Por Sylvie Zhuang, CNN

China sigue comprometida con la próxima reunión entre su líder Xi Jinping y el presidente de Estados Unidos, Donald Trump, independientemente de la situación en Medio Oriente, y observa con cautela el conflicto de meses de su adversario con Irán, considerándolo como un factor que podría haber fortalecido su posición negociadora, según fuentes chinas familiarizadas con el asunto.

El raro encuentro en persona, ya pospuesto una vez debido a la guerra entre Estados Unidos, Israel e Irán, está ahora programado para los días 14 y 15 de mayo, según la Casa Blanca. Varias fuentes indican que Beijing ve la cumbre de alto riesgo como una oportunidad única para asegurar una relación a largo plazo más estable con su mayor competidor económico y militar.

Pero a pesar de la ventaja percibida, las fuentes señalaron que Beijing sigue siendo extremadamente cauteloso, con opiniones divididas entre los funcionarios gubernamentales sobre cómo manejar las múltiples complicaciones desatadas por el conflicto, no menos importante la posibilidad de que el estrecho de Ormuz —por donde China importa aproximadamente un tercio de su petróleo y gas— permanezca cerrado cuando Trump llegue a la capital china.

La visita de Trump “no es igual que cualquier otra visita de jefes de Estado”, dijo una fuente china bajo condición de anonimato debido a la sensibilidad del asunto. “El mandato de Trump probablemente tendrá un impacto duradero en el orden mundial y ya ha alterado fundamentalmente cómo Estados Unidos ve sus propios intereses.”

“Si su visita tiene éxito o no tendrá un impacto a largo plazo en los futuros acuerdos entre China y Estados Unidos, independientemente de si los demócratas o los republicanos llegan al poder”, añadió la fuente.

La visita originalmente estaba destinada a centrarse en confirmar acuerdos cruciales entre ambas partes en una variedad de sectores clave, pero la crisis en Irán ha “perturbado seriamente” la planificación y expectativas generales de China, dijo Cui Hongjian, exdiplomático y académico de asuntos internacionales en la Universidad de Estudios Extranjeros de Beijing.

“La política exterior de China tiene un punto de partida básico: las relaciones China-EE.UU. son la máxima prioridad. Una vez que las relaciones China-EE.UU. son estables, eso a su vez puede ayudar a estabilizar e incluso mejorar las relaciones de China con otros países”, dijo Cui a CNN.

La repentina incorporación de Irán, un socio cercano de Beijing, al centro de las relaciones entre Estados Unidos y China ha hecho que las cosas sean “difíciles para la parte china”, dijo Cui.

Beijing aún no ha confirmado oficialmente la fecha de la cumbre, pero con la reunión prevista a menos de dos semanas, la perspectiva de un acuerdo de paz entre Estados Unidos e Irán sigue siendo lejana, y la reanudación de los combates es una posibilidad real. Ninguno de los dos escenarios está exento de riesgos para China, según una segunda fuente china que habló bajo condición de anonimato.

“Por supuesto, Trump querría visitar China después de haber terminado con Irán, para poder proyectar poder… pero si atacara a Irán después de visitar China, parecería como si China hubiera abandonado a Irán”, dijo la fuente.

“Trump es muy astuto; no apunta directamente a China, pero primero dejó fuera de juego a Venezuela y luego fue tras Irán, esencialmente recortando las alas de China en estas regiones”, añadió la fuente.

Pero la guerra con Irán no ha salido según lo planeado para Estados Unidos. En lugar de demostrar el poder estadounidense, el conflicto ha arrastrado a Estados Unidos a una confrontación profundamente impopular y aparentemente intratable, con consecuencias económicas globales cada vez mayores.

“Trump ahora querría pasar página con Irán lo más rápido posible”, dijo Wu Xinbo, miembro del Comité Asesor de Política Exterior del Ministerio de Rel

SOLVANG, Calif. (KEYT) A Danish artist's work of art had a birthday. 

Thomas Dambo's troll Lulu Hyddelig turned one on Sunday

She is the first of his trolls to be indoors and permanent.

Lulu is located inside the California Nature Art Museum on Mission Dr. in Solvang.

That is where they held a birthday party with visitors.

The post Lulu Hyddelig celebrates cozy Birthday appeared first on News Channel 3-12.

RIVERSIDE, Calif. (KEYT) - The Santa Barbara City College Baseball team punched their ticket to the 3C2A Super Regionals by winning the Riverside Regional on Sunday, beating San Diego Mesa 15-6 in a winner-take-all final game.

