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Why Elon Musk is in court over tweets · Apple News Today

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  Shumita Basu, Narrating: Good morning! It's Tuesday, January 17th. I'm Shumita Basu. This is "Apple News Today." On today's show, how Damar Hamlin's injury is changing the conversation on NFL health care, why protests are erupting in Israel and what to watch for at the Australian Open as Novak Djokovic returns.
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  But first, Elon Musk is in court this week in a case that started with a Tweet, one that's already gotten him in a lot of trouble. We'll need a little bit of background to understand this one. Back in 2018, the Tesla CEO tweeted: "Am considering taking Tesla private at $420. Funding secured." Now, this is a very Elon Musk kind of Tweet. It has both a stoner reference and something that chief executives hardly ever talk about in public. And in this case, it's the kind of surprising news that typically moves the stock price. Tesla's stock closed up 11% that day.
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  But later, when the funding he referred to never showed up, the stock dropped. That Tweet and others got the attention of the Securities and Exchange Commission. Musk and Tesla each paid $20 million to settle civil charges, and he agreed to step down as chairman, while staying CEO.
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  Now, Musk has to answer for those Tweets again. In-person jury selection starts today in a class-action suit from investors against him and his company. They say Musk's Tweets were false, and cost investors billions of dollars by causing rapid price swings in Tesla shares.
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  Legal analysts say Musk has a tough case. The judge already ruled that the Tweets about taking the company private were not true and that sending them was reckless.
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  The question for the jury is whether Musk knew they were false. Also, whether they were material. Basically, are they why the stock price jerked around so much? Musk's legal team is arguing that's not the case. He may take the stand himself as soon as Wednesday.
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  "The Wall Street Journal" explains that it's unusual for cases like these to go to trial. Usually, they settle by this point. It's the latest challenge at a busy time for the billionaire. The Twitter acquisition has been rocky, to say the least. And the company at the center of all of this, Tesla, isn't doing so hot right now. The company's stock has fallen roughly 70% since its peak in November of 2021. "Bloomberg" estimates that Musk's personal wealth has fallen more $200 billion over that same period.
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  It has been two weeks since Buffalo Bills player Damar Hamlin suffered a cardiac arrest during an NFL game. He's now out of the hospital and recovering. Playoffs are underway. During last night's game between the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and the Dallas Cowboys, Bucs wide receiver Russell Gage was taken off the field on a stretcher. His coach said he suffered a concussion and was being evaluated for neck injuries.
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  It was Hamlin's collapse that initially drove Diana Moskovitz, an investigations editor at "Defector," to look into the kind of health care that NFL players get.
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  Diana Moskovitz: I just wanted to have something to remind me and to remind other people who watch football, who care about football, to go back to and say, "Hey, remember when we thought someone almost died playing this sport to entertain us and make us happy?"
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  She points out something that a lot of fans watching at home may not understand about NFL health care policy. See, players aren't eligible for key health benefits until they're credited with playing three seasons. And just for reference, three seasons is around the length of an average NFL career. So, a good number of players never get full benefits.
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  Moskovitz: This has been coming up a lot because Damar Hamlin is in his second season. So if his career ends, if the Bills terminate his contract right now, and they have not, but I think it's good for people to know this, that if that were to happen, he would immediately be on his own for health care.
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  There are ways around the rules, but they require team owners to bend them. Take the case of Ryan Shazier, a former Steelers player who had a spinal injury during a game. He had to relearn how to walk. Shazier was granted an exception that allowed him to stay on the team's books. But Moskovitz told us she agrees with players who argue that something as fundamental as their health care needs to be more guaranteed.
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  Moskovitz: So I think some of this is just the entire culture of football. It can have a culture that really does seem to emphasize, at its worst, not always, but just grinding through players, grinding through people, through human beings. Get another one, the old saying, "Next man up, next man up." And so, it has put NFL players in a position where they are always fighting for what should seem to be so basic, in a way.
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  Moskovitz hopes that Hamlin's health scare and road to recovery offers the league and fans a reminder about the importance of caring about the players in such a dangerous sport.
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  Moskovitz: I just keep thinking, "Let's hold onto this good news and also remember how perilous it felt," because these issues are going to come up again for the players.
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  This is a good moment to understand what's happening in Israel. There's a growing rift between supporters of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's new government, and critics who say he's trying to change the law in a way that undermines democracy. The opposition is taking to the streets. Tens of thousands of people marched through the rain in Tel Aviv last weekend.
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  Some demonstrators faced a heavy crackdown from police. One of Netanyahu's most controversial ministers, Itamar Ben Gvir, is in charge of national security, and he's given security forces authority to respond aggressively. "Reuters" asked one protester, Assaf Steinberg, what he was fighting against.
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  Assaf Steinberg: They are trying to destroy the democratic structure of the Israeli state. They are working against the Article of Independence that is the basis of the Israeli democracy.
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  Most notably, Netanyahu is proposing an overhaul to the justice system. It would allow legislators to overrule the Supreme Court with a majority vote. His government says it's about restoring the balance of power among the three branches of government. Critics call it a power grab. And they're quick to point out that Netanyahu faces multiple corruption charges, and he could use legal changes to escape prosecution. With the current unrest, Israel becomes the latest country where a democratically-elected leader faces questions about how far he's willing to go to hold onto power.
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  The Australian Open is underway, and Novak Djokovic is back in action, winning his first match today. His refusal to comply with the country's COVID vaccination rules kept him out of the tournament last year, after a hard-fought legal battle. But now that Australia and other countries have removed vaccine mandates, he is playing today. If he wins it all, he'll tie with Rafael Nadal for the most major wins in men's tennis, 22.
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  Djokovic has a decent shot at making history. The men's number one, Carlos Alcaraz, is out with an injury right now. And Nadal has been struggling a bit lately. On the women's side, there is no clear favorite. Six different women have won the title in the past seven years. But at this Open, most of them aren't playing because they're retired, like Serena Williams, at least for now, expecting a child, like Naomi Osaka, or in the case of Ashleigh Barty, both.
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  You can find all these stories and more in the Apple News app. And if you're already listening in the News app right now, we've got a narrated article coming up next. Have you ever wondered how it's possible that Netflix can make so many shows? Well, "The New Yorker" profiles the woman who oversees the company's streaming shows, everything from "Stranger Things" to "Emily in Paris" to "Wednesday." So sit back, enjoy listening to that and I'll be back with the news tomorrow.
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