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Saudi women's rights activists have posted on the web a video of a woman at the wheel of her car, in protest at the ban on female drivers in the kingdom.



Wajeha Huwaider talks of the injustice of the ban and calls for its abolition as she drives calmly along a highway.

She says the film was posted to mark International Women's Day. Thousands have viewed it on the YouTube website.

The last such public show of dissent was in 1990 when dozens of women were arrested for circling Riyadh in cars.

Last year, Ms Huwaider and other activists circulated a petition which was sent to King Abdullah urging him to lift the ban.

In the three-minute clip, she at first drives around a residential compound where she notes that women are allowed to drive because it is not a public road.

But about halfway through, without comment, she executes a left turn onto the main highway and proceeds to drive along it in defiance of Saudi law.

"Many women in this society are able to drive cars, and many of our male relatives don't mind us driving," she says in Arabic.

"I hope that by next year's International Woman's Day, this ban on us will be lifted," she concludes.

In February, two leading Islamic scholars said there was no reason to continue the ban.

However, many conservatives continue to resist reform, arguing it would lead to mingling of the sexes which is banned under Saudi Arabia's strict interpretation of Islamic Law.

The 1990 protest, coming at the height of the Gulf crisis when US forces had come to defend Saudi Arabia, was followed by a crackdown on the women drivers and their passengers.

The women were jailed for one day, their passports confiscated, and many lost their jobs.

King Abdullah has in the past said that he thought a day would eventually come when Saudi women were allowed to drive.

BBC News

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Source: MSNBC

FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. - A woman being held as an illegal immigrant spent four days forgotten in an isolated holding cell at a courthouse with no food, water, or toilet, authorities and the woman said.

Adriana Torres-Flores, 38, appeared in court last Thursday and pleaded not guilty to a charge of selling pirated CDs, but a judge ordered her held because she is in the country illegally, Sheriff Tim Helder said.

Bailiff Jarrod Hankins put her in the cell to await transport to jail, and she was forgotten. Because of heavy snow, few staff members were in the courthouse to hear her cries and pounding later Thursday or on Friday and through the weekend.

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[OMEN]

Johannesburg - The State believes it has a good chance of convicting Jacob Zuma on corruption, its advocate Wim Trengove told he Constitutional Court on Wednesday, as he fought for the right to keep documents seized in the investigation against Zuma.

"We are sure that we have a case, not merely a prima facie case, but a case with a reasonable prospect of conviction," Trengove said, with Zuma sitting behind him in the front row of the public gallery.

He said the difference between interpretations of the search warrants used in the searches, by the state on the one hand and Zuma, arms company Thint and Zuma's lawyer Michael Hulley on the other, was "extremely narrow".

Thint argued that the warrants issued BY Transvaal Judge President Bernard Ngoepe were authorised without a case being made to Ngoepe.

Zuma's lawyer, Kemp J Kemp, said there was no affidavit with information on the investigation attached to the warrants.

Trengove said neither Section 29 of the National Prosecuting Authority Act nor the Constitution made provision for the attachment of an affidavit as suggested by Kemp.

Challenging the raid

While the searches had to be done in a dignified manner that respected privacy, the person being searched was not entitled to start challenging the state's interpretation of the authority on the scene.

He was only entitled to be told on what authority it was being done and was entitled to have his questions answered.

"Of course that afternoon he (a person being searched) can go to his lawyer," said Trengove.

He said the admissibility of the documents could also be decided at trial.

In court papers Hulley said that he left his offices for the airport on the morning of the raid and it was only on his way to the airport that he tried to challenge the raid and secure an affidavit, nor was he familiar with what he could have done on the scene. He only received an affidavit the following day.

The court heard that he pointed out boxes of financial records that the searchers wanted.

Trengove said the annexes on the warrant saying what was sought gave an indication of the type of investigation.

The investigating officer, Johann du Plooy, had also justified his application for the warrants in a sworn statement to Ngoepe.

'There is a case'

Trengove said the searches were a continuation of the investigation originally done for the purposes of the trial of Schabir Shaik, Zuma's former financial adviser, who was convicted of corruption relating to a R500 000 bribe Zuma is alleged to have received from him.

"There is a case, a reasonable prospect of conviction," said Trengove.

Zuma and Thint are trying to overturn a Supreme Court of Appeal decision that the documents may be used in Zuma's forthcoming August 4 trial, on the grounds that the warrants that allowed the searches were invalid.

SAPA

[OMEN]

Bangkok - Deposed Thai premier Thaksin Shinawatra pleaded not guilty on Wednesday to corruption charges, in the first case assembled by military-backed investigators to reach court.

Thaksin said little during the 20-minute hearing before the Supreme Court, which was packed with hundreds of his supporters who filled the courtroom and spilled out onto the steps outside.

After a judge read out the charges, accusing Thaksin of using his political influence to win his wife a sweetheart property deal, he was asked if he pleaded not guilty. Thaksin simply replied: "Yes."

The court also said Thaksin would not have to attend every hearing in his trial.

