A Jewish mother from France locked in a custody battle with a Saudi prince fell to her death from an apartment window in Paris. Candice Cohen-Ahnine died last week, less than a month before she was to see her 11-year-old daughter for the first time in four years.
It is unclear whether Cohen-Ahnine's death was accidental or the result of foul play, "Ummm... Golly, Sarge. I just don't know. I mean, she was prob'ly trying to walk around the balcony on the top of the rail when a gust of wind caught her and blew her clean off."
"Or she might have been tossed off the balcony by a saturnine man about 5'10" tall wearing a cheap, dark suit and sunglasses in the pay of a vicious and unfettered royalty from a country on the Arabian Peninsula..."
"Oh, I dunno, Sarge. That sounds pretty far-fetched."
"True. Those cameras are not to be trusted, mon vieux..."
according to the Daily Telegraph, which reported that French media have suggested Cohen-Ahnine had slipped and fallen to her death "as if she was escaping something dangerous."
A Paris criminal court ruled in January in favor of Cohen-Ahnine's plea to have her daughter, Haya, returned to her. Cohen-Ahnine claimed that Haya has been held captive by the girl's father, Prince Sattam al-Saud, a member of the Saudi royal family, since September 2008. The court also ordered Sattam to pay child support.
Sattam continued to refuse to turn the girl over after the ruling, but had agreed to next month's visit.
Cohen-Ahnine alleged that when she agreed to visit Sattam with her daughter in 2008 after the couple had separated, she was swiftly locked up in a Riyadh palace and separated from Haya. Accused by authorities of being a Muslim who converted to Judaism -- a capital crime in Saudi Arabia -- Cohen-Ahnine was able to escape to the French Embassy and return to France. Haya remained behind and the two reportedly spoke occasionally by phone.
Cohen-Ahnine, 34, met Sattam in London when she was 18. Despite their differences in religion and nationality, the couple continued their relationship, and Haya was born in 2001. But the couple separated in 2006; the prince allegedly said he would have to marry a cousin and could only keep Cohen-Ahnine as a mistress or second wife.
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Germany's highest court issued a ruling allowing the military to be used - in some instances - within the country. The decision is the latest chapter in a debate that stretches back decades into German history.
In 2003 the government enacted an air safety law that explicitly permitted the military to shoot down passenger jets in cases of hijacking and terrorism. The Federal Constitutional Court, however, struck the law down in 2006, deeming it illegal to weigh the lives of the innocent passengers on the plane against the potential victims on the ground in the event of a terrorist attack. The court further ruled that the Bundeswehr could support police action inside Germany but would be limited to using police techniques and equipment. The use of tanks or fighter jets remained prohibited under the judges' ruling.
This, however, was a point where the two chambers of Germany's highest court disagreed. As a result, a plenary session of the Constitutional Court, which has only convened five times in the country's history, was called. After several years of consideration, it issued its ruling on Friday (17.08.2012) that the military could use its weaponry and equipment within Germany during "states of emergency of catastrophic proportions."
While the debate about preventing terrorist attacks is relatively new, the German military's role in operations within the country has been the subject of an on-again, off-again debate for decades. German law strictly separated the roles of the police and the military, making the police responsible for domestic security and the military responsible for defending the country from foreign attack. In the Weimar Republic (1918-1933) the Reichswehr fought against communists, and during the Nazi era, Hitler used the SS paramilitary units against the population to secure power.
In the years after World War Two, Germany's history of misuse of the military meant anyone who considered deploying the Bundeswehr within the country was accused of wanting to open the door to state-sponsored terror. This applied even in the case of having soldiers assist authorities during natural disasters, which the constitution explicitly allows.
Domestic Bundeswehr missions - even after the court's decision this week - will be extremely limited. Shooting down passenger planes is still prohibited, as is using military methods to prevent a demonstration. The court also made clear that a single government minister cannot order an army deployment by insisting that the entire government be involved in deciding on such a mission.
* IIRC FREEREPUBLIC > MUSLIMS [Group] DEMANDS SEPARATE/OWN BREAKAWAY NATION IN NORWAY, NEW 9-11 THREATENED.
Correct me iff I'm wrong, but during the Cold War the USMC + UK Royal Marines were responsible for upholding NATO's anti-Soviet defense mission for the Scandinavian region - AFAIK that hasn't changed.
The Swedes have seen major rises in rape and assaults as immigrants in Malmo and elsewhere refuse to assimilate. Are they finally beginning to draw a line?
Greece must remain in the euro to survive according to its finance minister, as the countrys leader prepares for a week of crucial meetings with eurozone leaders which could ultimately determine its fate.
Greece must remain in the euro to survive according to its finance minister, as the countrys leader prepares for a week of crucial meetings with eurozone leaders which could ultimately determine its fate.
Yannis Stournaras said the country must press ahead with the spending cuts demanded by its fellow eurozone members because its membership of the single currency was essential.
We have to stay alive and remain under the umbrella of the euro, because that is the only choice that can protect us from a poverty that we have not experienced, Mr Stournaras said yesterday.
If we dont take the measures ... then our stay in the euro is threatened. We have the most expensive welfare state in the eurozone. We can no longer maintain it with borrowed money.
However, Greece is likely to face more pressure on meeting its targets according to German reports that it will need 14bn of spending cuts over the next two years to meet the demands made by its international lenders, 2.5bn more than originally thought.
The bigger financing gap was the result of setbacks to privatisation plans and an economy even weaker than expected.
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#3
We have the most expensive welfare state in the eurozone
Says it all, really. Not to worry though, Germany will look after them. A guilty conscious is a beautiful thing to exploit.
A multi-volume chronology and reference guide set detailing three years of the Mexican Drug War between 2010 and 2012.
Rantburg.com and borderlandbeat.com correspondent and author Chris Covert presents his first non-fiction work detailing
the drug and gang related violence in Mexico.
Chris gives us Mexican press dispatches of drug and gang war violence
over three years, presented in a multi volume set intended to chronicle the death, violence and mayhem which has
dominated Mexico for six years.
Rantburg was assembled from recycled algorithms in the United States of America. No
trees were destroyed in the production of this weblog. We did hurt some, though. Sorry.
