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A video distributed Saturday on the Internet showed what appears to be a Japanese hostage saying that a fellow Japanese captive had been executed and outlining a new militant demand for his release. In the video, the hostage, a man identified as Kenji Goto, a Japanese journalist, appears to be holding a photo of his countryman, Haruna Yukawa, who has been beheaded. The case has drawn a great deal of attention in Japan and spawned a crisis for the government of Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, who had vowed to do what he could to save the two men. Abe said...

Showing the familiar sight of fearful men kneeling in orange jumpsuits in the desert, the latest footage of Jihadi John caused despair across the world when it appeared this week. In the latest clip, the Islamic State enforcer demanded a $200million ransom to free Japanese men Haruna Yukawa and Kenji Goto, giving them just 72 hours to live. But as the deadline approached the Japanese public responded with a show of defiance by creating dozens of darkly comic internet memes mocking the deranged ISIS killer. In the pictures, which have been widely shared online, the masked murderer is seen using...

FOX News reported that ISIS announced the hostages were dead. A tweet from a Twitter account linked to ISIS said the hostages had been killed “because of Japan’s choices.” The tweet, on the same one that previously posted the countdown clock, warned that a new video was “being sent to production.”

Two hostages will be killed unless a $200 million ransom is paid. A video entitled “A Message to the Government and People of Japan” posted online Tuesday (and since removed) shows a purported ISIS thug brandishing a knife and standing between two Japanese hostages. The masked, British-accented terrorist demanded a $200 million ransom payment from Japan within 72 hours. “You have proudly donated $100 million to kill our women and children, to destroy the homes of the Muslims,” the masked man said in English. “So the life of this Japanese citizen will cost you $100 million.”

ISIS threatens to kill 2 Japanese hostages unless Tokyo pays $200 million.

Japan's Prime Minister vowed Tuesday to save the lives of two Japanese hostages, one a freelance journalist and the other a soldier for hire, threatened with beheading in an online video purportedly released by the Islamic State terror group. In the video, identified as being made by the Islamic State group's al-Furqan media arm and posted on militant websites associated with the extremist group, a militant threatened to kill the men unless a $200 million ransom was paid within 72 hours. If confirmed to be from Islamic State, better known as ISIS, the video would mark the first public demand...

The Islamic State (ISIS) group threatened to kill two Japanese hostages unless Tokyo pays a $200 million ransom within 72 hours, in a video posted on jihadist websites on Tuesday. In the video, a black-clad terrorist brandishing a knife addresses the camera in English standing between two hostages wearing orange jumpsuits. “You now have 72 hours to pressure your government into making a wise decision by paying the $200 million to save the lives of your citizens,” he says. The terrorist says that the ransom demand was to compensate for non-military aid that Prime Minister Shinzo Abe pledged to support...

The killing of British hostage Chris McManus in Nigeria is a wake-up call to the threat posed by Islamic militants in Africa, warns former kidnap victim Robert R FowlerIn December 2008, I was making my third trip to Niger as the United Nations Special Envoy, attempting to broker a peace between the government and rebel Tuareg groups. One Sunday, two weeks before Christmas, my colleague, Louis Guay, and I were returning to the capital, Niamey, in a UN vehicle when a truck passed us, slewed in front and forced us to a stop. Two AK-47s were aimed at the face...

A hostage taking is under way in a post office in Colombes, a suburb of northwest Paris. According to police, an armed man is currently detaining three hostages, but they insisted there was no link to terrorism. The man is known by the authorities, and had contacted the police himself, they said. The area around the post office has been sealed.

'A Muslim shop worker has told how he saved "15 to 20" customers at a Jewish supermarket attacked by terrorist Amedy Coulibaly. Lassana Bathily was out of the gunman's view when he stormed the Hypercacher store in eastern Paris with guns blazing. A number of shoppers fled down stairs at the back of the shop, where they ran into the 24-year-old assistant, who thought the group could hide in a cold storage room in the basement. He has been credited with helping the hostages - including a father and his young son - to survive the siege, in which four...

PARIS -- A police officer says two hostages are being held by a gunman in a jewelry store in the southern French city of Montpellier. The officer, who could not be named speaking about an ongoing situation, said the attacker has locked himself inside the downtown shop, with police ready to intervene outside. He said it is unclear whether the hostage-taking is related to the massacre Wednesday in Paris at the satirical newspaper Charlie Hebdo that left 12 people dead.

