A 65-year-old man convicted of raping and murdering his neighbor is to be executed by lethal injection in the southern US state of Florida on Tuesday.

Norman Grim has dropped appeals against his death sentence and is to be executed at 6:00 pm local time (2200 GMT) at the Florida State Prison in Raiford.

Grim was convicted of the 1998 murder and sexual battery of Cynthia Campbell, a 41-year-old lawyer who lived next door to him.

There have been 40 executions in the United States this year, the most since 2012, when 43 inmates were put to death.

Florida has carried out the most executions with 14. There have been five each in Alabama and Texas.

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