A new French law banning students from wearing conspicuous religious items in schools came into force Thursday as the new school year begins. The new law, which is meant to maintain France's strict separation of state and religion, forbids state school students from wearing "conspicuous" religious apparel, including Muslim headscarves, Sikh turbans, Jewish skullcaps and Christian crucifixes. The abduction of two French journalists by Iraqi militants has not been successful in persuading the French government to reverse the new law. Although it has not given into demands to scrap the headscarf ban, Paris continues other diplomatic efforts to secure the journalists' release. For background on the headscarf ban, see this legislative dossier from the French Senate. BBC News has more. Le Monde has local coverage (in French) of students' compliance with the new law. JURIST's Paper Chase has background on the abduction of the French journalists.