>> 9:00 in london, 10:00 in paris. you are watching "the pulse." i'm guy johnson. >> i'm francine lacqua. we have a developing story in paris. rt radio reporting that shots were fired in a city outside charles de gaulle airport. hostages were taken at a local business. we may have two people dead and around 20 wounded after an exchange of fire. you are looking at pictures coming from the scene helicopters circling overhead.

this is eight miles from charles de gaulle airport. this as a result of a massive manhunt that has been underway since the shooting in central paris. let's go to caroline connan and get the latest. >> according to the police, they were saying that it may be the beginning of the and of the manhunt because the two men who are supposed to be the kouachi brothers -- we are getting more information. we should be cautious with the information we are getting. i have spoken with people who live there. they have confirmed that there are five helicopters at the moment flying over the town of dammartin-en-goele which as you were mentioning is about eight miles from the airport, france's busiest airport. the hostages according to

several media reports -- there is only one hostage, and it is happening at a company making public works. we have just heard from the interior minister, they're not has a new, who says the operation is underway -- bernard cazeneuve who says the operation is underway. [indiscernible] they are on their way. according to one french media report, some of these armored the have just arrived on site. as you were mentioning, around 9:00 a.m., some gunshots were heard alongside a national road.

some gunshots started in that area. >> caroline, this is very fast-moving breaking, developing story. we heard that there may be two dead, 20 wounded after the exchange of fire. because this is very close to charles de gaulle, the airport has not been affected? >> yes. they have not been affected. from what we know, this company where the hostage has been taken is on the edge of the town. it is a place around the airport which is like the countryside. you have a lot of people who live there. almost half of the population is related to the airport. it is on the edge of a zone where you have different

companies and that is all i can tell you at the moment as we are getting the information in. >> caroline, thank you very much indeed. caroline connan bringing us up to speed in the situation northeast of charles de gaulle airport. you can see the helicopters she was mentioning circling over the town the area that is now the focus of attention. let's take you back to the center of paris, where hans nichols is. hans, a massive manhunt has been underway. we look as if we may be getting towards the conclusion of that event. what has been the official response that you are hearing? >> the official response is this is an ongoing operation and they feel confident about the direction. here's what we know in terms of

the numbers injured and dead. two media outlets are saying over 20 injured. rtl is saying that two have been dead. there are separate reports from the bbc that there is a building that is under siege right now. that is the focus of the efforts. we will get more when caroline arrives. we will be updating you as well if we have more official response from authorities in paris. >> what are people saying on the ground? it is amazing to see people out on the street. i guess a lot of people are afraid and scared. caroline was saying this may be the beginning of the end of this manhunt. >> you know, just standing here talking to you on camera, a jogger stopped by. you can see behind me a vigil. the jogger crossed himself and went about his jog and continued. this is a city that is grieving but also having resolved.

last night, i was out, and there was a clear 2010 3000 people out there talking talking about how french people will not be determined. all across here, you see the signs, "je suis chalrlie." when we spoke about what this moment might the four france, it might be a consolidating moment for france to have a conversation about where they are heading and where they don't want to go. we do have this march on sunday. it is going to be attended by marine le pen. some socialist members of the government are a little bit upset about that. we will see how that situation progresses. for now, it is very much a combination of anxiety, but also resolve in paris. >> hans, thank you so much. we will update you on any developing new story.

these are live pictures that we are getting as the crew arrive on the scene of the shootings that we heard. everyone on the ground is scrambling to get to the place where the helicopters are, where there may be a possible hostage situation. >> we will continue to bring you the latest. a fairly confusing picture at the moment. it is interesting that they are saying charles de gaulle airport is not affected. it is around eight kilometers to the southwest of the area. you have aircraft continuing to take off, make right hand turns from charles de gaulle. they are flying right over the area. a number of aircraft have been taking off along that route within the last few minutes. no effect at this stage on charles de gaulle airport. >> let's cross live to bloomberg's bureau chief in france. in terms of where you are, we

are just trying to figure out at the moment what is happening. what can you tell us? >> so far, the reports are saying that an operation is ongoing. the interior minister spoke a few minutes ago, saying the operations were ongoing. we are looking at where these two men are supposed to have highidden themselves. there are conflicting reports. some are saying people are wounded, some are saying 20 people wounded two people killed. this hasn't been confirmed by the interior minister. everyone is waiting on confirmation. the hostage taken, it hasn't been confirmed as well. yes, very much -- we are all waiting to find out. no one can come nearby the operation.

this is as much as i can tell you right now. >> we are looking at live pictures. what you are looking at on-screen is a crew that was just told to turn back by the police at a roundabout into the town. looks like the town is being sealed off and the police are preventing the media crews from accessing the area. it looks as if the crew are driving around, trying to find an access point. we will continue to watch these pictures as they develop. it looks like the french authorities are ceiling this area off as they continue the manhunt. >> absolutely. there are helicopters flying over the city. it looks like these two brothers have taken hostages in a business. like i said, nothing has been confirmed. like you said, the entire city has been sealed.

very difficult to get any confirmation from the police. there have been many reports but so far, the police forces are keeping mum. i suppose they want to conduct freely whatever they want to do and don't want anyone standing in their way as they are hunting these men who committed these horrendous crimes. >> the more we report on it, the more there is a danger of jeopardizing the operation. according to some press reports, the bbc saying that after the exchange in fire, they believe the two suspects, possibly the two brothers -- none of this has been confirmed, but they understand that the two suspects have moved into a building that is a local construction company. we will keep on monitoring the situation and bring you any breaking news as this manhunt is underway. >> geraldine, in terms of the

political story that surrounds this, we understand that marine le pen will be talking to francois hollande later today. how is this manifesting itself? this is a very dramatic story. how is it manifesting itself politically? how are the politicians from the various parties reacting to this story? >> so far, there's been some kind of unity. people have refrained from delving in some heavy political fight. marine le pen said she was very angry that she hadn't been invited to the sunday rally. she claims that the french government has invited her. marine le pen is the leader of the national front, the right party.

