From America

U.S. President Barack Obama on Friday described the deaths of three young Muslims gunned down in North Carolina this week as "brutal and outrageous murders" and said no one in the United States should be targeted for their religion.

The president's statement came as the U.S. Justice Department said it would join the FBI's preliminary inquiry to determine whether the man accused in the Chapel Hill shooting on Tuesday broke any federal laws, including hate crime laws.

"No one in the United States of America should ever be targeted because of who they are, what they look like, or how they worship," Obama said in a statement, offering his condolences to the victims' families.

The families had called on Obama to insist that federal authorities investigate whether the murder suspect, 46-year-old paralegal student Craig Stephen Hicks, was motivated by hatred toward the victims because they were Muslim.

Police seized more than a dozen firearms and a large amount of ammunition from his home, according to search warrants filed on Friday, WRAL-TV reported.

Newlywed Deah Shaddy Barakat, 23, a University of North Carolina dental student, his wife, Yusor Mohammad Abu-Salha, 21, and her sister, Razan Mohammad Abu-Salha, 19, a student at North Carolina State University, were killed in a condominium about two miles (three km) from the UNC campus.

According to the warrants, a friend of the victims' stopped police and directed them to the condo, where authorities found Barakat dead and bleeding from his head in the front doorway, the television station reported.

A New Jersey judge ordered the return of $1.5 million to a casino from gamblers who won at a table game after realizing the cards had not been shuffled.

State Superior Court Judge Donna Taylor ruled in favor of the Golden Nugget casino in its dispute with 14 gamblers who say it was not there fault the cards were not shuffled and should be allowed to keep their winnings.

A mini-baccarat game is where the trouble started in April 2012. The casino was using decks of cards that paid a manufacturer to pre-shuffle, but the deck at hand was not shuffled. Once the gamblers realized the cards were not shuffled, they increased their bets from $10 to $5,000 and proceeded to win 41 straight hands.

Judge Taylor said the games were illegal under state law because they did not conform to the state's gambling regulations.

"The dealer did not pre-shuffle the cards immediately prior to the commencement of play, and the cards were not pre-shuffled in accordance with any regulation," the judge wrote. "Thus, a literal reading of the regulations ... entails that the game violated the (Casino Control) Act, and consequently was not authorized."

The Golden Nugget casino bought what were supposed to be pre-shuffled cards from a Kansas City Manufacturer. The manufacturer did acknowledge it failed to shuffle the cards. The litigation between the manufacturer and the casino was resolved, but a confidentiality agreement prevents details from being revealed.

ISIS Fighters Attack Iraqi Base Wearing Iraqi Army Uniforms

Pentagon spokesman Rear Admiral John Kirby said at a Pentagon briefing that between 20 and 25 ISIS fighters had tried to enter the base. Most, if not all, of the attackers were wearing Iraqi Army uniforms, he said.

The first wave of ISIS attackers detonated suicide vests at the base’s perimeter, Kirby said, and they were followed by a second wave of 10 to 15 fighters who tried to breach the perimeter.

“They were immediately engaged by members of the Iraqi army, the 7th Infantry of the Iraqi Army, and all were killed,” Kirby said, noting there were no Iraqi Army casualties in the incident, which he described as short in duration.

Kirby stressed that none of the 400 U.S. personnel on the base were anywhere near the attack. “At least a couple of miles away,” said Kirby. “So, they might have heard shots being fired, but that would've been about it.”

ISIS controls major parts of Anbar Province in western Iraq where al-Asad Airbase is located. The U.S. military is using the large 25-square-mile base as a training facility to train Iraqi troops and assist with Iraqi training of Sunni tribesmen to fight against ISIS.

For several months the base has been a frequent target of ISIS mortar fire, though U.S. military officials say it is ineffective because the fire is not targeted.

Kirby confirmed that on Thursday ISIS fighters had taken over al-Baghdadi, a town located less than 10 miles from the base at al-Asad. ISIS fighters who had been besieging the town for months were able to make into the town on Thursday and take over the local Iraqi police station.

The taking of al-Baghdadi was the first time in months that ISIS had gained ground in Iraq, where it has been in a defensive posture.

“It's one town. It's not all of al-Anbar. It's not all of Iraq,” said Kirby. “We need to keep it in perspective.”

U.S. officials said that Iraqi troops were making progress in clearing ISIS fighters at al-Baghdadi though Kirby said the town was still assessed to be under the control of ISIS.