2 men were publicly caned for having sex with each other in Indonesia’s conservative Aceh

• February 27, 2025

By YAYAN ZAMZAMI

BANDA ACEH, Indonesia (AP) — Two men in Indonesia’s conservative Aceh province were publicly caned Thursday after an Islamic Shariah court convicted them for having sex with each other.

Dozens of people witnessed the caning at a hall in Banda Aceh’s Bustanussalatin city park. It’s the fourth time that Aceh, the only province in Indonesia to practice Shariah law, has caned people for homosexuality since the Islamic law was implemented in 2006 as a concession made by the government to end a long-running separatist rebellion.

The men, aged 24 and 18, were whipped across the back dozens of times by a team of five enforcers wearing robes and hoods. They were given a break to drink after 20 strokes and their wounds were treated.

The men were arrested in November after residents suspected them of being gay and broke into their rented room, where they were caught naked and hugging each other, and took them to Sharia police.

A Shariah court on Monday sentenced the two college students to receive 85 and 80 strokes respectively, but they were caned 82 and 77 times after a remission for time spent in prison. One of the men had to be carried because he was too weak to move after the last lash.

Two other people were also sentenced to 34 and 8 strokes each for gambling.

Indonesia’s secular central government granted Aceh the right to implement Islamic Shariah law in 2006 as part of a peace deal to end a decades-long separatist war. A religious police and court system have been established, and the law was a significant strengthening of Shariah in the region.

Aceh implemented an expansion of Islamic bylaws and criminal code in 2015 that extended Shariah law to the province’s non-Muslims, who account for about 1% of the population. The region allows up to 100 lashes for morality offenses including gay sex and sex between unmarried people.

Caning is also a punishment in Aceh for gambling, drinking alcohol, women who wear tight clothes and men who skip Friday prayers.

Human rights groups have criticized the law, saying it violates international treaties signed by Indonesia protecting the rights of minorities.

Indonesia’s national criminal code doesn’t regulate homosexuality, and the central government doesn’t have the power to strike down Shariah law in Aceh. However, an earlier version of the law that called for people to be stoned to death for adultery was dropped because of pressure from the central government.

Associated Press writer Niniek Karmini in Jakarta, Indonesia, contributed to this report.

​ Orange County Register 

Photos: A look at Louisiana’s Mardi Gras festivities through the years

• February 27, 2025

After a weekslong pre-Lenten bash — complete with elaborate parades that meander through New Orleans, shimmery beads tossed from floats, streets lined with costumed revelers, lavish balls and seafood boils — Louisiana’s 2025 Carnival Season is approaching its grand conclusion.

Mardi Gras or Fat Tuesday, which takes place March 4, marks the party’s climax and the end of Carnival Season on the Gulf Coast. The conclusion falls the day before Ash Wednesday and is seen as a final day of feasting and revelry before the solemnity of Lent.

Each year, along with Louisiana residents, more than a million visitors travel to New Orleans to partake in the city’s world-famous Carnival celebrations.

The bash includes feasting, drinking and a plethora of parades. Many spend their time along parade routes, with their hands raised in the air to catch “throws” — trinkets tossed to spectators by float riders and walking members of carnival clubs known as krewes.

While throws include plastic beads, candy, stuffed animals, cups and toys, there are also the more coveted items such as painted coconuts, hand-decorated shoes and bedazzled toilet plungers.

The annual jollification is not limited to the Big Easy. Similar celebrations are held across Louisiana and along the Gulf Coast. Mobile, Alabama, lays claim to the nation’s oldest Mardi Gras celebration. And other lavish Carnival celebrations in Brazil and Europe are world-renowned.

​ Orange County Register 

Texas lottery drawings that paid out big jackpots are the focus of widening investigations

• February 27, 2025

By NADIA LATHAN

AUSTIN, Texas (AP) — Two major lottery drawings in Texas that put nearly $180 million in the pockets of winning ticket holders have set off widening state investigations over concern that ticket sellers and buyers may have exploited the rules.

