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Denmark says Russia was behind two ‘destructive and disruptive’ cyber-attacks

Intelligence service says attacks were work of groups connected to Russian state in ‘clear evidence’ of hybrid war

The Danish government has accused Russia of being behind two “destructive and disruptive” cyber-attacks in what it describes as “very clear evidence” of a hybrid war.

The Danish Defence Intelligence Service (DDIS) announced on Thursday that Moscow was behind a cyber-attack on a Danish water utility in 2024 and a series of distributed denial-of-service (DDoS) attacks on Danish websites in the lead-up to the municipal and regional council elections in November.

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© Photograph: Nils Meilvang/Ritzau Scanpix/AFP/Getty Images

© Photograph: Nils Meilvang/Ritzau Scanpix/AFP/Getty Images

© Photograph: Nils Meilvang/Ritzau Scanpix/AFP/Getty Images

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Denmark’s ‘ghetto law’ targeting ‘parallel societies’ may be unlawful, EU court rules

ECJ ruling gives hope to residents in Copenhagen neighbourhood targeted due to its high percentage of residents with ‘non-western’ backgrounds

Residents of a Copenhagen neighbourhood that became an international symbol of a law in Denmark known as the “ghetto law” have said they are confident they can strike the law down in the Danish courts after the top EU court ruled that it may be unlawful.

The controversial legislation, dating from 2018, allows the state to demolish apartment blocks in areas labelled “parallel societies” by the government, where at least half of residents have a “non-western” background. Formerly, the government referred to these neighbourhoods as “ghettoes”.

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© Photograph: Andrew Kelly/Reuters

© Photograph: Andrew Kelly/Reuters

© Photograph: Andrew Kelly/Reuters

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Danish intelligence accuses US of using economic power to ‘assert its will’ over allies

The US also listed as a threat due to its growing interest in Greenland, which is vital to America’s national security

Danish intelligence services have accused the US of using its economic power to “assert its will” and threatening military force against its allies.

The comments, made in its annual assessment released this week, mark the first time that the Danish Defence Intelligence Service (DDIS) has listed the US as a threat to the country. Denmark, the report warns, is “facing more and more serious threats and security policy challenges than in many years”.

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© Photograph: Jim Watson/AFP/Getty Images

© Photograph: Jim Watson/AFP/Getty Images

© Photograph: Jim Watson/AFP/Getty Images

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Venezuelan Nobel laureate backs US seizure of oil tanker

María Corina Machado says action was ‘very necessary step’ to confront Nicolás Maduro’s ‘criminal’ regime

Venezuela’s best-known opposition leader, the Nobel peace prize winner María Corina Machado, has said she supports the US seizure of an oil tanker off Venezuela’s coast, calling it a “very necessary step” to confront Nicolás Maduro’s “criminal” regime.

Speaking in Oslo on Thursday, a day after she was honoured for her “tireless” struggle for democratic change, Machado praised the US navy and coastguard helicopter raid on the vessel.

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© Photograph: Lise Åserud/AP

© Photograph: Lise Åserud/AP

© Photograph: Lise Åserud/AP

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Santa at war: ‘home’ town in Finland hosts Nato soldiers as Russian threat looms

Christmas tourists are noticing a growing military presence in Lapland, where Santa Park doubles as a bomb shelter

Billed as the official home town of Santa Claus, or joulupukki as he is known in Finland, the city of Rovaniemi offers every imaginable Father Christmas-related experience – from a visit to his “office” on the Arctic Circle to reindeer sleigh rides. He even has his own branch of the Finnish design house Marimekko.

But this Christmas season, in addition to the hundreds of thousands of tourists from around the world coming in search of Santa, Finnish Lapland’s snow-covered capital is becoming an increasingly popular destination for international military visitors.

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© Photograph: Jouni Porsanger/The Guardian

© Photograph: Jouni Porsanger/The Guardian

© Photograph: Jouni Porsanger/The Guardian

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Oslo appearance by Nobel peace prize winner María Corina Machado cancelled

Press conference was expected to have been Venezuelan opposition leader’s first public appearance in 11 months

A press conference in Oslo with the Nobel peace prize laureate María Corina Machado, the Venezuelan opposition leader in hiding, has been cancelled, the Norwegian Nobel Institute has said, adding that it was “in the dark” as to her whereabouts.

Machado last appeared in public on 9 January at a demonstration in Caracas protesting against the inauguration of Nicolás Maduro for his third term as president. The press conference, traditionally held by the Nobel laureate on the eve of the award ceremony, had been expected to be the 58-year-old’s first public appearance in 11 months.

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© Photograph: Miguel Gutiérrez/EPA

© Photograph: Miguel Gutiérrez/EPA

© Photograph: Miguel Gutiérrez/EPA

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