Former Philippines president Duterte is being flown to The Hague to face charges of crimes against humanity

• March 11, 2025

By JIM GOMEZ

MANILA, Philippines (AP) — A plane carrying arrested former Philippines President Rodrigo Duterte left Manila Tuesday night for him to be turned over to the International Criminal Court in The Hague which has ordered his arrest for alleged crimes against humanity, President Ferdinand Marcos said.

Duterte was arrested after arriving with his family from Hong Kong at the Manila international airport Tuesday morning on a warrant from the ICC. The global court ordered his arrest through Interpol after accusing him of crimes against humanity over deadly anti-drugs crackdowns he oversaw while in office, Marcos said in a late-night news conference.

Walking slowly with a cane, the 79-year-old former president turned briefly to a small group of aides and supporters, who wept and bid him goodbye, before an escort helped him into the plane.

His daughter, Vice President Sara Duterte, said she sought entry to the airbase where her father was held but was refused. She criticized the Marcos administration for surrendering her father to a foreign court which currently has no jurisdiction to the Philippines.

Marcos said Duterte’s arrest was “proper and correct” and not an act of political persecution, since the Philippines is a member of Interpol.

Among the most feared leaders in Asia while in power, Duterte became the first ex-leader from the region to be arrested by the global court.

Clad in a dark jacket, an irate Duterte protested his arrest after arrival in Manila and asked authorities the legal basis of his detention. His lawyers immediately asked the Supreme Court to block any attempt to transport him out of the Philippines.

“Show to me now the legal basis for my being here,” Duterte asked authorities in remarks captured on video by his daughter, Veronica Duterte, who posted the footage on social media. “You have to answer now for the deprivation of liberty.”

The surprise arrest sparked a commotion at the airport, where Duterte’s lawyers and aides protested that they, along with a doctor, were prevented from coming close to him after he was taken into police custody. “This is a violation of his constitutional right,” Sen. Bong Go, a close Duterte ally, told reporters.

ICC probing mass killings during Duterte’s drug crackdown

The ICC has been investigating mass killings in crackdowns overseen by Duterte when he served as mayor of the southern Philippine city of Davao and later as president. Estimates of the death toll of the crackdown during Duterte’s presidential term vary, from the more than 6,000 that the national police have reported up to 30,000 claimed by human rights groups.

The ICC arrest warrant, seen by The Associated Press, said “there are reasonable grounds to believe that” the attack on victims “was both widespread and systematic: the attack took place over a period of several years and thousands people appear to have been killed.”

Duterte’s arrest was necessary “to ensure his appearance before the court,” the March 7 warrant said. “Mindful of the resultant risk of interference with the investigations and the security of witnesses and victims, the chamber is satisfied that the arrest of Mr. Duterte is necessary.”

In a brief statement after the plane had taken off, the ICC confirmed that one of its pre-trial chambers had issued an arrest warrant for Duterte on charges of “murder as a crime against humanity allegedly committed in the Philippines between Nov. 1, 2011, and March 16, 2019.”

Families of the slain and Duterte critics celebrate the arrest

Duterte’s arrest and downfall drove families of slain victims of his crackdown to tears. Some gathered in a street rally to welcome his arrest.

“This is a big, long-awaited day for justice,” Randy delos Santos told the AP. His teenage nephew was gunned down by police in a dark riverside alley during an anti-drug operation in suburban Caloocan city in August 2017.

“We hope that top police officials and the hundreds of police officers who were involved in the illegal killings should also be placed in custody and punished,” delos Santos said.

Three police officers were convicted in 2018 for the high-profile murder of his nephew, Kian delos Santos, prompting Duterte to suspend his crackdown temporarily.

The conviction was one of only around three so far against law enforcers involved in the anti-drugs campaign. Former Sen. Antonio Trillanes, who led the filing of a complaint against Duterte before the ICC, said the arrest was historic, a major blow to state impunity and tyranny.

“This is like the downfall of an emperor,” Trillanes told the AP. “The next step now is to make sure that all his followers who have committed criminal transgressions like him should also be held to account.”

The government said the 79-year-old former leader was in good health and was examined by government doctors.

Duterte’s government tried to head off the ICC investigation

The ICC began investigating drug killings under Duterte from Nov. 1, 2011, when he was still mayor of Davao, to March 16, 2019, as possible crimes against humanity. Duterte withdrew the Philippines in 2019 from the Rome Statute, the court’s founding treaty, in a move human rights activists say was aimed at escaping accountability.

The Duterte administration moved to suspend the global court’s investigation in late 2021 by arguing that Philippine authorities were already looking into the same allegations, arguing the ICC — a court of last resort — therefore didn’t have jurisdiction.

