Actually....BBC is useless. A bit more info: EDIT: at that point in time BBC was useless. Now the link is more informative.
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2873855/Gunman-takes-hostages-cafe-Sydney.html"Terrorists were today holding up to 12 hostages in an armed siege in a cafe in Sydney where an extremist flag was being held up in a window.
Witnesses reported seeing staff and customers sobbing as they were forced to stand with their hands pressed against the windows of the Lindt cafe.
At least two gunmen are involved in the siege but dozens of armed police have sealed off the streets surrounding the site.
Martin Place has been shut down and scores of police are surrounding the building after the alarm was raised about 9.45am.
The Seven Network newsroom, which is in a building opposite the cafe, has also been evacuated.
Mia Burns, a news producer for Seven, tweeted: 'Hostages against the glass of Lindt café. Some are shaking and sobbing.'
Other buildings in Martin Place, including the nearby Westpac building, have been cleared.
‘We’re just recommending no one go near Martin Place at the moment,’ a NSW Police spokeswoman said.
Martin Place train station has been closed and public buses are being turned away.
It was alleged that Omarjan Azari, the 22-year-old Sydney man arrested on terrorism charges in September, was planning a public beheading in Martin Place.
The alleged terror plot, mentioned in a conversation between Australian terrorism recruiter in Syria, Mohammad Ali Barylei and Azari, involved selecting a member of the public at random, beheading them and then covering their body in a flag.
The whole incident was going to be filmed, and then used as propaganda for the ISIS cause.
Federal prosecutors said the alleged terror plot was ‘clearly designed to shock, horror and terrify the community’.