Police say Danish suspect’s motives yet to be firmly established and he will undergo psychiatric evaluationA bow-and-arrow attack that left five people dead in Norway appears to have been an “act of terror”, but the motives of the Danish suspect will only be firmly established after a full investigation, the Norwegian security service has said.Police said the suspect, who they identified as 37-year-old Espen Andersen Bråthen, was a Muslim convert with previous criminal convictions who had previously been flagged as a possible Islamic extremist. Andersen Bråthen would be undergoing a psychiatric evaluation, police said. Continue reading…

Norwegian indigenous minority seek permanent ownership of artefact seized after 17th-century trialNorway’s Sámi people are asking for a sacred drum confiscated by Denmark after a witchcraft trial in 1691 to be returned to them permanently, and they have asked the Danish queen for help.The drum belonged to a Sámi shaman, Anders Poulsson, who was arrested and imprisoned, according to court records. It was confiscated and became part of the Danish royal family’s art collection before being transferred to Denmark’s National Museum in 1849. Continue reading…

Chef René Redzepi, famed for foraging techniques, claims first place for Copenhagen eateryCopenhagen has confirmed its reputation as the global dining destination of the moment after its top eateries finished first and second in the 2021 World’s 50 Best Restaurants awards, widely considered the Oscars of gastronomy.The new Noma from the chef René Redzepi, famed for his foraging and fermenting techniques, was named best restaurant at a ceremony in Antwerp, Belgium, on Tuesday night. The old one topped the list in 2010, 2011, 2012 and 2014 and came second in 2019. Continue reading…

Denmark has secured decent pay and conditions within the sector. Will other EU countries finally follow suit?Read more: ‘The whole system is rotten’: life inside Europe’s meat industryIn meat plants, there’s a golden rule: the production line never stops. For 28 years, Frank Vestergaard has worked in Denmark’s meat processing industry. When he started, he says, workers were expected to slaughter 80 pigs an hour on the line; today, that number has rocketed to 432 animals.He starts work at 6am and deals with animal carcasses. The pigs are first put to sleep with gas, then the workers slit their throats to let the blood drain out. Vestergaard’s job is to remove any injuries from the carcasses, such as broken bones, which the vets on the line identify. If the gallbladder is accidentally punctured, for example, a yellow fluid can seep on to the meat, and Vestergaard has to remove it. “We have six seconds per pig for one operation, and then there is a new pig. We do the same over and over again. That is how we earn our money.” Continue reading…

Song and interview were recorded by Danish schoolboys during Lennon and Yoko Ono’s stay in Thy in 1970A cassette tape recording of an interview by Danish schoolboys with John Lennon and Yoko Ono in which the Beatles star sings a previously unreleased song has been sold at auction in Copenhagen for £43,000.The 33-minute audio track was recorded by four teenagers as part of a report for their school magazine in January 1970, just months before the Beatles announced their breakup. Continue reading…

Denmark museum of modern art says Jens Haaning’s Take the Money and Run violates legal agreementIn an unexpected reinterpretation of an earlier work, a Danish artist has left a museum with empty frames, a depleted bank account and red faces all round.Rather than applauding Jens Haaning’s artistic commentary on modern capitalism, the Kunsten Museum of Modern Art in northern Denmark has said the artist is in violation of a legal agreement – and in possession of more than $84,000 belonging to the institution. Continue reading…

Jails should not serve as ‘dating centres or media platforms to brag about crimes’, says ministerPrisoners serving life sentences in Denmark are to be prevented from starting new romantic relationships after it emerged a 17-year-old fell in love with Peter Madsen, the murderer of the journalist Kim Wall, while he was in jail.For the first 10 years of their imprisonment, long-term inmates’ contacts, by letter, phone or online, will be limited to people they already knew before they entered prison, under legislation tabled by the social democrat-led government. Continue reading…

Working parents are supported by properly funded services staffed by well-paid educators, writes Peter MossRe your comparison of childcare costs (Report, 12 September), unlike the UK, Nordic states do not provide “childcare” by low-paid workers – a service that parents are expected to buy from private businesses. They provide education for young children in services staffed by relatively well-paid educators; support for parents is taken for granted through longer opening hours and well-paid leave – the result of a generous welfare state funded by progressive taxation. Emeritus professor Peter MossUniversity College London• Have an opinion on anything you’ve read in the Guardian today? Please email us your letter and it will be considered for publication. Continue reading…

While plans in England have been shelved, many other European nations have schemes in placeCoronavirus – latest updatesSee all our coronavirus coverageWhile the government has shelved plans for Covid passports in nightclubs and other crowded places in England, at least a dozen EU countries now operate similar schemes for access to a wide range of venues and activities, from restaurants to team sports. Continue reading…

Scandinavian country declares it no longer considers coronavirus a ‘socially critical’ diseaseCoronavirus – latest updatesSee all our coronavirus coverageDenmark’s high vaccination rate has enabled it to become one of the first EU countries to lift all domestic restrictions, after 548 days with curbs in place to limit the spread of Covid-19,The return to normality has been gradual, but as of Friday, the digital pass – a proof of having been vaccinated – is no longer required when entering nightclubs, making it the last virus safeguard to fall. Continue reading…

