it has been a day-long affair. very scary images of hostages holding an unknowned number inside a chocolate cafe in the heart of sydney, australia. we do know at least five hostages managed to escape overnight. we were seeing them run for their lives. we say escape versus released because the gunman was supposedly very agitated when word of their escape got out. those trapped inside have been forced to stand against the windows with their hands up. at one point they held up a black flag with arabic writing on it. this leads to the fears it is linked to terrorism. the gunman is said to be holding an isis flag. let's go right to cnn in sydney. anna. what do we know? >> well, cnbc, it's 10:00 p.m. here in sydney. what we can tell you is that

five hostages have managed to escape and as you inferred, it would appear they did, indeed, get away because that gunman is so agitated as reported by one of the local reporters who could see him visibly upset. we are about a block from where this is aun all unfolding. we understand the lights within this cafe have been turned you a. we don't know if that is a police operation or the gunman, but let's recap on what's happened today. sydney under siege, anb unidentified gunman holding at least a dozen hostages inside this cafe in sydney, australia. the gunman, who reportedly calls him the brother, has contacted three local news outlets, making demands, one, an isis flag in exchange for one hostage. two, a call to the prime minister. he claims he planted two bombs in the cafe, two others in the

city t. cafe is in the center of the city's bustling business district. hundreds of police officers are shouth down the outed area. >> our only goal tonight and for as longs as it taxi is to get those people koirn currently caught in that building out of there safely. >> reporter: it was during rush hour at 9:30 a.m. werk.m. when saw a man with a suspicious bag. >> she went, gun, gun, gun in the bag. >> reporter: the hostage unfolded, just moments later, hostages seen pressing their and against the window fear etched on their faces, forced to unfurl a black flag bearing an islamic phrase. >> we don't know whether this is politically motivated, although, obviously, there are some cakess that it could be.

>> reporter: six agonizing hours later, three hostages escape, two men darted out the door towards police. seconds later, a third man, an apparent cafe employee wearing an apron and an hour later, two women escape, the terror on their faces tellsing it all. >> we can see up here from this van tage point the gunman got extremely agitated as he realized those five had got out. he started screaming orders at the people inside, the hostages remain behind. >> reporter: now, we want to tell our viewers exactly where this cafe is located. it is in the heart of the city in the u.s. consulate very close. the reserve bank of australia and 7 network there. the gunman choosing this

location specifically so he could get maximum coverage from we have been hearing a lot of reporting this morning, let's try and clarify, we will be leaving a live picture up. you will always be able to to see what's going on in sydney. there is a box right there. an far, there were some rumors, the flag we believe is called the shadada, there is one god, he is asking for a proper isis flag. this of a bomb. have you heard any speculation with the bag, is there anything to that? >> reporter: certainly, when we arrived much earlier today, there was speculation that perhaps there were bombs planted around the city. we heard from the prime minister saying the public must look out for suspicious bags. the reason being down in sydney house earlier today, there was a suspicious parcel found.

it was a bomb scare. they evacuated the sydney opera house and other areas, but it would appear they are baseless. it's a false lead. as we are hearing through the hostages, the gunman is claiming he has planted two bombs inside the cafe. we cannot verify this. police as we know have been very tight lipped throughout the day, with all the information they have been passing on, it really has been extremely limited, but certainly, he poses a real threat. there is no doubt about it. we have seen, it's not the police getting into position. there are hundreds of police here on location. so they've obviously chosen. they don't want to ram in, go in and cause the gunman. they are willing to play this out to do the waiting game. they believe that's the way it will be resolved peacefully. >> they have been waiting basically an entire day, 12

hours. you are oak. we will keep reporting on the layout the morning. thank you very much. you have to look at the perimeter they made there, a tactical response as a reflection of what the authorities fool they are feel dealing with, with this man. >> meanwhile, an employee at the lindt cafe, nathan, are you with us? >> caller: yes, i'm here. >> what time did you show up at work today? caller i was supposed to start at 10:00. i arrived a little early. >> you arrived at 9:45. what did you see? >> caller: basically, we have two entrances to the cafe. i tried to go through the main entrance, it was locked, which is weird, it shouldn't be locked. i walked inside and customers were going about their day the employees doing their work on cash registers. everything seemed fine.

so i walked around to the other entrance and there were customers waiting outside and it was also locked, which is also very weird again. i said i worked there, i said that i will try to find out what is going on. one of my friends, co-workers, came to the door and said that we were closed for today and, yeah, it was really weird. well at this point i'm thinking something is definitely off. then a few minutes later, they hung a "closed" sign on the door and told us to leave. the lady next to me screamed out, he has a gun. i looked up and there is a corridor just near where the door is and i could see a hand and what looked like half a gun. so i just ran after that and called the cops. >> did you see the gunman? >> caller: i didn't see him. i only saw part of his body and

part of the gun, itself. >> nathan, it seems to me listening to your story, you showed up at the very moment the gunman had locked the doors before everyone in the cafe knew what was happening. they were going about their morning, but perhaps that one employee who came to the door who you saw said "we are closed," what was that employee's demeanor? >> caller: everyone in the cafe seemed like everything was fine. even the employees, therefore, had smiles on their faces, which was the question i said to myself, water going on? because if something like that was taking place, they would look more alarmed or show some signs and under duress. >> it seems that they didn't know yet, it seems he hadn't made himself completely visible. can you describe what that cafe, what that snabd like? >> i haven't been working there

very long. basically, once you get off that modern play station, you walk up the stairs from the station, it's just on the left. it's right in the heart of the place. >> it's in the heart of a touristy destination and across from a television station, we understand? >> caller: yes, that's correct. >> nathan, what -- how many people do you think were inside at the time that this was happening? >> caller: it's hard to say, but judging by the roster that i have and like the number of tables i saw were occupied probably around 20 or 30. >> nathan, we are grad are you safe this morning. thank you so much for being with us to share what you saw this morning. >> caller: yeah, no worries. >> take care, we appreciate it. we understand it was across from a tv station. maybe there was some speculation as to why that is possible the

gunman chose it in order to get the maximum impact and cover annual of this? >> it seems to be a central location in sidney, 4.5 million people. it's near the u.s. consulate. we do not believe there were any members and the consulate says they will be accounted for t. police are obviously building a big perimeter around. so they must feel they are dealing with something significant inside and obviously having these hostages for the better part of the day is significant. tiffany genders in sydney, a bbc radio. a local radio personality says he believes he had contact with someone who is a hostage. he heard the gunman, there is a lot of criticism directed towards the media and misrepresentations of what isis is, yet another indication of this man, where his sympathies lie. what do you know? >> reporter: it is a bizarre aspect of this siege.

it was very early this morning into the pace that my radio station day radio was contacted by one of the hostages. a phone call was made to one of our announcers. that seemed to be the first contact that anyone had from inside the lindt cafe. now, that hostage i guess was relaying demands from this armed g gunman to the media. >> that message was disseminated. it went really wide. i guess that was the aim of the man he has since contacted, other media outlets on orders of the gunman i guess to try and get those demand out there. >> we have been told that the gunman has encouraged people to use their phones and social media, which is unusual, as you stated there. the demands we understand, so far, the list involves a proper

isis flag what he has been holding up is something called the shhshahada. this comes months after the urgency, specifically sydney, the terrorists going from medium-to-high, what has been going on will? . >> reporter: well, it was in november we had some anti-terrorism rights, 800 police officers descending on properties. now, they arrested about two dozen people across the country maybe a little bit less. there was that real harder sense of security, though, there were extra patrols around martin place. >> that is where the cafe is actually situated. it's in the heart of the reserve bank, it's close to state parliament. so you got all of the politicians just a few hundred

metres away and when these rights actually took place, police at the time said they seemed to have i guess thwarted a planned terror attack and there was some suggestion that some extremists were planning to randomly behead a member of the public and martin place may have been one of the areas they were looking at. now a few months down the track, here we are in martin place where this terrifying ordeal is playing out in front of everyone. whether or not that is linked at the moment, police have been cautious saying they are treating this as a terrorist attack. they have actually mobilized a special task force, which is only activated to first-hands that are being treated i guess as an act of terrorism. so they are concerned it is a terror attack, they are certainly putting all the resources into it that they would for an act of terrorism.

>> all right. tiffany, thank you very much. we appreciate the reporting this morning. few hear anything else, please get back to us. we appreciate your time. we know it has been a long night. they believe in australia about 70-to-100 people have left to fight the isis. more than 100 people had their passports pulled, the muslim operation is small, 2.2% that declare themselves as religious. the threat is increasing, the man, if not connected, does seem to be a sympathizer. >> we are learning more about this situation inside the lindt cafe. a sydney radio host, ray hadley, he spoke to the hostages overnight. listen to him describe the moments that he was speaking off air with one of the captives caller network station, i am currently talking off air to the same young person i was talking to in the last hour. we have to take a break. i cannot put this person to air,

it would be irresponsible. i'm going to take a break, we'll tell you when i'm coming back, i'm talking to a person inside the lindt cafe. welcome back, i am sorry to have done the to you. i just had an off air conversation with the police commissioner because i'm really lost. i needed to seek advice. i have been able to confirm i am talking to a hostage inside the lindt cafe and for the last ten minutes i have been making calls and we do have the number and let me assure you, the person wanted to come on the radio and talk. i wouldn't allow that to happen. i told the hostage it would not be in his best interest or my best interest to allow that to happen. i am not a crime negotiator, i do not have expertise, there are people that will talk to both the hostages and the person holding them hostage and they

will be knowing what to do. and resolve the situation hopefully peacefully. the people they talked about a password that they would give me in ten minutes. i have no idea what that means whoor it's about, a password be given. he is talking about other operatives involved. i can hear the person in the background giving instructions to the young man i was talking to. the young man, remarkably, was quite calm. he was quite happy for us to have his phone number and said i want you to bring me back in ten minutes for further instruction from the man holding us hostage. >> that again from a local radio personality, it appears the gunman was holding an unknown number of hostages in sydney australia in a local cafe, wants them to use their phones and use social media. it is fight time. the lights inside the cafe are off. we do not know if the hostage-takeer has made that decision or whether authorities

