Another 41 individuals on a journey send off the shoreline of Japan have tried positive for the new coronavirus – carrying the aggregate to 61.
Approximately 3,700 individuals are ready the Precious stone Princess, which is isolated in Yokohama for in any event two weeks.
The checks started following a 80-year-old Hong Kong man who had been on the ship a month ago became sick with the infection.
He boarded the journey send in Yokohama on 20 January and landed in Hong Kong on 25 January.
A different voyage transport – the World Dream – has been isolated in Hong Kong after eight previous travelers came down with the infection.
It has around 3,600 individuals ready, however none have tried positive up until this point.
The new cases on the Precious stone Princess carry Japan’s number of affirmed cases to 86, the second most noteworthy figure after China.
“The aftereffects of the staying 171 tests turned out and 41 tried positive,” Japan’s Wellbeing Pastor Katsunobu Kato said.
“Today they will be sent to emergency clinics in a few prefectures, and we are currently getting ready for that.”
Twenty travelers analyzed before have just been taken to emergency clinics.
The 61 affirmed cases are from:
Japan: 28 individuals
US: 11
Australia, Canada: 7
China: 3
UK, New Zealand, Taiwan, Philippines, Argentina: 1
Travelers were advised not long ago they’d must be isolated for 14 days, and would be bound to their lodges.
“Having delighted in a great journey, when we landed in Okinawa, we needed to experience an isolate method and from that point forward it has been extremely downhill,” traveler David Abel told the BBC after the isolate had started.
The new coronavirus can cause extreme intense respiratory contamination, which now and again can be lethal. A great many people tainted are probably going to recoup however.
The focal point of the infection is in the Chinese city of Wuhan, and most cases have been in the city and the encompassing region of Hubei.
New figures show the infection has slaughtered 636 individuals and contaminated 31,161 in territory China, the nation’s National Wellbeing Bonus’ said.
It has spread abroad with affirmed diseases in any event 25 countries.
Up until this point, there have been just two passings outside of terrain China – one in Hong Kong and one in the Philippines.
Because of the worldwide spread, the World Wellbeing Association (WHO) has proclaimed a worldwide wellbeing crisis.
President Donald Trump has been seen not as blameworthy in his indictment preliminary, finishing an offer to expel him from office that sharply separated the US.
The Senate, run by the president’s kindred Republicans, casted a ballot to clear him 52-48 on charges of maltreatment of intensity and 53-47 on obstacle of Congress.
Democrats charged Mr Trump in December with forcing Ukraine to spread a potential White House rival.
He will presently turn into the first arraigned president to look for re-appointment.
Denunciation permits Congress – the piece of the US government that composes and gets laws – to put presidents on preliminary.
It is an uncommon occasion and a political procedure, as opposed to a criminal one.
In its noteworthy decision on Wednesday, the Senate chose not to expel America’s 45th president from office on charges emerging from his dealings with Ukraine.
Whenever sentenced on either charge, Mr Trump would have needed to give his office to VP Mike Pence.
The Just driven Place of Agents endorsed the articles of indictment on 18 December
How did President Trump respond?
Mr Trump, who is looking for a second four-year term in the 3 November political decision, consistently denied bad behavior.
His re-appointment battle said in an announcement: “President Trump has been completely vindicated and it’s currently time to return to the matter of the American individuals.
“The do-nothing Democrats realize they can’t beat him, so they needed to denounce him.” It said “this horrible experience” and “jabber” was only a Popularity based battle strategy.
The announcement included: “This indictment scam will go down as the most exceedingly awful erroneous conclusion in American political history.”
Mr Trump – whose individual endorsement rating with American voters hit an individual best of 49% this week, as per Gallup – tweeted that he would talk on Thursday about the case.
How did the arraignment vote play out?
Glove Romney of Utah was the main Republican representative to cross the path and convict Mr Trump, on the principal charge of maltreatment of intensity.
In spite of Vote based expectations, two other moderate Republicans, Susan Collins of Maine and Lisa Murkowski of The Frozen North, didn’t join Mr Romney in casting a ballot to convict the president.
Some Republican congresspersons censured Mr Trump’s conduct as of late, however said it didn’t ascend to the degree of indictment.
Three moderate Vote based representatives who Republicans had trusted would agree with them rather casted a ballot to convict Mr Trump.
