World in brief: Reforms ahead for court system

Mexico’s Senate gave final approval Thursday to a landmark judicial reform bill that includes an overhaul of criminal trials and new wiretap powers for police.

Under the legislation, defendants will face their accusers in court in U.S.-style public trials for the first time. Much of the reform package has been hailed by legal observers here, who say the court system has encouraged corruption and led to many wrongful convictions.

Judges currently base their verdicts on written reports and transcripts of testimony that witnesses give to prosecutors and defense attorneys. The existing trial system will be phased out over eight years, as Mexican law schools retool their curricula, and practicing lawyers and judges adapt to a different legal culture.

The Senate approved the bill by a vote of 71-25. Mexico’s lower house of Congress, the Chamber of Deputies, approved the reform package last month after removing a measure that would have granted police the right to enter homes without a court order when pursuing suspects.

Tehran, Iran

Few challengers to hard-liners

Iran’s eight-day parliamentary campaign season got off to a muted start Thursday, with no events and a paltry number of challengers running against hard-line President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s backers.

Ahmadinejad supporters were expected to make gains in the March 14 vote despite widespread economic discontent because Iran’s constitutional watchdog has barred many reformist candidates from running.

The hard-liner-dominated Guardian Council blocked 1,700 candidates, leaving 4,500 in the race for the 290-seat legislature, according to official figures. Ahmadinejad opponents say many of their candidates were blocked and only about 200 remain in the running nationwide.

The council can bar any candidate it labels as not loyal enough to the principles of the 1979 Islamic revolution and strict interpretations of Islamic rule.

Sydney, Australia

S. Koreans rescued from brothel

Police have rescued 10 South Korean women who were forced to work in a Sydney brothel by a sex slavery syndicate that lured them to Australia with promises of legitimate jobs, officials said today.

Four Australian men and women and a South Korean woman were arrested early today and charged with multiple offenses relating to a sex trafficking business that was making $2.8 million a year, Australian Federal Police and the Immigration Department said in a joint statement.

The victims, who were rescued by police Thursday, were receiving counseling and government support, immigration official Lyn O’Connell said. She said no decision had been made on whether they would remain in Australia as prosecution witnesses.