Facebook bans advertising firearms on site

Facebook, the world’s largest social network, is creating a new policy barring private individuals from advertising or selling firearms on the site. According to ABC7, the policy is being  introduced following complaints from gun control groups about the dealing of arms by unlicensed sellers and buyers not legally eligible to buy firearms.

In several cases, felons and minors have been able to buy guns on the site, according to Shannon Watts of Moms Demand Action for Gun Sense. In two of the cases found by her group, the guns were used as murder weapons.

Facebook has previously put restrictions in place on advertisements for firearms.

The policy will also apply to Instagram, the photo-sharing service owned by Facebook.

Orange County escapees put in custody

Two inmates who escaped from a Santa Ana jail have now been put in custody, according to the Orange County Sheriff’s Office. Hossein Nayeri and Jonathan Tieu were taken into custody in San Francisco.

Nayeri, 37, is charged with kidnapping, torture, aggravated mayhem and burglary. Tieu, 20, is charged with attempted murder and murder related to a 2011 gang shooting.

According to CBS News, San Francisco police were responding to an unrelated call at about 8:50 a.m. on Jan. 31. A third prisoner in the group, Bac Duong, turned himself in at a Southern California auto shop on Jan. 30.

LA storm leaves 41,000 homes without power

Thousands of people across Southern California are without power after the El Nino-driven storm on Jan. 31.  According to the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power, 41,000 of their customers were without power. Areas affected include Hollywood, Westlake, Mid-City and Mid-Wilshire.

According to ABC7, about 70,000 Edison customers were also without power, and about 200 crews were working to restore electricity.

Strong winds and rain knocked down multiple power lines, and uprooted dozens of trees throughout Los Angeles County. In addition, heavy rain prompted flash flood warnings.

Gunmen kill 46 people in Maiduguri village

Boko Haram gunmen raided the Dalori village near Maiduguri in Nigeria on Jan. 30, leaving at least 46 people killed and 35 others injured. According to a relief official, the gunmen burned the village and sent residents fleeing into the bush. Mustapha Anka, a military spokesman in Maiduguri, said the insurgents arrived in golf carts and on motorcycles.

“They detonated two bombs, which added to our fright and confusion,” resident Kulo Sheriff said. “Everybody fled into the bush from where we saw our homes burning.”

According to CNN, three women carrying suicide bombs tried to make their way into a crowd as people fled toward the village of Gomari Kerkeri, but were “intercepted and subsequently got blown up.”

Female student arrested for improper disposal of a 13-year-old girl

A second student has been charged in the death of a 13-year-old North Carolina girl. According to the police in Blacksburg, Virginia, Natalie M. Keepers, 19, was charged Jan. 31 with improper disposal of a dead body and one misdemeanor count of accessory after the fact in the commission of a felony.

David E. Eisenhauer, 18, was charged Jan. 30 with murder and felony abduction. They are both students at Virginia Tech.

The deceased is Nicole Madison Lovell.

“Investigators have determined that Eisenhauer and Nicole were acquainted prior to her disappearance,” police said Jan. 31 “Eisenhauer used this relationship to his advantage to abduct the 13-year-old and then kill her. Keepers helped Eisenhauer dispose of Nicole’s body.”

Ellinor Rundhovde
Staff Writer
Published February 3rd, 2016