- Lewandowski treble powers Liga leaders Barca to Alaves victory
- Russian activist killed on front line in Ukraine
- Openda strike briefly sends Leipzig top of Bundesliga
- Goal-shy Man Utd have to 'step up', says Ten Hag
- India bowl out Bangladesh for 127 in T20 opener
- Madueke rescues Chelsea in draw with 10-man Forest
- Beckett's belief rewarded as Bluestocking storms to Arc glory
- Trump on the stump, Harris hits airwaves in razor-edge US election
- Flash flooding kills three in northern Thailand
- Kaur leads India to victory over Pakistan in Women's T20 World Cup
- Juventus held by Cagliari after late penalty drama
- In France's Marseille, teen 'stabbed 50 times' then burned alive
- Ruthless Gauff beats Muchova in straight sets to win China Open
- India restrict Pakistan to 105-8 in Women's T20 World Cup
- England target repeat of Pakistan Test whitewash
- Penrith Panthers win fourth straight NRL title after downing Storm
- Weary Sinner happy for day off after battling into Shanghai last 16
- Pakistan's Masood warns England still a force without Stokes
- Madrid's Carvajal to miss several months after serious knee injury
- Israel pounds Lebanon ahead of Hamas attack anniversary
- Two elephants die in flash flooding in northern Thailand
- Sabalenka targets world number one and Wuhan hat-trick
- Toddler among 4 dead in migrant Channel crossings
- Tunisia votes with Saied set for re-election
- Bagnaia sets 'example' with Japan MotoGP win to cut gap on Martin
- Intense Israeli bombing rocks Beirut ahead of war anniversary
- Mozambique vote: no suspense but some disillusion
- Austrian rapper channels anti-racist rage in Romani hip-hop songs
- Ohtani magic powers Dodgers over Padres in MLB playoff thriller
- Five of the best: Pakistan-England Test thrillers
- Man sets arm on fire as marches across US mark Gaza war anniversary
- Vietnam's young coffee entrepreneurs brew up a revolution
- Trump rallies at site of failed assassination: 'Never quit'
- Too hot by day, Dubai's floodlit beaches are packed at night
- Is music finally reckoning with #MeToo?
- Fans hail Trump's 'guts' as he returns to site of rally shooting
- Lebanon state media says 'very violent' Israeli strikes hit south Beirut
- Guardians maul Tigers, miracle Mets rally in MLB series openers
- Lebanon state media says Israeli strikes hit south Beirut
- Miami on track for MLS record points after win in Toronto
- Madrid beat Villarreal but Carvajal suffers knee injury
- Madrid beat Villarreal to move level with Liga leaders Barcelona
- Monaco take top spot in Ligue 1 with win at Rennes
- French rugby player on rape charge whistled but 'serene' on return
- Madrid beat Villarreal to level Liga leaders Barca
- Thuram treble fires Inter past Torino and up to second
- 'Fight': defiant Trump jets in to site of rally shooting
- Toddler among 3 dead in migrant Channel crossings
- Mexico City's new mayor sworn in with pledges on water, housing
- Israel on alert ahead of Hamas attack anniversary
Denmark holds 'funeral' for a polluted fjord
A fjord in the east of Denmark received last rites on Saturday from a group of local activists in an effort to draw attention to the poor health of the country's coastal waters.
About a thousand people gathered alongside the Vejle Fjord to celebrate an open air "funeral" for the inlet in the west of the country, which has been asphyxiated by industrial agricultural run-offs.
"We mark this as a sorrowful event. Last year, we had the most heavy deoxygenation in 25 years in Denmark," Christian Fromberg, who organised the event for Greenpeace, told AFP in English.
Biologist Stiig Markager from the University of Aarhus said Vejle was a "dead fjord" because the lack of oxygen has killed off its fauna and flora.
"Thirty years ago we could catch fish here. Now there is nothing. The seabed is totally polluted. There is no life" said local resident Hugues Dedieu.
An underwater surveillance camera installed by a local town hall detected just one fish in 70 hours.
A report in 2022 by the University of Southern Denmark concluded the 22-kilometre (14-mile) fjord was in a "poor environmental condition" because of high levels of nitrogen run-off from fertiliser use on farms.
- Intensive agriculture -
Only five of Denmark's 109 coastal zones are classed as healthy.
"The culprits are pigs and cattle," said Markager.
"About 33 million pigs are produced every year and 64 percent of the land is cultivated.
The country's main agricultural association argues farmers are taking steps to prevent pollution.
"Danish farmers are constantly working to reduce nitrogen (use) and, as a result, nitrogen leaching has been halved since 1990," Marie Ostergaard from the Danish Agriculture and Food Council told AFP.
Denmark's agricultural industry would have to cut its nitrogen run-offs by another 45 percent in the following three years to conform with European Union-wide laws, Markager said.
Fertiliser run-off favours the growth of algae that cover water surfaces, blocking light and cutting off oxygen.
During the ceremony held on Saturday under ever changing skies, participants read a series of homages to the fjord, interspersed with music.
Pastor Sarah Kragh Dedieu concluded the service with a Bible passage about the creation of the land and the sea.
"Denmark is most likely the member state in the EU with the worst ecological state of its waters," said Markager.
That's partly due to its geography.
Many of the country's estuaries have limited access to the open sea, which has a low salinity, he said.
D.Cunningha--AMWN