The Texas Lottery, one of the largest in the U.S., is facing mounting scrutiny from state leaders over how the winners of an $83 million jackpot this month and a $95 million prize in 2023 purchased their odds-defying tickets. Both are among the largest jackpots in the history of the Texas lottery.

At the heart of the issue, Texas officials say, is whether the games are on a level playing field.

On Wednesday, Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton launched his own investigation on top of one announced earlier this week by Republican Gov. Greg Abbott. Part of the issue lies with couriers, the companies that purchase lottery tickets for customers remotely. One was used by this month’s winner.

“Texas citizens deserve far better than bad actors getting rich off of a lottery system that is open to exploitation, and we will hold anyone who engages in illegal activity accountable,” Paxton said in a statement.

Here’s what else to know about Texas’ mega lottery winnings:

What are courier services?

Couriers are companies that buy and send lottery tickets on behalf of customers online. The practice bypasses state law that requires tickets to be purchased in person. Couriers, which operate in 19 states according to a 2024 report from the Florida Office of Program Analysis and Government Accountability, do not have any regulatory oversight or licensing requirements in Texas.

Some lawmakers have expressed concern about children and people outside the state purchasing tickets.

The head of the Texas Lottery Commission said this month that the agency will ban couriers, walking back years of resistance to pushing them out of the market.

“Lottery courier services operating in Texas have been a significant concern for many of our stakeholders,” executive director Ryan Mindell said in a statement. “Previously, the agency interpreted its authority as not extending to the regulation or prohibition of these services.” The agency has since reconsidered after reviewing state laws, Mindell said.

Who won the nearly $180 million?

Neither winner of the big drawings has come forward publicly and they are under no obligation to do so under Texas law.

The $83 million ticket was purchased by a customer at a courier store called Winners Corner in Austin on Feb 17. The chain has locations in six states.

The $95 million drawing from 2023 was won after the winners purchased nearly every possible number combination, according to Abbott’s office. An investigation by the Houston Chronicle found the ticket was purchased at a retailer that added a dozen lottery terminals to print tickets the day before the drawing.

Experts told the newspaper that QR codes can be read by the machines to process large volumes of tickets in a short time. Normally, the QR images generate directly from the Texas Lottery Commission’s mobile app.

One of the state’s five lottery commissioners has since resigned amid the criticism and the commission said it will no longer allow tickets to be purchased through couriers.

“We do not engage in bulk ticket purchasing, we are not part of some organized crime syndicate,” Paul Prezioso, an executive at courier site Jackpot.com told lawmakers Monday. “We believe that a regulated courier industry is a net positive for the state of Texas.”

Can you still purchase lottery tickets in Texas?

The Texas Lottery is still in full swing and residents will be allowed to use courier services until the state’s Lottery Commission changes the rules, which is expected to happen in April.

The commission’s plan to ban couriers comes after years of insisting that the body had no authority over the companies. It also follows criticism from Republican Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick, a former television sportscaster in Houston who earlier this month walked into a Winners Corner store with a camera rolling and began asking questions.

Gambling in Texas

Texas gambling has had a complicated history in recent years. Efforts to expand gambling in the nation’s second-most populous state have failed despite expensive lobbying blitzes to bring casinos to the state and legalize sports gambling.

Supporters have sought to put a constitutional amendment to voters, but the proposals have not gotten far in the Legislature.

The state lottery has brought in more than $40 billion in revenue and awarded more than $90 billion in winnings since its establishment in 1992, according to the commission’s website.

Lathan is a corps member for the Associated Press/Report for America Statehouse News Initiative. Report for America is a nonprofit national service program that places journalists in local newsrooms to report on undercovered issues.

​ Orange County Register 

Eminent domain abuse not the way to address California’s housing crisis

• February 27, 2025

Over 1,000 housing units and a new grocery store could be coming to San Francisco’s Fillmore neighborhood – but some San Francisco officials think they have better plans.  

