A new report from literary organisation PEN America has revealed an eyebrow-raising list of books banned in US prisons, including Spanish language guides and celebrity memoirs.

"The common concept underpinning the censorship we're seeing is that certain ideas and information are a threat," says the report's lead author, Moira Marquis, senior manager in the prison and justice writing department at PEN.

Some states have banned instruction books for non-English languages, worried inmates will be able to then speak in front of guards who won't understand them.

Amy Schumer's memoir The Girl With The Lower Back Tattoo also made banned lists due to "sexual content".

PEN said that many of the categories used to justify bans were vague and broad-reaching.

Its report quoted one inmate who said his New Yorker magazines had been withheld due to occasional nudity in the "absurdly innocuous" cartoons.

Another inmate, incarcerated in Virginia, noted that in Virginia prisons, the Game of Thrones TV series is aired unedited on facility TVs – but the book series they are based on, A Song Of Ice And Fire by George RR Martin, are banned.

PEN said whether intentional or not, many books banned for "sexual content" were aimed at queer and transgender audiences. 

Security concerns are behind other bans, including a rape prevention guide in Connecticut and an anti-sexual harassment book in Louisiana.

Even a guide to drawing fantasy creatures, Fantasy Artist's Pocket Reference: Incredible Characters, was deemed a threat to security and banned.

PEN said this was part of trend, with similar books on "mind control, shape shifting, and Dungeons And Dragons role-playing" also widely refused entry to prisons.

The apparently worthy practice of keeping racially inflammatory materials out of prison has also led to some questionable decisions, such as the banning of literary giant James Baldwin's book I Am Not Your Negro in Kansas.

Other books to appear on banned lists: Sun Tzu's The Art of War, the compilation Prison Ramen: Recipes and Stories from Behind Bars, Barrington Barber's Anyone Can Draw: Create Sensational Artwork in Easy Steps and Robert Greene's self-help best-seller 48 Laws of Power.

The Prison Ramen compilation was the most banned book around the country, PEN found, with recipes and stories provided by former inmates, including celebrities such as Danny Trejo.

PEN places bans into two categories: content-specific, in which books are banned because of what they say or allegedly say, and content-neutral, in which books are restricted because they are not sent through accepted channels.

In Maine, Michigan and other states, prisoners may only receive books through a select number of vendors, whether Amazon, a local bookstore or an approved publisher.

Content-neutral restrictions may also apply to the packaging (some federal facilities only permit white wrapping), and against free or used literature, Marquis said.

A spokesman for the Idaho Department of Correction told Associated Press in an email that restrictions on packaging had become necessary because of "an increase in the amount of drug-soaked mail being sent to our residents."

He added that inmates can receive books and periodicals free of charge from authorised vendors and publishers.

"We believe our guidelines area a reasonable response to a growing problem that puts the health and safety of the people who live and work in Idaho's correctional facilities at risk," he said.

The states with the most banned titles, per their responses, are Florida (22,825 titles up to September 2023), Texas (10,265 titles up to February 2023), Kansas (7699 titles up to 2021), Virginia (7204 titles up to 2022), and New York (5356 titles as of 2019).

The heartbroken parents of Milla Foster, who died from what seemed like a common illness, have issued a plea to the public.

They are urging others not to ignore their instincts following the 12-year-old's death, just days after being diagnosed with gastroenteritis.

The young girl from Kapunda in South Australia's Barossa Valley loved Taylor Swift, had a laugh that would brighten any room and had everything to live for her parents say.

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"She was a really good girl," her dad Shannon Foster told 9News.

"I'm waiting to wake up and just see her."

The tragic events unfolded when Milla had an upset stomach and other relatively mild symptoms.

Shannon took Milla to the Kapunda Hospital last Tuesday with her step-mum Phoebe, where doctors gave her medication to treat gastroenteritis.

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"They kept us there for an hour, an-hour-and-a-half, and they sent us home," he said.

Milla's parents say they'd thought her condition was improving but two days later, on October 19, Milla died.

