From the Wire

-Information compiled from The New York Times

Jeanne hits Florida: Florida survived the onslaught of its fourth hurricane of the season this weekend when Jeanne hit land near Vero Beach, Fla. around midnight Saturday. According to Governor Jeb Bush, about 1.2 million homes and businesses were without power as a result of the 70 miles per hour winds. The storm has already been downgraded to a tropical storm with winds of only 50 m.p.h. and will more than likely decrease to a tropical depression as it goes over Georgia and the Carolinas early this week. Jeanne hit close to where Frances struck at the beginning of September. Residents of Hutchinson Island said that Jeanne was much more powerful and damaging than Frances. Jeanne has caused at least five deaths in Florida and more than 1,500 deaths in the Caribbean. Florida now becomes first state to be hit by four hurricanes in one season since Texas in 1886.

Pearl kidnapping suspect killed: Amjad Hussain Farooqi, a suspected al-Qaida operative who was wanted for his alleged involvement with the kidnapping and killing of Wall Street Journal reporter Daniel Pearl, was killed Sunday afternoon during a police shootout in Pakistan. Two other men, Abdul Rehman and Yaqoob Farooqi, were also arrested during the raid and are said to have high importance in the al-Qaida network. During the shootout, Farooqi was reported to have shouted that he would rather die than be captured. Since mid-July, Pakistan has captured over 70 terrorist suspects. Pearl’s kidnapping and beheading in 2002 became international news when a videotape of his beheading was released by the terrorists. Until Sunday, Farooqi had been missing ever since.

Presidential candidates prepare for debates: President George W. Bush and Senator John Kerry will be spending this week preparing for the first debate of the election race which will occur on Thursday. The major issue the candidates will be planning for will be terrorism and the war in Iraq. Since the threat of another domestic terrorist attack, Kerry has been planning on attacking Bush’s handling of the war against terrorism by saying that Bush has misled America about the severity of the war. In response, Bush’s communication director Nicholle Devenish says that Kerry’s attacks are undermining and demoralizing the troops. The candidates are slated to debate three times in the next two-week period, with the vice-presidential candidates, Dick Cheney and John Edwards, facing off once.