A former member of the San Francisco Board of Supervisors is urging Mayor London Breed and the city to use eminent domain to freeze a new housing and commercial development on the space formerly occupied by Safeway, and instead seize the property to build the city’s vision of “affordable housing.”  

The problem: it doesn’t work that way.  

The Constitution allows governments to use eminent domain to take private lands for “public use,” like sewer infrastructure, new roads, schools or hospitals, in exchange for fair market value. Public use does not include having a slightly different vision for a housing development than a private owner. 

California has a long history of abusing eminent domain power to transfer properties from one private owner to another, destroying homes and communities in the process. The Fillmore neighborhood itself was the victim of such eminent domain abuse in the 1960s, when the once-known “Harlem of the West” was razed for a redevelopment that never came. 

Such destruction is unfortunately common: between 1998 and 2002 alone, California cities and redevelopment agencies condemned at least 223 individual properties for the benefit of private parties and have threatened at least another 635 with a promise of economic development, revenue, and jobs. 

In 1989, Costa Mesa, California, cleared out several existing businesses through eminent domain to build Triangle Square Mall. The mall cost $62 million to build and promised a fresh take on retail shopping. In the years that followed, the mall struggled to hold onto tenants, maintaining a high vacancy rate. Former Mayor Sandra Genis, the lone dissenter to the project, put it well: “If the market was there, it would have happened on its own … It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to figure out that people have other places to go to.” 

Just a little further south, in 1988, the city of Indio, razed 94 homes in the predominantly Black and Hispanic neighborhood of Nobles Ranch for a failed mall expansion. By the 1980s, the Indio Fashion Mall had been steadily losing traffic to trendier spaces elsewhere. The Indio Redevelopment Agency stepped in, hoping to salvage the mall’s prospects by expanding southward and adding 100 stores. But the 23 acres the agency needed to expand the mall were not empty: the Indio Development Agency displaced over a dozen homeowners in favor of the promise of new jobs. The city destroyed homes, but recession complications meant the developer pulled out, and the mall was never expanded. 

Failed developments like these cost taxpayers thousands of dollars, and cost homeowners and small business owners incalculable losses in the destruction of their homes and livelihoods. Simply put: governments do not make very good real estate speculators. 

After the Supreme Court ruled in Kelo v. New London that cities could demolish private homes under the guise of “economic development,” most states strengthened their protections against eminent domain abuse. Today, California has some of the weakest protections for property owners, ranking a “D” on the Institute for Justice eminent domain scorecard. 

San Francisco is in dire need of more affordable housing, but there are better ways to achieve those goals than unconstitutionally seizing land through government force. For example, the city could reform its zoning code, which is one of the most stringent, with two-thirds of its residential land being zoned for single-family only. 

If San Francisco wants to focus on building affordable housing, seizing private property is not the way to do it.

Zoe Tishaev is an activism fellow at the Institute for Justice, a public interest law firm that fights against eminent domain abuse.

​ Orange County Register 

Andrew Tate, who faces rape and trafficking charges in Romania, has left for the US

• February 27, 2025

By STEPHEN McGRATH and ANDREEA ALEXANDRU, Associated Press

BUCHAREST, Romania (AP) — Influencer brothers Andrew and Tristan Tate, who are charged with human trafficking in Romania, left for the U.S. after authorities lifted travel restrictions imposed as part of the case, an official said Thursday.

The brothers — who are dual U.S.-British citizens and have millions of online followers — were arrested in late 2022 and formally indicted last year on charges they participated in a criminal ring that lured women to Romania, where they were sexually exploited. Andrew Tate was also charged with rape. They deny the allegations.

In December, a court ruled that the case couldn’t go to trial because of multiple legal and procedural irregularities on the part of the prosecutors. The case, however, remained open, and there is also another ongoing investigation against them in Romania.

Romania’s anti-organized crime agency, DIICOT, said in a statement Thursday that prosecutors approved a request to change the travel restrictions on the Tates, but didn’t say who made the request.