The billionaire had requested that the trial proceed in his absence so he can travel overseas to tend to his investments, particularly the English Premier League club Manchester City, which he bought last year.

Thaksin has already been granted court permission to travel to Britain for a month. He is expected to leave Thailand later in the week.

Thaksin's arraignment came less than two weeks after his jubilant return to Thailand, ending nearly 18 months in self-imposed exile following the 2006 military-backed coup against him.

The military toppled Thaksin over allegations of widespread corruption, but after 16 months in power, failed to win any convictions against him.

Thaksin and his wife each face up to 13 years in prison over two graft charges alleging she used his political influence to buy prime Bangkok property in 2003 from a government agency at about one-third of its estimated value.

AFP

[OMEN]

Poles should not be allowed to vote online because the Internet attracts people who watch "pornography while sipping a bottle of beer", a former prime minister told his party's Web site.

Jaroslaw Kaczynski and other leaders of his conservative party have said they wanted to rejuvenate their ranks and reach out to Internet users after losing power last October when younger voters flocked to their centre-right rivals.

Poland's election commission is floating proposals such as allowing people to vote online to boost turnout.

"I am not an enthusiast of a young person sitting in front of a computer, watching video clips and pornography while sipping a bottle of beer and voting when he feels like it," he was quoted as saying on his party's revamped Web site.

He added that Internet users are "the easiest group to manipulate, to suggest who to vote for".

Kaczynski, who admits to not using a cellphone or having a bank account, and his party have stumbled in other recent efforts to attracted younger supporters.

Last month party officials sparked chuckles among the fans of The Matrix franchise by comparing Kaczynski's successor Donald Tusk to Leo, the movie's hero pursued by evil Agent Smith and his look-alikes.

Kaczynski ruled Poland with his twin brother Lech, the president. Since leaving office he had unsuccessfully sought to retain his secret service agents because he feared being mistaken for his brother.

Reuters

[OMEN]

A mayoral candidate in Saturday's Queensland local government elections wants to replace 25 indigenous families from a south-west Queensland town with the same number of Vietnamese families.

A brochure written and distributed in Cunnamulla by 66-year-old Paroo Shire mayoral candidate Kevin Wise pledges to ask the federal government to pay $50,000 ($NZ58,322.64) to each of the 25 local indigenous families to move out of the shire.

Mr Wise says he would invite 25 poor non-English-speaking Vietnamese families to take their place on a five-year contract.

"I guarantee that within that five years, these families will have advanced this shire's wealth and future prosperity out of all proportion to that achieved to date with the integration on totally racial grounds of this 'dead in the water', last one leaving 'turn the lights out' community," the brochure says.

Born and raised in Cunnamulla, Mr Wise says he had served in the Australian Army during the Vietnam War and believes hard-working Vietnamese families will help rejuvenate the town's economy.

He wants them to start market gardens while their children study for highly skilled careers such as medicine and return to the shire as much-needed doctors.

"In five years, those 25 Vietnamese families, who come in not speaking English, will further advance this community, this Paroo shire, in five years than what the Aboriginal community has progressed it in the past 40," Mr Wise told AAP today.

He acknowledged that his views may not be widely shared in the community.

"As a racist, I've got a membership of one. . . me."

Mr Wise also said he was too old to be mayor and did not expect to win the position on Saturday.

"I'm 15 years too late for this job and even if I could get my 25 families, I'm not prepared to put in the hard yards and fall off the perch to make a success of it," he said.

The brochure has raised the ire of Aboriginal activist and former Cunnamulla resident Stephen Hagan whom Mr Wise said he hoped to debate on ABC Radio in Toowoomba on Friday.

Mr Hagan told ABC Brisbane Radio today that the brochure also insulted his father Jim Hagan, who was also a former resident of Cunnamulla.

Stephen Hagan said the pamphlet had no place in today's society and he was lodging a complaint this afternoon with the Anti-Discrimination Commission Queensland.

He said he still had many relatives in Cunnamulla who would not know where to go, if Mr Wise's plan was ever put into practice.

"I think it's just ludicrous – he's just publicity-seeking," Mr Hagan told AAP.

"I don't think it has any merit.

"He's implying that the Vietnamese would be far more economic (sic) than Aboriginal people in terms of contributing to the economy.

"That is racist and there's no other way of looking at it.

"It ought to be viewed as such and I think Anti-Discrimination Commission Queensland ought to have a look at this particular poster (sic) and deem it to be inappropriate.

"It would send a clear warning to people in future campaigns that they won't tolerate this type of racist stuff going on flyers."

AAP

[OMEN]

A Sydney brothel madam accused of luring Korean sex slaves to Australia was a police informant, a court has been told.

Kwang Suk Ra, 46, of Greenacre, is accused of heading a syndicate that brought at least 10 women to Australia under false pretences and forced them to work up to 20 hours every day in her Surry Hills brothel.

She is one of five people charged over the sex racket allegedly worth $3 million.

