Twelve killed in foiled Brazil bank assaults

Twelve people -- including five hostages -- were killed in northeast Brazil on Friday after police foiled a gang of armed robbers staging simultaneous pre-dawn assaults on two banks in the town of Milagres, officials said. The five dead hostages were members of the same family and included two children, the local mayor, Lielson Landim, told the Folha de Sao Paulo newspaper.