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The U.S. Food and Drug Administration is protecting consumer rights in a bold new way–by policing companies’ Facebook pages.Zarbee’s Naturals, a producer of “safe and effective natural [cough] remedies” for children, was sent a warning letter by the FDA for liking comments on its Facebook page implying that its products “are intended for use as drugs.”Zarbee’s products were designed specifically for children too young for FDA-approved medications and have not been reviewed by the FDA. Happy customers posted their approval on the company’s Facebook page, saying things like “Love Zarbee’s this is the only medicine we use for our 2...

<p>Los Angeles gang members have joined the fray in Syria. The gang-bangers are reportedly fighting alongside the regime forces.</p> <p>MEMRI posted the transcript.</p> <p>A video-clip recently posted on the Internet shows two Armenian Power gang members from Los Angeles fighting in Syria. One of them, Wino Ayee Peeyakan, also posted a picture of himself in Hizbullah garb on his Facebook page.</p>

The commander of a West Side police district plans to knock on the doors of the most dangerous gangbangers to issue warnings to stop the violence. The effort by Austin District Cmdr. Barbara West comes as Chicago police try to quell gang violence with both innovative ideas and more traditional methods such as paying hundreds of officers to work overtime on their days off. West told reporters she and an undisclosed community leader planned on Friday to begin going to the homes of about two dozen people who have been singled out on the department's "heat list" as those most...

On the third day of testimony in the George Zimmerman murder trial, the prosecution called what could be the most pivotal witness of all: Rachel Jeantel, the friend who was on the phone with 17 year-old Trayvon Martin until moments before Zimmerman shot and killed him. In the early part of her testimony, Jeantel described her conversation with Trayvon, in which he notices a man looking at him, a man Jeantel says Martin described as a “creepy, white, kill-my-neighbors cracker,” and a “creepy-ass cracker,” to which she joked that he “might be a rapist.” The credibility of Jeantel’s testimony is...

A Milwaukee teenager was charged Friday in a companion's shooting death, which allegedly occurred as they robbed an armed man. According to a criminal complaint, the robbery target, who was wounded, told police he holds a legally issued concealed-carry permit and that his 5-year-old son was with him when the two robbers confronted him with a gun. Jovan Williams, 18, was charged with felony murder in the Oct. 19 death of Zaire J. Burris, 18, who was shot in the 3100 block of N. 27th St.

So why do gangsters aim their guns sideways? Marine marksman sheds light on how gunmen from the 'hood unwittingly use a well-known aiming technique It's an iconic image immortalised in dozens of Hollywood gangster films: the gangster aiming down the side of his pistol before pumping a volley of bullets into his victim. But with most people knowing that the aiming sights are found on the top of a gun barrel, it's also a counter-intuitive way to accurately fire a weapon. So why is it that gangsters are always shown using their guns in this way? According to Jon Davis,...

A San Francisco police officer shot and wounded an armed 22-year-old parolee in the city's Mission District late Thursday, prompting a protest by dozens of people hours later, authorities said. Another group gathered in the area Friday night, vandalizing banks and a restaurant. A plainclothes officer, part of a curfew enforcement team, shot the man after he allegedly pulled a Tec-9 assault-style pistol in the 200 block of 14th Street at 8:06 p.m. Thursday, police said. The wounded man, whose name was not released, was taken to the hospital. Police said his injuries were not life-threatening. Police described him as...

A gunman who opened fire on an officer at the end of a stolen-car pursuit was killed in Anaheim's second fatal officer-involved shooting in two days, authorities said The shooting climaxed an incident that began around 11:20 p.m. Sunday, when anti-gang officers spotted a known gang member on probation in what they soon determined was a stolen car, Anaheim police Sgt. Bob Dunn said. They were pursuing the vehicle when the driver lost control on on West Guinida Lane, and two men and a woman bailed. “The officers were in foot pursuit for about a half-block when one male suspect...

<p>Five illegal immigrants armed with at least two AK-47 semi-automatic assault rifles were hunting for U.S. Border Patrol agents near a desert watering hole known as Mesquite Seep just north of the Arizona-Mexico border when a firefight erupted and one U.S. agent was killed, records show.</p>

Obama cracks down on abuses by big-city police departmentsBy Justin Elliott AP/Julio Cortez Thomas Perez, assistant attorney general for the Civil Rights Division, center, talks about a federal investigation of the Newark Police Department during a May 9 news conference with Newark Mayor Cory Booker, far left. In a marked shift from the Bush administration, President Obama's Justice Department is aggressively investigating several big urban police departments for systematic civil rights abuses such as harassment of racial minorities, false arrests, and excessive use of force.In interviews, activists and attorneys on the ground in several cities where the DOJ has dispatched...