Appeals judges at the ICC ruled in 2023 the investigation could resume and rejected the Duterte administration’s objections. Based in The Hague, the Netherlands, the ICC can step in when countries are unwilling or unable to prosecute suspects in the most serious crimes, including genocide, war crimes and crimes against humanity.

President Ferdinand Marcos Jr., who succeeded Duterte in 2022, has decided not to rejoin the global court. But the Marcos administration had said it would cooperate if the ICC asked international police to take Duterte into custody through a so-called Red Notice, a request for law enforcement agencies worldwide to locate and temporarily arrest a crime suspect.

Associated Press journalists Joeal Calupitan and Aaron Favila in Manila, Philippines, and Mike Corder and Molly Quell in The Hague, Netherlands, contributed to this report.

​ Orange County Register 

CSUF president praises the value of higher education on ‘Super Sunday’

• March 11, 2025

Speaking in front of the congregation at the Second Baptist Church in Santa Ana — the oldest African American church in Orange County — Cal State Fullerton President Ronald Rochon emphasized the importance of higher education for opening doors and creating higher earnings possibilities.

Statistics support the president’s assertions.

Widely cited studies have shown that a college degree has an average lifetime value of $2.8 million, that degree holders have better access to health insurance and retirement plans and have lower rates of unemployment.

But it was Rochon’s own personal journey that seemed to have greater impact on the 300 congregants.

Rochon, who was delivering his first Super Sunday address since becoming president at CSUF in July, was among administrators from all 23 Cal State Universities sharing with congregations at nearly 50 Black churches on Feb. 25.

The initiative is known as “Super Sunday.”

Ivan S. Pitts, Second Baptist Church senior pastor, who himself earned a bachelor’s degree from San Diego State University, said the CSU leaders are providing “powerful examples of leadership.”

Speaking from the podium, Rochon talked about being the first in his family to attend college, earning a degree from Tuskegee University, ranked among the top Historically Black Colleges and Universities in the nation.

Recalling the first time he witnessed Tuskegee’s commencement ceremony, Rochon said he was awed by the pageantry and grandeur of the event.

“And I remember vividly these African American men and women walking across the stage at the beginning of the commencement, and they had these beautiful gowns on, and they were adorned with these stripes on their shoulders and their sleeves,” Rochon said. “I know those are called chevrons. These people were receiving their PhDs in engineering, in literature, in business, and I had no idea what was happening. And I called my mother and said, ‘Mama, I don’t know what I saw, but I want one.’ ”

Before Rochon shared with the congregation, CSUF third-year student Seyi Alli stepped to the podium to share her CSUF experiences with the congregation.

Alli, who is serving in her second term as president of the Black Student Union, acknowledged being a bit worried her first semester because she hadn’t seen any Black people on campus.

Then she learned about the African American Resource Center on campus, which provides resources, services, programs and events that “focus on the total integration and success of African American students.”

From there, the business major got involved with the Black Student Union, where she formed friendships, tapped into the group’s resources and made inroads into possible careers.

Alli said she felt the need to pass the torch “by talking about the ways that Black Student Union has enhanced” her academic journey.

“And I just am very grateful because BSU’s given me so many opportunities to grow as a person and a leader and being involved has given me so much purpose in life,” Alli said. “I’m very passionate about the things I’m doing, and I also just want to share the good experiences I’ve had. It’s a good school but people aren’t really aware of what we have, and I’m just trying to make sure it’s as visible as possible.”

Following the service, outreach directors and staff manned a table in the patio with information about the CSU application and admission process, as well as financial aid scholarships available to Cal State students.

Jordan Hunter, a junior at Long Beach’s Woodrow Wilson High School and a member of the Second Baptist Church youth ministry, said that until heard Alli and Rochon share, he hadn’t been aware of the resources available to African American Students at CSUF.

Hunter said he started high school as a below-average student, skipped class and wasn’t interested in school.

“You won’t fall alone at the campus,” he said. “You have a group of your own. You always have someone to lean on when times get hard. You don’t have to feel alone while you’re on this journey.”

He has since upped his GPA to 3.6.

“All it took for me was to be in class and to want to learn,” he said.

CSUF sophomore Joyce Folorunso, vice president of the Black Student Union, learned about the campus group from Alli.

She was attending events organized by the Black Student Union posted on the group’s Instagram page even before attending CSUF.

“That sense of community is really nice because if I didn’t have this, I honestly don’t know if I would have made it as far,” Folorunso said. “Being with people that are like you and being with people that are around you, even if they’re not like you, it’s just knowing that you have that sense of community at our school.”

​ Orange County Register 

Trump says TikTok deal is in the works. Here’s where things stand with the company

• March 11, 2025

By HALELUYA HADERO

In less than a month, TikTok could have one or a few new owners, be banned again, or simply receive another reprieve to continue operating in the United States.

