Denmark

Sweden intends to expel up to 80,000 failed asylum seekers, the interior minister said on Jan. 27, the latest move by EU states to tighten their borders in the face of the migrant crisis.

Chinese artist and activist Ai Weiwei announced on Wednesday he is closing down his exhibition ”Ruptures” at Faurschou Foundation in Copenhagen, Denmark, as a protest against the new law that allows Danish authorities to seize asylum seekers’ personal valuables to pay for the cost of their staying.

British police detectives have opened up a cold case file after the discovery of a headless body of a woman more than 40 years ago. The police believe that the body , found on an isolated heath at Cockley Cley in Norfolk on August 27, 1974, may belong to a Danish sex worker aged between 23 and 35 years of age.

A Denmark resident who travelled outside Denmark has tested positive for mosquito-transmitted Zika virus, the national broadcaster DR reported on Jan. 27, citing health officials.

Health authorities from second largest Danish city, Aarhus, said the patient travelled to South and Central America where the Zika virus has taken hold, DR said. It did not elaborate. 

Bulgaria ranks 69th in the latest Corruption Perceptions Index of Transparency International released on Wednesday.

Bulgaria retained its ranking from 2014, but its score slightly declined from 43 to 41.

Sharing the 69th position with Jamaica, Bulgaria is the most corrupt country among the member states of the EU.

Denmark's parliament passed measures on Jan. 26 aimed at deterring refugees from seeking asylum, including confiscating valuables to pay for their stay, despite protests from international human rights organisations.

Denmark’s parliament voted on Tuesday a plan which will allow authorities to search asylum-seekers when they arrive in the country and seize items worth of no sentimental value up to a value of 10,000 Danish kroner (about 1,340 euros).

They also voted for plans to delay family reunions for asylum seekers.

The European Commission said Jan. 26 that it may eventually allow member states of the passport-free Schengen zone to reintroduce border checks for up to two years to cope with the migration crisis.

At a meeting in Amsterdam on Jan. 25 EU interior ministers had asked the Commission - the executive arm of the 28-nation European Union - about the possibility of extending the checks.

The Bulgarian men's national football team will participate at the Kirin Cup friendly tournament which will be held in Japan between June 3 and 7.

Apart from Bulgaria and the hosts Japan, the other teams participating in the tournament will be Bosnia and Herzegovina and Denmark.

Bulgaria absorbed 85 % of the EU funds available under the 2007-2013 programme period.

Bulgaria's absorption rate was below the average for the EU, which stood at 88.9 %, with the country ranking 22nd in this respect.