Paris terror attacks: Police identify first gunman as hunt for terrorists goes on

A Syrian passport found near the body of an attacker at the scene of one of the attacks might be fake, one US official has said. The intelligence official told CBS News the passport did not contain the correct numbers for a legitimate Syrian passport and the picture did not match the name.

Special church services are planned at Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris and around France in honor of 129 people killed in attacks that terrified the country.

Notre Dame, like other Paris sites, is closed to tourists Sunday but will be open to church-goers coming for services during the day.

A special Mass by Paris Cardinal Andre Vingt-Trois will be held at 6:30pm e) for families of victims and survivors, and the church will ring its renowned bells in a special homage.

In a message to parishioners, the cardinal says, "Our country knows the pain of mourning and must face barbarity propagated by fanatical groups."

Vigils and prayer ceremonies for the victims of the Paris attacks around the world. The photographs (from top to bottom, L to R ) show: vigil in Sydney, rally in Rio de Janeiro, vigil in Tel Aviv, vigil in Lausanne, vigil in Marseille, tribute at the French embassy in Warsaw, tribute at Brandenburg gate in Berlin, lit walls of Jerusalem's Old City, and vigil in Seoul  Photo: Reuters

Footage has emerged from inside the Bataclan showing the moment the attack started. Gunfire can clearly be heard, but there are no graphic scenes.

AFP has a good news story about an Italian tourist who had a second lucky escape when he emerged from the bloodiest scene of the Paris attacks with only a slight injury, 30 years after surviving the deadly Heysel stadium disaster in Brussels.

Massimiliano Natalucci's family told Italian newspaper Corriere Adriatico that the 45-year-old had escaped with only scratches on one leg in the Bataclan attack, which left 89 people dead.

A friend who attended the concert by the California rock band Eagles of Death Metal with him was not so lucky, and had to undergo an operation on Saturday after being hit in the shoulder.

"The terrorists were just three metres from them the whole time," Natalucci's father told the paper.

Almost exactly 30 years ago, on May 29, 1985, Natalucci, aged 15, was with his father and uncle at the Heysel stadium in Brussels for the European Cup final when a wall collapsed, killing 39 people.

Then, as on Friday, Natalucci was unhurt.

His sister Federica has a theory about her brother's luck: A kiss from Pope Jean Paul II in Rome when he was eight has protected Natalucci during both disasters.

The US president has arrived in Turkey for talks with world leaders that have taken on new urgency following the attacks in Paris carried out by the Islamic State.

The crisis in Syria, where the Islamic State group has taken root, was already high on the agenda at the G20 meeting. But the violence in Paris that killed at least 127 people will dramatically change the dynamic of the talks in Antalya, Turkey, a seaside resort city just a few hundred miles from the Syrian border.

Mr Obama is scheduled to discuss the terror attacks in a meeting with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan before beginning broader discussions with Group of 20 leaders.

Police are combing the Molenbeek neighbourhood of Brussels as part of their search for anyone involved in the planning of the Paris attacks.

Belgian policemen search for suspects in Molenbeek area (Brussels) relating to terrorist attacks in Paris  Photo: Isopix/REX Shutterstock

Belgian policemen search for suspects in Molenbeek area (Brussels) relating to terrorist attacks in Paris  Photo: Isopix/REX Shutterstock

Belgian policemen search for suspects in Molenbeek area (Brussels) relating to terrorist attacks in Paris  Photo: Isopix/REX Shutterstock

Global stocks are set for a short-term sell-off on Monday after the Paris attacks, but analysts said a prolonged economic impact or market reaction was unlikely.

French stocks, particularly those exposed to the country's large tourism sector, are likely to suffer the biggest falls, according to Reuters.

"These Paris terrorist attacks and the larger scale of this attack could have a meaningful negative impact on the travel and tourism sector," said Robert T. Lutts, president and chief investment officer at Cabot Wealth Management in Salem, Massachusetts.

France has the largest number of tourists in the world and the sector accounts for almost 7.5 per cent of GDP.

"Given that France has a big tourism industry there may be some damage to the economy if this leads to a fall in visitors to France, or in tourism in general after the crash of a Russian plane," said Hidenori Suezawa, financial market and fiscal analyst at SMBC Nikko Securities.

AFP have more details on Omar Ismail Mostefai who was known to police as little more than a petty criminal before his role in the Paris attacks.

Born on November 21 1985, in the poor Paris suburb of Courcouronnes, Mostefai's criminal record shows eight convictions for petty crimes between 2004 and 2010, but no jail time.

Paris prosecutor Francois Molins said Mostefai had been singled out as a high-priority target for radicalisation in 2010 but, before Friday, he had "never been implicated in an investigation or a terrorist association".

Investigators are now probing whether he took a trip to Syria last year, according to police sources.

The killer's father and 34-year-old brother were placed in custody on Saturday evening and their homes were searched.

"It's a crazy thing, it's madness," his brother told AFP, his voice trembling, before he has taken into custody.

"Yesterday I was in Paris and I saw how this shit went down."

The brother, one of four boys in the family along with two sisters, turned himself in to police after learning Mostefai was involved in the attacks.

While he had cut ties with Mostefai several years ago, and knew he had been involved in petty crimes, his brother said he had never imagined his brother could be radicalised.

The last he knew, Mostefai had gone to Algeria with his family and his "little girl," he said, adding: "It's been a time since I have had any news."

"I called my mother, she didn't seem to know anything," he said Saturday.

A source close to the enquiry said Mostefai regularly attended the mosque in Luce, close to Chartres, to the southwest of Paris.