Questions about the fate of the popular video sharing app have continued to linger since a law requiring its China-based parent company to divest or face a ban took effect on Jan. 19. After taking office, President Donald Trump gave TikTok a 75-day reprieve by signing an executive order that delayed enforcement of the statute until April 5.

As he returned to Washington from his Florida home on Sunday, Trump told reporters that a deal could come soon. He did not offer any details on the interested buyers, but said the administration was in talks with “four different groups” about TikTok.

“A lot of people want it and it’s up to me,” Trump said aboard Air Force One.

A TikTok spokesperson declined to comment.

What will happen on April 5?

If TikTok is not sold to an approved buyer by April 5, the original law that bans it nationwide would once again go into effect. However, the deadline for the executive order doesn’t appear to be set in stone and the president has reiterated it could be extended further if needed.

Trump’s order came a few days after the Supreme Court unanimously upheld a federal law that required TikTok’s parent company, ByteDance, to divest or be banned in January. The day after the ruling, TikTok went dark for U.S. users and came back online after Trump vowed to stall the ban.

During his first term, Trump tried to ban TikTok on national security grounds, which was halted by the courts before his administration negotiated a sale of the platform that eventually failed to materialize. He changed his position on the popular app during last year’s presidential election and has credited the platform with helping him win more young voters.

The decision to keep TikTok alive through an executive order has received some scrutiny, but it has not faced a legal challenge in court.

Who wants to buy TikTok?

Although it’s unclear if ByteDance plans to sell TikTok, several potential bidders have come forward in the past few months.

Aides for Vice President JD Vance, who was tapped to oversee a potential deal, have reached out to some parties, such as the artificial intelligence startup Perplexity AI, to get additional details about their bids, according to a person familiar with the matter. In January, Perplexity AI presented ByteDance with a merger proposal that would combine Perplexity’s business with TikTok’s U.S. operation.

Other potential bidders include a consortium organized by billionaire businessman Frank McCourt, which recently recruited Reddit co-founder Alexis Ohanian as a strategic advisor. Investors in the consortium say they’ve offered ByteDance $20 billion in cash for TikTok’s U.S. platform. And if successful, they plan to redesign the popular app with blockchain technology they say will provide users with more control over their online data.

Jesse Tinsley, the founder of the payroll firm Employer.com, says he too has organized a consortium, which includes the CEO of the video game platform Roblox, and is offering ByteDance more than $30 billion for TikTok.

Trump said in January that Microsoft was also eyeing the popular app. Other interested parties include Trump’s former Treasury secretary Steve Mnuchin and Rumble, the video site popular with some conservatives and far-right groups. In a post on X last March, Rumble said it was ready to join a consortium of parties interested in purchasing TikTok and serving as a tech partner for the company.

What could happen next?

Trump has said he is looking to have the U.S. government broker a deal for 50% control of TikTok. However, the administration hasn’t provided details on what exactly that would entail, or what role the U.S. government could play in the future of the short-form video app.

Some potential bidders have floated proposals that would allow the U.S. to invest or own a stake in the platform. Last month, Trump himself also said the U.S. could own part of TikTok through a new government-owned investment fund.

Chinese officials, who would have to approve the deal, appear to have softened their stance on the issue compared to last year when Beijing called the push for divestment a “robbers” act.

Chinese Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Mao Ning said in January that business operations and acquisitions “should be independently decided by companies in accordance with market principles.”

“If it involves Chinese companies, China’s laws and regulations should be observed,” Mao said.

If ByteDance sits down to negotiate, the company would likely need to iron out major details with the U.S. over the proprietary algorithm that populates TikTok feeds as well as the flow of content between the U.S. and the rest of the world.

Associated Press reporters Michelle Price and Didi Tang contributed to this story from Washington.

​ Orange County Register 

Orange County girls athlete of the week: Addison Deal, Mater Dei

• March 11, 2025

Support our high school sports coverage by becoming a digital subscriber. Subscribe now

The Orange County girls athlete of the week:

Name: Addison Deal

School: Mater Dei

Sport: Basketball

Year: Senior

Noteworthy: The Iowa-bound guard averaged 28 points, 7.5 rebounds, 6.0 assists and 2.0 steals in Open Division games against Bishop Montgomery and Etiwanda in the CIF Southern California Regional. Deal shot 51 percent from the floor (21 of 41) as the Monarchs beat Bishop Montgomery 76-40 and lost to Etiwanda 67-57.

Send nominees for girls athlete of the week to Dan Albano at dalbano@scng.com or @ocvarsityguy on X or Instagram

​ Orange County Register 

States look at shoring up consumer protections as Trump hobbles federal watchdog

• March 11, 2025

By Kevin Hardy, Stateline.org

Illinois state Sen. Mark Walker already was working on legislation to bolster the state’s protections for consumers. But now that President Donald Trump has attacked the federal government’s consumer watchdog, Walker said it’s even more important for Illinois to act.

