Monday's news in under 2 minutes

1. NSW Bushfires: “MEGAFIRE” warning.

Warnings of a potential “MEGAFIRE”, with concerns the NSW bushfires will join over the next few days and become one massive fire front. The Premier has declared a state of emergency with the RFS Commissioner warning the worst was still to come with a continuing volatile environment. It may be that some communities “will be simply unsaveable”, Mr Fitzsimmons said. The entire Blue Mountains may come under threat today.

Greater Sydney is set to swelter today with temperatures set to reach 38C in Penrith, Campbelltown and Richmond. A health alert has been issued for air quality in NSW.

For immediate fire information go to the RFS web-site.

To donate to the fire victims go to the Salvation Army web-site.

2. Marysville rape victim speaks out.

Daisy Coleman, one of the Maryville rape victims, has told her story, writing online about the night her life changed when she was allegedly drugged, raped and dumped by the grandson of a Missouri state politician in the US.

“I’m Daisy Coleman” she writes, “ the teenager at the center of the Maryville rape media storm and this is what really happened. You may have heard my story, thanks to Anonymous who trended #justice4daisy. I’m not done fighting yet”.

A Special Prosecutor is set to re-examine case.

3. Stepmother of bully arrested.

The step Mother of a 14-year-old girl accused of bullying Rebecca Sedwick prior to her suicide has been arrested over child abuse charges. The 14 year old girl (who has been charged alongside a twelve-year-old girl) allegedly posted a Facebook status update after Rebecca Sedwick threw herself from a silo tower at a concrete plant that read: “Yes I bullied Rebecca and she killed herself but I don’t give a fuck.”

On the weekend the girl’s step-mother was arrested after posting a Facebook video of herself punching and hitting two of her other children.

In further developments, the former boyfriend of Rebecca Sedwick has appeared on TV.

The 14-year-old boy also dated one of the accused.

4. Facebook helps bullying victim.

Meanwhile, elsewhere in the US the power of Facebook has been turned to good for bullying victim Halsey Parkerson. His Aunt overheard a bully accuse Halsey of having no friends and so she organized a flash mob. Over 100 people turned up to rally against the bully who offered Parkerson a high-five and an apology. “I apologize,” the student. “I apologize and I take it back.

5. ‘Chopper’ Reid confesses.

Mark ‘Chopper’ Reid has made a graveyard confession coming clean on 60 Minutes to four murders. Read, who has never been convicted of murder, confessed to the deaths of influential union member Desmond Costello, pedophile Reginald Isaacs, gangster Sammy the Turk and bikie boss Sydney Michael Collins.

6. Calls to make hospitality more child-friendly.

Reports of parents having to change their children on toilet floors, in carparks, on cafe tables, or in prams beside dining tables due to a lack of changing facilities in some venues has promoted a call to make our hospitality sector more child friendly. A poll of Australian mothers showed 65 per cent of women felt guilty about dining out with their children while 14 per cent gave up dining out altogether.

There are renewed calls for a rating system for child-friendliness in a bid to improve the dining experience for families.

7. Bodybuilding principal sues school.

A QLD bodybuilder who is also Caloundra’s Meridan State College’s deputy principal is suing the QLD State Government for $200,000 claiming her arms were injured when she had to lift a heavy water cooler at school. 

Lisa Maree Cutter, 41, who picked up the open women’s bodybuilding title at national championships, is also suing a gym chain for $200,000 in a separate claim. She alleges she was required to retrieve a “10 gallon water cooler” from the top of a school filing cabinet when it dropped towards the ground and she took the weight in both her arms.

8. Is Cressida moving in on the Royal family?

The British media is all in a tizz about Prince George’s christening on Wednesday. With the biggest news overnight the fact that Prince Harry’s girlfriend, Cressida Bonas, has been invited to join the Queen and other senior members of the Royal Family at the christening. Royal Watchers say that invitation is the clearest signal yet of the seriousness of the couple, who have been dating for at least 18 months.

9. Chlamydia on the rise.

In alarming health news comes reports that the sexually transmitted disease chlamydia is rampant among young Australians, with an expert estimating close to half a million new infections in 2012. HIV diagnoses are also rising at a record rate as an increasing number of gay Australians admit having unprotected casual sex, according to two major reports out today. About 10 per cent of gay men are HIV-positive and many do not know their status.

IN BRIEF: the First Shadow cabinet meeting will discuss the divisions in Labor ranks on carbon pricing; a suicide bomber has killed 31 people in Syria; a child has been smuggled for the purpose of having her “organs harvested”.

What’s got you talking in the news today?