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Air pollution can make insects mate with the wrong species.

Ground-level ozone, a product of pollution from cars, degrades insect pheromones, and this can result in mismatched mating and sterile offspring

11 April 2024

Pheromones help flies and other insects identify suitable mates

Silmiart/Shutterstock

Some insects may struggle to find mates of the same species because increasing levels of ozone pollution are breaking down the smells released by potential partners.

Ground-level ozone is a greenhouse gas that is formed when vehicle emissions react with other gases in the air. Levels of the pollutant increase in the summer because sunlight and warmth trigger more of these reactions.

Why chemical pollution is turning into a third great planetary crisis

Last year, Markus Knaden at the Max Planck Institute for Chemical Ecology in Germany and his colleagues found that ozone interacts with insect chemical signals called pheromones , which play a key role in mating. They found that male flies became less attractive to females as a result of elevated ozone in the air.

To follow on from that work, the team investigated if this pheromone degradation could affect flies’ ability to distinguish between different species.

The researchers chose to focus on four closely related species of fruit fly: Drosophila melanogaster, Drosophila simulans, Drosophila sechellia and Drosophila mauritiana . Males and females across these species were exposed to high levels of ozone, comparable to conditions on a hot day in a city, for 2 hours. The researchers then gave females the choice to mate with a male of either the same or a different species.

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After exposure to ozone, hybrid offspring were produced around 70 per cent of the time, while the figure was just 20 per cent in a control group that was exposed to ambient air.

The rate of mismatches was highest in D. simulans , which showed no signs of being able to tell species apart after exposure to ozone, even from visual or auditory cues.

“Hybrids are very often sterile,” says Knaden. “So flies invest a lot into their offspring, but the offspring cannot transfer their genes into future generations.”

That means rising levels of surface ozone could exacerbate the devastating decline of insects around the world, he says. “There are more than 1500 insect pheromones that have been chemically described right now, and 90 per cent of them have carbon-carbon double bonds [which can be destroyed by ozone].”

Journal reference:

Nature Communications DOI: 10.1038/s41467-024-47117-7

• air pollution

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Video Gaming Club, Teams Thrive at Sturgeon Bay

By Craig Sterrett , Peninsula Pulse – April 11th, 2024

Jacobson secures donations, award, grants to build program

Sturgeon Bay students are Door County’s pioneers in interscholastic video-gaming competition. 

Dozens of schools statewide had teams in the Wisconsin High School Esports Association (WIHSEA) by 2020, and Sturgeon Bay world geography teacher and wrestling and football coach Stephen Jacobson started the T.J. Walker Middle School’s first video game club in 2020. Currently, he has 80 students who participate at least once a week in the club.

“They play Madden , Minecraft , kind of whatever the kids want to play, as long as it’s school-appropriate,” Jacobson said.

This year the middle school club and high school team both advanced to state-finals competitions, and this spring the high school team started competing in nationwide league play – in Ultimate Rocket League, Brawlhalla, Mario Kart 8 and Rainbow Six Siege – against teams from all over the United States.

Jacobson has had great success raising funds to provide new, school-approved video-gaming opportunities for students to participate in over lunch periods or at the end of the school day. 

In March, Jacobson’s successes in and passion for setting up esports at Sturgeon Bay earned a $6,000 Herb Kohl Educational Foundation Teacher Fellowship. After a parent nominated him, he filled out documents and gave detailed answers on his teaching philosophy and programs. He is one of 100 Wisconsin teachers recognized “for their leadership and service in and outside of the classroom, their ability to inspire a love of learning and to motivate their students.”

He plans to use some of the funds to create an exhibit to take to events and to other schools and technical directors to demonstrate how to set up esports programming. That coincides with his North American Scholastic Esports Federation fellowship and efforts to create a middle-school curriculum.

Jacobson said college scholarship money has become a big draw for students. 

“Since esports is not an NCAA-sanctioned program, Division III and Division II schools can offer esports scholarships,” Jacobson said. “We try to make sure we offer the same games during our esports seasons that colleges are recruiting for because there are millions of dollars up for grabs.”