have turned the call. >> it sounds as though he wants notoriety, publicity. he is encouraging them to call radio stations. he chose a spot across from a tv station. it's hard to know. it sounds like that the hostage, the criminal here wants the word to get out. >> live coverage is in the small backs on your screen, it will be there no matter what else we are reporting. the video there in the mane there are people that are believed to have escaped from the cafe. we don't know how. but we reasonably it was a escape not a release, because the gunman was supposedly very agitated after he learned of their escape. that's what you are seeing there along with pictures of the gunman present throughout this ordeal, about 12 hours going now and obviously no end in sight. >> we do know from speaking to nathan, who was supposed to be going to work today. he works at the lindt cafe. there are two entrances to the lendt cafe. both were locked when he showed up. it's possible the people who have been able to escape ran out

the back door when the hostage-takeer wasn't looking. . >> it's a block away from the u.s. consulate. near the central business district in sydney, australia. this is the heart of that city. cnn has learned the fbi is assisting australian authorities in this hostage crisis. let get some more on what's going on from justice reporter evan perez, what do we know about what they are making of the six so far? >> reporter: good morning, u.s. intelligence officials are closely working with the australian authorities to try to identify the suspect. hostages have been shown on camera displaying a black flag that u.s. counterterrorism officials say is commonly used by islamic jihadists. now at this stage, u.s. authorities know of only one suspect. australia is among many

countries that have seen significant numbers of foreign fighters joining syrian groups in iraq. about 250 people it is estimated have traveled there. several have killed. dozens have returned home. >> that compares to about 150 americans who traveled to fight in syria and iraq. authorities say the concern now is the concern of copycat incidents. they have been aware of lone attacks against isis are possible here him they say there is no indication of active plots here, chris. >> evan, thank you so much. we will continue to follow this. the information is short in coming. what we do know is again a man has taken hostages in sidney, australia in a local cafe there. we don't know how many. we do know five people have changed to escape t. man is asking for an isis flag to speak on the phone with the australian prime minister tone abomb. she believed to have a weapon.

there is speculation from him to hostages, bombs are involved. it's nighttime in sydney. this has been going on for 12 hours t. lets are off in that cafe. we do know negotiators are in contact with the pan. they are asking people to use their phones around get message out. >> we will follow all that breaking news. there are other headlines. >> i will do the headlines and get back to our coverage. good morning, president obama is poised to sign a $1.1 spending bill, over the weekend the senate passed the bill lifting a threat of a government shutdown. of course the move did not come without drama. michelle co zin ski is at the house, it can't be simple? >> reporter: the omnibus, the control kromny bus. yes, avoiding a government shutdown, funding things at

least through september. there was strong ideological open sex on both sides, making for extreme circumstances, seeing elizabeth warren and ted cruz on the same side or the white house and mitch mcconnell, not thinking behind it. some democrats like warren were furious the rollback to wall street and company finance, republicans like cruz wanted to use this bill as a way to defund the president's executive action on immigration. the thing is, though, it only funds the department of homeland security through february. that's where the money will come from to fund that executive action. so we could see another showdown soon, mikaela. >> that's what we can always count on. thank you so much for that. the secretary of state john kerry is in rome this morning for a flurry of meetings to push a peace deal. he will meet with prime minister benjamin netanyahu. later, he will fly to paris to meet with european foreign

minsters, all of this before the u.n. discusses palestinian statehood. a big day for state insurance sites, new coverage that starts january 1st and people want changes in the new year, they have until midnight monday pacific time to get it done. the administration wants to increase the number covered from 6.7 to 9.1 million in 2015. pictures warning media outlets to stop disseminateing leaks by hackers. the company says hackers have threatened to release more sensitive data by christmas after last month's massive breach. par tis pan of the james bond sequel say an early version of the script for the new specter movie were among the materials stolen from sony. we will be watching that and the ramifications later in the show. we will get to that.

let's get back to sydney, a correspondent with australia's 7 network. chris, 7 network is situated almost directly across from this cafe where the hostage standoff is ongoing. how did you learn about the situation? what do you know now? >> reporter: you are dead right. sydney 7 address is marketplace where this siege is ongoing martin place, this has been owned since fine 80 now. i was on the way to work, in the cafe just next door and gettingpy coffee when we noticed the composition outside the front of lindt cafe and the cafe fear the reserve bank. so everyone thought when we were told it was actually chasing the bank. we quickly realized, that, no, it was going for the cafe. he locked the doors and then we saw the hostages up against the

windows. we realized how serious this situation was. at that point the police decided that that they need to evacuate our building. it's a big fishbowl of a newsroom that sits directly opposite the cafe. they didn't want us in the lean of sight the line of fire. they asked us to move. in the last few hours, i am looking across the cafe now. >> the lights were off inside the cafe, we understand, because obviously it's fight time. but where this place is and the time that this happened about 9:45, 10:00 in the morning would make sense, 10:00 a.m. is a big coffee time there. the kids are out of school. there is a big tree in the area there. a christmas tree where families take their kids. so this is a very popular place at a very popular time of day, yes? >> reporter: absolutely. but more than that, this is the geographically, the location of this place, it's significant for a cup mg ought reasons. it's right besides the bank of

australia and our studios and the major office the premiers of the state, all the minsters the local government that controls the state of new south wales and then the headquarters, two of the major banks are opposite and down martin place is the major center of memorial for war time exports, so it's significant for many, many reasons. i guess over the years, we have always thought and police certainly have seemed to put the resort towards protecting the iconic buildings of sydney and australia, the opera house, the sydney bridge, this is a humble cafe that happens to be positioned right in the intersection of some of our most important institutions. >> chris, now that you and the cameraman are allowed back into the station. you are the only two, what is

your van tage point? >> it's been an extraordinary confronting point of view. we could see strapped into the windows and i came in, just he still had some of the hostages up against those windows. you could clearly see the stress the exhaustion the pain on their face, one woman, we were told, had been forced to stand there for two hours. you could see her eyes were red raw, that's how close we are, red raw with tears that she had been expressing throughout that ordeal, understandably so. we saw a young man in the window pane in the front of the cafe, a young man beside her had his head and hand up against that window t. gunman had sort of been taking the hostages on rotation, forcing them to stand individually in these window pafes, sometimes two hours, sometimes half an hour, mostly doing nothing, sometimes holding that now infamous black banner

or brack flag with the arabic writing on the front of it, forcing them to hold that up. we could clearly see him as well walking in the background, he was dressed in a white shirt, a black cap. he was unshaven and carrying what we think is a pump action shotgun. he also had a backpack on, whether anything was in the backpack, police had been making contingencies in the bomb squads have been called in monita. but as you say, nightfall came two-to-three hours from now the first signs of darkness, he left the lights on inside the building. we could clearly see inside the cafe. he since turned those lights off. it's been pitch black ever since. we can still make out the flack, sitting in the fourth window and about 15 minutes ago, we saw the gunman walk past the window again with what we thought was the gunman holding that shotgun

at waist level. >> chris, we believe what you are calling the flag is not supposedly a specific message but it's something we believe is called the shahada, a one statement lean of the muslim faith. he has asked for an isis flack. let me ask you, after the five people escaped, we believe they escaped because of the man's reaction afterwards, how did the situation inside change in terms of what you could see? is that when the hostages started being more up against the wall? were you able to see anything differently? >> reporter: no, pretty much since that time the gunman moved the hostages to one end of the cafe, it's the end behind the black flag. we can't see into anymore. sense then he hasn't been using the hostages standing them up in the windows, but it was quite terrifying watching what was

happening inside the cafe where the five escaped. because you could see the gunman suddenly become very agitated. he started shouting at that time remaining hostages, we don't know what he was saying. he was telling them to stop still, not move. it was an extremely tense situation. at the end of the day the ceo of lindt chocolate had thought there were 50 people, 5-0, from where he would have been in this privileged position, we counted some 15 faces so far, five escaped, obviously. so we think there is only around ten left in there. there is a variety of demographic, old, young, some professional. some not. but the youngest would probably be early 20s and we don't have any indication that, thankfully, any children are involved in all of this. >> chris, we understand that the

hostages have been ray loued or maybe even encouraged to use social media to use their cell phones to call out to some media stations to tweet messages, do we know what they're saying? >> reporter: yes, it's fascinating to see that angle, just bizarre the major focus was one of the hostages madge managed to get a phone call through to one of the commercial radio stations here, a talk show who took the call but didn't put it to air, being responsible. he took a list of demands from there hostage, dictating that information to the government and police there is back and forth throughout the day. as you say on top of that, messages september by social media, now it's a situation where we know many of the

hostages are, we know four are bank ploy i don't see him we don't want to -- we've taken a decision not to name anybody. but it's, yeah, look, it's quite an official, a siege like this i have seen many sieges my time, a siege in social media where the hostages are allowed to tweet and update facebook status is quite bizarre. >> it is, chris, we thank you very much for your information and your very unique van tage point from where this is hang. we appreciate you sharing it with us. >> on your korean, right now in sydney, it is nighttime there. the standoff has been going on for about 12 hours. the lights are off inside the cafe. we believe the gunman turned them off. so we're going to keep updating the situation as we k. we will take a break right now. we will come back and start talking about why sydney? there are reasons for this. there has been a changing

environment there. the state has been acting in that regard. we will tell you why, on the heels of ottowa, is there a relationship between these types of attacks in different places. we will discuss all this with you. we will give you the latest as soon as we get back. . [ narrator ] mama sherman and the legion of super fans.

