Tag Archives: Country: Denmark

AP: A gunman tried to shoot a Danish writer and prominent critic of Islam on Tuesday, but missed and fled after a scuffle with his intended victim, police and the writer said.

Oye Times: Distinguished Hindu statesman Rajan Zed’s request to Folketing Speaker Mogens Lykketoft to read Hindu invocation as a part of the “divine service” at the next opening of Folketing has ended in a denial with the response—“Parliament of Denmark must respectfully decline your kind offer”—from Speaker’s PA Marianne Treumer Ammitzboll. No reason of denial was given.

AP: Like a handful of other countries, including Germany and Denmark, Iceland has official rules about what a baby can be named.

Wesley Smith at National Review: A report out of Denmark says that 1 in 6 aborted late term babies there show signs of life after temporarily escaping death and being born.

The New American: A recent study out of Denmark appears to show a higher incidence of premature death among women who have had an abortion than for women who give birth. The study tracked a group of Danish women over a 25-year period, finding that those who had undergone a single abortion had a 45-percent higher mortality rate over that time period than those who had carried babies to full term.

Christian Post: A Danish study that was recently published showed that women who had undergone at least one abortion saw an increase in maternal death rate of 45 percent. The study, “Reproductive history patterns and long-term mortality rates: a Danish, population-based record linkage study,” was published in the European Journal of Public Health and looked at the maternal death rates of women in Denmark, over a 25 year period, who had under gone an abortion or experienced a during pregnancy.

France24.com: A Danish sperm donor has passed a potentially severe genetic disorder to five children after a screening test failed to catch that he had the disease, health officials said Monday.

Turtle Bay and Beyond: A devastating blow for “Gender Theory”: the Nordic Council of Ministers (a regional inter-governmental co-operation consisting of Norway, Sweden, Finland, Denmark, and Iceland) has decided to close down the NIKK Nordic Gender Institute. The NIKK had been the flagship of “Gender Theory”, providing the “scientific” basis for social and educational policies that, from the 1970s onward, had transformed the Nordic countries to become the most “gender sensitive” societies in the world.

Religion Clause Blog: In Denmark, the University of Copenhagen’s Centre for European Islamic Thought this month published a 234-page study titled Danish Regulation of Religion, State of Affairs and Qualitative Reflections

Timothy P. Carney at The Examiner: “We will not comply! We will not comply!” they yelled. Some wore “Don’t Tread on Me” shirts. One leader of this Rally for Religious Freedom on Friday lamented over the speakers, “In America, unfortunately, there’s a rule against everything.”
The cultural Left is turning the Catholic faithful into anti-authoritarians . . . The media need to figure out who is imposing morality on whom. Libertarians need to reassess their allegiances on social matters. And cultural conservatives need to understand that government is inherently their enemy.

AP: Denmark’s Parliament has approved a law allowing same-sex couples to get married in formal church weddings instead of the short blessing ceremonies that the state’s Lutheran Church currently offers.

Benjamin Bull at American Thinker: Several days ago, I noted with interest that Danish journalist and historian Lars Hedegaard has been acquitted by a unanimous Dutch Supreme Court of charges that he violated Holland’s notorious “hate speech” laws. His crime? He made a public utterance that state prosecutors concluded was “denigrating” of Islam.

Legal-Project.org: On April 13, 2012, Lars Hedegaard — a journalist, historian, and president of the Danish Free Press Society – takes the appeal of his conviction under Article 266(b) to the Danish Supreme Court. Readers may recall that back in January of 2011, Hedegaard was tried and acquitted for remarks he made during a 2009 interview concerning sexual abuse within Muslim communities.

Washington Times: Danish police arrested 80 protesters Sunday in a rally against the growing Muslim threat of turning Europe into part of an Islamic empire.

Channel 6 News: Danish Prime Minister Helle Thorning-Schmidt on Tuesday said the government will introduce draft legislation this week to legalize same-sex marriages later this year, a move which had been expected for years.

News from The Associated Press: Denmark’s government wants to allow same-sex couples to get married in formal church weddings, instead of the short blessing ceremonies that the state Lutheran Church currently offers.

EuropeNews: A Muslim group in Denmark has launched a campaign to turn parts of Copenhagen and other Danish cities into “Sharia Law Zones” that would function as autonomous enclaves ruled by Islamic law.

Digital Journal: Denmark is poised to become just the eighth country in Europe to recognize same-sex civil marriages.

Copenhagan Post: The government plans to introduce a bill just after the New Year that will allow same-sex couples to hold weddings in the Church of Denmark and be ‘married’ under Danish law.

