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.
Baghdad - CARE International suspended its operations in Iraq Wednesday following the kidnapping of the woman who ran the organization in the country. Margaret Hassan was abducted as she drove to her office in the capital on Tuesday. An Irish-born naturalized Iraqi, Hassan has lived in the country for 30 years and worked for CARE since 1992. On Tuesday, Al-Jazeera broadcast a video showing Hassan, who is believed to be in her late 50's or early 60s, sitting on a couch in an otherwise empty room. The Arab station said an "armed Iraqi group" claimed responsibilty for the kidnapping. Paris - French school authorities expelled two Muslim girls and threatened to do the same to two more on Wednesday for refusing to remove their headscarves in class. The expulsions Tuesday night came as France's education officials began to punish students who defy a law banning the wearing of conspicuous religious symbols in public schools. The law, passed in March, bans conspicuous religious signs and apparel, including Muslim headscarves, Sikh turbans, Jewish skullcaps and large Christian crosses. Tehran - Iran said Wednesday it had test fired a more accurate version of its Shahab-3 missile, believed capable of hitting American bases in the Persian Gulf and Israel. Iran has insisted the missiles are for defensive purposes, to be used to counter an Israeli or U.S. attack against its nuclear facilities.