marine le pen's stance has been anti-immigration strengthening safety and security measures very against the european union. she's claiming that she's been proven right in what happened two days ago and yesterday morning as well. she is -- she is definitely the one who is seen to be benefiting from this terrible situation. depending on how it unfolds today, depending on what will happen on sunday, if marine le pen is going to be invited or not, we will see. remember, the french political

arena is already very much polarized. if anything, marine le pen's party didn't need that. [indiscernible] the high unemployment definitely helped boosting her case. now her party is seen as definitely showing very strong in the election. as i said, it was really kind of expected. >> say with us, geraldine. our bureau chief in france. i want to report as well i'm seeing this on a twitter feed that i follow, talking about two aircraft, air france 7 and 5095 on final approach to charles de gaulle -- it will be interesting

to see whether or not charles de gaulle is going to be affected over the next few hours as a result of this. the area which we are looking at live pictures from is on the direct light approach for charles de gaulle. maybe we are starting to see it being affected. >> we are following all angles. let's now go to dammartin-en-goele. give us a sense of where you are. you see helicopters flying above you. what is the latest that you can see from where you are standing? >> the helicopters are still turning around. they've been turning around for at least 40 minutes now. they must be going back to refuel. we are situated northeast of charles de gaulle airport. i'm at the top of a hill, about 300 meters from where the hostages were taken. the hostages were taken in a

printing company. it is a foggy day here and the helicopters, you can hear them. there's four of them at the moment and they are moving slowly northwards. these guys must be moving as well. >> noel what advice have you been given? what have you been told about the situation? >> nothing at all. we are watching the television. common sense is to close the shutters on the ground for at least. the school, which is about 50 meters from where we are, the children are on the floor, being protected by the teachers. >> you were mentioning some of the hostages. we understand that this is not confirmed yet. it is press reports saying there

may be hostages. can you see the publishing house from where you are? >> unfortunately, the weather is too bad. it is a bit downhill. it is a very small industrial area. but we can't see from where we are. >> we are also understanding -- the party has put out a statement that flights are avoiding charles de gaulle. do you have a lot of traffic from where you are in terms of the air? >> the traffic goes around dammartin-en-goele not over the top. these helicopters are more or less in the path of northbound traffic. they are much lower than regular aircraft. >> it is as you say a foggy day. i think that needs to be taken into account as well. noel, thank you very much

indeed. noel beckwith resident of the town in which the situation is continuing to develop. helicopters currently flying overhead as the police operation continues in this town. we understand hostages have been taken and there have been fatalities. it is very difficult to get a sort of accurate read on the situation. the crew which we are following on the right-hand side of your screen, looks like they are setting up on the side of the road as they have been unable to access the town. >> let's go back to geraldine in france. as we've been reporting, the situation is very difficult to follow. we have press reports but what we understand is that all these events are linked. we cannot confirm that these events are linked. the manhunt for the two killers at the charlie hebdo massacre. >> absolutely, yes.

the city that has been sealed is located where there was a massive manhunt conducted since last night. there have been reports of a car being stolen, a woman said her car had been stolen and said she recognized these two men. the interior minister this morning although kind of cryptic and wanting not to say too much because the operation is ongoing definitely hinted that this was related to the terror attacks conducted against "charlie hebdo." [indiscernible] >> how concerned -- up to now, how big an issue has this been in the national consciousness about the issue of security? about concerns that the french

people have about whether or not security is high enough on the political agenda? the sense that the authorities have a grip on it. this seems to have shocked a lot of people that this has happened in france. warnings have been coming from security officials for a wild. can you put it into context, how people are feeling about the security authorities, how they are feeling about how the police and the military have been reacting to this story? >> well, this is a very good point. these two men were not unknown for their beliefs. they were even known by the u.s. authorities. so how come these two men were allowed -- [indiscernible]

i suspect after the rally on sunday, the french government will have to talk about this. i suspect the government will feel they have to justify themselves for having prevented this. also, this takes france back to the worst hours of the 1990's, where another islamist fundamentalist from the algerian islamist front conducted a massive attack around france. france was gripped with fear and we feel very much the same right now. you should see people today around paris. there are massive traffic jams. people didn't want to take public transportation. they are very afraid. schools are prevented from doing any daytrips. this is very -- this definitely

raises the level of anxiety around the country. not now because it might be too soon and the manhunt is being conducted right now and now is probably not the time, but i suspect the government will be put to the grill and say how come this happened? how come a government that is able to conduct massive operations against islamist forces, how come they allowed these men to bring this fight, this war to the french soil? this is going to be a tough question. i don't know if the government will be able to answer it right away. >> geraldine, thank you. it is a tough question. geraldine amiel . let's get straight to our reporter on the ground. we understand there is a hostage situation. can you tell us anything more?

>> [indiscernible] is reporting that negotiations are taking place. negotiations implies potentially that there are hostages. it also implies some potential and game. it may indicate that they have this somewhat -- not under control -- but they have this isolated. i want to go back to what our guest said earlier. he said he is about 300 meters away and there is a school about 250 meters away. teachers are putting themselves -- the children are lying on the ground. this is according to our witness. that is very important. also, he said that he received no information from authorities about what to do and he is relying on media accounts. that indicates to me that this is very close to where the operation is happening, and

operation that still is in progress. we will look for confirmation from authorities on whether there is negotiation taking place between these suspects the kouachi brothers, cherif and said, between police and how many hostages they have. >> any sense that more normal operations are being affected in paris today? adp saying that they are rerouting aircraft around this area. we heard a few minutes ago from our paris bureau chief that people are taking their cars today. in terms of the normal operation of paris, charles de gaulle, the transport network, how everything is put together today, is there a sense that people are maybe reacting a little more differently that people are either staying at home for taking their cars, the

transport is being affected? >> yesterday, the city was on edge. it didn't help that right around rush hour there were reports of that police shooting in the south of france, right along the ring, which left a young police officer dead. overall, i'm struck by the sense of normality in paris. the cafes are full. people are out and about. there are vigils across town. you see candlelit vigils cropping up all over the place. it is not as though the city is on lockdown, although it is heavily armed. >> thank you so much, hans. hans nichols on the ground in paris. we understand that special forces -- that this manhunt is

continuing. a lot of press reports are reporting that this is in a construction site. so there was some sort of manhunt or shuts the fired and they took refuge. we understand that there may be a possible hostage situation. all of our sources on the ground are telling us this is what is happening. >> what you are looking at our pictures coming from the satellite truck that is driving around the area looking for a location. the police have effectively sealed off the town and they are not allowing the media to access it. very few pictures coming in. we've seen some pictures of helicopters. four of them are apparently overhead. in terms of what is happening at charles de gaulle as well, the runway appears to be back operating. we had a number of aircraft going around earlier on as a result of them flying near but not over the town.

it looks as if that is functioning again. a fairly large aircraft had to do a fairly substantial go around to get access. it looks like they have rerouted onto a different corridor and charles de gaulle is functioning again. >> in terms of the business story, we understand that this is one single event. french police have been closing in on the suspect in the massacre of these journalists at "charlie hebdo." operations began in the town we are talking to. residents in the northeast of paris and we understand from this radio station, that special forces may be readying for an assault at the hostage site. what we know is that this is linked to the manhunt for these two shooters at "charlie hebdo." >> let's go to a bloomberg news reporter near the scene.

what can you tell us? >> i wish i could tell you more. we are blocked in a traffic circle. it is a very chaotic scene. there are scores of nervous well armed police blocking all access to the town. there are two helicopters flying overhead. it is complete chaos. traffic is backed up in all directions. >> can you see helicopters from where you are? >> at this very moment, i can't see them, but a moment ago we could. >> it looks like it is incredibly foggy. we are looking at live pictures. i think they are on a hill overlooking the town. that is probably as close as they can get. do you expect to be able to get into the town? does it look as if the whole place is being sealed off? >> i think a few lucky

journalists may have gotten in a head the police in some places. the security measures around the town are increasing rather than decreasing. there were two journalists who tried to make a run across the street and police have pulled them back. that is the kind of scene that we are looking at. the police are very nervous. they've got a job to do. helping journalists at this moment does not seem to be part of their job description. >> which is understandable. the more you tell journalists, the more you risk leaking and tip off the possible wrongdoers in all this. we understand now from afp that prosecutors are denying the casualty reports. can you just wrap up for us what we know? we've had conflicting reports. we know there's a manhunt going on. we know that it is linked to the killers of "charlie hebdo" and it is next to where you are.