They were Kyrsten Sinema of Arizona, Joe Manchin of West Virginia and Doug Jones of Alabama.
A 66% dominant part vote was expected to expel Mr Trump, which was continually going to be a since quite a while ago shot in a 100-seat chamber constrained by his gathering.
What was Trump blamed for?
The indictment charges concentrated on Mr Trump’s solicitation that Kyiv report a defilement examination concerning Joe Biden, a Vote based White House up-and-comer, and his child Tracker Biden.
Mr Trump has contended that the more youthful Biden inappropriately held a board position with a Ukrainian gaseous petrol firm while his dad was US VP and accountable for American-Ukrainian relations.
Democrats blamed Mr Trump for manhandling his capacity by retaining $391m (£300m) in security help to nudge Ukraine’s leader into uncovering soil on the Bidens.
They likewise accused Mr Trump of deterrent of Congress after the White House blocked declaration and archives looked for by the House denunciation examiners.
The prosecution request originated from Mr Trump’s call on 25 July this year where he asked Ukraine’s Leader Volodymyr Zelensky to “help us out”.
Following a protest from a mysterious government informant, Democrats propelled their examination in September, ordering a 28,000-page report.
What is the authentic point of reference?
Mr Trump is the third US president to have been impugned.
The two others, Bill Clinton in 1999 and Andrew Johnson in 1868, were left in power by the Senate and didn’t look for re-appointment.
President Richard Nixon surrendered before he could be arraigned.
How did Democrats respond?
Democrats communicated worry that exoneration would additionally encourage a president whom they portray as an agitator.
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said Mr Trump stays “a progressing danger to American majority rule government” and that Senate Republicans had “standardized rebellion”
Senate Just pioneer Hurl Schumer said there will consistently be “a monster reference mark by the president’s absolution”
“Most likely, the president will flaunt he got absolute exemption,” said the New York congressperson. “In any case, we know better.”
What did Republican representatives state?
Representative Lamar Alexander of Tennessee cautioned before he casted a ballot to absolve that a liable decision would “tear the nation separated”
Senate Republican pioneer Mitch McConnell said the whole argument against Mr Trump had been a “carnival” and “a monster political mix-up”
Lindsey Graham of South Carolina said the procedures were a “hoax” intended to wreck an administration
Mr Romney, the 2012 Republican presidential chosen one, started crying on the Senate floor as he disclosed his choice to convict the president
He said Mr Trump had been “liable of a shocking maltreatment of open trust” and “an outrageous attack on our discretionary rights, our national security and our central qualities”.
Is this the finish of the issue?
Mr Trump has most likely not heard the remainder of the Ukraine examination.
Jerry Nadler, the Popularity based executive of the House Legal executive Advisory group, said on Wednesday the chamber would “likely” issue a subpoena to Mr Trump’s previous National Security Counselor, John Bolton.
Senate Republicans at last declined to look for Mr Bolton’s declaration during the president’s reprimand preliminary, inciting hubbub from Democrats.
An original copy of an approaching Bolton journal purportedly asserts Mr Trump advised his previous national security guide to assist him with forcing Ukraine.
Hong Kong is to force an obligatory 14-day isolate on all guests from terrain China as it fights to forestall the spread of a coronavirus flare-up.
The strategy happen on Saturday yet authorities would not close the fringe altogether, as requested by therapeutic staff who have taken to the streets.
Hong Kong, which has 21 affirmed cases and one casualty, endured 300 passings in the Sars episode in 2002-03.
There are 24,300 affirmed coronavirus cases and 490 passings on the territory.
Those figures remembered an extra 4,000 cases and 65 passings for Tuesday The infection has spread abroad, with 25 countries affirming a sum of 191 cases, despite the fact that there have so far been just two passings.
The World Wellbeing Association (WHO) has proclaimed the episode a worldwide wellbeing crisis. Its boss, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, on Wednesday requested for $675m (£520m) to finance a three-month reaction plan. In the interim, at any rate 10 individuals on board a journey dispatch docked in the Japanese port of Yokohama have tried positive for the infection.
The coronavirus causes serious intense respiratory disease and manifestations as a rule start with a fever, trailed by a dry hack. The vast majority contaminated are probably going to completely recuperate – similarly as they would from an influenza.
