JAN M. OLSEN

Denmark's Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen speaks with the media as she arrives for an EU summit at the European Council building in Brussels, Thursday, Dec. 14, 2023. European Union leaders, in a two-day summit will discuss the latest developments in Russia's war of aggression against Ukraine and continued EU support for Ukraine and its people. (AP Photo/Virginia Mayo)
Denmark and Germany announce arrests of terror suspects, including suspected Hamas members
Denmark and Germany have announced arrests of several terror suspects, including alleged Hamas members suspected of plotting attacks on Jews in Europe over the ongoing Israel-Hamas war.
 
FILE - European Commissioner for Competition Margrethe Vestager speaks during a media conference regarding an anti-trust decision on Broadcom at EU headquarters in Brussels, Wednesday, Oct. 16, 2019. Margrethe Vestager, the European Union’s Commission’s powerful antitrust chief who took unpaid leave to seek the top job at European Investment Bank, is returning to the EU’s executive arm for the next few months, Denmark's government said Friday, Dec. 8, 2023. (AP Photo/Virginia Mayo, File)
Danish EU commissioner pulls out of the race for the top job at the European Investment Bank
The European Union’s powerful antitrust chief has withdrawn as a candidate for the presidency of the European Investment Bank.
 
Front row, from left Denmark's Foreign Minister Lars Loekke Rasmussen, Defence Minister Troels Lund Poulsen and Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen are seated at Folketinget, during a parliamentary vote, in Copenhagen, Denmark, Thursday Dec. 7, 2023. A new law has been passed in Denmark’s parliament that makes it illegal to desecrate any holy text in the country. The vote on Thursday came after a recent string of public desecrations of the Quran by a handful of anti-Islam activists sparked angry demonstrations in Muslim countries. (Mads Claus Rasmussen/Ritzau Scanpix via AP)
Denmark’s parliament adopts a law making it illegal to burn the Quran or other religious texts
A new law has been passed in Denmark’s parliament that makes it illegal to desecrate any holy text in the country.
 
FILE - Tesla vehicles line a parking lot at the company's Fremont, Calif., factory, on Sept. 18, 2023. The conflict against Tesla in Sweden is spreading to neighboring Denmark where transport workers with the country’s largest trade union on Tuesday, Dec. 5, 2023 said it was establishing a sympathy conflict against the Texas-based automaker. (AP Photo/Noah Berger, File)
Danish union to take action against Tesla in solidarity with Swedes demanding collective bargaining
The conflict against Tesla in Sweden is spreading to neighboring Denmark. Transport workers there say they will take industrial action in solidarity with workers in Sweden against the Texas-based automaker.
 
Sweden halts adoptions from South Korea after claims of falsified papers on origins of children
Sweden’s main adoption agency says it’s halting adoptions from South Korea, following claims of falsified papers on the origins of children adopted from the Asian country.
 
Special Adviser to the President, Minister Antonio Lagdameo, center, and Luis Jalandoni of the Communist Movement (NDFP) shake hands after signing their joint vision for peace, at Oslo City Hall, on Thursday, Nov. 23, 2023. The Philippine government and the country’s communist rebels have agreed to resume talks aimed at ending decades of armed conflict, one of Asia's longest, Norwegian mediators announced Tuesday, Nov. 28, 2023. High-ranking delegations from both sides met in the Norwegian capital last week and agreed to a “common vision for peace” that sought to address key obstacles, according to Norway’s foreign ministry. (Mathias Rongved/Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs via NTB)
Philippine government and communist rebels agree to resume talks on ending their protracted conflict
Norway says the Philippine government and the country’s communist rebels have agreed to resume talks aimed at ending decades of armed conflict.
 
