Sydney - Australian filmmaker David Gross fled terrorists on the rampage in Mumbai's Taj Mahal by ripping curtains into strips and fashioning a rope that dozens used to make their escape.

He told national broadcaster ABC on Thursday that up to 100 terrified guests had used furniture to barricade themselves inside an upstairs function room as explosions rocked the floors below.

Sydney - Australian holidaymaker David Coker told Thursday of how gunmen burst into the popular Leopold Cafe in Mumbai and sprayed its diners with automatic rifle fire.

Coker, 23, was in India's financial capital with girlfriend Kate Anstee, 24, to celebrate their graduation from university.

A bullet entered Anstee's leg, smashing her thigh bone.

Sydney, Nov 27: Aussie all-rounder Andrew Symonds, who was involved in a brawl in a pub last Sunday but was cleared of the charge by Cricket Australia yesterday, is learnt to have addressed his teammates revealing the intimate details of the extent of his emotional and psychological problems.

Sydney/Mumbai, Nov. 27 : Six members of the New South Wales (NSW) Department of State and Regional Development remain unaccounted for in Mumbai, where terrorists struck late on Wednesday, killing over a hundred people and injuring over 200.

The Daily Telegraph quoted NSW Police Deputy Commissioner Nick Kaldas as saying that the situation regarding the held up Australians "remains fluid" but was sure that half of the delegation of 13 that arrived in Mumbai on Sunday was safe.

"There are about half a dozen we have not been able to get in touch with," he said.

The Acting Commissioner said it was difficult to say whether the ones unaccounted for were safe.

Sydney - Sydney film director Baz Luhrmann must have been smarting Wednesday after newspapers in the United States gave generally unfavourable reviews of the romantic melodrama Australia.

But locals rallied round, queuing for tickets and sticking up for a film that showcases local talent and which set a national record with its 150-million-US-dollar budget.

"We thought we'd see it on the first day because it's Australia, about Australia," said Sydney resident Stan Plantzos. "And Nicole Kidman, we love her."

A sentiment not shared by London Times critic Melanie Reid, who charged Luhrmann with a "fatal error" in casting Kidman opposite Hugh Jackman.

Sydney, Nov. 26 : Out of favour Australian off-spinner Nathan Hauritz has been called into the Australian squad for the second Test against New Zealand in Adelaide.

Hauritz has been called in as cover for Jason Krejza, who twisted his right ankle during a fielding drill at the Adelaide Oval this morning.

According to the Sydney Morning Herald, Krejza, who took a sensational 12 wickets in his debut Test in Nagpur against India earlier this month, has been sent to hospital for scans on his right ankle and is in doubt for Friday''s match.

Hauritz, who represents New South Wales in the Sheffield Sheild, played his only Test as a replacement for an injured Shane Warne in Mumbai four years ago.