What move has Hong Kong made?
CEO Carrie Lam said anybody landing from the terrain, including outsiders, would be isolated for 14 days from Saturday, in spite of the fact that she didn’t state how this would be forced.
It is hazy where the isolates would happen or whether Hong Kong inhabitants could invest the energy at home.
A huge number of individuals landed from the territory on Tuesday. Ms Lam has not moved to close the fringe altogether, albeit a large number of therapeutic staff on Wednesday entered the third day of their strike over the issue and have taken steps to heighten their activity.
Hong Kong will, nonetheless, close the Sea and Kai Tak voyage terminals.
Approximately 3,600 travelers and team on the World Dream, docked at Kai Tak, are being tried for the infection after three Chinese travelers who were on the ship somewhere in the range of 19 and 24 January tried positive subsequent to landing.
Hong Kong stays worried about a rehash of the dangerous Extreme Intense Respiratory Disorder (Sars) episode, in spite of the fact that the death pace of the new infection is a lot of lower than that of Sars, which was around 9.6%.
There have been monstrous lines for covers which are hard to come by and are selling at expanded costs.
Independently, the Hong Kong-based aircraft Cathay Pacific is requesting that 27,000 staff take three weeks unpaid leave over the coming a very long time as it manages the effect of the episode.
What are the terrain’s most recent measures?
Authorities state they have increased determination to control the flare-up, especially in its focal point, Hubei region and its capital, Wuhan, where two medical clinics have been quickly assembled and 11 open scenes sports changed into improvised wards. Millions in Hubei and Zhejiang areas have been told just a single individual for every family unit can go outside at regular intervals.
Chinese wellbeing specialists demand presumed cases are falling, due to better testing.
Remote service representative Hua Chunying encouraged different countries to be objective in their evaluation of the infection and bolster China’s endeavors. “Dread is more awful than any infection,” she said.
State supporter CCTV cited specialists in Wuhan as saying it created the impression that pregnant ladies could pass the infection to their unborn kid. An infant had tried positive subsequent to being destined to a tainted mother in the city.
What has the WHO said?
Declaring the intrigue for $675m, Dr Tedros stated: “Our message to the universal network is contribute today or pay all the more later.”
Most by far of the assets would go to countries requiring help to ensure against the infection. Approximately 500,000 covers and 40,000 respirators would be sent to 24 nations.
Dr Tedros said a “lucky opening” existed to manage the infection and furthermore respected a $100m gift from the Bill and Melinda Entryways Establishment reported on Wednesday.
The WHO likewise made light of reports from Chinese television that analysts at Zhejiang College had discovered a compelling medication, saying there were still “no known powerful therapeutics”
In different advancements on Wednesday:
Malaysian writer Wan Noor Hayati deals with indictments of causing open dread over a Facebook post communicating caution at the appearance of a voyage transport with 1,000 Chinese travelers in northern Penang state
A large number of Chinese guests to the island of Bali could be stranded there after the Indonesian government suspended flights to and from terrain China
Coordinators of the 2020 Tokyo Olympics state they are “genuinely worried” about the spread of the infection and its conceivable effect on the Games
Russian President Vladimir Putin said drug stores that inclined up the cost of covers ought to be deprived of their licenses What’s going on the journey deliver in Yokohama?
Just about 300 of the 3,700 individuals on the ship, the Jewel Princess, have been tried up until this point. The quantity of tainted could ascend from the 10 so far affirmed.
Those contaminated have been taken to emergency clinics however the remainder of the team and travelers on board are in isolate.
The checks started following a 80-year-old Hong Kong man who had been on the ship a month ago became sick with the infection.
English visitor David Abel, who is ready, advised the BBC he should profit to the UK for Tuesday.
“We had a flight booked with BA on Tuesday morning and that has must be dropped. We have no thought when we will be permitted off the ship,” he said.
Palestinians gathered around a house destroyed in an air strike in Khan Younis, where Israel said it had targeted a military headquarters
Cross-border violence between Israel and militants in Gaza is continuing, a day after an Israeli air strike killed a Palestinian Islamic Jihad commander.
After an overnight lull, rocket fire towards Israel resumed and Israeli aircraft conducted retaliatory strikes.
Gaza’s health ministry said 12 Palestinians were killed by Israeli fire on Wednesday, bringing the death toll there to 22 since Tuesday.
