Texas executes man

Texas executes man

HUNTSVILLE, Texas

A Texas man already being sought for a neighbor’s slaying when he killed a Dallas police officer outside a club was executed Wednesday.

Licho Escamilla was put to death for the fatal 2001 shooting of Christopher Kevin James, who was trying to break up a brawl involving Escamilla. The 33-year-old prisoner was pronounced dead at 6:31 p.m. CDT – 18 minutes after the lethal injection began.

Escamilla became the 24th convicted killer executed this year in the United States. Texas has accounted for 12 of the executions.

Iran sends fighters to join Syria conflict

BEIRUT

Hundreds of Iranian troops are being deployed in northern and central Syria, dramatically escalating Tehran’s involvement in the civil war as they join allied Hezbollah fighters in an ambitious offensive to wrest key areas from rebels amid Russian airstrikes.

Their arrival, a regional official and Syrian activists said Wednesday, highlights the far-reaching goals of Russia’s military involvement in Syria. It suggests that, for now, taking on Islamic State extremists in eastern Syria seems a secondary priority to propping up President Bashar Assad.

The development is almost certain to increase pressure on Western-backed rebels, who are battling multiple foes, and push more civilians out of the areas of fighting, potentially creating a fresh wave of refugees.

12-year-old probed in terrorism case

CANBERRA, Australia

Authorities have warned that suspected terrorists in Australia are becoming younger, with a 12-year-old boy now under investigation by security agencies.

Australian Federal Police Commissioner Andrew Colvin told Australian Broadcasting Corp. television late Wednesday over the past 12 months the terrorist threat has evolved and become younger.

“We’re shocked that a 12-year-old is on police radar for these types of matters,” he said.

Top Calif. official to propose gun controls

SACRAMENTO, Calif.

California Lt. Gov. Gavin Newsom is proposing a 2016 ballot initiative that would ask voters to strengthen the state’s gun laws by restricting ammunition sales, requiring owners to turn in assault-style magazines that have a large capacity and requiring gun owners to report lost or stolen guns to law enforcement.

If adopted, the proposal Newsom planned to release today would make California the first state in the nation to require background checks at the point of sale for ammunition, although other states require purchasers to obtain licenses and go through background checks ahead of time.

MLK monument

A monument to the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. must not be installed among the sculpted figures of Confederate leaders at Georgia’s Stone Mountain, a group of civil-rights leaders told the state’s governor Wednesday.

“We will never agree to any aspect of Dr. King going to Stone Mountain among the Confederacy,” Southern Christian Leadership Conference president and CEO Charles Steele, Jr. said after the meeting with Gov. Nathan Deal. “The Confederacy, once and for all, should be buried in a museum.”

Officials with the SCLC and two local chapters of the NAACP met with the Republican governor for an hour at his office, and later said he was “receptive” to their concerns. Deal may have the influence, if not the authority, to stop the process, Steele said.

Associated Press