Band Gets Two Years For Anti Putin Message

Punk rock band, Pussy Riot, has been sentenced to two years in jail, after a judge declared them guilty.

Judge Marina Syrova decreed that the band were guilty of "hooliganism motivated by religious hatred".

In March, the band performed an anti Putin prayer, inside Christ the Savior Cathedral.

 They claimed the did so, in protest of the Russian Orthodox Church's support of Putin; a claim the judge threw out.

After the sentence was announced, the crowd outside of the court, which was made up of hundreds of protesters, began chanting "down with the police state".

Police arrested at least fifty of the protesters, including Garry Kasparov, the former world chess champion.

Prominent musicians, activists, and politicians around the world have condemned the guilty verdict and sentence as being criminal and a strike against human rights and free speech.

Russia Claims London Embassy Was Attacked

Russia is claiming that it's embassy in London was attacked over Thursday night.

According to a spokesperson for the embassy a group protesting Russia's support of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad threw stones at the building, breaking windows.

The embassy is accusing British police of doing nothing to stop the attack.

So far the British government, nor police, have had any comment regarding the incident.

The embassy is currently surrounded by other protests groups as well, specifically supporters of the punk band Pussy Riot, which was sentenced on Friday for performing an anti Putin message.

Western US on Fire

Thirteen of the western states have fires burning, with California, Idaho, and Nevada combining for thirty-five of the seventy.

National Guard and Air Force Reserve units are active in most of the thirteen states, and North Carolina's has come west to aid them.

Near San Diego the Marines have been called out to join the fight against what has become a deadly enemy.

Weather conditions in most of the states are expected to get worse, with triple digits and dry winds expected to only enlarge the fires.

In Washington, the Taylor Bridge Fire has been thirty percent contained, after it destroyed more than sixty homes whilst burning nearly twenty-five thousand acres, in just a few days. Another fire near Cle Elum, Washington is nearly twenty-five percent contained.

The Trinity Ridge Fire in Idaho has burned nearly seventy-thousand fires. Residents of several towns are about to have to evacuate.

Along the Oregon California border, the Barry Point Fire has burned sixty thousand arces, whilst the Holloway Fire along the Nevada Oregon is well over 430,000 acres. The Rush Fire, in northern California is over a hundred thousand as well.

All totaled almost six and a half million acres have been burned, so far.

Dallas Begins Spraying

Thursday night, Dallas County, Texas began spraying a pesticide known as Duet, in hopes of ending the threat of West Nile Virus.

Just this year they city has seen over two hundred cases of the disease, ten of which have resulted in deaths.

Statewide there have been more than double the amount of cases, and seventeen deaths.

Nationally around seven hundred have been infected, with around thirty having died.

Seventeen hundred people signed a petition to keep the city from spraying, but nowhere near enough to stop the city from doing so.

Low flying twin engine planes will spray over 100,000 acres of the Dallas metro, by the end of the night.

As a precaution, residents have been advised to stay indoors, with windows closed, during the spraying.

UN Withdrawing Observers From Syria

On Thursday, the United Nations announced that they will be withdrawing it's observer mission, from Syria.

It's presence had been hoped to put an end to violence in the strife torn country, but the conflict has only gotten worse.

The mandate for the mission expires on Sunday, and all observers will start to leave the country then.

Some see the withdrawal as admittance by the UN that it can not control or handle the situation in Syria.

It is highly unusual for the international body to admit any form of weakness.

With the withdrawal, any hopes for a peaceful end to the conflict are gone as well.

Now just the questions of whether the international community will become involved, with their own armed forces, remains.

Huge Marijuana Bust in Colorado

Police in Pueblo County, Colorado made the third biggest drug bust in Colorado history.

They confiscated nearly nine thousand plants, worth around fifteen million dollars.

Police said that the land belonged to one of the Mexican drug cartels, and that the drugs were then being shipped out of state.

Only two people were found to be working the plants, both of whom were Mexican nationals, in the country illegally.

The land was extremely remote, causing police to have to use helicopters to access it.

Peruvian Troops Ambushed by Shining Path

Five Peruvian soldiers were killed, and another five were wounded when they were ambushed over Wednesday night.

They were ambushed by members of the Shining Path, when they entered the rebels' territory, during a night mission.

It has been suggested that the soldiers were under equipped for their mission, as has happened in the past.

The Shining Path is a long time Maoist group, that has taken refuge in the country's jungles.

Peru's government is concerned that the group may have allied with drug producers, who are adding to the rebels' financial ability.

The US government considers Peru to be the largest cocaine producer, in the world.

Police and the military in Peru have been attempting to fight the drug trade, which may have encouraged the alliance between the drug producers and the Shining Path.

Lucky Bobble Heads?

Baseball mythology is getting another night to remember.

Many consider baseball to be the most superstitious sport in the world, and that's probably true.

In Atlanta tonight it is Chipper Jones bobble head night, and the forty year old has already hit two home runs.

For the last couple seasons he's deflected suggestions that it's time to retire, but tonight he's showing why it's not time yet.

Braves fans are definitely wishing for the luck of the bobble head to stay strong with Chipper.

Record Numbers of Breweries at Great American Beer Festival

Exciting news for attendees of the Great American Beer Festival in Denver.

2012 will have a record number of beers and breweries.

In 2011 there were 466 breweries and 2,375 different beers.

This year will see that jump to 580 breweries and 2,700 beers, a very significant jump.

The Great American Beer Festival takes place October 11 through 13, at the Colorado Convention Center.

If you're thinking to attend, well you're too late; the forty-nine thousand tickets sold out in under forty-five minutes.

Little Hope Left For Crashed Ugandan Soldiers

All of the Ugandan helicopters that were missing, have now been found.

On Sunday the flight of four helicopters took off from Entebbe, Uganda and were scheduled to stop at Wajir, Kenya for refueling, before continuing on to reinforce African Union peacekeepers in Somalia.

Unfortunately, only one of the four made it safely, the others fell off radar and never arrived.

Searchers found the other three on Monday, one had crash landed, and the other two had crashed outright.

Eighteen officers and crew have been rescued, while three bodies have been found, leaving seven unaccounted for.

One of the crash sites has not been reached yet, due to the inhospitable terrain, and rescuers have little hope for the men aboard that helicopter.

The loss of the helicopters is a heavy blow for Uganda, which has had a history of their aircraft crashing.

Uganda has five thousand troops committed to the freeing of Somalia from warlords.