Like many teachers, he sometimes brings in materials from home, such as his Wii Bowling setup. In addition to modern games, he has conducted an in-school Super Mario Bros. 3 challenge to see who could get the farthest. He said of the old games, the students thought it was torture to play the notoriously difficult and tricky Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles .

“It makes me really sad that Wii is now considered retro,” he said. 

But the students seem to love the game, and perhaps even his stories. 

“I bring in my Wii and all of my characters from college are on there – like, ‘Yeah, that was the guy I played college football with and that was his crazy girlfriend.’”

Last summer, Jacobson successfully acquired a donation of 30 gaming chairs valued at $7,500 that he and his wife assembled before the beginning of the school year. He also won an $890 grant from the Network of Academic and Scholastic Esports Foundation and a $28,000 grant from Herb Kohl Philanthropies. He used those funds to acquire high-end PCs with the speed needed for modern games as well as monitors and controllers that fill one classroom.

While it’s mostly fun and competition, he received school board approval in 2021 for a Science, Technology, Engineering and Math elective course for game design. Students learn about game programming and how old games were created, learn about esports career clusters, do game reviews and build basic games from scratch using code.

This fall, the high school team played Super Smash Bros. in the  WIHSEA, with the varsity going 17-10 and making it to the state finals. Sturgeon Bay also fielded teams for junior varsity and underclassmen. 

One middle school team finished second in its division at a state meet.

Also, this winter, the high school team advanced to the state quarterfinals in Ultimate Rocket League . 

Sevastopol schools also are getting into gaming. Sevastopol instructor David Phillips added computers with faster processing speeds to a grant application he wrote this year. New high school English teacher Carol Schumacher ran a video game club at Cedar Grove, and expressed willingness to help Phillips start a club, intramurals and eventually a competitive team. 

Lest other coaches worry about losing athletes to the game room, Jacobson has that figured out for his own student-athletes.

“Luckily, we have several middle school and high school esports competitors who also played a traditional sport at the same time this year without incident,” he said. “Because we’ve been so flexible with our schedule, I’ve yet to have a student tell me they are quitting a traditional sport to pursue esports.”

He limits after-school esports practice times so they don’t interfere with athletics. Team rosters have alternates and substitutes ready to step up for competition, too.

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Imagine RIT: Creativity and Innovation Festival set for April 27

Nearly 400 exhibits are part of the free community event.

Scott Hamilton/RIT

Tens of thousands of visitors typically attend the Imagine RIT: Creativity and Innovation Festival, including these from last year’s event. This year’s festival is set for Saturday, April 27, on the RIT campus. The free event showcases nearly 400 varied propjects and presentations that students, faculty, and staff have worked on in the past year.

Detecting deepfakes, a device to help grocery stores like Wegmans inspect strawberries and reduce waste, electric wheelchairs that run on brainwaves, and even the economic impact of Taylor Swift are just a few of the nearly 400 exhibits at this year’s Imagine RIT: Creativity and Innovation Festival from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Saturday, April 27.

Since 2008, the campus at Rochester Institute of Technology has welcomed tens of thousands of visitors one day each spring to get a glimpse of the creativity and innovation that students, faculty, and staff have every day.

“We are so happy to once again invite the public to see what our brilliant students and faculty are doing to solve problems, create businesses, expand the boundary of possibilities, and make our world a better place,” said festival director Ann Ielapi .

Nearly 50 more exhibits are planned this year than last, with more than 2,850 students, faculty, and staff accompanying those exhibits. Some are class, senior, or capstone projects, some are demonstrations from a few of the more than 300 student clubs and organizations at RIT, and some are prime examples of the fun you can have while learning.

“Imagine RIT has opportunities for every one of all ages,” said RIT President David Munson . “This is an interactive festival. So don’t be afraid to try something and ask the exhibitors lots of questions. Let’s inspire the next generation of problem solvers by connecting young people to the wonders of science, technology, engineering, math, design, business, health sciences, the liberal arts, and the arts.”

Parking and admission are free, as is parking and shuttlebus service from Monroe Community College. Food will be available for purchase at the various RIT Dining locations during the festival, as well as from 13 food trucks on campus.

