Análisis por Brad Lendon, reportero sénior de asuntos militares globales de CNN

El bloqueo estadounidense de los puertos iraníes se ha “implementado por completo” y ha paralizado la mayor parte de la actividad económica de Teherán en tan solo un día y medio, declaró el miércoles el jefe del Comando Central de Estados Unidos.

“Se estima que el 90 % de la economía de Irán se basa en el comercio marítimo internacional. En menos de 36 horas desde que se implementó el bloqueo, las fuerzas estadounidenses han paralizado por completo todo el comercio económico que entra y sale de Irán por vía marítima”, afirmó el almirante Brad Cooper en un comunicado en las redes sociales.

El Comando Central de Estados Unidos (CENTCOM) declaró anteriormente que ningún buque ha violado el bloqueo desde su implementación.

Al mismo tiempo, están surgiendo informes sobre cierto tráfico comercial por el estrecho de Ormuz, el punto estratégico de paso entre Irán y Omán por donde transita el 20 % de las exportaciones mundiales de petróleo y el 80 % de los envíos de crudo de Irán.

Pero ese tráfico comercial no invalida automáticamente la afirmación de Cooper.

Dos puntos clave:

1. Según lo indicado por el CENTCOM, el bloqueo abarca todos los puertos iraníes, tanto dentro como fuera del estrecho de Ormuz, pero no el estrecho en sí. El tráfico no relacionado con Irán puede cruzarlo. Bloquear una vía marítima internacional es ilegal según el derecho marítimo.
2. Al hacer cumplir el bloqueo, las fuerzas estadounidenses pueden interceptar buques que transportan carga vinculada a Irán a decenas de miles de kilómetros de distancia. Un barco mercante puede ser objeto de ataques en aguas internacionales mucho después de haber abandonado el estrecho.

Según los analistas, la tecnología moderna permite hacer cumplir los bloqueos a grandes distancias.

“Estados Unidos no tiene por qué desplegar barcos en el Golfo Pérsico para bloquear a Irán”, declaró Carl Schuster, excapitán de la Armada estadounidense.

Señaló que los más de 12 buques que, según el CENTCOM, están desplegados para el bloqueo, la mayoría, si no todos, se encuentran fuera del estrecho. Pueden transportar sofisticados equipos de seguimiento y reconocimiento conectados a sistemas aéreos y espaciales.

Y, al menos durante los primeros días de este bloqueo, los petroleros no van a llegar muy lejos. Un tanquero completamente cargado puede viajar a menos de 32 km/h. Eso no es mucho más rápido que la velocidad de un ciclista promedio.

La Armada de Estados Unidos también tiene el tamaño y el alcance necesarios para perseguir durante semanas, en cualquier parte del mundo, a cualquier barco que salga del Golfo Pérsico.

“El bloqueo estadounidense a los puertos iraníes no tiene un límite geográfico definido, y Estados Unidos puede interceptar buques prácticamente en cualquier lugar de aguas internacionales hasta que lleguen a su puerto final”, declaró el martes el Instituto para el Estudio de la Guerra (ISW).

A principios de este año, mientras Washington presionaba al régimen de Nicolás Maduro en Venezuela, las fuerzas estadounidenses incautaron un petrolero venezolano en el Océano Índico, a miles de kilómetros de su puerto de origen.

“Hay que tener cuidado de no interpretar (el bloqueo) demasiado literalmente como una prohibición física del estrecho en sí”, indicó Bjorn Hojgaard, director ejecutivo de la empresa de gestión de buques Anglo-Eastern.

El ISW también señaló que Estados Unidos concedió excepciones a su bloqueo para los envíos humanitarios y permitió un “período de gracia” indeterminado para que los barcos neutrales en puertos iraníes pudieran salir.

Según un comunicado del CENTCOM publicado el martes, seis barcos que posiblemente intentaban burlar el bloqueo fueron interceptados y obligados a dar la vuelta por orden de las fuerzas estadouni

CNN, KSHB, KMBC, WLUK, WPBN, KCNC, X , @KANSASHOOPS, SUAMICO FIRE DEPARTMENT, TONI WILSON-MANN, X / @kansashoops

By Meteorologists Briana Waxman, Dakota Smith

(CNN) — Tornadoes and baseball-sized hail tore through parts of Wisconsin and Iowa on Tuesday evening, leaving behind damaged buildings and at least one home destroyed.

The severe weather is part of a multi-day outbreak that began Monday and will continue through the end of the week from the southern Plains to the Upper Midwest and Great Lakes region. Similar areas remain at risk Wednesday, with threats for large hail, damaging winds and additional tornadoes stretching from Dallas to Chicago.

Power outages were creeping up Wednesday morning, with more than 62,000 reported in Michigan and more than 20,000 in Wisconsin, according to PowerOutage.us.

Flooding is also a serious concern in parts of the Great Lakes, where rivers are already running high and some dams in Wisconsin are at risk of failing.

