-With AAP
1. Police launch manhunt after finding body in a barrel after searching for a missing teenage girl.
Police are searching for a man after a body, believed to be that of a girl, was found in a barrel in on the back of a ute in Queensland
On Wednesday afternoon around 1.30pm officers were investigating a missing person in Logan, south of Brisbane, when an occupant fled the Buccan address in the black ute with a barrel loaded on the tray.
According to news.com.au, police were searching for 16-year-old Larissa Beilby, who went missing 10 days ago. Family and friends haven’t spoken to her since June 18 and police appealed for help finding her earlier this week.
The ute was tracked to a mobile home park in the Gold Coast suburb of Stapylton, approximately 20 minutes away. According to police, they searched the ute and discovered the badly decomposed body in the barrel. The man reportedly had left in another vehicle.
Police have not publicly confirmed whether the body is a female's and if they had been searching for Larissa when it was found. Mamamia has contacted Queensland Police for comment.
Detective Acting Superintendent Mark White has confirmed police are treating the incident as a homicide investigation.
They are now looking for a person believed to be travelling in a silver Holden Commodore with the registration 966WKB.
Police have warned the public not to approach the person and report the vehicle to Crime Stoppers if it is seen.
Detectives are forensically examining the ute and have begun "extensive inquiries" in relation to any person associated with it.
Det Supt White declined to go into detail about the person being sought over the matter.
2. Michael Jackson's father Joe Jackson has died, aged 89.
A rare baby whale spied frolicking off Victoria's coast is making a splash amongst the conservation community.
The youngster is the season's first confirmed sighting of a southern right whale calf, after being snapped swimming with its mother over three days this week near Portland in the state's southwest.
"As southern right whale numbers are so few and the calves are so rare, every new addition to the critically-endangered population is exciting," the environment department's Mandy Watson said on Wednesday.
Images of the new family were taken by several photographers, including Chris Farrell who captured a series of stunning aerial shots inside a plane as the pair bathed in the frigid water 500 metres below.
"It was phenomenal. I'll never get bored of it," the Melbourne-based wildlife photographer and author, who helps search the Victorian coast for whales each year, told AAP.
"I only had a 20mm gap to shoot through, so that brought on every bit of skill I had to actually get these shots."
It is estimated 250 to 300 critically-endangered southern right whales visit southwest Victoria from May to October each year.
The whale calves typically arrive in June and spend their first few months of life in the area.
"The mothers survive on their thick blubber layers while they nurse, allowing time for the calves to grow and become strong enough for a migration to the feeding grounds in the Southern Ocean," Ms Watson said.
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