>> we know that the police have cited them in this town of dammartin and they've sealed off the town. this morning, i began near where they were searching last night. there was a stream of police cars zooming past us toward dammartin. they wouldn't be moving this huge force in here if they weren't sure they had the guys. as for whether there are hostages, wounded, dead, there is no way to know. the police are not talking. i've seen those reports but i can't confirm them. >> greg, this may be -- this is just pure speculation, but these guys are not far from charles de gaulle airport. authorities have made it clear that they are concerned about attacks being part of this story. can we draw a link between their

location and the fact that they are close to one of the world's biggest airports, or is it that this is the vector on which they chose to escape? >> it could be. i really don't know. for the past two days, they've barely eaten. they had to rob a gas station to get some food yesterday morning. who knows where they've been sleeping? i'm not necessarily sure they are in the best position to mount an attack on a fairly well guarded airport. you cannot rule anything out. you saw the footage of the attack on "charlie hebdo." these guys are ruthless cold-blooded, and fairly well trained. you cannot rule out what you just said. >> we are hearing from "kele monde" that charles de gaulle has shut down two of the four

runways. >> yesterday, i spent much of my day in paris chasing down and having to deny rumors that have been running around. there were lots of things reported yesterday about ground scares and armed men in paris that turned out to be wrong. we do have to be careful at this moment. >> this is coming from charles de gaulle that they've shut the two northern runways. i think they probably have shut the tw northern runwayso, the approaches of which come close to the town but not over the town. it looks like they are vectoring aircraft towards the southern airport. they have a lot of capacity. they are shutting runways. probably to mitigate the risk. a number of aircraft had to do

go around's earlier in the morning. >> we are very close to the airport and i have not seen any planes fly overhead. i don't spend much time in this part of the country, so i don't know whether there would be flights going overhead, but i have not heard or seen any airplanes. >> pretty foggy as well where you are. >> foggy, rainy, and cold. >> ok. greg, we are going to leave you there. we will come back to you when we maybe get more information. if you hear anything, if you see any news that we need to report please get back to us as soon as possible. greg viscusi very near the scene. cracks i think we have managed to speak to a spokesperson. they are saying traffic is not being affected by the change in flights, however they are rerouting flights to avoid

dammartin. we have this from the interior minister. for the moment, we know that police are hunting the suspects in the massacre of the journalists at "charlie hebdo." that operation, they are trying to keep secretive. we've just heard that the press are not allowed anywhere near. they are closing off the town. >> i think one thing we should make very clear at the moment is that what looks like a very chaotic scene is exactly the right response. special forces in the town, a hostage situation we understand details very sketchy, helicopters flying in thick fog, reports that adp has been shutting airports -- shutting runways. again, we are dealing with a situation that remains incredibly fluid.

one thing we did learn earlier, an eyewitness told us the suspects had been surrounded in a publishing house within this town of dammartin but there is very little solid information at this point. the police have sealed the town off. it is very difficult to gain access, very difficult to gain accurate information. >> we have spoken to -- they say all four runways remain open. the are rerouting flights to avoid dammartin where we understand the siege is. adp saying the traffic is not being affected, though they are rerouting flights to avoid this town dammartin-en-goele which is sealed off. greg, you are trying to get as close as possible to where this is playing out. for the moment, you can't get close enough. we are hearing and yellen says and helicopters above -- we are hearing and yellen's --

ambulances and helicopters above. greg? i'm not sure we still have our reporter on the ground. >> hans nichols is still in paris at the scene of the shooting where this started. a very difficult situation developing to the northeast of paris close to charles de gaulle airport. we are hearing that aircraft are being rerouted around this town. given the situation, they are being maneuvered around. in terms of the story from the center of paris, i understand the french population hanging on every word here, trying to get information. >> we are still waiting for official confirmation about what

this operation is entailing, what the challenges are and if they established contact and are having negotiations. i agree with my colleague on the scene, there have been a lot of false reports in the last 24, 48 hours. this reminds me of reporting on the boston marathon a few years ago. there are a lot of things out there that we need to be careful about what we put out there and what is accurate. as you said, from the airport authority, we have a clear dispute of the report in "le mo nde" that runways have been closed. we also have according to afp that the interior ministry is disputing the report that two individuals have died in this situation dammartin i alread. i will update you when we have more hard facts on the ground.

people are gathering around the scene outside the offices of "charlie hebdo" where this all began just about 48 hours ago. we will see what happens. >> hans, thank you so much. let's get back to noel beck worth. you were saying there were a lot of helicopters from where you are. you could also see the school where you knew teachers were keeping the students on the ground. are there any updates? what can you see now? >> well, less unfortunately. the fog has cut down the visibility. that helicopters seem to be moving around. we are hearing police sirens, but nothing much. we are barricaded in our house, watching through the window. [indiscernible]

>> have you spoken to your neighbors? any of your neighbors that maybe have any other information? are people talking to each other in the town? >> we heard from one of the schoolteachers that the press have been down there and they say that one person has been killed at the printing factory. i don't know whether it is the hostage or if these takers have been killed. >> this is i guess the crux of the problem. there is an ongoing manhunt and it is difficult to have information. we had press reports about possible killings but those have been denied by prosecutors. until we have official confirmation, it is difficult to get a picture of this going on the ground. we know that the french president will be at the interior ministry in about 20 minutes from now. we will have more on the situation.

this is ongoing. >> certainly is. you are looking at live pictures that are showing very little at the moment. the reason they are showing very little is that the authorities have sealed this town off. the ability of the media to report on it, to bring you live pictures from the town, incredibly limited. the authorities, very nervous. the police on the scene restricting access. a series of roundabouts around this area which is very flat, so there are very few vantage points, they are restricting access at all of the main points that you would normally get into this town. very little can be discerned as to what is happening. there were reports that we have ongoing negotiations. those reports unconfirmed at the moment. police are keeping very tightlipped and restricting

access heavily to this town. >> let's go now to geraldine. we are discussing the news as you are through newswires through what the french press are saying. we understand through afp -- the problem is that a lot of these are unconfirmed, but afp reporting that the shooting suspects have been identified. do we know any more than that? >> no, the interior minister bernard cazeneuve when he spoke said that they had gathered earlier today and last night a lot of evidence about these shootings. remember, these men shot and killed a policewoman. they were conducting another manhunt around the southern part of paris yesterday and it was called off at one point. this is good news. we have two situations here