Tornado damage reported

A nasty storm prompted a “particularly dangerous situation” tornado warning Tuesday as a destructive twister struck near Union Center, Wisconsin. Juneau County Emergency Management said multiple structures were damaged and power lines were down, but no injuries or deaths were reported. Damage assessments will continue into the morning, while the Salvation Army and Red Cross assist displaced residents.

Tornado warnings were issued for millions in Milwaukee and Madison, Wisconsin; Detroit and Ann Arbor, Michigan; and Fayetteville, Arkansas Tuesday night into early Wednesday. Students and staff at the University of Michigan and University of Arkansas were advised to take shelter.

Powerful severe thunderstorms also moved through Chicago and Grand Rapids, Michigan, where an 80 mph wind gust was observed at the airport.

Softball-sized hail fell near Maple Bluff, Wisconsin. Stones this large are capable of seriously injuring people, totaling vehicles and puncturing roofs.

More than a dozen tornadoes were reported Monday across parts of Kansas, Iowa, Minnesota and Wisconsin, including a damaging EF2 in Miami County, Kansas. The storm damaged about 100 structures — roughly 50 to 60 of them completely — with much of the impact centered around Hillsdale, according to Miami County Undersheriff Matthew Kelly.

Dangerous severe storm threat continues through late week

Wednesday is expected to bring yet another round of strong storms, but wind damage and hail, rather than tornadoes, appear to be the biggest concerns in most areas. Far northern Texas, Oklahoma and southeast Kansas have the highest chance at seeing severe storms that are more impactful, but the risk zone extends as far north as the Upper Mississippi Valley and as far east as Central Pennsylvania.

The storm threat is lower and less widespread on Thursday, contained to a smaller area across the Ohio River Valley.

One more surge of jet stream energy will fire up a final round of potent thunderstorms on Friday, especially from Oklahoma to Iowa. Strong tornadoes and destructive hail and winds are all on the table.

This system could produce one final burst of severe storms on Saturday in the southern Great Lakes and Ohio Valley. The storm-weary central US will then finally get a multi-day breather starting Sunday because a weather pattern change will usher in cool

By John Liu, CNN

(CNN) — Four months ago, a dozen academics and researchers from China’s top oil and gas producers issued a warning buried in an academic journal: the nation’s quest for self-sufficiency had a critical weak spot.

The threat they identified was helium, a colorless, odorless gas with a wide range of uses, from regulating temperatures during semiconductor manufacturing to cooling medical scanning devices, testing for leaks in pipelines, and pressurizing space rocket fuel tanks.

The problem was that over 83 percent of the country’s supply came from outside China.

“Because these supply sources are highly vulnerable to geopolitical shifts, the security of the nation’s supply chain now faces a severe challenge,” they wrote last December.

Fast forward to today and those fears have materialized with dizzying speed as a historic oil and gas crisis sparked by the US and Israel’s war with Iran grips the world.

China is now facing what some analysts have described as the worst helium shock in decades with prices doubling and supplies dwindling.

A prolonged disruption, analysts warned, could lead to chip factory shutdowns and delays for life-saving medical imaging, triggering cascading effects across the broader economy that relies on semiconductors, from electronics to vehicles.

China’s helium supply crunch is a rare vulnerability in what has otherwise been a largely successful push for energy self-sufficiency that has insulated the country from the worst oil crisis in history.

The collapse of peace talks between the US and Iran over the weekend and Trump’s announcement of a US Navy blockade of the vital Strait of Hormuz have further dashed hopes that material shortages could soon be resolved.

And with the halt in helium production in Qatar, which supplies one third of the world’s demand and 54% of China’s, and collateral damage to related energy facilities, the supply chain could still take years to recover. In the meantime, strains on domestic supply are mounting.

“With the Qatari issue, it’s basically taken so much offline globally that there’s no visibility on how we can get a reliable supply moving forward,” said Cameron Johnson, a Shanghai-based senior partner at supply chain consultancy Tidalwave Solutions.

“A lot of suppliers are basically saying, we don’t have any product to sell. It doesn’t matter if you give us a million bucks, we have nothing.”

Skyrocketing prices

Across Asia, economies that require helium are staring down a potential shortage. The Taiwan Semiconductor Industry Association has called on the government to start stockpiling helium, while Japanese media reported that helium firms have begun limiting sales.

The risk of major disruption has prompted governments such as South Korea and Taiwan – home to the world’s leading chipmakers and heavily reliant on the industry – to assess possible fallout. Seoul said that chipmakers have sufficient inventories for about four months, while Taipei said it has coordinated with chipmakers, which maintain diversified supply chains and adequate stockpiles.

Beijing has yet to address the disruption publicly and it does not disclose information on corporate helium inventories, making it hard to gauge the country’s stockpiles.

But prices for high-purity helium used in industrial sectors have doubled in China in the past month, according to Sublime China Information, a Chinese market intelligence firm.

“With Qatari supply unlikely to recover in t

SANTA BARBARA, Calif. (KEYT) -

Channel League Baseball:

Dos Pueblos 6, Santa Barbara 2: Chargers used a 5-run sixth inning and a complete game by Liam Shea. DP is 6-3 in league.