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. >> are you all watching "new day?" we have breaking news right now, an armed gunman is holding people hostage in sydney, australia. the crisis is extending into its 12th hour. captives are holding up an arabic phrase about one faith and mohammed is his messenger. we know on your screen five people managed to escape overnight. we are say escape, not released, because the gunman seemed very agitated after they managed to get out from a door there. he started moving, we are told, from a local report ter hostage noose a separate area. so, obviously, he could keep guard. one very interesting thing going on here the gunman has not taken phones from the hostages. -he is encouraging them to use the phones, especially social media, he has been making calls

to media, which is a flack of isis and a phone call with the prime minister tony abomb. he has been critical of the media towards isis. we have anna coren on the ground in sydney, anna, start where what we know about this. give us context how sydney, australia, is not the place we would think about this. >> interestingly enough, there was threats made, police dismissing this particular armed gunman, certainly, sydney is a tourist destination. it's where the skaef a financial hub, a business hub, so i mean this gunman who has been taken, a site that is really a key

position in the heart of the city, but what we know is this gunman, he has a number of hostages inside this lindt cafe, earlier, five managed to flee. we initially didn't know if they had been released, obviously, police negotiators are in touch, in contact with this armed gunman, but as we are hearing from the 7 fourth quarter reporter who witnessed this, he said that the gunman seemed rather agitated and yelled at the remaining hostages. we've heard from the prime minister, the police physicianer, both calling for vigilance among the public, asking them to report if there are suspicious packages, suspicious backpacks, parcels, certainly the sydney opera house was evacuated when a suspicious parcel was found, there were concerns that there were other bombs placed around the city, it

was false, however, police treating the situation extremely seriously, this siege now coming into its 13th hour, we are talking about the center of sydney, this isn't some little country town. this is a major metropolis. as we are hearing from chris reason a little earlier, we are talking about the headquarters of the reserve bank the u.s. consulate, this is the heart of the city and it to be shut down and possibly into tomorrow, that was certainly inferred during the press conference from the new south wales police commissioner. he said this area will be, you know, an exclusion zone for people to go about tear business coming into tuesday as if it were a normal day, programs inferring that this may very well drag on. >> anna, of course, are you not just a journalist based in australia.

can you tell us the reaction of sydney in the last 12 hours? >> i have reported in sydney, to be back here now reporting on this, it is extremely alarming. this does not happen in australia. certainly, the experience with the terrorism bombings, there were americans involved in that terrorist attack as well. for it to be happening on home soil is frightening, clearly, this man is a sympathizer with isis. he believes in the course, so much so, he has asked for the isis flag. he specifically chose that location, opposite a tv station. he wanted the world watching. he demands, let's face it. they're bizarre, an isis flag

and a phone conversation with the australian prime minister. we don't know whether he is acting alone, i think it's interesting we haven't heard isis himself, they are not claiming him as one of tear own. certainly very distressing, very disturbing not just for myself but people here, sydney siding people across australia to know there is somebody here who wants to cause harm for all australians. >> we have heard, not from isis, from about 40 muslim groups from within australia condemning the actions of this man, saying he does not represent the faith. so we do know that much now. still a very developing situation. anna, you will be on the ground force there. right now, we will take a break and speak with a top analyst security analyst to find out what is being done to bring this situation in sydney to a peaceful end. there are negotiations. we will tell you about them when

we come back. .

welcome back to cnn's breaking news coverage of the hostage crisis unfold income sydney, australia at this hour.

this is the 12th hour, police are surrounding a lindt chocolate cafe where an unidentified gunman is holed up inside with an unknown number of captives. he is reportedly demanding an isis flag. he also wants to speak directly to the australian prime minister tony abbott. this is an act of terror, why pick a peace they have joined

isis over the past couple of years. there clearly has been some amount of sympathy among a small group of australians in australia. a couple of months, four weeks, five weeks ago, the leader of isis, abu backer al bag baghdadi. but attack whenever you can. he was encouraging lone wolves.

you put all those things together and the fact that this guy is asking for an isis flag, it's not hard to draw the conclusion he is responding to al-baghdadi's call for action. >> how does law enforcement begin to negotiate with a person like this? >> it will be very difficult. i'm sorry, that will be very difficult because they don't know exactly what le wants here. so far, he wants the flag and publicity. they don't know if he will intend to kill people. i'd like to add to what bobby said the australian versus faced the threat for many, many years. two bombings in balli at fight clubs frequented by australians, killed hundreds of australian tourists. they had a big plot and arrested a number of al qaeda members if 2005. as recently as this past september, they had over 800 officers participate in raids in sydney and brisbon because they

had uncovered a plot to and behead them. they had a huge aggressive acts followed by a large number of protests in the muslim community against police for being too aggressive and pursueing tear tactics. so this has been an ongoing and growing battle between the australians and either isis detectly or people that want to be isis members. >> julia, this could just be a deranged man saying look at me, look at me, there is one aspect that seems unique to isis, which is he hasn't taken their phones, he encouraged them to use them, especially social media, social media is popular for everybody, specifically this group, what do you make of it? >> i think we are sort of in a new wave of the lone wolf soft target attacks, like in the 1970s and fine '80s, most

terrorist organizations lived by the philosophy, you want a lot of people watching, not a lot of people dead. that's because they had political aim. so think of cubans, activists or think of the plo and the israeli conflict. then, of course, al qaeda changed everything. they wanted spectacular attacks with a lot of people dead because sympathy didn't matter, it was attack, itself, it is the combination, it's a lot of people watching. we den know what they want. so using the phones and social media to make this attack seem bicker tan it is, let's take a step back. this is what we can tell, one hostage-taker, 20 people, 30 people, but because everyone is watching, it has the magnitude of a major terrorist incident and so this is the few wave and clearly isis or whoever, whether

he's a sim pa thiedzer or a deranged guy, it doesn't matter, all that matters is getting the hostages out safely. time is on law enforcement side, especially if it's one guy in there. so this is sort of the unfolding of the new wave, which is the br entry is very low for these terrorist organizations and anyone can have global impact. >> thank you so much for your expertise. and there is a gunman holding hostages inside a sidney, australia cafe, he is reportedly demanding an isis flag in exchange for one of the prisoners. we are tracking every new development for you. >> plus, we will have more on our breaking news coverage, i hear as well as what else is going on for you around the world. we will give you the latest developments as soon as we get back. every day and alert you if anything looks suspicious. nice.

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is holding people and demanding an isis flag and a one-on-one conversation with the prime minister. also here larry hackett, editor of "people" magazine. it's interesting to hear them say this is a new era if hostage-taking, if you will, i'm curious if you have soon this ting before and what you make of the development the hostage-taker has not taken a hostage's cell phones. >> right. >> he had them reach out to radio personalitys to get this so-called message out. what are your thoughts? >> i wonder two things, one is get the message out, the other is to build fear and terror. there is nothing like hearing from a hostage. >> and the fear in their own voice. >> there is nothing like that. we all cover this, whether it's a movie or real life, it's

terrifying hrks e is ratcheting attention up in the street. >> the images are so strong of the innocent people with their hand pressed against the window. the location is central, that's a central business core the reserve bank is monita, parliament is not too far away, it is across from a tv station. >> it's if time's square here, where the good morning studio here, the rockefeller station or columbus circle where we are, the main heart of downtown sydney, that's what difference shats differentiates it from a fear and a crime. one observener sydney said this is something concocted for all of australia, obviously, now, for the rest of the country as well. >> it provides a moral dilemma for media. we saw how a radio journalist, a broadcaster was brought into this. a hostage got on the phone with him. he smartly chose, larry, not to

air that conversation live on the air. >> this goes back, this happened in the '60s and '70s, media figures were brought in, whether it was attic ka, media mediates, taking one layer inside, individuals are communicating, makes it a different kind of a situation. >> you add social media, its bizarre and disturbing and real time. >> we heard about making the scene bigger than it is, as our world evolves and our world is interconnected, our reactions to these crimes have to revolve as well, our responses. >> this situation as we know from the past, they go up, the they go down the kid naper may be in a good pood, a bad mood, may feel confident. if there is 50 people all tweeting, he's not going to be if control of that, does he know what they're doing? >> it makes one wonder how well thought out it is, we talked to a security expert about these

lone wolf attacks, you don't know how close they are to the organization and do they have training and how to manage a situation like this. but social pedia takes all sort of control away from it. in a way which is a challenge for law enforcement. >> it is. we have seen, for example, it's nighttime and sydney is reporting, journalists have said, several organizations fixed out the name of the hostage taker and haven't reported that name. people have been careful about that. that radio host did the best thing, to not put the hostage on air we want saw with the discovery channel a few years ago, nbc news called the front desk, got the hostage-taker on the phone, did not report that call until after the situation is resolved. >> there are two considerations here, if we know who is tweeting out, we can tweet in. law enforcement can ask for intelligence, all very, very new. >> a very difficult situation to be sure. thank you to both of you. they will continue to follow

every development in the ongoing sydney hostage situation. let's get to it. hostage, terror in sydney. >> we are locked down, can't go out. >> an armed man holding an unknown number of hostages, just absolutely traumatic. this man walked in, with a shotgun. >> two demands, an isil flag and a phone call. >> the gunman was using one of the employees as a human shield. >> this is what the perspectives here have been dealing with since september 11th. >> once night falls the dynamic of this operation will change. >> we are living very much with terrorists. >> we are being tested today in sydney. >> good morning, everyone, we do have breaking news, it's 7:00 in the east, 11:00 p.m. in sydney, australia, we want to welcome our viewers to our coverage on

"new day." an armed gunman is holding 10 to 1520 people hostage in this cafe. five people have been able to break free and escape. >> we believe they escaped because the gunman was said to be very agitated. he moved his remaining hostages into a specific area where he can keep watch on them after that happened. what you are seeing is a beener that's been forced to be held up by hostages there by the gunman. it is a statement of faith called the shahada saying there is one god and mohammed is his messenger. we believe the gunman asked for an isis flag and also to speak to the prime minister tony abbott on the phone. obviously, there are concerns this is linked to terrorism and a group isis. local muslim groups have condemned this act. we know officials have cordoned off the area around this central business district location. they have been doing negotiations with this man. they are ongoing. it is now night and the lights are off inside this cafe.

so let's get right to anna coren live on the ground in sydney. anna. >> reporter: yeah, chris the siege now entering its 13th hour in the heart of the city here in sydney. this is the financial district, the business district and really, this gunman has chose an key target, this cafe opposite a tv station next to the headquarters of major banks, of course, the reserve bank of australia and the u.s. consulate. as you mentioned those five hostages managed to get away and ongoing conversations are happening with the gunman, the armed gunman. police are hoping that this will be resolved peacefully. let now have a look at what happened throughout today. sydney under siege, an unidentified gunman holding at least a dozen hostages inside this lindt chocolate cafe in sydney, australia.

