A Mississippi man who has been on Death Row for nearly 50 years is to be executed by lethal injection on Wednesday, one of two executions in the United States this week.Richard Jordan, 79, was convicted in 1976 of the murder of Edwina Marter, the wife of a bank executive in the town of Gulfport.Jordan, a shipyard worker, kidnapped Marter from her home and demanded a $25,000 ransom.He was apprehended when he went to pick up the money.Jordan confessed to murdering Marter and led the authorities to her body, which had been hidden in a forest. She had been shot.Jordan is to be executed at 6:00 pm Central Time (2300 GMT) at the Mississippi State Penitentiary in Parchman.Jordan’s scheduled execution comes one day after that of Thomas Gudinas, 51, who was put to death by lethal injection in Florida on Tuesday.Gudinas was sentenced to death in 1995 for the murder of Michelle McGrath, who was last seen leaving a bar in the city of Orlando in the early hours.McGrath’s battered body was found the next day and Gudinas was arrested shortly afterwards.Florida has carried out more executions — seven — than any other US state so far this year.The execution in Mississippi will be the first in the southern state since December 2022.There have been 24 executions in the United States this year: 19 by lethal injection, two by firing squad and three by nitrogen hypoxia, which involves pumping nitrogen gas into a face mask, causing the prisoner to suffocate.The use of nitrogen gas as an execution method has been denounced by United Nations experts as cruel and inhumane.The death penalty has been abolished in 23 of the 50 US states, while three others — California, Oregon and Pennsylvania — have moratoriums in place.President Donald Trump is a proponent of capital punishment, and on his first day in office called for an expansion of its use “for the vilest crimes.”

A US commercial mission carrying astronauts from India, Poland and Hungary blasted off to the International Space Station on Wednesday, marking the first time in decades that these nations have sent crew members to space.Axiom Mission 4, or Ax-4, launched from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida at 2:31 am (0631 GMT), with a brand-new SpaceX Crew Dragon capsule riding atop a Falcon 9 rocket.The vehicle is scheduled to dock with the orbital lab on Thursday at approximately 1100 GMT and remain there for up to 14 days.Aboard the spacecraft were pilot Shubhanshu Shukla of India; mission specialists Slawosz Uznanski-Wisniewski of Poland and Tibor Kapu of Hungary; and commander Peggy Whitson of the United States, a former NASA astronaut who now works for the company Axiom Space, which organizes private spaceflights, among other things.The last time India, Poland or Hungary sent people to space, their current crop of astronauts had not yet been born — and back then they were called cosmonauts, as they all flew on Soviet missions before the fall of the Iron Curtain.Shukla became the first Indian in space since Rakesh Sharma, an air force pilot who traveled to the Salyut 7 space station in 1984 as part of a Soviet-led initiative to help allied countries access space.India’s space agency, ISRO, sees this flight as a key stepping stone toward its own maiden crewed mission, planned for 2027 under the Gaganyaan program, meaning “sky craft.””What a fantastic ride,” Shukla said in Hindi after liftoff. “This isn’t just the start of my journey to the International Space Station — it’s the beginning of India’s human space program.”Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi hailed the successful launch.”He carries with him the wishes, hopes and aspirations of 1.4 billion Indians. Wish him and other astronauts all the success!” he wrote on X.All three countries are footing the bill for their astronauts. Hungary announced in 2022 it was paying $100 million for its seat, according to spacenews.com. India and Poland have not disclosed how much they are spending.”We’ve got this! Poland has reached for the stars,” Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk said on X, alongside a video himself watching the launch on a screen at the Copernicus Science Centre in Warsaw.”Who knows how many future Polish astronauts watched Slawosz’s launch with me? Everyone was very excited and very proud,” Tusk said in another post, which included a photo of him seated next to several children at the science center.- Space spat -The Ax-4 launch comes after technical issues delayed the mission, originally slated for early June.It also follows an online spat between US President Donald Trump and SpaceX chief Elon Musk, the world’s richest person and, until recently, Trump’s ally and advisor.Trump threatened to yank SpaceX’s federal contracts — worth tens of billions of dollars — prompting Musk to threaten an early retirement of Dragon, the only US spacecraft currently certified to carry astronauts to the ISS.Musk walked back the threat a few hours later and in the days that followed continued to deescalate, stating on X that he had gone “too far.”Any rupture between SpaceX and the US government would be massively disruptive, given NASA and the Pentagon’s reliance on Falcon 9 and Falcon Heavy to send up crew, cargo, satellites and probes.But for now, analysts believe both sides are too entangled to risk a serious break.The Ax-4 flight marks the debut of the fifth and final Crew Dragon vehicle, which was named “Grace” after it reached orbit joining Endeavour, Resilience, Endurance and Freedom in the active fleet.”It reflects the elegance with which we move through space against the backdrop of Earth,” said Commander Whitson. “It speaks to the refinement of our mission, the harmony of science and spirit and the unmerited favor we carry with humility.”SpaceX ultimately plans to phase out its current vehicles in the 2030s in favor of Starship, its giant next-generation rocket currently in development.