(Evan Bean was one of three Chargers to have a multi-hit game. Entenza Design).

San Marcos 3, Oxnard 2: Royals lead league at 7-2

Ventura 4, Pacifica 3

Rio Mesa 4, Buena 2

Channel League Softball:

San Marcos 7, Oxnard 6 (10 innings): Lucy Dessert pitched all 10 innings and Sutera Raring delivered game-winning RBI single in top of tenth.

Ventura 16, Pacifica 2

Channel League Boys Volleyball:

San Marcos 3, Dos Pueblos 0: Royals improve to 23-2 overall and 8-0 in league. Owen Willer had 15 kills and 4 aces.

(Matteo Burdick added 10 kills for Royals. Entenza Design).

(Koji Hefner tallied 8 kills in the Royals sweep. Entenza Design).

Santa Barbara 3, Ventura 2:

Channel League Boys Tennis:

Dos Pueblos 14, San Marcos 4: DP is 9-0 overall and 6-0 in league. DP singles players Ciaran Tober-Bridges, Evan Harwin and Neil Sharangpani swept the singles allowing San Marcos only 11 games in the 9 sets.

(DP hosts Santa Barbara on Thursday. Courtesy Photo).

Channel League Girls Lacrosse:

San Marcos 13, Cate 5: Royals are 13-3 overall and 6-0 in league. Josephine Grossman led San Marcos with 5 goals.

Dos Pueblos 10, Thacher 9: Linnea Clapinski scored 8 goals for DP including the final two in the fourth quarter to erase a 9-8 deficit and give her team the win.

Channel League Boys Golf:

Dos Pueblos 376, Ventura 387

San Marcos 394, Rio Mesa 461

The post High school wrap: DP rallies in baseball, San Marcos stays undefeated in Chann

By Meteorologists Briana Waxman, Dakota Smith

(CNN) — Tornadoes and baseball-sized hail tore through parts of Wisconsin and Iowa on Tuesday evening, leaving behind damaged buildings and at least one home destroyed.

The severe weather is part of a multi-day outbreak that began Monday and will continue through the end of the week from the southern Plains to the Upper Midwest and Great Lakes region. Similar areas remain at risk Wednesday, with threats for large hail, damaging winds and additional tornadoes stretching from Dallas to Chicago.

Flooding is also a serious concern in parts of the Great Lakes, where rivers are already running high and some dams in Wisconsin are at risk of failing.

Tornado damage reported

A nasty storm prompted a “particularly dangerous situation” tornado warning Tuesday as a destructive twister struck near Union Center, Wisconsin. Juneau County Emergency Management said multiple structures were damaged and power lines were down, but no injuries or deaths were reported. Damage assessments will continue into the morning, while the Salvation Army and Red Cross assist displaced residents.

Tornado warnings were issued for millions in Milwaukee and Madison, Wisconsin; Detroit and Ann Arbor, Michigan; and Fayetteville, Arkansas Tuesday night into early Wednesday. Students and staff at the University of Michigan and University of Arkansas were advised to take shelter.

Powerful severe thunderstorms also moved through Chicago and Grand Rapids, Michigan, where an 80 mph wind gust was observed at the airport.

Softball-sized hail fell near Maple Bluff, Wisconsin. Stones this large are capable of seriously injuring people, totaling vehicles and puncturing roofs.

More than a dozen tornadoes were reported Monday across parts of Kansas, Iowa, Minnesota and Wisconsin, including a damaging EF2 in Miami County, Kansas. The storm damaged about 100 structures — roughly 50 to 60 of them completely — with much of the impact centered around Hillsdale, according to Miami County Undersheriff Matthew Kelly.

Dangerous severe storm threat continues through late week

Wednesday is expected to bring yet another round of strong storms, but wind damage and hail, rather than tornadoes, appear to be the biggest concerns in most areas. Far northern Texas, Oklahoma and southeast Kansas have the highest chance at seeing severe storms that are more impactful, but the risk zone extends as far north as the Upper Mississippi Valley and as far east as Central Pennsylvania.

The storm threat is lower and less widespread on Thursday, contained to a smaller area across the Ohio River Valley.

One more surge of jet stream energy will fire up a final round of potent thunderstorms on Friday, especially from Oklahoma to Iowa. Strong tornadoes and destructive hail and winds are all on the table.

This system could produce one final burst of severe storms on Saturday in the southern Great Lakes and Ohio Valley. The storm-weary central US will then finally get a multi-day breather starting Sunday because a weather pattern change will usher in cooler temperatures.

Flooding worsens across the Great Lakes

Multiple rounds of rain are exacerbating flooding across parts of Michigan and Wisconsin, where rivers are already running high after one of the wettest starts to spring on record and ongoing snowmelt. There is a Level 2 of 4 threat of flash flooding in place for parts of the Upper Midwest Wednesday.

In Milwaukee, rapidly rising water stranded multiple drivers near Timmerman Airport, where at least five vehicles became stuck in floodwaters, according to Read more