France: Terrorists killed, hostages freed at Paris supermarket and in print shop

Police stormed a kosher supermarket on the eastern edge of Paris on Friday, killing a gunman linked to the killing of a policewoman and a deadly attack on a French satirical newspaper and freeing multiple hostages.

The hours-long standoff ended amid gunshots and an explosion near the supermarket Friday evening in Paris at the same time explosions and smoke rattled a small printing warehouse northeast of the city where the two brothers suspected in the Wednesday shooting of Charlie Hebdo were holed up in a second hostage standoff in France.

The two terrorist brothers — Cherif Kouachi, 32, and Said Kouachi, 34 — were also killed in the shootout with police, and the hostage they had taken was freed, police said.

Read more: Gunman killed, hostages freed at Paris supermarket

Middle East: Freed Lebanese Shia hostages and Turkish Pilots return from Syria

Nine Lebanese Shia pilgrims who were kidnapped by rebels in Syria in May 2012 have arrived back in Beirut a day after being released.

Two Turkish pilots who were being held hostage in Lebanon were also released as part of the agreement, which was negotiated by Qatar.

Turkish Airlines pilots Murat Akpinar and Murat Agca were seized in Beirut in August in a retaliatory abduction.
They arrived in Istanbul on a Qatari jet on Saturday evening.

A third part of the complex hostage negotiations involved the release of a number of female prisoners being held by the Syrian government.

It is not yet clear whether that has taken place.

Read more: BBC News - Freed Lebanese Shia hostages return from Syria

Algeria: Several hostages killed

Turkish Radio reports indicate 34 hostages and 15 terrorists were killed when Algerian security forces went into Gas refinery compound where hostages were held.

EU-Digest

Al Qaeda Lays Out Demands to France - by David Gauthier-Villars

Al Qaeda's affiliate organization in North Africa has warned France that the release of five French hostages held in the Sahara desert depends on France's pulling its troops out of Afghanistan.

In an audio message, al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb—a group of Islamic militants who pledged allegiance to al Qaeda in early 2007—also said the release had to be negotiated directly with al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden, a sign that the once-peripheral Maghreb group may be seeking to play a bigger role in global jihad.

The audio message was attributed to AQIM leader Abdelmalek Droukdel, also known as Abu Mossab Abdelouadoud, and broadcast late Thursday by Qatar-based news station al Jazeera. The five French nationals were kidnapped together with a Madagascan and a Togolese two months ago.

For more: Al Qaeda Lays Out Demands to France - WSJ.com