Similar to Friday's win, the Vaqueros took advantage of Mesa's freebies in a seven-run fifth inning to blow the game open. Max Collins pitched seven relief innings to earn the win.

To get here, the Vaqueros came back to beat the hosts, Riverside, 8-7 after trailing 7-3 in the first game on Saturday. That ended Riverside's season and, still unbeaten, allowed the Vaqueros two chances to beat Mesa to advance. Mesa won 11-4 on Saturday afternoon to trigger the "if necessary" Sunday game.

Opener Cooper Tinkey started the game with two quick outs. However, three walks and two singles followed, allowing two runs to score and forcing Collins to enter earlier than expected—and with the bases loaded. He got the first batter he faced to fly out, ending the threat.

Western State Conference (WSC) North Player of the Year William Matuszak immediately answered in the bottom half with a leadoff homer. Later in the inning, Bradley Cekada's two-strike, two-out RBI single tied the game at 2-2.

The next three innings went scoreless. The Vaqueros broke the tie in the fifth with a massive seven runs, though, taking a 9-2 lead. Somehow, they did it with only two hits in the inning—one of which being a bunt. Five walks, two sacrifice flies, two stolen bases, two wild pitches, an error, and a hit-by-pitch did most of the damage to tilt the game heavily in Santa Barbara's favor.

Mesa got a run in the top of the sixth, but the Vaqueros countered with four more. Cole Ide's two-run double, a balk, and Elijah Garcia's RBI single made it 13-3 Santa Barbara.

The result all but clinched, Mesa scored in the seventh with a solo homer. Another RBI hit from Ide and Sean Asperger's single scored two for the Vaqueros, who now led 15-4.

Two more consolation runs for Mesa eventually chased Collins in the eighth, who scattered seven hits and allowed just one walk and four unimportant runs. Drew Cappel got the final four outs to solidify the 15-6 win, sending Santa Barbara to the Super Regionals.

Perhaps the most emblematic stat of the game is that all four of Mesa's errors directly contributed to Vaquero runs. The Vaqueros did not commit an error on the day.

Cekada led the team with three of their 13 hits and three RBIs. Ide had two hits, two walks, three RBIs, and scored three runs. Matuszak had two hits (including the leadoff homer), three walks, and a stolen base.

The Vaqueros set themselves up for an eye-catching all-WSC North Super Regional matchup at Hancock, who won three close games over Cuesta and Grossmont to win their Regional. The top two teams in the conference, Hancock finished two games above Santa Barbara to end the latter's streak of three consecutive conference championships. After splitting the four games between them in the regular season, they will begin their playoff series on Thursday at 2 p.m. Game two is scheduled for Friday at 1 p.m. and, if necessary, a winner-take-all game three would be on Saturday.

(Article courtesy of SBCC Athletics)

The post SBCC Baseball wins

IRVINE, Calif. (KEYT) - Tied 6-6 in the ninth inning, Cal Poly took advantage of three UC Irvine errors for a pair of unearned runs and defeated the Anteaters 8-6 in the rubber game of their Big West baseball series Sunday afternoon on Cicerone Field at Anteater Ballpark.

The three miscues all occurred in the infield and allowed pinch runner Antonio Castro and left fielder Dante Vachini to score the go-ahead runs for the Mustangs, who maintained their one-game lead over UC Santa Barbara in the conference standings.

The win, head coach Larry Lee's 1,200th in 40 seasons of coaching, 740 victories in 24 years at Cal Poly and 460 in 16 campaigns at nearby Cuesta College, elevated the Mustangs' overall mark to 27-19, the first time Cal Poly has been eight games above the .500 mark this season.

The Mustangs are 17-7 in Big West games, one game ahead of UC Santa Barbara (16-8), a 19-9 winner at Cal State Bakersfield on Sunday for a series sweep. UC San Diego (14-10) remains in third place after the Tritons were swept at Long Beach State and Cal State Fullerton, swept at home by UC Davis, fell into fourth place at 13-11. Hawai'i (12-11) could move into a tie with the Titans with a win over UC Riverside as the Rainbow Warriors moved into the final qualifying spot for the May 20-24 Big West Tournament.

Cal Poly bounced back from an 11-4 loss Friday with 11-2 and 8-6 triumphs to claim its seventh Big West series in eight tries this season.

