Terrorism but we do know that a jihadist flag black with arabic writing was displayed in the window with the hostages are being held. Several local Media Outlets report they were contacted by the hostages. They had two demands. An isis flag and a meeting with the Prime Minister. Here is Prime Minister tony abbott. Australia is a peaceful, open and generous society. Nothing should ever change that and thats why i would urge all australians today to go about their business as usual. And as we watch, this is some of the hostages, at least five of them were able to escape. There are dozens more inside. Word from the white house, the president has been briefed on the situation in australia offering any assistance if necessary but obviously some really, really key questions were looking at here. Also breaking news halfway across the world in belgium. Ap and bbc reporting that four armed men entered a building and police sealed off the area. No information if they tr related or not. As we look at the situation unfolding in australia last night, this is part of an ongoing pattern. Bbc put up last night a time line about australias Terror Threat and they have obviously been having this problem for some time and been worrying about a situation look this with one expert saying in australia and warning for some time in a lone wolves actually pose the greatest Terror Threat to australia. It looks like that may be what were seeing right now. All right. Weve g i want to take a look at the time line while we do not know yet if this hostage situation is terrorism, there has been growing concern in australia over the last few months about the threat from Islamic State militants. In july, officials blamed an australia for a suicide bombing in iraq. On august 5th, australia unveiled ledu unveiled legislation to prevent people going to fight with is m islamist groups. The Prime Minister commits 600 troops to the fight against isis. September 18th, australia conducts its biggest counterterrorism raid. The raid is linked to an alleged plot by australians to kill random member of the public. In october, australia also approves air strikes against the Islamic State. 11 days ago the country bans citizens from traveling to a province in syria that is an Islamic State stronghold and on sunday, one gunman takes hostages in sidney. Its been a growing threat there. Obviously this is something we talked about the lone wolf threat. This is something that youve been talking about for some time that you can send troops to a battlefield but if you are going against an ideology, even if that ideology is nihilism and attracts the biggest losers and most disenfranchised people, it creates the biggest threat whether youre in sidney, australia or california. The gunman could have all kinds of problems is now shutting down a big part of one of the major cities in this world. And part of that as you mentioned because it is a lone wolf, possible lone wolf. The first thing authorities are going to try to do is identified if he has affiliations or connections. He had traveled abroad. Did anyone help him in trying to carry this attack out. These are questions that they will comb through quickly to try to answer. Bottom line is an individual can draw the medias attention and be given a platform. Just raising a flag is a flag people have seen around the world and is now synonymous with a mindset and fear it creates. Whats interesting in that time line is it suggested they had been raising the threat level gradually and committing more resources to fight isis. Is australia now drawn into good guys bad guys scenario in the middle east. Australia has been involved in whats been going on for more than a decade. Involved in the iraq war in 2003. They are a close u. S. Ally. Culturally, politically. At the same time weve known now that australians have gone to join the fight in syria and iraq for some time and once that became apparent, once we started seeing some of the propaganda video that isis released showing individuals from southeast asia, thats when australians and also the government in new zealand began to realize that this is a potential threat and as we saw the raids, the legislation, the crackdown. Just to review. Were 13 hours into this right now. It all began at 9 45 in the morning in sidney. Martin place is a Shopping Plaza in the heart of citys financial and shopping district near the parliament packed with Holiday Shoppers at this time of year. A lot of people just getting their morning cup of coffee. Weve got sound. A woman says shes the mother of an 18yearold hostage at the cafe says that he texted her from inside the cafe and heres what she told an australian radio show. I couldnt believe it was actually happening. Hes been in contact with you by text, has he . I received a message and he said im in the cafe in sidney and my heart just dropped. I texted back and said whats going on . Are you okay. He said im okay. Cant talk. And i havent heard anything since. And, joe, there are stories of hostages calling tv hosts and other personalities and telling them that the hostage taker wants a meeting with the Prime Minister, among other things, which is obviously an awkward situation. One personality said i cant do that. Its not my job to be a negotiator. There are demands being made. The demands are being made over telephones. Its interesting wire reports and reports out of australian papers this morning reporting that the hostages are actually being allowed to keep their telephones. They are allowed to text the conditions. Some texting that the situation is dire and they need to get out as soon as possible. But there is no doubt theres been a concerted effort to get information out from inside the chocolate store. The propaganda out of the situation in there and with the hostage reportedly or actually, the kidnapper reportedly telling one news anchor that he was in part doing this because the News Coverage of isis