the gunman, who reportedly calls tms brother, has contacted three local news outlets, making demands, one an isis flag in exchange for one hostage, two, a call from the prime minister. he claims he has planted two bombs in the cafe, two others in the city t. cafe located in the center of the city's bustling business direct but now hundreds of police officers shouting down the crowded martin place. >> now, our only goal tonight and for as long as this takes is to get those people that are currently caught in that billing out of there safely. >> reporter: it was during morning rush hour at 19:30 a.m. when a woman reportedly told police she saw a man carrying a suspicious bag. >> the offender got the gun out, he said, gun, gun, gun, gun in a blue bag. >> reporter: the hostage flag unfolding at 9:45. moments later, hostages seen

pressing her to hands against the windows, fear etched on tear faces, forced to unfurl a black flag bearing an islamic phrase. >> we den know whether this is politicalty motivated, although, mr. reagan some indications that it could be. >> reporter: six agonizing hours later, three hostages escaped, two men darting out the door towards police, seconds later, a third man, an aproceed wearing a brown apron joins them, over an hour later, two women escape the panic on their faces telling it all. >> when we saw that rush of escapades, we could see up here the gunman got extremely agitated as he realized those five had got out. he started screaming orders at the people inside the hostages remain behind. >> reporter: now, we want to show our viewers where exactly this cafe is situated. it is in the heart of the city

in the cbd in this major financial shopping district it's, of course, also shopping for christmas. plenty of should have beeners out and about. now this area in lock down. there are hundreds of police here. the bomb squad is also here. of course, we have seen sniper police there also in position. >> it's 10:00 in the morning, obviously, a busy time, the cafe would have been very busy. you mentioned in your report that the gunman said he has operatives, bombs there. we don't know any of that has come to bear any truth to authorities. we know he has a shotgun. so that's the situation on the ground. you have been in iraq, irbil, so many places in the world covering this war on isis. now you are being home in australia. it seems it has followed you

there. is that the best understanding at this point? >> reporter: well, look, i think it's important to remember there are at least 100 centralians in iraq and syria fighting along side isis. that's not taking into account tore supporters here oak. now, australian authorities, the intelligence communities very much i cross that situation. they have been raised up and down the east coast. terror suspects have been arrested, attacks foiled. certainly as far as an isis-related attack here in australia on home soil i think most people would find that very distressing, very alarming. really, reality hitting our people here that this could actually take place at home. >> anna coren, thanks, so much for all of the breaking developments. it's impossible to know if this is someone affiliate or is

wannabe. he is asking for an isis flag. he presumably would have been equipped with that if isis was behind him. >> they have been asking isis lone wolf to do whatever they want in the name of the cause. >> that may be this as well. someone not of her to own mind believing they are doing the right thing. >> joining us by phone the editor of the daily mail in australia was just in the lock down zone a block away from the cafe where the hostages are being held. luke, can you hear us? >> caller: yes, i can, good morning, or good evening in my case. >> are you still in the lock down zone? caller karl we are about a block away from martin place, from the 24th, you can actually see the general area where the siege is taking place, we are very close. this part of the city, i heard anna talk about in december, it's a tourist city, coming touch christmas, a beautiful

summer's day, it's usually packed, walking around the streets monita this afternoon i can tell you it was absolutely silent. most people who didn't need to be in the city had left already. >> describe to us the police activity that you are seeing? >> well, the police presence is nothing like the center of sydney has ever seen, that's fair to say. it's ranging from everything from traffic police to special forces, what itself got police and snipers on rooftops across from the building. general doubts police, too, uniform police, milk about the streets, trying to bring a sense of town and safety to the general public. this is something that is new to australia. we haven't been naive about this. we certainly don't have the experience of the kind of terrorist threat as do you in the states. >> do we know what the condition of the hostages is and how many there are? >> the numbers are still very vague. it is estimated that it's

between 15 and 50 t. best accounts put it at 15. the lindt chocolate the ceo said they had ten or 15 staff in there at the time. it's unclear how many are actually in there. look. we don't have any reports of injuries. some of the hostages who escaped earlier, as we heard, have been taken to hospital for precautionary treatment. stars we know, already no serious injuries inside. the hostages are now, it's going on 11:00 at fight here now. so the hostages are really in the dark. they have been brought food. the best we can slope they are being treated civilly. as far as we know, there are no injuries. >> we have been talking to other reporters able to get a glimpse through the grass at the hostages, looking obviously distressed and somewhat traumatized as though they have been crying and scared as you would imagine. we are relying on one still shot, one still frame of the

gunman, all we can glean is that he is not clean shaven, he is wearing a white tee-shirt. he has a black vest, a hat on. he does not look to be a teenager, he looks to be older, some have speculated in his 40s. do you know anything about this gunman? caller karl we do not know for sure, it is clear this is not an idealist t. age has been put at when the 45 and 55. so he certainly doesn't appear to be mad. now the head wear is interesting, it's been called a hat. but if you look at those pictures closely, it has been described as a bandana of some sort. so, look, you are right, the appearance of the guy is not, it does not appear to be a young man. he doesn't carry himself like a young man, but very little is known about him. however, i just heard an analyst from the islamic community talking about how he is well known within parts of the

iislamic community, that his identity is known to some of those people and you can only assure that information is passed on, by now they know who he is. as to his background of his connections are to isis, it's not known at this stage. >> that's fascinating, they have suggested they know him in the community. can you describe the lockdown, how big is the lockdown area? are people allowed to move freely around that martin place tourist area or no? >> caller: no, martin place, itself, is pretty much sealed off. it's a big area, to put it in perspective to your viewers, you are talking the size of three or four city blocks so it is a big space. it runs between four sidney streets. so, you know, you are locking at a couple hundred metres in both direction. people are moving about. as i said earlier, there is a real feel income sydney you

don't need to be in the central businesses, you shouldn't be there. most people working or tourists on holidays are avoiding the area. it's quite an eerie feeling out here. >> i bet. thanks so much for all of the information, fascinating, of course, we will check back in with you. >> whatever his affiliation is, they know he has one weapon. he supposedly said he has operatives and bombs that he has planted in various places, there has been no risk of that that has been borne out, we understand, from authorities. they have to take it seriously so much so cnn learned the fbi has been assisting with the sydney hostage situation. evan perez, what do we know? >> chris, u.s. law enforcement and intelligence officials are working with u.s. authorities to gather information on this gunman, holding people hostage there. they are trying to determine if there are marines being held. hostages have been shown on

camera displaying a black flag that u.s. authorities say is commonly used by jihadists. u.s. authorities know of one gunman, australia has seen significant numbers of foreign fighters join groups. intelligence says up to 250 have traveled there. several have been killed. dozens have returned home. >> that compares to 150 american was traveled to isis, syria and iraq. authorities say the concern now turns to the possibility of copycat incidents elsewhere. the fbi warned in recent months of possible so-called lone wolf attacks by extremists in response to the company against isis. chris, they say there is no indication of any active plots here. >> evan, thank you very much tore that. we will continue our reporting on the u.s. side as it is relevant. there is at all times a live picture on your screen of what's going on in sydney. it's about mid-night there now. it's been a day long standoff

with hostages. this is a live picture right now. you can judge the activity for what it is, the lights inside the cafe where this gunman is holding people hostage, they are off. so we don't know what's going on inside right now. we do know they're ongoing guesss and the police seem to be questioning a local there him we den understand why. but we will continue our coverage from there, for our audience in the u.s. and around the world as we get new information. let's take a look at the headlines from here with mikaela. >> all right. good morning, once again, jeb bush could be answering whether or not he will be running for president t. former florida government says he is going to release hundreds of thousands of e-mails from his two terms in office and write an ebook from his governing philosophy. this is supposed to recover better than ever he is close to a presidential run. for state insurance sights, new customer was want coverage that starts january 1st as well as

enrollees that want to make premium increases, they have until midnight pacific time to get that done. people killed in the sandy hook shooting, they are planning to shoot the gun master bush master. it has been two years since adam lanza killed several children and adults. they are planning a national lawsuit against the maker of the gun. kobe passed michael jordan, he is now 3rd overall. jordan released a statement congratulating bryant saying he lookles forward to see lack bryant accomplishes next. not bad for an old guy. >> thanks so much, mikaela. we will continue to follow the latest developments in sydney, australia. the hostage standoff has been going on nearly 13 hours now. >> here's what we know. there are people inside. we don't know how many.

we will be showing you live pictures as you see on your screen right now. every time we are on so we can stay up to date on that. there is certainly one man inside, we the not know of others him we know so far he is demanding to talk to the prime minister tony abbott and is demanding an isis flag. the question is, these types of copycat crimes going on, lone wolves, what are we doing about them in the united states? we have a senator coming to give us a closer look. and our big idaho potato truck is still missing. so my buddy here is going to help me find it. .

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i can't believe i'm eating bacon and rich creamy cheese before my sister's wedding well it's only 100 calories, so you'll be ready for that dress uh-huh... you don't love the dress? i love my sister... 40 flavors. 100 calories or less. welcome back to "new day" uncovering more on the hostage situation in sydney, australia. there is a gunman in the central

business district with an unknown number of hostages. he is reportedly making demands, specifically an isis flag. he will give that, one of his victims, one hostage in return for that flag. he wants to speak to the prime minister tony abbott. he says he has other operatives involved. he says he has bombs involved. that has not been confirmed. there will be a live picture at all times for our viewers and around the world watching that situation. we will give you developments as we have them t. question is what does that mean back here in the u.s.? these lone wolf type attacks if ottowa and here in sydney. chris murphy, a senate and he is joining frus hartford, senator, thank you for being with us. let's deal with the urgency of what's going on in sydney. this does seem to be a response

to isis, what does that mean here at home? >> caller: well, we are all watching the events in sydney with great concern. our law enforcement at the federal and local level are aware of this threat here in the united states and tracking it carefully. obviously, there are times which you can't predict this ahead of time. but what we do know is there are foreign fighters flowing in and out of the fight in syria that are incity getting some of this and coming back to places like the united states, europe and abroad, who are the greatest threats, so one of the most critical things right now is to watch individuals who are leaveing the united states, going over into that fight and watch them very carefully as they move around the region and potentially come back here to the united states, so i think we are completely aware of the threat here in the united states and are doing everything at this point to try to track those that we can. >> scale seems to make it a very daunting task, look at

australia's 23 million people. you got about four-and-a-half in sydney, a relatively small muslim population, 2%. they had 70100 fighters. the rick is more. the people involved is more. how can you track that many people? >> again, ultimately, you are not going to be able to find someone who has not sewn public affiliation. i don't want to create unrealistic expectations here, that's a part of the reason our strategy inside iraq and syria has to be something more beyond a military response. you have to rot out the causes for why isis exists in the first place. you got to give these moderate sunnis a place to go. what we have learned from ten years in the iraq war is dig deployments of ground forces created more an antypathy.

