Copenhagen - Danish Prime Minister Anders Fogh Rasmussen on Wednesday said parliament was to hold a hearing on the joint European currency, the euro, in January.

"A broad group of parties support a hearing on the economic and monetary union," Rasmussen said, welcoming the decision.

The premier told parliament that there was an economic cost to be "outside" the eurozone and Denmark also had less say in the European Union.

Copenhagen - Denmark was to tighten laws that allow foreign nationals to remain in the country even if they pose a security risk, legislators said Wednesday.

The amendments concerning "tolerated stay" were expected to pass this week. The deal was hammered out between the minority government and its parliamentary backer, the populist Danish People's Party.

Currently 18 people are in Denmark on so-called "tolerated stay," incuding a 37-year-old Tunisian national who is suspected of planning to murder a Danish newspaper cartoonist.

Copenhagen - Danish shipping and oil concern AP Moller- Maersk said Wednesday higher oil and freight prices helped lift its nine-month profit and sales.

Turnover for the nine-month period January to September increased 28 per cent to 47.1 billion dollars while net profit was up 39 per cent year-on-year to 3.6 billion dollars, the group said.

Chief executive Nils S Andersen said management was "satisfied with the group's operating performance" but gearing up to "compete in the tough market environment" expected in 2009.

Copenhagen - The recent bankruptcy of low-cost carrier Sterling Airlines has cost Copenhagen's Kastrup airport an estimated 50 million kroner (8.6 million dollars), the airport said Tuesday.

Danish-based Sterling Airlines filed for bankruptcy on October 29, citing it had been impacted by the global financial recession and "significant fuel cost increases."

Copenhagen - Danish Prince Joachim and his French-born wife, Princess Marie, are expecting their first child, the palace said Monday.

Copenhagen - A Danish freighter and its crew of 13 have been abducted by pirates off the coast of Somalia, reported a maritime official Saturday.

The Friday afternoon attack on the CEC Future, a ship registered in the Bahamas and owned by the Clipper Elite Carrier shipping company, occurred in the Gulf of Aden when there were no other nearby ships which could come to the CEC Future's aid.

There were not believed to be any Danes among the crew. The Danish maritime official said that the shipping company would be responsible for any negotiations with the pirates or ransom payments.