Copenhagen - Danish Prince Joachim and his French-born wife, Princess Marie, are expecting their first child, the palace said Monday.

Copenhagen - A Danish freighter and its crew of 13 have been abducted by pirates off the coast of Somalia, reported a maritime official Saturday.

The Friday afternoon attack on the CEC Future, a ship registered in the Bahamas and owned by the Clipper Elite Carrier shipping company, occurred in the Gulf of Aden when there were no other nearby ships which could come to the CEC Future's aid.

There were not believed to be any Danes among the crew. The Danish maritime official said that the shipping company would be responsible for any negotiations with the pirates or ransom payments.

Copenhagen  - Denmark's central bank Thursday shadowed an interest rate cut by the European Central Bank and lowered its lending rate by 0.50 percentage points to 5 per cent.

Copenhagen - Danish brewer Carlsberg's third-quarter operating profit increased, the group said Wednesday but noted that beer sales in expanding markets in Russia and Eastern Europe were impacted by bad weather in the quarter.

The quarter's operating profit before special items was 3.05 billion kroner (525 million dollars), compared to 2.07 billion kroner for the corresponding business period in
2007.

Turnover in the quarter surged from 12.4 billion to 18.44 billion kroner year-on-year, while net profit was up from 1.3 billion to 1.4 billion kroner.

Copenhagen - Danish Prime Minister Anders Fogh Rasmussen on Tuesday said he would "sound out" the prospects of staging a referendum on introducing the joint European currency, the euro, with other political parties.

Speaking to reporters at his weekly news conference, the premier underlined that he had no date in mind.

Rasmussen said he aimed to seek broad political backing in favour of the referendum, including the opposition Socialist People's Party that in 2000 opposed the euro.

Copenhagen - Thousands of passengers scrambled Wednesday to find alternative transport after the bankruptcy of low-cost Danish airline Sterling Airlines.

The airline Wednesday filed for bankruptcy and grounded all flights with immediate effect.

The some 1,100 employees were later informed that they had not been fired but were to remain at the disposal of the liquidators.

In a statement on its website, the airline cited that it had been impacted by the global financial recession that started in the autumn of 2007 and led to a "stagnation in the market."