The Danish king inaugurates the first element of a road-and-rail tunnel linking Denmark to Germany

COPENHAGEN, Denmark (AP) — Danish King Frederik X inaugurated Monday the first element of a future 18-kilometer (11-mile) rail-and-road tunnel under the Baltic Sea that will link southern Denmark to northern Germany and contribute to the transport sector's green transition.

The Fehmarn link, which is expected to open in 2029, will also cut travel from the present 45-minute ferry crossing from Roedby on the Danish side to Puttgarten in Germany and connect by road and rail to central Europe and the Nordic countries.

Frederik unveiled a plaque at the entrance of the first 217-meter (237 yards) section of the tunnel, which will be submerged into a seabed trench on the Danish side later this year. He dropped a coin at his effigy into a time capsule containing objects donated by those who built the concrete elements.

Sund & Baelt, the company building the Fehmarn link, claims it will be the longest submersible tunnel. It will also include an electrified train track. Cars are expected to be able to cross the Baltic Sea in 10 minutes on the four lanes and trains will do that in seven minutes.

In 2011, it was decided that a link between the southern Denmark island of Lolland and the northern German isle of Fehmarn should be built as an immersed tunnel. Work on the Danish side was commissioned in July 2022, and on the German one exactly a year later.

The tunnel will consist of 89 concrete elements which are being constructed at a special facility in Roedbyhavn on Lolland, dubbed North Europe's largest construction site. In May, the first of the elements was cast.

The Fehmarn link will cost 55.1 billion kroner ($8 billion) and will be paid by users in Denmark. The Danish government will decide the toll charge for the tunnel at a later stage.

In recent years Denmark has built road-and-rail links to neighboring Sweden and between two major Danish islands.

In 2000, a bridge-and-tunnel link across the Oresund strait connected Copenhagen to Sweden's third largest city Malmo, and in 1998, road traffic opened between the islands of Funen, where Odense — Denmark’s third largest city — is located, and Zealand, where Copenhagen sits. Train traffic there started a year earlier.

Denmark's King Frederik X, left, visits the Fehmarn Belt tunnel construction site at Roedbyhavn and inaugurates the first tunnel element, on the island of Lolland, Denmark, Monday June 17, 2024. Danish King Frederik X inaugurated Monday the first element of a future 18-kilometer (11-mile) rail-and-road tunnel under the Baltic Sea that will link southern Denmark to northern Germany and contribute to the transport sector's green transition. (Ingrid Riis/Ritzau Scanpix via AP)

Denmark's King Frederik X, center, visits the Fehmarn Belt tunnel construction site at Roedbyhavn and inaugurates the first tunnel element, on the island of Lolland, Denmark, Monday June 17, 2024. Danish King Frederik X inaugurated Monday the first element of a future 18-kilometer (11-mile) rail-and-road tunnel under the Baltic Sea that will link southern Denmark to northern Germany and contribute to the transport sector's green transition. (Ingrid Riis/Ritzau Scanpix via AP)

Denmark's King Frederik X, center, visits the Fehmarn Belt tunnel construction site at Roedbyhavn and inaugurates the first tunnel element, on the island of Lolland, Denmark, Monday June 17, 2024. Danish King Frederik X inaugurated Monday the first element of a future 18-kilometer (11-mile) rail-and-road tunnel under the Baltic Sea that will link southern Denmark to northern Germany and contribute to the transport sector's green transition. (Ingrid Riis/Ritzau Scanpix via AP)

Director of Sund and Belt, Mikkel Hemmingsen, right, and Denmark's Transport Minister Thomas Danielsen, left, accompany Denmark's King Frederik X, left, as he visits the Fehmarn Belt tunnel construction site at Roedbyhavn and inaugurates the first tunnel element, on the island of Lolland, Denmark, Monday June 17, 2024. Danish King Frederik X inaugurated Monday the first element of a future 18-kilometer (11-mile) rail-and-road tunnel under the Baltic Sea that will link southern Denmark to northern Germany and contribute to the transport sector's green transition. (Ingrid Riis/Ritzau Scanpix via AP)

Denmark's King Frederik X, visits the Fehmarn Belt tunnel construction site at Roedbyhavn and inaugurates the first tunnel element, on the island of Lolland, Denmark, Monday June 17, 2024. Danish King Frederik X inaugurated Monday the first element of a future 18-kilometer (11-mile) rail-and-road tunnel under the Baltic Sea that will link southern Denmark to northern Germany and contribute to the transport sector's green transition. (Ingrid Riis/Ritzau Scanpix via AP)