FILE - People comfort each other at the scene of a shooting in central Oslo, Norway, on June 25, 2022. Zaniar Matapour, a Norwegian citizen originally from Iran, was Friday, Nov. 10, 2023, charged with aggravated terrorism for the 2022 deadly shooting ahead of an LGBTQ festival in the Norwegian capital’s nightlife district. The shooting at three locations, including outside the London Pub, a popular gay bar in downtown Oslo, on June 25, 2022. Two people were killed and nine wounded. (AP Photo/Sergei Grits)
Iranian-born Norwegian man is charged over deadly Oslo Pride attack in 2022
A Norwegian citizen originally from Iran has been charged with aggravated terrorism over a deadly shooting in June 2022 ahead of an LGBTQ festival in the nightlife district of the capital, Oslo.
 
FILE - Lars Findsen, former head of the foreign intelligence service, known as FE, speaks at Kastellet in Copenhagen, on Dec. 19, 2017. Two cases against a former defense minister and the former head of the country’s foreign intelligence service who had been charged with leaking secrets have been abandoned because “highly classified information” cannot be presented in court. Denmark’s prosecution authority said Wednesday, Nov. 1, 2023, that it was “in the interests of the state’s security." (Liselotte Sabroe/Ritzau, Scanpix via AP, File)
Denmark drops cases against former defense minister and ex-spy chief charged with leaking secrets
Danish prosecution dismissed two separate cases against former defense minister, Claus Hjort Frederiksen, and ex-head of the country’s foreign intelligence service, Lars Findsen, due to the inability to divulge classified information in court.
 
FILE - Jakob Ingebrigtsen from Norway crosses the finish line to win the 2000m men event and set a new world record time during the Diamond League Memorial Van Damme athletics event at the King Baudouin stadium, Brussels, on Sept. 8, 2023. Norwegian police launched an investigation Thursday, Oct. 26, 2023, into allegations by the three Ingebrigtsen brothers that their father, who had been their track coach at the Olympics and other events, was violent and abusive when they were growing up. (AP Photo/Geert Vanden Wijngaert)
Norwegian police investigate claim by Ingebrigtsen brothers that their father and coach was violent
Norwegian police have launched an investigation into allegations by the three Ingebrigtsen brothers that their father was violent and abusive when they were growing up. Gjert Ingebrigtsen had been their track coach at the Olympics and other events.
 
Jakob Ellemann-Jensen, Danish Minister of Economy and chairman of Denmark's Liberal Party speaks during a press conference in Copenhagen, Monday, Oct. 23, 2023. Ellemann-Jensen announced Monday he was leaving politics and stepping down as head of the center-right Liberal Party to spend more time with his family. (Martin Sylvest/Ritzau Scanpix via AP)
Danish deputy prime minister leaves politics, but his party stays on in the coalition government
Denmark’s deputy prime minister and economy minister says he is leaving politics. Jakob Ellemann-Jensen stepped down on Monday as head of the center-right Liberal Party to spend more time with his family.
 
People try to pump water away in a flooded neighborhood in Haderslev, Denmark, Friday, Oct. 20. 2023. Authorities across Scandinavia on Friday urged vigilance as the region braced for heavy rain and gale-force winds from the east that was expected to culminate in the evening as a severe storm continued to sweep across northern Europe. The gale-force winds are expected to hit hardest in the eastern part of Denmark's Jutland peninsula and the Danish islands in the Baltic Sea. (Claus Fisker/Ritzau Scanpix via AP)
Gale-force winds and floods strike northern Europe. At least 3 people killed in the UK
Gale-force winds and floods have struck several countries in northern Europe as the region endures more heavy rain that forecasters say will continue into the weekend.
 
Cars drive on a road in the city center in Stockholm, Sweden, Thursday, Oct. 12, 2023.The Swedish capital plans to ban petrol and diesel cars from parts of Stockholm, gradually starting with a little-congested downtown commercial district, in an effort to curb pollution and reduce noise but also to push the technical progress toward more electric vehicles. (AP Photo/Karl Ritter)
Stockholm to ban gasoline and diesel cars from downtown commercial area in 2025
An official says a ban on gasoline and diesel-fueled cars from a commercial district of Stockholm’s downtown in 2025 will be the first for a European capital.
 
