Cargo plane headed to Mali
The Air Force will be supplying a cargo plane to the conflict in Mali for the next three months, the government decided yesterday. The C-130 Hercules transport plane will assist the French-led military operation against the Islamist rebels that have gained strength in the region since the Arab Spring revolutions. The Hercules plane has a crew of about 40 men, including pilots, mechanics and other personnel, and sending it to Mali will cost the state about 11 million kroner. The plane could deploy to Mali as early as today. – MetroXpress
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Thousands in wrong social security groups
More than 10,000 unemployed may be in the wrong social security group, according to a new report by Børsen newspaper using figures from Arbejdsmarkedsstyrelsen, the national labour market authority. Comparison of the various councils revealed a difference in outcome depending on whether a worker is placed in social security group 1, 2 or 3, which inidcate how easily a person is expected to find work. Kraka, a think tank, contended that it was problematic that the location of a person’s employment centre often determines whether they are placed in group 1 or 2, where active employment efforts are made, or group 3, where the employment efforts are minimal. – Børsen

Opposition demand new final exams
Opposition party Venstre (V) said that current final ninth-grade examinations are of no consequence and must be changed as part of forthcoming school reform. Venstre, which has made the issue one of its primary demands in the upcoming negotiations, believes students should not be able to continue studying until they have passed the final ninth grade exams. Current policy rquires students to take finals in a number of subjects, but the results do not influence whether a student can enter begin secondary education programme. In 2012, over 62,000 students applied to get into high school or vocational schools, and only 3,164 were deemed not ready by their counsellors. – Politiken

Local politicians want unemployment aid
The vast majority of local councillors in two of the parties making up the national governing coalition, Socialdemokraterne (S) and Socialistisk Folkeparti (SF), maintain that the unemployed who are set to lose their benefits (dagpenge) as a result of reforms that took effect this month should be helped. Of those responding to the poll, 82 percent of SF councillors and 75 percent S councillors agreed that the government should do more to assist people that are falling out of the dagpenge system. Furthermore, 58 percent of local S lawmakers want the national government to make it easier to regain the right to dagpenge, which currently requires a year of full-time employment. Some 68 percent of SF councillors want the dagpenge eligibility period to be extended beyond the two-year limit established by the reform. – Berlingske

Weather
A mix of flurries and sun. Daytime highs around -1 C, falling to – 13 C overnight. – DMI