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How a call-girl and her Parisian lover were mistaken for terrorists

Police investigating the Paris terror attacks feared a fourth commando cell was still at large, but the suspected jihadists turned out to be a Belgian call-girl and her Parisian lover.

How a call-girl and her Parisian lover were mistaken for terrorists
Photo: AFP

The reason the pair of lovers were believed to be jihadists was simply down to pure coincidence rather than anything more sinister, Le Parisien newspaper revealed.

On the fateful night of November 13th three separate jihadist commando units attacked the Stade de France, bars and restaurants across Paris and the Bataclan music venue, killing 130 people.

By pure chance a couple took a similar journey around Paris as some of the attackers that very night. Their paths were revealed to police after studying mobile phone data on the night of the massacres.

Investigators, fearing further attacks were planned, thought it was too much of a coincidence and spent months probing the pair, but in fact that's all it was.

The woman, who Le Parisien says was known to authorities in Belgium for prostitution, and her Parisian lover had decided to spend the weekend of November 13th together in the French capital.

She travelled down from Brussels on the Friday, the same path the terrorists had just taken days earlier.

At around 9.10pm her telephone was located near the Stade de France, when she received a call from a Paris number – that of her lover.

Just ten minutes later the first suicide bomber blew himself up at the stadium during the middle of the France – Germany match.

But the woman’s placing near the stadium can be simply explained by the fact the train from Brussels passes very close to the Stade de France.

Then the couple’s telephones were located together around twenty minutes later at avenue Philippe Auguste, a few minutes' walk from the Belle Equipe, where terrorists were about to kill 19 people in a hail of bullets.

Then throughout the weekend mobile data showed the couple spent much of their time in the 18th arrondissement.

They were picked up at a location just a stone’s throw from where Salah Abdeslam, the wanted attacker who is still on the run, had abandoned his Renault Clio car that had been used to transport the Stade de France bombers.

Abdeslam spent part of the evening of November 13th hiding in the 18th arrondissement.

At 22.30 he bought a mobile phone SIM card from on rue Doudeauville, just “a few steps” from where the couple were spending their weekend.

While it's easy to see why the coincidences concerned police, the pair have now been ruled out of any involvement in the attacks.

 

 

 

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WEALTH

Richest in Germany own around two thirds of country’s wealth

Germany's already high level of wealth inequality has been significantly underestimated, according to a new study.

Richest in Germany own around two thirds of country's wealth
Photo: DPA

The German Institute for Economic Research (DIW) has found that the richest one percent in Germany own 35 percent of the total wealth in Germany – instead of just under 22 percent as previously thought, reported Spiegel on Wednesday.

And the top 10 percent of the population do not own 59 percent of total assets, as previously estimated – but around two thirds or 66 percent.

To put it into context, nobody in the bottom 50 percent of the German population has a net worth over €22,800. On average, the poorest 50 percent of the German population has a net worth of €3,700.

Moreover, the so-called Gini coefficient (used to measure inequality) is higher in Germany than previously thought. It is 0.81 instead of 0.78. If this number is zero, all households in a society would have an equally high income. If it is 1, the entire income goes to a single household, while everyone else receives nothing.

“Germany's already high wealth inequality has been significantly underestimated,” said Johannes König, one of the authors. “We are now seeing for the first time a more realistic picture of the distribution at the top.”

READ ALSO: This is how many millionaires live in Germany

Millionaires significantly more satisfied than the rest of the population

DIW researchers developed took a closer look at the group of wealthy millionaires in Germany.

This group includes an above-average number of men (69 percent) who are older and better educated than the average population, and who live for the most part in western Germany. Around three quarters of the millionaires are self-employed. A large part of their wealth is invested in company shares.

According to Zeit Online, the respondents earn more than €7,600 net per month, more than three times the average. Only 14 percent have a migration background. For the rest of the population this applies to every fourth person.

Perhaps unsurprisingly, scientists found that wealthy millionaires are significantly more satisfied than the rest of the population. Only with regard to leisure time was satisfaction lower.

READ ALSO: Who belongs to the top 10 percent of earners in Germany?

According to the authors, this is due to the significantly higher workload. The survey found millionaires work an average of 47 hours a week – around 10 hours more than the rest of the population.

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