this ongoing operation in the north of paris and these other shootings that took place a day after the "charlie hebdo" massacre. it seemed that it was not related to the "charlie hebdo" shooting at all. this is good news. as you said, we have nothing so far. the interior minister hasn't confirmed anything yet. we hope and i guess we will get more later on. right now, all eyes are focused on what you've been following which is the ongoing operation in dammartin where it seems the twio brothers who committed this massacre at "charlie hebdo" have taken hostages in a business possibly. >> talk to me about what we are likely to see from the authorities here. are we going to -- how are they

communicating at this stage? the police remain very tightlipped. the prosecutor's office, the politicians, are we going to hear updates from them throughout the day? is there a sense that they need to be out in front of the public, making sure reassuring people that the situation is in hand? >> this is a very good point. we haven't seen much so far. we have seen the interior minister, the prime minister, and even the french president have spoken but the feeling is that they are trying to keep their cards to their chest. it is important politically speaking that they first need to catch these people. they need to stop them one way or another. most of the time, these situations unfold very badly. but they need to get these men

first. later on, they will have to reassure the friends population. the best way is to get these two guys, these brothers who committed this massacre, and get the guys who killed the policewoman in the south suburb of paris. later on, like i said, justify themselves about the fact that this was possible with massive alerts, several others. even the french president spoke about that, saying there had been a previous alert of potential attacks yet they haven't managed to prevent is once. the best way to reassure is to catch these guys. this is what they are trying to do right now. >> geraldine, thank you so much. there are two ongoing investigations.

we have been seeing a lot of residents there. we have the latest breaking news. we understand there is a hostage situation. this is what all the press are saying. one eyewitness on the ground saying that the elementary school in dammartin was being locked off, that this was -- 30 minutes ago, that peter was telling children to lie on the floor. >> this is a school of around 300 people. the schoolchildren who would normally be an hour away from lunch are in their classrooms. locked into the building, nobody is moving around, the whole town is in lockdown. the school and many of the businesses in the town, simply everybody is barricading themselves in. we heard that earlier on from one of the residents. they've shuddered. they are not going outside.

all the residents barricading themselves into their rooms as this ongoing situation develops. it looks as if we do have a hostage situation. again, very difficult to get accurate information at this stage. the police have not been incredibly forthcoming. the only pictures we have are from a great distance away. you can see the helicopters circling over the town. very difficult to get into the town, very difficult to get accurate information. this situation going on now for an hour, hour and a half. the police have been massing in this area. we heard reports that special forces were getting ready to make an assault. again, unconfirmed reports at this stage. >> we are in the dark. this is of course what happens. when there is a big operation

under way, the last thing the authorities and police want is to possibly tip-off -- >> yesterday, the prime minister was making it clear that he thought some of the media reporting was not useful. that was almost the phrase he used. the authorities are taking a clear line on access that we are being granted in this situation. the reporters are almost a kilometer away it looks like from the center of town. >> we have hans nichols, we have caroline connan, we have geraldine amiel so we will get back to the story as soon as we have breaking news. let's now do a market check. this was rising the most in about seven months. oil imports have been surging. let's check quickly on the markets. let's see if we've had any movement since we've been

focusing all our attention on the manhunt. in terms of the dax, it is pretty much flat. we had a couple of companies that we need to keep an eye on. overall, markets are waiting for the ecb. >> they are waiting for the nonfarm payrolls data that keeps everybody at the moment. if we continue to see strong data out of the u.s. economy, we will probably see a more positive response in these equity markets. zero-dollar dipping briefly. the market continues to front run qe from the ecb. we will wait until the back end of this month for confirmation on whether that is going to happen. if mario draghi is looking for a debt in the currency versus the dollar, he is being helped out. if we get a strong number today, maybe that will change. >> i would also mention the data

we had out of germany this morning. it showed that industrial production on it actively fell in november. exports dropped more than we were expecting. effectively signaling a slowing recovery in germany something that maybe investors took their eye off the ball. >> one thing that did stabilize markets yesterday was the oil price. today, we've got it moving a little lower. we are trading just north of 50. we have moved 1% to the downside. let's take you back to the developing story we have in france. caroline connan has been making her way to the town of dammartin this morning. >> all the media are gathered on a roundabout near the outskirts of dammartin. we cannot approach more.

the zone where one hostage has been taken has been secured special forces have arrived on the scene. the schoolteacher said that children are laying down in the hallways. they are trying to keep children away from the windows. there are about 300 kids in this school. they have been told not to pick up the children. for now, we cannot confirm any casualties. [indiscernible] earlier, we had a report of possibly one casualty -- >> let me just break in.

we are seeing live pictures from the scene. not sure how close this is to you, but we are seeing helicopters now landing in a field a third one coming in to land. a fourth one circling the area as well. it looks like the helicopters were coming in to land. maybe that is not going to happen. looks like maybe a situation changing a little bit over the last couple minutes with these choppers landing. these guys can't carry on flying, i guess. a few of shortage may be. the helicopters in the last couple minutes have landed. can you see any helicopters flying? >> i cannot confirm that one has been landing from where i am. it is very foggy, a rainy day. i cannot confirm these

helicopters have been landing. you do have helicopters still flying over the town. >> i want to focus on the political situation. we just heard from afp that francois hollande is said to be agreeing to the presence of all parties at a rally. this i imagine makes reference to the rally that he talked about in paris this sunday. i guess this is also reaching out to the front nationale and marine le pen. there is a manhunt operation. however this is resolved will have a huge impact on political fronts. >> of course it will have a huge impact. what the prime minister has been grinding the french -- has been reminding the french is that we shouldn't make this a political controversy. marine le pen's controversy when she was not invited to a meeting, with some members of

the socialist party and the right wing party to organize this march on sunday, she said that excluding the national front from that march is a political maneuver. so the ump party has said that everyone is welcome in this march. the socialist party has been divided over the question. you had one organizer of the march on sunday who said there was no place for a party dividing and stigmatizing the french. of course this march has to be a symbol of national unity and the priority is to think about the victims. >> all right, caroline, we will head over to you as soon as we have any new developments. we are getting breaking news. this is the ecb, a great

bloomberg scoop. ecb staff are said to have outlined 500 billion euros of investment grade for qe. the next time the ecb meet is on january 22. that is a thursday. a lot of investors have been saying that qe is happening then . whether they will announce it that is one thing. ecb staff said to have outlined 500 billion euros of investment grade for qe. let's check out the euro-dollar? >> the pair has rallied on the back of this. it may be the quantum of the qe that maybe the market feels is not sufficient. i think 500 was at the lower end of what people were expecting. maybe that is the reason why you are seeing euro-dollar rallying.

