Today’s headlines – Friday, Dec 28

Kindergarten teachers want first-aid law
The majority of councils don’t have any first aid guidelines for their daycare personnel, according to a survey by Politiken newspaper. But, despite two kindergarten teacher unions, BUPL and Landsforeningen for Socialpædagoger (LFS), asking for guidelines, the education minister, Christine Antorini (Socialdemokraterne), has no intention of changing current laws that would force teachers to learn first aid. Figures from Statens Institut for Folkesundhed, the national board of health, showed that each year over 20,000 children suffer injuries at daycare that require a visit to the emergency ward. Although most of the incidents are minor, a mandatory first aid course could help teachers assess injuries and administer aid quickly. In the case of cardiac arrest, the chance of survival is reduced by ten percent for every minute that passes if resuscitation is not administered. – Politiken

Bread dearer than ever
Considerable price increases in recent years means that bread is more expensive than ever in Danish supermarkets. A University of Copenhagen reports indicated that the when the price of wheat and grain rose, the price of bread rose significantly almost immediately, while the price of bread only fell slightly and over time when the price of wheat and grain once again dropped. In 2007 and again in 2011, the price of grain rose dramatically and in both cases the price of bread rose shortly thereafter. When the price of grain subsequently nose-dived, it took seven months for the price of bread to fall and when it did, it did so only slightly. Grain only makes up five percent of the cost of a loaf of bread and the price of bread has rises far more than it does in Germany and Sweden, the report found. The news comes in the wake of Danes being subjected to towering coffee prices. – Jyllands-Posten

Book industry fighting for survival
The Danish book industry could be a thing of the past unless price regulation is reinstated, according to Lars Boesgaard, the managing director of Denmark’s second largest publisher, Lindhardt and Ringhof. It was just two years ago that fixed book prices were abolished, but in an open letter the culture minister, Marianne Jelved (Radikale), Boesgaard pointed new model of having a waiting period of up to four months where fixed prices for new books were permitted. Boesgaard argued that this would give booksellers a fair chance to sell an equal portion of bestsellers as internet sites and supermarkets. Jelved said she would look into the issue. – Berlingske

Call for better regulation of EU subsidies
Danish regulators are calling for better control of EU rural development projects after the claims that many of the initiatives fail to live up to expectations. Each of Denmark’s five regional councils has a growth forum that works out a regional business development plan. The forums then recommend projects to regulators with Erhvervsstyrelsen, which then in turn approves them before acquiring funds from the EU. Between 2007 and 2013 Denmark will receive a total of 3.8 billion kroner as part of the project. – Børsen

Weather
Cloudy with the chance of flurries. Highs reaching 1 C. Temperatures falling to -1 C overnight.




  • Diplomatic tensions between US and Denmark after spying rumors

    Diplomatic tensions between US and Denmark after spying rumors

    A Wall Street Journal article describes that the US will now begin spying in Greenland. This worries the Danish foreign minister, who wants an explanation from the US’s leading diplomat. Greenlandic politicians think that Trump’s actions increase the sense of insecurity

  • Diplomacy meets Westeros: a dinner with the King, Queen – and Jaime Lannister

    Diplomacy meets Westeros: a dinner with the King, Queen – and Jaime Lannister

    What do King Frederik X, Queen Mary, UN Secretary-General António Guterres, and Jaime Lannister have in common? No, this isn’t the start of a very specific Shakespeare-meets-HBO fanfiction — it was just Wednesday night in Denmark

  • Huge boost to halt dropouts from vocational education

    Huge boost to halt dropouts from vocational education

    For many years, most young people in Denmark have preferred upper secondary school (Gymnasium). Approximately 20 percent of a year group chooses a vocational education. Four out of 10 young people drop out of a vocational education. A bunch of millions aims to change that

  • Beloved culture house saved from closure

    Beloved culture house saved from closure

    At the beginning of April, it was reported that Kapelvej 44, a popular community house situated in Nørrebro, was at risk of closing due to a loss of municipality funding

  • Mette Frederiksen: “If you harm the country that is hosting you, you shouldn’t be here at all”

    Mette Frederiksen: “If you harm the country that is hosting you, you shouldn’t be here at all”

    With reforms to tighten the rules for foreigners in Denmark without legal residency, and the approval of a reception package for internationals working in the care sector, internationals have been under the spotlight this week. Mette Frederiksen spoke about both reforms yesterday.

  • Tolerated, but barely: inside Denmark’s departure centers

    Tolerated, but barely: inside Denmark’s departure centers

    Currently, around 170 people live on “tolerated stay” in Denmark, a status for people who cannot be deported but are denied residency and basic rights. As SOS Racisme draws a concerning picture of their living conditions in departure centers, such as Kærshovedgård, they also suggest it might be time for Denmark to reinvent its policies on deportation

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