The latest deadly anti-Semitic terror attack happened to come in a city that once heroically saved most of its Jewish citizens from the Nazis. What’s the lesson for today?
Tag: denmark
COPENHAGEN — Niels Ivar Larson, a Danish journalist and one of the organizers of last Saturday night’s debate on Islam and free speech at the Krudttønden cafe, says he’s in shock that a terrorist attacked the event and subsequently a synagogue, killing two and injuring five police officers. “Despite having received threats, Denmark has never […]
The targets of the attack in the two capitals were the same, free speech and Jews. Now Europe has an obligation to both its future and past to stand up to this evil with not a single alibi.
SOME AREAS IGNORE UKRAINE CEASEFIREThe ceasefire in eastern Ukraine was still broadly observed this morning, but sporadic fighting persisted in some areas, especially in the city of Debaltseve, which is encircled by pro-Russian rebels, the BBC reports. A Ukraine army official said five troops had been killed and 22 wounded since the ceasefire went into […]
“We Are Danish” — Libération, Feb. 16, 2015 One month after the shootings in Paris that killed 17 people, a similar terror attack left two dead and five wounded in the Danish capital Copenhagen over the weekend. In the same way the world honored the victims and the satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo with the “Je […]
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Two Little Mermaids
I told you we were going to publish this slide soon, didn’t I? As you read this, my grandson may be taking pictures of the same statue of the Little Mermaid before which his mother, my daughter Cécile, was posing 47 years ago: He’s in Copenhagen today.
Using donated same-day bread and soon-to-expire food from supermarkets, this volunteer-run Copenhagen restaurant then turns proceeds over to needy African students.
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Child’s Play
Abu Simbel, Amalienborg Castle, the Acropolis of Athens … Many of the famous landmarks I ended up visiting in real life are featured at Legoland Billund, the original Legoland park in central Denmark. Just to give you an idea, it took 1,500,000 Lego bricks to build this 12-meter-tall (40 ft) reproduction of the Mount Rushmore […]
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Who Watches The Watchmen?
These two watchmen, with their lamps and bludgeons, were on their way to their day jobs at Den Gamle By (“the Old Town“), an open-air historic musem and major touristic attraction in Aarhus, Denmark’s second largest city.
The 2014 Eurovision Song Contest will take place Saturday in Copenhagen. Through the glitter and cheese, some may again ask why such a show even exists — apart from its official claim of uniting the European continent through music. And no, you don’t watch the Eurovision in the hope of discovering that singularly euroesque talent […]
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Something Pretty In The Kingdom Of Denmark
Helsingor’s Kronborg Castle, in the background, is perhaps more famous as “Elsinore,” where most of Shakespeare’s Hamlet takes place. Maybe this is where our braided 8-year-old daughter Cécile got her love for all things English?
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French Prestige
“Restaurant,” “haute couture,” “cuisine,” “raison d”être…” There are many examples of the linguistic prestige of the French language worldwide. But in Denmark, the perfectly acceptable Danish word for urinal, “pissoir,” is also tacky French slang for the john.
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Bad Weather Makes One Crank-y
We were usually rather lucky weather-wise on our travels. But it rained so much on our 1961 trip to Denmark (as shown in the above picture of cloudy Copenhagen) that our Peugeot 203“s automatic windshield wipers broke — forcing us to use the hand-crank wipers that cars back then still featured as a backup.
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Waiting For The Changing Of The Guard
Amalienborg, the winter home of the Danish royal family, consists of four identical palaces situated around an octagonal square. Looking at more recent photos from Wikipedia, it’s unclear whether the same guard is still standing watch nearly five decades later!
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Sailors And Ducks
This picture made me smile when I rediscovered it — not so much for the image of these strolling Danish sailors, but for the slide that came up just before: two ducks, similarly side-by-side, heads in the water and bottoms up. (When your last name is Mallard, you see ducks wherever you go.)
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Danish Dragons
The building in the background is Copenhagen’s 17th century Borsen, the oldest stock exchange in Denmark. With its intriguing spire made of four dragon tails twined together, I wondered if Danish bankers appreciated the architect’s twisted sense of humor…
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The People’s Republic Of Unhappy China
The United Nations just released its World Happiness Report, ranking China No. 93. Denmark is the winner, and the U.S. finishes at a respectable No. 17.
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Why So Angry Mister Lego?
What the facial evolution of children’s toys tells us about our conflict-driven society.
Worldcrunch LONDON – The annual list of the world’s 50 best restaurants is out… and the Internet is officially HUNGRY! Spain’s El Celler De Can Roca in Girona beat out Noma in Copenhagen, which had taken home the top spot for the previous three years. The list is organized by Britain’s Restaurant magazine, with the […]
COPENHAGEN – It’s party time in Christiania, a neighborhood of the Danish capital, Copenhagen. Hundreds have gathered to listen to Sussie & Leo, a crazy duet that plays old rock and roll hits with a certain touch of self-mockery. “I’m an absolute fan,” says Inge, a fifty-something-year-old woman with blue hair. “This group is part […]
LE MONDE (France), WASHINGTON POST (US), BERLINGSKE (Denmark) MOSCOW TIMES (Russia) Worldcrunch PARIS – The lastest piece of good news for gay rights activists came from the Episcopal Church, which has become the largest U.S. denomination to bless same-sex unions. During the church’s general convention in Indianapolis, Indiana, an overwhelming majority voted in favor Tuesday […]
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Look What’s Not Rotten In Denmark
Using the same “toxic” assets that led to the subprime crisis, Denmark has created what they believe to be the best home mortgage system in the world. It’s been 200 years since someone defaulted on payment.
Climate change is wreaking havoc on Greenland’s sensitive ecosystems. But it is also giving miners and energy explorers easier access to the Arctic island’s valuable natural resources. Greenland is thought to be particularly rich in “rare earth” minerals.
There is now some real science beyond the myths and stereotypes about what sets that relatively rare redheaded breed apart from the rest of us. Though sometimes taunted by schoolmates, redheads turn out to be more resistant to physical pain than blonds an
A group of squatters is pooling its resources and trading shares in an effort to save Christiania, a so-called ‘autonomous neighborhood’ founded 40 years ago in central Copenhagen. The famous squat – long a target of rightist politicians – is being eyed b
Social Democrat Helle Thorning-Schmidt has been elected Denmark’s first female Prime Minister to succeed outgoing PM Lars Lokke Rasmussen.
Three years after Alitalia’s international fleet was shifted south to Rome, the Milan area airport tries to remake itself. Malpensa (ComunicaTi) MILAN – It did not become a desert as some had feared, but Malpensa is simply no longer a major airport. Still, three years after Rome’s Fiumicino was re-designated as Alitalia’s global hub, and […]