Walker, a Democrat, sponsored a bill to bolster the state’s existing bank regulator to help fill the void left by weakening of the federal Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, which Trump and billionaire Elon Musk have targeted for elimination.

Congress created the independent agency in 2010 in response to fallout of the Great Recession, when many people lost their homes, jobs or savings. It takes up individual consumer complaints, aims to protect against unfair banking practices and helps educate consumers. Weeks into Trump’s second term, the administration shuttered the bureau’s office, dropped pending cases against companies and ordered employees to stop work.

“The urgency is much higher now,” Walker said. “They apparently closed the doors and put everyone on leave. And I think it’s become critical now that we figure out exactly what we do to respond to these kinds of issues that consumers in Illinois have.”

Walker says the state attorney general and the Illinois Department of Financial and Professional Regulation have expertise in enforcing consumer protections. His bill, modeled after a previous successful effort in California, would give more authority to the state regulator to enforce state and federal consumer laws. But Illinois leaders already face a $3.2 billion budget deficit and are bracing for federal cuts to social service funding.

“It’s a matter of where it is on the set of priorities, some of which are a little bit hard to predict,” he said.

Experts say the uncertain future of the federal agency puts more pressure on state attorneys general and state financial regulators. Even though states have broad latitude in enforcing federal financial protections, advocates say they lack the might of the federal regulator. And partisan politics, along with existing budget shortfalls, means consumer enforcements will likely vary widely across the states.

The Trump administration has offered conflicting accounts about its plans for the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau.

In a court filing, the White House has said it doesn’t plan to kill the agency. But on Feb. 7, Musk posted an image of a headstone and the epitaph “CFPB RIP” on his social media platform X. Musk has expressed interest in adding a digital payment system to X — a financial product that the CFPB had said before Trump took office that it would regulate. Days after Musk’s post, the administration ordered employees to stop most work and fired dozens.

In the Oval Office on Feb. 10, Trump told reporters he planned to eliminate the bureau, which he said “was set up to destroy some very good people.”

“That was a very important thing to get rid of. And it was also a waste. I mean, number one, it was a bad group of people running it. But it was also a waste.”

Trump’s moves against the CFPB have been challenged in court, by agency employees, advocacy organizations and the city of Baltimore. In February, 23 states and the District of Columbia asked a federal judge in the Baltimore case to issue an injunction blocking the administration from defunding the bureau. Those states argue they will suffer irreparable harm by losing the CFPB’s processing of consumer complaints, data collection and distribution of money to harmed consumers.

‘A national emergency’

Since its inception, the bureau says it has returned more than $21 billion to millions of defrauded American consumers. The agency has helped consumers repair inaccuracies on credit reports, required banks to lower overdraft fees and set limits on credit card late fees.

Just months before the Great Recession began in late 2007, Elizabeth Warren, a Harvard Law professor at the time, proposed creation of a new federal agency to protect Americans from risky mortgages and overpriced credit products. Now a Democratic U.S. senator representing Massachusetts and a former presidential candidate, Warren said the agency “has been sidelined, but it is not dead.”

At a confirmation hearing, she grilled Jonathan McKernan, Trump’s pick to lead the agency. McKernan, a former member of the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. board, said he would follow and enforce federal consumer laws, but said the agency has of late overreached its authority and is not accountable to Congress or the White House.

Warren questioned how he could effectively operate the agency if Trump wants it killed.

“It kind of feels like you’ve been lined up to be the number one horse at the glue factory,” she said.

During the hearing, news broke that the CFPB had just dropped at least four enforcement lawsuits, including one that accused Capital One of bilking customers out of more than $2 billion in interest.

An analysis by Democratic staff on the Senate Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs found an 80% drop in the number of consumer complaints the agency directed to companies since Feb. 3, when the Trump administration initiated a stop work order and fired critical staff.

“It’s a national emergency,” Massachusetts Attorney General Andrea Joy Campbell said at a forum Warren hosted before the Senate confirmation hearing to discuss weakening of the CFPB.

Campbell, a Democrat, said her office is focused on affordability issues and consumer protections, but she said some states are “stepping away wholeheartedly” from that work.

“It’s not consistent — what we’re doing in Massachusetts — in every single state across the country,” she said. “So you will have elders and veterans and other consumers who are left out without anyone to fight for them on their behalf, with no resources and weapons to fight back.”

Conservative groups such as The Heritage Foundation have criticized not only the reach of the CFPB but also its unique funding mechanism. While other agencies such as the Securities and Exchange Commission must seek congressional spending approval, the CFPB derives its funding directly from the Federal Reserve system.