has been unfair to date. Theres no doubt its a strategy that perhaps its a lone wolf. To get information from inside the store on how dire the situation has been and so you are getting streams of phone calls from inside there, which certainly is unusual for a situation like this. A couple of updates on this and then were going to touch base on the situation in belgium. The company which is the coffee shop being held right now posted a message on his Facebook Page thanking the public for its support and say theyre deeply concerned over this incident praying for everybody inside. Obviously the Prime Minister says that it is profoundly shocking that innocent people should be held hostage like this. The whole area has been cordoned off and the city is shut down at this point. Theyve created an exclusion zone around the coffee shop but the symbol ic issues is that its close to several big places. People are trying to calm the city and get people to go about business but when you shut down a major block in a major city, its symbolic significance. Its a very delicate balance for those giving information to the media. Heres more from the press conference just held a short while ago with the Police Commissioner and the premiere from new south whales. Im proud of how weve responded as a city, a state and a nation. But my thoughts remain with those that are caught in this event and my call goes out to the state to pray for them, to pray for their families. Ultimately we are doing all we can in these difficult circumstances and we will get through it. Now our only goal tonight and for as long as this takes is to get those people that are currently caught in that building out of their safely. That remains our number one priority and nothing will change. Im sure that there are many questions that you might have for us and im not going to necessarily be in a position to give you that information because i will not be going into the tactics or the strategies that were employing. Suffice to say that we have large numbers of police. They are in contact and we are working to resolve this just as quickly as we possibly can. Having said that, i want to thank the community, particularly those people in the city today, you acted in a way that made our job easier than it could have been and for that i want to thank you. Theres much work to be done and much more for us to do over the coming hours im sure. Again, for those that have loved ones that may be caught up in this, for those that may be in that particular building, rest assured we are doing all we can to set you free. We will be looking after your safety as our number one priority. Earlier we talked about this district and how important it was to sidney. The u. S. Consulate also in that area and it has been evacuated since the beginning of this crisis. And the Islamic State group which obviously holds a third of syria and iraq has threatened australia in the past. We talked about that with the time line but we have an Islamic State spokesperson urging socalled lone wolf attacks abroad specifically mentioning australia which makes this even more concerning. The Prime Minister people will recognize him because hes been very visible on the National Stage in the last few months with the missing plane and dealing with europe and the United States on security issues. The area is incredibly urban area. The police and other Government Agencies have had a lot of time to move in forces and while they are trying to settle this peacefully, you can imagine they are now spread out throughout the area. Earlier reports seem to indicate that authorities know who this person is but dont want to say too much about him. Have you heard that . I have heard that. What does that indicate to us . It may be an individual who traveled abroad. Somebody intelligence authorities had been monitoring. Somebody with known affiliations to past terrorist links or terrorist groups or someone if he wasnt operationally involved to terrorism may have been a sympathizer or supporter of these groups which is why hes asking for the isis flag and putting that other flag in the window on display. A talk about isis focusing on australia, has australia been more of a focus in what we heard from this group . Probably not more than any other groups. I think from isis perspective anyone involved in this coalition or perhaps anyone who may have had a history of military involvement in countries like iraq in the past would appear to be a legitimate target and so i would not be surprised if thats in fact what emerges from this. Joe, jump in. And again, maybe you can expand on this as well. There has been a recruiting call. The Washington Post actually has a quote out of an isis magazine saying it is very important that attacks take place in every country thats entered into alliance against the Islamic State. Every muslim should get out of his house and find a crusader and kill him. Its important that the killing becomes attributed to patrons of the Islamic State who obeyed its leadership. Obviously we dont know the situation in this case but again if you talk to terror experts out of australia, the United Kingdom or i suspect even the United States, they would say this is in fact the greatest threat. People reading things like that from isis and then acting on it like perhaps this lone wolf is doing this morning. So if you are just joining us, were in the 13th hour of a siege at a chocolate cafe in sidney. To followup on what joe is saying, there are two kpoents to this. Australia is involved in these ongoing military operations. Australia has a sizable muslim possible la population. They make the video in english to target these individuals in countries where it can recruit them with its magnetic appeal. We dont know who this individual is and its important to emphasize he may be trying to seize on an opportunity but just given the context of the situation and threats that weve seen in the