A knife attack during a service at an Assyrian church in Sydney was a terrorist act motivated by suspected religious extremism, Australian police said.

At least four people were wounded, including a bishop with a global online following, in a knife attack during a service at a church in a suburb of Sydney yesterday, police and witnesses said, triggering clashes between angry residents and police.

The man who went on a stabbing rampage in a Sydney shopping centre appears to have targeted women, police say.

One of the victims of the Sydney mall stabbing rampage was on the phone to her boyfriend when the attack happened.

The man who fatally stabbed six people in Sydney had mental health issues in the past.

A knife-wielding man who killed six people in a Sydney shopping centre before being shot dead has been identified by Australian police.

Sydney police on Sunday ruled out terror or ideology as a motive after a man killed six people in a random stabbing attack on Saturday in one of the city’s busiest shopping centres.

Crowds in Australia have fled a Sydney shopping mall near Bondi Beach and police have confirmed that at least five people have been killed.

Australian authorities on Saturday said 152 people had been rescued from floodwaters in the eastern state of New South Wales after torrential rains sparked warnings for residents to move to higher ground.

Residents in parts of Australia’s Northern Territory and Queensland state were urged on Sunday to prepare for a tropical cyclone that is forecast to make landfall in coming days.

Australia’s Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said his centre-left government would soon legislate changes to planned tax cuts.

Large swaths of Australia sweltered in a heatwave, the nation’s weather forecaster said.