In Israel, almost 50 people have been treated for injuries or anxiety.
Egyptian and UN officials have been attempting to de-escalate the situation, but PIJ has said it is not yet “appropriate” to talk about mediation.
What is the latest?
After a six-hour pause, Palestinian militants resumed firing rockets at around 06:30 (04:30 GMT), triggering air-raid sirens in southern and central Israel.
The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said more than 50 rockets had been launched by midday, bringing the total since Tuesday to 250. There were no immediate reports of injuries or damage.
Image copyrightAFPImage captionMost of the rockets fired by Palestinian militants have been intercepted by Israeli air defences
The IDF said it had bombed more PIJ targets in Gaza on Wednesday in response, including a military headquarters in Khan Younis and a factory manufacturing warheads for long-range rockets in the south of the strip.
The Hamas-run health ministry in Gaza reported that 12 people had been killed.
What happened on Tuesday?
A pre-dawn Israeli air strike on a residential building in eastern Gaza City killed Baha Abu al-Ata, a senior PIJ military commander, and his wife.
At about the same time, the home of another leader of the Iran-backed group was struck by an Israeli missile in Damascus, killing two people, Syrian state media said. Israel did not comment on the incident.
Media captionGaza militants retaliated with rocket fire – then Israel responded with further air strikes
Israel’s Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, described Abu al-Ata as an “arch-terrorist” and a “ticking bomb” who posed an imminent threat to the country.
Abu al-Ata was thought to be behind recent rocket fire from Gaza and to have acted increasingly outside of the control of the dominant militant faction Hamas.
Militants in Gaza said Israel had crossed a “red line” and fired more than 200 rockets in response.
About 90% of the rockets were intercepted by Iron Dome air defence systems, the IDF said, but one exploded on a main road close to passing cars, and elsewhere two people were lightly injured by shrapnel. An eight-year-old girl also suffered a heart attack in a bomb shelter and remains in a serious condition.
IDF said it carried out air strikes in Gaza targeting PIJ rocket-launching units and infrastructure.
Gaza’s health ministry said eight people were killed, in addition to Abu al-Ata and his wife. Seven of them were reportedly militants.
What are both sides saying?
PIJ spokesman Musab al-Buraim told the Hamas-linked Shehab news agency that it was not “appropriate” to discuss Egyptian efforts to end the flare-up when the group was still retaliating for Abu al-Ata’s death.
Image copyrightAFPImage captionPalestinian Islamic Jihad has vowed to avenge the death of Baha Abu al-Ata (pictured)
“When we complete the response, it is possible to discuss calm,” he said.
At the start of a special cabinet meeting on Wednesday, Mr Netanyahu warned PIJ that if it did not halt the rocket fire Israel would continue to hit Gaza.
“Either stop these attacks or absorb more and more blows,” he said.
Earlier, IDF spokesman Brig Gen Hidai Zilberman told Israeli media that PIJ was “operating in a measured way, maintaining its arsenal of rockets for several days of battle and is keeping its options open”, and that the IDF was “walking a tightrope” to avoid drawing Hamas into the conflict.
Apollo II is a prototype deep sea mining machine being tested off the coast of Malaga
The future of electric cars may depend on mining critically important metals on the ocean floor.
That’s the view of the engineer leading a major European investigation into new sources of key elements.
Demand is soaring for the metal cobalt – an essential ingredient in batteries and abundant in rocks on the seabed.
Laurens de Jonge, who’s running the EU project, says the transition to electric cars means “we need those resources”.
Media captionThe BBC’s David Shukman explains how deep sea mining works
He was speaking during a unique set of underwater experiments designed to assess the impact of extracting rocks from the ocean floor.
In calm waters 15km off the coast of Malaga in southern Spain, a prototype mining machine was lowered to the seabed and ‘driven’ by remote control.
Cameras attached to the Apollo II machine recorded its progress and, crucially, monitored how the aluminium tracks stirred up clouds of sand and silt as they advanced.
An array of instruments was positioned nearby to measure how far these clouds were carried on the currents – the risk of seabed mining smothering marine life over a wide area is one of the biggest concerns.
What is ‘deep sea mining’?
