A roundup of the news on Monday

Wrecks found off Costa Rica were Danish slave ships

Two 18th-century shipwrecks off the coast of Costa Rica, previously thought to have been pirate ships, have been confirmed to be two Danish slave ships, Denmark’s National Museum said yesterday.

“Investigations of ship timbers, bricks from the cargo and clay pipes found during underwater excavations” had determined the identity of two vessels shipwrecked in 1710, the museum said in a statement.

They were identified as the slave ships Fridericus Quartus and  Christianus Quintus, which according to historical sources were wrecked off the coast of Central America in 1710.

“The analyses are very convincing and we no longer have any doubts that these are the wrecks of the two Danish slave ships,” David Gregory, a marine archaeologist at Denmark’s National Museum, said in the statement.

We’ll have a full report on this story on our website later this morning.

Greenland’s PM says country can’t be bought during Denmark visit

Greenland will never never be a “piece of property” to be bought, the Arctic island’s new prime minister Jens-Frederik Nielsen said yesterday, criticising US talk of seizing the Danish autonomous territory as lacking respect.

Nielsen made the comments as he paid his first visit to Denmark since taking office, with US President Donald Trump’s repeated threats to take his strategically located island looming large over the diplomatic trip.

“We will never, ever be a piece of property that can be bought by anyone, and that’s the message I think is most important to understand,” Nielsen told reporters alongside Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen.

His visit follows one by Frederiksen to Greenland in early April, when she told the United States “you cannot annex another country”.

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Weather: Temperature could hit 20 degrees this week

Danish meteorologists say you can get your sunglasses out and leave your jacket at home this week, with temperatures climbing up to 20 degrees.

The coming days are set to see glorious spring weather, bringing with it the chance to enjoy the outdoors in short sleeves. A change in conditions is forecast on Thursday, however.

“We’re in for some really lovely spring weather over the first four days of the week, with plenty of sunshine and dry conditions,” Lisette Grenbom, meteorologist at the Danish Meteorological Institute (DMI), told news wire Ritzau.

The temperature is generally expected to be between 17 and 20 degrees Celsius.

“There might be a few clouds here and there, and along the coasts it could feel a bit cooler due to onshore winds from the west. But across most of the country, it will feel pleasantly warm,” Grenbom said.

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Pocket watch from Danish Titanic passenger sold for £30,000

A pocket watch belonging to Danish passenger Hans Christensen Givard, who died when the Titanic sank in 1912, has been sold for £30,000.

The partly gold-plated pocket watch belonging to Givard was sold at auction on Saturday for £30,000, around 262,000 kroner, by auction house Henry Aldridge and Son.

Givard, who, along with two friends, was travelling to the United States aboard the Titanic when disaster struck in 1912.

The 27-year-old Dane and his two friends, who were all travelling second class, did not survive. Givard’s body was later recovered from the North Atlantic.