In this handout photo released on Thursday, Oct. 5, 2023, Senior Researcher at the National Museum of Denmark Mads Dengso Jessen holds a window glass fragment from the Viking Age, in Copenhagen, Denmark, Sept. 8, 2023. Over the past 25 years, archaeologists have found glass fragments in six excavations in southern Sweden, Denmark and northern Germany and have analyzed fragments of glass panes to reach the conclusion: Vikings had windows with glass-panes. (John Fhær Engedal Nissen/The National Museum of Denmark via AP)
Vikings had windows, another shift away from their image as barbaric Norsemen, Danish museum says
Vikings had windows — usually only associated with medieval churches and castles — meaning Norsemen dignitaries sat in rooms lit up by apertures with glass.
 
FILE - An SAS aircraft is parked on the ground during the pilot strike, at Copenhagen Airport, on July 18, 2022. Shares in Scandinavian Airlines dropped more than 90% on Wednesday Oct. 4, 2023 after the ailing carrier announced new shareholders in a restructuring scheme that will see the company delisted and existing ownership stakes erased. (Liselotte Sabroe/Ritzau Scanpix via AP, File)
Shares in Scandinavian Airlines plunge to become almost worthless after rescue deal announced
Shares in Scandinavian Airlines have dropped more than 90% after the ailing carrier announced new shareholders in a restructuring scheme that will see the company delisted and existing ownership stakes erased.
 
FILE - A volunteer from SOS Mediterranee makes a high five to migrant as they approach Italian coasts, on Sept. 4, 2022 off Taranto, southern Italy. The Right Livelihood Award — known as the “Alternative Nobel” — was awarded Thursday Sept. 28, 2023 to Phyllis Omido from Kenya and the groups Mother Nature Cambodia and SOS Mediterranee. (AP Photo/Jeremias Gonzalez, File)
4 environmental, human rights activists awarded ‘Alternative Nobel’ prizes
The Right Livelihood Award — known as the “Alternative Nobel” — has been awarded to two environment activists from Kenya and Cambodia, a human right defender from Ghana and a humanitarian group that rescues migrants in the Mediterranean Sea.
 
FILE - An empty picture frame by Danish artist Jens Haaning titled "Take the Money and Run", hangs at the Kunsten museum in Aalborg, on Sept. 28, 2021. Haaning, commissioned by the museum in northern Denmark to create a piece for its exhibition on labor conditions two years ago submitted two empty canvases. The exhibit caused a stir. A Danish court ruled last week that Jens Haaning has to repay 492,549 kroner ($69,894 ) to Kunsten Museum in Aalborg for the work. His lawyer, Peter Schønning, said Wednesday, Sept. 27, 2023, that the contemporary artist is appealing the ruling and declined further comment. (Henning Bagger/Ritzau Scanpix via AP)
A Danish artist who submitted empty frames as artwork is appealing court ruling to repay the cash
A Danish artist who was given a pile of cash by a museum in northern Denmark to create a piece for its exhibition on labor conditions two years ago submitted two empty canvases, causing an uproar.
 
FILE - A LEGO set made of its blocks featuring K-pop band BTS, is shown during a publicity event at a store in Seoul, South Korea, on March 2, 2023. Danish toymaker Lego said Monday Sept. 25, 2023 that an experiment to make its colorful building bricks out of recycled drinks bottles didn’t work but the world’s largest toymaker “remains committed” to its plans to find sustainable materials to reduce carbon emission. (AP Photo/Lee Jin-man, File)
Toymaker Lego will stick to its quest to find sustainable materials despite failed recycle attempt
Denmark’s Lego says it remains committed to its quest to find sustainable materials to reduce carbon emissions, even after an experiment by the world’s largest toymaker to use recycled bottles did not work.
 
