Por Natasha Bertrand, Haley Britzky y Zachary Cohen, CNN

Según tres personas familiarizadas con las recientes evaluaciones de inteligencia, los servicios de espionaje estadounidenses indican que China se está preparando para entregar nuevos sistemas de defensa aérea a Irán en las próximas semanas.

Sería una medida provocadora, considerando que Beijing afirmó haber contribuido a la negociación del frágil acuerdo de alto el fuego que suspendió la guerra entre Irán y Estados Unidos a principios de esta semana.

El presidente Donald Trump también tiene previsto visitar China a principios del próximo mes para conversar con el presidente Xi Jinping.

La información de inteligencia también subraya cómo Irán podría estar utilizando el alto el fuego como una oportunidad para reabastecer ciertos sistemas de armas con la ayuda de socios extranjeros clave.

Dos de las fuentes informaron a CNN que existen indicios de que China está trabajando para desviar los envíos a través de terceros países con el fin de ocultar su verdadero origen.

Según las fuentes, el armamento que Beijing se prepara para transferir son sistemas de misiles antiaéreos portátiles conocidos como MANPADS, que supusieron una amenaza asimétrica para los aviones militares estadounidenses que volaban a baja altura durante las cinco semanas que duró la guerra y que podrían volver a hacerlo si el alto el fuego fracasa.

Un portavoz de la embajada china en Washington declaró: “China nunca ha proporcionado armas a ninguna de las partes en el conflicto. La información en cuestión es falsa”.

Y agregó: “Como gran potencia responsable, China cumple sistemáticamente con sus obligaciones internacionales. Instamos a Estados Unidos a que se abstenga de formular acusaciones infundadas, establecer conexiones maliciosas y recurrir al sensacionalismo. Esperamos que las partes pertinentes hagan más para contribuir a la reducción de las tensiones”.

A principios de esta semana, un portavoz de la embajada declaró a CNN que, desde que comenzó la guerra entre Estados Unidos, Israel e Irán, Beijing había estado “trabajando para ayudar a lograr un alto el fuego y poner fin al conflicto”.

Durante una conferencia de prensa el lunes, Trump indicó que el avión de combate F-15 derribado sobre Irán la semana pasada fue alcanzado por un misil portátil de búsqueda de calor.

Irán, por su parte, afirmó haber utilizado un nuevo sistema de defensa aérea para derribar el caza, sin ofrecer más detalles. Se desconoce si dicho sistema era de fabricación china.

El envío de sistemas portátiles de defensa antiaérea (MANPADS) a Irán supondría una escalada en el apoyo de China a ese país desde que Estados Unidos e Israel lanzaron su campaña militar conjunta en febrero.

Según fuentes consultadas, las empresas chinas han seguido vendiendo a Irán tecnología de doble uso, objeto de sanciones, que permite al país persa continuar fabricando armas y mejorando sus sistemas de navegación.

Sin embargo, la transferencia directa de sistemas de armas por parte del Gobierno chino supondría un nuevo nivel de asistencia.

Se espera que Trump se reúna con Xi el próximo mes en Beijing, y la Casa Blanca anunció el miércoles que se habían celebrado conversaciones de alto nivel entre Estados Unidos y China mientras se desarrollaban las negociaciones de alto el fuego con Irán a principios de esta semana.

Una de las fuentes familiarizadas con la inteligencia afirmó que China no ve ningún valor estratégico real en intervenir abiertamente en el conflicto e intentar proteger a Irán de Estados Unidos e Israel, una batalla que saben que sería imposible de ganar.

En cambio, Beijing i

CORVALLIS, Oregon. (KEYT) - Cal Poly scored two runs in the top of the first inning at #7 Oregon State but the Beavers used the long ball to overpower the Mustangs 6-3 in the opener of this 3-game series.

Casey Murray Jr. put the Mustangs up 2-0 with an RBI single.

But Oregon State took the lead for good with two home runs in the sixth inning.

Easton Talt belted a 2-run shot to make it 4-2 and two batters later Bryce Hubbard went deep as the Beavers led 5-2.

