A man died and another was in hospital in a serious condition as a heatwave blistered parts of the US.

A heatwave is expected to send the mercury soaring to nearly 54C (130F) in California's Death Valley over the weekend – just short of the 134F reading from a century ago that stands as the highest temperature ever recorded on Earth.

The challenge: to visit all 50 US states in 30 days. The purpose: to take a picture of a representative from each state in front of a backdrop both continuous and ever-changing. But can our two reporters make it back in time for Independence Day?

Nobu Hotel, Las Vegas

Blinded by dust as the storm tore across Interstate 80, vehicles began ploughing into each other, dramatically stretching limited emergency resources in sparsely populated Humboldt County, Nevada

Floyd Mayweather has confirmed he will put his unbeaten record on the line in a light-middleweight unification world title fight against Saul "Canelo" Alvarez later this year.

Floyd Mayweather has been a professional boxer since 1996 but is not expected to finally walk away from the sport until 2016, when his latest contract expires.

Mike Conway has walked away from oval-racing in the US after two huge crashes

A 60mm mortar explosion killed seven Marines and injured a half-dozen more during a training exercise in the Nevada desert, prompting the Pentagon to immediately halt the use of the weapon worldwide until an investigation can determine its safety, a US military official has said.

Online gambling group 888 has set up a joint venture with the $12 billion (£8 billion) Avenue Capital investment group to launch online gambling in the United States.

A Republican stalwart, now 80, has owned up to a 1970s liaison with the daughter of a colleague

Who but Robert Lepage would set a piece that is partly about the Iraq War in a Las Vegas hotel and its desert environs?

The chief of the Los Angeles Police Department said he would order an investigation into the sacking in 2008 of Christopher Dorner, a fugitive former officer suspected of three killings in southern California.

Stewie the world's longest cat has died. Guinness World Records declared Stewie the Cat the record-holder in August 2010, measuring 48.5 inches (123.19 cm) from the tip of his nose to the tip of his tail.