Clinton refuses to assign blame for Benghazi attacks

By Catherine Chomiak, NBC News Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said in an interview with NBC News on Monday that she worked day and night following the fatal attacks on the Benghazi consulate to ensure the safety of other government workers abroad. Rather than focusing on who to blame for the attacks, the State Department stayed "focused not on why something happened that was for the intelligence community to determine, but what was happening and could happen," Clinton said. "We did everything we could to keep our people safe, which is my primary responsibility." The attacks on the Benghazi consulate on Sept. 11 have become a political piñata leading up to the presidential elections in November. Republicans have blamed the Obama administration for wavering on what triggered the attack. Initially, the White House said the attacks were a spontaneous, angry response to a low-budget movie maligning the Prophet Mohammad. The Obama administration has since said the attacks were carefully planned by terrorists. Four Americans died in the attack, including Ambassador Chris Stevens. Protests – some violent, others peaceful – emerged throughout the region and reached as far as Australia. In the media, what happened in Benghazi has become the foreign policy go-to question. Moderator Martha Raddatz made Libya the first topic of discussion during the vice presidential debate last week. "When you take a look at what has happened just in the last few weeks, they sent the U.N. ambassador out to say that this was because of a protest and a YouTube video," Congressman Paul Ryan said during the debate with Vice President Joe Biden. "It took the president two weeks to acknowledge that this was a terrorist attack." U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Susan Rice discusses the financial aid the U.S. provides to Middle Eastern countries. On Monday, when asked if the initial reports indicated that there had been an intelligence failure, Clinton said she didn't want to engage in a "blame game." "What we want to do is get to the bottom of what happened, figure out what we're going to do to protect people and prevent it from happening again, and then track down whoever did it and bring them to justice," she said. On Friday, Clinton reaffirmed U.S. support of Libya, saying pulling back would be a "costly strategic mistake." The terrorists who attacked the mission do not represent the Libyan people, she said, noting the protests that broke out after the attacks against the militias in Libya. Related: Clinton reaffirms support for Libya and emerging democracies "The United States will not retreat," Clinton said on Friday. "We will keep leading and we will stay engaged in the Maghreb and everywhere in the world, including in those hard places where America's interests and values are at stake." NBC News' Isolde Raftery contributed to this report. More world stories from NBC News: Assad forces using cluster bombs, rights group says Video: Pyramid reopens despite turmoil in Egypt Video: Pakistan teen shot by Taliban moves hands, feet Clinton reaffirms support for Libya, emerging democracies Madonna dedicates striptease to child activist shot by Taliban Western intelligence sees 'small signs of wavering' on Iran nuclear policy Follow World News from NBCNews.com on Twitter and Facebook

George McGovern admitted to hospice

McGovern ran for president in 1972 against Richard Nixon He served three terms in the Senate, representing South Dakota No details were released about his condition (CNN) -- Former presidential nominee and Sen. George McGovern has been admitted to a hospice in Sioux Falls, South Dakota, a spokeswoman for the facility said Monday. "The family of Sen. McGovern wishes to extend their gratitude and appreciation for the many prayers and well wishes and requests complete privacy at this time," said Lindsey Meyers, spokeswoman for Avera McKennan Hospital and University Health Center. McGovern, 90, is best known for his unsuccessful 1972 campaign for president as the Democratic nominee against incumbent Republican Richard Nixon. He represented South Dakota in the U.S. Senate and House before and after his presidential campaign, leaving the daily foray of politics after losing his 1980 bid for a fourth Senate term. McGovern has remained active since, including an appointment by then-President Bill Clinton as an ambassador to the U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization and a 2001 appointment as the U.N.'s first global ambassador for hunger. CNN's Carma Hassan contributed to this story.

Category 3 hurricane nears Baja

Storm is in Pacific, churning toward Baja California Forecasters predict it will near land on Tuesday The hurricane will weaken as it approaches land, hurricane center says (CNN) -- The government of Mexico issued a hurricane warning Monday for parts of the west coast of Baja California as Hurricane Paul became a major storm, the U.S. hurricane center said. The National Hurricane Center in Miami said hurricane conditions are expected to affect a stretch of coast from Santa Fe, Mexico, to Puerto San Andresito on Tuesday afternoon. As of 8 p.m. ET on Monday, Hurricane Paul had maximum sustained winds of 120 mph (195 kph) but forecasters predict it will weaken on Tuesday as it skirts the coast. The eye of the storm is 360 miles (580 kilometers) from the southern tip of the peninsula, the center said. The storm is moving toward the north-northeast at 13 mph (20 kph). Some areas may see as much as 8 inches of rain, forecasters predicted. The same region was hit by Hurricane Jimena three years ago. Jimena reached Category 4 status before striking land as a Category 1. On its current path, Paul should pass to the west of the popular tourist destination of Los Cabos on the southern tip of the peninsula.