And the first 5,000 visitors will receive a free festival poster designed this year by Jessica Hall, a second-year new media design major from Kennett Square, Pa.

Visitors are urged to visit the Imagine RIT website and review the exhibit offerings in advance, find the location of each exhibit, and add them to their itinerary . More than a dozen color-coded zones will greet visitors this year, with exhibits in the Health Sciences Hub, Green Place, Technology Quarter, Computer Zone, Engineering Park, Imagination Station, Science Center, Business District, The Think Tank, Creative Corridor, Tiger Zone, RIT Central, Global Village, and Think. Make. Launch.

Returning perennial favorites such as the human hamster wheel , the concrete canoe , and a spectacular K’Nex display by the RIT Theme Park Enthusiasts (this year’s theme will explore outer space) are part of this year’s festival.

Luke Chrzan

Work is almost done on the berry analysis machine, the result of a Freshman Imaging Project, which will be shown at this year’s Imagine RIT festival on April 27. Students hope their device can be used to scan berries to monitor quality for supermarkets.

But there are always plenty of new things to see and do. A team of 15 first-year imaging science and motion picture science students are presenting its berry analysis machine , a result of the team’s Freshman Imaging Project. It is hoped their device can be used to scan berries to monitor quality. Right now, samples are inspected, cut open by hand, and go to waste even if they are fine.

“We built this in collaboration with Wegmans here in Rochester. They helped us better understand the process and how our device could be used in warehouses for more accurate fruit scaling,” said Luke Chrzan, of Middletown, N.J. “We designed it by identifying issues strawberries have and the best way to detect them in mass, via imaging.”

Many of the exhibits offer hands-on opportunities for visitors to experience themselves. A five-member team of engineers has even modified a drone that visitors can fly for the team’s senior design project.

“We want it to be a museum display to allow children to be interactive with it and get to fly it,” said Nathan Mack, a fifth-year mechanical engineering major from Spencer, N.Y. He said the museum wants to include it in its “How Things Work” exhibit and needed newer technology for the display. The team has been soldering connectors, affixing a tether, adding bumpers around the propellers, and will have it flying in a 5-foot dome for safety.

Another exhibit will allow visitors to learn more about the AI technology that can detect deepfake audio . Visitors can attempt to detect what audios are real or manufactured.

“I’ve been working on this project with a multidisciplinary team since I was in high school, made possible with a National Science Foundation grant through the University of Maryland, Baltimore County,” said Kifekachukwu Nwosu, a first-year computer science major from Ellicott City, Md. “I’m excited to put it out there. The end goal is to create algorithms to detect deepfakes. And we’re almost there.”

Colin O’Brien

Transient will allow visitors to this year’s Imagine RIT: Creativity and Innovation Festival to visualize the music they play on a keyboard.

And proving great things can come as a result of interdisciplinary talents, Transient is an interactive, musical exhibit utilizing animation, live-action video production, and modern technologies to visualize music played on a keyboard. It is the result of a radial cinema workshop class , taken by Colin O’Brien, a third-year film and animation major from Albany, Calif. He collaborated with Will Hagele, a third-year computer engineering major from Philadelphia, and Avyay Natarajan, computer science major from Dayton, N.J.

RIT’s Hospitality and Tourism Management program has turned a classroom in Max Lowenthal Hall into Echos of the Midnight Manor: An Escape Room Experiece . Groups of six will follow clues to complete a series of games, puzzles, and similar activities to eventually allow them to “escape” the room (no doors will be locked). Once completed, participants can get their pictures taken to celebrate their victory. 

Students in Matthew Vollmer ’s digital marketing, consumer behavior, and business analytic classes at Saunders College of Business are planning a Taylor Swift symposium , discussing “Swiftonomics,” or the economic impact the singer and her Swiftie fans have created.

“Taylor Swift is a popular talking point in my classes,” Vollmer said. “A lot of my students incorporated her in our group discussions.”

Visitors to the festival can make and keep their own beaded friendship bracelets, popular with Swift and her fans. Visitors can also attempt to answer Swift trivia questions, such as the economic impact of her Eras Tour. And seven students will give short presentations from their Taylor Swift research from their classes, followed by a Q&A session.

