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Facebook defends itself after handing over chat messages to police investigating abortion
Facebook has defended itself after court documents emerged showing that it provided chat messages to police which are being used to prosecute a mother and daughter over an abortion.The messages are part of a case in Nebraska alleging that the pair performed an abortion at 28 weeks without a license and then attempted to conceal a dead human body. The alleged abortion took place before the US Supreme Court overturned Roe v Wade, which gave American women the constitutional right to terminate their pregnancies.However it has sparked controversy amid concerns about how reproductive rights will be policed in the future, including by seeking information from social media accounts.Since that decision on Roe vs Wade the ability for an estimated 58 million girls and women across the US to access a safe and legal abortion has been called into question. Advertisement Read more: Six charts which reveal how abortion access has already changed in the US Please use Chrome browser for a more accessible video player 3:49 Abortion: 40 days in four charts Facebook's parent company issued a statement claiming that "much of the reporting about Meta's role in a criminal case against a mother and daughter in Nebraska is plain wrong".What do the court documents say - and what did Meta do?According to prosecutors in Madison County in Nebraska, Jessica Burgess, 41, obtained abortion pills and then gave them to her daughter, Celeste, then 17, and helped her burn and bury the foetus with the help of a 20-year-old man, Tanner Barnhill, who is also facing misdemeanour charges.Celeste Burgess was 28 weeks pregnant when she took the medication, which is considered the beginning of the third trimester. Nebraska limits abortion to 20 weeks in most circumstances where the health of the mother is not at risk.The medication which Jessica Burgess obtained is designed to provide medical termination of pregnancies during the first trimester, up until week 12.Police say they were tipped off about the case by a close friend of Celeste who saw her take the first pill.Officers applied for a search warrant to Meta regarding all private data about the Burgesses, and direct messages included in the court documents appear to show the mother and daughter discussing taking the medication.They said that after exhuming the foetus the post-mortem examination was consistent with stillbirth, but because it was placed into a plastic bag they couldn't discount the possibility that it had been asphyxiated - which formed part of the investigation.The women, who are pleading not guilty, will face a jury trial in October.Read more:Roe v Wade: How did we get here?Kansas votes to protect abortion rights in state constitution after Supreme Court ruling Please use Chrome browser for a more accessible video player 2:27 Kansas votes for right to an abortion In its full statement, Meta said: "We received valid legal warrants from local law enforcement on June 7, before the Supreme Court's decision[.] The warrants did not mention abortion at all."The statement added: "Court documents indicate that police were at that time investigating the alleged illegal burning and burial of a stillborn infant."The warrants were accompanied by non-disclosure orders, which prevented us from sharing information about them. The orders have now been lifted."
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Musk sells $6.9bn in Tesla shares as battle with Twitter continues
Elon Musk has sold $6.9bn (£5.7bn) of shares in his electric vehicle maker Tesla as his battle against Twitter continues.Mr Musk sold about 7.92 million shares between 5 August and 9 August, according to multiple filings, meaning he now owns 155.04 million shares in the company. In April, the world's richest man announced a plan to buy Twitter for $44bn, but he tore up the agreement in July, sending shares in the tech firm well below the amount he had agreed to pay for them.At the time, Twitter's chairman said the firm was "committed to closing the transaction on the price and terms agreed upon", and said it would take legal action.The two sides head to trial on 17 October. Advertisement Mr Musk sold $8.5bn of Tesla shares in April, saying afterwards that he was not planning any further sales. But legal experts have suggested that if he loses his fight against Twitter and is forced to go through with the acquisition or pay a stiff penalty, he might have to sell even more Tesla shares. More on Elon Musk Related Topics: The tycoon claims Twitter failed to provide him with enough information concerning the number of fake - spambot - accounts on its site.And he says it breached its obligations by sacking top managers and laying off a significant number of workers.Twitter argues Mr Musk is trying to back out because he agreed to pay 38% above Twitter's stock price just before the stock market fell.And shares of electric carmaker Tesla, where most of his personal wealth is, lost more than $100bn in value.
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Bring back grey wolves to the American West, scientists urge
In the face of the growing threats posed to ecosystems by climate change, scientists in the US have put forward an "ultra ambitious" proposal to rewild parts of the American West by reintroducing wolves and beavers.Their plan follows President Joe Biden signing an executive order for his America the Beautiful policy that involves a conservation effort to save 30% of water and land in the US by 2030. The administration's plan is to address "a catastrophic extinction crisis that threatens the biodiversity of our planet and the health of the natural systems that supply our food, water, and other resources".It comes as NASA satellite images have revealed the impact on the largest reservoir of water in the US, Lake Mead, of the most severe drought in decades.In a journal article published in BioScience, titled Rewilding the American West, 20 scientists propose rewilding large reserve areas owned by the US federal government to address these concerns. Advertisement They have two major calls. Firstly, to stop livestock grazing on some federal lands, and secondly to restore two key species: the grey wolf and the North American beaver. According to the letter, the challenges of preventing grazing on these lands aren't too severe.Livestock farmers can be simply reimbursed for the lost grazing allotments, and meat derived from forage on federal lands accounts for only about 2% of that produced in the US, they say.They propose building the Western Rewilding Network covering nearly 500,000 square kilometres - twice the size of the United Kingdom - across 11 states: Oregon, Washington, California, Nevada, Idaho, Montana, Wyoming, Colorado, Arizona, New Mexico and Utah.But the "unprecedented period of converging crises in the American West, including extended drought and water scarcity, extreme heat waves, massive fires triggered at least partly by climate change, and biodiversity loss" demands urgent action.Read more: Beavers could be reintroduced into English countrysides Why wolves and beavers?Wolves and beavers have a significant impact on the ecosystems they occupy.In the most famous case of the reintroduction of grey wolves - to Yellowstone National Park in 1996 after they went extinct locally in the 1920s - it resulted in a cascading impact on the whole of the park's ecosystem.The wolves didn't just diminish the population levels of elk and deer but also their movements and grazing, causing surge in the height of trees and other vegetation, which in turn prevented soil erosion as well as allowed for several other species to return to the park."By felling trees and shrubs and building dams, beavers enrich fish habitat, increase water and sediment retention, maintain water flows during drought, provide wet fire breaks, improve water quality, initiate recovery of incised channels, increase carbon sequestration, and generally enhance habitat for many riparian plant and animal species," the researchers write. Image: The study shows the impact of the proposed interventions. Pic: BioScience They believe the rewilding plans could benefit 92 threatened and endangered species."Beyond concerns for human survival and flourishing, a principled commitment to the natural world and a sense of moral urgency underpins the motivation for our proposal," the authors write."Our plan represents a historic opportunity to rewild significant portions of the American West that could serve as an inspiring model for other regions and would ensure our natural heritage remains intact for future generations."
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