• Laurel Raid Ranks as Largest in US History with Nearly 600 Arrests
• 50 Year Floods in Bihar, India
• Hostage Situation in Jammu, Curfew in Kashmir
• Mugabe Plans to Form New Government Without Rivals
• California AG Issues New Guidelines for Medical Marijuana

Laurel Raid Ranks as Largest in US History with Nearly 600 Arrests
US Immigration officials have disclosed that they arrested 595 people at Monday's raid at an electric transformer manufacturing facility in Laurel, Mississippi. That makes the single workplace raid by far the largest in US history. The previous record holder was a May 12th raid at a meatpacking plant in Postville, Iowa. Immigration and Customs Enforcement says that 475 detainees were transferred to a facility in Jena, Louisiana. Another 106 have been released for "humanitarian" reasons, but ordered to wear electronic monitoring devices on their ankles pending an appearance before an immigration judge. Eight of the nearly 600 arrested have been charged with aggravated identity theft. 

50 Year Floods in Bihar, India
Food riots have reportedly hit the Indian state of Bihar in the wake of severe flooding that has affected as many as 2 million people. Indian officials say 55 people have died in the worst flooding the state has seen in 50 years.

Hostage Situation in Jammu, Curfew in Kashmir
An ongoing hostage situation in the Indian province of Jammu has hightened tensions in a region already deeply divided by weeks of protests over a controversy fueled by the transfer of Kashmiri land to a Hindu shrine. Suspected Muslim militants are barricaded inside of a home with civilian hostages after carrying out a deadly attack this morning. Shanawaz Khan has more.

Police officials said the suspected Muslim militants had sneaked across the border from Pakistan to the Hindu-dominated Jammu belt of Indian-administered Kashmir. They said the militant attack was aimed to create communal divide in Jammu, where a controversy over the transfer of Kashmiri forest land to a Hindu shrine has already stirred up tension. The controversy has created religious and regional divide in Jammu and Kashmir, with Hindu-dominated Jammu province and Muslim-dominated Kashmir Valley staging parallel agitations. The dispute has sparked huge pro-independence demonstrations in Kashmir Valley. Indian authorities placed an indefinite curfew on the valley's districts on Sunday to prevent further demonstrations. Reports indicate that police have killed ten people during the curfew for allegedly attempting to protest. The strict curfew also applies to the media and emergency medical workers. Both paramedics and journalists report having been beaten by troops enforcing curfew. None of the Srinagar-based newspapers have hit the stands for the last three days. For FSRN, I'm Shahnawaz Khan in Srinagar.

Mugabe Plans to Form New Government Without Rivals
Zimbabwe’s Incumbent President Robert Mugabe says he will soon appoint his new cabinet ministers  - but that the cabinet will not include members from rival party, Movement For Democratic Change. This, despite on-going talks to form a government of national unity. Davison Makanga reports.

The Movement For Democratic Change says it will not be part of a government formed before the conclusion of talks aimed at establishing a national unity agreement. The South African-mediated negotiations are currently deadlocked on the issue of executive power sharing between Robert Mugabe and opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai. MDC spokesperson Nelson Chamisa said Mugabe's decision to appoint cabinet members before the conclusion of national unity talks is a sign of bad faith. [Chamisa] "If he decides to proceed with his so-called cabinet, it's just going to be a false cabinet. It’s going to be on paper, but in practice they will not be able to deliver anything and that would be unfortunate for the country.” Earlier this week, Mugabe appointed seven governors and senators from his party using presidential powers. The opposition says the act is testimony to his lack of commitment to the dialogue. Meanwhile, negotiators from Mugabe's Zanu PF and the opposition MDC party are set to resume talks tomorrow in South Africa. For FSRN, I’m Davison Makanga in Cape Town.

California AG Issues New Guidelines for Medical Marijuana
California's Attorney General Jerry Brown has issued new guidelines for medical marijuana production and distribution in an effort to clarify the difference between illegal and legal marijuana activity. FSRN's Christina Aanestad has more.

The guidelines create new rules for medical marijuana dispensaries and collectives operating in the state of California. Dale Gerringer, the California coordinator for the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws, says California's new guidelines are a message to the federal Drug Enforcement Agency to step aside while the state enforces it's own marijuana laws. [Gerringer] "The DEA has just been doing random raids down in Los Angeles that were pretty much smash and grab. They come in, they steal a computer, some cash and some pot and then they leave and don't come back." Gerringer says the guidelines will also provide clarity to local law enforcement on what is legal and illegal medical marijuana activity. Those guidelines allow 6 mature marijuana plants per patient - the same limits under Senate Bill 420, which established legal medical marijuana amounts for patients in California. But those limits are under going a legal challenge in the state supreme court.  The guidelines also include the taxation of medical marijuana dispensaries, and provide recourse for medical marijuana growers who are prosecuted but successfully argue a medical marijuana defense, to claim and receive their marijuana back.  I'm Christina Aanestad reporting for Free Speech Radio News.

Click here for newscast for Wednesday, August 27 2008