The Reminder is making its archives back to 2003 available on our website. Please note that, due to technical limitations, archive articles are presented without the usual formatting.
Paris - A blue-ribbon panel commissioned by President Jacques Chirac said Thursday it favours banning Islamic head scarves and other conspicuous religious attire in public buildings, including schools. There are fears that head scarves signal inroads by Muslim fundamentalists in France's estimated five million-strong Muslim community - eight per cent of the population and the largest of any Western European country. Proponents of a law say that students who wear Muslim head scarves to school, just like civil servants who cover their heads on the job, are challenging the country's secular underpinnings. Washington - President George W. Bush, under fire from allies, said Thursday that countries which sent troops to Iraq should be entitled to share in the $18 billion in American-financed reconstruction projects while other nations are shut out. Bush's policy effectively excludes countries such as Russia, France, Germany and Canada. Berlin - Police raided apartments of suspected Islamic militants across Germany on Thursday, including those of four people believed to have planned terror attacks, authorities said. Police searched nearly 1,200 apartments in 13 of Germany's 16 states in pre-dawn raids, including the home of Caliphate State leader Muhammed Metin Kaplan.