Workers are seen during the visit of Denmark's King Frederik X, to the Fehmarn Belt tunnel construction site at Roedbyhavn as he inaugurates the first tunnel element, on the island of Lolland, Denmark, Monday June 17, 2024. Danish King Frederik X inaugurated Monday the first element of a future 18-kilometer (11-mile) rail-and-road tunnel under the Baltic Sea that will link southern Denmark to northern Germany and contribute to the transport sector's green transition. (Ingrid Riis/Ritzau Scanpix via AP)

Microsoft has fired two employees who interrupted the company's 50th anniversary celebration to protest its work supplying artificial intelligence technology to the Israeli military, according to a group representing the workers.

Microsoft accused one of the workers in a termination letter Monday of misconduct "designed to gain notoriety and cause maximum disruption to this highly anticipated event.” Microsoft says the other worker had already announced her resignation, but on Monday it ordered her to leave five days early.

The protests began Friday when Microsoft software engineer Ibtihal Aboussad walked up toward a stage where an executive was announcing new product features and a long-term vision for Microsoft's AI ambitions.

“You claim that you care about using AI for good but Microsoft sells AI weapons to the Israeli military," Aboussad shouted at Microsoft AI CEO Mustafa Suleyman. "Fifty-thousand people have died and Microsoft powers this genocide in our region.”

The protest forced Suleyman to pause his talk while it was being livestreamed from Microsoft's campus in Redmond, Washington. Among the participants at the 50th anniversary of Microsoft's founding were co-founder Bill Gates and former CEO Steve Ballmer.

Microsoft said Suleyman calmly tried to de-escalate the situation. “Thank you for your protest, I hear you,” he said. Aboussad continued, shouting that Suleyman and “all of Microsoft” had blood on their hands. She also threw onto the stage a keffiyeh scarf, which has become a symbol of support for Palestinian people, before being escorted out of the event.

A second protester, Microsoft employee Vaniya Agrawal, interrupted a later part of the event.

Aboussad, based at Microsoft's Canadian headquarters in Toronto, was invited on Monday to a call with a human resources representative at which she was told she was being fired immediately, according to the advocacy group No Azure for Apartheid, which has protested the sale of Microsoft’s Azure cloud computing platform to Israel.

An investigation by The Associated Press revealed earlier this year that AI models from Microsoft and OpenAI had been used as part of an Israeli military program to select bombing targets during the recent wars in Gaza and Lebanon. The story also contained details of an errant Israeli airstrike in 2023 that struck a vehicle carrying members of a Lebanese family, killing three young girls and their grandmother.

In its termination letter, Microsoft told Aboussad she could have raised her concerns confidentially to a manager. Instead, it said she made “hostile, unprovoked, and highly inappropriate accusations” against Suleyman and the company and that her “conduct was so aggressive and disruptive that you had to be escorted out of the room by security.”

Agrawal had already given her two weeks notice and was preparing to leave the company on April 11, but on Monday a manager emailed that Microsoft "has decided to make your resignation immediately effective today.”

It was the most public but not the first protest over Microsoft's work with Israel. In February, five Microsoft employees were ejected from a meeting with CEO Satya Nadella for protesting the contracts.

“We provide many avenues for all voices to be heard,” said a statement from the company Friday. “Importantly, we ask that this be done in a way that does not cause a business disruption. If that happens, we ask participants to relocate. We are committed to ensuring our business practices uphold the highest standards.”

Microsoft had declined to say Friday whether it was taking further action, but Aboussad and Agrawal expected it was coming after both lost access to their work accounts shortly after the protest.

Dozens of Google workers were fired last year after internal protests over a contract it also has with the Israeli government. Employee sit-ins at Google offices in New York and Sunnyvale, California targeted a $1.2 billion deal known as Project Nimbus providing AI technology to the Israeli government.

The Google workers later filed a complaint with the National Labor Relations Board in an attempt to get their jobs back.

CORRECTS DATE - A pro-Palestinian demonstrator, Ibtihal Aboussad, is escorted away by security as they interrupt Microsoft AI CEO Mustafa Suleyman during a presentation of the company's AI assistant, Copilot, ahead of a 50th Anniversary presentation at Microsoft headquarters, Friday, April 4, 2025, in Redmond, Wash. (AP Photo/Jason Redmond)