OSLO: The Norwegian government announced that it will allow Muslim women police officers if they choose to wear the Islamic head scarf. "After advice from police management, it has been decided that rules on police uniforms will be modified to allow for the wearing of a religious scarf with the uniform," the justice ministry said in a statement on Wednesday. The Islamic scarf, the hijab, is worn to cover the hair and surround the face. The police management said it was in favour of permitting the scarf to be worn with the uniform in order to improve the possibility of recruiting in Norway's Muslim community. "We think it's necessary to recruit widely and to develop a police force which reflects all classes in society, regardless of beliefs and ethnicity, which is more important than demanding a neutral uniform," wrote police chief Ingelin Killengreen. Several other European countries, including Sweden and Britain, have already allowed the wearing of religious headgear by their police officers.
BAGHDAD: Nearly 500 U.S. Army combat engineers who specialize in clearing roads of explosives started shifting to southern Afghanistan."We are probably going to be the beginning of the influx you are going to see to Afghanistan," Lt. Col. Kevin Landers, commander of the Fort Carson, Colo.-based 4th Engineer Battalion, said as crews packed crates and cleaned vehicles for the flight to Kandahar.Obama has ordered 17,000 more U.S. soldiers and Marines to Afghanistan to bolster the 38,000 American troops already battling the resurgent Taliban."We are going to take this footprint out of Iraq," said Landers, whose battalion received word of its reassignment last month just after taking command of clearing roads in Baghdad of bombs and debris.
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