The brothers are still required to appear before judicial authorities when summoned. “The defendants have been warned that deliberately violating these obligations may result in judicial control being replaced with a stricter deprivation of liberty measure,” the statement said.

Andrew Tate, 38, a former professional kickboxer and self-described misogynist who has amassed more than 10 million followers on X, has repeatedly claimed that prosecutors in Romania have no evidence against him and that there is a political conspiracy to silence him. He and Tristan Tate, 36, are vocal supporters of U.S. President Donald Trump.

The Tates’ departure came after Foreign Minister Emil Hurezeanu said this month that an official in the Trump administration expressed interest in the brothers’ case at the Munich Security Conference. The minister insisted no pressure was applied to lift restrictions on the Tates after a Financial Times report on the meeting caused a stir in Romania.

The Bucharest Court of Appeal’s decision that the Tate case could not proceed was a huge setback for DIICOT, but it didn’t mean the defendants could walk free, and the case hasn’t been closed.

Last August, DIICOT also launched a second case against the brothers, investigating allegations of human trafficking, the trafficking of minors, sexual intercourse with a minor, influencing statements and money laundering. They have denied those charges as well.

The Tate brothers’ legal battles aren’t limited to Romania.

Late last year, a U.K. court ruled that police can seize more than $3.3 million to cover years of unpaid taxes from the pair and freeze some of their accounts. Andrew Tate called it “outright theft” and said it was “a coordinated attack on anyone who dares to challenge the system.”

In March, the Tate brothers appeared at the Bucharest Court of Appeal in a separate case after U.K. authorities issued arrest warrants over allegations of sexual aggression in a case dating back to 2012-2015.

The appeals court granted the U.K. request to extradite the Tates, but only after legal proceedings in Romania have concluded.

McGrath reported from Sighisoara, Romania.

​ Orange County Register 

Russian and US diplomats discuss normalizing embassy operations at Istanbul talks

• February 27, 2025

By MEHMET GUZEL, Associated Press

ISTANBUL (AP) — Russian and U.S. diplomats held talks in Istanbul on Thursday to discuss normalizing the operation of their respective embassies after years expelling each others’ diplomats.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said that the talks in Istanbul followed an understanding reached during President Donald Trump’s call with Russian President Vladimir Putin and talks between top Russian and U.S. diplomats and other senior officials in Saudi Arabia.

Last week’s U.S.-Russian talks in Riyadh marked an extraordinary shift in Washington’s foreign policy under Trump and a clear departure from U.S.-led efforts to isolate Russia over its war in Ukraine.

In Riyadh, Moscow and Washington agreed to start working toward ending the war and improving their diplomatic and economic ties. That includes restoring staffing at embassies, which in recent years were hit hard by mutual expulsions of large numbers of diplomats, closures of offices, and other restrictions.

A U.S. Embassy official in Ankara confirmed that Thursday’s talks in Istanbul would deal with issues affecting the operation of respective diplomatic missions.

Valentina Matvienko, the speaker of the Russian parliament’s upper house, said Thursday during a visit to Turkey that U.S.-Russia talks should help restore the “full-fledged work of our diplomatic missions.”

“I’m sure that the agreements will be reached and we will return to civilized communication, which was disrupted by the previous administration,” she said in Ankara, according to Russian news agencies.

Prior to Trump’s second administration, ties between Moscow and Washington plummeted to their lowest levels since the Cold War after Russia illegally annexed Crimea from Ukraine in 2014 and invaded Ukraine in 2022.

No Ukrainian officials were present at last week’s talks. The Kremlin insisted that the meeting was about restoring relations and dialogue with the United States, something it said would pave the way for eventual peace talks.

Speaking to journalists during a visit to Qatar, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov noted that Thursday’s talks in Istanbul would focus on “the systemic problems that have accumulated as a result of the unlawful activities of the previous (U.S.) administration to create artificial obstacles for the work of the Russian embassy, ​​to which we, naturally, reciprocated and also created uncomfortable conditions for the work of the American embassy in Moscow.”

