this is king abdullah of jordan.obama riding by in a boat, if you were an obama fan. >> except you couldn't do that, because the secret service would be you will over this. that's what makes this all the more remarkable. there's king obama -- there's king abdullah just cruising by in this little boat. and he's like holy cow. >> you all should have recognized king abdullah. he's a big sci-fi fan. he was even in an episode of "star trek" in 1996. he even posted this video on his face book page. >> if you can, steven, translate this for me, please. [ speaking foreign language ] >> he's saying, you're the best king ever. i'm into girls, but if i was into guys, i would be in love with you. i hope this isn't uncomfortable, that i'm kissing you on the cheek. but you're really cool, go, king abdullah! . >>> some guys go snowboarding and they're -- >> shredding it, flipping it, kicking it. doing it to it. >> landing it. >> and one of them lands a triple back-side rodeo. what's that? a trick caught on camera for the first time

remember we did the story earlier of the woman driving sentenced to ten lashes, rescinded by king abdullah the concept abdullah is becoming a reformer but this sentence at this point has not been revoked so it does remain to be seen. one would think with all this international attention with the australian officials at the highest levels weighing in that this will not happen. so let's see if in fact he ever does get his 500 lashes or his year in prison and let's hope not. but interesting enough, in thailand, another story about freedom of speech. a thai-born american has just got 2 1/2 years in thailand for an insault to the monarchy. what he did was he took the illegal -- well, the banned biography of the king of thailand and he translated it into english. this is the unauthorized biography. so what he got when he went back to thailand for doing that, just an unauthorized biography, not totally complimentary to the royal family in thailand -- 2 1/2 years. >> he didn't write it, he actually just translated it? >> he just translated it into english. for doing that, 2 1/2 years. what do thes

then it was rescinded by king abdullah.cept that he was becoming more of a reformer. this sentence at this point has not been revoked. so it does remain to be seen. one would think with all of this international attention, with the australian officials at the highest levels weighing in, that this will not happen. so let's see if, in fact, he ever does get his 500 lashes, or let's hope not. interestingly enough, in thailand, another story about freedom of speech. a thai-born american has just got 2 1/2 years in thailand for what they say an insult to the monarchy. what he did was he took the illegal -- well, the banned biography of the king of thailand. and he translated it into english. now this is the unauthorized biography. so what he got when he went back to thailand for doing that, just an unauthorized biography, not totally complimentary to the royal family in thailand, 2 1/2 years. >> again, did i hear you right -- he didn't write it, he translate it. >> he just translated it into english. for doing that, 2 1/2 years.

the government of saudi arabia is ruled by the royal family, with final authority resting with king abdullah put pressure on the kingdom for reform. in response, the saudi government increased salaries for the military and government workers and it has promised reforms including allowing women the right to vote in municipal elections in 2015, that's the carrot. there has been a stick, according to amnesty international. the group says the government has drafted an anti-terror law that would classify peaceful dissent as a terrorist crime. the saudi arabian embassy in london responded to the reports saying only people endangering the safety and lives of other citizens or policemen were arrested. the kingdom of saudi arabia is committed to and respects human rights in accordance with islamic sharia, which is the foundation of our legal system. human rights groups criticized the u.s. government for not pressing harder for political changes in saudi arabia. >> saudi arabia is a crucial country in the middle east. it's the leader of the islamic world, very much the leader of the arab world and it'

>> well, we see it as western because the king, king abdullah is actually known as a reformist, but,him, his constituency are the hardline, the hardline religious faction and the ones that the fear on ban on women driving overturned and reap this report and served it to the council, which is legislative council, to prevent the king from giving women more rights. because recently he announced that women, as of 2015, will have the right to vote. so, currently women don't vote and saudi arabia they don't drive, and they're required to only be seen in public with a male guardian and usually a brother, or a father, it's a patriarchal society and tribal traditions dictate how women are treated. and the religious hardliners don't want these customs to be overturned. >> alisyn: i mean, of course, you have a conflicted relationship, or complicated i should say with saudi arabia, but we see them as an ally. how does this ruling that keeps women so suppressed. how will it affect the relationship with the united states? >> of course, there have been campaigns and it's very much demonstrating the

and when abdullah formally became king in 2005, one of his first trips, first was to beijing just to indicate where they were really thinking they were going to get major help. but in august 2006 he went to istanbul, and this began a whole series of exchanges between the senior leaders of the two countries. ababdullah bule who has been boh prime minister and president of turkey had spent eight years working for the islamic development bank, so he knew saudi arabia, and they knew him. so, i mean, there was a huge flurry of diplomatic contacts and relationships between the two. but i think initially the motives were quite different. the turks were looking for new business as turkish foreign policy is very much driven by its economic policy and it trade policy. they were looking for new markets. but the saudis right from the beginning were looking for a sunni counterweight to iran. unfortunately, turkey's policy of zero problems with all its neighbors, um, kept turkey from really coming out on the side of, on the side of the kingdom in the feud between saudi arabia and iran. furthermore