Yahoo! News: Kurt Westergaard, who lives under round-the-clock protection, declined to elaborate on whether police had passed along a security threat while he was on a book tour in Oslo. Norwegian security police would not comment except to say that Westergaard had been in Oslo on Monday but had left the country.

Personhood USA: Danish newspaper Berlingske is reporting‏ that an analysis of the country’s abortion rate indicates that the last child with Down syndrome could be born around the year 2030. 61 babies were born with the genetic disease in 2004 when the government of Denmark began offering screenings through the socialized health program. The following year, the number was less than half of that. Today, 99 of 100 children with Down syndrome are aborted in the European nation.

The Local: The head of a Danish sperm bank has warned that Swedish women are “most likely” to be among those inseminated with defective sperm donated by a man with a rare genetic disease.

International Free Press Society: “The Judge heard both sides and has deferred judgment until January 31st, 2011. In the meantime, we will continue to post expressions of support for Lars Hedegaard’s right to freedom of speech. We wish to once again thank all those who have written so eloquently and passionately on the subject of his trial. Lars reports that he is in fine shape – not least due to all of the support he has received. He knows that he is not alone which has made a tremendous difference in keeping his spirits up.”

Associated Press: “A Danish cartoonist who caricatured the Prophet Muhammad told a court Thursday that the ax-wielding Somali man who broke into his home wanted to kill him and is lying about the purpose of the attack.”

“‘With this article in the penal code,’ commented Mr. Langballe, ‘I must be assumed convicted in advance. I have no intention of participateing in this circus. Therefore I confess.’”

Yahoo (AFP): “‘I have … taken the initiative for Denmark to host next week a seminar with the participation of religious leaders from a number of Iraqi communities, including Christians and Muslims, to promote dialogue between religious groups in Iraq,’ Danish Foreign Minister Lene Espersen said in a statement.”

Breitbart (AFP): “The Danish intelligence agency PET said Wednesday it had arrested four men suspected of preparing a massacre at a newspaper which published caricatures of the Prophet Mohammed.”

Christian Science Monitor: “The World Economic Forum released its 2010 Global Gender Gap Report on Tuesday. The report, which indexed 134 countries this year, evaluates how much of the gender gap each country has eliminated through economic opportunity, health access, education, and political empowerment. Below are the 10 countries that have been most successful.”

CNS News: “Denmark’s foreign minister met Wednesday with ambassadors from 17 Muslim countries in a move to avoid tensions ahead of the five-year anniversary of the Prophet Muhammad cartoons . . . Foreign Minister Lene Espersen said she met with the Muslim ambassadors Wednesday and with the heads of the Organization of the Islamic Conference and the Arab League last week ‘to prevent a new confrontation’ over the cartoons.”

New York Post: “A book about the publication of cartoons in Denmark that angered Muslims by showing images of the Prophet Muhammad will be released despite recent terror threats, the publisher said Wednesday. ‘The book will come out as planned,’ said Karsten Blauert, of Jyllands-Posten Editions.”

The Copenhagen Post: “Copenhagen’s culture and leisure administration has approved the establishment of a culture house where homosexuals, bisexuals and transvestites can feel at home, reports Politiken newspaper.”

Global Nation: “A majority of Danes fear Islam is an obstacle for social cohesion, despite one in two believing that immigration is positive for Danish society, according to a study published Tuesday. In a survey by the Ramboell institute, some 54.9 percent believe that Islam hinders social harmony, while 39.9 percent disagree and 5.2 percent did not comment.”

Indland: “From Friday in here week and Sunday is atheistic company, which has 1,200 members, hosts one of the first and largest international atheist conferences in Europe, where several of the world’s most prominent atheists who fight for a separation of state and religion, focusing on issues in religion and politics . . . Also American Dan Barker from the Association Freedom From Religion Foundation . . . ” [Google Translation]

BioNews: “Political consensus in Denmark has resulted in an amendment to legislation governing IVF (in vitro fertilisation) funding. According to the European Society of Human Reproduction and Embryology (ESHRE), free public health services will no longer extend towards assisted reproduction treatments (ART).”

Copenhagen Post: “Danish parliament passed a vote giving equal adoption rights to couples in registered partnerships yesterday, but without the support of the government . . . Danish homosexuals could previously adopt as individuals or adopt the children of their partner under the step-child adoption laws. Figures from Statistics Denmark show that of the 712 step-child adoptions in 2007, 103 were from couples in a registered partnership.”