At his confirmation hearing, McKernan said the agency needs to be refocused on its mission and made more efficient and more accountable to elected officials.

He said consumers must have a way to redress bad actors in the economy, but also that the billions the agency has returned to consumers is not evidence of its achievement.

“I don’t think we should evaluate the success of the CFPB based on dollar numbers or enforcement count,” McKernan said. “That’s like evaluating an official based on the number of fouls he calls during the game.”

What states can do

Just before Trump took office, the CFPB issued guidance on how states could strengthen their own consumer protections.

In a 34-page document, the agency underscored previous guidance giving states authority to enforce federal rules. And it noted that Congress explicitly gave states power to enact more aggressive local protections — though federal rules take precedence with some regulations regarding national banks.

“Federal law should be a floor, not a ceiling, for the protection of consumers,” the report said.

In December, the nonprofit Consumer Federation of America issued a slate of 10 policy recommendations for state leaders to ensure their residents “enjoy vital protections regardless of changes in federal policy.” Those included banning so-called junk fees, prohibiting the inclusion of medical debt on credit reports and outlawing “bait-and-switch” auto sales practices in which consumers are misled about the full cost, terms or availability of cars.

“They have the power to enforce federal law. Just because federal law is not being enforced in D.C. doesn’t mean it can’t be enforced by states,” said Lauren Saunders, associate director of the National Consumer Law Center, a nonprofit consumer advocacy organization.

She said conservative states have traditionally put less emphasis on consumer protection — a partisan divide she expects to see grow as the federal government pulls back.

“States have resource limits as well,” she said. “They can’t be everywhere and can’t cover every issue. So you just tend to have a lot more uneven protection when you’re relying totally on states.”

The National Association of Attorneys General did not respond to questions by publication time. Neither did the office of Kansas Attorney General Kris Kobach, who leads the Republican Attorneys General Association.

Without a strong CFPB, banks and other financial institutions could find themselves wading through disparate state rules and enforcement efforts, said Horacio Mendez, president and CEO of the Woodstock Institute, an Illinois-based nonprofit research and advocacy group focused on fair lending and financial systems.

A former bank executive, Mendez said there are legitimate debates about the structure of CFPB. But he said tearing down the bureau is not in the best interest of consumers or businesses, which can be harmed by the abusive practices of their competitors.

Some banks may eventually pressure the federal government if they start facing various state rules and actions, he said.

“It’s really just putting the burden on states to pick up the slack, and then on national businesses to try to work within this fragmented state-by-state regulatory environment,” Mendez said. “It’s really not efficient. If anything, it actually increases costs and complexity for everybody.”

Blue states worry about resources

Without a federal backstop, Mendez said he’s “all in” on the proposed Illinois legislation to expand the authority of the financial regulators.

“We’ve got to have some cop on the beat.”

Currently, the Illinois Department of Financial and Professional Regulation is only empowered to enforce specific state rules, said spokesperson Chris Slaby. The department has relied on the federal agency for staff training, information sharing and data collection.

“While IDFPR may be able to shift some priorities, it does not have the staffing or funding to replicate the CFPB,” Slaby said in a statement.

In a statement to Stateline, California Democratic Attorney General Rob Bonta’s office said it had long taken a “complementary” approach to the federal agency’s work.

“However, the sudden gutting of the CFPB leaves no oversight over large, national banks and credit unions, guts oversight of payday lenders, the mortgage markets, and credit reporting agencies — among many others — and rapidly and substantially increases the burden on state agencies to protect consumers,” the statement said.

In 2020, California Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom signed a dozen bills aimed at boosting consumer protections. The state added more investigators and attorneys and created the Department of Financial Protection and Innovation — characterized as California’s version of the CFPB.

State agency spokesperson Mark Leyes said the department was “steadfast” in its commitments regardless of potential changes in Washington.

But state Sen. Monique Limón, a Democrat who sponsored some of that legislation, said Californians will have one fewer option for lodging complaints if the federal agency is crippled. That will likely increase demand on the state regulator.

And while California has some of the strongest protections and is well positioned to investigate consumer complaints, she said, it does not have the resources to fill the void of the federal agency: “Even if that’s the desire, it can’t.”

©2025 States Newsroom. Visit at stateline.org. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.

​ Orange County Register 

Recipes: Make these 3 Irish dishes for your St. Patrick’s Day feast

• March 11, 2025

St. Patrick’s Day is a celebration enjoyed by Irish and Irish wannabes alike. From coast to coast, at the core of the fun is satisfying, easy-to-prepare fare. Thumbing through Kevin Dundon’s book, “Modern Irish Food” (Beazley), sparked devilish hunger pangs. Dundon, an award-winning Irish chef and PBS television personality, features recipes for what he calls “modern Irish house cooking.” He explores the classic dishes of his homeland, giving them appealing updated twists.