it is not a big rally. we are watching this very carefully. ecb staff said to have outlined a plan for a 500 billion euro investment grade. presumably, that would exclude greece which is quite significant as well. certainly, that is something we need to think about in the run-up to the elections. that is a significant development for many parts of europe. >> we are getting a little more news on this. this is the staff that presented policymakers with models for buying as much as 500 billion euros. when we spoke to unicredit, they were saying, 500 billion is the minimum. anything below that is going to disappoint the markets. what we know about the meeting -- this is a very nice bloomberg scoop -- the meeting was just to present options. the governors were asked not to

reveal their opinions. certainly, this is what the staff presented. >> caroline hyde is in the newsroom. she has been looking at the headlines. caroline, tell us what you know. >> interesting reaction, isn't it? it does seem to be underwhelming the markets. we understand in a meeting that ecb members, staff, presented the policymakers with models. they were just modeling what would happen and what bonds they would have to buy. they just modeled 500 billion euros of investment grade sovereign debt being bought. you hit the nail on the head. that does not include greece. we don't know whether it will be the ecb buying the debt, whether it will be up to national central banks but what we have heard from many analysts is that

you need wholesale quantitative easing. you need to reinforce mario draghi's consistent claim that he will stand behind the euro no matter what it takes. just 500 billion euros being spent, just investment grade, is that showing as wholehearted a view that this is doing whatever it would take to support the euro? the suit does say that it would be modeling as much as 500 billion euros of investment grade assets. this is at a meeting two days ago according to a person who attended. the presentations did focus on government debt urges is. no decision was taken. quantitative easing, we are on the cusp of it. still, no decision taken. there was a letter by mario draghi saying you are going to reassess what monetary stimulus

has achieved and whether full-blown quantitative easing would be necessary. he says that treatment of junk rated debt such as greek bonds have not been addressed in this presentation. perhaps that is why the euro is reacting like it is. just rising ever so slightly. >> let's get some more details. simon kennedy joins us now from our economics team. great story. everybody has been telling me that 500 is the lower bound of what we expected. are they going to be investment grade? >> it looks like it. no decisions made. this is a presentation. one thing it does suggest is -- it is going to be january more than march. if they've got a plan, why not act on it in a couple weeks? the 500 billion euros, it is just a limit.

that might disappoint some who were hoping for a more open ended structure. [indiscernible] certainly a limit on that might disappoint some buying only aaa rated debt might disappoint others. a good plan to start. >> it seems that 500 billion was at the low end which is why we saw the reaction on euro-dollar. >> they are always going to hope that mario draghi -- the strategy would come back in the form of qe. he is obviously under a lot more pressure, a lot more limitations . [indiscernible] it pushes the ecb into a fiscal space they rather not be in.

draghi has a big group of policymakers. he has to find a consensus. 500 is more in line with the ecb president who can't quite do whatever it takes. >> the aaa element of this it is fascinating given the meetings on the 22nd and the greek election shortly after. it excludes greece effectively from this. there is a political message as well one would assume. >> perhaps. other measures were shown, including buying bonds rated less than aaa. again, this might be a nod to germany. germany remains the euro area's biggest economy. you can't lose germany in a decision from the ecb. you can leave it out -- not leave it out, you can push it

aside, but you can't ignore it. they are saying clearly they don't want to expose the ecb to the risk. >> simon, stay with us. we have an ongoing story developing as well. we are just getting reports suggesting that there is a high alert in the last couple of minutes. we are seeing some of the helicopters landing near the town. the town remains in lockdown. we are getting headlines coming through that there are no dead and no one did. -- wounded. this would be a stark contrast to the earlier reports that two people had lost their lives this morning and 20 had been wounded. information is incredibly difficult to come by.

the media is effectively camped out in fields overlooking the town and the authorities are saying, no dead, no wounded at the moment. again, a very difficult situation to report on with very little axis being granted. >> hans nichols is in paris. we also have greg on the ground. this is the latest we are trying to collect for you. this is an ongoing operation. >> we will leave that story for the moment. what is clear is that we are going to get a drip feed of information. we will continue to monitor the live shots. it looks like, at a meeting of the ecb staff, the staff

presented a number of options to the members, one of those being that we may see a 500 million qe program being launched and that that would probably be rated at investment rates. simon kennedy is still with us. are you surprised to see the market reaction? one interview would say, this is good for the european economy. the other is we had hoped that the market would see a lot more. >> this is just a plan, but there was no vote. they did not ask the governors to express themselves. >> this was very much a proposal. clearly the presentation has been made and the ecb government

council will meet in two weeks time to make the decision. it could just be that the market is buying on rumors and selling on fact. they now have a little bit more to chew on in these proposals. >> this is a bloomberg scoop, right? this is a fantastic story. do you wonder whether or not there is balloon floating taking place? that they are testing the water? >> [laughter] >> are they getting a sense of what the lie of the land is? >> i cannot comment on how we obtained -- >> i'm not asking you to do that. [laughter] the fed in the past has

conducted operations to try to figure out what exactly is going on in terms of the market view situation. they are in uncharted waters. they don't know how the market is going to feel and react and deal with the situation. that must make them incredibly nervous. >> i would think so. i would imagine that their market intelligence is also pretty strong. a lot of economists spent the holiday wargaming what the ecb might do. with 500 billion euros you are talking about an exact number. inflation was -0.2% in december.

>> what about greece? they have not really laid out or presented the treatment of junk rated debt, such as greek bonds. that seems to be the crucial point. >> this might come out in the further report about who will take the risk? will national central banks are the ecb? -- or the ecb? that will also affect the market reaction. the market would hope for as much monetary stimulus as they can get. perhaps investors have made this mistake in the past. the euro is a political animal. forged together by government

will. mario draghi has spoken about not being a politician and he has to be. he cannot lose germany. the bundesbank president has clearly been against several of the decisions. if he loses germany, if the bundesbank turns against him his credibility is greatly limited in the future. it is not whatever it takes, but it is about what is the best he can get and that will create some in the market who will still say, we want some more. there were three rounds of quantitative easing by the fed. they started smaller and ended up with an unlimited package that they ended up shutting down now. they started their buying

2009-2010. >> this is what we know. they were presented with buying as much as 500 billion euros of assets. >> these were staff presentations to the governors, but the governors were asked not to give their opinions during the presentations. that tells you how political things are right now. one question out there is whether 500 billion is enough. the ecb wants to expand its balance sheet to more than 3 billion euros -- 3 trillion euros. you are going to get halfway there with this 500 billion euro package.

on top of that, you have asset-backed securities, targeted loans. the question is, is this enough? >> that probably is the question. reading between the lines their market information must be pretty good. they must know it is to the bottom end of the range of what the market is expecting. you talk about the political dimension. are we looking at a situation where mario draghi is having to rein in what he would like to do as a result of the divisions that exist in the government counsel? >> what he is almost certainly having to do is negotiate. the concern is whether it is right for the ecb to be reducing the risk burden on some countries at the expense of others.

that is something he will have to talk about. the ecb's argument has always been that they want to do that. negotiation and hard negotiation between now and january 22. >> i was actually going to ask you between -- about january 22. do we have confirmation that something will happen then or will these models be off to a later date? >> the thing to remember is that the ecb executive board will make a decision shortly before the january 22 meeting. only at that point will we know

whether we will get a qe program. if they decide that they will announce the program, then you are looking at maybe march 5. very likely there will be a qe program. >> how will greeks read this? how is that going to play in athens? >> the greek issue is a very important one, as you are aware. three days after january 22, you get the greek election. can the ecb pledge to buy greek debt when there is a risk of a party coming to power?

