UC SANTA BARBARA, Calif. (KEYT) - Behind a career-best performance by sophomore guard Zoe Shaw, the UC Santa Barbara Women's Basketball team usurped the visiting UC Davis Thursday night, besting the third place Aggies 69-61. Shaw had a historic game, racking up a career-high 29 points to fuel the Gauchos' second win over Davis this season.

FROM HEAD COACH RENEE JIMENEZ
"We've known what she could be. I just told her to be more aggressive, and this is a huge game for her. Hopefully this is a really big shift of confidence for her, but I was really, really proud of her tonight and she played 39 minutes, so it was really impressive."

HOW IT HAPPENED
The Aggies got going in the first, opening the game with a three-pointer ten seconds in. Zoe Shaw replied with the first of her seven total three-pointers on the night, foreshadowing her upcoming performance. The Gauchos built a slight lead at 8-3, but UC Davis put down seven straight points and eventually finished the first ahead at 14-12.

The Gauchos steadily climbed in the second, first presenting an eight-point run in the first half of the period. Shaw was the only Gaucho to score in the second half of the quarter, during which she amassed eight points and two more three. Davis was unable to stifle her and lost the quarter, 31-23.

Shaw opened the second half with yet another three-pointer, to which Davis responded with one of their own, then the Gauchos administered an eleven-point scoring run, getting themselves nearly 20 points ahead at 45-26. The Aggies responded by scoring 12 points nearly in a row, but the Gauchos were still ahead 47-38 going into the fourth.

The final quarter witnessed 18 free throws, ten of them made by the Gauchos. The Aggies managed to come within seven points of the Gauchos several times through the quarter, but Santa Barbara held on. Shaw made 12 points to keep the Gauchos on track, and they won 69-61.

Shaw's total of 29 points serves as the highest reached by a Gaucho this season and as a new-career high by seven. 21 of her points came from three-pointers, and the seven are a new career-best for her in three-pointers made. Additionally, Shaw shot 53% from outside the arc and 56% overall.

Zoe Borter also reached double-digits, dropping 14 points throughout the game for the second-highest tally of the Gauchos. Maddie Naro hauled five assists while freshman Chauncey Andersen led in rebounds once again, nabbing nine.

UP NEXT
The Gauchos head to UC Irvine,

SANTA BARBARA, Calif. (KEYT) - Sophomore star Jules Horton scored three goals and dished out three assists as Santa Barbara looked every bit as the top-seed in a 13-3 rout of Riverside Poly to open up the CIF-Southern Section Division 2 playoffs.

Freshman Violette Bailey scored a game-high 4 goals including a rebound goal with less than a second left in the first half to give the Dons a commanding 8-0 lead.

Rose Nelly scored three goals and Yesenia Dunn added two goals for the Dons who play at Edison in a second round game on Tuesday, February 10th.

Also in Division 2, Temple City edged Carpinteira 12-11, Woodbridge defeated Thousand Oaks 13-9, Estridge edged Ventura 12-11 and Camarillo outlasted Rosary Academy 16-14.

In Division 4, Santa Paula won at home against Roosevelt 14-11 and in D5 Royal defeated Sierra Vista 19-6.

The post CIF-SS Water Polo wrap-up: Dons dominate in first round win appeared first on News Channel 3-12.

By Laura Sharman, CNN

(CNN) — When thieves broke into the Louvre’s Apollo Gallery and cut through display cases with an angle grinder, they seized a trove of Napoleonic jewels.

But in their daring escape through the window, the crown of Empress Eugénie slipped from their grasp and was left battered on the pavement below.

This week, over 100 days after the crown’s dramatic tumble, the Louvre museum released images showing its current state, ahead of repair work that it hopes can restore its former glory.

Commissioned by Napoleon III, the royal headdress was created for Empress Eugénie de Montijo and presented at the 1855 Paris Universal Exposition.

The item belongs to a rare collection of French crown jewels still held by the nation, after most were looted during the French Revolution beginning in 1789. The majority of what remained was auctioned off by the French state in a wave of republican sentiment almost a hundred years later.

Though never used for a coronation, it became a symbol of imperial power before entering the Louvre’s collection in 1988.

