At 6:27 local time, Marvin Wilson was executed in Texas. The Supreme Court denied on Tuesday a stay of the execution on the grounds that Wilson was mentally retarded. Marvin Wilson was convicted of beating Jerry Williams, a police informant, and then shooting him in the head and neck at close range in November 1992. Wilson’s lawyers said their client has a low IQ of 61 and never progressed beyond the elementary-school level in reading and math. In 2002, the Supreme Court ruled that mentally deficient defendants couldn’t be put to death, but left it up to the states to determine the threshold.

Loughner pleaded guilty on Tuesday to the shooting in Arizona that killed six people and injured 13 others, including Rep. Gabrielle Giffords. In exchange for the plea deal, the government will not seek the death penalty, and Loughner will receive an automatic life sentence. Rep. Giffords announced in a statement through her husband that she supports Jared Loughner's plea agreement. “The pain and loss” caused by the rampage “are incalculable,” Mr. Kelly said. “Avoiding a trial will allow us — and we hope the whole Southern Arizona community — to continue with our recovery and move forward with our lives.”

Tourists are evacuating the beach after Hurricane Ernesto moved towards landfall on the resorts along Mexico’s Caribbean coast Tuesday night. Ernesto was upgraded from a tropical storm earlier Tuesday afternoon, and is set to unleash winds up to 85 mph and torrential rainfall on the Yucatan area near Mexico’s border with Belize. Thousands of tourists are being evacuated or sent to storm shelters. Though the worst of the storm is expected to hit just south of higher-trafficked locales like Cancun and the Riviera Maya, the resort areas will still withstand strong rain and winds.

The controversial military contractor formerly known as Blackwater has agreed to pay a $7.5 million fine in order to settle federal criminal charges related to arms smuggling, sales, and other crimes, the U.S. Justice Department said on Tuesday. The settlement from the company, which now goes by the name Academi LLC, covers a list of violations including unauthorized military training provided to foreign governments, illegal possession of automatic weapons, unauthorized sales of satellite phones in Sudan, illegally shipping body armor overseas, and lying about weapons provided to the king of Jordan. Seventeen charges were brought against Academi following a five-year investigation.

NASA’s new rover Curiosity just landed on Mars Sunday night, and it’s already behaving like quite the tourist. The rover, which is on the Red Planet searching for evidence that Mars once harbored or could in the future harbor microbial life, snapped its first color image of its surroundings Tuesday, revealing the north wall and rim of Gale Crater. The success of the picture proved that key instruments were in good working order following the rover’s dramatic descent to the planet’s surface Sunday.

Name-calling is reaching new, creative heights in the presidential campaign, with both Barack Obama and Mitt Romney coining new terms to attack their opponent with. On Monday, Obama invented the nickname “Romney Hood,” alleging that Romney plans to tax the poor to help the rich—Robin Hood in reverse. Romney responded Tuesday by coining the term “Obamaloney” in order to accuse the president of making up his facts. It’s the latest case of mudslinging, following a Romney ad attacking Obama’s welfare-reform plan and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid’s unsubstantiated claim that Romney paid no taxes in past years.

Sally Pearson of Australia took her first gold medal and the country’s fourth Tuesday night in the 100-meter hurdles at the London Games. Pearson, who won the silver at the 2008 Beijing Games, edged ahead of her American rival and defending champion, Dawn Harper by .2 seconds to claim victory. Kellie Wells and Lolo Jones, both from Team U.S.A., trailed closely behind Pearson and Harper, with all four competitors leaping over the final hurdle within 13 seconds. While Harper was initially in the lead, Pearson chased her down and crossed the finish line at 12.35 seconds. Wells earned the bronze medal at 12.48 second while Jones, who barely qualified for the finals, came in fourth place at 12.58 seconds—her best time of the season.

Beleaguered Syrian President Bashar al-Assad appeared on television with a senior Iranian official Tuesday, as Iran threw its support behind his government. “Iran will not allow the axis of resistance, of which it considers Syria to be an essential part, to be broken in any way," said Saeed Jalili, the head of Iran’s Supreme National Security Council. “Axis of resistance” is a club term for the two Shi'ite nations’ anti-Israel crusade. The endorsement comes at a helpful time for Assad, as his troops move on the city of Aleppo with massive firepower, trying to drive out rebel forces. Iran says it may provide humanitarian aid to Syria; the rebels say they’re low on ammunition, with government forces closing in on both sides.

