Melbourne, Jan. 23: A marine worker who extorted 45,000 dollar from former cricketing great Craig McDermott by threatening to put sex tapes of him and his wife on the internet will spend at least 18 months behind bars.

According to the Daily Telegraph, Peter Josef Vigan, 38, pleaded guilty to eight charges of extortion in Southport District Court today over repeated threats he made to the former Australian fast bowler in 2006.

Sydney  - Australian stocks tumbled Friday on news from Beijing that growth in China's economy had almost halved to 6.8 per cent in the year to December.

The ASX 200 lost 144 points, or 4.1 per cent, to 3,342. China's National Bureau of Statistics put out the figures that showed the likelihood of the first economic reversal in 16 years.

"They're worse than the market expectations and they confirm that the Chinese boom that has supercharged the Australian economy over the past five to seven years is receding rapidly," Finance Minister Lindsay Tanner said.

Here’s sad news for the Indian fans.

Sania Mirza bowed out of the singles event at the Australian Open singles event as the Indian teenager went down in straight sets to Russia’s Nadia Petrova.

Sania failed to reproduce her round one form, where she defeated Marta Domachowhska 6-1, 6-4.

Sania Mirza crashed out singles event following a 3-6, 2-6 second round loss to World number 10 Petrova, thus bringing down the curtains on India's singles challenge in the process. The 10th seed Petrova took just 70 minutes to beat the 22-year-old Indian girl from Hyderabad.

Melbourne, Jan. 23 : Outspoken Islamic cleric Abu Hamza has branded Australians as boozers who are hooked on gambling and prostitution.

In another sermon broadcast over the Internet, the Melbourne cleric urged followers to spread the word of Islam to save Australians, the Herald Sun reports.

Adelaide, Australia - Australia's Allan Davis fancied his chances of keeping the race leader's ochre jersey in Friday's 143-kilometre fourth stage of the Tour Down Under.

"If the chance arrives, I'll definitely have a crack, but the plan is to keep it simple," the 26-year-old said on the starting line. "Normal thing is a break will go with some guys who are lower on GC [general classification - or the leader board], and they'll contend the stage. Then we'll get ready for the big showdown tomorrow."

Melbourne - The slanging match between Casey Dellacqua and former Lleyton Hewitt coach Roger Rashed has intensified with the player insisting she is not overweight and out of shape as charged.

Rasheed, now the coach of Gael Monfils and a commentator at the Australian Open for the Seven network, said the Australian was not maximizing her fitness.

While Dellacqua certainly cannot be classified as svelte like contemporaries Alize Cornet or Dominika Cibulkova, the Perth player went ballistic when confronted with Rasheed's assessment that she was unfit.