Copenhagen - A Danish freighter and its crew of 13 were Friday freed after being held for 68 days by pirates off the coast of Somalia.

An undisclosed ransom secured the release of the CEC Future, Per Gullestrup, head of the Clipper Elite Carrier shipping company, told Danish news agency Ritzau.

The vessel was seized on November 8 in the Gulf of Aden. It was on Friday heading to Oman under escort by a Russian warship. The crew were mainly Russian nationals.

Gullestrup said the ransom was placed in a container that was parachuted from a small plane to a spot identified by the pirates.

After picking up the ransom, the pirates counted the sum on the vessel.

Copenhagen - Denmark's central bank Thursday lowered its lending rate

Copenhagen  - Thousands of people gathered Tuesday in downtown Copenhagen to protest the ongoing violence in Gaza.

The protest at the main city hall square was organized by among others opposition parties and trade unions. Organizers estimated 5,000 people attended.

Earlier Tuesday, Danish Prime Minister Anders Fogh Rasmussen urged Israel and Hamas to cease the violence.

Rasmussen said Copenhagen had no plans to seek compensation from Israel for damages to Danish-funded aid projects damaged or destroyed in the ongoing offensive in Gaza.

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 - Danish politicians Wednesday approved a new probe into the circumstances surrounding a US Air Force B-52 bomber, armed with nuclear bombs, that crashed in 1968 off northern Greenland.

One of the plane's four nuclear bombs reportedly went missing, and has never been found. Foreign Minister Per Stig Moller said the probe would be "comprehensive", Danish news agency Ritzau reported.

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.