France Veil

• Faith, politics clash over Muslim-run women's gym in France

  A pink and orange all-women's gym has become an unlikely focus of a very French row over Muslim integration, secularism and what some view as blatant populism in the run-up to France's municipal elections.

• France officially bans the burqa

  France - home to Europe's biggest Muslim population - on Monday officially banned women from wearing full-face veils in public places.Other European countries have drawn up bans on the burqa and the niqab but France is the first to risk stirring social tensions by putting one into practice.The law comes into effect at an already fraught moment in r...

• France: Constitutional Council approves burqa ban; last legal hurdle cleared

  France's top legal authority has approved a law banning full-face veils in public, the last hurdle for the ban, which aims to protect women's rights but has been criticised as stigmatising Muslims.The Constitutional Council, which had previously warned that banning the veil may be unconstitutional, said it approved the version of the bill, which ha...