USA 7s D2: Cup Quarters- Fiji 12-5 Wales (FT), Kenya 14-19 Samoa (FT), South Africa 24-5 Argentina (FT), NZ 12-7 England (FT), Bowl Quarters- Canada 29-0 Uruguay (FT), Scotland 14-15 Japan (FT),  France 5-21 USA (FT), Australia 31-0 Brazil (FT). Pool play- Argentina 14-12 USA (FT), NZ 12-5 Samoa (FT), France 5-33 South Africa (FT), Kenya 7-7 England (H2), Fiji 19-10 Canada (FT), Australia 10-7 Japan (FT), Wales 28-7 Uruguay (FT), Scotland  33-5 Brazil (FT).
Suva, Fiji
Temp: 79 °F / 26.1 °C
Wind: 0.0 KMH
INTERNATIONAL NEWS
January 20, 2010 08:44:30 AM

The face-covering burqa and niqab veils worn by some Muslim women "have no place in Danish society", Prime Minister Lars Loekke Rasmussen has said.

"They symbolise a view of women and humanity that we totally oppose and that we want to combat in Danish society," he said.

Denmark was "an open, democratic society where we look at the person to whom we are talking, whether it's in a classroom or on the job".

"That is why we don't want to see this garment in Danish society," he said.

Mr Rasmussen said his centre-right government was "discussing ways of limiting the wearing" of the veils without violating the Scandinavian country's constitution.

The prime minister's comments came a day after the publication of a report which showed that use of the burqa was "extremely rare" in Denmark, though no figures were given, and that the niqab was worn by "between 100 and 200" women.

The report was commissioned by the social affairs ministry and written by researchers at the University of Copenhagen.

It follows a heated debate on the burqa that has divided the two-party coalition government for months amid pressure from its key parliamentary ally the far-right Danish People's Party.

Some 100,000 Muslim women live in Denmark, representing about 1.9 per cent of Denmark's total population of 5.5 million. Some 0.15 per cent of the Muslim women wear the niqab, according to the report.

Denmark has had tense relations with the Muslim world following the publishing in 2005 of cartoons depicting Islam's Prophet Mohammed that were considered blasphemous and insulting by much of the Islamic world.

It triggered violent protests in Muslim countries.

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