Copenhagen- A 50-year-old man was Friday remanded in custody on suspicion of defrauding a Danish bank of some 17 million kroner (3.1 million dollars), news reports said.

The fraud against Carnegie Denmark A/S, a subsidiary of a Swedish investment bank, took place over a five-year period until earlier this year, the Jyllands-Posten newspaper reported.

The custody hearing against the man, a high-placed employee, was held behind closed doors in Copenhagen.

Copenhagen - A founder of the New Alliance party, which was formed in 2007, said Monday he was to leave the party and become an independent in parliament.

Syrian-born Naser Khader said he had used the holiday break to consider his political future and decided he would leave the centrist party that, last August, was renamed the Liberal Alliance.

Khader said his "gut feeling was not sufficient" to remain in the party, adding "you also need to have your heart in it," according to a statement published on his website.

Copenhagen - Danish poet Inger Christensen, often mentioned as a possible Nobel Literature Prize winner, has died at the age of 73, her Danish publisher said Monday.

Christensen died Friday, publisher Gyldendal said.

In 1964 she started to write full-time following the publication of the poetry collections Light (1962) and Grass, the following year.

Works that stand out in her production include the large collection of poems called It (Det) from 1969, where she explored both social and political issues as well as contrasting love and hate.

Copenhagen - Nordic foreign ministers called Friday for an end to the "misrule" of President Robert Mugabe in Zimbabwe and that "human rights be reinstated."

The foreign ministers of Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway and Sweden said they were "appalled by the grave humanitarian situation in Zimbabwe."

They expressed concern about the recent cholera outbreak and promised assistance to help victims, noting that "the authorities in Zimbabwe alone bear the responsibility for the tragic situation the country is currently faced with."

Copenhagen - A Danish executive extradited from the United States on Tuesday admitted to allegations of fraud during a remand custody hearing at a Danish district court.

Stein Bagger, 41, was chief executive of the software company IT Factory and is alleged to have defrauded the group of some 182 million dollars and also falsified documents.

IT Factory was to have become co-sponsor of the CSC team of Danish ex-cyclist Bjarne Riis as of 2009.

Bagger's lawyer questioned the size of the sums during the court hearing on Tuesday, hours after Bagger's plane had landed, local media reported.

Copenhagen - Denmark's central bank Thursday shadowed an interest rate cut by the European