A dozen students from RIT’s international campuses are flying to Rochester to present their exhibits, including, for the first time at the festival, students from RIT China , who will have an EEG wearable headband that will translate brainwaves into a visual digital experience. Other international projects include a VR happiness generator created with AI from RIT Kosovo students; RIT Croatia students from Dubrovnik will have an interactive exhibit with scientific equipment to explore the impact of human activity in a delta’s ecosystem ; and RIT Dubai students will have a 3-foot tall AI-powered model of the Burj Khalifa skyscraper, complete with a light and sound show.

The popular Futurists Symposium with distinguished RIT alumni or faculty this year will be held at 4 p.m. Friday, April 26, to allow attendees more time to visit exhibits during the festival on Saturday. The event, in Wegmans Theater in MAGIC Spell Studios , will feature Robert Morreale, ’92 ( medical illustration) ’93 ( visual arts ); Jeyhan Kartaltepe , an astrophysicist in RIT’s School of Physics and Astronomy; Chukwuma “ChuBoi” Morah, ’09 ( industrial engineering ); and Karen E. Roth, ’06 ( software engineering ).

Among the exhibits, 34 are in the performing arts category, in various venues. One of them, “Broadway Bake Off,” is an hour-long musical theatre cabaret with the theme of food and/or competition. There will be one opening group number, eight duets, and one closing group number. The event, in the Sklarsky Glass Box Theater in the SHED , will showcase the acting, singing, and dance talent of RIT’s performing arts-oriented students.

The folks in Saunders College of Business wanted to show off their new addition this year, so they’re featuring “The World’s Largest KerPlunk Game” in its four-story atrium. The game is 33 feet tall, constructed with PCV tubing and poultry mesh, and will be filled with 50 beach balls, each labeled with company names or images such as RITchie that can award bonus points.

“I was sitting here looking at our new atrium, and thought, what can we safety drop from here?” said Senior Lecturer Rick Mislan .

Visitors at Imagine will be greeted on the main floor by students and given the chance to play actual KerPlunk games. Contestants will be invited to the third floor to pull sticks on the giant version, and until beach balls fall to the ground floor. There will be 10 prizes of the world’s smallest KerPlunk games as prizes.

His message to visitors?

“That Saunders has fun too,” Mislan said. “There will be some business tie to it about how the stock market works, but ideally we want to show that business students can have fun.”

Rochester Regional Health is this year’s premier sponsor of the festival.

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Morgan Wallen defends Taylor Swift from booing fans after joke about the singer's Eras tour

Morgan Wallen isn't accepting any Taylor Swift slander from his fans.

On Friday, the country music artist, 30, told fans while performing at the Lucas Oil Stadium for his One Night at a Time Tour that he surpassed the venue's record and quipped that it was only a matter of time before Swift beat it. The venue has a 67,000-person capacity.

"They told me right before I walked on stage that this is the single most-attended concert in the history of this building. And that we're the first people to do it two nights in a row, so thank you for making it possible for me to say that," he said in videos shared on social media .

Wallen then joked that his record is only temporary. "I'm going to say that until Taylor Swift comes to town in the fall," he said, referring to the "Lavender Haze" singer's upcoming Eras tour stop in November.

Swift's tour spanning through years of her catalogue busted several attendance records since beginning in March 2023.

Wallen's fans began to shout "boo" at the mentioned of Swift, leading the "Cowgirls" singer to intervene. "We ain't got to boo, we ain't got to boo," he said from the stage.

Country star Morgan Wallen arrested after throwing chair off rooftop for 'no legitimate purpose,' police say

Morgan Wallen arrested after throwing chair from rooftop bar

The country artist's record-breaking performance came two days before he was arrested  overnight in Nashville on felony charges after he allegedly threw a chair from a downtown rooftop for "no legitimate purpose," police said.

Wallen was booked into jail early Monday on three counts of reckless endangerment and one count of disorderly conduct in connection to the Sunday night incident, the Metro Nashville Police Department reported.

According to an arrest affidavit obtained by USA TODAY, at 10:53 p.m. local time, two police officers were standing in front of  Chief's Bar  in the city's entertainment district on Lower Broadway when they saw a chair fall from above and hit the street about three feet from them.

