Sydney

Bulgarian tennis player Tsvetana Pironkova recorded a victory in the first round of the women's singles competition at the Apia International Sydney on Monday.

Pironkova won against Italy's Flavia Pennetta with 6:3, 7:6 (4) in a match that lasted hour and a half.

Poland's Agnieszka Radwanska took a significant step towards achieving her dream of a maiden Grand Slam title when she broke the stranglehold Serena Williams held over her at the Hopman Cup.
      

SYDNEY - Radnicki Kragujevac have won an international water polo tournament in Sydney by beating Turkey's Galatasaray in a penalty shoot-out in the thrilling final after three sets of penalties.

Radnicki had a 13-11 lead as the match drew to a close, but Galatasaray scored in the dying second of the game to secure the penalty shoot-out.

The Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) has published in its monthly English-language magazine an interview with the Jordanian pilot captured last week after his plane crashed in northern Syria.

Supermaxi Wild Oats XI won its eighth line honours in the Sydney to Hobart race Dec. 28, officials said, to become the most successful yacht in the history of the competition.
      

Eight children ranging from babies to teenagers were found dead at a home in the Australian city of Cairns Dec. 19, police said, reportedly in a gruesome mass stabbing that comes just days after a deadly siege in Sydney.
      

Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott on Dec. 18 admitted Sydney's cafe siege was "a horrific wake-up call" as details emerged of the final minutes of the standoff which left the gunman and two hostages dead.
      

Prime Minister Tony Abbott vowed Dec. 17 not to rest until he was assured Australians were safe, as he formally announced a review into the fatal Sydney cafe siege.
      

The two hostages, who died in the Sydney cafe siege on Monday, have been named as the cafe manager Tori Johnson and Katrina Dawson, a barrister and mother of three.

Both victims were Sydney citizens. They and the gunman who had held them hostage for 16 hours were killed as police commandos stormed the cafe.

Tearful Sydney office workers and Muslim women in hijabs laid flowers Tuesday at the scene of a deadly siege, as an outpouring of grief and shock gripped the usually easy-going harbour city.