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International News in Brief: Danish PM heads to Greenland with European Council President

TheCopenhagenPost
May 17th, 2016


This article is more than 8 years old.

The Danish PM is holding meetings in both Copenhagen and Greenland today (photo: Johannes Jansson)


Lars Løkke Rasmussen, the Danish prime minister, will meet in Copenhagen on Tuesday with Donald Tusk, the President of the European Council to discuss handling of the challenges facing the EU, including the refugee crisis and the Russia/Ukraine conflict.

Following the Copenhagen meeting, Rasmussen and Tusk will travel to Greenland to examine the consequences of climate change in the Arctic.

Rasmussen said he viewed Tusk’s visit to Greenland as evidence of the EU’s “strong commitment to the climate agenda”.

 

Crown Princess Mary calls for greater gender equality at major women’s rights conference in Copenhagen

Crown Princess Mary opened the Women’s Deliver conference in Copenhagen with a rowsing speech saying that prioritising the closure of the gender gap should be top of the agenda in all modern societies.

“It will require strong and authentic leadership from governments and civil society,” said the Crown Princess.

She was among dozens of leaders that turned out for the world’s largest global conference – focussed on the health and rights of girls and women – to take place in the last decade.

The Princess said she was frustrated that more has not been done to address women’s health issues.

 

Danish military receives its three US Navy helicopters
The Danish Defence has taken delivery of three MH-60R Seahawk helicopters. This is the first delivery of its kind to the country’s armed forces.

The aircraft will be deployed with the Danish Defence’s Air Squadron 723, replacing their former fleet of British Lynx helicopters. The helicopters are capable of being launched from frigates, destroyers, cruisers and aircraft carriers.

The purchase was confirmed in December 2012, when the Danish government signed a letter of offer and acceptance to procure nine MH-60R helicopters.

 

Fewer au pairs coming to Denmark, despite higher pay
The numbers of women receiving a residence permit to work as au pairs in Denmark has dropped significantly. Figures have decreased despite favourable changes made to the law in 2014 allowing au pairs to receive 4,000 kroner in monthly pocket money.

1,623 residence permits were granted to au pairs in 2015, down from 1,908 in the previous year.

Despite some families having apparently decided that the new payment rules means hiring an au pair is too expensive, the union FOA says the payment for au pairs remains too low.


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A survey carried out by Megafon for TV2 has found that 71 percent of parents have handed over children to daycare in spite of them being sick.

Moreover, 21 percent of those surveyed admitted to medicating their kids with paracetamol, such as Panodil, before sending them to school.

The FOLA parents’ organisation is shocked by the findings.

“I think it is absolutely crazy. It simply cannot be that a child goes to school sick and plays with lots of other children. Then we are faced with the fact that they will infect the whole institution,” said FOLA chair Signe Nielsen.

Pill pushers
At the Børnehuset daycare institution in Silkeborg a meeting was called where parents were implored not to bring their sick children to school.

At Børnehuset there are fears that parents prefer to pack their kids off with a pill without informing teachers.

“We occasionally have children who that they have had a pill for breakfast,” said headteacher Susanne Bødker. “You might think that it is a Panodil more than a vitamin pill, if it is a child who has just been sick, for example.”

Parents sick and tired
Parents, when confronted, often cite pressure at work as a reason for not being able to stay at home with their children.

Many declare that they simply cannot take another day off, as they are afraid of being fired.

Allan Randrup Thomsen, a professor of virology at KU, has heavily criticised the parents’ actions, describing the current situation as a “vicious circle”.

“It promotes the spread of viruses, and it adds momentum to a cycle where parents are pressured by high levels of sick-leave. If they then choose to send the children to daycare while they are still recovering, they keep the epidemic going in daycares, and this in turn puts a greater burden on the parents.”