Morgan Wallen: Timeline of singer's rollercoaster career after his most recent arrest

In the affidavit, police wrote, the bar's staff members told officers Wallen threw the chair, and when officers reviewed video footage of incident, it showed him "lunging and throwing an object off the roof."

Chief's Bar, owned by country music singer Eric Church,  is a six-story building .

Davidson County Sheriff's Office online records show Wallen was booked into jail at 12:36 a.m. local time and released from jail around 3:30 a.m. A court official told USA TODAY Wallen posted a $15,250 bond.

In a statement issued to USA TODAY through his representatives, Wallen's lawyer, Worrick Robinson, confirmed knowledge of the arrest and wrote Wallen is "cooperating fully with authorities."

Online court records show Wallen is due in court next month for a settlement hearing on the charge.

Contributing: Natalie Alund

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NFL Draft 2024 rankings: 10 best offensive tackles available in class

Let’s rank the best offensive tackles in the 2024 NFL Draft.

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The 2024 NFL Draft arguably features the deepest group of offensive tackle prospects in recent memory. NFL teams searching for solutions at left and right tackle are overjoyed with the amount of instant contributors available all throughout the draft. Upwards of six-plus tackles are expected to be drafted within the opening 32 selections.

SB Nation polled several of its draft analysts to determine the consensus top-ranked offensive tackles. We identified the top-10 prospects by combining the consensus vote. They are as follows:

10. Patrick Paul, Houston

Paul combines 97th percentile arm length (36 ¼”) with a 96th percentile wingspan (84 ¼”). Paul also possesses 91st percentile height (6-7 ½”) and 87th percentile weight (331). You don’t think a general manager is betting on those traits with a top-75 selection? Paul must become more efficient with his footwork, but his size and athletic profile screams moldable traits.

9. Kingsley Suamataia, BYU

BYU continuously churns out athletic offensive tackles and Suamataia is next in line. Suamataia also possesses the length, size, and power to play both left and right tackle. NFL offensive coordinators will appreciate how Suamataia blends athleticism with an aggressive approach to displace defenders in the run game.

8. Jordan Morgan, Arizona

Morgan isn’t the biggest or longest tackle in the class, but he’s among the most experienced and technically sound. Morgan started 37 career games for the Wildcats and faced a slew of high-end pass rushers this season including UCLA’s Laiatu Latu. Morgan pairs strength with enough foot quickness to thrive on an island at the next level.

7. Graham Barton, Duke

Barton is almost certain to kick inside to guard or center in the NFL. Much like Peter Skoronski last season, Barton primarily played tackle at Duke, but his 29th-percentile arm length (32 ⅞”) appears prohibitive to his chances of playing tackle at the next level despite him totaling 2,134 snaps on the blind side for the Blue Devils across the previous three campaigns. Perhaps Barton’s NFL club gives him an opportunity to prove he can continue playing tackle, but the Brentwood, Tennessee, native has been preparing to make a successful positional switch.

6. Tyler Guyton, Oklahoma

Guyton is another high-upside prospect that possesses raw technical traits. Hand placement and punch timing needs to improve, but Guyton is a 6-foot-7, 322-pound blocker with rare size, measurements, and athleticism. Guyton’s athletic profile was evident at the NFL Combine, where he leaped a 34.5-inch vertical. If Guyton lands with the right offensive line coach that’s capable of coaching him through his inconsistencies, the sky’s the limit.

5. Taliese Fuaga, Oregon St.

Fuaga placed third on one ballot, but as low as nine on another. No offensive tackle prospect had a broader range of votes. There’s been some discussion of Fuaga sliding to guard at the professional ranks, and his 33-inch arms (15th percentile) only enhanced those conversations. On tape, Fuaga is a physical blocker with a nasty demeanor that aims to punish opposing defenders as a high-upside run blocker.

