Axios

Tesla chief executive Elon Musk reached an agreement on Friday with the Securities and Exchange Commission regarding his behavior on Twitter, according to an amended filing in U.S. District Court.

Why it matters: The agreement with securities regulators removes, for now, one headache facing the electric automaker that’s in the midst of a tumultuous stretch and just reported a larger-than-expected quarterly loss on Wednesday.

Winter weather isn't giving up even as May peeks around the corner, with another batch of below-average temperatures and snow — up to 10 inches in spots — set to paste the Plains, Midwest and parts of the Northeast this weekend.

Details: Winter storm watches have been posted for parts of Montana, southeastern Minnesota, northern Iowa and southern Wisconsin, in advance of a stretch of heavy snow that could lead to challenging travel conditions. The storm system is expected to move through the region on Friday into the weekend, which, combined with a change in the jet stream, per the Weather Channel, will allow colder-than-average temperatures to strafe much of the northern portion of the country.

The toll from Cyclone Kenneth is beginning to emerge across northern Mozambique, one day after the Category 4 storm struck as an unprecedented event for this region, and one of the strongest cyclones to hit Africa since modern record-keeping began.

Why it matters: Mozambique is already reeling after a deadly hit from Cyclone Idai on March 14. That storm destroyed much of the city of Beira, and flooded such a vast area that it was described as having created a new "inland ocean." The international community still hasn't fully stepped up to respond to that crisis, and the UN is warning that Kenneth may necessitate "a major new humanitarian operation."

President Trump's bid to vastly expand areas available for offshore drilling is on ice — a development rooted in politics, oil markets, and the legal hurdle of unwinding a predecessor's policies.

Driving the news: A judge's ruling in March upholding President Obama's ban on Arctic development has delayed the wider 2019–2024 U.S. offshore leasing plan, Interior Secretary David Bernhardt told the Wall Street Journal.

ExxonMobil shares dipped Friday morning after the oil giant reported first-quarter revenue and profits that missed analysts' expectations, CNBC reports.

By the numbers: Revenue came in at $63.63 billion against the $64.82 billion that had been forecast, while earnings were at 55 cents per share against an expected 69 cents per share. Those profits were down nearly 50% from its 2018 Q1 profits.

Requirements that utilities purchase a share of their electricity from renewable sources may carry costs that outweigh their benefits, according to the preliminary findings of a working paper by University of Chicago economists.

The big picture: A complete accounting of the benefits of renewable portfolio standards (RPS) would paint a different picture, however. The study’s methods provide little clear policy guidance, and its findings about such standards — now in place in 29 states and Washington, D.C. — warrant skepticism.

Tesla's new proprietary chip for self-driving software is key to CEO Elon Musk's promise of a driverless robotaxi fleet by 2020. The chip alone won't deliver fully autonomous cars that can operate anywhere but it could help to increase the value of Tesla vehicles.

The big picture: Other carmakers are focused on autonomous driving for ride-sharing, but Tesla isn't accepting that consumers will abandon car ownership and is chasing a hybrid model of individual car ownership with the option for owners to earn money by sharing their vehicles via robotaxis.

A rare, long-term record of Greenland ice melt reveals the world's largest island shed ice nearly 6 times faster in the past decade when compared to the 1980s, an increase that is already contributing to sea level rise and altered ocean currents, a new study finds.

Why it matters: Greenland's fate will help determine the future viability of coastal megacities around the world, from New York to Shanghai, as sea levels rise in response to added freshwater.

A "catastrophic" breeding failure has devastated the emperor penguin colony at Halley Bay in the Weddell Sea of Antarctica, with no chicks surviving during each of the past 3 years, scientists said on Thursday.

Why it matters: This particular emperor penguin colony was previously the second largest in the world, with 15,000 to 24,000 breeding couples visiting the site annually. But the colony "has now all but disappeared," British Antarctic Survey researchers said in a statement accompanying the publication of their study in the journal Antarctic Science. Adult penguins have since fled the island, they said.

Powerful Cyclone Kenneth struck Mozambique on Thursday as one of the strongest storms ever to hit the nation, which is still recovering from the widespread devastation caused by Cyclone Idai in March.

Details: The storm — which quickly intensified during the course of the last 24 hours but weakened slightly as it neared landfall about 600 miles north of Beira, where Idai struck — made landfall as a Category 4 storm, with sustained winds at about 140 miles per hour, according to satellite estimates. This may qualify as the strongest-ever cyclone to hit Mozambique, and is the strongest-ever to hit the northern part of the country. It's also one of the strongest storms ever to hit the African mainland.

The announcement that the U.S. will not extend waivers for Iran oil export sanctions beyond May 2 sent oil prices up, though President Trump and Secretary of State Mike Pompeo signaled that Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates would add supplies.

The big picture: This plan could strain production cuts Riyadh agreed to in December with OPEC, Russia and others that have buoyed prices by 37% in 2019. Saudi Arabia's broader cooperation with OPEC+ since late 2016 has provided much-needed cash to mitigate deficits, burnish sovereign assets for mortgage and fund the Crown Prince’s economic transformation plans.

Iraq is projected to be the third-largest contributor to global oil supply growth between now and 2030, adding roughly 1.3 million barrels per day if circumstances align, according to a new International Energy Agency report.

The big picture: That potential output rise would bring Iraq's total production to almost 6 million barrels per day in 2030, making it the world's 4th-largest producer.

Ford's $500 million investment in EV maker Rivian is a stark sign of how legacy automakers are looking outside their walls to find competitive advantages in the emerging market.

The big picture: It's the latest in a wave of corporate partnerships and joint ventures in the auto industry as big players seek their footing, a topic Axios explored here.

Activists wearing LED displays stating "climate emergency" glued themselves to the London Stock Exchange entrance to block access Thursday morning, on the final day of protests organized by Extinction Rebellion.

Details: London police have arrested more than 1000 protesters since the civil disobedience action began on April 15. Elsewhere in the city, demonstrators climbed on to a Docklands Light Railway train at Canary Wharf and sang songs as they displayed protest banners. Both groups of protesters were led away by police, AP reports.