Brisbane

Ayaan Hirsi Ali, a Somali-born former Dutch activist, who promotes freedom of speech around the globe canceled her scheduled speech tour in Australia citing security reasons. Hirsi Ali, who lives with round-the-clock security protection due to her criticisms of radical Islamists, was due to speak at events in Brisbane, Melbourne, Sydney and Auckland this week.

There is no denying that, generally speaking, the majority of travellers are interested in visiting the most popular destinations to enjoy their holidays. It is natural, people like to go were other people are. But there is that group of people who go out of their way to discover the less known places that are off the radar of most of us.

BRISBANE - Serbia's Viktor Troicki has failed to cause an upset at the Brisbane ATP tennis tournament after losing 7-6 (7-5), 6-4 to Switzerland's Stan Wawrinka in the second round on Wednesday.

World number four Wawrinka now has seven victories out of as many matches against Troicki.

The prize money in Brisbane is 437,380 dollars.

Tanjug file photo, T. Valic

Grigor Dimitrov continued in an excellent manner his performance in 2017 and reached the final in Brisbane after defeating Milos Raonic who is ranked 3rd in the world.

The Bulgarian tennis player won 7:6 (7), 6:2 after 92 minutes of play and, in a second consecutive match, overcame a tennis player in the ATP Top 10.

Dimitrov will face Kei Nishikori at the final on January 8.

Bulgarian tennis player Grigor Dimitrov continued his excellent start of the season and reached the semi-finals of the tennis tournament in Brisbane.

He defeated Dominic Thiem (8th) 6:3, 4:6, 6:3.

Dimitrov who is seeded 7th will play either Milos Raonic or Rafel Nadal for a spot in the final.

BRISBANE - Serbia's Viktor Troicki has got off to a winning start in 2017 after beating Japan's Yoshihito Nishioka 6-4, 7-5 in the opening round of the Brisbane ATP tennis tournament on Tuesday.

The match had been interrupted on Monday by a rain delay, but Troicki managed to see it out without much trouble and will face Stanislas Wawrinka of Switzerland in the second round.

Tsvetana Pironkova of Bulgaria has defeated Galina Voskoboeva of Kazakhstan in the Shenzhen tournament in China.

Bulgaria's highest-ranking female tennis player has won 6:4, 5:7, 6:3, thus making it into the tournament's second round, local sports media report.

A young Australian woman was egged on into having sex with her pet dog by her then-partner – who would call her a ‘dirty sl**’ and repeatedly sleep with her after she got intimate with the animal, a court has heard.

Turkish director Mustafa Kara's "Kalandar Soğuğu" (Cold of Kalandar) won the Best Film, Best Cinematography and Young Cinema Success awards at the 10th Asia-Pacific Screen Awards (APSA) in Brisbane on Nov. 24.  

Beauty blogger Natalie Boucher, 21, from Brisbane has created the illusion of a huge cleavage in a few easy brushstrokes, using contouring and showing that the secret to a bigger bust is as simple as applying the right make-up to your décolletage.