The prestigious photographer of the year title has been awarded to Juliette Pavy for her series Spiralkampagnen: Forced Contraception and Unintended Sterilisation of Greenlandic Women. Pavy was selected from the 10 winners in the professional category; she receives a $25,000 prize, Sony equipment, and the opportunity to present a new body of work at the Sony World Photography Awards 2025 exhibition• Gallery – the Sony World Photography awardsJuliette Pavy’s documentary series explores the severe and lasting impacts of an involuntary birth control campaign led by Danish authorities in Greenland in the 1960s and 1970s. It examines the Spiralkampagnen, in which several thousand Inuit women and girls, some as young as 12 years old, had intrauterine devices implanted without their consent. The project traces the programme’s origins through to the present day, including the ongoing investigation by the Danish government.Placing the victims’ perspectives at the forefront, the narrative structure of Pavy’s project is shaped by difficult and important reflections on the collective trauma experienced by a community. The series uses a variety of photographic formats, from situating shots of the city of Nuuk and its clinical spaces to X-ray imagery and archive photographs of the young women involved, alongside recent portraits of victims, doctors who worked in Greenland during and after the programme, and the Danish parliamentarian investigating the Spiralkampagnen today.Nuuk, the capital of Greenland, is located on the west coast and has a population of about 19,000. Continue reading…

In the 1960s the birthrate in Greenland was one of the highest in the world. Then it plunged. Decades later, women have finally begun speaking out about what happenedBula Larson was 14 when one day she and her friends were told to go to the hospital. Bula lived in Greenland and was Inuit like most of the population of the island, which is an autonomous territory of Denmark. At the hospital she and her friends lined up, and one-by-one were told to enter a room. Bula recalls how she was asked to sit on a bed with ‘cold metal stirrups’ where, to her shock, she was fitted with an IUD, a contraceptive coil she had never asked for or agreed to have.Today, more than 100 women are suing the Danish government for a policy of forced contraception. Helen Pidd hears how thousands of Inuit women and girls – some aged just 13 – were fitted with coils. Many say this was done without their or their parents’ consent, and caused lasting damage. Continue reading…

Spire collapses as fire engulfs Danish landmark, which houses one of country’s most valuable art collectionsFirefighters at Copenhagen’s historic former stock exchange have been battling a huge blaze that has engulfed the 17th-century building’s roof, toppled its distinctive spire and threatened one of Denmark’s most valuable art collections.“We are witnessing a terrible spectacle. The Bourse is on fire,” the Chamber of Commerce, which occupies the building next to Christiansborg Palace, the seat of the Danish parliament, wrote on X. “Everyone is asked to stay away.” Continue reading…

Dramatic footage shows artworks being removed from Copenhagen’s 17th-century former stock exchange after the landmark building was engulfed in flames.Plumes of black smoke were seen rising from the Dutch Renaissance-style building, which was undergoing renovation and clad in scaffolding. People were seen rushing in and out of the building carrying paintings to safety, and Danish media reported an annexe of the parliament and several ministries nearby, including the finance ministry, had been evacuatedSpire collapses after fire breaks out at Copenhagen’s old stock exchangeContinue reading…

Spire and part of roof has collapsed in one of Denmark’s most famous buildings with much of the blaze still out of controlSpire collapses as fire breaks out at Copenhagen’s old stock exchangeA huge fire has broken out at Copenhagen’s 17th-century former stock exchange, one of the Danish capital’s most famous landmarks, engulfing the historic building’s roof and toppling its distinctive spire.People were seen rushing in and out of the building carrying works of art to safety and Danish media reported an annexe of the parliament had been evacuated. Police asked people to avoid driving in the inner part of the city. Continue reading…

A fire has broken out at Copenhagen’s old stock exchange, one of the Danish capital’s most famous buildings, engulfing its spire, which collapsed on to the roof. There were no reports of injuries. The historic building, whose spire is shaped as the tails of four dragons entwined, had been under renovation when the blaze broke out. The Dutch Renaissance-style building no longer houses the Danish stock exchange but serves as headquarters for the Danish Chamber of CommerceSpire collapses after fire breaks out at Copenhagen’s old stock exchangeContinue reading…

Payman Maadi brings a fierce intelligence to his portrayal of a refugee seeking a secure new home for his family in SwedenBennett Miller’s Foxcatcher from 2015 and Sean Durkin’s recent The Iron Claw show the sport of wrestling as deeply dysfunctional; wrestling fans might wonder if their favourite pastime is ever going to be depicted in the movies as vital and dramatic, like football, or even tragically noble and masculine, like boxing. Well … not in this film.Motståndaran, or Opponent, is a tense, complex drama from Iranian-born and Denmark-based director Milad Alami, drawing on some of his own experiences as a refugee in northern Sweden. Payman Maadi (from Asghar Farhadi’s A Separation) plays Imam, a grizzled Iranian wrestling champ seeking asylum in Sweden with his pregnant wife Maryam (Marall Nasiri) and their two young daughters. He and his family left behind a good, prosperous life in Tehran, where Maryam was a distinguished musician, and now they endure the humiliation of living in prison-like hostels. Continue reading…

Copenhagen fashion week is hailed for raising the bar on animal rights. But will the organisers of other fashion weeks follow?Copenhagen fashion week has just announced that it will ban exotic skins and feathers from its catwalks next year, becoming the biggest industry event yet to do so.“Skål to Copenhagen fashion week for raising the bar for other events,” says the vice-president of corporate projects at People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (Peta), Yvonne Taylor. “Now all eyes are on other fashion week organisers, who must follow suit.” Continue reading…

