Lindt

Australians marked the one-year anniversary of a cafe siege by an attacker which left two hostages dead and shocked the nation.

The Sydney cafe at the centre of a deadly siege has been vandalised with police investigating Wednesday after rocks were thrown through five of its windows.

Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott admitted Sunday "the system" had let the public down by failing to protect it from the "monster" who carried out a deadly siege in a Sydney cafe.

Survivors of a 16-hour siege in a Sydney cafe on Sunday told of their terror during the deadly standoff, as a jihadist gunman threatened to kill people "one by one".

One of the two hostages who died in a Sydney cafe siege last December was killed by ricochets of a police bullet or bullets, an inquest heard Thursday.

An inquest into the deadly siege at Lindt cafe in Sydney opens Thursday, amid expectation it will officially lift the lid on how two hostages died.

Man Haron Monis, the Sydney hostage-taker killed in a 16-hour siege, was a self-styled sheikh with his own Wikipedia entry who was on bail when he emerged as a lone wolf gunman.

A lone gunman held several hostages in an Australian cafe, triggering a lockdown in an area home to government and corporate headquarters.

More than 40 Australian Muslim groups on Monday jointly condemned a siege at a Sydney cafe in which hostages were taken by an armed man and an Islamic flag displayed.

While the motives behind Monday's siege were not known, Prime Minister Tony Abbott said the signs pointed to a political dimension.

The New South Wales police commissioner Andrew Scipione says investigation will continue as the Sydney hostage drama entered its 11th hour.

New South Wales (NSW) Deputy Police Commissioner Catherine Burn said the police is in negotiation with the armed person in Martin Place, Sydney.

Armed police surrounded a central Sydney cafe where at least one gunman took staff and customers hostage, as Prime Minister Tony Abbott said the siege may be politically motivated.

Hostages were being held inside a cafe in central Sydney Monday with a siege underway and an Islamic flag held up to a window, witnesses and reports said.

Teenagers and young adults are becoming prime targets for a new wave of cyber scams, a trend raising alarm bells across Southeast Asia.

Before global leaders address plastic pollution, a Japanese manicurist highlights the issue by incorporating it into her nail designs.

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In Malaysia, over half a million road accidents have been recorded so far this year.

The Dutch state, as a signatory to the 1948 Genocide Convention, has a duty to take all reasonable measures at its disposal to prevent genocide.

Moves by Trump and his appointees to eliminate existing rules will be met with legal challenges, as many progressive groups and Democratic officials have made clear.

Consultations on PTPTN loans and admission to IPTA are among services provided at the Higher Education Ministry booth.

Almost 200 residents from 60 homes in Kampung Tanjung Kala have ended up stuck when their 200-metre (m) long concrete bridge flooded.

The draft finance deal criticised by both developed and developing nations.

This was following the discovery of a suspected prohibited item in luggage.