7NEWS breaking news live blog: Jam Factory fire, man killed when car veers off road

That’s it for our morning news coverage. Thank you for joining us, we’ll jump back on if anything breaks this afternoon.

A baby whale has been caught in shark netting off the Sunshine Coast for the second time in three days as rescue teams struggled to release it.

The small humpback whale was first spotted in distress in the waters off Marcoola Beach, south of Coolum, on Friday morning.

A team from Queensland’s Department of Primary Industries (DPI) was called in to manage the rescue operation, with a spokesperson for Sea World on the Gold Coast telling www.20304050.best that its teams are on standby to assist.

Several other larger humpback whales surrounded the young whale as it struggled against the netting.

DPI said Queensland Boating and Fisheries Patrol officers, the Sunshine Coast shark contractor and a trained Marine Animal Release Team from the Sunshine Coast successfully released a juvenile whale entangled in a shark net.

Rescue teams could be seen using long hooked sticks attempting to cut the netting.

A spokesperson from the department said the entanglement was first reported just before 8am and the whale was successfully released at around 10am.

Read the full story here.

A sport instructor has been charged over alleged historic indecent assaults against two boys under his care.

The alleged assaults occured on Sydney’s Northern Beaches between 1999 and 2007.

Sex Crimes Squad detectives began investigating in April this year and with the help of the Gold Coast Child Protection Investigation Unit arrested a 50-year-old man at home in Southport.

He was taken to Southport Watch House where he was charged with eight counts of aggravated indecent assault-victim under authority.

Police will allege the man indecently assaulted two boys on a number of occasions.

He was granted conditional bail to appear before Tweed Heads Local Court in October.

A young woman has died in a crash between a car and a truck in northern NSW.

The two vehicles collided on the Newell Hwy south of Moree, 447km west of Coffs Harbour, about 7.30pm on Thursday.

The impact of the crash caused the car to roll, with its 21-year-old female driver dying at the scene.

The 24-year-old male truck driver was not injured.

“A crime scene was established, and police commenced inquiries into the circumstances surrounding the crash, with specialist officers from the Crash Investigation Unit in attendance,” NSW Police said.

A report will be prepared for the coroner.

Anyone with any information has been urged to contact Crime Stoppers.

A search is continuing for the pilot of a light plane which crashed in a national park.

Emergency services resumed their efforts on Friday morning, hindered by poor weather and difficult terrain.

The plane took off from Bankstown Airport in Sydney’s southwest on Thursday and was on its way back when an emergency location transmitter was activated about 4.30pm.

The wreckage was spotted from the air in the Budawang National Park, about 25km north of Batemans Bay on the NSW South Coast at about 5.30pm.

The crash site could not be accessed by vehicle or on foot, NSW Police said.

Budawang National Park is declared a wilderness area, with hiking, river camping, swimming and scenic views for advanced, well-equipped travellers.

The pilot is believed to have been the only person on board.

- Jack Gramenz

A major Melbourne freeway will close this weekend as part of planned works, with motorists warned to expect signficant delays in the area.

The M80 Ring Rd will close in both directions between Plenty Rd and the Greensborough Bypass from 7.30pm on Friday until 5.30am on Monday.

During this time the Greensborough Bypass will also be closed in both directions between Grimshaw St and the Civic Dr/Diamond Creek Rd roundabout.

Detours will be in place via Plenty Rd, Grimshaw St and Diamond Creek Rd.

The freeway will be closed for crews to complete a number of tasks including laying asphalt, line marking, removing and installing new traffic signals and installing signage.

Works are being completed on the M80 Ring Road so that it can be connected to the North East Link tunnels and upgraded Eastern Fwy.

New traffic arrangements will be in place for up to 18 months while crews continue the work.

Once completed, the new interchange will take 19,000 cars and trucks a day off Greensborough Rd with through traffic passing under Grimshaw St, Elder St and Watsonia Rd.

Work is expected to be finished by the end of 2028.

Seven teenagers have been arrested over the horrific deaths of two children in Cobblebank, Melbourne.

Dau Akueng, 15 and Chol Achiek, 12, were walking home from a basketball game when they were ambushed by a group on September 6.

The pair were stabbed during the attack and died at the scene.

Following a significant investigation, police executed search warrants on Friday morning at homes in Melton South, Thornhill Park, Caroline Springs, Sunbury, Wollert, Hillside and Sydenham.

Two 19-year-old men, an 18-year-old man, three 16-year-old boys and a 15-year-old boy were arrested.

They will be interviewed by police.

Read the full story here.

Police are hunting an arsonist after a fire broke out at the old Jam Factory site in Melbourne’s southeast.

The blaze broke out around 1.30am on Friday morning at the site on Chapel St in South Yarra which is currently under demolition and renovation.

Fire crews arrived to find a blaze in the building’s first-floor subfloor and an old stairway.

The fire deemed under control about 2.39am however crews remain on the scene to continue putting out the blaze.

No injuries have been reported.

The cause of the fire is unclear at this stage however police are treating the blaze as suspicious.

Anyone with information is urged to contact Crime Stoppers.

A strong earthquake has struck Russia’s far eastern Kamchatka region, the regional governor says, prompting a series of tsunami warnings in the region, but there are for the moment no reports of damage.

The US Geological Survey said the quake was measured at a magnitude of 7.8 and at a depth of 10km.

It said a series of aftershocks followed, measuring up to 5.8.

Russia’s emergencies ministry said the quake in the country’s far east had a magnitude of 7.2.

Governor Vladimir Solodov said all emergency services had been placed in a state of high readiness, but no damage had been reported.

A tsunami warning was issued for the eastern shore of the peninsula, jutting far out into the Bering Sea and Pacific Ocean.

He said tsunami waves ranging from 0.5m to 1.5m were expected at various points along the coast and warned people to stay away from coastal areas.

“This morning is once again testing the resilience of Kamchatka residents,” Solodov wrote on the Telegram messaging app.

“Immediately after the earthquake, we began a rapid inspection of social institutions and residential buildings.”

A tsunami warning was also issued for parts of the Kuril island chain, north of Japan, the emergencies ministry said.

The US National Weather Service and Pacific Tsunami Warning Center issued a tsunami advisory for parts of Alaska following the quake, warning of strong currents, and a forecast of waves of up to 3m for parts of the Kamchatka coast.

Kamchatka is in a highly seismic area and at least two quakes with a magnitude greater than 7 have occurred in the past week.

- Reuters

Three man have been charged following a brawl outside a sports bar in Sydney’s inner west.

Police were called to the Petersham Inn on Parramatta Rd in Petersham about 10.45pm on Thursday.

It is believed a number of people were involved in a fight at the venue.

Three men – two aged 27 and a 28-year-old – were treated at the scene by paramedics.

The older man was taken to Royal Prince Alfred Hospital.

A 19-year-old man and a 25-year-old man were arrested at the scene and charged with affray.

They were granted conditional bail to appear before Newtown Local Court in November.

The 28-year-old man was later discharged from hospital and taken to a police station where he was charged with excluded person remain in the vicinity of licenced premises and affray.

He was granted conditional bail to appear before Newtown Local Court in November.