I love his beautiful-but-simple apple tart. Use refrigerated prepared dough, such as Pillsbury Pie Crusts, and then layer thin apple slices on top, slightly overlapping the slices in concentric circles to cover the dough. The flavor of the tart-sweet apples shines through in this scrumptious finale, the crust offering a pleasing texture contrast that compliments the fruit and corrals the rich juices.

But before the dessert, a traditional Irish stew is a must. To accompany the cozy dish, Irish Guinness Brown Bread is an irresistible partner. Cookbook maven and Food Network star Ina Garten has a recipe that comes close to the real deal. Her formula calls for a 9-by-5-by-2 1/2-inch loaf pan. My pan is slightly smaller, with the same depth but is only 8 1/2-by-4 1/2-inches. So, when I bake it, I make two, the second one baked in a tiny loaf pan. That puny loaf is for this baker’s secret pleasure.

Simple Apple Tart

Yield: 6 to 8 servings

INGREDIENTS

1 (15-ounce) package refrigerated crusts (2 rolled crusts in rectangular box), chilled

Juice of 1 lemon

5 to 6 medium-sized Pink Lady apples; see cook’s notes

6 tablespoons (3/4 stick) butter, melted, divided use

1/3 cup turbinado sugar, divided use

2 tablespoons honey

For serving: Whipped cream or ice cream

Cook’s notes: Pink Lady apples are delectable in this tart. I sometimes find them at my local supermarket, but if you prefer, substitute Gala apples. Turbinado sugar is raw sugar that has been steam-cleaned. The coarse crystals are a honey-brown color and have a subtle molasses flavor. It’s often sold in the natural food section of the supermarket and is available at natural food stores.

DIRECTIONS

1. Adjust oven rack to middle position. Preheat oven to 425 degrees. Line a large rimmed baking sheet with parchment paper. Unroll one of the pie crusts and place on parchment paper. Unroll second pie crust and cut out a ring 1/2-inch-wide around the edge of the crust. Cut crosswise into three pieces to make them easier to transfer. Transfer to edge of crust that is on the pan and press in place (so now you have a double layer of crust around the edge). Pinch to make a ridge around the edge about 1/2-inch high. Prick with tines of a fork at 2-inch intervals. Place in refrigerator.

2. Squeeze lemon juice into a medium-large bowl. Peel, core and cut apples into thin slices, placing them as you work in the bowl with the juice and tossing them from time to time to prevent browning.

3. Remove crust from refrigerator and lightly brush with butter. Arrange apple slices in two concentric circles overlapping them slightly (start with the outside circle). Brush with half of the remaining melted butter. Remove 1 tablespoon of the sugar and set aside to use as garnish; sprinkle remaining sugar over apples. Bake 12 minutes.

4. Remove from oven (and shut oven door). Brush apples and rim of tart with remaining butter. Drizzle apples with honey. Return to oven and bake 15 to 17 minutes longer. Remove from oven and sprinkle with reserved sugar. Cool at least 20 minutes before serving. If desired, serve with ice cream or whipped cream.

Source: “Modern Irish Food” by Kevin Dundon

Irish Stew

Irish Stew often calls for lamb, generally hearty chunks of lamb shoulder. This recipe uses pieces of beef; they attain lovely tenderness with long simmering. The stew can be prepared up to 2 days in advance. Cool, cover and then refrigerate it. Bring to a simmer before serving.

Yield: 4 to 6 servings

INGREDIENTS

1/4 cup vegetable oil

2 pounds stew beef, cut into 1-inch pieces

6 large garlic cloves, minced

7 cups beef stock or canned beef broth

2 tablespoons tomato paste

1 tablespoon sugar

1 tablespoon dried thyme

1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce

2 bay leaves

2 tablespoons (1/4 stick) butter

2 1/2 pounds russet potatoes, peeled, cut into 1-inch pieces

1 large onion, chopped, see cook’s notes

2 cups 1/2-inch pieces peeled carrots

2 tablespoons chopped fresh parsley

Cook’s notes: If you wish, substitute pearl onions for the chopped onion. Peeled and frozen, they are generally available in many supermarkets. Or peel fresh pearl onions by boiling in water with the skin in place for 1 1/2 minutes, then transfer them to an ice bath to stop the cooking process; once cool, the skins should easily come off by squeezing the onion between your fingers.

DIRECTIONS

1. Heat oil in a large heavy pot over medium-high heat. Add beef and sauté until brown on all sides, about 5 minutes. Add garlic and sauté 1 minute. Add beef broth, tomato paste, sugar, thyme, Worcestershire sauce and bay leaves. Stir to combine and scrape up browned bits on the pot. Bring mixture to boil. Reduce heat to medium-low, then cover and simmer 1 hour, stirring occasionally.