Furnace-like heat and the threat of thunder and lightning are wreaking havoc at the Club World Cup — and more of the same is likely at the 2026 World Cup.With the latest in a series of brutal, climate change-driven record heatwaves blanketing the eastern United States, adapting to the weather has become a key focus for coaches and players.Borussia Dortmund took the unusual step of leaving their substitutes in the dressing room for the first half of their game against Mamelodi Sundowns in Cincinnati, rather than have them sitting on the bench in blazing sunshine.Chelsea coach Enzo Maresca meanwhile cut short his team’s training session in Philadelphia on Monday as the City of Brotherly Love baked in temperatures of 99 degrees Fahrenheit (37.2 degrees Celsius).Dortmund coach Niko Kovac, meanwhile, said the weather could ultimately shape the destiny of the tournament.”I think that this tournament will be decided not by the best team, but the team that can adapt to these weather conditions the best. They will probably win this tournament,” Kovac said.While cooling breaks midway through each half have become standard during the tournament, Dortmund, like other teams, are taking extra steps to mitigate the heat and humidity.”Our boys are very well taken care of by our doctors and the medical staff,” Kovac said.”We have very cold towels. We put them in ice baths. The boys also need to cool down their legs and their feet in cold water and ice baths.”The experience of the Club World Cup is likely a preview of what can be expected at next year’s men’s World Cup in the United States, Canada and Mexico.A recent study published by the International Journal of Biometeorology warned of the risk posed by extreme heat at the tournament for players and spectators, citing climate change as a cause of “extreme heat” events that were “more frequent and intense”.- Storm disruptions -The study analysing data gathered between 2003-2022 concluded that 14 of the 16 host cities being used for the 2026 World Cup experienced temperatures that frequently exceeded the commonly accepted safe thresholds for wet bulb globe temperature (WBGT) — a widely used measure for heat stress.The study argued for games to be scheduled outside of the afternoon windows when conditions were typically at their most demanding.In addition to the fierce heat and humidity, teams at the Club World Cup have also had to deal with matches being halted due to the threat of lightning.On Tuesday, Boca Juniors’ game against Auckland City became the fifth match of the tournament to experience a lengthy delay due to public safety regulations used in the United States that mandate play is halted whenever lightning is within 10 miles (16.1 kilometres) of a stadium.A weather delay in Benfica’s game against Auckland led to an interruption in play of nearly two hours.National Weather Service official Ben Schott, who advises FIFA and the US World Cup taskforce for 2026, says the kind of weather affecting the ongoing competition is not out of the ordinary, and said teams and fans next year should plan accordingly.”Nothing that we’re seeing right now is unusual even though we are breaking records,” Schott told AFP. “Most of the eastern United States is breaking records, and then that happens almost every summer. To expect something similar next year as a possibility is something that people should prepare for if you’re going to come and enjoy the games.”While heat was an issue when the United States last hosted the World Cup finals in 1994, no games at that tournament were halted by storm warnings.That is due to increasingly sophisticated forecasting technology, Schott said.”We’re at a point now where we can start to see things almost a week in advance and predict them pretty accurately, as compared to 15-20 years ago,” Schott said. “The advances in meteorology since we last had the World Cup here in 1994 have been substantial.”Schott said thunder and lightning were “par for the course” in several regions of North America.”This is pretty typical for United States weather for this time of the year,” Schott said.”We get a lot of moisture that pumps in from the Gulf of Mexico, and they get the afternoon thunderstorms pop up.”So as we move towards World Cup 2026, things that we’re seeing right now would be quite typical to be seen again.”Football’s world governing body FIFA said in a statement to AFP that “the health of everyone involved in football” was a “top priority”, pointing to the implementation of measures such as cooling breaks and the use of up to six substitutions if a match goes into extra time.”FIFA will continue to monitor the weather conditions in coordination with the venue teams to ensure a safe and enjoyable experience for everyone involved,” the statement added.rcw/gj