Lavrov added that based on the outcome of the meeting, “it will be clear how quickly and effectively we can move forward.”

Associated Press writer Robert Badendieck in Istanbul contributed to this report.

​ Orange County Register 

Gabbard right to fight UK on Apple order

• February 27, 2025

Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard is going to bat for civil liberties against the overreaching British government.

Earlier this month, the Washington Post reported that  British authorities ordered Apple to give them a backdoor to  the encrypted data of Apple users. “The British government’s undisclosed order, issued last month, requires blanket capability to view fully encrypted material, not merely assistance in cracking a specific account, and has no known precedent in major democracies,” reported Joseph Menn for the Post.

Requiring tech companies to create a backdoor necessarily compromises the security of their own products. Even if created for “the good guys,” backdoors can also be taken advantage of by bad faith actors. After all, compromised security is compromised security.

As explained by the Electronic Frontier Foundation, just a few months ago, a Chinese government-linked hack of systems for companies like AT&T and Verizon was facilitated in part by backdoors created by those companies for American law enforcement. “This gave China unprecedented access to data related to U.S. government requests to these major telecommunications companies,” they noted. This even included the tapping of calls from now-President Trump.

It’s also always a bad precedent for tech companies to bend the knee to governments, any governments really, and create a backdoor. Inevitably, less trustworthy governments will have access to those same backdoors.

And in this case, really, who are the British to be demanding that an American company compromise the security of everyone, including Americans, just because British authorities want them to?

Soon after her swearing in, Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Oregon, and Rep. Andy Biggs, R-Arizona, reached out to Gabbard to ask her to tell the United Kingdom to retract its demand.

“If Apple is forced to build a backdoor in its products, that backdoor will end up in Americans’ phones, tablets, and computers, undermining the security of Americans’ data, as well as of the countless federal, state and local government agencies that entrust sensitive data to Apple products,” they wrote.

On Tuesday, she sent a response to the lawmakers saying she will ensure American liberties are protected. “I share your grave concern about the serious implications of the United Kingdom, or any foreign country, requiring Apple or any company to create a ‘backdoor’ that would allow access to Americans’ personal encrypted data,” she wrote. “This would be a clear and egregious violation of Americans’ privacy and civil liberties, and open up a serious vulnerability for cyber exploitation by adversarial actors.”

We echo the folks at EFF on this: “We appreciate Apple’s stance against the U.K. government’s request. Weakening encryption violates fundamental rights. We all have the right to private spaces, and any backdoor would annihilate that right.”

​ Orange County Register 

California is 3rd-craziest housing market in the nation

• February 27, 2025

Yes, California’s housing market is crazy, as only two states have experienced more volatility during the past half-century.

My trusty spreadsheet eyeballed price indexes from the Federal Housing Finance Agency dating to 1975 to get a long-running look at real estate swings for the 50 states and the District of Columbia.

Look, watching home prices is not for the faint of heart. That’s true whether you’re an owner or house hunter. By averaging state-by-state rankings for a half-dozen measures of annual price change over 49 years, you see where stability was most common – and where it was rare.

The final grades showed Hawaii and Vermont had zanier price variability than California. Nevada was fourth in price gyrations, followed by Arizona.

Now, if you prefer calm pricing, these calculations say Kansas is your spot. Ohio, Kentucky, Alabama, and Indiana are next for limited price movements.

And how about California’s big economic rivals? Texas ranked No. 26 for price spins, while Florida was No. 6.

Let’s examine the six pricing yardsticks that created this scorecard to view housing’s mercurial ride.

Big gains

When did prices make their most significant one-year surge since 1975?

For California, it was a 27% gain in 1977 – the 12th-highest “best year” among the states and topping the 21% national median.

The largest one-year gains occurred in the early 1980s when mortgage rates swayed as the Federal Reserve battled ugly inflation. Hawaii home prices jumped 74% in 1982, Vermont soared 65% in 1982, and Alaska jumped 36% in 1981.