2. Meanwhile, melt butter in another large pot over medium heat. Add potatoes, onion and carrots. Sauté vegetables until golden, about 10 minutes. Add vegetables to beef stew. Simmer uncovered until vegetables and beef are very tender, about 40 minutes. Discard bay leaves. Tilt the pan and spoon off fat. Transfer stew to serving bowls. Sprinkle with parsley and serve.

Source: Bon Appetit magazine

Ina’s Irish Guinness Brown Bread

Serve this delicious brown bread with honey butter. To make the honey butter, combine room temperature unsalted butter with honey to taste; you can use a mixer to do this or stir by hand with muscle and determination. My favorite combination is unsalted Irish Kerrygold butter mixed paired with clover honey and topped with coarse salt.

Yield: 1 loaf (see story)

INGREDIENTS

1 cup McCann’s quick-cooking oats (not instant), plus extra for sprinkling

2 1/4 cups whole wheat flour

1/4 cup all-purpose flour

1/2 cup dark brown sugar, lightly packed

2 1/4 teaspoons baking soda

1 teaspoon baking powder

2 teaspoons kosher salt

1 (11- to 12-ounce) bottle Guinness extra stout beer, at room temperature

1 cup buttermilk, shaken before measuring

5 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted, plus extra for brushing pan

1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

For serving: Honey butter (unsalted butter combined with honey to taste, topped with a smidgen of coarse salt)

DIRECTIONS

1. Preheat oven to 450 degrees. In a large bowl, place oats, whole wheat flour, all-purpose flour, brown sugar, baking soda, baking powder, and salt. Stir with whisk to combine. Set aside.

2. In a separate bowl, whisk together beer, buttermilk, melted butter, and vanilla. Make a well in the center of the dry ingredients. Pour wet ingredients into the well. With your clean fingers, stir batter from middle of bowl to the outside, until it is well mixed. It will look more like cake batter then bread dough.

3. Brush a 9-by-5-by-2 1/2-inch loaf pan with melted butter. Pour batter into pan and sprinkle top with oats. Put the bread in the oven, immediately turn the temperature down to 400 degrees and bake for 45 minutes, until a toothpick comes out clean. Turn bread out onto cooling rack and allow to cool completely. Slice and serve with honey butter.

Source: Adapted from Ina Garten, Food Network

Award-winning food writer Cathy Thomas has written three cookbooks, including “50 Best Plants on the Planet.” Follow her at CathyThomasCooks.com.

​ Orange County Register 

USMNT selects 23-player roster for CONCACAF Nations League semifinals

• March 11, 2025

The USMNT will be leaning on a familiar group for this month’s CONCACAF Nations League.

The USMNT won the first three Nations League tournaments and will open defense of their titles March 20 at SoFi Stadium against Panama. The other semifinal will feature Canada against Mexico, with the winners meeting March 23 in the final and the losers will face off in the third-place match.

Mauricio Pochettino will call in a 23-player roster, featuring the likes of Antonee Robinson (Fulham), Tyler Adams (Bournemouth), Weston McKennie (Juventus), Gio Reyna (Borussia Dortmund), and AC Milan’s Christian Pulisic and Yunas Musah, and Juventus’ Timothy Weah.

That group, excluding Adams, has played in the three previous Nations League tournaments.

The complete roster was announced Tuesday. Players will begin arriving in L.A. Sunday, with the first training session set for Monday at Dignity Health Sports Park.

“This is a massive opportunity to win a trophy and that is our clear objective,” Pochettino said. “We must continue to show our quality, our bravery and our commitment to each other. We have an important moment to represent our country and our supporters, and we are very excited for this opportunity.”

This is the first call-up for Reyna and Adams under Pochettino. Real Salt Lake’s Diego Luna and Vancouver’s Brian White receive their first call-up for an official competition.

The roster also includes six players from last tournament’s Best XI: Reyna, Matt Turner (Crystal Palace), Adams, McKennie, Pulisic and Robinson.

The average age is 26 years, 20 days.