Seven athletes from Cameroon have disappeared while in Great Britain for the Olympic Games. The Cameroon Ministry of Sports and Physical Education Five boxers announced on Monday that five boxers, a swimmer, and a soccer player have gone missing. Drusille Ngako, a reserve goaltender for the women’s soccer team, was the first to vanish. Swimmer Paul Ekane Edingue left a few days later. The five boxers left after being eliminated from the Olympic Games. Officials believe the athletes fled so that they could stay in Europe and improve their economic situations. A spokesman for the International Olympic Committee said the organization was unaware that athletes were missing.

Tiger Beat sensation Justin Bieber is used to startling attention being paid to his hair, from his infamous shag to his new cropped ’do. Now, the pop star seems to fashion himself something of a coif critic, ridiculing Prince William for his thinning hair in an interview with British magazine Rolla Coaster. “I mean, there are things to prevent that nowadays, like Propecia,” Bieber says. “I don’t know why he doesn’t just get those things, those products… Have you not got it over here?”

Australian art critic and writer Robert Hughes died Monday in a Bronx hospital after a long illness. Hughes started as an art critic for Time magazine and later published popular books such as The Fatal Shore, about the harsh conditions of convicts during early settlements in Australia. He also had a television series called Shock of the New about modern art. He was 74 years old. "Bob really opened up the eyes of Australians to their history in Fatal Shore," said Australian Liberal MP Malcolm Turnbull, who is married to Hughes' niece.

Anna Piaggi, an Italian fashion journalist known for her eccentric sense of style, died on Tuesday at her home in Milan. She was 81. Piaggi was a fixture at high-end fashion shows, often stealing the limelight with her blue hair, unconventional clothing, and bright makeup. A longtime contributor to Italian Vogue, Piaggi was also honored by the Victoria and Albert Museum, which presented a collection of her clothes that included 265 pairs of her shoes and more than 2,800 of her dresses.

It's a big day for Missouri's Claire McCaskill. The embattled senator will finally learn, after the votes are tallied in today's congressional primary, who she'll be running against in November. There are currently three Republicans vying to replace the vulnerable Democrat, but the McCaskill camp is believed to hope Rep. Todd Akin, considered less aggressive than the others, will be her opponent. Michigan, Washington, and Kansas are all holding their primaries today as well. 

Here’s one reason why movie theaters in the U.S. need heightened security in the aftermath of the Aurora, Colo., massacre. An Ohio man is being held without bail in a Westlake, Ohio, jail after he was caught Saturday at a 10 p.m. showing of The Dark Knight Rises in North Ridgeville with a bag stuffed with a gun, ammo, and knives. An off-duty officer spotted and followed Scott A. Smith, 37, entering the theater a half-hour early with a conspicuous bag. When asked to reveal the contents of his bag, Smith told the officer he would just put the bag in his car. The officer cuffed him and found a loaded Glock 9mm handgun, two loaded magazine clips, three knives, and one more on his body. A search of his home found eight rifles, handguns, gas masks, and bulletproof vests. Smith has no criminal record, but police believe he spent a short time in the military and doesn’t have a permit to carry a concealed weapon.

Famed composer Marvin Hamlisch has died in Los Angeles at the age of 68. A spokesman said he died from a brief illness, but other details are not being released. Hamlisch wrote music for more than 40 films. During his career, he won three Golden Globes, one Tony, four Emmys, and three Academy Awards, including one for The Sting. He also received a Pulitzer Prize for the long-running Broadway hit A Chorus Line. He had been scheduled to fly to Nashville this week to see a production of his hit musical The Nutty Professor. 

Are you just dying to know whom Mitt Romney will pick as his running mate for the presidential election? You could download the Romney campaign’s mobile app and wait around to be one of the first to hear the news. But why wait for the announcement when you could predict it? Take a look at the potential running mates’ Wikipedia pages for clues. Back in 2008, Sarah Palin’s Wikipedia page was rife with changes and updates just hours before John McCain announced that she’d be his running mate. The same thing happened when then-candidate Barack Obama made Joe Biden his official pick. Just Tuesday, Ohio Sen. Rob Portman’s Wikipedia page has been updated 16 times. Nine changes have been made to freshman favorite from Florida Sen. Marco Rubio’s page. Former Minnesota governor Tim Pawlenty’s page has been altered four times Tuesday. Changes have been made over the past week to Wisconsin Rep. Paul Ryan’s page, as well as Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal’s; New Hampshire Sen. Kelly Ayotte’s and New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie’s pages have not been updated since late July. 