Clinton takes blame for Benghazi failure

Clinton says the buck stops with her regarding a deadly attack on a U.S. consulate She says there was "confusion" about the attack in the first days U.S. Ambassador Chris Stevens and three other Americans were killed in Benghazi Lima, Peru (CNN) -- Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said the buck stops with her when it comes to who is to blame for security ahead of a deadly assault on the U.S. diplomatic mission in Benghazi, Libya. "I take responsibility" for what happened on September 11, Clinton said in an interview with CNN's Elise Labott soon after arriving in Lima, Peru, for a visit. The interview, one of a series given to U.S. television networks Monday night, was the first she has given about the attack on the U.S. consulate in Benghazi. Clinton insisted President Barack Obama and Vice President Joe Biden are not involved in security decisions. "I want to avoid some kind of political gotcha," she added, noting that it is close to the election. The attack killed Chris Stevens, the U.S. ambassador to Libya, and three other Americans at the consulate. The Obama administration has been heavily criticized after Vice President Joe Biden said during last week's vice presidential debate that the White House did not know of requests to enhance security at Benghazi, contradicting testimony by State Department employees that requests had been made and rejected. Following the debate, the White House said the vice president did not know of the requests because they were handled, as is the practice, by the State Department. Clinton also sought to downplay the criticism that administration officials continued to say the attack was a spontaneous product of a protest over an anti-Muslim film, a theory that has since been discarded. In the wake of an attack, there is always "confusion," Clinton said. But the information has since changed, Clinton said in the interview. The secretary of state also described the desperate scene in the State Department during the hours of the attack on the night of September 10. It was an "intense, long ordeal" as staff tried to find out what had happened. Clinton said her mission now is to make sure such an attack will never happen again -- but also that diplomacy, even in dangerous areas like Benghazi, is not stopped. "We can't not engage," she said. "We cannot retreat."

Body of missing Florida student ID'd

University of Florida student Christian Aguilar, 18, went missing last week after an altercation in Gainesville. NEW: The student's father says he hopes to remember his son with joy Christian Aguilar, 18, was last seen on September 20 Police used dental records to help identify his remains Another 18-year-old has been charged with first-degree murder (CNN) -- Human remains discovered last week in Levy County, Florida, have been identified as those of missing University of Florida student Christian Aguilar. Dental records were used to identify the body, Gainesville police said. Further tests will be conducted to determine his manner of death. Aguilar's remains were found on Friday, but police did not identify them until Monday. "Right now, we are just going to start with our grieving, and hoping that the authorities give us the body in the next couple of days," Carlos Aguilar, the student's father, told reporters in Gainesville, CNN affiliate WFOR reported. He thanked the scores of volunteers who helped search for his son. "I'm going to continue until, you know, I go through this and I find a way that I'm going to be able to remember my son with joy," he said. Aguilar, 18, was last seen on September 20. Eight days later, Pedro Bravo was charged with first-degree murder in the student's death. Family: We believe missing son was found Bravo initially told investigators he got into "an altercation with Aguilar" the night the college student went missing, police said. The suspect said he then left Aguilar in a parking lot in this north-central Florida city, prompting Gainesville police to warn that Aguilar may have been disoriented and/or seriously injured. Aguilar's father told CNN affiliate WCJB in Gainesville that his son disappeared after a fight over a girl. Bravo, who is also 18, changed his account of what happened "after being confronted with evidence that disputed his initial statements," Gainesville Police spokesman Ben Tobias said late last month. Aguilar's backpack was found inside a suitcase in Bravo's closet, according to Tobias. At the time, the police spokesman said that blood found in several locations in Bravo's vehicle would undergo an expedited analysis and be compared against known DNA samples of Aguilar. Authorities used helicopters and K-9 units to search for Aguilar. His relatives plastered the area with fliers, used Twitter to generate leads and invited a nonprofit search group to help look for him alongside family members and police. According to CNN affiliate WJXT in Jacksonville, hunters in a rural part of Levy County found human remains Friday and notified police in Gainesville, about an hour away.