4. Amarius Mims, Georgia

Mims arguably possesses the highest ceiling of any tackle prospect in the 2024 NFL Draft. Mims has never played more than 385 snaps in a single season, and that number was actually 297 in 2023. The sample size is significantly smaller than desired, but Mims is a near 6-foot-8, 340-pound monster with a dreamy wingspan (86 ¾”) and length (36 ⅛”). Mims then leaped a 9-foot-3 broad at the NFL Combine. Mims checks the physical boxes teams covet in a franchise blocker.

3. JC Latham, Alabama

Our clear third-place vote-winner, Latham projects as an instant starter at right tackle. Latham’s decision to skip workouts at the NFL Combine and Pro Day raised some eyebrows over his athletic profile, but the tape paints a clear picture. Latham is a dominant mauler with 82nd-percentile or better measurements in weight (342), wingspan (84 ⅜”), arm length (35 ⅛”), and hand size (11 inches). Latham’s unteachables will endear themselves to NFL general managers.

2. Olumuyiwa Fashanu, Penn State

Only two tackle prospects received first and second-place votes. Fashanu earned one vote at the top of one ballot and the rest of the second-place votes. Fashanu began the 2023 college football campaign in a perceived race with Alt for OT1 bragging rights. Some technical (but fixable) warts popped on Fashanu’s tape this past campaign, but the Nittany Lions standout possesses rare movement skills, proven by his 5.11 40-yard dash and 32-inch vertical at the NFL Combine. Fashanu is a top-15 pick.

1. Joe Alt, Notre Dame

Alt was our near-unanimous top player, with just a single second-place vote on the ledger. It’s understandable why. Alt is the most complete offensive tackle prospect in the 2024 NFL Draft. Alt possesses the strength, physical build, and athleticism required to develop into an annual Pro Bowl and All-Pro selection as an elite blindside protector. Alt is plug-and-play at left tackle. His basement is the No. 7 overall pick, which is owned by the tackle-needy Tennessee Titans.

Next Up In NFL

• Colts legend, Peyton Manning, receives extension for ManningCast
• How to draft the next Peyton Manning?
• Johnny Newton is 2024 NFL Draft defensive tackle every team should want
• Can Aaron Donald’s retirement help the Rams in any way?
• NFL Draft 2024 rumors: Vikings love ‘multiple’ QBs while the Giants are ‘desperate’ for one
• Patriots draft profile: Joe Alt looks like he’s been built in a left tackle factory

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President Milei of cash-strapped Argentina starts another US tour, plans to meet Elon Musk

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BUENOS AIRES, Argentina (AP) — President Javier Milei of Argentina kicked off a visit Wednesday to the United States, where he’ll meet with tech billionaire Elon Musk , as his government seeks an infusion of cash to overhaul Argentina’s embattled economy.

The populist president started his four-day trip in Miami, which hosts one of the largest Argentine population in the US, and home to soccer superstar Lionel Messi . In an event closed to the press, a Miami chapter of the Hasidic group Chabad-Lubavitch honored the president and Karina Milei, his sister and presidential adviser, at a local synagogue for their “tireless efforts for Israel.”

Milei will meet with Musk on Friday in Texas, the president’s spokesperson said, where he will also tour a factory for Tesla, Musk’s electric car company .

Milei’s third trip to the U.S. in merely four months as president comes as he reshapes Argentine foreign policy in line with Washington. Standing beside Gen. Laura Richardson, head of the U.S. Southern Command, at the southernmost tip of South America last week, Milei vowed to boost the nations’ “strategic alliance” — he sees U.S. support as vital to the economic overhaul on which he has staked his presidency .

“We took advantage to present a new foreign doctrine for Argentina,” Milei wrote Wednesday on social media platform X of his meeting with Richardson. In the same post, apparently directed at Musk — a self-declared free speech absolutist — Milei said he promoted “true freedom of expression” and slammed journalists critical of his administration as trying to “stop us from speaking.”

“We are not going to remain silent in the face of slander, insult or defamation,” he wrote.

Milei’s plan to slash spending has encountered resistance in a nation where annual inflation tops 276%. On Wednesday, police forcibly dispersed anti-government protestors blocking a main Buenos Aires artery.

The United States, the biggest investor in Argentina, also has the most influence over the International Monetary Fund, to which Argentina owes $42 billion. The IMF has endorsed Milei’s shock therapy for Argentina, agreeing to disburse $4.7 billion from a bailout package the country took out six years ago.