Here is the complete roster

GOALKEEPERS: Patrick Schulte (Columbus Crew), Zack Steffen (Colorado Rapids), Matt Turner (Crystal Palace)

DEFENDERS: Cameron Carter-Vickers (Celtic), Marlon Fossey (Standard Liege), Mark McKenzie (Toulouse), Tim Ream (Charlotte FC), Chris Richards (Crystal Palace), Antonee Robinson (Fulham), Joe Scally (Borussia Mönchengladbach), Auston Trusty (Celtic)

MIDFIELDERS: Tyler Adams (Bournemouth), Johnny Cardoso (Real Betis), Diego Luna (Real Salt Lake), Weston McKennie (Juventus), Gio Reyna (Borussia Dortmund), Tanner Tessmann (Olympique Lyon)

FORWARDS: Patrick Agyemang (Charlotte FC), Yunus Musah (AC Milan), Christian Pulisic (AC Milan), Josh Sargent (Norwich City), Timothy Weah (Juventus), Brian White (Vancouver Whitecaps)

​ Orange County Register 

Disneyland reveals 3 new destinations for Millennium Falcon: Smugglers Run

• March 11, 2025

Millennium Falcon: Smugglers Run will venture to three Star Wars planets first visited in the original film trilogy of the 1970s and ‘80s when the rebooted Disneyland ride embarks on a new adventure with the Mandalorian and Grogu.

The refreshed Smugglers Run motion simulator ride in Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge will visit Tatooine, Endor and Bespin when the updated attraction debuts on May 22, 2026 at the Anaheim theme park.

Concept art of the new adventure aboard Smugglers Run released by Walt Disney Imagineering shows a Sandcrawler on the desert planet of Tatooine, the Death Star disintegrating in orbit near the Endor moon and the Millennium Falcon racing toward the Cloud City of Bespin.

Tatooine is best known as a base for smugglers and a hive of scum and villainy in the original 1977 “Star Wars” movie. The harsh desert world on the Outer Rim of the Star Wars galaxy was once home to both Anakin Skywalker and Luke Skywalker.

Endor is best known as the home of the Ewoks in 1983’s “Return of the Jedi.” The lush forest moon is where the Galactic Empire met its downfall and the site of Darth Vader’s funeral pyre.

Bespin is best known for its floating mining complexes that extract valuable gasses from deep within the Star Wars planet. Lando Calrissian was the administrator of Cloud City on the giant gas planet during 1980’s “Empire Strikes Back.”

The Star Wars galactic calendar marks time on either side of the attack on the Death Star, known as the Battle of Yavin. Dates fall before the Battle of Yavin (BBY) or after the universe-saving attack (ABY).

Galaxy’s Edge is currently set between 34 ABY when “The Last Jedi” takes place and 35 ABY when “The Rise of Skywalker” film is set.

“The Mandalorian” takes place in 9 ABY a few years after “The Return of the Jedi” — more than two decades before the current time period for Galaxy’s Edge.

ALSO SEE: 7 new Disneyland attractions and when they will open

Disneyland has recently signaled that old school characters from the original Star Wars trilogy can now appear in Galaxy’s Edge. A young Luke Skywalker meet-and-greet character will appear during the Season of the Force seasonal event starting on March 28 at Disneyland.

That means Darth Vader, Han Solo and Obi-Wan Kenobi may soon be joining Luke Skywalker in the Black Spire Outpost village on the Star Wars planet of Batuu, the setting for the 14-acre themed land at the Anaheim theme park.

ALSO SEE: Which Star Wars characters can — and can’t — appear in Disneyland’s Galaxy’s Edge

Up until now, Galaxy’s Edge has been stubbornly stuck in the Star Wars timeline of the sequel trilogy between 2017’s “The Last Jedi” and 2019’s “The Rise of Skywalker.”

The new Millennium Falcon: Smugglers Run mission tied to the release of the “The Mandalorian and Grogu” film coming out on Memorial Day Weekend 2026 will be introduced on the twin rides at Disneyland and Disney Hollywood Studios in Florida.

ALSO SEE: How Disneyland keeps Boba Fett from bumping into Kylo Ren in Galaxy’s Edge — and why it matters

Imagineering and Lucasfilm have been working together to come up with a new mission for Smugglers Run that ties into the new film’s narrative.

Imagineers captured scenes on the movie set of “The Mandalorian and Grogu” that will be used in the updated Smugglers Run attractions.

“This isn’t going to retell what happens in the movie,” Mandalorian creator Jon Favreau said at SXSW in Austin. “It’s more like participating in something that’s happening just off-camera from what you see in the film.”

ALSO SEE: Disney reveals how Millennium Falcon: Smugglers Run works

Star Wars creative executive Dave Filoni told the crowd at the D23 fan event in Anaheim in August that the Epic Games Unreal Engine used to create the virtual sets for “The Mandalorian” television show on Disney+ will also be used to update the Smugglers Run attractions in the Galaxy’s Edge themed lands.

“Just imagine it,” Filoni said during D23. “You’ll be able to fly alongside Mando and Grogu on thrilling and dangerous missions.”

The digital nature of the Millennium Falcon ride at Disneyland will let Walt Disney Imagineering change the storyline of the Star Wars attraction from a Smugglers Run to a Mandalorian Mission with a simple flip of a switch.

​ Orange County Register