It’s hard to visualise, but imagine opencast mining taking place at the bottom of the ocean, where huge remote-controlled machines would excavate rocks from the seabed and pump them up to the surface.
Now the technology is advancing to the point where dozens of government and private ventures are weighing up the potential for mines on the ocean floor.
Why would anyone bother?
The short answer: demand. The rocks of the seabed are far richer in valuable metals than those on land and there’s a growing clamour to get at them.
Billions of potato-sized rocks known as “nodules” litter the abyssal plains of the Pacific and other oceans and many are brimming with cobalt, suddenly highly sought after as the boom in the production of batteries gathers pace.
At the moment, most of the world’s cobalt is mined in the Democratic Republic of Congo where for years there’ve been allegations of child labour, environmental damage and widespread corruption.
Image copyrightGETTY IMAGESImage captionCurrent technology for electric car batteries require cobalt, thought to be abundant on the sea floor
Expanding production there is not straightforward which is leading mining companies to weigh the potential advantages of cobalt on the seabed.
Laurens de Jonge, who’s in charge of the EU project, known as Blue Nodules, said: “It’s not difficult to access – you don’t have to go deep into tropical forests or deep into mines.
“It’s readily available on the seafloor, it’s almost like potato harvesting only 5km deep in the ocean.”
And he says society faces a choice: there may be in future be alternative ways of making batteries for electric cars – and some manufacturer are exploring them – but current technology requires cobalt.
Image copyrightGEOMARImage captionLaurens de Jonge likens the process to “potato harvesting” 5km down in the ocean
“If you want to make a fast change, you need cobalt quick and you need a lot of it – if you want to make a lot of batteries you need the resources to do that.”
His view is backed by a group of leading scientists at London’s Natural History Museum and other institutions.
They recently calculated that meeting the UK’s targets for electric cars by 2050 would require nearly twice the world’s current output of cobalt.
So what are the risks?
No one can be entirely sure, which makes the research off Spain highly relevant.
It’s widely accepted that whatever is in the path of the mining machines will be destroyed – there’s no argument about that.
But what’s uncertain is how far the damage will reach, in particular the size of the plumes of silt and sand churned up and the distance they will travel, potentially endangering marine life far beyond the mining site.
The chief scientist on board, Henko de Stigter of the Dutch marine research institute NIOZ, points out that life in the deep Pacific – where mining is likely to start first – has adapted to the usually “crystal clear conditions”.
So for any organisms feeding by filter, waters that are suddenly filled with stirred-up sediment would be threatening.
“Many species are unknown or not described, and let alone do we know how they will respond to this activity – we can only estimate.”
And Dr de Stigter warned of the danger of doing to the ocans what humanity has done to the land.
“With every new human activity it’s often difficult to foresee all the consequences of that in the long term.
“What is new here is that we are entering an environment that is almost completely untouched.”
Could deep sea mining be made less damaging?
Ralf Langeler thinks so. He’s the engineer in charge of the Apollo II mining machine and he believes the design will minimise any impacts.
Like Laurens de Jonge, he works for the Dutch marine engineering giant Royal IHC and he says his technology can help reduce the environmental effects.
The machine is meant to cut a very shallow slice into the top 6-10cm of the seabed, lifting the nodules. Its tracks are made with lightweight aluminium to avoid sinking too far into the surface.
Image captionDavid Shukman (R) talks to Ralf Langeler, the engineer in charge of the Apollo II mining machine
Silt and sand stirred up by the extraction process should then be channelled into special vents at the rear of the machine and released in a narrow stream, to try to avoid the plume spreading too far.
“We’ll always change the environment, that’s for sure,” Ralf says, “but that’s the same with onshore mining and our purpose is to minimise the impact.”
I ask him if deep sea mining is now a realistic prospect.
“One day it’s going to happen, especially with the rising demand for spwcial metals – and they’re there on the sea floor.”
Who decides if it goes ahead?
Mining in territorial waters can be approved by an individual government.
That happened a decade ago when Papua New Guinea gave the go-ahead to a Canadian company, Nautilus Minerals, to mine gold and copper from hydrothermal vents in the Bismarck Sea.
Since then the project has been repeatedly delayed as the company ran short of funds and the prime minister of PNG called for a ten-year moratorium on deep sea mining.
A Nautilus Minerals representative has told me that the company is being restructured and that they remain hopeful of starting to mine.