Bullet holes can be seen in the windows of Le Carillon bar and hotel during the aftermath of the Paris terrorist attacks in Paris, France  Photo: Eddie Mulholland

As Europe sleeps, on the other side of the world Australians are gathering to show solidarity with France. A French flag has been hoisted on the Sydney Harbour Bridge and prayer vigils and memorial services are being held at churches around the country.

Premier @mikebairdMP arrives at St Andrew's Cathedral in Sydney for a service of Sorrow and Prayer for Paris pic.twitter.com/cdVDe0nLIn

— Gina Rushton (@ginarush) November 15, 2015

An American student on exchange to France has been named as one of the victims of the attacks. Nohemi Gonzalez, 23, was studying design in Paris and was out with friends on Friday night when she was shot.

Strate Design School posted this picture of #NohemiGonzalez who died in #ParisAttacks #RIPNohemi pic.twitter.com/UdRtMk8RrB

— Donna Leinwand Leger (@DonnaLeinwand) November 14, 2015

The older brother of Ismaël Omar Mostefaï, who has been identified as one of the attackers, said he hasn't seen his brother for several years. The man was arrested and placed in custody on Saturday night as police swooped on Mostefai's friends and family and also arrested his father. Mostefaï's older brother attended a police station voluntarily. He told AFP before being taken into custody: "It's crazy, insane. I was in Paris myself last night, I saw what a mess it was."

Reports are naming a second attacker as Abbdulakbak B. There are no further details.

The Kuala Lumpur Tower was lit with France flag colours last night. #parisattacks Photo: Fendii of LYN pic.twitter.com/AXsQpfUjHH

— beautifulnara (@beautifulnara) November 15, 2015

US Democratic presidential frontrunner Hillary Clinton has made an impassioned plea for global unity against radical Islam, a day after terror attacks killed at least 129 in Paris:

We need to have a resolve that will bring the world together to root out the kind of radical jihadist ideology that motivates organisations like Isil.

It cannot be contained, it must be defeated.

We are not at war with Islam. We are at war with violent extremism.

Democrats debate in the shadow of Paris attacks https://t.co/EYkT333C1F | Getty pic.twitter.com/hbC7wbnOUQ

— POLITICO (@politico) November 15, 2015

A lot has been written in the past 24 hours about the parallels between Paris and the 2008 Mumbai attacks. The similarities are striking.

Multiple attacks at several densely-populated urban locations, by heavily armed fanatics. Hostages being taken to hamper police counter action.

The Mumbai attacks, like 9/11 before them, marked a dramatic, devastating new terror tactic. How to respond to such a scenario - the "Mumbai-style attack" has dominated counter-terrorism professionals since.

Flames gush out of The Taj Mahal Hotel in Mumbai on 27 November 2008, one of the sites of attacks by alleged militant gunmen  Photo: AFP

The main concern for France now will be how to respond. In Mumbai, there were efforts to flood the streets with armed security forces, attempt to better train officers and improved intelligence sharing between various agencies. However, the city remains vulnerable.

In Paris, authorities are faced with the reality that such a well-planned and executed terrorist attack could not have been carried out alone by the seven attackers who now are now in a Paris morgue.

The city was shocked by the Charlie Hebdo attacks in January. It has now been totally overwhelmed by Friday's horror.

People fear the next attack is around the corner, and the city and country will remain tense for the days and weeks to come.

France is at the forefront of the West's fight against Isil in Syria and Iraq. It must now also focus on battling that evil at home.

Paris terrorist attacks aftermath  Photo: Eddie Mulholland

Follow live updates from Rob Crilly.

Ruth Sherlock reports:

The events in Paris have fundamentally changed the nature of the US presidential election race. For now, and probably the next several weeks at least, it is forcing personality driven politics to take a backseat.

Tonight will inevitably test the candidates ability to think on their feet on substantive and difficult policy issues. CBS has announced that it has changed the debate questions to focus on the aftermath of the Paris attacks. So prepared answers and stump speeches will not fly tonight. Instead, candidates will have to come with some serious, intelligent policy responses, with very little preparation: it's almost as if they were already in the White House.

This will likely be a particular challenge for Bernie Sanders, who has so far run a domestic campaign. The elderly Vermont senator has hammered on, relentlessly, about income inequality in America. But thus far his answers in foreign policy have put him on much shakier ground.

The change is likely to help Hillary Clinton, as former secretary of state, who will be much better prepared than any of her rivals.

The Eiffel Tower stood dark in a symbol of mourning on Saturday night as France struggled to absorb the deadliest violence on its soil since the Second World WarI: coordinated gun-and-suicide bombing attacks across Paris that left at least 129 people dead and 352 injured.

• President Francois Hollande vowed that France would wage "merciless" war on the Islamic State group, which claimed responsibility for the mayhem, as investigators raced to track down their accomplices and uncovered possible links to networks in Belgium and Syria.

• Paris prosecutor Francois Molins said three groups of attackers, including seven suicide bombers, carried out the "act of barbarism" that shattered a Parisian Friday night.

• Molins said the attackers in the Bataclan concert hall, where 89 people died, mentioned Syria and Iraq during their rampage. Of the hundreds wounded in the six attacks, 99 were in critical condition.

• Belgian police arrested three people on Saturday in raids in a poor, immigrant quarter of Brussels as they pursued emerging links between the Paris attacks and an Islamist bastion in France's northern neighbour.

• Le Monde has named one of the gunmen as Ismaël Omar Mostefaï - a 29-year-old who lived in Chartres, southwest of Paris.

• Briton Nick Alexander was killed in the Bataclan theatre massacre, it has been confirmed. It is feared that there could be several more British fatalities.

A woman lights a candle at Place de la Republique   Photo: Barcroft Media