>>s one technique, if you look at sydney, you know, let's say this man has no connection to isis at all other than sympathy for tear cause, that would make it somewhat similar to the ottowa situation where the man was not known to be a member of isis, certainly, they didn't claim any responsibility there. they haven't claimed any responsibility in sydney. how does that change what you can do if terms of assessing risks and what calls you make in terms of who to bring in? >> caller: well, it makes it very difficult and i think we have to caution ourselves against the kind of profiling against muslims in general that is going to create more problems than it solves. now, what can we do? individual citizens have a responsibility here to keep your eyes opened to listen to your neighbors, to report something

suspicious to authorities. we don't want to live in constant fear throughout the united states in our neighborhoods, but there is a responsibility that individuals have to just watch and be a little more careful than maybe they have been in the past. >> now you get a plus-minus from situations loo thick on a 60 cause of yours, namely gun control in the united states. we believe a man in sydney has a shotgun. if he did, that would be an illegal weapon there. when you lock at what the risk is in the united states, generally, men like the are involving themselves with weapons. it also creates pressure on people who want weapons so they can defend themselves against citizens who decide to lose it and become sympathizers of terrorism. how does this change what you think you can achieve with gun control? >> well, listen, ultimately, what we know is when gunmen walk into crowded places, they kill more people within they have you a powerful assault weapons,

arming good guys doesn't work. study after study shows you in communitys that have more guns, more people get killed. the reality is if you have a gun at home, are you more likely to get killed by it than aattacker or someone here. we have to have a conversation, these assault weapons more likely than not are going to be used in mass slaughters than used by sids, hopefully, we will be able have that conversation. one school shooting a week in the united states since new town happened two years ago, should be enough to give us reason to have this never mind the question of what would happen if a sydney-style situation happened here in the united states and that individual had a high powered assault weapon inside one of these facilities. >> well, it is important to note. it is the two-84 anniversary of new town that has come upon us here and there has been no big change, obviously, in gun laws

since then, certainly not at the federal level. we know, senator murphy, that is a signature cause for you, you will continue to fight for it. thank you for joining us in the face of this developing situation. we appreciate it. al since, over to you. >> more of our continuing live coverage of the hostage standoff in sydney t. latest on the gunman's demand and if police are makeing any progress. stay with us.

we want to welcome or viewers in the united states and around the world.

there is breaking news in the situation there, 13 hours a gunman has been holding an unknown number of hostages inside a cafe in the central business direct of the city. we do know that captors have been forced to hold up a banner that has an islamic statement of faith on it. we do know at least five of the people held in there have escaped. we say escaped because the gunman was said to become very agitated after they got out. he removed the remaining hostages to another part of the store. this has been observed directly across the street. he has demands. he wants an isis flag and wants to speak to tony abbott. he says he has other operatives and bombs. >> that has not been confirmed. we know he entered about 10:00 in the morning a. busy time of the central business district, this lindt cafe. he has at least a shotgun with

him. anna coren is live in sydney. >> reporter: yeah, chris, it's going on 11:30 p.m. here, the cbd of sydney is very much in lockdown. we are talking several blocks around this cafe. this is as far as the police will allow us. earlier in the day we were much closer to lindt cafe. we had a visual of the cafe, however, due to security reasons, concerns the gunman would start firing explosives, bombs, we were moved away, but there are hundreds of police within the vicinity of the bomb squad is also here. we have also seen sniper gunmen taking positions. clearly, they want this resolved peacefully. we have heard from authorities saying as much, they are prepared to wait this out. for this to take as long as necessary, as long as this is resolved peacefully. however, we are now entering the 13th hour of the siege and we

are not talking about a quiet area. this is the cbd of sydney. next door very close to the lindt cafe is the u.s. consulate, the headquarters of the reserve banks, as well asthma josh tv network which is across the road. so you have to presume this gunman armed, according to police, with a shotgun, also carrying a backpack. we don't know what is inside that backpack. he has chosen this location to get maximum coverage. we have yet to confirm how many hostages he has. police refusing to give us a number. however, as we know, over the course of the afternoon, at least five hostages have managed to break free of the lindt cafe. initially, we thought, perhaps, this was the result of negotiations. police negotiations, they were able to make contact with the gunmen this afternoon. however, according to local reporters, once these hostages

fled, he was irate, yelling, so clearly he was upset. however, he has been allowing the hostages to use their mobile phones. they have local tv networks, which are his demands, the phone conversation with the tone abbott as well as calling for an isis flag to be delivered. he did hang a flag there. >> that is apparently still at the lindt cafe. he had the hostages up against the glass, later they unfurled the black flack with arabic writing with islamic saying. but certainly, he is now making those demands. there was also talk of there being bombs, two bombs that he planted inside the cafe, that is yet to be verified by the police. but there were certainly bomb squares at the sydney opera house, if you follow this road

for a mile, will you hit the sydney opera house. >> that area was evacuated. it was completely shut down. it turned out to be a false alarm, certainly, sydney very much on high alert. >> anna, i also want to read to you the latest tweet that came out from the journalist at channel 7:chris riesen. he is right across the street in the tv station. he just tweeted, very little movement at the lindt cafe. one person we believe to be the gunman, carrying an ipad. so to your point, that i are trying to get messages out through all of this sort of modern tech following and social media. anna, we should also say you spend much of the summer reporting in iraq on isis. now are you back home in australia. does this seem to you as though this person is affiliated with isis or is he just a wannabe? >> reporter: well, alisyn, it's

hard to tell. obviously, him wanting the isis flag would definitely indicate he is some sort of sympathizer what is a large muslim community here in australia, who have come out and voiced their support for the police and how they find water happening about a block from where we are standing abhorrent. there is a small minority of muslims who are sympathizers to the isis cause. there are more than 100 australian citizens who go on to fight in iraq and syria with isis. obviously, there was a call for more attacks. it wasn't just in the united states and throughout europe. also here in australia. the reason being is that australia is very much side-by-side with america and the other allies if fighting isis in iraq and syria, taking part in that aggressive air campaign, so, certainly, australia is a target. >> that is why there are

concerns that perhaps this is related. >> also, i think it's because the gunman seems to be making that clear, that that's how he wants this to be perceived, anna, we have video that's coming in of one of the hostages. we will not show you, obviously, you want to walk that line between how much propaganda exposure you give to a situation like this we care about the individual and the threat that he presents, the hostage is making a list of demands the same as we have known, he wants the flag, he wants to talk to the prime minister. he will exchange a hostage if he gets the flack, he also wants it to be known this is about the islamic state and that that's what he wants the media to understand. he is continuing his threats about having bombs. he says there are three of them. the is giving specific polices where they are. if his demands aren't met, that's what the bombs are for, how serious dunk they are taken by what is happening around you

in. >> yeah, police are taking them extremely seriously. there is a bomb squad on location as we speak. they have been there since the get-go. and, obviously, there were those calls for the public to remain extremely vigilant and to report any suspect parcels or backpacks, that is what sparked off what happened at the sydney opera house earlier today, but, yet, as i say, the prime minister making those calls as well as police authorities telling australians to remain vigilant. the last time that australians experienced terrorism with the bali bombings in 2002, in which 88 centralians were killeaustra killed, on tv, our troops being committed toward overseas, we have never experienced this here

on home soil. >> an no coren, thank you so much. he may say he is connected to isis. isis has notice put anything out claiming he is a part of that. >> local muslim groups have condemned this action as a statement-of-muslim faith. it is fight time there in sydney, australia. we will constantly have it on your screen the lights are off inside. it's hard to know what's going on. stay with us. we will be giving information to you. .

we have continuing coverage of the siege in sydney for our american audiences and viewers around the world, joining us is a cnn analyst and former bush security and counterterrorism adviser and tom fuentes, former

fbi assistant director and law enforcement analyst. great to have you both with us. they have put outly the new videos from the hostages inside the lindt cafe. we are not airing it. we don't want to be a conduit for what this gunman wants. they're again outliveing his requests. he wants an isis flag and wants to speak to the prime minister. what are your impressions? >> the flag he is currently saying, it's said it's the thes shahada. he is clearly an extremist. his views are aligned with the islamic states. he is giving street areas, not spec addresses. he clearly wants the concerns if his demand are not met to speak

to the prime minister, he will begin to hurt hostages. >> tom, is it your impression he is affiliated with isis? he doesn't seem to have that many resources for someone affiliated with a terrorist group? >> no, i don't think we know that yet,al sen. it appears he is not that well funded or trained at this point. but we don't know that and especially the issue of the explosives. has he had train something are there bombs or is that an idle threat? >> the time is right, i would say, one, he doesn't need a lot of resources, b, he's in there alone, you don't know if he's acting alone the australian security intelligence service is very, very capable. they have long experience going back to the time of the bali bombing. they understand the islamic extremist groups. there have been ongoing islamic extremist investigations. we den know if this is related. >> if you remember, tom, isis

hasn't put out any statement. he is claimening an affiliation. is this a deranged person who is a wannabe. in brisbon, more than 800 police officers conducted raids when they received information that isis had incurred a plot in australia and that plot was to go to martin blase, grab an innocent citizen off the sidewalk and behead him and maybe more than one and show that on video. that's a departure from other threats and other countries like canada and the u.s. where they said, get somebody in uniform, police officer, a soldier, do it. this was specifically in australia to be a private citizen. then as a result of the aggressive action there were

demonstrations criticizing police for their aggressive actions if conducting these raids, this is a source of 46, if you will, in that community going back, as fran mentioned, the australian federal police and fbi have had a presence since the first bali bombing. >> what is going on in the white house? we know my successor in the white house is sort of coordinating the response. i think we got to remind folks up until today, frankly the american government has told the u.s. citizens there is no imminent threat here. unfortunately, i suspect that's what the australians were saying before this event began. it underscores, these are difficult to pediatric, if it's a lone wolf or a small group

even those under investigation, their ability to go live and sakt almost unstoppable by the government. we have to understand. these guys look to instill fear. they see what is going on, the disruption and fear one guy at the lindt cafe can cause. in that sense, right, no matter how this turns out, even if we get everybody back, they had a successful propaganda event if nothing else. >> thank you so much. >> of course, we will continue our breaking news coverage of this hostage situation in sydney, australia. right now, it's nighttime, ten and 20 captives, we believe, some have escaped. is it the work of islamic extremists? we will take a closer look ahead. (vo) nourished.

