International

Musk to testify at trial over his $50 bn Tesla compensation

Photo: Hoy Dinero

| By AFP | Juliette Michel |

Tesla tycoon Elon Musk will take the stand on Wednesday as part of a trial over his $50 billion pay package as CEO of the electric car giant.

Musk will testify in the same Delaware court where he faced a lawsuit by Twitter to make sure he went through with his buyout of the social platform.

The $44 billion purchase of Twitter has put Musk under a deluge of scrutiny after he conducted massive layoffs, scared advertisers and opened the platform to fake accounts.

The unrelated Tesla case is based on a complaint by shareholder Richard Tornetta, who accused Musk and the company’s board of directors of failing in their duties when they authorized the pay plan.

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Tornetta alleges that Musk dictated his terms to directors who were not sufficiently independent from their star CEO to object to a package worth around $51 billion at recent share prices.

The Tesla shareholder accuses Musk of “unjustified enrichment” and asked for the annulment of a pay program that helped make the entrepreneur the richest man in the world.

According to a legal filing, Musk earned the equivalent of $52.4 billion in Tesla stock options over four and a half years after virtually all of the company’s targets were met.

When the plan was adopted it was valued at a total of $56 billion.

The non-jury trial began Monday with testimony from Ira Ehrenpreis, head of the compensation committee on Tesla’s board of directors, who said the targets set were “extraordinarily ambitious and difficult”.

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Ehrenpreis argued that the board wanted to spur Musk to focus on Tesla at a time when the company was still struggling to gain traction.

‘Highly unusual’

The trial will run through Friday and is being presided over by Judge Kathaleen McCormick, the same judge who was to preside over the Twitter case.

There is no deadline for her decision which could take months.

It’s “highly unusual” for this kind of case to be brought to trial, Jill Fisch, Law professor at the University of Pennsylvania, told AFP.

“There aren’t all that many successful challenges to executive compensation (as) the courts have typically treated this as a business decision,” she added.

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But the court found in this case that Musk’s ownership of about 22 percent of Tesla and his role as CEO “could have an undue impact” on the board and other shareholders, she noted.

Musk canceled an in-person appearance on Sunday at an event on the sidelines of the G20 in Bali to be in court.

Asked why he had not traveled to the tropical Indonesian island, the new Twitter boss joked that his “workload has recently increased quite a lot” after his takeover of the social media giant.

International

Spain’s irregular migrant population rises to 840,000, study finds

The number of migrants living in Spain without legal residency status continues to rise and has reached 840,000 people, with 91% originating from the Americas, particularly Colombia, Peru and Honduras, according to a report by the Spanish think tank Funcas (Foundation of the Savings Banks).

An estimated 17.2% of the non-EU foreign population living in Spain is in an irregular administrative situation. The estimate is based on the gap between the number of foreign residents effectively living in Spain, according to the National Statistics Institute (INE), and those who hold a residence permit, benefit from international protection, or are in the process of obtaining it.

The data, as of January 1, 2025, point to a notable and sustained increase in irregular migration since 2017, when the estimated figure stood at around 107,000 people, representing 4.2% of the non-EU population residing in Spain.

By origin, migrants from the American continent stand out, totaling around 760,000 people, or 91% of all irregular migrants. Colombians account for nearly 290,000, followed by Peruvians with almost 110,000, and Hondurans with about 90,000. Migrants from Africa (50,000), Asia (15,000) and Europe (14,000) trail far behind.

The figures predate Spain’s latest immigration regulation reform, which came into force in May 2025 and introduces measures to ease access to legal status through residency ties. According to Funcas, the reform would, in principle, tend to reduce the number of migrants in an irregular situation.

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International

Historic snowstorm paralyzes Toronto after 60 centimeters of snow

Toronto, Canada’s largest city and the fourth most populous in North America, was largely paralyzed on Monday after a historic snowstorm dumped up to 60 centimeters of snow and sent temperatures plunging to -15 degrees Celsius, authorities said.

Late Sunday, as the scale of the snowfall became clear, city officials declared a climate emergency, triggering extraordinary measures including parking bans on several major streets to facilitate snow removal operations.

Toronto’s public transit authority reported that while some buses remain immobilized, subway and streetcar services are operating with relative normality, though localized disruptions may occur.

A similar situation is affecting the city’s commuter rail network, which remains operational but is experiencing significant delays on its main routes due to the severe weather conditions.

International

Venezuela frees at least 80 political prisoners, NGO says

At least 80 political prisoners were released on Sunday across Venezuela, human rights group Foro Penal reported, as the broader process of detainee releases continues at a slow pace under the interim government.

Foro Penal’s director, Alfredo Romero, wrote on social media platform X that verified releases took place nationwide and that the figure could rise as more confirmations are completed.

Attorney Gonzalo Himiob, also from Foro Penal, said the excarcelations occurred during the early hours of the day and emphasized that the number is not yet final pending further verification.

The releases are part of a series of steps announced by Venezuela’s interim leader, Delcy Rodríguez, who took power after the capture of former President Nicolás Maduro in a U.S. military operation on Jan. 3, 2026. Rodríguez has pledged a significant number of liberations but has been criticized by opposition groups and rights organizations for the slow and nontransparent nature of the process.

So far, the Venezuelan government reports that 626 detainees have been freed since December, though independent counts by human rights groups suggest the number of actual political prisoner releases is lower and that many remain behind bars.

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Families of those still detained have maintained vigils outside prisons, hopeful for further releases even as broader concerns about political imprisonment and due process persist.