past, australias response were trying to find out hes asked for an isis flag and a chance to speak to the Prime Minister. It may not be the most rationale thing to ask to speak to a Prime Minister. There arent clear demands. If he took a situation like this saying i want individuals released from prison and australians brought back, just that he wants an isis flag and a chance to speak to the Prime Minister is enough to make me question a little bit. So its 10 00 p. M. In the night in australia right now. Were not showing live pictures of the chocolate cafe where at least 30 people or about 30 people are being held by a gunman because it is an active crime scene. We have on the phone right now, sara james. What can you tell us . At that cafe just a short time ago the lights were turned out by one of the hostages and so the scene is in the dark. Its quite an eerie situation here in the center of the city. We are kept back several hundred yards away. The area is cordoned off. There is Massive Police presence. Snipers, special operations teams are here in addition to regular uniformed officers and people are watching the situation trying to determine whats going to happen next. I would say though that its all a very calm scene. There have been some Media Outlets which have been contacted by a number of hostages and they have said some of the demands that the gunman and we know there is at least one gunman. Its not clear as to whether or not there may be another. We know theres one. Those demands are being put forward. Interestingly though, the authorities have asked that some of those demands that media not mention them. They are trying to keep everything quite calm. And i would say that the scene here is very calm. One of the most surreal aspects is that there was this contrast between a city operating its usual taxis, workers going back and forth and yet the ribbons and on the other side of that nothing happening. And thats the strange dichotomy we see. The other thing i would say is that were talking about an area to put in perspective for you. Its the heart of the financial and media district. This siege took place about a block from the u. S. Consulate. A short walk. Yes. The consulate general was there and he was evacuated as was the staff done safely and a message went out to americans. The sidney opera house that most iconic of australian landmarks was evacuated. In addition, various buildings nearby. The Australian Reserve bank which is equivalent of our Federal Reserve went into lockdown. What that means is that people were there at their desks, we spoke to them and said all of a sudden there was a message and it said everybody stay at your desk. Theres a situation. They were told to stay there and they stayed there for hours. And then they were allowed to leave this afternoon. That tells you a little bit about whats been going on today. I would love to have you come back if you can. Stay there and update us. We want to recap for our viewers whats going on now. Were following a siege at a chocolate cafe in sidney, australia, that could have International Ramifications. Up to 30 people are being held in there. The drama began 9 45 in the morning australia time at martin place. Its a plaza in the heart of the citys financial and shopping district. Its the biggest city in australia and the busiest area. What people have seen so far are people with their arms in the air and their hands pressed against the glass. Two people apparently being forced by the hostage taker. We dont know for sure. To put a black flag in the window with the islamic declaration of faith written on it. It translates saying there is no god but god mohammad is its messenger. Its similar to the lords prayer in christianity. They put that flag in the window. Television news staff watched the gunman and hostages for hours counting up to 15 different faces so far. The gunman could be seen pacing back and forth past the cafes windows. The man carried what appeared to be a pump action shotgun. He was unshaven and wore a white shirt and a black cap. What we heard so far is hes asking for a meeting with the Prime Minister. The city is pretty much shutdown. One massive area cordoned off and were looking right now to see whether this is lone wolf and if so, what kind of lone wolf. One of the things thats kind of interesting is when incidents like this tend to happen, you get a sense from online reaction from some of the jihadist groups and isis and others whether theres affiliation to it by their reaction to it online. Right now the online reaction to this seems to be muted from the known militant groups and other sites that are normally tracked. Theres definitely been a few tweets in supports of individuals but right now the major online accounts of some of these groups as ive been seeing it from those that are monitoring has not been as loud trying to claim responsibility. We know australia is a key ally in the fight against isis and there have been threats against australia because of that. Joe . All right. Were going to have a lot more straight ahead obviously going to be talking to reporters on the ground, talking to terror experts and also get a statement from the nypd who has spoken out about this situation and what they think it may mean for new york and other cities across the country. Well be right back with continuing coverage. Hey i guess were going to need a new santa the music builds to a climax. more people are coming to audi than ever before. See why now is the best time. Audi will cover your first months payment on select models at the season of audi sales event. Visit audioffers. Com today. We want to bring you up to date on the story in belgium in just a moment. To bring you up to date on whats happening in australia. Up to 30 people being held in the lindt cafe in sidney. There are several different signs as to why this points to terrorism which were following as well. We have guests coming up on