Denmark requires new citizens to shake hands at ceremony

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COPENHAGEN, Denmark (AP) — Denmark has adopted a law requiring anyone who becomes a Danish citizen to shake hands at the naturalization ceremony. The move is widely seen as aimed at some Muslims who for religious reasons decline to touch members of the opposite sex.

In a 55-23 vote with 30 lawmakers abstaining, the law was adopted in Parliament on Thursday.

Lawmakers also approved funding for a plan to banish rejected asylum-seekers or those with a criminal record to an island.

About 759 million kroner ($116 million) will be spent to turn the island with a defunct laboratory for contagious animal diseases into facilities for some 100 people in 2021.