Brussels/Copenhagen  - Danish Prime Minister Anders Fogh Rasmussen, 56, has officially thrown his hat into the ring for the position of NATO secretary general, Danish media reported Thursday.

According to the newspaper Politiken, Rasmussen made his announcement at a meeting of NATO ambassadors on the eve of a NATO summit in Germany and France to celebrate the defence alliance's 60th anniversary.

Turkey opposes Rasmussen's candidacy, which means the heads of NATO countries will have to deliberate on the decision during the summit.

Copenhagen - Denmark's central bank Thursday lowered its lending rate by 0.25 percentage points to 2 per cent, citing an earlier move by the European Central Bank (ECB).

The Danish rates cut was effective as of Friday, the Danish central bank said. The Danish central bank said the discount rate and the current account rate would also be lowered by 25 basis points to 1.75 per cent as of Friday.

The ECB on Thursday trimmed its benchmark refinancing rate to an historic low of 1.25 per cent on Thursday.

Hluboka Castle, Czech Republic  - Danish Foreign Minister Per Stig Moller on Saturday had to abandon a meeting in the Czech Republic with fellow European Union ministers after suffering from exhaustion and being rushed to hospital.

"He was not feeling well in the morning," Zuzana Opletalova, a spokeswoman for the Czech Foreign Ministry, told German Press Agency dpa.

Subsequent check-ups at the Ceske Budejovice County Hospital showed that the 66-year-old minister had "nothing serious," Opletalova said.

Copenhagen - Although Denmark tops the standings in its qualification group for the 2010 World Cup finals, many Danes doubt their team will qualify for the finals, a new survey said Friday.

Only 37 per cent believe Denmark will make it to the finals hosted by South Africa, 35 per cent thought Denmark would fail, while 28 per cent were undecided.

The poll of 1,015 people was conducted by polling company Catinet for Danish news agency Ritzau.

Copenhagen - The Danish parliament Thursday approved a 19- kilometre bridge link to neighbouring Germany across the Fehmarn Belt, a strait between the Danish island of Lolland and the German island of Fehmarn.

Parliament voted 104 to 3 in favour of the link. Transport Minister Lars Barfoed said it was a "historic decision that will link the Nordic region, and thereby Denmark, with the rest of the European continent."