John Allen Muhammad, who terrorized the D.C. suburbs in 2002 along with accomplice Lee Boyd Malvo in a three-week span of sniper attacks that killed 10, was put to death by lethal injection Tuesday night in Virginia. From CNN:

"The mastermind behind the Washington-area sniper attacks of 2002 that terrorized the nation's capital was declared dead at 9:11 p.m. ET, said Larry Traylor, director of communications for the Virginia Department of Corrections.

'There were no complications; Mr. Mohammad was asked if he wished to make a last statement,' Traylor told reporters outside the the Greenville Correctional Center. 'He did not acknowledge this or make a last statement whatsoever.'

In fact, Mohammad, 48, said nothing from the time he entered the death chamber accompanied by guards at 8:58 p.m., Traylor said.

'After he was placed on the gurney and strapped down, he was very emotionless,' Traylor said."

Malvo was 17 years old at the time of the shootings, and thus serving a sentence of life in prison.

(Photo by Virginia Department of Corrections via Getty Images)

Thousands cheered the 20th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall on Monday, watching a trail of 1,000 huge styrofoam dominoes collapse along a one-mile route where the nefarious barrier between communism and the Western world once stood. But there was a very special guest in attendance, too, reports the AP:

"Chancellor Angela Merkel and 78-year-old Gorbachev stood shoulder to shoulder as they crossed a former fortified border crossing point between East and West Berlin to cheers of 'Gorby! Gorby!'

'Looking back, we can see many causes that led to the peaceful revolution, but it still remains a miracle,' German President Horst Koehler told the leaders of all 27 European Union countries, Russian President Dmitry Medvedev and Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton.

Merkel -- Germany's first chancellor to be raised in the former communist East -- called the events of Nov. 9, 1989 an "epic" moment in history.

'For me, it was one of the happiest moments of my life,' Merkel told a crowd of tens of thousands packed around the Brandenburg Gate."

World leaders gathering for the celebration included French President Nicolas Sarkozy, British Prime Minister Gordon Brown, Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi and Russian President Dmitry Medvedev. Noticeably absent was U.S. President Barack Obama, who is scheduled to attend a memorial for the Fort Hood massacre victims tomorrow but who RSVP'd "no" even before Thursday's tragedy. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton attended instead, in a glaring absence of a leader from one of the key countries to have brought down the Iron Curtain. Obama instead sent a video message that was screened at the festivities.

Relive that moment two decades ago with this classic Peter Jennings clip. And enjoy more photos from the festivities here.

(Photo by Andreas Rentz/Getty Images)

The Gulf Coast is bracing for Hurricane Ida in, compared to recent years, what has felt like a slow storm season for those along America's south and eastern coastlines. The season used to end on Halloween, according to the Atlantic Oceanographic and Meteorological Laboratory, but has gradually been stretched to encompass June 1 to Nov. 30. More on Ida from CNN:

"Hurricane Ida moved into the southern Gulf of Mexico on Sunday, prompting a declaration of emergency in Louisiana and a hurricane watch for parts of the U.S. Gulf Coast.

The storm regained hurricane intensity overnight, becoming a Category 2 hurricane, but forecasters said it is expected to weaken as it moves north. Ida drenched Nicaragua after making landfall last week as a Category 1 hurricane, then weakened to a tropical storm before intensifying.

In El Salvador, at least 91 people died in flooding and mudslides, according to the government, but a low-pressure system out of the Pacific -- not Hurricane Ida -- triggered the disaster, forecaster Robby Berg of the National Hurricane Center said Sunday.

The U.S. watch -- meaning hurricane conditions are possible within 36 hours -- extends from Grand Isle, Louisiana, eastward to Mexico Beach, Florida, forecasters said. It does not include the city of New Orleans, Louisiana, the hurricane center said."

Look back on when the Gulf Coast braced for Hurricane Gustav and Hurricane Ike' last year.

Learn about the world's worst hurricanes here.

Paris. New York. Milan. Karachi?

Yes, in the face of the usual irritated fundamentalists, Pakistani designers finally got to send their creations down in the catwalk in that country's first ever fashion week. And perhaps that bravery makes the clothes even more beautiful. More:

"Some women strode the catwalk in vicious spiked bracelets and body armor. Others had their heads covered, burqa-style, but with shoulders -- and tattoos -- exposed. Male models wore long, Islamic robes as well as shorts and sequined T-shirts.

As surging militant violence grabs headlines around the world, Pakistan's top designers and models are taking part in the country's first-ever fashion week. While the mix of couture and ready-to-wear fashions would not have been out of place in Milan or New York, many designers made reference to the turmoil, reflecting the contradictions and tensions coursing through this society.

The four-day event, which was postponed twice due to security fears and amid unease at hosting such a gathering during an army offensive in the northwest, is aimed at showing the world there is more to Pakistan than violence and at helping boost an industry that employs hundreds of thousands of people, organizers said.

Many of the models, designers and well-heeled fashionistas packing out each night said the gathering was a symbolic blow to the Taliban and their vision of society, where women are largely confined to the house and must wear a sack-like covering known as a burqa.

'This is our gesture of defiance to the Taliban,' said Ayesha Tammy Haq, the CEO of Fashion Pakistan Week. 'There is a terrible problem of militancy and political upheaval ... but that doesn't mean that the country shuts down. That doesn't mean that business comes to a halt.'"

View a gallery of some of the couture from Fashion Pakistan Week here.

(Photo by Daniel Berehulak/Getty Images)