Ra faced Sydney's Central Local Court today on a string of charges, including debt bondage, deceptive recruitment for sexual purposes and dealing in the proceeds of crime worth more than $1 million.

If convicted, she faces 25 years in jail.

In his application for bail on her behalf, solicitor Stewart Levitt said Ra had been an informant for the Asian Crime Squad.

Ra provided police with information about a Korean criminal gang operating in Sydney, he said.

She also co-operated with immigration authorities and the Australian Crime Commission (ACC) in the months leading up to her arrest, he said.

"She stuck her neck out and there's no question she's been helping authorities with regard to a criminal syndicate in Australia," Mr Levitt told the court.

Under cross-examination, federal agent Juan Castellaz-Faico said police "no longer wished to speak" to Ra.

"For a period of time Ra was providing NSW police with information . . . but her services have been terminated," he said.

Mr Levitt said Ra was simply the landlord of the $220-an-hour brothel, Cindirellas, where the women were allegedly forced to work after having their passports confiscated.

She leased the operation to a number of managers, he said.

Kay Marinos, for the Commonwealth Director of Public Prosecutions, said Ra pulled the strings.

"It's a sham, she's the real controller of the operation," Mr Marinos said.

The court was told Ra threatened the women, whom she allegedly duped into believing they owed her up to $40,000 ($NZ46,658.11) for their travel to Australia.

In denying her application for bail, Magistrate Allan Moore said Ra may have only helped the authorities to clear the field of rivals.

He said it was clear she had brought the women to Australia and if freed on bail, would try to prevent them from testifying.

Mr Moore rejected the argument she was unaware of what her tenants at the brothel were doing.

"She sits behind the scenes. . . removing herself from the frontline of the activity that takes place on a day-to-day basis," he said.

Ra was remanded in custody until April 30, when she will reappear before the same court.

Her co-accused, Na Kyung Kim, 42, Jin Hee Do, 35, Jin Woo Lee, 23 and Gin Taek Choi, 28, also appeared today before the same court on related charges.

Choi was granted bail on a $10,000 ($NZ11,664.52) surety and will be required to report daily to police.

Kim, accused of laundering the syndicate's profits, had her bail application denied. She was remanded in custody to reappear before the same court on April 30.

Neither Do nor Lee applied for bail and it was formally refused.

Both were remanded in custody, with Lee to reappear before the same court on March 20 for a bail application and Do on April 30.

AAP

[OMEN]

An inflation-wary federal government says economic restraint, as well as cost pressures on families, must be considered when deciding the next rise in minimum wages.

Unions have called on the Australian Fair Pay Commission (AFPC) to give the nation's poorest workers an extra $26 ($NZ30.32) a week.

ACTU secretary Jeff Lawrence today said the union movement's submission for 1.6 million minimum wage earners would not be inflationary and was within broad wage movements.

But Prime Minister Kevin Rudd said the commission needed to take economic conditions into account in making its decision.

Interest rates have risen twice this year and the Reserve Bank of Australia has repeatedly warned that rising wages in a tight labour market threaten the inflation outlook and, in turn, future rate moves.

"We want an outcome that takes into account the cost of living pressures on working families," Mr Rudd told parliament.

"And we want an outcome that takes into account the need for restraint in the economy."

Mr Rudd has also taken repeated digs at the multi-million dollar salaries of corporate bosses.

"Inflation is the enemy of working families and it's critical that we reduce those inflationary pressures," Mr Rudd said.

"It's in that context that today I again call on Australia's business leaders to show some restraint when it comes to their salaries.

"I don't want to see a situation where we end up with two Australias."

Last year's AFPC increase was a mere $10.26, ($NZ11.96) after unions had called for $28 ($NZ32.66).

If the $26 ($NZ30.32) a week rise is granted this time, it will take the current federal minimum wage from $522.12 ($NZ609.02) to $548.12 ($NZ639.35) a week.

The commission is currently receiving submissions on this year's adjustment.

Labor frontbencher Anthony Albanese said the government had to take overall economic conditions into account.

"We have to bear in mind that a lot of low paid workers are very vulnerable. I think they deserve a fair increase, but a balanced increase as well," he said.

Mr Lawrence targeted AFPC chairman Professor Ian Harper as he criticised huge increases in corporate salaries in the past year.

"If there is to be restraint, it should be exercised at the top," Mr Lawrence told the National Press Club.

"I notice that Professor Ian Harper, in comments a week or so ago, seemed to be preparing the ground for a lower than justified minimum wage increase through his commission.

"That's in circumstances when he got a personal increase of $38,000 ($NZ44,325.20) last year – about 47 per cent. Well in excess of any worker who will be covered by any decision that his commission will make.

"I'd ask today whether anyone expects workers on average incomes to exercise restraint when none in shown by those who are paid 10 or 20 or 100 times as much."

Prof Harper reportedly is paid nearly $120,000 ($NZ139,974.33) a year.

Mr Lawrence said corporate salaries had risen more than 30 per cent on average in the past year.

AAP