Sotomayor sworn into U.S. Supreme Court
WASHINGTON, Aug. 8 (UPI) -- Judge Sonia Sotomayor was sworn into the U.S. Supreme Court Saturday, becoming the court's first Hispanic justice.
Chief Justice John Roberts swore Sotomayor at the Supreme Court building in Washington, first in the justice's conference room in a ceremony witnessed only by her relatives and a court photographer, and then in the court's East Conference Room where she took the judicial oath before about 60 friends and family members, The New York Times reported.
In the second oath, Sotomayor, 55, swore to "administer justice without respect to persons, and do equal right to the poor and to the rich, and that I will faithfully and impartially discharge and perform all the duties incumbent upon me" under the Constitution and laws of the United States, the newspaper said.
Her swearing-in as a the first Hispanic, third female and 111th all-time high court justice was a crowning moment in the story of a Puerto Rican girl who was raised by her widowed mother. Sotomayor spent 17 years as a federal judge before President Barack Obama nominated her this year to succeed retiring Supreme Court Justice David Souter.
She endured a 10-week confirmation battle in the U.S. Senate during which Republicans called her a "judicial activist," using speeches she had made on foreign law and diversity on the judiciary as evidence. She was also grilled on a comment she made about the superior judgment of a "wise Latina," for which some Republican activists labeled her a "racist."
Obama is expected to attend a White House ceremony in Sotomayor's honor on Wednesday, officials said. The Supreme Court on Sept. 8 will hold a special invitation-only investiture ceremony during which she will take her seat on the dais for the first time, the Times said.
Iranian protesters face Tehran trials
TEHRAN, Aug. 8 (UPI) -- Iranians and others accused of crimes during this summer's presidential election protests faced a second round of trials Saturday, local media reported.
The semi-official Fars news agency reported that an open court session started Saturday in a branch of the Revolutionary Court, with defendants such as prominent journalist Ahmad Zeydabadi and reformist figures such as Ali Tajernia, Hedayat Aqaei, Shahab Tabatabaei and Javad Emam also in the dock, Iran's Press TV said.
Fars said the defendants also included others allegedly affiliated with terrorist groups, as well as a staff member of the French embassy in Tehran and French academic Clotilde Reiss, who was arrested for espionage following the controversial June re-election of Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.
CNN reported the British Foreign Office as saying an analyst for its embassy in Tehran, Hossein Rassam, was also among 100 people on trial.
"This is completely unacceptable and directly contradicts assurances we have repeatedly been given by Iranian officials," a Foreign Office spokesman told the U.S. broadcaster.
Fatah demands return of Jerusalem
JERUSALEM, Aug. 8 (UPI) -- Both east and west Jerusalem must be returned to Palestinian Arabs before peace talks can resume, the sixth Fatah General Assembly decreed Saturday.
Israel Radio reported the Palestinian political group has adopted a document declaring the return of both halves of Jerusalem was a non-negotiable "red line" in Palestinian-Israel relations, The Jerusalem Post said.
The document reportedly declares Palestinians would "continue to be sacrificed until residents of Jerusalem are free of settlements and settlers," and stated that all lands conquered by Israel since the 1967 Six Day War be returned.
Israeli Transportation Minister Yisrael Katz told Israeli Radio the declaration was a clear message to anyone who believes the "illusion that the Palestinians were prepared for compromise," the Post said.
"The refusal to acknowledge Israel as a Jewish state, the demand for a withdrawal to the 1967 lines and for the full right of return for Palestinian refugees -- this means wiping Israel out of existence," Katz reportedly said.
Afghan farmers urged to ditch poppies
KABUL, Afghanistan, Aug. 8 (UPI) -- U.S. and British officials say they are offering incentives to Afghan farmers to entice them to switch from growing poppies used to make heroin to other crops.
Afghanistan's poppy crop is used by Taliban insurgents to fund arms purchases and bribe local officials. The Western allies say they aim to spend millions of dollars in August and September on a new program to persuade farmers to switch crops before the October start of the growing season, The Washington Post reported Saturday.
"We need a way to get money in (farmers') hands right away," an unnamed senior U.S. military official in Afghanistan told the newspaper.
The Post said the program calls for selling wheat seeds and fruit tree saplings to farmers at extremely low prices, along with offering cheap credit and paying laborers who work the poppy fields to instead toil on building roads and irrigation ditches.
Officials say the program is only part of a much larger strategy that integrates the military and civilian sectors. Tens of thousands of U.S. troops will continue to keep the Taliban drug traffickers under control while Afghan security forces are being worked in, the Post said.
Organic food movement grows in China
BEIJING, Aug. 8 (UPI) -- China's organic produce movement is growing steadily amid recurring health scares and a desire for a return to natural food, some growers say.
"The Chinese people are very aware that their food is rubbish," said Romuald Pieters, director of Sustainable Development & Agriculture Creation, a consulting firm working in China.
Last year's contaminated-milk scandal reinforced fears about China's food supply, a legitimate concern in a country where most farms rely on toxic sewer sludge to fertilize fields, the Los Angeles Times reported Saturday.
Fearful of the sludge, pesticides and chemical fertilizers, a small group of growers have established organic farms to sell produce and educate the public about healthier food, said Lejen Chen, owner of Green Cow farm, about 20 miles from downtown Beijing.
As more organic produce comes to market, more people people will begin to trust food suppliers again, said Terry Yu, who owns organic stores in nine locations in China,
"Customers don't trust the chain, and the chain doesn't trust its supplier -- no one trusts anyone," Yu said.
