REUTERS/Alessandro Bianchi A woman holds a placard reading "I am Charlie" to pay tribute to the victims following a shooting by gunmen at the offices of weekly newspaper Charlie Hebdo in Paris in front of the French embassy in Rome January 8, 2015. Good morning! Here's what you need to know for Friday.
1. Police are closing in on the Paris terror suspects who have taken a hostage.
2. Officials say Said Kouachi, one of the suspects in the Paris attacks, trained with an al Qaeda affiliate in Yemen.
3. German Chancellor Angela Merkel is hesitant to ease sanctions on Russia, saying on Thursday that her government needs "to see the entire Minsk agreement implemented before we can say that sanctions will be lifted."
4. Oil prices are heading for a seventh weekly loss.
5. In a surprise outcome, longtime Sri Lankan president Mahinda Rajapaksa lost his bid for re-election to opponent Maithripala Sirisensa.
6. Ping signals from the black box of crashed AirAsia Flight 8501 were detected on Friday.
7. More than 70,000 homes are without power in Scotland as hurricane-force winds hammer the region.
8. US President Barack Obama announced on Thursday a proposal that would two years of community college free.
9. Apple is raising prices on everything in the App Store in the European Union and Canada.
10.
And finally ...