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comcast business. built for business. welcome back to "new day." in sydney, australia, an unidentified gunman is holed up with an unknown captors. we are hearing 10 to 1520. he is making demands in individuals. he is encouraging the hostages to use media, social media, especially to get them out. what are they? so far he wants an isis flag and he says he will release a hostage if he gets one. he also wants to speak to the prime minister tony abbott. he is believed to have a shotgun. he says he has bombs and is working with others. yeah, let's bring in a cnn counterterrorism analyst and a former deputy director of the

counterterrorism center at the cia. we have bobby goesh. i will start with you, forget about whether this guy is a member of isis or he is deranged, whatever he is, he has situated himself where he put this seems to be the new lone wolf. we know isis is calling for it around the world. how do you deal with this? >> you've got to go into the assumption even though it may look like the lone wolf there's other intelligence here. as a professional, in this situation you've got to let the police and law enforcement deal with the situation on the ground. someone like me is separating saying if we have identification of who he is, are there other people we can identify who might have been affiliated for example, on his facebook page if he's got one.

and if we can find out if he's radicalized by someone else. you can't assume he's a lone wolf right off the bat. >> social media is used by good guys and bad guys. the problem is you're fighting an idea. a deranged person can cling to. someone they think is sympathetic can cling to. we have news of something else going on in australia on social media as a reaction to this. tell us about it. >> you're right, fighting an idea is a difficult thing. counter terrorism groups and government get involved. often times the best way to fight an idea is ordinary people. an australian woman realized a religious woman removing religious garb because she was afraid of how muslims would be perceived in this moment. the woman chased after the woman and said if you're comfortable with your religious garb put it

back on. if you're uncomfortable, i'll ride with you. it's going viral across twitter. australians are stepping up saying if you're muslim, want to wear religious clothing and want to go on public transport, i'll ride with you. >> it's a theory of exclusion which we're dealing with in terrorism. >> it's a much more powerful way of reaching out than governments making statements or police departments. it rejects the idea that muslims cannot live in australia. or that muslims should feel oppressed in australia. australians are stepping up saying i respect your religious right and to wear whatever you feel comfortable wearing. i'll ride with you if you feel worried. that's so powerful. >> muslim groups have come out and condemned this too, also important.

phillip, the problem is this is scary because you can't control this. you can tell me you track down threads and watch people at risk. this guy whether known or not in the muslim community could be anybody. that's the same thing we're dealing with here in the u.s. isn't it? >> 12 to 13 years ago when i was fighting the al qaeda group out of pakistan, that was a more strategic threat than you see australia. it's also a group that gives a core organization to use intelligence tools against. things like human sources, technical intercepts of e-mail and phone. the problem in this situation you don't have an individual capable obviously of organizing a plot to take down four aircraft. if you want to tell me as an intel guy you can find people like this. we see them in ottawa, uk, france, u.s., now in australia. you can't find all these people. it's impossible. >> so what do you do?

>> well, one of the things you've got to do is look at how this person was inspired for example, we've seen in australia in that attempted beheading case a few months ago the inspiration came from an individual out with isis in syria. one of the things you've got to do is look at how people are communicating from places like united states and australia with inspirational people in iraq and syria. doesn't hatter if people in the middle east are providing operational training. i want to know who's talking about acts of violence even if they're not organizing from syria. if they're talking about them, i look at them. >> last point. they expanded police powers in australia. they're thinking of how to control media reporting around terrori terrorism. right now he's putting out videos with hostages. i won't show them, but we are covering it. do you think that's part of the problem or reality with media? >> that's the reality.

a few years ago we had a major attack, 150-170 dead in india. that was an attack all over social media for days. these guys had smart phones and were televising what they were doing getting tremendous coverage. we've matured in years. these folks wanted the same thing. they don't just want hostages. they want to say we are a state, a people who require your attention. cnn and others have matured saying we're not going to give you that coverage. i think it's great. >> the question is how it's covered and how messages happen on regular media and social media. thanks very much. appreciate the perspective. >> we continue to track this hostage stand off in sydney, australia. we're live on the ground for you when we come back.

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we are being tested to die. hostage a, terror in sydney. >> an armed man holding an unknown number of hostages. >> just absolutely traumatic. these men walked in. two demands, an isil flag and a phone call with the prime minister. >> if gunman was using one of the employees as a human shield. >> this is what americans have been dealing with since september 11th. good morning. it is monday, december 15th just about 8:00 in the east. i'm chris cuomo with alisyn

camerota. we're 14 hours into a standoff where gunmen is holding people hostage in a cafe. what you're seeing now on your screen in a little live box, a picture of the situation, and in the main an escape of five hostages. we believe because the gunman was agitated. >> we understand those trapped inside have been forced to stand against the windows in shifts holding an islamic flag and their hands up. also chilling images of the gunman. we have three videos of the hostages making demands on behalf of the gunmen. we are not showing those videos to you. we can tell you the content. let's get to cnn anna in sydney. what do we know at this hour? >> reporter: well alisyn despite the presence of hundreds of police, the bomb squad as well as police snipers, this siege is entering the 14th hour in the

heart of sydney and central business district about a block from where we are standing. as you say, five hostages have escaped. we don't know how many are still inside the cafe. police refusing to reveal that number. we understand from a local reporter, opposite the cafe in the tv network located there, he says he has seen the gunman, turned out the lights. he's walking around the cafe with his ipad. for now, let's recap on the day's events. >> sydney under siege. an unidentified gunman holding a dozen hostages inside this cafe in sydney, australia. the gunman who reportedly calls himself the brother, has contacted three local news outlets making demands. one an isis flag in ex change for one hostage. two, a call to the prime minister. claims he's plant twod bombs in

the cafe and two others in the city. the cafe located in the center of the bustling business district. now hundreds of police officers are shutting down the crowded martin place. >> our only goal tonight and for as long as this takes is to get those people who are currently caught in that building out safely. >> during rush hour, 9:30 a.m., a woman reportedly told police she saw a man carrying a suspicion bag. >> he revealed the gun to get rid of her. she ran saying gun, gun, gun. >> the hostage crisis unfolding around 9:45 when the man entered the cafe. hostages seen pressing hands against the window, fear etched on their faces, forced to unveil a black flag bearing an islamic phrase. >> we don't know if this is politically motivated although obviously there are some

indications that it could be. >> six agonizing hours later, three hostages escape. two men dart out the door towards police. secondings later, a third man, an apparent employee wearing a brown a pron joins them. then two women escape, panic on their faces tell it all. >> we could see from up here at the vantage point the gunman got extremely agitated as he realized those five had got out. he started screaming orders at the people inside, the hostages that remain behind. >> just to give viewers an idea as to where this is all taking place. it is a block from where we are standing. police won't let us further. earlier in the day we had visuals on the cafe. due to security reasons, police moved us back. that cafe, situated to the

headquarters of four major banks within martin place. also this tv network, the seven network, and the australian reserve bank. it is really a very busy area. normally it's on lock down now. hearing from the police earlier today, they are prepared for this to go for as long as it takes hoping this will be revolved peacefully. >> you picked the right place and time. 9:45 or 10:00 is a coffee cafe stop time. kids are out of school. holiday shoppers and walkers are around. the question of how organized it is remains open. he's been using hostages to put out videos. they're crudely done. youtube is taking them down. cnn hasn't been airing them. the list of demands, i want your take on that. he calls himself the brother and

he's reaching out to people he says he's working with. it seems contrive. what do you make of the situation? >> reporter: yeah well he's also known within the islamic community. who he is working with we don't know. perhaps he's working alone and this is all a cover for something else. his demands made through hostages like contacting local television networks and a radio station is for an isis flag to be delivered to the cafe in return for a hostage as well as a phone conversation with the prime minister tony abbott. quite bizarre requests you have to admit. police taking this extremely seriously. the prime minister as well as police officials are calling for australian public to be

vigilant, report suspicion parcels or backpacks. the opera house is a mile from where i am. this road heads straight to the sydney opera house. that was shut down and evacuated when there was a suspicious parcel found. the bomb scare did not happen but the city is on high alert here. until this is over, the city will not rest. >> the one bright spot to our knowledge is nothing has been done to any hostages by this man yet. that often can't be said in these types of situations. we'll be back with you soon. >> as far as we can tell, that is true. joining us now by phone, the editor of the australia daily mail. luke, thanks for being with us. describe where you are at this moment. >> caller: just outside here.