Meanwhile, nearly 30 other ventures are eyeing areas of ocean floor beyond national waters, and these are regulated by a UN body, the International Seabed Authority (ISA).
It has issued licences for exploration and is due next year to publish the rules that would govern future mining.
The EU’s Blue Nodules project involves a host of different institutions and countries.
The vessel used for the underwater research off Spain, the Sarmiento de Gamboa, is operated by CSIC, the Spanish National Research Council.
The current motorway speed limit is 130km/h although a lower limit can apply at various times and places
The daytime speed limit on Dutch roads is to be cut to 100km/h (62mph) in a bid to tackle a nitrogen oxide pollution crisis, according to cabinet sources widely quoted by Dutch media.
Prime Minister Mark Rutte said it was a “rotten measure” but necessary. The existing limit of up to 130km/h will still be permitted at night.
The new limit is set to come in next year along with several other measures.
Ministers have been grappling with ways of responding to the emissions problem.
“No-one likes this,” Mr Rutte told a news conference. “But there’s really something bigger at stake. We have to stop the Netherlands from coming to a halt and jobs being lost unnecessarily.”
He said it was the deepest crisis he had ever dealt with in nine years in power and the refugee crisis in 2015-16 bore no comparison.
Why are they acting now?
The crisis is so severe that big infrastructure projects have been put on hold. A ruling in May by the top court in the Netherlands on nitrogen oxide emissions affected thousands of plans for roads, housing and airports.
The Council of State said Dutch rules for granting building and farming permits breached EU law protecting nature from emissions such as ammonia and nitrous oxide.
The government wants to build 75,000 homes next year, so for the past week the cabinet has tried to find a solution to cutting the pollutants. Among the options discussed by ministers was a ban on vehicles on Sunday.
Media captionNitrogen dioxide air pollution 5-10 January (sequence is played twice)
Drivers will be allowed to revert to the current maximum between 19:00 and 06:00. Only 8%-10% of cars are thought to travel between those times.
Even with the lower 100km/h speed limit there could still be emissions problems in areas such as the congested Randstad central-west belt, home to the biggest Dutch cities of Amsterdam, Rotterdam, The Hague and Utrecht.
Bringing the motorway speed limit down to 100km/h will make the Netherlands the lowest in Europe, on a par with Cyprus which has far fewer motorways.
Maximum road speed limits (km/h)
Netherlands’ proposed new speed
Source: EC/ Some German roads have no limit
The most common maximum speed limit in Europe is 130km/h while in the UK it is 70mph (112 km/h).
Although the Dutch measure is being seen as temporary, Mr Rutte said he would not make any promises on limiting it. While ministers want to introduce the reduced speed limit soon, it will have to be co-ordinated and road signs changed.
Why farmers will be affected too
Last month, farmers reacted angrily to claims that intensive farming was partly to blame for the emissions problem, after a report called for drastic measures to reduce livestock as well as action on the roads.
Media captionDutch farmers clogged up more than 1,000km of roads with their tractors
A tractor protest caused the worst-ever morning rush hour in the country as farmers argued they were being victimised.
Another of the measures announced on Wednesday is a plan to change livestock feed to include an enzyme that reduces nitrogen oxide emissions from cows.
Farmers are also set to be affected by plans next month to cut emissions in protected areas of the country that are part of a European network known as Natura 2000.
A project to bring the Formula 1 Grand Prix back to Zandvoort next year was criticised by some environmentalists, who raised concerns about emissions from the race as well as from work to extend the circuit.
Books with a liberal viewpoint are being hidden from other patrons
A librarian in the US state of Idaho says a mystery visitor is hiding books that criticise President Donald Trump or contain liberal viewpoints.
Bette Ammon, a librarian in Coeur d’Alene, said the patron had left a note saying they wanted to keep “propaganda” away from young people.
As well as anti-Trump literature, books on LGBTQ+ issues, gun control and women’s suffrage have been hidden or refiled as fiction.
No-one has been caught as yet.
Ms Ammon told the BBC that some of the books were found hidden in the gaps behind books already on the shelves.
The note she received read: “I am going to continue hiding these books in the most obscure places I can find to keep this propaganda out of the hands of young minds.”
The note, written on a comment card left for the library, added: “Your liberal angst gives me great pleasure.”