Antonio Castro got a run back in the seventh for Cal Poly with a solo home run but that was as close as they got as they fall to 18-14 on the season.

The post Cal Poly grabs early lead but fall at #7 Oregon State appeared first on News Channel 3-12.

UC SANTA BARBARA, Calif. (KEYT) - Gauchos ace Jackson Flora had his consecutive scoreless innings streak end at 38 2/3 and then UCSB's ninth inning rally came up short in a 4-3 loss to Big West leader UC San Diego.

Flora's second fielding error of the game led to an unearned run in the fifth inning for the Tritons as they grabbed a 1-0 lead.

Flora pitched five innings allowing just the one unearned run on one hit with six strikeouts and three walks.

UCSB catcher Nate Vargas slugged his third home run on the season in the bottom of the fifth as the solo shot tied the game at 1.

It was the only mistake that UCSD pitcher Steele Murdock who set a program record with 17 strikeouts in eight innings of work. Former Angels hurler Jered Weaver has the all-time Big West record with 18 strikeouts in a single game.

Murdock allowed just one run on 3 hits and did not walk a batter to go along with those 17 punchouts.

In the top of the 8th the Tritons snapped a 1-1 tie with a 3-run gift triple off of UCSB reliever Cole Tryba.

Trevian Martinez lofted a shallow fly ball to left center field with two outs and the bases loaded.

There was a miscommunication between Gauchos outfielders Rowan Kelly and Liam Barrett and the ball found the grass.

UCSB almost recovered from that miscue as they scored two runs in the bottom of the ninth inning.

The opened up the inning with three straight singles including a pinch-hit from Jonathan Mendez who is working his way back from an injury.

But Cole Kosciusko bounced into a double-play as the Tritons gladly traded two outs for a run.

Vargas doubled in a run to cut the deficit to 4-3 but Corey Nunez flied out to end the game.

UC San Diego leads the Big West with at 11-2 while UCSB is third at 8-5.

Same two teams Saturday and Sunday, both games start at 1:05 p.m.

The post Gauchos rally falls short as scoreless innings streak ends for Flora appeared first on News Channel 3-12.

By Christian Edwards, CNN

Zalaegerszeg, Hungary (CNN) — The sign proudly announces that the roundabout near Zalaegerszeg in western Hungary was built with 500 million forints (about $1.5 million) of funds from the European Union.

The roundabout was built to service a container terminal on a new railway line that would help provide this landlocked part of central Europe with better access to the sea. Rather than having to pass through Budapest, Hungary’s capital, goods arriving from the Adriatic coast would transit quickly through the west of the country into Slovakia, the Czech Republic, Poland and beyond.

But there’s a problem. Years after the roundabout was built, there’s still no railway. Instead, the roundabout lies unused in a field, waiting for the Hungarian government to build the railway that would make it useful.

Critics of Prime Minister Viktor Orbán say EU-funded construction projects like these are a monument to the economic system his government has built over its 16 years in office. Orbán’s electoral success, they say, has combined relentlessly demonizing the EU – painting it as a decadent, liberal, corrupting force in Hungary – while happily accepting vast amounts of money from it.

Much of that money came from initiatives intended to help the bloc’s poorer, more recent members – many of which were once part of the Warsaw Pact – to catch up with their richer neighbors in the West. But, ahead of a pivotal parliamentary election Sunday, opponents are asking what Hungary has to show for all this investment, pointing to a string of what they cast as vanity projects, and unfinished or unnecessary construction projects.

“Orbán was the ultimate rent-seeker in the 2010s of the European Union. That was a conscious strategy,” Krisztián Orbán (no relation), the founder of Oriens, an investment firm in the region, told CNN. He also highlighted the government’s success in drawing down its allocated funding, by comparison with its neighbors, adding that Orbán “was able to bring in a humongous amount of EU money.”

The roundabout near Zalaegerszeg, first reported by the Hungarian investigative site Atlatszo, is one of tens of thousands of projects in Hungary that have received EU funding since Viktor Orbán came to power. Tibor Navracsis, the regional development minister, told Hungary’s parliament last year that the EU had financed 52,000 projects in the country during the 2014-2020 budget period.

