Elon Musk’s legal team is demanding to hear from Twitter’s whistle-blowing former security chief, who could help bolster Musk’s case for backing out of a $44 billion deal to buy the social media company. Former Twitter executive Peiter Zatko — also known by his hacker handle “Mudge” — received a subpoena Saturday from Musk’s team, according to Zatko’s lawyer and court records. The billionaire Tesla CEO has spent months alleging that the company he agreed to acquire undercounted its fake and spam accounts — and that he shouldn’t have to consummate the deal as a result. Zatko’s whistle-blower complaint to US officials alleging Twitter misled regulators about its privacy and security protections — and its ability to detect and root out fake accounts — might play into Musk’s hands in an upcoming trial scheduled for Oct.17 in Delaware. Zatko served as Twitter’s head of security until he was fired early this year. — ASSOCIATED PRESS
Major South Korean battery maker LG and Japanese automaker Honda are investing $4.4 billion in a joint venture in the United States to produce batteries for Honda electric vehicles in the North American market, the two companies said Monday. The plant’s site is still undecided, but construction will begin in early 2023, with mass production of advanced lithium-ion battery cells to start by the end of 2025, they said. The joint venture is to be set up this year, with the closing of the deal subject to regulatory approval. — ASSOCIATED PRESS
Three of the 12 unions negotiating with the nation’s biggest freight railroads have reached a tentative deal which will deliver 24 percent raises in line with what a special presidential panel of arbitrators recommended earlier this month to resolve the stalemate before a strike could happen. The tentative five-year deal announced Monday covers more than 15,000 members of the International Association of Machinists, the Transportation Communications Union, and the Brotherhood of Railway Carmen unions, although the two biggest rail unions that represent engineers and conductors said over the weekend they still hadn’t been able to reach a deal their members would accept. The railroads have until mid-September to reach agreements with all their unions before federal law would allow them to go on strike, but if it gets to that point, Congress is expected to step in to keep the trains moving because a rail strike could be devastating to the economy. Lawmakers could impose terms on both sides or order arbitration. Roughly 115,000 workers are represented by all the railroad unions. — ASSOCIATED PRESS
Two high-rise apartment towers in India were leveled to the ground in a controlled demolition on Sunday after the country’s top court declared them illegal for violating building norms, officials said. They became India’s tallest structures to be razed to the ground. More than 1,500 families vacated their apartments in the area more than seven hours before the nearly 328-foot-tall towers crumbled inward by the impact of the implosion. The 32-story and 29-story towers, which were being constructed by a private builder in Noida city on the outskirts of New Delhi, were yet to be occupied. The razing of the towers occurred after the Supreme Court found that the builder, in collusion with government officials, violated laws prohibiting construction within a certain distance from nearby buildings. — ASSOCIATED PRESS
Bain Capital agreed to buy Olympus Corp.’s scientific instruments business for $3.1 billion, as the Japanese medical devices company further shifts its focus to health care. Olympus expects to transfer the unit on Jan. 4 and book the gain from the sale in the fourth quarter of the fiscal year ending March 31, the company said in a statement Monday. The Nikkei newspaper first reported the likely deal last week. — BLOOMBERG NEWS
A bill that would keep California’s last nuclear plant open as the state transitions from fossil fuels was finally introduced late Sunday in Sacramento and now faces a difficult path to passage, as Governor Gavin Newsom tries to rally support before the current legislative session ends on Aug. 31. Newsom, a Democrat and widely believed to be considering a presidential run, has talked since April about keeping PG&E’s Diablo Canyon nuclear plant running past its planned closure in 2025. Its steady output, he argued, will be needed to prevent blackouts as more gas-burning power plants close and renewable facilities are built to replace them. — BLOOMBERG NEWS
European oil major Shell cautioned that Europe may have to brace for a string of winters with exorbitant power bills and electricity rationing as Russia squeezes gas supplies. “It may well be that we have a number of winters where we have to somehow find solutions through efficiency savings, through rationing, and as a very, very quick build out of alternatives,” chief executive Ben Van Beurden told reporters at a conference in Stavanger, Norway. “That this is going to be somehow easy or over, I think is a fantasy we should put aside — we should confront the reality.” Europe is facing an energy crisis as Russia curbs gas flows following its invasion of Ukraine. That’s fueling a six-fold increase in prices from a year ago. — BLOOMBERG NEWS
Authorities in central China on Monday announced the arrests of 234 people involved in a scam to bilk people out of their savings with the false promise of high interest rates on deposits in obscure rural banks. The scandal drew national attention after investors seeking answers about where their money went were prevented from reaching the Henan provincial capital of Zhengzhou when the health status displayed on their mandatory COVID-19 cellphone apps was suddenly changed to red, preventing them from traveling. Multiple bank customers interviewed by the AP said they had been interrogated and threatened by police. Another attempt in July was met by gangs of unidentified men in white shirts who attacked depositors while police stood by. — ASSOCIATED PRESS
Fisticuffs in the cockpit, leaving a leaky engine running while cruising over Africa — Air France pilots are under scrutiny after recent incidents that have prompted French investigators to call for tougher safety protocols. Two Air France pilots were suspended after physically fighting in the cockpit on a Geneva-Paris flight in June, an Air France official said Sunday. The flight continued and landed safely, and the dispute didn’t affect the rest of the flight, the official said, stressing the airline’s commitment to safety. — ASSOCIATED PRESS
Work at Boston Globe Media