[ inaudible ] i'm about a block from martin place. all of today there was an effective lock down open to public. most of the buildings in that central business district were the same. workers could not come and go freely unless you worked in a particular building. it was impossible to to get access. that's the security situation confronting sydney today. >> you helped us realize this one little bit of video on the right-hand side of our screen that shows the person we believe to be the gunman. he's wearing a black t-shirt, vest and something on his back and head. can you tell us what you make from the photos we have and what experts have said about this

person? >> caller: it appeared to be a hat but now seems to be head dress with islamic text on it. the pictures we're seeing are not clear enough to decipher what that is. experts are assuming that's some kind of islamic head wear. i've heard experts today talk about how that's unusual form of dress for somebody searching for isis or isil. it may be some sort of lone wolf operative with connections to a terrorist group. certainly if he's some sort of religious text on his head dress. >> authorities do know the identity of this person? >> caller: there's been one islamic leader who has talked about himself and other leaders in the community who do know the identity of this man.

he's then go on to say he's dealing with police. you would think after 14 hours the police would have a general idea of who this man is. clearly he hasn't been identified to the public. >> we just watched three videos put out by the hostages obviously at the command of the gunman it appears. those have been taken down from youtube. in those videos they spell out what the gunman's requests are. what do we know about what's going on at this hour inside that cafe? >> caller: [ inaudible ] it's unclear whether that was incii ininstigation of gunman or police. nothing has changed outside.

it's difficult to know what's going on inside. we do know earlier the hostages were brought some sort of food. the lights were on for some time. what we were able to see from cameras was at least one would be a staff member walking around in a distinctive brown apron viewers would have seen throughout the coverage, the uniform of the chocolate cafe. we know that was a staff member because of the apron. she was still wearing that apron as late as this evening. we don't know the condition of the hostages. police are certain there are no certain injuries. we know from the five hostages that escaped earlier today that they were absolutely terrified. >> the fact they were brought some sort of food, the fact that

they've been allowed to be seen through the window, the fact that five of these hostages got out somehow, negotiators must feel all of this points to a good sign that they will be able to make some head way with him. >> caller: [ inaudible ] when those hostages broke free, it was unclear whether they escaped or were allowed to go. it seems the hostage taker was annoyed and agitated when that happened. perhaps they weren't supposed to leave. at that time, there seemed to be a lot of movement. people were coming out. there was a lot of police. i have to say senior police looked fairly relaxed in some of the press briefings earlier on. now we've had a good five or six hours.

i think we don't know what this guy is thinking. it's very difficult to get a handle on what he wants. we've heard some of these demands including an interview with the prime minister beyond the realm of possibility. if he's holding out for that, i suggest he be waiting a while. it's very, very difficult to know where his head is at. when they are getting towards 13 hours in this situation, fatigue has to be playing a part to his thinking as well as the hostages. >> yes, of course. terribly stressful and traumatic ordeal for everyone inside. luke, thanks so much for giving us your view from the lockdown zone. thank you. >> caller: thank you. this has been going on an unusually long time in sydney, australia, over 12 hours now. it is nighttime in sydney, australia. what you're looking at now in the 14th hour, this is one of

the hostages that has been used by this gunman to relay his messages to the media that he wants his flag, wants to talk to tony abbott. one of the good indications here he is offering hostages an exchange for things so there's value put to their lives. we haven't heard reports of people being hurt. we did not show the videos. we understand they're taken down off social media. what impact that will have upon gunman in terms of destabilizing him, we do not know. that's going on now. that's the latest word. lights inside the cafe are off. it's difficult to know what's happening. cnn has learned fbi is involved in the sydney crisis. they're offering their help. let's see what that means from evan perez live from washington. what do we know? >> u.s. officials are working with australian authorities to help gather information on this gunman holding hostages in sydney. that includes social media and website data u.s. may have

access to. they're trying to determine if there are americans being held. hostages have been shown on camera displaying a black flag that u.s. counter terrorism officials say is commonly used by jihadists. u.s. authorities know of only one gunman. australia has seen significant number of fighters join syria in iraq. up to 250 people have travel there had. several have been killed, and dozens have returned home. that compares to 150 americans who have travelled to fight in syria and iraq. authorities say the concern now turns to the possibility of copy cat incidents elsewhere. the fbi warned in recent months of b possible so called lone wolf attacks by extremists in response to the u.s. bombing campaign against isis. chris, they say there's no indication of active plots here. >> thank you very much. at this point it does seem to be very unsophisticated in terms of

requests made in the way this man is choosing to communicate with the negotiators right now. we'll stay informed on that situation. we'll be watching it. we'll have live picture of it the entire time you're watching the broadcast. there are other headlines. let's get that from michaela. quick headlines now. a man in maryland who ran off the road is accused of attacking paramedics that responded to the scene. that man then stole the paramedic's ambulance and crashed it into half a dozen cars. one man died in the pileup. the suspect was arrested and taken to the hospital in critical condition. a motive remains unclear. an american who said he illegally entered north korea held a news conference where he denounced the u.s. and said he's seeking asylum in venezuela. martinez of texas slammed the united states on human rights issues. his mother tells that her son is

bipolar. it's unclear if martinez is free. >> 22-year-old man is arrested in connection with the murder of jakell mitchell, shot and killed in auburn on campus. mitchell's girlfriend says he was arguing with a man in the park lot when a third man pulled a handgun. mar kel hart of alabama is arrested on felony murder charges. a rare northern white rhino has died. that rhino 44 years old died of old page. poaching put endangered rhinos close to extension. efforts will be made to keep the species alive through in vitro

fertilization. thanks so much for. that. we're following all developments from the siege in sydney for you. there's a gunman holding hostages in a chocolate shop. this has been going on the past 14 hours. what do we know about his demands, conditions of hostages, and possible links to terror, next.

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welcome back to "new day." there's an ongoing situation in sydney, australia. hostages are being held now some 14 hours by an unidentified gunman. he entered a lent chocolate cafe in the heart of downtown sydney. police are keeping details under wraps. they do know who he is, they are familiar with who he is as a result of finding out his identity. the question is what's going on there and how can they bring this to an end? let's bring in fbi former lead kidnapping negotiator chris vos and former bush homeland security and counter terrorism advisor.

couldn't have two better people to deal with this. chris, how do you handle a guy like this? chris is on the phone now. what do you think they're doing? how is this working now? >> caller: good morning chris. thanks for having me on. if i may, let me take you behind the scenes on this. hostage negotiators set up what they call negotiation operation center or noc. they've got a team listening to everything this guy says and everything they can find out about him. they're trying to do whatever they possibly can to get him on the phone and keep him talking so they can find out how to resolve this peacefully. one of the things i've heard that concerned me a little bit is if he's not talk directly to negotiators and communicating through hostages, that's a problem for them because he's then making a conscious effort to not talk directly with them. he's trying to keep a psychological barrier between himself and the negotiators.

they'll be doing whatever they can to see how they can get him out alive. >> what does it mean to you chris that in these videos he's released of hostages -- we haven't shown the videos. those are taken off youtube. we don't know what that means in head how seriously he's being taken. he keeps wondering why his demands aren't met. what do you do with the expectation of someone deranged like this? >> caller: negotiators have told him those things are out of his control. if the primary thing he's seeking is attention, they can give him that and satisfy what he's after to get everyone out alive. they really have to understand exactly what it is that he's after and whether or not something intangible can be used to satisfy his psychological needs. >> let me bring in fran in terms of who is this guy. they're familiar with him and

know him from the muslim detail. in terms of assessing whether this is a lone wolf, crazy person or part of something more, what do you see? >> the fact they know who he is, they're looking at whether or not he's part of a larger network. remember the australians have capable intelligence service that made an arrest of a group that said they were going to grab a civilian off the street for beheading. no doubt the first order of business is find out if he's connected to the group that had the plot. then find out if the threat is credible. he's named three locations in downtown sydney he claims to have planted explosive devices. what they know about him and whether he's connected to that group tells if he's a credible threat or not. >> we know he has access to cell phones. he uses hostage videos to say we're trying to communicate to other brothers not to detonate

the bombs. that seems to not be reasonable. he should have other ways to contact them. is that the kind of thing that will figure into your thinking? >> absolutely. on the other hand you could read it 180 degrees out. by not calling them himself and not communicating himself and using other people's cell phones may be an indication of operational security. he doesn't want to use his own phone because he thinks it's less likely theirs are tapped. >> a reporter saw him walking with an ipad. it's dark there. he's turned the lights off. it's midnight plus in australia. chris, back to you. we understand videos taken down have been reposted under another person who may or may not be held captive in there right now. what does that mean to you if he's so insist ent on using social media? >> caller: they're going to have to factor that into whatever communication he's giving them inside. if that's his point he wants to

get this out on social media, that could possibly be a bad sign. it's going to have to be connected to what he's saying and what they appear his goals to be. it is completely driven by the context of how he's communicating and what their sense is whether or not he's trying to orchestrate this to specific conclusion. >> chris, what is the significance of time? how does six hours versus 12 and moving past that figure into strategy and expectations? >> caller: chris, that's a great question. he's going to be running out of gas before long. usually in these sieges, a person by themselves at the 12 hour mark, they start to become psychologically overwhelmed t trying to manage the entirety of the scene. he clearly appears to be in there by himself. they don't know what sort of steps he's taken to keep him psychologically sharp. that's one of the things the negotiators have to take into

account. when someone becomes overstwr overstressed or tired, they become sipsychotic. he doesn't have a lot of energy left. they to see how that plays into this. . >> we know they brought food in to him and hostages inside. we'll come back to you chris for understanding. appreciate it. >> caller: thanks. >> thanks so much. we'll have continued coverage of sydney. a gunman holding people captive more than 14 hours now, his commands, and what we know about the hostages inside, coming up. (vo) nourished. rescued. protected. given new hope. during the subaru "share the love" event, subaru owners feel it, too. because when you take home a new subaru, we donate 250 dollars to helping those in need. we'll have given 50 million dollars over seven years.

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and the phones are free. comcast business. built for business. welcome back to "new day." it's 8:30 in the east, 12:30 in the morning in sydney, australia. we want to welcome our viewers back in the united states and around the world. we're continuing to follow breaking news out of sydney, australia. we're now in the 14th hour of a standoff there. five hostages escaped overnight. it's unclear how many are held inside by a gunman. police know who he is, and they say they're familiar with him from the muslim community there. they are not releasing anymore information because of operational security. they are in contact with the gunman. he has been using the hostages to pass along the demands specifically on video he's released on youtube. three different videos in which

he's making demands, some in exchange for hostages and also expressing agitations to why his demands are not met. they're in a cafe in the central business district of sydney. it was done at a big traffic and coffee stop time. this is a very important location. the u.s. consulate is there, media, head of four major banks there, sydney opera we're all familiar with. this man picked the right place at the right time. the question is why? let's get to anna coren live in sydney. >> reporter: chris, we just don't have those details. we don't know what his motivations are other than those bizarre demands that he made late this afternoon. he wants an isis flag brought to the cafe in return for a hostage. and for a phone conversation

with tony abbott. quite bizarre to make those demands after holding so many hostage so many hours. that's what we know. that's the contact he's had through the hostages to the media, to local media outlets. we also know that there's been police negotiators, highly skilled, some of the best in the world, talking to this armed gunman. as you say, he walk into the cafe around 10:00 a.m. this morning. that is when he put those hostages, made them put their hands against the window. there was fear etched on their faces. clearly they were there under duress. he has a shotgun. he is carrying a backpack. we don't know what is inside the backpack. they then showed a sign which was in arabic and islamic phrase. not an isis flag. i think that's important to stress. we were much closer to the