Times Online: “Up to 95,000 descendants of the prophet Muhammad are planning to bring a libel action in Britain over ‘blasphemous’ cartoons of the founder of Islam, even though they were published in the Danish press . . . Yamani is expected to justify the action by claiming that the cartoons, including one of Muhammad wearing a bomb-shaped turban, were accessible in Britain on the internet. Critics say the case is a political stunt and yet another example of how England has become the leading destination for ‘libel tourism’. The English defamation laws make it easier to bring and win libel cases here than in jurisdictions such as America that place greater emphasis on freedom of speech.”

Christopher Hitchens writes at Slate: “I have just finished reading one of the most astoundingly stupid and nasty documents ever to have landed on my desk. It consists of a letter from a law firm in Saudi Arabia, run by a man named Ahmed Zaki Yamani, to a group of newspapers in Scandinavia. I quote directly from its main paragraphs . . . ”

AFP on Yahoo: “But according to a poll published by the Christian daily Kristelig Dagbladet on Wednesday, 63 percent of the Danish population would be happy to see gay couples married at the altar.”

The Hill: “A political scuffle has broken out about which lawmakers will be allowed to go to Copenhagen, Demark, on a congressional delegation led by Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) . . . “It’s really a question of whether they are excluding someone who has a different opinion than ‘Isn’t this wonderful?,’” Issa said, noting that there is still a possibility that he would be allowed on the trip. Around 20 House members are expected to be on the codel.”

Religion Clause Blog: “Today’s New York Times reports on the political opposition in Denmark to plans by for the building of two grand mosques in Copenhagen.”

Kurt Westergaard writing in The Daily Princetonian: “In light of what has later been claimed about Jyllands-Posten’s intentions to deliberately and gratuitously offend 1.2 billion Muslims, I should point out that the paper’s rationale was a far different one. In the months leading up to the publication of the cartoons, Islamists had launched one attack on Danish free speech after another.”

Asia One News (AFP): “A Saudi lawyer has demanded a public apology from a number of Danish dailies that reprinted a controversial cartoon of Prophet Mohammed in February 2008, Danish media reported on Sunday.”

The Copenhagen Post: “A majority of Copenhagen City Councillors are backing a proposal to allow homosexual couples to be declared ‘married’ when they enter civil unions at City Hall. Culture and Leisure Deputy Mayor Pia Allerslev, the proposal’s sponsor, said the change was a matter of language. She was not seeking to change legal marriage rights for homosexuals.”

Islam in Europe: “A 15 year old boy from Rønne will appear in court next week. He’s charged with trying to distribute racist posters. The Bornholm court says that the 15 year old is charged with having produced posters and fliers at home with the titles: ‘Denmark will be a Muslim country?,’ ‘Denmark wake up.’”

The Copenhagen Post: “The study found that while five percent of children from traditional families developed conditions such as depression or anorexia between 1992 and 2008, the number was two percent among the 387 children of lesbian parents participating in the study.”

varldenidag.se: A study conducted by the analysis institute Capacent shows that 18 percent of Muslims in Denmark declare they ‘agree’ or ‘completely agree’ with the statement: ‘Sharia law should be integrated into Danish law’.

The Copenhagen Post: Parliament signals to government for the first time that it is ready to give equal adoption rights to civil partnership and married couples

The Copenhagen Post: A number of school administrators have come forth in recent days to confirm that they recommend Jewish children should not enrol at their schools. According to school administrators, law enforcement officials and social workers, the on-going conflict …

Clashes between these claims of right are today generating acute tensions in relations between states and peoples, a state of affairs starkly illustrated by the recent Danish cartoons controversy.

Russia Today reports: “An Iraqi man living in Denmark has been told that if he doesn’t divorce one of his two wives, he will have to leave the country. The unnamed interpreter worked with Danish forces in Iraq before going …

Religion Clause Blog reports: “Jordan’s Public Prosecutor has summoned Danish cartoonist Kurt Westergaard and the editors of ten Danish newspapers to appear in Jordan to answer charges of blasphemy and threatening the national peace because of an offensive cartoon of …

AFP reports: A suicide car bomb outside Denmark’s embassy in Pakistan killed up to eight people including a Danish citizen Monday in a possible new backlash over cartoons of the Prophet Mohammed, officials and state media said. The massive blast …

”There is no way we will accept this symbol of tyranny,” party spokesman Soeren Espersen said.

Mr. Westergaard (he drew Muhammad with a bomb in his turban) has been in hiding ever since.

An article by Hana Levi Julian from Israel National News: The mayor of Tel Aviv has accepted an invitation from Copenhagen to send representatives of Tel Aviv to an upcoming international homosexual event in the Danish capital. Mayor Ron Huldai …

Public service Danmarks Radio said however that five people were arrested, including three Danish nationals. All five were of Muslim background, it said.