For decades, the crown dazzled millions of visitors with its 1,354 diamonds and 56 emeralds, accenting eight palmettes alternating with stately gold eagles.

Today, one eagle is missing, and half of the palmettes have detached – with some misshapen.

The once-proud diamond-and-emerald orb, a symbol of imperial might, now sinks into the crown’s crumpled frame, though it remains intact.

Experts believe the crown’s flexible mount was strained when thieves wrenched it from its display through a narrow slot cut by the angle grinder, according to a report by the Louvre.

“This stress caused the crown’s hoops to detach, one of which has already been lost in the gallery,” the museum said in the report.

The subsequent impact as it hit the ground likely crushed the delicate antique, it added.

While its shape has changed, nearly every component of the crown survives, allowing for a “complete restoration” without reconstruction or recreation, the museum added. “It will simply involve reshaping its framework.”

It has retained all 56 of its emeralds and, of the 1,354 diamonds, only around ten small ones, from the perimeter of the base, are missing. Nine others were detached but preserved.

The Louvre announced it will soon invite restorers to submit proposals for the crown’s repair, in a competitive bidding process overseen by a newly formed committee of experts.

Since the October heist, the museum said it has received offers to help restore the crown from the prestigious jewelry houses of Cartier, Van Cleef & Arpels, Mellerio, Chaumet, and Boucheron.

The thieves snatched an overall eight pieces of jewelry — not including the crown — from the Louvre in the seven-minute raid back in October.

Among them was a tiara, necklace and single sapphire earring worn by Queen Marie-Amélie and Queen Hortense, an emerald necklace and emerald earrings belonging to Empress Marie-Louise, and the “reliquary brooch of Empress Eugénie.”

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The post Mangled and bent, the Louvre heist’s surviving treasure is undergoing ‘complete restoration’

Por Sarah Owermohle, CNN

El delincuente sexual convicto Jeffrey Epstein pagó por pruebas genéticas en un aparente intento de aprovechar su propio material genético para la medicina regenerativa (que tiene como objetivo reparar el cuerpo desarrollando nuevos tejidos y órganos a medida que los viejos se desgastan), según correos electrónicos recientemente publicados.

Varios años después de que Epstein fuera condenado inicialmente por cargos relacionados con la prostitución en 2008, pagó por pruebas novedosas de un médico en uno de los hospitales más importantes de Estados Unidos y exploró la creación de células madre centrales para la inmunidad y la curación.

El investigador, Joseph Thakuria, era en ese momento médico sénior del Hospital General de Massachusetts (MGH) en Boston y estaba afiliado a un proyecto de estudios genómicos a gran escala en la Facultad de Medicina de Harvard.

En una declaración a CNN, Thakuria señaló que Epstein también estaba inscrito en el Proyecto Genoma Personal de Harvard, una enorme base de datos pública mundial de información genética de voluntarios para que los científicos e investigadores aprendan más sobre los rasgos y los genes.

Thakuria no ha sido vinculado públicamente con Epstein anteriormente y no está acusado de ningún delito.

Un representante de Harvard afirmó que el MGH es una filial de Harvard, pero que Thakuria no trabajaba directamente para Harvard ni para el Instituto Wyss, que supervisa el Proyecto Genoma Personal.

El MGH no tiene constancia de haber aprobado a Thakuria para los estudios descritos en los correos electrónicos de Epstein.

Thakuria dejó el hospital en 2022, según un portavoz del MGH.

Entre los documentos de los archivos de Epstein publicados por el Departamento de Justicia se encuentra una propuesta que Thakuria envió a Epstein en febrero de 2014, solicitándole que financiara un proyecto privado que secuenciaría los genomas de sus pacientes para comprender los factores genéticos de sus enfermedades.

En la propuesta, también plantea opciones para investigaciones genéticas específicas para Epstein.

Unos meses después, en junio, Thakuria envió a Epstein una extensa factura por diversos proyectos que incluían una inversión inicial de US$ 2.000 para secuenciar parte del genoma del delincuente sexual convicto.