The three smallest “biggest” gains came in 2021 when the Fed’s cheap money policies juiced normally calm markets during the pandemic era. Kansas had the smallest best-year gain at 14%, followed by Ohio at 15% and Nebraska at 16%.

Texas’s most significant gain was 20% in 2021, which ranked it 29th among the states. Florida’s was 27% in 2005, the 11th largest increase.

Big losses

Conversely, when were the ugliest declines?

In California, it was the 23% drop in 2008 amid the Great Recession, the fifth-largest “worst year” among the states. Nationally, the median drop was 8%.

The 1981 mortgage madness caused gigantic losses. Hawaii’s prices tumbled 54% that year, while Vermont lost 38%. Nevada’s 26% dip, the third-largest, occurred in bubble-busted 2008.

The most minor losses as a state’s “worst year” were 1% slips in Kansas (2011) and Kentucky (2009).

The largest Texas drop was a 9% decline in 1987, No. 22 among the states. And Florida’s worst was the 22% fall in 2008, ranking No. 6.

Extreme swings

Another volatility yardstick is the gap between a state’s best and worst years.

California’s fattest gain (27%) and largest loss (23%) are 50 percentage points apart, the seventh-biggest gap and nearly double the nation’s 29-point median.

The widest gap was Hawaii’s 128-percentage-point chasm, followed by Vermont at 103 and Nevada at 60.

The skinniest gaps were in Kansas at 16 percentage points, Kentucky at 18, and Ohio at 19. And Texas’ 29-point gap ranked No. 25, while Florida’s 50 was No. 8.

Geeky math

Now, contemplate a more formal volatility measurement – what statisticians call “standard deviation.” Basically, it’s the typical swing in a collection of numbers.

This geeky math says California’s home prices deviated at a 9.6% annual pace since 1975, the fourth-sharpest gyration and significantly wilder than the 6.1% national median.

The wildest deviations were in Hawaii at 16.6%, Vermont at 12.2%, and Nevada at 10.5%. The smallest were less than 4% in Kansas, Kentucky, and Nebraska.

The 5% deviation in Texas was No. 32. Florida’s 8.4% was No. 7.

Losing years

Yes, home prices do occasionally fall.

Since 1975, California suffered 10 years of losses, the seventh-highest count. The national median was eight years of price drops in the last 49.

Losing years were most common in Connecticut, 14 times, Rhode Island (13) and Hawaii (12). One-year drops were rarest in South Dakota, occurring just four times in 49 years.

Seven states had five declines. Texas had six losers, and Florida had seven.

Appreciating appreciation

Where was the big money made?

Ah, you guessed it: California! Prices grew at a 6.43% annual pace over 49 years, well above the 4.7% national median.

No. 2 was Washington state at 6.41%. No. 3 was the District of Columbia at 6.2%.

The most negligible appreciation was West Virginia’s 3.4%. Next was Mississippi at 3.6% and Louisiana at 3.9%.

Texas’ 4.6% gains ranked 32nd, while Florida’s 5.2% was No. 17.

Bottom line

Economic rankings are primarily fun exercises with small business lessons hidden within.

Does a homeowner get anything for living in “crazy” housing markets – other than frequent indigestion from tracking all the numerous ups and downs?

The 10 most volatile states averaged 5.4% annual gains over the past half-century. Meanwhile, the 10 least volatile states averaged only 4.3% a year.

The profitability gap is vast over 49 years when those appreciation rates are applied to the U.S. median home price of $31,000 in 1975.

When 2024 ended, that house would be worth $412,000 at the high-volatility rate of yearly gains. Yet only $240,000 at the low-volatility appreciation pace.

That’s a 70% difference. Crazy was rewarded, another example of “no pain, no gain.”

Jonathan Lansner is the business columnist for the Southern California News Group. He can be reached at jlansner@scng.com

​ Orange County Register