Still recovering from a spring break for the ages (Romania, Bulgaria, and Turkey), I opened the Arab News yesterday to find this…

2 erring young men ask to punished

By ARAB NEWS

Published: Apr 19, 2010 21:31 Updated: Apr 19, 2010 22:25

JEDDAH: In what is described as an unprecedented occurrence, two young men arrived at a local court in Jeddah, pleaded guilty to consuming alcohol and then asked the court to lash them for their wrongdoing, Al-Madinah newspaper reported.

Court officials tried to convince the young men to leave by telling them that it was enough that they had repented. They, however, refused and so a judge sentenced them to 80 lashes in public. The men expressed their satisfaction at the verdict.

… In other news, an Iranian cleric is now blaming earthquakes on promiscuous women.