"You don't think that gastro can potentially kill – especially someone so young and so healthy," step-mum Phoebe Kelly said.

The communities of Kapunda and Freeling – both about an hour north of Adelaide – have wrapped their arms around the family, with more than $20,000 raised to help the family plan a celebration of Milla's life.

Meanwhile, Milla's parents are now urging others not to ignore their instincts.

"Even if the doctors say you might be paranoid or if you're just over-cautious – just listen to it, because it's there for a reason," Phoebe said.

SA Health Minister, Chris Picton, has voiced his heartfelt sympathies to the family and is promising Kapunda Hospital and SA Health will fully co-operate with a coronial investigation.

Police are appealing for information following the theft of a rare Ford Mustang valued at about $400,000 from south-east Melbourne earlier this month.

The 2021 Ford Mustang Shelby GT500KR, registration 900KR, is the only one of its kind in Australia.

It was stolen on Wednesday, October 11, in what police described as a "brazen" theft.

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CCTV images from 3.45pm on that day showed two men can be seen loitering out the front of Mustang Motorsport, a car specialist on Hayward Road in Ferntree Gully.

The duo briefly leaves the area before one of the men, wearing a blue jumper, black trackpants, black baseball cap and sunglasses, walks through the gate, enters the Ford Mustang and drives off.

Vehicles were being moved in and out of the showroom at the time, and the key was accessible.

The Mustang is then captured on CCTV heading north towards Burwood Highway.

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Just prior to the theft, the two men stopped at a fast-food premises on Burwood Highway, where one of the men reached behind the counter and took a drink without paying.

Detective Senior Constable Michael Gatt today appealed for public help to retrieve the car.

"This was an utterly brazen theft of someone's prized possession and done in broad daylight," he said.

"This is someone with a great love of vehicles who has worked hard to build this car and has had it taken away from him.

"It's an incredibly rare car, and it is very distinctive – we would encourage anyone who has seen it, or who recognises the two men in the CCTV to come forward and contact police."

The Mustang is charcoal in colour, with a distinctive blue stripe over the driver and passenger side doors and bearing the words GT 500KR. It also has a rear spoiler.

The vehicle is a rare Shelby GT 500KR edition and has a Cobra badge on the front grill.

There is also a KR badge on the rear panel.

The owner of the Mustang, 60-year-old former racer Craig Dean, said he was disappointed.

"It's pretty devastating really that someone could come in and take your possession," he said.

"We all live in hope, so I've just been hoping that it gets found."

A Mustang Motorsport sticker is visible on the top of the front windscreen.

Police are asking people to keep a lookout for the distinctive vehicle and expect it may have travelled anywhere across Melbourne, or potentially interstate.

Anyone with information on the two men in the CCTV or who has seen the vehicle is urged to contact Crime Stoppers on 1800 333 000 or submit a report online.

A Queensland woman accused of being the architect of a murder plan that involved a man being fed into a woodchipper has been found guilty.

Sharon Graham, 63, pleaded not guilty to the murder of Bruce James Saunders at a property near Gympie on November 12, 2017.

She was accused of asking her then-partner Greg Roser and Peter Koenig to kill Bruce Saunders, 53, for insurance money.

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Saunders was hit on the head with an iron bar and his body fed into an industrial woodchipper to make it look like an accident, Brisbane Supreme Court was told.

He died while the three men cleared vegetation on a friend's rural property in the Sunshine Coast hinterland.

Saunders and Graham had been in an "on and off" relationship.

Koenig told the jury that he saw Roser hit Saunders multiple times on the head with the iron bar before helping carry the lifeless body to the woodchipper.

Koenig said he placed Saunders on the chipper tray and used a stick to push the body in.

The next day Graham discussed Saunders' will over coffee before sleeping in his bed with another man, the court heard.

Graham is set to be sentenced after the jury reached a guilty verdict on Friday afternoon.