Large survey involving two million adults found links between road and rail traffic and Alzheimer’s in particularExposure to noise from road traffic and railways is associated with an increased risk of dementia, according to the largest study of its kind.Research has consistently linked transport noise to health conditions including heart disease, diabetes and obesity, but studies on transport noise and dementia were scarce and small, and findings inconsistent. Continue reading…

Two cops are stranded in hostile territory when an act of police brutality triggers a riot in this slick action filmDenmark’s reputation as the land of tolerance, equality and cosy contentment takes a battering in this superslick urban thriller directed with adrenaline and savvy by first timers Frederik Louis Hviid and Anders Ølholm. “Shorta” is Arabic for “police”, and the movie opens with black teenager Talib Ben Hassi lying face down, a white police officer on his back. “I can’t breathe,” he pleads. We don’t see Talib again but his name is repeated over and over: on the streets in Svalegårdena, the fictional estate where he grew up; by TV journalists reporting on his condition in intensive care; at the police station where damage limitation is in overdrive.Officers are warned to stay out of Svalegårdena – a powder keg waiting to explode. The shift commander puts solidly decent Jens (Simon Sears) in a car with repellent racist Mike (Jacob Hauberg Lohmann), a man who demands respect by bullying and intimidation. The script sets up these familiar cop stereotypes then messes with them – not massively convincingly to be honest. Jens in particular I found difficult to get a handle on; this is a film where characters act in ways to make the plot tick more than anything else. Things go wrong when Mike stops and searches cheeky Arab kid Amos (Tarek Zayat). He goes in hard, humiliates Amos, arrests him; at that moment news breaks that Talib is dead, triggering a riot. Continue reading…

Queen Margrethe II, the reigning Danish monarch, will add an adaptation of Karen Blixen’s fantasy novel Ehrengard to her two previous screen credits Queen Margrethe II, reigning monarch of Denmark, is to design the sets for a forthcoming Netflix film adapted from a novel by Karen Blixen, it has been announced.A romantic fantasy set in the fairytale kingdom of Babenhausen, Ehrengard will be directed by Bille August, the veteran Danish director of Pelle the Conqueror (which won both the Palme d’Or and Oscar for best foreign language film in 1988) and The Best Intentions (which won August a second Palme d’Or). Continue reading…

Health ministry says high level of vaccination means virus ‘no longer a critical threat to society’Coronavirus – latest updatesSee all our coronavirus coverageDenmark is to lift all its remaining Covid-19 restrictions by 10 September after the health ministry declared the virus “no longer a critical threat to society” because of the country’s high level of vaccination.“The epidemic is under control, we have record vaccination levels,” the health minister, Magnus Heunicke, said in a statement on Friday. “That is why we can drop the special rules we had to introduce in the fight against Covid-19.” Continue reading…

Eight new vessels able to run on methanol fuel could help save more than 1m tonnes of carbon emissions a yearThe world’s biggest shipping company is investing $1.4bn (£1bn) to speed up its switch to carbon neutral operations, ordering eight container vessels that can be fuelled by green methanol as well as traditional bunker fuel .The Danish shipping business Maersk said the investment in new vessels would help to ship goods from companies including H&M Group and Unilever, while saving more than 1m tonnes of carbon emissions a year by replacing older fossil fuel-driven ships. Continue reading…

A rare outburst of emotion from an official in the Danish first division as a referee drops to his knees after failing to give an advantage. Playing away to Vendsyssel FF, FC Fredericia were on the break after winning the ball in midfield, only for the ref to blow his whistle just as they created a goalscoring opportunity. After realising his mistake, the referee puts his head in hands then drops down to his knees, and the game finished 1-1. Watch more from the amazing world of sport series hereContinue reading…

A victim of its own success, the industry behind cult dramas such as The Killing struggles amid bullying claimsThis week, the award-winning makeup artist Bjørg Serup made her bitter public farewell to the Danish film industry.“I am on sick leave with a work injury due to serious stress and cannot expect to be able to return to the film industry or any other full-time job again,” she wrote in an article published in Ekko, the country’s film industry magazine. Continue reading…

Discovery that traces of genetic material are all around us opens a non-invasive way to boost biodiversityDNA is in the air – literally. It is wafted around by all the Earth’s creatures, and now scientists have found a way to detect these invisible traces of genetic material so they can identify the animals that released them.The discovery – made independently by British and Danish research groups earlier this year – opens up a powerful way to pinpoint the presence of rare wildlife in deserts, rainforests and other hostile environments. Continue reading…

Data shows ice sheet lost 8.5bn tons of surface mass on TuesdayAll-time record temperature of 19.8C in region on WednesdayGreenland’s vast ice sheet is undergoing a surge in melting, with the amount of ice vanishing in a single day this week enough to cover the whole of Florida in two inches of water, researchers have found.The deluge of melting has reached deep into Greenland’s enormous icy interior, with data from the Danish government showing that the ice sheet lost 8.5bn tons of surface mass on Tuesday alone. A further 8.4bn tons was lost on Thursday, the Polar Portal monitoring website reported. Continue reading…

Study warns regulator must take action as private equity firms and state-backed groups begin to dominateForeign control of North Sea oil licences could put the UK’s plans to reach net zero emissions at risk, a study has warned.The research shows state-backed fossil fuel companies and private equity firms are taking a tighter grip on North Sea oil, raising concerns about the government’s ability to wind down fossil fuel production and secure a “just transition” for workers. Continue reading…