France has implemented laws designed to protect its strict form of secularism, known as 'laicité,' which President Emmanuel Macron has said is under threat from Islamism.

They say removing hijab 'is considered a crime', and that they 'deal with social anomalies within the framework of the law'.

They say those who remove their hijab in public places 'will be warned first and presented to the courts as a next step'.

The interior ministry meanwhile describes the veil as 'one of the civilisational foundations of the Iranian nation'.

The review team met on Wednesday with parliament's cultural commission 'and will see the results in a week or two', the attorney-general says.

The subject is particularly important for Erdogan, whose Islamic-rooted ruling party lifted a long-standing ban on wearing the hijab in state institutions in 2013.

The Court of Justice of the European Union says EU companies can ban headscarfs as long as it is a general prohibition that does not discriminate against employees.

Muslims are a sizeable minority in India, accounting for 13% of the population of 1.4 billion in the south Asian nation where Hindus make up the majority.

At least 41 people have been killed in the week-long unrest, state television says.

Police were seen firing tear gas and one man was shown on a video with an injury to the head that someone could be heard saying was caused by birdshot.

At the end of March, the Taliban, who took power after US forces withdrew from the country last August, closed high schools and colleges for girls just hours after their reopening.

While polls indicate Macron is ahead they also point to a far tighter race between the centrist and the far-right leader than in their 2017 run-off.