Discussions are ramping up over a potential blanket ban on the use of all engineered stone, over its links to the deadly lung disease silicosis.

Federal, state and territory workplace ministers met today to review a report from SafeWork Australia, which has recommended banning the product, irrespective of crystalline silica content.

Silicosis is a lung disease caused by breathing in small particles of silica dust.

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Inhaling the dust causes inflammation which over time, leads to scarring of the lung tissue, which causes stiffening of the lungs making it difficult to breathe.

"Engineered stone is physically and chemically different to natural stone," the report notes.

"The high levels of respirable crystalline silica (RCS) generated by working with engineered stone, as well as the differing properties of this RCS, are likely to contribute to more rapid and severe disease.

"There is no toxicological evidence of a 'safe' threshold of crystalline silica content in engineered stone, or that other chemicals found in engineered stone do not pose a health risk to workers."

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Stone worker of 17 years Russell Vine said a total ban is the only way forward.

"If we don't do something now then there's going to be a lot more workers diagnosed with this disease and the suffering will go on," Vine told 9News.

"We just need to stop it now and move forward.

"It's time to call a ban on it, I think there's no other way."

Another meeting is expected before the end of the year to decide on a ban.

Enquiries into the circumstances of the crash are ongoing.

CCTV footage has emerged of Paul Thijssen in the hours after he is suspected to have murdered co-worker Lilie James at a Sydney CBD school.

The security footage shows Thijssen, 24, arriving at Diamond Bay Reserve in the eastern suburb of Vaucluse at 8.47pm on Wednesday, an hour after James is believed to have been killed.

Over the next hour, he's seen walking down a path, before dumping the alleged murder weapon – a hammer – in a bin before driving off.

READ MORE: Friends, family pay tribute to 'loving, beautiful' Lilie James

The video shows Thijssen sitting around the corner for the following two hours, before calling triple zero at around midnight to tell police about James' body at St Andrew's Cathedral School.

Operators traced the call, but when officers arrived at the scene, Thijssen was gone.

Police had wanted to speak to him about James' suspected murder, but earlier today, during their search for him, they found a body – believed to be Thijssen's – at the base of a cliff in Vaucluse.

They had been scouring the area after finding what they called "property" linked to James' death.

This morning a group of tradesmen working nearby alerted police to the body, located on the rocks beneath Diamond Bay Reserve at Vaucluse.

READ MORE: Grim detail about murder weapon emerges after water polo coach's death

Police began an operation to retrieve the body at 7.40am at the reserve and retrieved the body at about 12.15pm today.

The rescue and bomb disposal unit, marine unit and Westpac Rescue helicopter all assisted in the operation.

"The man has not been formally identified," NSW Police said in a statement.

It's understood the location of the body, coupled with the wet and windy weather in the area, caused complications.

James was found dead in the toilet section of the St Andrews Cathedral School gym area after a call to police prompted a welfare check.

Police said she had suffered serious head injuries in an "apparent" homicide.

9News understands she was attacked with a hammer.

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Early on Thursday morning, police found materials they believe were linked to the murder in Diamond Bay Reserve.

Police began searching the reserve and the waters off South Head.

Based on a phone call to police, the reserve was also thought to be Thijssen's last known location.

Thijssen, a former student of the school, had been working there as a sports assistant, while James was the school's water polo coach.

9News understands James and Thijssen had been dating for a few weeks before she called the relationship off.

Police said there was no official history of domestic violence between the pair.

Crisis support is available from Lifeline on 13 11 14.

There's a spectacular speckled cloud pattern over the Tasman Sea this Friday, and it holds plenty of good news for those hoping for clear weekend weather on Australia's east coast.

See how the cloud over the Tasman Sea between Australia and New Zealand looks a little like fish scales – as captured by the BoM's Himawari-8 weather satellite almost 36 kilometres above the Earth?

As Weatherzone explains, the speckled pattern occurs when very cold air moves over a relatively warm area of ocean.

