Today’s big topic: Ørsted wins over Trump: »a huge relief«
What’s happening?
Ørsted is allowed to resume work on the offshore wind farm Revolution Wind off the U.S. East Coast, a judge ruled in federal court in Washington, D.C., Monday evening Danish time. In early January, Ørsted announced that the company had filed a complaint to the court after the U.S. Department of the Interior paused the offshore wind project in December.
»We are pleased that Revolution Wind has once again received the court’s approval to continue work,« says Ørsted’s CEO, Rasmus Errboe, in a written statement to Politiken.
Why it matters!
The order from the authorities on December 22 last year meant that activities related to Revolution Wind had to be halted for 90 days. According to U.S. Secretary of the Interior Doug Burgum, the reason was national security. But the judge in the case did not buy that on Monday. He simply did not believe that the ministry’s documentation in the case was sufficient.
»The decision is a huge relief for the Danish offshore wind companies. Not only does the decision mean that Ørsted can move forward, but it can also set a precedent for five offshore wind projects on the northeastern coast«, journalist Hans Davidsen-Nielsen writes in an analysis.
Still curious? Read the full article here.
In other news
– Republicans criticize Trump ahead of meeting
Unexpected help awaits Denmark’s Foreign Minister Lars Løkke Rasmussen (Moderaterne, M) when he, along with his Greenlandic colleague Vivian Motzfeldt, attends a meeting at the U.S. State Department on Wednesday.
The topic of the meeting with U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio is Greenland, and among Republicans in Congress and voters, opposition to Trump is growing day by day. Both senators and members of the House of Representatives are speaking out. Senator John Kennedy from Louisiana, for example, has used the term »weapons-grade stupid« to describe the idea of invading Greenland.
– LEGO and Pokémon team up
Soon, you will be able to build Pokémon characters Pikachu, Eevee, Venusaur, Charizard, and Blastoise out of LEGO bricks. A new collaboration between LEGO and Pokémon will be launched on February 27, LEGO announces in a press release. Initially, the collaboration will feature three different LEGO sets. One of the sets can be assembled to depict the iconic scene in the Pokémon universe where Pikachu jumps out of a poké ball. That set will contain 2,050 bricks.
– Charlie Puth will perform at Danish festival
The American pop star Charlie Puth will be visiting Tinderbox in Odense this June, the festival announces in a press release. Charlie Puth is known for hits such as ’Attention’ and ’We Don’t Talk Anymore’. The American singer is one of the 18 artists that Tinderbox has announced so far. Other musicians include names like the band Aphaca, Rasmus Seebach, Thomas Helmig, and the American rapper and pop singer Pitbull.
Talk of town: Danes want to boycott American goods, but the reality looks different
Many Danes are boycotting Coca-Cola, Heinz, and generally anything that comes from the USA. Or: at least that’s the impression one might easily get when reading news and debates on the subject.
32 percent of Danes said they bought fewer American goods in a YouGov survey from July last year. On Facebook, over 90,000 have joined the group ’Boykot varer fra USA’ (Boycott goods from the USA, ed.). But when you dive into what Danes are actually doing, the picture changes – a lot.
For most American-origin products, there are no significant fluctuations to be seen in supermarket sales figures. And that has been the case ever since the big debate about the boycott began. That’s according to Coop Denmark, which operates Kvickly, SuperBrugsen, Brugsen, and 365discount. Only for American wine do the chains report a real and ongoing difference. About 20 percent less American wine is sold now.
»Wine is often served to guests, so there might be more of a signal in choosing something other than American there«, says Jens Juul Nielsen, information director at Coop.
Read the full article here.
This newsletter features stories originally published in Danish. AI was used to shorten and translate the articles into English, after which a member of the editorial staff reviewed and refined the content.