they said it would be illegal for the ecb to hold the greek debt in restructure. it is very unlikely they will buy any more greek debt. they did also say that the greek election was no reason to delay a decision on qe. >> give us a sense of what we were alluding to. is this may be the ecb -- is this just a way of testing the markets? this is obviously a disappointment in the market reaction. >> right. it is very difficult to answer that question because these were private presentations that we managed to get a hold of. the governors were asked not to give their opinions during the presentations. now the information is out

there, you are testing the waters by default. the ecb will no doubt take that information to account. although the next meeting is not for two weeks and there is no meeting before then it is always possible that governors can get together via e-mail or videoconference. >> we will leave it there. a fantastic story being generated by bloomberg news. really market moving once again. we will now wait -- we will watch. again, fantastic reporting by bloomberg news. >> we have too many events today. one is an ongoing manhunt in paris. the operation is underway in the northeast of paris. francois hollande is on his way to the interior ministry.

for some analysis, we're joined by the global director of political and opinion research on how the violence is impacting the political climate. what do you make of what we have heard? the big political unknown is marine le pens and how she will plan to this. >> the situation is not that easy. of course you have to consider the political situation in france right now. prior to it have been on wednesday, there was a huge economic stress in france. the miss him -- the ms. him - pessimism.

the distress of the french population on the topic of living together. i'm absolutely sure that you saw in france during the past month there have been quite a lot of debates around religion its place in society, and so forth. now, we are in a very specific and particular moment. we are talking about terrorism but the link that somewhere like to build between terrorism -- they might build something strange. there is some kind of tension. the tension that might appear would be between being altogether, being all charlie as the world says. the tension between that, the

will to be all together, and the fact that some might want to use the events in creating something for their own advantage -- it is not possible right now to see the outcomes. >> up until this point, my sense is been that the centrist parties have desired not to bring the fn on equal footing. you get the sense that le pens wants to use this event to come more mainstream. you see that being played out in this march on the weekend. francois hollande is having to allow her to come. how big of a moment is this for

the landscape, the political landscape in france? >> it is important, but it is far beyond the place of fn and marine le p ite might notns be anymore around political parties. -- len p pens. it might not be anymore around political parties. the question is more about who is organizing the demonstration? are the political parties at the center? it is all the political parties and, right now, there is another kind of tension between the will of political parties to be part of the demonstration more or

less to organize it, and the will of the population to participate in something far beyond political parties. you are right about the place of the national front. national front has been gaining and opinions and elections through the past months and years and now it places itself at the center of the debate. but that is politics, i would say. i would not say that politics are at the center of everything. it is something else. of course, political moments elections are to come. right now, it looks like if the population would like something else to happen -- another kind of movement, another kind of gathering. they want to be altogether, to be charlie first and then politics will come.

the ones who would like to place politics first, my -- that is my point of view. >> thank you so much. let's get back to what we know. in the last 10 minutes, francois hollande has arrived at the interior ministry. >> we have heard from the interior ministry spokesman telling us a couple of things. they cannot confirm any deaths or wounded in dammartin-en-goele . that is following reports of shootings. the hospital 14 minutes away is ready to receive wounded if there are such. the hostage situation cannot be confirmed as well. obviously, the situation is changing quickly on the ground.

>> we have some live pictures coming from the interior ministry. >> they are just finishing. we do know within the last couple of minutes that the helicopters we have been watching circling over the town those have stopped. there you see the french president speaking at the interior ministry. he just came out of a meeting with marine le eppens, where she told him that france should end certain rules. she said she was discussing -- can we listen in? >> you've got the french president, you've got valls to his right. they are briefing. they were briefing.

the probably are still briefing. >> we do have reporters on the ground in that briefing. he is just recaps a leading the situation. when we have breaking news, we will bring it to you. this is a huge operation. >> 8000 police and military involved in this operation. that is the largest operation i have ever heard. >> this is tricky. there is a potential hostage situation. you have several people on the run. they don't want to reveal too much ahead of it. that is part of the reason why they're keeping journalists so far away. >> what we have not seen at the moment has been a very strong government presence. this looks like almost one of the first things that looks like a full government briefing.

>> that was what people were looking for on wednesday. they were not seeing it. the situation has evolved in a very dramatic way. if there were parts of the french public that thought it was ok to have a less than consolidated approach there are probably less of them right now. >> the pictures are back. >> he has been saying that france has foiled several terrorist plots. these are comments that he made on the day of the massacre at charlie hebdo. in the last couple of weeks policemen and the police force have foiled several terrorist plots. >> it is interesting that you have him briefing at the same time that there is an ongoing operation in the northeast of france. the helicopters have landed. francois hollande is briefing at a time when the situation is so fluid. >> he wants to be seen.

he wants to be seen as the man in charge. this is almost a political campaign. he wants to be seen as the goto person, on top of it. >> he is briefing on an ongoing military police operation that is taking place very close to paris. >> without actually talking about the operation. >> the news conference has been going on for a few minutes and he has said very little that is concrete at this stage. the police have sealed the town off. you have the president briefing at the same time. >> i do think he is concerned about losing the limelight. that may not be the best choice of words. we did just year marine le pens

talking with the president about the rise of radical islam. she wants her party to take part in this march. the president is trying to stay in charge of the situation in terms of public politics and not lose the limelight. >> let's bring in hans neck calls. it is a rather's -- hans nichols. let --it is a rather strange situation. is this a president trying to portray himself as the liberator of france? >> if that is the case it is certainly a risky strategy. we understand that this is an operation that continues to be ongoing.

at the moment when the french public and the global public is crying for information and wants to know whether these two brothers have been apprehended how many have been killed, how many wounded we still don't have firm answers on all of that. there are reports that no one has been actually killed, but at this precise moment, francois hollande is repeating something he talked about two days ago. it seems to me like the next logical bit of information to come out of the french government is an update on what is happening in the town of dammartin. there has been quite a bit of news going back-and-forth. marine le pens was under the impression that she would be

allowed to march on sunday in the unity march. now she is saying that that is not the case. it seems like squabbling between two politicians weather is a very real military operation. -- while there is a very real military operation ongoing. >> you wonder how the french president with his prime minister sitting next to him and his interior minister sitting next to him, you wonder how connected they are two events that are taking place on the ground. how can you be in control when you are sitting in front of a press conference answering questions? it does kind of raise issues about who is calling the shots and who is in control of the situation. francois hollande is in front of

the camera while the authorities are up in dammartin. >> i guess it is up to what you find most important. reassuring the population -- if you're sitting at home, you would be scared. if that is your priority or whether you want to keep a close eye on the military operation. >> edward is still with us. he joins us from paris. what do you make of the situation where we have the president, the prime minister, and the interior minister briefing press at the same time as an ongoing paramilitary operation? what is francois hollande trying to communicate here? he does not seem to be giving a lot of new information. >> for the president, it is important for him to state that he is in charge.