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The temperature contrast between the cool air and warmer water causes a large number of individual cumulus clouds to develop over a broad area, punctuated by patches of clear sky in between.

The mix of moisture-laden cumulus clouds and clear sky generates the speckled pattern.

Interestingly, the classic four-seasons-in-a-day weather variability for which Melbourne is famous inevitably occurs when there's a speckled cloud mass overhead.

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Rapid weather changes are less common in Sydney, where the weather is generally relentlessly rainy or sunny for days on end, and speckled air masses are less common.

But Sydney has felt quite Melbourne-like this week with its on-and-off showers, as the Tasman Sea speckled air mass pushes frequent showers onto the NSW coast, as you can see in the Weatherzone loop above.

The good news for Australians on the east coast is that the speckled cloud mass in the Tasman Sea should become New Zealand's problem this weekend, with a clearing pattern on the east coast and all eight Australian capital cities likely to see fine or mostly fine weather.

Queensland residents are on edge as challenging conditions test firefighters battling some of the more than 60 fires currently burning across the state.

This afternoon fire authorities issued evacuation orders for residents in Shellytop Road at Durong, Moonie near Dalby, Tara and parts of Wieambilla.

Meanwhile, Queensland Fire and Emergency Services (QFES) has warned residents in eight communities to prepare to leave including those in parts of Durong, Carnarvon Gorge, Buckland, Rewan, Kogan, parts of Wieambilla, Breakaway at Mount Isa and Lowmead near Miriam Vale.

As the situation is constantly changing, stay up to date with warnings and alerts at the Queensland Fire and Emergency Services website.

"With the extreme fire dangers that we've had today, particularly across the western parts of the state, that's put pressure on a number of the containment lines," Queensland Rural Fire Service Acting Assistant Commissioner Peter Hollier said.

Gusty wind conditions have made conditions difficult for firefighters tackling a blaze in Tara, while crews will work into the night to establish containment lines on the Moonie fire.

There are several fires burning in the Mount Isa area, with a blaze to the north and another to the north-west causing particular concern for fire crews preparing to work well into the night.

The Carnarvon Gorge fire in the south of the state is a large fire, particularly to the northern end of the blaze, with wind conditions putting pressure on crews.

Firefighters have held the containment lines of the Halliford fire near Dalby but crews will continue to work to make sure it is controlled.

There have also been new outbreaks at Midge Point near Prosperpine and Lowmead near Miriam Vale this afternoon.

Conditions are easing in the south-east of the state with spasmodic rain and firefighters are taking the opportunity to get these blazes under control.

It comes after 32 homes and 17 sheds and other buildings were destroyed after fires at Tara in recent days.

The blaze covers an area of 20,000 hectares.

As the situation continues, Queensland Fire and Emergency Services (QFES) has extended a local fire ban for south-western region residents until midnight tonight.

The initial fire ban was imposed on Tuesday for residents in the Toowoomba, Southern Downs, Western Downs, Goondiwindi, Maranoa and Balonne Local Government Areas.

"Current fire conditions are perfect for bushfires to ignite and spread quickly," a QFES spokesperson said.

"Under a local fire ban all open fires are prohibited and all Permits to Light Fire which have been issued in the designated areas have been suspended for the duration of the ban.

"Power tools may be used during a local fire ban however QFES encourages people to use these with extreme care and ensure adequate equipment is available to extinguish any fire which may start.

"This may include having a person available to watch out for any ignitions that occur."

An elderly man accused of murdering a Perth mother more than 37 years ago has faced court.

Sharon Fulton, 39, was last seen alive on March 18, 1986 waiting for a train and has not made contact with family or friends.

The 77-year-old man, who cannot be identified for legal reasons, was charged with the mother of four's wilful murder on that date.

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He briefly appeared in Perth Magistrates Court via video link on Friday.

There was no application for bail and the matter was adjourned.

He is scheduled to reappear in Stirling Gardens Magistrates Court on November 22.

West Australian police offered a $1 million reward in May for information leading to a conviction in the case.