La factura incluía un coste estimado de “estudios de longevidad personalizados” que proponían la edición genética. La factura indicaba que Epstein había proporcionado una muestra de saliva.

La inversión inicial incluyó US$ 1.000 para secuenciar una porción de su genoma conocida como exoma, y ​​US$ 1.000 para secuenciar fibroblastos, que son células que se encuentran en el tejido conectivo como la piel y los músculos, y que se han utilizado en un campo de investigación relativamente nuevo destinado a revertir el envejecimiento.

El personal de Epstein envió un cheque de US$ 2.000 el mismo día.

“El Sr. Epstein se inscribió en el Proyecto Genoma Personal, que estudiaría su predisposición genética a diversas enfermedades. En un momento dado, se le entregó un cheque de US$ 2.000 para cubrir la secuenciación de ADN”, declaró Thakuria.

“Yo era médico investigador y él [Epstein] era sujeto de investigación”, añadió. “También tuvimos conversaciones iniciales sobre su posible financiación de la investigación, pero eso nunca se materializó”.

“Me siento terrible por lo que pasaron sus víctimas y lamento en ese momento no haber sabido más sobre sus antecedentes y el alcance de sus crímenes”, lamentó Thakuria.

Parte de la propuesta implicaba editar las células madre de Epstein “para introducir mutaciones en el cultivo que se cree que aumentan l

By Hanako Montgomery, CNN

Tokyo (CNN) — In scenes normally reserved for J-pop stars, thousands of fans huddle against the cold outside a small train station on the outskirts of Tokyo, their phones held high for a glimpse of Japan’s latest obsession.

Suddenly, Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi steps out onto a concrete walkway, and a murmur of excitement ripples through the crowd that she hopes will transform into votes for her Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) at a snap lower-house election on Sunday.

Takaichi called the election just three months into her premiership with a promise to step down if the LDP fails to secure a majority; a rare and risky move in Japan’s typically cautious political culture.

But Takaichi is no ordinary Japanese politician. Since taking power in October, the motorbike-riding heavy metal drummer with a savvy social media game has shaken the dust off the traditional male-dominated image of Japanese politics.

She’s even managed to win over US President Donald Trump, who’s blessed her with his “Complete and Total Endorsement” and an invitation to the White House next month – even before the outcome of this weekend’s vote.

But it’s the people at home who matter, and Takaichi is finding huge swells of support among younger voters who she’s reaching online with short clips of succinct, slogan-ready lines, alongside viral videos of her meeting world leaders. Last month she even smashed out K-Pop hits with visiting South Korean President Lee Jae Myung.

Even small details of her daily life, from the bag she carries to the pen she uses, are closely followed, reinforcing a carefully cultivated image of a leader close to the public.

In her hometown of Nara, souvenir shops sell towels emblazoned with her slogans, key chains, stationery, even cookies bearing her likeness alongside that of her political idol, former British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher.

Two 20-year-old students tell CNN it was Takaichi’s smile that first drew them in. They don’t call her “Prime Minister” or even “Ms. Takaichi,” but “Sana-chan,” deploying an affectionate suffix usually reserved for close friends. One proudly notes she uses the same pen as the prime minister.

“It makes me feel closer to her,” she says.

“Compared to the previous prime minister, you see a lot of posts on social media showing how hard she’s working,” Yuho Oishi adds. “I see young people starting to get interested in politics because of that.”

Social media has been used by politicians worldwide to tap younger voters. But in a society like Japan, where the population tilts towards older generations, it’s become a point of distinction for an ambitious political player like Takaichi.

“Young people make full use of social media, and they find that appealing,” says Takaichi’s secretary Noboru Kinoshita. “That’s where we’re focusing our efforts.”

And it appears to be working.

Takaichi’s approval ratings are strikingly high, ranging from more than 50% to over 80% for people in their 20s in some polls, levels unseen in years and the envy of recent prime ministers.

The contrast with her party could hardly be sharper. For years, the LDP has been weighed down by election losses, stubborn inflation and political scandals, which have eroded public trust even as its new leader’s popularity surges.

Kinoshita has known Takaichi for over 30 years and credits her appeal to her communication style, describing how she personally drafts her answer