Axios

Tesla shareholders have proposed filing a class-action lawsuit against the company and CEO Elon Musk accusing him of securities fraud, reports Reuters.

The big picture: Shareholders are say Musk's tweet claiming he would take Tesla private was an attempt to manipulate Tesla's stock price and ruin plans for short-sellers.

Elon Musk is "seeking a wide pool of investors to back a potential take-private" of Tesla, according to Bloomberg.

Why it matters: This will only increase skepticism that Musk was being truthful when he tweeted "funding secured" on Tuesday, a claim that reportedly is being investigated by financial securities regulators.

Go deeper: Pro Rata podcast on Musk and Tesla.

Sourcing of cobalt, a material commonly used in lithium ion batteries for portable electronics and electronic vehicles, has come under intense scrutiny lately for economic, political and geographical reasons. Most notably, 58% of the world's cobalt comes from the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), where production is attended by political unrest and reported human rights violations, including child labor.

The big picture: While significant efforts to reduce cobalt quantities in EV batteries are underway, they are still very much a work in progress. Global demand for cobalt has nearly quadrupled in the past 5 years as a result of increased demand for rechargeable batteries, and is expected to keep rising.

The 2018 Atlantic hurricane season is likely to have below average activity, due in large part to the formation of an El Niño event in the tropical Pacific Ocean, and cooler than average sea surface temperatures in key regions of the tropical Atlantic, forecasters with NOAA’s Climate Prediction Center announced Friday.

Why it matters: Hurricanes are nature's most powerful and costliest storms, and after an extraordinarily destructive hurricane season in 2017, the prospect of a below-average season is a welcome one for millions of coastal residents.

The man accused of starting the Holy Fire, Forrest Gordon Clark, texted the Holy Jim Volunteer Fire Department chief two weeks ago saying, "The place is going to burn," CNN reports, citing remarks from the fire chief.

The big picture: The fire in Southern California forced 20,000 residents to evacuate, according to CNN. Chief Mike Milligan said he's been "trying for years to get someone to pay attention" to Clark, but "nobody has really had the opportunity to do that until now."

Potential last-ditch efforts to avert the worst impacts of global warming by geoengineering Earth's climate could themselves be harmful, a new study suggests.

Why it matters: With global concentrations of greenhouse gases continuing on an upward trajectory, and no sign of the end of fossil fuel use — some researchers are turning to technological fixes for solutions to combating climate change. Geoengineering the climate is one solution being debated among scientists and policymakers.

The Puerto Rican government said in an Economic and Disaster Recovery Plan on Thursday that although it was initially reported that 64 lives were lost in Hurricane Maria last year, the "estimate was later revised to 1,427," the New York Times reports.

The big picture: This is a massive increase from the original number, which was underreported because of data shortfalls, destruction of the island's infrastructure and government inaction. It is thought that many deaths may have gone unreported, particularly from rural areas cut off from medical help.

"CEO Elon Musk’s suggestion ... that he wanted to take Tesla private at $420 a share, putting a value of $72 billion on the carmaker, had some investors wondering whether ... Wall Street has become overheated after nearly a decade of gains following the 2008 financial crisis," Reuters' Noel Randewich reports.

What they're saying: Mike O’Rourke, chief market strategist at JonesTrading, in a client note: "A mega-LBO [leveraged buyout] of a company notorious for its cash burn rate would be the clear sign that this is the ultimate market top. ... This is the type of behavior often witnessed at market extremes."

The Mendocino Complex fire is officially the largest wildfire on record in California, with more than 300,000 acres burned as of Wednesday night. It's made up of two separate fires burning in close proximity, and it has already eclipsed last year's record-setting Thomas Fire, which torched about 281,000 acres.

Here's how the destruction compares to the size of Washington, D.C. and Manhattan. The fire is 47 percent contained, and will likely keep burning through at least September.

• Go deeper:
• California just had its hottest month on record
• By the numbers: Unprecedented devastation of California's wildfires
• How the Carr Fire morphed into a towering, deadly "fire tornado"