister Troels Lund Poulsen cited the heightened risk of terror attacks and Russia weaponizing immigration to keep the border stations operational. Denmark does not share a border with Russia. The minister also cited the movement of weapons and drugs in keeping checkpoints in place. However, Denmark does not maintain border controls with either Sweden or Finland, with the latter actually dealing with an immigration crisis at its land crossings with Russia.

The current EU permission to keep the border checks in place expires in May.

🇳🇴

A national egg shortage in Norway has led to Norwegians rushing to Sweden to buy eggs for Easter. The demand from neighbouring Norway is so high that Swedish border stores and supermarkets limit egg sales to a maximum of three packages of 20 eggs per person.

As for why Norway has this bizarre problem, the yolk is on the government. In 2022, Norwegian egg producers churned out far too many eggs. So the government intervened and paid producers to reduce the number of egg-laying hens. Now the pendulum has swung the exact opposite way with demand for eggs far outstripping supply.

🇬🇧 🇩🇪

The British Foreign Office is warning football fans about strong German beers. Germany will host the European Championships in a few months and Brits who might make the trip to watch some footy are being warned that the local German brew is a little stronger than what they are used to and that they should drink responsibly.

In the UK the average alcohol percentage in a beer is 4.4%. In Germany beers can range from 4.7% all the way up to 16%.