FILE - In this photo taken late Saturday, Nov. 9, 2019, police officers work near the scene of a shooting, in Malmo, Sweden. A 13-year-old boy from the suburbs of Stockholm who was found dead in the woods near his home earlier this month, was the latest victim of a deadly gang war in Sweden where the group, warring over arms and drug trafficking, reportedly are recruiting children. (Johan Nilsson/TT News Agency via AP, File)
A 13-year-old boy found shot in the woods was a victim of Sweden’s gang violence, prosecutor says
A prosecutor says a 13-year-old boy found dead in woods near his home earlier this month was the latest victim of Sweden’s deadly gang violence.
 
A view of the Ocean Explorer, a Bahamas-flagged Norwegian cruise ship with 206 passengers and crew, which has run aground in northwestern Greenland is pictured on Tuesday, Sept. 12, 2023. The 104.4-meter (343-foot) long and 18-meter (60 foot) wide Ocean Explorer ran aground on Monday in Alpefjord in the Northeast Greenland National Park. Another attempt to pull free a luxury cruise ship with 206 people that ran aground in the world’s northernmost national park has failed by using the high tide. It was the third attempt to free the MV Ocean Explorer. (SIRIUS/Joint Arctic Command via AP)
Stranded luxury cruise ship MV Ocean Explorer is pulled free at high tide in Greenland
Authorities says the luxury cruise ship MV Ocean Explorer has been successfully pulled free three days after running aground in Greenland with 206 people on board. The ship’s owner says it was freed by a fisheries research vessel at high tide.
 
FILE - King Carl XVI Gustaf and Queen Silvia ride in a horse-drawn carriage from the Royal Palace to Skansen for the National Day celebrations in Stockholm, Sweden, Tuesday June 6, 2023. Sweden this week marks the 50th anniversary of King Carl XVI Gustaf’s accession to the throne with four days of celebrations that culminate with a military parade through the capital. (Jonas Ekstromer/TT via AP, File)
Sweden’s figurehead king celebrates 50 years on the throne
Sweden this week marks the 50th anniversary of King Carl XVI Gustaf’s accession to the throne with four days of celebrations that culminate with a military parade through the capital.
 
A view of the Ocean Explorer, a Bahamas-flagged Norwegian cruise ship with 206 passengers and crew, which has run aground in northwestern Greenland, on Tuesday, Sept. 12, 2023. The 104.4-meter (343-foot) long and 18-meter (60 foot) wide Ocean Explorer ran aground on Monday in Alpefjord in the Northeast Greenland National Park. It's the world’s largest and most northerly national park and is known for icebergs and the musk oxen that roam the coast. According to authorities no one on board was in danger and no damage has been reported. (SIRIUS/Joint Arctic Command via AP)
A fishing vessel in Greenland will try to free a cruise ship that ran aground with 206 people
A fishing vessel will attempt to use the high tide to pull free a Danish-owned luxury cruise ship that ran aground in northwestern Greenland with 206 people on board.
 
Finnish Prime Minister Petteri Orpo meets the media after his government's non-confidence vote at the Parliament of Finland in Helsinki on Friday, Sept. 8, 2023. (Vesa Moilanen/Lehtikuva via AP)
Finland’s center-right government survives no-confidence vote over 2 right-wing ministers
Finland’s center-right government has survived a no-confidence motion from three opposition parties over two ministers from the right-wing populist Finns Party at the center of a racism scandal that has rocked the Nordic country.
 
Sweden, EU confirm Swedish national has been held in Iran since last year
Sweden says a Swedish citizen in his 30s was arbitrarily detained in Iran last year. The Swedish government didn’t name the man, but the New York Times identified him as Johan Floderus, a Swede who had been working for the European Union’s diplomatic corps.
 
From left, Minister of Foreign Affairs Lars Loekke Rasmussen, Minister of Justice Peter Hummelgaard and Deputy Prime Minister Jakob Ellemann-Jensen present a bill on a Quran burning ban on a doorstep in Christiansborg, Copenhagen, Friday, Aug. 25, 2023. (Martin Sylvest/Ritzau Scanpix via AP)
Danish government to present draft law making it illegal to burn the Quran or other religious texts
The Danish government will propose a law that would make it illegal to desecrate any holy book in Denmark. A recent string of public desecrations of the Quran by a handful of anti-Islam activists has sparked angry demonstrations in Muslim countries.
 
