UPDATE:

NSW regional fire services have issued emergency warnings, as  bush fires threaten Sydney’s Western suburbs. There are currently 40 fires burning across NSW that have not been contained.

In the Blue Mountains, a fire is burning at Hawkesbury Road at Winmalee with reports of property losses. Fires are also burning at Castlereagh, around Richmond Road at Windsor, and at Marsden Park near Blacktown. Motorists are being advised to avoid these areas, and residents should take care.

You can follow updates from the NSW Rural Fire Service on Twitter. The app Fires Near Me will let you know about fires in your area.

UPDATE: The Chicago Tribune is reporting that George Zimmerman, who was acquitted of the murder of Trayvon Martin in the US two months ago, has been questioned by police after allegedly threatening his wife with a gun.

His wife of six years – who filed for divorce from Zimmerman last week after saying the trial strained their marriage – called 911 and said: “He’s in his car and he continually has his hand on his gun and keeps saying step closer … and he’s gonna shoot us.”

Police spokesman Zach Hudson said that officers “were trying to figure out exactly what happened”.

1. Former Labor frontbencher Craig Emerson has publicly blamed Kevin Rudd for the damaging leaks about Julia Gillard during the 2010 election campaign, and said that the former PM must quit the parliament.

Although Rudd has already resigned as leader of the Labor Party, he has indicated that he intends to sit on the backbench for the next three years after winning the Brisbane seat of Griffith.

Emerson told ABC’s 7.30 report, “Anyone who does that, who is so hell-bent on revenge, who is so destructive as to depress the Labor vote in the 2010 election shouldn’t be rewarded for that sort of behaviour …”

“And Kevin Rudd’s continuing presence in the parliamentary Labor Party will see him do what he has always done, and that is willingly, willfully, recklessly, destabilise Labor leaders.”

2. There have been questions raised about senate voting rules after a number of minor party candidates appear set to win seats after preferences are distributed. One of those candidates is the Australia Motoring Enthusiast party’s Ricky Muir. His credibility has been questioned after YouTube videos of him having a kangaroo poo fight emerged. As you do.

3. A German man who was born a woman has become the first transgender person in Europe to have a baby. The man’s child was reportedly conceived via sperm donor and was delivered at the man’s house.

The unidentified man reportedly wanted a home birth because he didn’t want to be listed as a ‘mother’ on any hospital registration forms.

4. A Japanese university professor wants to make hide and seek an official Olympic sport. Yazuo Hasaki, a graduate of Nippon Sport Science University, established the Japan Hide-and-Seek Promotion committee in back in 2010 and is proposing the sport’s inclusion in the Games to the International Olympic Committee.

Hasaki told the Telegraph: “I want to encourage a sport for all, meaning that anyone can take part, regardless of age, gender, or ability … [But] it may be difficult to get hide-and-seek into the Olympics — the IOC just kicked wrestling out.”

Parents, get ready. Your dreams of Olympic glory may come true.

5. Serena Williams has defeated Victoria Azarenka to claim her fifth US open title. Williams won the match in three sets, 7-5, 6-7(8-6), 6-1. Novak Djokovic and Rafael Nadal are currently playing the men’s final.

6. Dominic Bird – who last week was acquitted of drug trafficking charges in Malaysia – was rearrested moments before he was set to fly back home to Australia. He was first arrested in March last year after allegedly trying to sell 167 grams of methamphetamine, a charge which would carry a mandatory death sentence. The Malaysian prosecutors pushed for an appeal of the decision and so Bird was detained but Mr Bird’s lawyer says that the application will be challenged.

7. On Sunday a night a woman named Aminata Touré was announced as the new Prime Minister of Senegal. Touré was previously Senehal’s justice minister, and become well-known for her anti-corruption campaigns. In the past she has been an activist for women’s reproductive rights, and in a previous position was chief of the gender, human rights and culture branch at UNFPA.

Touré also used to play football for the Dakar Gazelles – she’s a woman of many talents.

Have you seen anything in the news that you want to talk about?