Morning Briefing – Wednesday, October 30

The Copenhagen Post’s daily round-up of the front pages and other major Danish news stories

Sexual senior citizens
With a new class of drugs at their side and dating websites at their disposal, senior citizens are doing more to keep their sex lives active. New research shows increased sexual activity as well as rising marriage rates among people of pensionable age. “The new generation of senior citizen has a totally different attitude towards sex, love and relationships than any previous generation,” said Dr Christian Graugaard of Aalborg University. Ældre Sagen, an elderly advocacy group, said the increased sexual activity among today’s senior citizens was due to their better health and experiences as part of the generation that saw attitudes toward sex liberalised. Over the past six years, sales of drugs to treat erectile dysfunction have risen 35 percent for men aged 65 to 79 and 31 percent for men 80 and over. – Jyllands-Posten

SEE RELATED: Aarhus finds being affectionate helps cut eldercare costs

Muslims reject proposed Danish imam training
A proposal to make imam training a university programme along the same lines as for Church of Denmark ministers has been rejected by Muslim groups. Making Imam training a university programme would give Islamic theology students free rein to study elements of the religion and to read the Koran critically, but Muslim groups said this went against being a good Muslim. “No Muslim faithful would ever support anything that cast doubt on the word of God,” said Imran Shah, a spokesperson for the Islamisk Trossamfund. – Kristeligt Dagblad

SEE RELATED: Homegrown imam programme proposed

University quality to be “ramped up”
The nation’s universities are in store for a thorough reform that, according to the higher-education minister, Morten Østergaard, will address criticism by professors, businesses and students themselves that the quality of university education is on the decline. Following a model established with reforms of primary schools and vocational schools, Østergaard will now set up a panel of education experts who will review the university system. The first recommendations are expected in March. “We need to strive to be better than the others but that requires that we ramp up quality, not ramp down,” he said. – Berlingske

SEE RELATED: Opinion | What’s a Danish university diploma worth?

Accountants accused of ignoring reporting obligation
Financial crimes investigators are concerned that the nation’s accountants turned a blind eye to possible tax evasion as they assisted clients during a tax amnesty period that ended this summer. The police’s fraud squad, as well as regulators with Erhvervsstyrelsen, said accountants have an obligation to report people who have large sums of money they cannot document earning legally, but not a single such individual was reported. Per Fiig, the head of the fraud squad’s whitewashing group, said that while clients who sought amnesty did not need to be turned in, individuals who either stopped the process of registering unreported fortunes, or who simply inquired about amnesty, should have been reported. – Politiken

SEE RELATED: Offshore accounts are “immoral”: tax minister

Editorial Excerpt | Party differences do matter
The belief that it doesn’t make a difference who you vote for may well find its root in the ugly negotiations that followed the 2009 local election. At that time, we saw local councillors sell their party affiliation for an influential position. Politics is about gathering as much power as possible. That often makes for strange bedfellows, but in the eyes of voters it also creates doubt about whether lawmakers are seeking to gain power for their own good or for the good of society. – Berlingske 

SEE RELATED: Left or right, it doesn't matter when budgets are tight

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  • Becoming a stranger in your own country

    Becoming a stranger in your own country

    Many stories are heard about internationals moving to Denmark for the first time. They face hardships when finding a job, a place to live, or a sense of belonging. But what about Danes coming back home? Holding Danish citizenship doesn’t mean your path home will be smoother. To shed light on what returning Danes are facing, Michael Bach Petersen, Secretary General of Danes Worldwide, unpacks the reality behind moving back

  • EU Foreign Ministers meet in Denmark to strategize a forced Russia-Ukraine peace deal

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    Foreign ministers from 11 European countries convened on the Danish island of Bornholm on April 28-29 to discuss Nordic-Baltic security, enhanced Russian sanctions, and a way forward for the fraught peace talks between Kyiv and Moscow

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  • Gangs of Copenhagen

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    “The Danish underworld is now more tied to Scandinavia”

    Carsten Norton is the author of several books about crime and gangs in Denmark, a journalist, and a crime specialist for Danish media such as TV 2 and Ekstra Bladet.

  • Right wing parties want nuclear power in Denmark

    Right wing parties want nuclear power in Denmark

    For 40 years, there has been a ban on nuclear power in Denmark. This may change after all right-wing parties in the Danish Parliament have expressed a desire to remove the ban.

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