if you come back to what were the weaknesses in his image, firmness was always considered as a weak point. here, being in charge, showing that he is leading with two ministers that is showing that he is in command, he is chief in command. that is important. we also have to consider that the president is always the one who is in charge, but does not have so many opportunities to show it. if you take the economic background he is not always that much in charge as the promises made unemployment did come out. here, you have a specific topic such as a foreign-policy topic,

a specific moment where he is in a right and good situation to show that he is in command. >> would it be fair to say that because of the events of wednesday and the terrible attack on charlie hebdo, this pushes forward the election campaign for 2017, that marine le pens has started her campaigning and francois hollande can only but follow? >> i don't really agree. she has been pushing her campaign for the last years. i would not say that francois hollande just has to follow. it is quite a particular moment. there is a moment where everyone wants to be altogether and that is now that is what we could call the charlie movement.

there is another moment when there is the election moment where you don't have to be together, you try to find what makes the difference between you and the other voters the other parties. the differentiation would come at this time. of course she is at the center of the political events. she has topped the last european elections. the party is progressing. the situation now is really new and really different and i don't think that we have to say francois hollande has to catch-up. if you consider left-wing voters

, the left wing has been facing the mobilization the voters who did not go to vote. you might find something that will bring them back to voting. bring them back to electoral fighting, which in a way they withdraw from in the past months and years. >> thank you very much for that. francois hollande just wrapping up the news conference about six minutes ago saying that france is capable of withstanding these events. >> that's continue and go back to caroline connan for an update on the situation. give us what is happening in the last 20 minutes. >> the town is very much locks down. -- locked down. there is heavy traffic.

what i can tell you is that i just spoke to my family member and he did hear some gunfire about five minutes ago. he lives 300 meters from the team. that is what you told me on the phone at the moment. we cannot confirm whether the assault is starting. three helicopters have been landing. near the industrial site. the industrials are on the outskirts of town. the town has 8000 inhabitants two miles away from the airport. if you hundred meters away, you have the beginning -- a few hundred meters away, you have the beginning of the residential zone. >> we have been getting conflicting information about there were -- whether there were deaths or hostages were taken. what are people saying on the

ground? we have no confirmation at all as to whether it is a hostage situation or there were deaths. >> we cannot confirm at the moment. hostages are not confirmed by authorities. we cannot confirm whether someone has died either. they cannot confirm whether there is someone dead. the area has been evacuated. 15 minutes ago, you had several ambulances going around the roundabout. that is what i can tell you at the moment. i think we need to mention that in the past half-hour the

shooter who killed the policewoman yesterday has been identified and he is said to actually have a possible connection with the brothers. we don't have any details on what kind of connection but there might be a connection after all. >> it is basically two different situations. one is the chasing of the kouachi brothers. the other one is the suspect in the shooting yesterday, who is said to know the kouachi brothers. >> this is why i find it was so incredible that francois hollande was briefing with very little information. >> he was basically just

rallying just not briefing on the operation. >> i think you are right. it is interesting. >> let's bring ryan chilcote back into the situation. on this side of the channel it is fascinating, isn't it? we're watching the situation developed quite keenly. we were hearing mi five talk about this as well. here in london, maybe it should not be removed. >> i think the press conference that the director general of mi-5 gave yesterday was already scheduled before these events. he said, this is the opportunity that this is a reminder of the threats we face. >> look at the scale of what is happening in france.

nearly 100,000 soldiers policemen and women being involved. that is huge. >> the main issue he wanted to highlight was that while the threat is increasing in the country. let's not forget that the security level has been severe since the end of august. that means an attack is very likely. it has not been higher than that. the issue is their ability to snoop on people that they are concerned about has decreased. but the director general at mi5 is talking about is more power in surveillance. it is pushed for power by an agency damaged by the snooping scandal. he mentioned that they foiled three plots in the last several

months that would have resulted in deaths. he said, they cannot prevent attacks. he did not suggest that there was a new threat in the u.k. because of what is going on in france. >> they cannot prevent attacks, but at the same time, they have foiled attacks in france and we have known that a similar case is here for the u.k.. they have already foiled terrorist attack plans. >> they have to be careful when they say that because there is operational intelligence they don't want to reveal. it is interesting that he did say that and interesting that the french president pointed out. it is a bit odd that during an active operation, he is talking about politics. there is going to be a pan-european meeting of interior ministers in france on sunday.

this is part of an effort to coordinate and show that they are coordinating in a way. we saw that on wednesday when angela merkel was in town meeting with the british prime minister. they both called francois hollande. it does not look like there is a huge international component to what we are seeing player right now in dammartin. these intelligence agencies need to be seen as working together. >> thank you so much. we will stay on top of the story and bring you any development. >> within the last half hour, we have seen the helicopters landing. we spoke to our reporter who has been speaking to friends that she has in the town. they were reporting that they heard gunfire within the last few minutes.

a distinct lack of information being generated at the moment. we will keep you up to speed with what is happening and what we know. we have another big story. >> we know that the ecb is said to be studying bond purchase models. european stocks have declined since we broke that story. >> let me go through the facts for you. the ecb staff is looking through various scenarios and policy measures. the number could be as much as 500 billion euros. the big one is that the assets they could buy could be investment grade. that means that the likes of greece would not get their debt purchased. let's say this gets announced that means you only by the likes of germany, italy, spain, and

you don't by the greek. that means you sidestep the political issue that happens three days later. the big point is that you're are concentrating 500 billion euros of qe into investment grade in the eurozone. the risk is, look at the eight amount of debt germany is issuing this year? it is quite low. what you going to do? are you going to carry on forcing down yields? negative yields in the eurozone -- there is over one trillion euros worth. back in october, it was only 500 billion. investors are looking to find investment-grade debt. >> we will have that conversation. thank you so much.

>> we are joined by a senior economist at ehrenberg and simon kennedy is back with us. kristen, let's start with you. these guys have put out a great story and the market reactions have been the euro spiking higher. 500 billion seems at the lower end of what the market was anticipating. >> that is the issue here. 500 billion as half of how much they wanted to raise the balance sheets. they are now ramping up the response beyond what had already been agreed. it is not a strong additional stimulus. >> are you disappointed?

i know these were just presentations and no one has voted on it. are you disappointed? >> what will they actually make of this? there will be some sort of negotiation and we know that the germans are opposed to sovereign bond purchases on principle and the ecb taking on the risks. if this is the maximum demand that the ecb goes into the meeting with and then it is negotiated down, the disappointment micro-. -- might grow. >> when they present these plans , how much authority do they have? when the governors come and listen to what these guys are saying, what is the relationship like?