location of the cafe which is in this direction about a block in this direction. however, police moved us because of security reasons. they were concerned whether he would open fire, whether he had explosives, whether there were bombs. earlier in the day there was that bomb scare at the sydney opera house just behind me down this road. if you travel a mile, you'll hit it. certainly those fears that there were perhaps bombs throughout the city. they were false leads. the focus is purely on this particular location on this cafe. there are hundreds of police here. there are snipers, bomb squad also on location. as you say, it's gone past midnight. this is still ongoing. it could very well go into tomorrow. >> the man inside is saying this is an isis attack on australia. we have no reason to believe

that it is part of an organized effort at this point. the group hasn't come forward. as you moe well being there, it doesn't matter. there are people inside in harm's way. we'll continue to cover it until it finds resolution. thank you anna. we'll check back. >> the sydney hostage situation feels like terrorism. how we fight terror remains in the spotlight. joining us cnn political commentator and democratic strategist and republican strategist anna navarro. great to see you both. what happens inthe white house when this takes place? >> first off the situation room monitors developments. the national security council will be on top of this. i'm guessing from working in the

white house that the president has been briefed on this and there's been close contact with the australians. cooperation on intelligence matters is very, very close. i think that's pretty much all you can do. one huge priority for the white house will be to find out are there americans involved? it's still our country the president has to worry about although australia is a close ally. >> just last week we were hearing how the forward march of isis in iraq is hobbled by the air strikes. they aren't rampaging as much as they had been. then an incident like this happens and it shows how one person can bring a major metropolitan area to a stand still. what are politicians -- what's the conversation among politicians about what we're supposed to do about that? >> well i think it tells you several things. first of all we live in an increasingly small world where we are all the same planet. it's also a scary thing.

they're going after people doing their everyday lives. this is not a field of combat. this is people doing maybe christmas shopping for chocolates. that way they were attacked the psyche of regular folk. we can't retreat, put our haead in the sand. if we're not part of world leads -- leadership, that these things will stop happening. >> terrorism will be right at the top of the list. >> it will be alisyn. that's a good point. i know when that race gears up and when we have debates -- we'll have thorough examination of what the u.s. should be doing at home, and doing abroad. in terms of politicians, a lot of them will scramble and think gee, how should i handle this if

i were will there. you have time if you're a politician running in 2016 to think through what are we doing now that works and what should i be doing differently? that's a big part of the campaign. >> we heard over the weekend jeb bush seems to make more steps in the direction he might be interested in 2016. he's releasing plethora of e-mails. is he talking about terrorism? >> i saw him give a very meaty and substantial foreign policy speech a couple of weeks ago where he did discuss the dangers of the world and need for america to be a big leading player in the international arena. he also talked about the need for us to continue engaging. he talked about what our military presence needs to be. from jeb bush i think you're going to see he's not the type that says let's be isolated. there are some that say that. he's saying let's be realistic. these threats are not going

away. i think part of the reason governors become so attractive is because they've had experience with crisis management. the bottom line is when you're president, crises do happen. if you know how to manage crises i think you have some advantage. >> we get reminders of that it seems every week. anna, paul, thanks so see you this morning. let's go to michaela. thank you so much. here are five things you need to know for your new day. number one, obviously a gunman holding hostages in a cafe in sydney. the captor wants to have a isis flag and speak to the prime minister. president obama is poised to sign a $1.1 trillion spending bill to keep the government running through september of next year. the senate passed the measure saturday night lifting the threat of a government shutdown.

sony pictures demanding media outlets stop disseminating data leaked by hackers. the company is facing another data release and says the stolen material needs to be deleted not reported on by the press. heavy traffic expected at the obama care website and state insurance sites today. new customers and those that want to make changes have until midnight tonight to get hit done. we update five things to know. head to our website, cnn.com for the latest. we're going to continue our breaking news coverage in sydney, australia. there is now a gunman holding between 10 and 20 captives in the cafe in sydney, australia. we don't know exactly how many are inside. we know five have made it out. we believe they escaped. the question is, who is this man? is he some lone criminal or part of an organized plot? we'll take a closer look a head.

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welcome back to "new day." we have breaking news on this standoff in sydney. hostages are held some 14 hours by an unidentified gunman. we know about 10:00 in the morning local time in sydney he entered a lent chocolate cafe in the heart of downtown australia. when people were out getting coffee, kids off during christmas, a lot of traffic around there.

it's across from the u.s. consulate and big media outlet. national banks are all around there. this is a very busy location. you're looking at live picture in the small box and key moments in the main on your screen. what do we know about this man, and what will happen next? let's bring in nick payton walsh and a counter terrorism official. thank you for being here. this man has been making demands online. one is he says he wants a isis flag. he has hostages hold up a banner which we believe is the message there's one god and mohamed is the messenger. the curiosity is how planned is this, how connected is he? do you get insight from that request? >> it's quite telling really about how the proper mohammed was given the text by the muslim

god ala. that particular statement and branding used there, white on black is affiliated with one described group working in syria. also many other al qaeda affiliates. it's wide lly used. it's interesting that this says i'd like to have an islamic state flag. quite different contending similar wording, but not at a all the same thing. remember that isis flag is the one singular thing isis has most recognizable form of branding. you can't imagine how a complex operation, if it is complex with many involved, could have been planned without the one central recognizable thing for isis being involved more effectively and having that on his person rather than someone bring it to you. >> good point. he has referred to himself as the brother. he said phillip mud you must

announce this is an attack by the islamic state against australia. authorities say they know who he is and know with some familiarity how he figures into their community. they're not releasing that information, but what does that mean in terms of figuring this out? >> if our back in the business in the chair, you've got to keep cool chris. this is going to get hot. you've got to coordinate as leads come in, as the australians pass things like his past phone numbers to the united states. they will pass that. you've got to coordinate the activities with the national security agency, central intelligence agency, fbi, department of homeland security, national counter terrorism center. a lot of players in the united states behind the scenes. put them behind the scenes and make sure real time we check every one of these leads to a, make sure nothing is happening in the united states, and b, if we turn up anything to help the

australians we insure to pass it back as quick as possible. >> looking at the man himself, he's said to be a middle aged guy. that makes him unusual. we see younger types motivated by organizations specifically and by their idea remotely. is that relevant to you? >> sort of. as i watch this problem evolve from early 2000s to 2005 and 2006 i used to think the pair died was an 18-19-year-old kid, maybe 17. we saw a 15-year-old girl in denver radicalized by someone older. as we move to 2000s as ideology became more present across the world and united states, we started to see people older. for example, back in the horrific attack in mumbai years ago the attack in the hotel t key player was much older than a lot of subjects we look at but

equally radicalized. parra dime is changing. >> the idea of lone wolf, i think it romanty sizes who these people are that take up the mission of a terror group. the idea that isis specifically has asked people to join without organization, just to do acts and furthering jihad and isis mission. do you believe that this is what the new threat is in terms of what isis is hoping in term temperaturth temperaturths of extending reach? >> absolutely. there's a huge question to ask how he ended up in this situation. yes, that is the future track of a man that commits an act of horror like this. security forces going forward, they need to work through precisely who these people are. this man seems to have a fluid plan that requires changes.

that's the major threat from isis, holding up the flag saying those that support us, go out and show terrorism as you can. that's the major threat and the decade ahead i think. >> nick walsh, phillip mudd. thank you very much. the longer this goes, the more destabilized the situation goes. >> we'll keep an eye on it. thanks so much chris. we're following breaking developments in sydney. a gunman holding hostage as more than 14 hours. we'll tell you his commands and what we know of the hostage's conditions. wow! [ narrator ] on a mission to get richard to his campbell's chunky soup. it's new chunky beer-n-cheese with beef and bacon soup. i love it. and mama loves you. ♪

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welcome back to our continuing coverage of the hostage crisis in sydney, australia. earlier this morning, cnn spoke to an australian radio host that just had conversation with one of the hostages inside the lent cafe. at first he was afraid it might be a prank. he soon realized this was very real. >> i could hear the gunman. first of all, we were a bit skeptical as you would be getting a call to your open line saying i'm an hostage, can i talk on air? i made an editorial decision i wouldn't talk on air. i was fearful i might have been juped or put people at risk. i came off air during the three

minute commercial break and spoke to the young man. i had spoke ton police, and they had a list of hosz hostages. i was given his name. i could hear the hostage taker giving instructions wanting to talk to the prime minister, calling me a scum bag, calling the media scum bags for incorrectly reporting isil as being a group of people who are murdererous [ bleep ] that have no regard for human life. i heard this in the background. i went back on air. i didn't report what i had been told. i said i've had a phone call from a hostage and contacted police which i did do. he phoned back again and left his number and asked me to call him. i went to a break and rang him again. this happens three times. at the end of three or four conversations and demands were still made he wanted to talk to the prime minister mr. abbott, i said to police, i need someone over here with expertise.

a negotiator came over and started to take the calls. since then, he has had conversations with another four or five hostages through the course of the last two hours. >> you said you can hear the gunman in the background making demands. ask you describe what he sound li like? was he unhinged, yelling, accent? >> middle eastern accent with australian ting. he was obviously originally from that part of the world, iran, syria or somewhere over. >> they say he threatened to dispose of hostages making the assumption he threatened to kill them? >> that's what he was saying. police negotiators tell me we're many the ninth hour and no one has been hurt or injured. this is someone they can deal with if if you know what i mean. >> let's hope that's true. as time continues it works for and against authorities dealing with a situation like this. the man could become less

stable. we'll have to see which role his desperation plays going forward. we'll continue the coverage in sydney, australia with the newsroom and carol costello. stay with us. (vo) nourished. rescued. protected. given new hope. during the subaru "share the love" event, subaru owners feel it, too. because when you take home a new subaru, we donate 250 dollars to helping those in need.

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good morning to our viewers in the united states and around the world. i'm carol costello. thank you for joining me. we begin with breaking news. a gunman seizes hostages in australia's most crowded city. the gut wrenching drama plays out on social media. we're honoring the police requests and not showing videos that hostages themselves have posted online. this image is the gunman in the cafe where the standoff enters the 15th hour. he's understanding a flag representing the group isis. somehow five hostages managed to escape. the gunman became visibly upset raising concerns for hostages that remain behind. this morning we had extensive coverage. correspond hents