Although library staff reportedly have their suspicions about who is moving the books, no-one has been caught in the act so far.
After a local TV station ran a story about the library, someone contacted Ms Ammon praising the actions of the individual, saying the library only stocks “liberal” books, according to the New York Times.
Ms Ammon said the library contains books with a wide variety of views, including those praising President Trump.
“There’s a saying that a good library has something in it to offend everyone and we’re pretty proud that we fit that criteria. We have books serving a diverse community,” she added.
If caught, the mystery patron will face what Ms Ammon called the “ultimate punishment” – being banned from the library.
The video comes after Saudi Arabia introduced reforms on women’s rights
Saudi Arabia’s state security agency says a social media post on one of its accounts that categorised feminism as extremism was a mistake.
The promotional video categorised feminism, homosexuality and atheism as dangerous ideas and warned Saudis to be vigilant against them.
The security agency says it is investigating the video.
Saudi Arabia is trying to shake off its image as one of the most repressive countries in the world for women.
The animated clip was posted to the Twitter account of the State Security Presidency over the weekend. The agency reports directly to King Salman.
The agency said in a statement that the video contained multiple mistakes and the makers of the video did not do their job properly.
The Saudi Human Rights Commission also released a statement saying that feminism was not a crime. However, it did not make reference to homosexuality or atheism.
Saudi Arabia has no written laws concerning sexual orientation or gender identity, but judges use principles of Islamic law to sanction people suspected of extra-marital sexual relations, homosexual sex or other “immoral” acts, according to US-based Human Rights Watch.
The video has been criticised by human rights groups including Amnesty International.
Heba Morayef, Amnesty International’s Middle East and North Africa Director, said: “This announcement is extremely dangerous and has serious implications for the rights to freedom of expression and life, liberty and security in the country.”
The video comes as Saudi Arabia continues a programme of reforms, many of which focus on women’s rights.
Media captionSaudi Arabia reforms: Are they good news for women?
The government lifted a long-standing ban on women driving in 2018 and made changes to the male guardianship system this August, allowing women to apply for passports and travel independently without permission from a man.
They were also given the right to register births, marriage or divorce.
However, women continue to face numerous restrictions on their lives, and several women’s rights activists who campaigned for the changes have been detained and put on trial. Some of them alleged to have been tortured in prison.
Men who had supported the activists’ cause or defended them in court were also arrested.
The decreasing supply of sand has left thousands unemployed
Politics in the southern state of Andhra Pradesh has recently been consumed by a rather mundane commodity – sand. For the past five months the state has been running short of sand and leaving hundreds of thousands jobless, reports BBC Telugu’s V Shankar.
The situation has paralysed the construction industry as ruling and opposition parties spar over who is to blame, highlighting allegations of corruption and breaches of environmental rules in the lucrative sand mining industry.
Former chief minister Chandrababu Naidu has asked people to join him in a day-long sand “satyagraha”, borrowing the term for nonviolent resistance coined by independence leader Mahatma Gandhi.
And the newly elected government, led by Jaganmohan Reddy and his YSR Congress party, has announced a “sand week”, starting from 14 November, to increase the availability of sand in the state.
Why such a fuss over sand?
With numerous rivers, Andhra Pradesh is rich in sand, which is mined or dredged out of river beds to feed India’s voracious construction industry – the real estate and construction sector is expected to grow to $650bn (£506bn) by 2025, according to the consultancy KPMG.
It is fuelled by the need for infrastructure (expanding cities, highways, bridges, airports) and housing for a growing urban population. Sand is indispensable for building any of this.
But its scarcity has slowed and even stalled construction across the state in the past five months. This is a problem for two reasons. One, it affects all of those who rely on the state’s construction industry for employment – that’s about five million people, according to official estimates.
Image captionThe state is known for being rich in sand
“There has been no sand for four months, and no work either. Do you know how hard it has been? We are unable to pay rent and we are close to living on the streets,” Bhulakshmi, a daily wage labourer, says.
Kanchumarti Katamuraju, a mason, says apart from daily wage labourers, even carpenters and electrical workers are struggling to find jobs as are those in related industries such as brick manufacturing.
“I used to produce and sell more than 100,000 bricks a month, but now I am struggling to even sell 10,000,” says B Venkat, who runs a brick-making factory in East Godavari district.
