The Nation in Brief

Liz Anderson, of Chapel Hill, N.C., paints clouds on a shed Sunday, Aug. 24, 2014, at the Ronald McDonald House of Durham, N.C. Volunteers from the Legacy Center spent the weekend creating a serenity garden and landscaping. (AP Photo/The Herald-Sun, Christine T. Nguyen)   (AP/The Herald-Sun, Christine T. Nguyen)
Liz Anderson, of Chapel Hill, N.C., paints clouds on a shed Sunday, Aug. 24, 2014, at the Ronald McDonald House of Durham, N.C. Volunteers from the Legacy Center spent the weekend creating a serenity garden and landscaping. (AP Photo/The Herald-Sun, Christine T. Nguyen) (AP/The Herald-Sun, Christine T. Nguyen)

Paul: Voters wary of 'war hawk' Clinton

WASHINGTON -- Calling Hillary Rodham Clinton "a war hawk," Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., said that if the former secretary of state seeks the presidency, some voters will worry that she will get the U.S. involved in another Mideast war.

Paul is a leading anti-interventionist in the GOP and is considering running for president. Last year he opposed President Barack Obama's call for military action in Syria.

In an interview that aired Sunday on NBC's Meet the Press, Paul predicted a "transformational election" if the Democrats nominate "a war hawk like Hillary Clinton."

"I think that's what scares the Democrats the most, is that in a general election, were I to run, there's gonna be a lot of independents and even some Democrats who say, 'You know what? We are tired of war,'" Paul said. "We're worried that Hillary Clinton will get us involved in another Middle Eastern war, because she's so gung-ho."

As a senator in 2002, Clinton voted in favor of giving President George W. Bush the broad authority to invade Iraq. She has said over the years that she regrets that vote, and in her new book Hard Choices wrote that "I wasn't alone in getting it wrong. But I still got it wrong. Plain and simple."

3 die in separate LA attacks within 1 hour

SAN FERNANDO, Calif. -- Three people were fatally shot and two others injured early Sunday in three separate attacks within the span of an hour in the northern suburbs of Los Angeles. The attacks could be related, police said.

"That's of course something we are thinking about and looking into because it's three within the span of an hour," officer Liliana Preciado said.

In the first attack, someone fired gunshots at five people riding in a car to attend church at 5:50 a.m. in San Fernando, police said. A 20-year-old woman was found dead at the scene. Two others were injured; one of them was taken to the hospital in critical condition.

Forty-five minutes later, at 6:35 a.m., police responded to a call of shots fired in Sylmar and found a man in his mid-20s to mid-30s dead at the scene.

Ten minutes later, a third woman was found dead of a gunshot wound to the head, Preciado said.

No further details were released. Police planned to hold a news conference Sunday afternoon to discuss the investigation.

The shootings took place in the San Fernando Valley, about 30 miles north of downtown Los Angeles.

Coast Guard on alert after 4 bodies found

HOLLYWOOD, Fla. -- The Coast Guard said it was searching for any other possible bodies after four people were found dead Sunday in waters off the South Florida coast.

Two males were found floating in the water around 10 a.m. Sunday off Hollywood, authorities said. The Coast Guard responded and later found another male and a female.

Petty Officer Mark Barney said, "Our main concern is to make sure there's no one else out there in distress that might need help."

Barney said a Coast Guard plane reported what appeared to be as many as three other bodies in the vicinity of the victims, but crews were still searching the water to see whether they actually were bodies or just debris.

No vessel belonging to the victims has been located.

The Coast Guard said the dead have not been identified and it's not clear if they may have been migrants.

Suge Knight, 2 others shot at LA nightclub

LOS ANGELES -- Police tape blocked off the area near Sunset Boulevard on Sunday afternoon as an investigation continued into a shooting that injured three people, including Marion Knight, better known as Suge, the founder of Death Row Records. The shooting occurred at a star-studded party hosted by Chris Brown at 1Oak nightclub.

The Los Angeles County sheriff's office confirmed that Knight, 49, and two others -- a man, 32, and a woman, 19 -- were shot. No suspects have been named or weapons recovered.

The club was "packed" with hundreds of people when the shots were fired around 1:40 a.m. Sunday, said Sgt. Chris Tatar, the West Hollywood division watch commander for the sheriff's office. Deputies drew their weapons and asked club-goers to leave by holding up their hands, he said. "We didn't know who was who at that time," Tatar said.

Knight was shot in the upper torso, Tatar said, but he would not elaborate.

The party where the shooting occurred was held to celebrate the MTV Video Music Awards, which took place Sunday night. Numerous celebrities are reported to have attended the party, including Justin Bieber, apl.de.ap of the Black Eyed Peas and model Tyson Beckford.

A Section on 08/25/2014

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