Danish voters headed to polling stations on Tuesday in a snap election that could deliver a messy political stalemate.
A new centrist party founded by former prime minister Lars Lokke Rasmussen may hold the balance of power after polling day.
Late polls suggested the left-wing “red bloc” led by Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen’s Social Democrats will win the most seats.
But neither they nor the “blue bloc” of right-leaning parties are projected to win an overall majority.
“No one can count to 90 without Lars Lokke,” one newspaper headline said, referring to the number of seats needed for a majority.
The election was triggered by a scandal concerning the bungled mass slaughter of mink, who were found to be spreading a mutation of Covid-19.
The cull decimated Denmark’s fur industry and led to investigations that found the government acted illegally and misled the public.
Ms Frederiksen, 44, was forced to call an election but is running for another term on a no-experiments message in stormy times.
She voted early at a badminton centre turned into a polling booth north-west of Copenhagen.
“This election could be really close, and there is a risk that there will be a blue government after today,” she said.
Jakob Ellemann-Jensen, a Liberal Party candidate for prime minister, is calling for healthcare reform, a tax freeze and to keep pursuing the mink scandal.
His party wants a targeted increase in immigration to fill labour shortages in the Danish economy.
Mr Ellemann-Jensen is openly courting the support of Mr Rasmussen, himself a former Liberal prime minister from 2009 to 2011 and 2015 to 2019.
“If you want the things you dream of, which were grown in our common backyard, then come home,” Mr Ellemann-Jensen said in one TV debate.
Ms Frederiksen, whose government has taken a hard line on immigration, is promising to pursue a deal with Rwanda similar to the one it has with the UK.
She has signalled she would be willing to lead a unity government and would consider reforms to health care.
But Mr Rasmussen is keeping his options open after seeing his new Moderate Party climb in the polls.
The party is promising to bring people together to tackle issues such as integration and the fraying welfare state.
“Our focus in the election campaign has been politics and we talk about something, not someone,” Mr Rasmussen recently said.
Mr Rasmussen has bounced back from political setbacks before, including election defeats and a scandal involving luxury suits paid for with expenses.
Polls suggest the Moderate pitch is cutting through most among people in Copenhagen and those who like Mr Rasmussen personally.
Although the Moderates are unlikely to be the largest party, there has been speculation that Mr Rasmussen could seek the top job in a unity government.
He has remained coy on that subject, saying he does not expect to be prime minister but would take the job if offered it.
It has sparked comparisons to the hit TV drama Borgen, in which the leader of a centrist party manoeuvres her way to becoming Danish prime minister.
The first results are expected after polls close at 8pm local time on Tuesday.
In a tight race, the four seats allocated to the Danish territories of the Faroe Islands and Greenland could prove decisive.
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Some of Darwish's last words
"They see their tomorrows slipping out of their reach. And though it seems to them that everything outside this reality is heaven, yet they do not want to go to that heaven. They stay, because they are afflicted with hope." - Mahmoud Darwish, to attendees of the Palestine Festival of Literature, 2008
His life in brief: Born in a village near Galilee, he lived in exile for most of his life and started writing poetry after high school. He was arrested several times by Israel for what were deemed to be inciteful poems. Most of his work focused on the love and yearning for his homeland, and he was regarded the Palestinian poet of resistance. Over the course of his life, he published more than 30 poetry collections and books of prose, with his work translated into more than 20 languages. Many of his poems were set to music by Arab composers, most significantly Marcel Khalife. Darwish died on August 9, 2008 after undergoing heart surgery in the United States. He was later buried in Ramallah where a shrine was erected in his honour.
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4,872 matches
1,942 teams
116 pitches
76 nations
26 UAE teams
15 Lebanese teams
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GAC GS8 Specs
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Price: From Dh149,900
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Sole survivors
- Cecelia Crocker was on board Northwest Airlines Flight 255 in 1987 when it crashed in Detroit, killing 154 people, including her parents and brother. The plane had hit a light pole on take off
- George Lamson Jr, from Minnesota, was on a Galaxy Airlines flight that crashed in Reno in 1985, killing 68 people. His entire seat was launched out of the plane
- Bahia Bakari, then 12, survived when a Yemenia Airways flight crashed near the Comoros in 2009, killing 152. She was found clinging to wreckage after floating in the ocean for 13 hours.
- Jim Polehinke was the co-pilot and sole survivor of a 2006 Comair flight that crashed in Lexington, Kentucky, killing 49.
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Juliet, Naked
Dir: Jesse Peretz
Starring: Chris O'Dowd, Rose Byrne, Ethan Hawke
Two stars
Jigra
Starring: Alia Bhatt, Vedang Raina, Manoj Pahwa, Harsh Singh
RESULTS
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Winner: Dalil De Carrere, Bernardo Pinheiro (jockey), Mohamed Daggash (trainer)
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The smuggler
Eldarir had arrived at JFK in January 2020 with three suitcases, containing goods he valued at $300, when he was directed to a search area.
Officers found 41 gold artefacts among the bags, including amulets from a funerary set which prepared the deceased for the afterlife.
Also found was a cartouche of a Ptolemaic king on a relief that was originally part of a royal building or temple.
The largest single group of items found in Eldarir’s cases were 400 shabtis, or figurines.
Khouli conviction
Khouli smuggled items into the US by making false declarations to customs about the country of origin and value of the items.
According to Immigration and Customs Enforcement, he provided “false provenances which stated that [two] Egyptian antiquities were part of a collection assembled by Khouli's father in Israel in the 1960s” when in fact “Khouli acquired the Egyptian antiquities from other dealers”.
He was sentenced to one year of probation, six months of home confinement and 200 hours of community service in 2012 after admitting buying and smuggling Egyptian antiquities, including coffins, funerary boats and limestone figures.
For sale
A number of other items said to come from the collection of Ezeldeen Taha Eldarir are currently or recently for sale.
Their provenance is described in near identical terms as the British Museum shabti: bought from Salahaddin Sirmali, "authenticated and appraised" by Hossen Rashed, then imported to the US in 1948.
- An Egyptian Mummy mask dating from 700BC-30BC, is on offer for £11,807 ($15,275) online by a seller in Mexico
- A coffin lid dating back to 664BC-332BC was offered for sale by a Colorado-based art dealer, with a starting price of $65,000
- A shabti that was on sale through a Chicago-based coin dealer, dating from 1567BC-1085BC, is up for $1,950
World Sevens Series standing after Dubai
1. South Africa
2. New Zealand
3. England
4. Fiji
5. Australia
6. Samoa
7. Kenya
8. Scotland
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10. Spain
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14. Uganda
15. United States
16. Russia
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Section 375
Cast: Akshaye Khanna, Richa Chadha, Meera Chopra & Rahul Bhat
Director: Ajay Bahl
Producers: Kumar Mangat Pathak, Abhishek Pathak & SCIPL
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'Saand Ki Aankh'
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UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