People work to build a new fence along the border with Russia, next to Storskog, Norway, Wednesday Aug. 23, 2023. Norway is re-building a section of fence in the Arctic along its border with Russia to contain wandering reindeer, Norwegian officials said Thursday, adding 42 animals have crossed into its eastern neighbor in a costly stroll this year. (HT Gjerde Finnmark via AP)
Norway is rebuilding a reindeer fence at the border to stop the animals’ costly strolls into Russia
Norway is rebuilding a dilapidated reindeer fence along its border with Russia in the Arctic to stop the animals from wandering into the neighboring country. They are costly strolls for which Oslo has to compensate Moscow over loss of grassland.
 
FILE - A Norwegian air force F-16 fighter lands at a Turkish air base in the Central Anatolian Turkish city of Konya on Wednesday, Sept. 8, 2004. NATO-member Norway will donate F-16 fighter jets to Ukraine whose forces are embroiled in a difficult counteroffensive against Russia, Norwegian broadcasters NRK and TV2 said Thursday, Aug. 24, 2023. (AP Photo/Burhan Ozbilici, File)
NATO-member Norway to donate F-16 fighter jets to Ukraine, becoming third country to do so
Norwegian Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Støre says his NATO-member country will donate F-16 fighter jets to Ukraine. Speaking to Norwegian news agency NTB in the Ukrainian capital, Gahr Støre said Norway will probably donate less than 10 aircraft.
 
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy addresses the Danish people from the steps of Christiansborg palace, the seat of Danish Parliament, in Copenhagen, Denmark, Monday, Aug. 21, 2023. Thousands of people had gathered in the palace courtyard to hear his speech, many waving Ukrainian or Danish flags. (Claus Bech/Ritzau Scanpix via AP)
Zelenskyy thanks Danes in person for F-16s, though the planes won’t have an immediate war impact
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has thanked Danish lawmakers for helping his country resist Russia’s invasion.
 
FILE - A Romanian Air Force F- 16s military fighter jet, left, and a Portuguese Air Force F- 16s military fighter jets participating in NATO's Baltic Air Policing Mission operate over the Baltic Sea, Lithuanian airspace, on May 22, 2023. The United States has given its approval for the Netherlands to deliver F-16s to Ukraine, the Dutch defense minister said Friday, Aug. 18, 2023 in a major gain for Kyiv even though the fighter jets won’t have an immediate impact on the almost 18-month war. (AP Photo/Mindaugas Kulbis, File)
Ukraine will get F-16 fighter jets from the Dutch and Danes after the US agrees to allow transfers
Officials say the United States has given its approval for the Netherlands and Denmark to deliver F-16s to Ukraine. The defense ministers of those two NATO countries announced the decision Friday.
 
Hezbollah supporters trample representations of the Swedish flags during a rally denouncing the desecration of the Quran after Friday prayers in the southern Beirut suburb of Dahiyeh, Lebanon, Friday, July 21, 2023. Muslim-majority nations expressed outrage Friday at the desecration of the Islamic holy book in Sweden. Following midday prayers, thousands took to the streets to show their anger, in some cases answering the call of religious and political leaders. (AP Photo/Bilal Hussein)
Sweden raises its terror threat level to high for fear of attacks following recent Quran burnings
Sweden has raised its terror alert to the second-highest level. The move comes after a string of public desecrations of the Quran sparked angry demonstrations across Muslim countries and threats from militant groups.
 
Southeast Norway hit by floodwater, Friday Aug. 11. 2023. More evacuations were being considered Friday in southeastern Norway, where the level of water in swollen rivers and lakes continued to grow after days of torrential rain. (Ole Berg-Rusten/NTB via AP)
More evacuations considered in Norway where the level in swollen rivers continues to rise
Authorities are on standby to evacuate more people in southeastern Norway, where huge amounts of water, littered with broken trees, debris and trash, are thundering down the usually serene rivers after days of torrential rain.
 
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