The second reason is that stalled construction is a strain on banks and the balance sheets of companies that often borrow or raise capital to execute such projects.
Builders say that the permits and paperwork now required to buy sand are delaying their work.
“It’s taking up to a week to complete all the paperwork. It’s unclear if the sand will finally arrive in a week or a month,” says T Srinivas.
And the shortage seems to have driven up the price of sand. Although the government has set the price at 375 rupees ($5; £4) a tonne, industry insiders say the black-market price has gone up to $55 a tonne.
Even suicides by some construction workers have been linked to job losses in the industry.
Why is there a shortage of sand?
While Mr Reddy and his government have admitted that there is a shortage of sand, they say this is largely because heavy rains during the monsoon led to a rise in the water level in the state’s rivers. This has made it hard to extract sand in recent months.
But opposition parties blame his government for exacerbating the problem by introducing new regulations for the extraction and sale of sand.
Under the earlier government, sand was available for free and buyers only had to pay for transporting it.
Image captionHeavy monsoon rain has made it harder to extract sand in recent months
But Mr Reddy centralised the extraction, which would be carried out by a government body that would then sell the sand at collection points across the state. Orders are now booked online and will be tracked along with transport to prevent hoarding or black-market sales.
But because of the shortage, the government appears unable to meet the demand. Its daily output doesn’t exceed 40,000 tonnes, according to reports, while demand is often nearly four times that much.
Why did the policy change?
The so-called “free sand” policy of the previous government, led by Mr Naidu and his Telugu Desam party, came under a lot of criticism amid allegations of corruption and illegal sand mining.
An investigation by the state’s pollution control board found that sand was being extracted by illegal methods or without the necessary permits, damaging river beds and coastal ecosystems.
Based on the findings of the report, the National Green Tribunal fined the state $13.9m in April 2019 for failing to prevent illegal sand mining.
In its order the tribunal also cited news reports of how sand, a natural resource that the government was giving away for free, was in fact being sold on the black-market at higher prices.
The issue has often led to violence in Andhra Pradesh and elsewhere in India. In 2015, a district official accused a state lawmaker of attacking her when she tried to stop illegal sand mining.
Powerful sand mafias have been accused of threatening, assaulting and even killing officials and journalists who have tried to expose illegal sand mining.
A jury has been shown CCTV of a man accused of murdering a backpacker pushing a suitcase said to contain her body.
Grace Millane, of Wickford, Essex, died on the night before her 22nd birthday while travelling in New Zealand.
The suspect, who cannot be named for legal reasons, denies murder.
He had been on a date with Ms Millane the day before he left his Auckland hotel with two suitcases. Prosecutors claim Ms Millane was in one of them.
The court heard the suitcase was then buried in woodland outside the city.
Prosecutors allege the suspect strangled Ms Millane before disposing of her body.
But the defendant claims the University of Lincoln graduate died on 1 December after they engaged in consensual rough sex.
Image copyrightREX/SHUTTERSTOCKImage captionGrace Millane died on the night before her 22nd birthday while travelling in New Zealand
The footage showed the man buying a suitcase, shovel and cleaning products as well as hiring a car in the days after Ms Millane’s death.
In his police interview the man told officers he had been in a drunken stupor until 09:00 or 10:00 on 2 December – however the CCTV showed him buying a suitcase at 08:14.
He told police officers they could have the bag which was “still in my room” and hadn’t been used.
However, footage also showed him buying a second grey suitcase.
Image copyrightGETTY IMAGESImage captionGrace Millane’s parents have been attending the court case in Auckland
Auckland High Court also heard from a woman who went on a Tinder date with the 27-year-old defendant the day after Ms Millane’s death.
She said: “He said he had heard of a guy who had asked his girlfriend to have rough sex with him, strangulation and asphyxiation.
“He has tried to revive her but she died and he got sent down for manslaughter.”
She said he had been “intense” while talking about it and empathetic with the man in the story.
He also discussed how his police officer friends had been struggling due to the number of bodies being buried in Waitakere Ranges, the area where Ms Millane’s body was discovered.
After Ms Millane’s death the man washed the rental car and left the shovel at the car wash and was also seen putting items, the crown says her personal effects, in a bin in an Auckland park, the jury was shown.
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