"My message after Friday’s loss was it is just one game," said Lee. "Learn from what you did and what you didn’t do well. Win on Saturday and your odds are in your favor for Sunday."

Cal Poly jumped to a 3-0 lead in the top of the second inning on a three-run home run to right field by Vachini, his second of the year. The advantage was short-lived, however, as designated hitter Rowan Felsch duplicated Vachini's feat in the bottom of the second. It was Felsch, a .148 hitter entering the series, who also homered to drive in three runs and shatter a 4-4 tie in the sixth inning Friday night.

Right fielder Dylan Kordic smashed his seventh home run of the year, a solo blast to left-center field, in the third for a 4-3 Mustang lead. All seven home runs by Kordic have come in the last six weeks.

UC Irvine took its first lead with two runs in the fourth on a Cal Poly throwing error and a sacrifice fly before the Mustangs tied the game up at 5-5 in the sixth. Catcher Ryan Tayman was hit by a pitch with one out and scored on Casey Murray Jr.'s RBI double to right-center field.

Both teams scored a run in the seventh to keep the game tied at 6-6. Shortstop Nate Castellon belted his fifth home run of the year down the left-field line in the top of the frame while UC Irvine scored on a walk, sacrifice bunt and two singles, Efren Ortega collecting the RBI.

In the Mustang ninth, designated hitter Cam Hoiland reached on a throwing error with one out. Vachini singled to right field and first baseman Gavin Spiridonoff loaded the bases as his grounder to second base was mishandled for another Anteater error.

Castellon's grounder to third was misplayed for the third UC Irvine error of the inni

BAKERSFIELD, Calif. (KEYT) - After grinding out a narrow win on Saturday night, the UC Santa Barbara Baseball team (30-15, 16-8 Big West) made sure there was no doubt about Sunday's result, pouring on 14 runs over the final five innings at Cal State Bakersfield (20-28, 9-15 Big West) to run away with a 19-9 victory and a series sweep.

The Gauchos' 19 runs are a season high and the most they have scored in one game since hanging 20 on UC Riverside in May of 2024. Their seven doubles are also a season high and the most since 2024, when Santa Barbara tallied eight two-baggers in a March meeting with Cal Poly. Five different Gauchos had multi-hit games, all of them tallying three or more, but the three hottest bats belonged to Noah Karliner, Corey Nunez and Rowan Kelly, each of whom matched or exceeded their career-best hit totals. The three of them are the first Santa Barbara trio to all have four or more hits in the same game in the Andrew Checketts era.

Nunez's four matched his career best, Kelly set a new high-water mark in his young career with four more, while Karliner smacked five to beat his previous career best. The slugging right fielder finished a triple shy of the cycle and drove in seven runs, also a career high for him. The last Gaucho to tally seven RBIs in one game was their previous slugger, Jack Holman, who did it against the Roadrunners last May.

HOW IT HAPPENED
The game did not start as a rout, at least not one in the Gauchos' favor. The Roadrunners got out of the top of the first unscathed for the first time all weekend, then hung four runs on the board in the bottom of the inning. Instead, the game started as a back-and-forth slugfest, as Santa Barbara answered with a three-run second inning. With runners on the corners and two outs, Cade Goldstein's decoy steal of second drew a throw which allowed William Vasseur to steal home, with Goldstein safely taking second on the play. That not only got the Gauchos on the board but also extended the inning for Karliner, who drove his third home run of the week out to straightaway center field, bringing Santa Barbara back within one.

After Nathan Aceves took over on the mound in the second and delivered a perfect inning, the Gauchos took their first lead of the afternoon in the third, with doubles from Nate Vargas and Kelly tying the game, then Vasseur's single plating Kelly to put Santa Barbara in front. That lead lasted just one out into the bottom of the third before a double tied the game for Bakersfield then another gave the hosts the lead back.

The Gauchos struck the next blow, in the top of the fifth, with three two-out walks loading the bases for Karliner, who just missed his second home run of the game and had to settle for a three-RBI double off the top of the right-field wall, giving Santa Barbara an 8-6 lead. This time, the Gauchos held their advantage. Nunez led off the top of the sixth with a double and scored on Kelly's second two-bagger of the day, then Nick Husovsky's single into center field brought home Kelly and put Santa Barbara into double digits. Goldstein smacked the third double of the inning to right center, and Husovsky came home with Santa Barbara's 11th run.

Bakersfield responded with two runs of their own in the bottom of t