New Zealand’s Mount Tongariro erupted on Monday night for the first time since 1897. The half-hour eruption spread a layer of ash as far as 60 miles, drove some people to evacuate their homes, and canceled some domestic flights, but caused no damage or injuries in the sparsely populated central North Island area. The area, which is designated as a national park, is a popular tourist attraction and was used as a filming location for the Lord of the Rings films. Scientists had seen increased seismic activity under the mountain for weeks, but no warning had been issued before the eruption.

New details have emerged regarding Wade Michael Page’s life before the shooting at a Sikh temple in suburban Milwaukee. In the Army, Page rose to the rank of sergeant before losing a stripe due to “patterns of misconduct.” Christopher Robillard, who described Page as his “closest friend” in the service, recalled that Page would often talk about a “racial holy war.” Robillard said, “He would talk about the racial holy war, like he wanted it to come." After being discharged from the Army, Page moved to Denver where he joined a “racist band.” The FBI said that Page may also have been involved with the white supremacist movement, but that has not yet been confirmed.

Loughner pleaded guilty on Tuesday to the shooting in Arizona that killed six people and injured 13 others, including Rep. Gabrielle Giffords. In exchange for the plea deal, the government will not seek the death penalty. Rep. Giffords announced in a statement through her husband that she supports Jared Loughner's plea agreement. A psychologist testified Tuesday that Loughner is competent to stand trial. Sentencing for the case is set for November 15.

Hopefully they weren’t potential donors. Fighter jets intercepted two small planes that were in President Obama’s airspace while he was in Connecticut for a fundraiser on Monday night. The jets intercepted a plane over Long Island, N.Y., at 7 p.m. and followed it until the plane landed, when law enforcement officials met it. About 30 minutes later, another small plane was intercepted near New Haven, Conn., but the jets allowed it to continue to its destination. Both planes entered airspace that had been temporarily restricted for Obama’s visit to the state.

The legend of Robin Hood touts that the outlaw stole from the rich to give to the poor. Debuting a new attack line, Barack Obama is now calling rival Mitt Romney “Robin Hood in reverse.” Romney’s tax proposal would require the middle class to pay more in taxes “so he could give another $250,000 to those making more than $3 million a year,” Obama said at a fund-raiser in Connecticut. “It’s Romney Hood.” Romney’s spokesperson called the attack false.

Police may have been tipped off about James Holmes’s behavior weeks before the 24-year-old opened fire at a Colorado movie theater, killing 12 people, ABC News reports. Dr. Lynne Fenton, the psychiatrist who treated Holmes at the University of Colorado, where he was a student, reportedly told a university police officer that she had concerns about his behavior. Under Colorado law, a psychiatrist can break patient confidentiality if he or she believes the patient is a serious and imminent threat. “For any physician to break doctor-patient confidentiality there would have to be an extremely good reason,” says Dr. Carol Bernstein, a psychiatrist at NYU Langone Medical Center.

Team U.S.A.’s most-famous virgin was almost its biggest choke. Lolo Jones just barely qualified for the 100m hurdles Tuesday, sneaking into the last spot after being the “fastest loser” in her semifinal heat. The semifinal round consists of three heats. The top two finishers in each hit automatically qualify, with the two “fastest losers” from the three rounds joining them. Running a 12.71-second race, Jones qualified by the thin margin of four 100ths of a second.

There’s always 2016. Superstar Chinese hurdler Liu Xiang crashed into the first hurdle in his 110m heat, bringing his Olympics to an end on Tuesday morning. Liu is China’s most prominent athlete and won gold in Athens in 2004, but he was forced to drop out of his medal defense in Beijing in 2008 because of an Achilles injury. A leg injury may also have been to blame for his problems in today’s heat. Earlier this year Liu ran the current world-record time of 12.87, and he had been expected to take back the gold at this year’s Olympics.

Wisconsin shooter Wade Michael Page used a Springfield 9mm semiautomatic handgun during the attack on a Sikh temple. The gun had been purchased legally at a gun shop in the Milwaukee area. Before moving to Wisconsin, Page had been issued five separate gun purchase permits in North Carolina after passing a background check in May 2008. Semiautomatic handguns are frequently used by mass shooters. It turns out that suspected shooter James Holmes in Aurora, Colo., Jared Loughner in Tucson, Ariz., and Seung-Hui Cho at Virginia Tech all used similar semiautomatic handguns with high-capacity magazines. One gun expert said, “There is no valid reason for civilians to have assault rifles, semiautomatic handguns, and high-capacity magazines.”

Standard Chartered Plc faces a suspension of its New York banking license over allegations that it violated federal money-laundering laws and conducted $250 billion of transactions with Iranian banks. The bank said in a statement that 99.9 percent of its transactions with Iran were in compliance with regulations and that the value of transactions that were not in compliance was less than $14 million. The bank also said it “strongly rejects” the New York regulator’s “portrayal of facts.” The company was down 13 percent in London trading as of 8:06 a.m., and it was headed for its biggest decline in nearly four years.