Live Reporting By Stephen Robb, Kerry Alexandra, Julia Macfarlane and Sarah Fowler Get Involved All times stated are UK Recent live reporting posts Posted at 17:04 It is still unclear how many hostages were held inside the Paris supermarket but multiple sources are now saying around 10 people were seen running from the building during the police operation to free them. Posted at 17:04 Le Monde reports that the hostage-taker killed in the kosher supermarket in Paris is Amedy Coulibaldy, who was wanted by police over the shootings in Montrouge on Thursday.

A woman in tears approached French police outside the kosher supermarket where hostages were held captive by a gunman in northeast Paris, saying her 37-year-old daughter just managed to call from the supermarket and told her five people have already been killed, the BBC reported. The daughter said many hostages were in the basement of the supermarket. The conversation was interrupted by other hostages making the woman stop talking for her own safety. There is no official confirmation of these claims.

...Police 'launch assault' where Charlie Hebdo suspects holed up, officials say

Explosions and gunshots rang out and smoke rose outside a building where two brothers suspected in a newspaper massacre are holed up with a hostage. Security forces had surrounded the building for most of the day Friday, cornering the suspects in the killings at the Charlie Hebdo newspaper in Paris this week. Police SWAT forces could be seen on the roof of the building THIS IS A BREAKING NEWS UPDATE

Daily Caller France’s Multiculturalist Agenda Makes Jews Pack Their Bags 4:50 PM 01/06/2015 Ryan Girdusky Political Consultant As more French Jews face anti-Semitic attacks, many are leaving for Israel. Most of the attacks have come from Muslims, whether immigrants or French-born, many of whom have not assimilated into French society – if not rejecting French society entirely. Compounding the dangerous situation, France’s left-wing government refuses to acknowledge the scope of this crisis, apparently more afraid of losing Muslim votes they depend on than in defending France’s half-million Jews. Israel’s Ministry of Immigrant Absorption is expecting “Little Paris” neighborhoods to pop...

Paris Charlie Hebdo attack: liveTerrorists take hostage 'and kill two people' as police surround 'war zone' industrial complex in Dammartin, while in Paris gunman takes hostages at Jewish kosher grocery - latest updates Suspects 'take hostage in industrial complex NE of Paris' • Reportedly tell negotiatiors: 'We want to die as martyrs' • Inside Charlie Hebdo attack: 'We all thought it was a joke' • Al-Qaeda plotting attack on Britain • Gunmen take hostage as police close in, in pictures • Said and Cherif Kouachi: the two brothers Latest 13.36 Boumeddiene is apparently the girlfriend of Coulibaly. 13.32 The...

The two men suspected of attacking a newspaper in Paris have stolen a car and reportedly have several hostages. A car chase is under way on the N2 motorway, and police sources say shots have been fired. The car is now on the outskirts of Paris - close to Charles de Gaulle airport - and several helicopters are reportedly hovering overhead. Sky's Ian Woods says the police focus now appears to have turned to an industrial building near to the airport. Two people with gunshot wounds have been taken to hospital in Meaux.

President Obama on Saturday condemned the "barbaric murder" by al Qaeda of U.S. hostage Luke Somers in Yemen during a rescue attempt by U.S. forces. "On behalf of the American people, I offer my deepest condolences to Luke’s family and to his loved ones," he said in a statement. "As this and previous hostage rescue operations demonstrate, the United States will spare no effort to use all of its military, intelligence, and diplomatic capabilities to bring Americans home safely, wherever they are located. And terrorists who seek to harm our citizens will feel the long arm of American justice," he...

On Monday, Australian police stormed the Lindt Chocolate Cafe in Sydney, where an Islamist terrorist named Man Haron Monis had taken dozens of hostages and held them for 17 hours. Three people were killed, including Monis, and several others were wounded. Monis, an Iranian immigrant, had a long criminal record, including 40 charges for indecent and sexual assault, as well as an outstanding charge for accessory to murder in the killing of his ex-wife. Before his death, Monis requested an ISIS flag, and forced hostages to hold up the so-called Shahada flag, which proclaims in Arabic, "There Is No God...