Denmark

Denmark will investigate claims that the CIA secretly used an airport on the Nordic country's remote Arctic territory of Greenland to transport prisoners in the Bush administration's war on terrorism, the Danish prime minister said Thursday. Denmark began investigating reports in 2005 that the CIA had quietly touched down on its territory as part of the agency's "extraordinary rendition" program.

In Denmark, Stein Bagger's spectacular fall from technology golden boy to alleged scam artist and international fugitive has captivated many of the country's 5 million residents. His purported fraud, said to be as high as $170 million, is the biggest scandal in 20 years. But when Bagger, 41, strode into the Los Angeles police station near skid row on Saturday morning, officers wondered whether he was delusional. "I am Stein Bagger," the man said, putting his hands on the counter.

Exports to Muslim countries fell by more than 11% last year after a boycott of Danish goods to protest the publication of cartoons of the prophet Muhammad, the government said. Dairy products, dominated by the Scandinavian Arla Foods group, were worst hit, with exports dropping 39%, to $196 million, Statistics Denmark said. The boycott started in Saudi Arabia and spread to other Arab countries.

Protesters from across northern Europe flocked to the Danish capital Saturday to join riots sparked Thursday by the eviction of squatters from an abandoned building that had been a center for young leftists and punk rockers. More than 500 people, scores of them foreigners, have been arrested in the riots. Authorities said more than 200 were arrested early Saturday after overnight clashes in which demonstrators pelted police with cobblestones and set fire to cars.

Masked demolition workers protected by police tore down a Copenhagen building that served as a makeshift cultural center for Denmark's anarchists and disaffected youth, ignoring sobs and screamed obscenities from a crowd of young people. Four days of riots followed the owner's decision to evict squatters from the building. The violent demonstrations were Denmark's worst in a decade and drew people from across Northern Europe. More than 650 people were arrested and 25 injured.

A wristwatch buried in the ice at the North Pole three years ago was found more than 1,800 miles away after it floated ashore on Denmark's Faroe Islands in the North Atlantic. Niels Jakup Mortensen, 11, spotted a black box near his home on Suduroy, the Faroes' southernmost island, said his mother, Anna Jacobsen. Inside was a watch that had been buried at the North Pole by Joergen Amundsen, a descendant of Norwegian explorer Roald Amundsen. She said it was still working.

Researchers have perfected an inexpensive and efficient way to convert types A, B and AB blood into type O, the universal-donor blood that can be given to anyone -- an achievement that promises to make transfusions safer and to relieve shortages of type O blood. The team reported Sunday in the journal Nature Biotechnology that it isolated bacterial enzymes that safely remove from red blood cells the sugar molecules that provoke an immune reaction in the recipient.

A Moroccan-born Dane was sentenced in Copenhagen to 3 1/2 years in prison on charges of inciting Muslims to holy war using videotapes, CDs and DVDs that included footage of beheadings in the Russian republic of Chechnya. Said Mansur was convicted of producing and distributing material containing "inflammatory, jihadist speeches" under anti-terrorism laws introduced after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks in the United States.

The United States acknowledged Monday that three missing American soldiers probably were being held by militants linked to Al Qaeda, and it announced the deaths of six more U.S. troops. A Danish soldier also was mortally wounded in a battle in which insurgents trapped several troops, who were rescued by British soldiers. Seven soldiers from Denmark have died in Iraq. The country is due to begin withdrawing its 430 troops, who operate under British command in southern Iraq, in August.

Hundreds of youths clashed with police in Copenhagen, barricading streets and setting fire to cars to protest the demolition of a building in the freewheeling Christiania district. The Danish city's famed Little Mermaid statue was found doused with red paint, but police said it was unclear whether that act was related to the clashes. Police fired tear gas to disperse the protesters and arrested 59 people. Three officers were hurt.