>> they are given parameters with which to work and study. they're not going to come back with a nuclear proposal that no one is going to accept. they know within the parameters they are working. >> the treatment of junk rated debt was not actually addressed. do we know why? is it to politically sensitive? will this be addressed at the next meeting on january 22? >> the greek issue is important mainly because if the ecb were to announce that they were going to buy greek bonds that is going to increase the opposition in germany, not just from the bundesbank. the great question has to be dealt with separately and the ecb has made clear that as long

as greece is in a bailout program there is every chance that greece will be treated like it has been so far. whether that includes bond purchases as well is a separate question. that has to be treated separately. we need clarity about the monetary response and for that, the greek question -- >> this is a monetary union, right? couldn't you pick and choose who and how you deal? this is the venn diagram of politics in the monetary economics angle start to overlap. the members of the eurozone, is it a two speed eurozone now? is it a one member, one vote?

it feels like we are entering new ground here, maybe. >> it has a new building, a new member. >> a new structure. >> a new voting structure. a lot is in flux. the job of mario draghi is much harder than the job of janet yellen. it is a great political game of driving a consensus. when you have a big group of people making a decision and you want to find the consensus view you have to find sacrifices. it could be that mario draghi said we will start this at 500

and go bigger or we are going to go smaller. >> we are just getting some breaking news out of france. caroline connan is on the ground. police will hold a press conference at the french standoff site. please a vast reporters that have been about one coulomb -- have asked reporters who have been one kilometer off to head to this press conference. we will update you. for the moment, we do not know what has been going on. >> this can signal a couple of things. one of which is it is over and they want to brief people and tell people what has happened. the second is that it is an ongoing operation and there is a lack of information. we will find out which one of those two it ultimately is. our reporter was talking to some

of for friends inside the town and they were reporting that there was gunfire around 10-15 minutes ago. let's wait and see how this situation develops. it looks as if the french police will hold a press conference and we will get you details of that within the next few minutes. francois hollande is leaving the interior ministry. >> let's go back to our guests. we are talking about this bloomberg ecb scoop. we were looking at the possibility of not the 500 billion being announced but something a little bit more. what with the markets not be disappointed with? mario draghi has talked so much. how much does he need to deliver? >> more than the one trillion would be a strong signal. the fact that we will get a distinct figure, that is already a step forward.

a blinding, clear number would already be a step forward. it would be helpful if they add corporate bonds or other asset to this that could make this >>. this is 500 billion -- this. >> this is 500 billion of govies? >> yes. >> of government securities. >> we are not making assumptions that this is 500 billion of govies. there could be other asset classes they could be buying. >> certainly. i think the market will be looking at how much it is government bonds. mario draghi is the king of signaling . he could deliver this plan and

then say but we remain open to doing more. it could be a signal of what he says. >> is that what you are expecting? >> indeed. mario draghi may well go beyond this. >> thank you so much. >> let's continue to bring you news on the developing story. we are waiting for a press conference that is going to take place, maybe in the next few minutes. you are looking at live pictures. the helicopters landed. within the last 10 minutes, we have seen them taking off. it looks as if they may be taking off and leaving the area. that may be an assumption on my part.

we wait for the news conference. >> we don't know. >> they all landed at the same time. you would have thought that you would have some maintaining a circuit. they all landed at the same time. they have been taking off. it looks like they are turning right and maybe leaving the area. we are waiting for the news conference to develop. let's bring you more information on what we can get from the situation. >> we will follow that press conference. caroline connan has headed over there. this is a news conference taking place where the standoff has been taking place. francois hollande left the interior ministry to return to the palace minutes ago. let's go straight to brussels. great to have you on the program.

it is very difficult at the moment to understand the details and have confirmation of the operation on the ground. but analysis can you give us? >> it is clear that for the two terrorists it is the end of the way today. the only question is, how long it will take? the point is that there could be a lot of things to negotiate. they are heavily armed and show that they are ready to kill two nights ago. >> can i get your view on how the story of the last three days has developed? in some of the other instances

of terrorist activity over the last weeks and months the events of ended with the perpetrator being killed. in this case, they tried to escape. does that tell us something different about the nature of the attack? >> it is quite clear that the last attacks we saw in canada, new york sydney australia were perpetrated by the so-called lone wolf. their idea was to make most casualties possible civilians police officers, military personnel and they don't care about the room lives. here, it seems that the origin of this attack is al qaeda and not the islamic state, and probably al qaeda in the arabic peninsula.

clearly, those people planned with a lot of care. it is very likely that they tried to survive this attack to perpetrate other terrorist attacks. the idea was not to make a single attack, but probably to make a second attack. >> we're just hearing that francois hollande is staying at the interior ministry to monitor the operation. we had the information that he was going back to the palace. this may intimate to a resolution of the operation. we don't know that he is staying there to have more news on it. these are developments we will be following closely. i read a chilling account saying that part of the charlie hebdo massacre may be linked to the one upmanship between al qaeda and isis.

is this something you have heard and how terrifying would that be? >> i think it is a possibility. we are still at the very beginnings of an investigation. we can almost say that the investigation has not yet begun. it is all still so new. the focus has been on catching the killers. there could be a possible connection between al qaeda and islamic state. it could also be that al qaeda wanted to take back its first place on the cover of the newspapers.

that has been occupied by the islamic state in the last months. this means that we must wait for a lot of possible terrorist attacks in europe, the united states, all the western world. >> thank you so much for that. >> just to repeat the news we have had over the last few minutes. we now have an expectation that a news conference is about to start, being driven by the french police close to the scene. we had reports that the president was leaving the interior ministry. then it looked like he turned around and went back in again. we cannot draw any conclusions. maybe he is getting ready to hold another event. we will wait and we will watch. >> at the moment, speculation,

but something seems to be happening. we are close to possibly something. >> we are waiting for the press conference from the police. the police told us very little. they cannot confirm that there have been any dead or wounded individuals. they say the hospital is ready and is standing by to receive wounded individuals. really, we are waiting on the press conference to get the details. whether the french president has returned to the interior ministry mean something and speaks to the fluidity. or whether he wants to be perceived as being in control mode or in charge of the situation. maybe he changed his mind and decide that the presidential palace was the wrong place to be right now. >> this will have implications on the political front. we have already heard waves. >> interesting and extraordinary

that the political overtures are already there. marine le pens is right there. she said they discussed the rise of radical islam and she said she wants to be a part of the solidarity march on sunday. she is calling for an end to certain rules. 26 countries take part in those freedom of movement within all of the countries. if she acting like a politician? you bet she is. she was calling for a return to capital punishment am a to the death penalty. she said if she is elected in 2017, she would have a referendum on it. >> that wraps up our program. "surveillance" is next. we will continue to monitor

events on bloomberg television. >> we are all over the news. keep it right here on bloomberg tv. ♪

>> this is "bloomberg surveillance." >> french special forces close in on the kouachi brothers.

the job market in america is improved. will your paycheck improve in 2015? good morning, everyone. this is "bloomberg surveillance." it is job stay, january 9. i'm tom keene. as always, scarlet fu and brendan greeley. front and center, the drama in france. >> special forces are closing in on the suspects in the paris massacre. it is taking place not far from charles de gaulle airport. here is the interior minister. >> at this moment, there is an operation underway. we are mobilizing all forces present in the area. due to yesterday's operations there is an important presence of forces that allowed a quick response. >> two brothers were the main suspects and are supposedly hold