A massive fire that hit Chevron’s Richmond, Calif., refinery on Monday evening was contained but still burning on Tuesday morning. The plant is the third largest in California and accounts for one eighth of the state’s refining capacity. The fire started at 6:15 p.m. in the No. 4 crude unit, shortly after a leak had been discovered. Chevron said in a statement that there had been only one minor injury, but about 200 people have sought medical attention for respiratory problems. A February fire at BP’s refinery in Washington led to a three-month shutdown and sent the regional price premium to more than $1 per gallon.

A remote-control bomb near Kabul killed at least eight civilians on a bus, when a man detonated it along a road outside Kabul on Tuesday. Another five people were injured and taken to Kabul for treatment. The suspect, who has been identified as a man named Hujratullah, was standing in plain sight when he set off the bomb under a bridge just after dawn. Hujratullah had been arrested in the same area two years before and handed over to Afghanistan’s intelligence service, but was released. A spokesman for the Taliban said they are still gathering information. The Taliban try to portray themselves as protectors and tend to distance themselves from attacks on civilians.

Bashar al-Assad appeared on Syrian state television while meeting with Iran’s security chief Saeed Jalili. Iran is one of Syria’s fiercest allies. The accompanying news report said, “Assad and Jalili discussed bilateral relations between Syria and the Islamic Republic of Iran as well as the situation in the region.” Jalili said that only a “Syrian solution” would resolve the country’s crisis. Assad’s appearance was his first since July 22—four days after a bombing killed four officials in Damascus. The latest television appearance came just one day after Prime Minister Riad Hijab defected to the opposition.

Team U.S.A.’s Aly Raisman, who missed out on the bronze medal in the women’s gymnastics individual all-around competition last week after a heartbreaking tiebreak, won gold in the floor exercise Tuesday in London. Earlier in the day, Raisman took home silver in the balance beam, making her the most decorated member of Fierce Five. On the beach volleyball court, Misty May-Treanor and Kerri Walsh Jennings beat the Chinese team to advance to their third straight gold medal watch.

A Louisiana public charter school is receiving the wrath of the ACLU after it was revealed they were demanding female students take pregnancy tests if they are suspected of being pregnant -- and forcing them to leave school if the tests came back positive. The ACLU sent a letter to the Delhi Charter School Monday calling the policy unconstitutional and “in clear violation of federal law.” The K-12 public school justifies its “student pregnancy policy” as a way to ensure students “exhibit acceptable character traits.”

Standard Chartered bank executives are pushing back on allegations that the firm helped Iran hide $250 billion in transactions made by the New York State Department of Financial Services. The bank, which could lose its license to operate in New York, says the government hasn’t produced a “full and accurate picture of the facts." Regulators say the bank is a “rogue institution” and claimed that it concealed 60,000 transactions over 10 years in exchange for hundreds of millions of dollars in fees.  The bank said 99.9 percent of its transactions with Iran had complied with the U.S.’s sanctions against the regime.

A third of Manila, the capital of the Philippines, is under water. The head of the government disaster relief agency referred to the crisis as “Waterworld,” as thousands remain trapped on roofs. Last week's storms and subsequent flooding have left 50 dead and forced 250,000 to evacuate. Manila streets were completely submerged, closing schools and offices. Rescue workers used rafts to access slum areas. Tuesday, nine were killed in a Quezon City slum after a landslide. Manila, which has an overpopulated 10 million residents, is located in low-lying land between a lake and the ocean.

Hollywood producer Harvey Weinstein and actress Anne Hathaway scraped together a cool $2 million on Monday night for President Obama's reelection campaign. Around 60 guests paid $35,800 each to attend the event at Weinstein's Connecticut home, where the president commended Hathaway on her "spectacular" performance as Catwoman in The Dark Knight Rises. Aaron Sorkin, Anna Wintour, and Jerry Springer were among the other celebrity guests in attendance. 

The gunman who killed six at a Sikh temple in Oak Creek, Wis., on Sunday struggled with alcohol, according to investigators. Wade Michael Page was booted from the Army in 1998 for showing up intoxicated to military exercises. A year later he was cited for drunk driving in Colorado. Page worked as a truck driver from 2006 to 2010, when the company fired him after he was charged with driving while impaired in North Carolina. After losing his job, Page fell into financial trouble and wasn’t able to keep up with the mortgage payments on his house. He was foreclosed on in January.