The State Department’s investment climate statement last year noted “capital controls, trade restrictions, and price controls” hampered investors in Argentina. Milei has vowed to roll back interventionist policies with market-oriented changes favored by business executives, like Musk, one of the world’s richest men who leads rocket company SpaceX, car company Tesla and took over Twitter in 2022.

Milei and Musk — who share a brash personality-driven style and distaste for government overreach — have expressed mutual admiration. Ahead of his inauguration last December, Milei praised Musk as an “icon of freedom.” Musk gushed over Milei’s speech lambasting socialism at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland , commenting “So hot” with a meme of a couple having sex while watching Milei speak.

That’s in sharp contrast to Musk’s clash with Brazilian authorities, who threatened to regulate social media sites and accused Musk of obstruction this week.

With its vast mineral reserves , Argentina has much to offer Musk, a dominant player in the auto industry who has referred to lithium — indispensable for electric car batteries — as “the new oil.”

Milei’s free-market policies have raised hopes in the U.S. that the metal and other badly needed raw materials like lithium can be extracted closer to home, breaking China’s dominance of the battery supply chain. The Biden administration said it was exploring investment opportunities in Argentine lithium earlier this year.

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Italy opens new slander trial against Amanda Knox. She was exonerated 9 years ago in friend’s murder

FLORENCE, Italy (AP) — Amanda Knox was back on trial for slander Wednesday for wrongly accusing a Congolese man of murdering her roommate while the young women were exchange students in Italy. Knox herself was convicted of the slaying before being exonerated in a case that grabbed the global spotlight.

Knox was a 20-year-old student with rudimentary Italian who had recently arrived in Perugia, when she endured a long night of questioning in the murder of Meredith Kercher. She ended up accusing the owner of a bar where she worked part-time of killing the 21-year-old British student.

In 2016, the European Court of Human Rights ruled that the interrogation violated her rights because she was questioned without a lawyer or official translator.

In November, Italy’s highest Cassation Court threw out the slander conviction — the only remaining guilty verdict against Knox after the same court definitively threw out convictions for Kercher’s murder against Knox and her Italian ex-boyfriend, Raffaele Sollecito, nine years ago.

That conviction, which endured multiple trials and appeals, has remained a legal stain against her, especially in Italy, as she pursues a new life in the United States campaigning for judicial reform.

Another man was convicted in Kercher’s 2007 murder.

Knox, now 36, did not appear in Wednesday’s hearing in Florence, and is being tried in absentia. She remains in the United States, where she campaigns for social justice and has a variety of media projects including a podcast and a limited series on her case in development with Hulu.

Knox’s accusation against bar owner Patrick Lumumba appeared in statements typed by police that she signed, but which have been ruled inadmissible in the new trial by Italy’s highest court.

She recanted the accusation in a four-page handwritten note in English penned the following afternoon — the only evidence the court can rule on.

However, a lawyer for Lumumba, Carlo Pacelli, argued to readmit the disallowed documents as reference since Knox referred to them multiple times in her written statement. Lumumba, who is participating in the prosecution as permitted by Italian law, also did not attend the trial.

Court recessed after nearly four hours of arguments and will reconvene June 5 for rebuttals and a decision. The case is being heard by two professional judges and eight civilian jurors.

Despite Knox’s attempts at walking back the accusation, Lumumba was picked up for questioning and held for nearly two weeks.

The slander conviction carried a three-year sentence, which Knox served during nearly four years of detention until a Perugia appeals court found her and Sollecito not guilty. After six years of flip-flop verdicts, Knox was definitively exonerated by Italy’s highest court of the murder in 2015.

Kercher’s body was found with the throat slit on Nov. 2, 2007, in her locked bedroom in an apartment she shared with Knox and two other roommates.

Rudy Guede, whose DNA and footprints were found at the scene, was convicted of the murder and sentenced to 16 years in prison. He was released after serving 13 years, and is currently being investigated for allegedly physically and sexually assaulting a former girlfriend since being freed.

Copyright 2024 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.

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