István János Tóth, director of the Corruption Research Center Budapest, who is from Zalaegerszeg, said the roundabout was a prime example of a “white elephant” – a construction project that is expensive to build, and often to maintain, but which provides little value.

“Without the European funds, Orbán couldn’t have established this sort of system,” Tóth told CNN.

Corruption watchdog Transparency International has ranked Hungary the most corrupt country in the EU. CNN has asked Hungary’s foreign ministry and the prime minister’s office for comment. The Hungarian government typically denies allegations of corruption or accuses its opponents of being corrupt themselves.

Work on the roundabout began during the current EU budget period, which runs until 2027. Having purchased a patch of land, Metrans – a logistics company that operates in the region – was planning to build a container terminal to attach to the new railway, also scheduled for construction.

At a ceremony in 2021, Hungary’s Foreign Minister Péter Szijjártó laid the foundation stone o

By Alaa Elassar, CNN

(CNN) — It has been nearly a week since she vanished at sea, and Lynette Hooker’s husband of 25 years has spent the past several days in custody in the Bahamas, where he’s been questioned in connection with her disappearance.

From the beginning, Brian Hooker has remained faithful to his original account: that his wife fell from a small dinghy as the couple traveled back to their sailboat through rough conditions in the Bahamas, and that strong currents pulled her out of his reach.

Authorities detained him Wednesday for questioning based on probable cause, Royal Bahamas Police Force Assistant Commissioner Advardo Dames told Reuters. He was taken into custody as a suspect, Dames said, though no charges have been announced.

“I am heartbroken over the recent boat accident in unpredictable seas and high winds that caused my beloved Lynette to fall from our small dinghy,” he said in a statement before his arrest, describing what he characterized as a tragic accident. “Despite desperate attempts to reach her, the winds and currents drove us further apart. We continue to search for her and that is my sole focus.”

By Friday, he was interviewed again, this time about the couple’s personal life, according to his attorney, who said investigators did not focus on potential physical evidence from the couple’s boat or devices.

“He was overwhelmed, he was upset, and he kept reiterating that ‘I need to know what’s happening with the search of my wife,’” his attorney, Terrel Butler, said Friday, saying earlier that her client “appears completely heartbroken and deeply distressed,” and the trauma of his wife’s disappearance and detention as a suspect has left him in an “extremely fragile state.”

Brian Hooker’s detention period was extended through Monday evening after being questioned again Friday, his attorney said. Police have not said why they requested the extension.

The attorney has pushed back on growing public speculation, arguing that without finding Lynette, conclusions about foul play are premature.

The couple had spent the past decade sailing together, charting a life across open water — learning to scuba dive, chasing marine life and finding meaning in the quiet, in-between moments at sea. The pair were navigating the Bahamas on their yacht, “Soulmate,” when Lynette Hooker disappeared.

But with Lynette Hooker still missing — and her heartbroken daughter now raising questions and concerns about the relationship behind that life — the story has grown heavier.

A concerned daughter raises questions

In the days after her stepfather was taken into custody, Lynette Hooker’s daughter described her mother’s marriage as “rocky,” saying while they cared for one another, their relationship sometimes turned volatile.

“I just want to know the truth. I don’t want him to be in trouble. I just hope this was a freak accident, but I don’t want it to just be swept under the rug,” Karli Aylesworth told CNN on Thursday.

The 28-year-old said her mother had previously confided that Brian Hooker choked her — an allegation CNN has not independently confirmed with law enforcement. His attorney has said he denies the claims.

During police questioning Friday, Brian Hooker “was confronted with the allegations from his stepdaughter,” but he continues to dispute her account, Butler said.

In 2015, Lynette Hooker was placed in custody in Michigan on suspicion of “assault & battery/simple assault,” according to a Kentwood police report.

Brian Hooker told an officer he had been assaulted by his wife, who struck him multiple times, according to the report, which said he was found with a swollen, bloody nose.

Lynette Hooker, who an officer said was “highly intoxicated,” told police she had been “struck in the forehead by her husband Brian” as well, though no v