Americans killed in Afghanistan ID’d

Americans killed in Afghanistan ID’d

FAYETTEVILLE, N.C.

A North Carolina-based firm says it employed the three military contractors who were shot to death earlier this week in Afghanistan.

Praetorian Standard Inc. of Fayetteville identified the men slain Thursday as Walter D. Fisher of North Myrtle Beach, S.C.; Jason D. Landphair of Fayetteville, N.C.; and Mathew E. Fineran of Summerville, S.C.

The release issued Saturday by Thomas Lujan, an attorney for the company, says another employee, Bradley A. James of Atlanta, was wounded but expected to survive.

Women-only mosque may be first in US

LOS ANGELES

A downtown Los Angeles mosque that forbids men from attending may be the first of its kind in the United States.

The Los Angeles Times reports that more than 100 women gathered Friday at the interfaith Pico-Union Project for the inaugural prayer marking the launch of the Women’s Mosque of America, a nonprofit hoping to create space where Muslim women can learn and connect with other women.

Female-only mosques may exist in China, Chile and India, but Muslim leaders say this could be a first for the United States.

Houston’s daughter found unresponsive

ROSWELL, Ga.

The daughter of late singer and entertainer Whitney Houston was found unresponsive, face down in a bathtub Saturday and taken to a hospital in the north Atlanta suburbs, police said.

Bobbi Kristina Brown was found by her husband, Nick Gordon, and a friend. The friend called 911 while her husband performed CPR on Brown because they did not believe she was breathing nor had a pulse, said Officer Lisa Holland, a spokeswoman for the Roswell Police Department.

When police arrived, they gave Brown additional care until she was taken alive to North Fulton Hospital.

A hospital spokeswoman did not return repeated messages seeking comment on Brown’s condition.

Detectives were at the home Saturday afternoon trying to determine what occurred.

7-alarm fire in NYC

NEW YORK

Giant clouds of smoke rose from a seven-alarm fire that destroyed a warehouse and floated across Brooklyn and into Manhattan on Saturday — a day so cold that water trickling across the helmets of a small army of firefighters quickly froze.

One person standing outside the building as firefighters did their work was treated for smoke inhalation at the scene, but refused further treatment, authorities said.

About 275 firefighters stayed on the fire’s perimeter, training streams of water at flames and smoke fueled by paper inside the storage facility in the trendy Williamsburg neighborhood.

Christie on UK trip

NEWARK, N.J.

As he considers a White House run, New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie’s third trip abroad in recent months provides an opportunity to build his foreign-policy resume and test whether he has the temperament for the world stage.

Officially, the trip to London that begins today — and includes a meeting with Prime Minister David Cameron — is a trade mission to strengthen ties with the United Kingdom, the state’s third-largest foreign trading partner, with $7 billion in goods exchanged each year.

With the 2016 election looming, Christie has been studying up on foreign policy, learning from some of the most-respected experts in the Republican Party.

Associated Press