CORPUS CHRISTI — A suspected gang member tasered Thursday after an obscenity-laced struggle with officers made no outbursts Friday when he agreed to a 10-year injunction that bars him from gang activity. David Garcia is one of 14 defendants now under the injunction that city attorneys and prosecutors secured this week against a street gang. Nine, including Garcia, agreed to the order, and 148th District Judge Guy Williams has granted default judgments against five others. Several deputies were in the courtroom Friday as Garcia formally agreed to the order. His quiet demeanor was the opposite of Thursday's courtroom scene when...

YAKIMA, Wash. -- A Lower Valley man was smacked Friday with 83 years in prison for a drive-by shooting that injured a rival gang member in Sunnyside.It was the longest sentence handed down in Yakima County under a 2008 state law that allows extra time behind bars for crimes found to have been committed for the benefit of a criminal street gang.For 30-year-old Anthony Deleon, the 1,002-month sentence means he will likely die in custody.His sentence was about 30 years higher than those imposed against his two co-defendants because he had more criminal history, including a 1997 manslaughter conviction from...

A 2-year-old boy watched his mother get shot to death by MS-13 gang members in a wooded section of Central Islip last year before one of them turned the gun on the crying toddler, killing him, according to federal court papers. The mother, Vanessa Argueta, 19, had taken her young son, Diego Torres, with her on what she thought was a dinner date last February because she didn't have a baby-sitter, the court papers said. Among those who took part in the execution-style killings, according to the federal documents, was the mother's former boyfriend. The account of the killings is...

Salvador Portillo-Saravia, a member of the MS-13 street gang, was charged with raping an 8-year-old girl at her Fairfax County home last month. But he never should have been in Fairfax in the first place. Federal officials deported Portillo-Saravia, of Sterling, to El Salvador in 2003, and he sneaked back in illegally. Now, officials are wondering why a much-touted federal program didn't catch him before the rape. Four weeks before the crime, Portillo-Saravia was in the Loudoun County jail for public intoxication. That's when the Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) program, called Secure Communities, should have identified him as an...

Activists opposed to gang injunctions have been holding loud protests in Oakland. Thirty people showed up at a demonstration at Fruitvale BART. There was "Bike for Justice." They planned to be at it again at the Oakland City Council Public Safety Committee meeting Tuesday night to protest a city lawsuit against alleged members of a Fruitvale gang. Here's what I'd like to know: Where was all this great hue and cry when suspected North Oakland gang members shot and killed Carolyn Howard, 29, while she and friends were standing on a sidewalk about to go dancing? She was the umpteenth...

Unruly Dance Crowd Gets Pepper-sprayed after Array of Fights October 10, 2010 - By PHILIP A. HOLMES - pholmes@sungazette.com As a homecoming dance was letting out at the Williamsport Area High School late Friday night, hundreds of students began fighting, creating riot conditions that took nearly an hour for city police and other officers to bring under control. "We were overwhelmed. That's the best way to put it," Lt. Tim Miller, the patrol supervisor in charge of the scene, said. "We were called there for a large disturbance. While en route, we received several calls from school officials there who...

A 33 year old Hispanic man has been arrested for the church burning. He is being held on an Immigration Hold. The Church is in the middle of 18th Street Gang Territory. The residents of a house owned by and adjacent to the church were threatened, and two days before the fire, the house was shot up by an AK 47

CHICAGO (CBS) ― Gang members themselves are the latest to come out against police Supt. Jody Weis' strategy to put pressure on them and curb gang violence. At 10 a.m., gang members are expected to hold a news conference at the Columbus Park Refectory, at 5701 W. Jackson Blvd. on the city's West Side. Gang members are also expected to attend another news conference that is being held by local clergy at 11 a.m., at the New Life Christian Ministries of Greater Chicago, 8201 S. Jeffery Blvd. They are taking issue with Weis' strategy of meeting with gang leaders and...

A brawl involving juveniles outside the AMC 24 Theaters in the Aventura Mall on Saturday night resulted in 16 arrests and the early closing of the theater and nearby restaurants. Aventura police evacuated the area outside the theater shortly after they arrived at 10:09 p.m. Several police and mall security officers were struck by suspects who were resisting arrest, and a few officers reported minor injuries, according to Aventura Police spokesperson Chris Goranitis. Officers used Taser guns on several suspects while making the arrests, Goranitis said.