No yearbook memorial for student who committed suicide

By Andrew Mach, NBC News Courtesy Peggy Havnes Kyle Kenyan, who committed suicide in January, is pictured in his last school picture in September 2011. Officials at a high school in Minnesota are drawing the ire of more than a hundred of its students and parents for refusing to memorialize in its yearbook a student who committed suicide.  Kyle Kenyan would have been a senior this year at Menagha Public School in Menagha, Minn., but he committed suicide on Jan. 8. When word got out that school staff wouldn't memorialize the teen in this year's yearbook due out in May 2013, classmates started a petition to appeal their decision. Even though this year's senior class has less than 50 students, about 100 students throughout the rest of his school have signed the petition to get a memorial page in their yearbook, something his mother, Peggy Havnes, would also like to see. "When I heard about it last week, I sort of fumed underneath because it's not my fight to fight," Kyle's mother, Peggy Havnes, told NBC News. "My main concern is the kids, and I want to stand up for the injustice that goes to Kyle's classmates, the class of 2013." But Menahga Public Schools Superintendent Mary Klamm said the school district's policy on the issue is clear and firm.  "Long before Kyle's death, we made the decision not to include memorials in our K-12 yearbook while we were updating our crisis manual," Klamm told NBC News. "During that process, we took a lot of time to decide how to properly respond to the death of a student or faculty member, and we were recommended not to memorialize suicide because of the possibility of copycats. That's our biggest fear."    Stay informed with the latest headlines; sign up for our newsletter Klamm said a decision against a memorial page for Kyle in the yearbook, which will go to the school's 876 students, does not mean he'll be excluded from the yearbook entirely. But students who have persisted in their quest to get a memorial page, Havnes said, have been told by school staff they could lose their walking privileges at graduation if they don't end their campaign. And the clash between students and administrators over her son, she said, has only served as a reminder of her of his death months ago.  "We were so saddened by this tragedy, and it's very hard because all of our personal feelings that we had as a family when Kyle died have resurfaced," Havnes said. "He was battling with some depression and we were trying to get him some help and it just didn't come in time. We have a lot of family and community support and the least amount of support is coming from the school." Klamm said the movement to get a memorial page for Kyle was started by only "a couple of really loud" seniors who "completely circumvented school officials" and instead made public their pleas for the memorial. Regardless, Havnes said there would be a clear lesson in the decision to include her son in the yearbook. "I think we need to use this as a teaching tool because this can happen in anybody's family and we need to take into consideration that this is not just my child but the community's child," Havnes said. "And if we can prevent any other family from going through this then we've accomplished something." Klamm said she has been in contact with other school administrators and they have made the same decision on yearbook memorials. "This is something schools have to deal with." In a similar incident, officials at the Winnisquam Regional School District in Tilton, N.H., were wrestling this month with a campaign waged by high school students who wanted to pay tribute in this year's yearbook to a classmate, Alexandria "Ali" Nixon, who committed suicide in May 2010. Watch the most-viewed videos on NBCNews.com  After students were allegedly told no mention would be made of Nixon in the yearbook, they started a petition on the website Change.org, which garnered some 1,500 signatures from people in several states and foreign countries. One student's father even offered to purchase an entire page of the yearbook to dedicate to Nixon's life but was refused by school administrators. School officials denied ever mentioning that no mention would be made of Nixon. Members of the yearbook staff said the student responsible for drafting, circulating and submitting the petition ended up shredding it -- something the student subsequently confirmed. School officials stressed that they followed school district protocol and affirmed that they would acknowledge Nixon in the yearbook, but they "did not want to glorify a death by suicide," said Tammy Davis, the Winnisquam Regional School District superintendent. Though the deadline for the Menagha High School yearbook is Nov. 1, Klamm said the issue is not closed because modern technology makes changes possible. "Best practices tells us that that's not the best thing to do," Klamm said. "Are we going to have a memorial page? No. But we are going to continue to have a discussion to see what other options are available to memorialize Kyle." "The kids want this memorial and this memory page for Kyle," Havnes  said, "and I think the kids should have a say-so in what they want in their yearbook. It's not to remember a suicide, it's to remember Kyle." More content from NBCNews.com: Report: Ariz. military recruiters shot paintballs at homeless Prank gone wrong? 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Worker dies in tuna plant oven

NEW: Jose Melena's job was to push baskets of canned tuna into a pressure cooker Melena was a 6-year veteran of the Santa Fe Springs plant California's state worker safety agency is investigating the fatality Los Angeles (CNN) -- California authorities are investigating the death of a worker in an oven at a Los Angeles-area tuna processing plant. The victim, Jose Melena, was cooked to death in a steam oven at the Bumble Bee Foods plant in Santa Fe Springs on Thursday, said Erika Monterroza, a spokeswoman for the California Division of Occupational Safety and Health. Melena was a six-year veteran of the plant, which was shut down until Monday, the company said. "The entire Bumble Bee Foods family is saddened by the tragic loss of our colleague, and our thoughts and prayers are with the Melena family," the company said. Monterroza said she could not disclose further details. Worker fatality investigations typically take three to four months to complete. The plant is about 18 miles southeast of downtown Los Angeles. It processes and cans tuna loin. Melena's job involved pushing baskets of sealed cans into a pressure cooker, and he was considered a skilled and knowledgeable employee, Pat Menke, the company's vice president for human resources, told CNN. The process sterilizes the canned tuna, which is then cooled, dried, labeled and inspected before being shipped to stores, Menke said. CNN's Stella Chan and Irving Last contributed to this report.