Women say being fitted with IUDs without their consent left them with pain, shame and lasting reproductive difficultiesDanish minister urged to meet Greenland coil scandal womenHedvig Frederiksen had been at her new school in Paamiut, Greenland, for only a couple of days when she was summoned from her dorm to the local hospital by a Danish caretaker.She was 14 and had no idea what was going on. “But back then [1974], when a Danish person said something, their word was law, you had to listen to them,” said Frederiksen, speaking from her home in Nuuk, Greenland’s capital. Continue reading…

Exclusive: Territory’s government calls for visit to listen to those thought to be living with consequences of forced fitting of IUDs‘I was only a child’: women tell of trauma of forced contraceptionThe Danish health minister should “get on a plane and visit” some of the thousands of women thought to be living with the consequences of being forcibly fitted with the contraceptive coil as children, Greenland’s gender equality minister has said.In an attempt to reduce the population of the former Danish colony, at least 4,500 women and girls are believed to have undergone the medical procedure, usually without their consent or knowledge, at the hands of Danish doctors between 1966 and 1970 alone. Continue reading…

Unnamed 53-year-old made at least £230,000 from artificially generated plays of hundreds of tracksA Danish man has been sentenced to prison in a “historic” case after being found guilty of fraudulently profiting from royalties on hundreds of tracks on music streaming sites.In the country’s first case of its kind, the 53-year-old man from East Jutland, whom the Danish press has decided not to name, was convicted on Thursday of making at least 2m Danish kroner (£229,676) from artificially generated streams of “several hundred” music tracks. Continue reading…

Lawmakers say they’re on the warpath because TikTok’s owner is a national security threat. Some users think the app has become a hub for progressive activismTick tock, tick tock … that’s the sound of time running out for Gen Z’s favourite app. On Wednesday the House of Representatives overwhelmingly passed a bill would require the TikTok owner ByteDance to sell the social media platform or get banned in the US. It’s not clear whether the bill would pass in the Senate. However, the White House has said it supports the legislation. All in all, things don’t look great for TikTok. Continue reading…

Prime minister says government wants ‘full equality between sexes’ as it plans to call up 5,000 conscripts a year from 2026Women in Denmark are to be conscripted for military service for the first time under a proposed armed forces overhaul that comes amid Europe’s worsening relations with Russia and the war in Ukraine.“We do not rearm because we want war. We are rearming because we want to avoid it,” said the prime minister, Mette Frederiksen. Continue reading…

European Commission will open office in the territory, made strategically important by rare resources and melting iceThe president of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, is heading to Greenland as melting Arctic ice, demand for green-technology raw materials and competition from China increase the territory’s strategic importance.While not in the EU, the autonomous Danish territory is of strong interest to Brussels, especially for highly sought after raw materials – it believes it has 25 of the 34 that it needs. Continue reading…

UK, Germany, Netherlands, Norway and Denmark have failed to align oil and gas policies with Paris pledges, say campaignersNone of the big oil and gas producers surrounding the North Sea plan to stop drilling soon enough to meet the 1.5C (2.7F) global heating target, a report has found.The five countries – the UK, Germany, the Netherlands, Norway and Denmark – have failed to align their oil and gas policies with their climate promises under the Paris agreement, according to the campaign group Oil Change International. Continue reading…

Sanjay Shah accused of scam that enabled companies he controlled to fraudulently claim tax refundsA British hedge fund trader accused of defrauding Danish tax authorities in a billion-pound scam has gone on trial in Copenhagen, with the government hoping to recover the money in the blockbuster case.Sanjay Shah, who was arrested in June 2022 in Dubai where he was living, is accused of running a 9bn krone (£1.03bn) scam that enabled companies he controlled to fraudulently claim Danish tax refunds between 2012 and 2015. Continue reading…

Only five in 101 statues in Copenhagen depict women, with 26 of animals and 70 of menDenmark has pledged to put up more statues of women, with the country’s culture minister saying the capital has “more statues of mythical beasts and horses”.According to the Danish government, only 31 of 321 statues and busts in Danish cities are of women. Continue reading…

Group of 143 allege they were fitted with coils without consent or knowledge between 1966 and 1970, when some were childrenNearly 150 Greenlandic women have sued the Danish state, alleging that they were fitted with the contraceptive coil without their consent or knowledge.A group of 143 women took legal action on Monday, demanding a collective payment of close to 43m Danish kroner (£4.9m) for what they describe as a violation of their human rights. Continue reading…

Campaigners say decision against Danish Crown, Europe’s largest pork producer, sends resounding messageEurope’s largest pork producer misled customers with its “climate-controlled pork” campaign, Denmark’s high court has ruled in the country’s first climate lawsuit.Campaigners argued that Danish Crown greenwashed its meat with round, pink stickers on its packaging that said pigs were “climate-controlled”, along with a marketing campaign that claimed its pork was “more climate-friendly than you think”. Continue reading…

Country follows Sweden in ending inquiries, saying there is not enough grounds to pursue criminal caseUkraine war – live updatesDenmark has dropped its investigation into the 2022 explosions on the Nord Stream pipelines carrying Russian gas to Germany, becoming the second country to do so after Sweden closed a separate inquiry.The multibillion-dollar Nord Stream 1 and 2 pipelines transporting gas under the Baltic Sea were ruptured by a series of blasts in the Swedish and Danish economic zones in September 2022, releasing vast amounts of methane into the air. Continue reading…