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Muslim headscarf in crosshairs of French govt



France: Because of her choice to wear a Muslim hijab headscarf, Samia Kaddour has all but abandoned trying to land a government job in France. Soon some private sector jobs could be off limits, too.

French President Francois Hollande says he wants a new law that could extend restrictions against wearing of prominent religious symbols in state jobs into the private sector. It comes amid a political backlash after a top court ruled that a day care operator that gets some state funding unfairly fired a woman in a headscarf.

Kaddour was on hand in Le Bourget, north of Paris, for the four-day Annual Meeting of Muslims ofFrance that ends Monday. The conference last year drew 160,000 faithful and is billed as the largest gathering of its kind in Europe.

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