NATION & WORLD || Authorities: Tourists are presumed dead

Authorities: Tourists are presumed dead

fresno, calif.

Three people presumed dead after being swept over a raging waterfall in Yose-mite National Park ignored warning signs and crossed a barricade to pose for photographs, a witness said Wednesday.

In addition, other hikers on the trail above the 317-foot Vernal Falls warned the group that conditions in the Merced River were treacherous.

The Yosemite Search and Rescue unit identified them as Hormiz David, 22, of Modesto; Ninos Yacoub, 27, of Turlock; and Ramina Badal, 21, of Manteca.

Somalis dying by thousands in famine

nairobi, kenya

Tens of thousands of Somalis are feared dead in the world’s worst famine in a generation, the U.N. said Wednesday, and the U.S. said it will allow emergency funds to be spent in areas controlled by al-Qaida-linked militants as long as the fighters do not interfere with aid distributions.

Exhausted, rail-thin women are stumbling into refugee camps in Kenya and Ethiopia with dead babies and bleeding feet, having left weaker family members behind along the way.

“Somalia is facing its worst food-security crisis in the last 20 years,” said Mark Bowden, the U.N.’s top official in charge of humanitarian aid in Somalia.

Minn. shutdown ends

st. paul, minn.

Minnesota’s state government shutdown ended Wednesday after 20 days, millions in lost revenue and frustration on the part of residents and politicians.

The stoppage made the state a national example of political dysfunction, a small-scale mirror of the dispute in Washington over whether to raise the debt ceiling. But while federal lawmakers appeared close to a deal to slash spending, no such progress was made in Minnesota.

Democratic Gov. Mark Dayton pushed for months to raise taxes on the state’s richest residents to provide more money for social services. In the end, the state will spend more by delaying aid to schools and borrowing against future payments from a legal settlement with tobacco companies.

GOP hopefuls join 1st Twitter debate

washington

You think presidential debates are challenging? Try limiting your answers to 140 characters.

Six Republican presidential hopefuls traded tweets in the first presidential debate conducted through Twitter on Wednesday, outlining their agendas across the popular social media service.

In brief responses that buzzed across cyberspace, the GOP field challenged President Barack Obama’s approaches to the ongoing debate over the debt ceiling, job creation and the U.S. involvement in Libya.

Hurricane Dora reaches Category 4

acapulco, mexico

Hurricane Dora rapidly grew into a Category 4 storm off Mexico’s Pacific coast Wednesday while keeping out to sea and threatening coastal areas with rain and tropical storm-strength winds.

The U.S. National Hurricane Center in Miami said Wednesday night that the storm had top sustained winds had reached 135 mph. It said Dora’s center was about 235 miles southwest of Lazaro Cardenas, Mexico, and moving west-northwest at 16 mph.

The fourth hurricane of the eastern Pacific season was forecast to stay offshore as it moved parallel to the coast for the next day or so. It could strengthen more before weakening begins Friday, forecasters said.

Associated Press