A CONVICTED killer from North Carolina is today set to become the 1,000th person executed in the US since capital punishment was reinstated in 1976, barring an unlikely intervention from the federal courts or the state governor.

The fate of a convicted killer from North Carolina, set to become the 1,000th person executed in the US since capital punishment was reinstated in 1976, rests today with federal appeals courts and the state’s governor.

A North Carolina man was executed early today for the 1990 stabbing death of his wife despite the pleas of his four children, who sought clemency for their father.

Hurricane Ophelia lingered in the Atlantic early today but meteorologists said the storm could take a sharp turn toward the Carolinas, where a hurricane-watch was in effect.

Hurricane Isabel ploughed into the US east coast with 100 mph winds causing at least three deaths and knocking out power to more than 2.5 million people.