Texas Weekly Online

Texas-trans-white
Menu
Menu

Author: shailender

‘Inevitably difficult’: Inside a family’s fight against the US boat strikes

‘Inevitably difficult’: Inside a family’s fight against the US boat strikes

A call for justice As part of the petition to the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights, the Carranza family is seeking compensation and a stop to the US strikes. But the commission’s powers are limited. It can investigate alleged violations, determine state responsibility and provide recommendations, but its decisions are non-binding, meaning that the US is not obligated to comply. “It can provide a measure of justice, in that it would be a regional human rights body saying that the victims are right and deserve to be compensated,” said Pappier. “But it would not immediately deliver reparations or full-fledged accountability.” Bringing the case before a US court could ultimately be more productive, Pappier added, but it would also be significantly more challenging. Kovalik, the family’s lawyer, told Al Jazeera he is currently weighing those challenges. The fact that the alleged crime took place outside of US territory could be a barrier to litigation, he explained. So too could be the legal protections granted to the US government and top officials. The US government enjoys sovereign immunity in most cases, and the Supreme Court ruled in 2024 that the president enjoys “presumptive immunity” for any “official acts” he engages in. “We are still considering a possible court action,” Kovalik said. Another challenge is that the US has shown no willingness to investigate the strikes or release information that would help others do so. In a statement to Al Jazeera, the Colombian Attorney General’s Office confirmed that it has opened an inquiry into the US bombings, but experts warn that restricted access to information could limit its investigation. Colombia would need insight into US decisions about the strikes to determine criminal responsibility, said Schuller, the expert from the European Center for Constitutional and Human Rights. Without US cooperation, however, “it’s impossible to get the information necessary to say who could be put on trial for such a strike”, he explained. For now, Kovalik said that the Carranza family takes some comfort in knowing that “at least something is being done”. Since Carranza’s disappearance, relatives have been unable to hold a funeral without the fisherman’s remains. His family also is struggling financially because Carranza was the household’s breadwinner, and his wife has a disability that limits her ability to work. Vega said that, if Carranza had been suspected of smuggling drugs, US authorities had a responsibility to arrest him, not kill him. The burden of proof, he added, should be on the US government, not the family. “Alejandro was one of our fishermen. He will not stop being one unless proven otherwise.” Adblock test (Why?)

Trump threatens tariffs over Greenland, calls it vital for security

Trump threatens tariffs over Greenland, calls it vital for security

US delegation seeks to lower US-Denmark-Greenland tensions amid Trump’s threats of tariffs and control claims. Published On 16 Jan 202616 Jan 2026 Click here to share on social media share2 Share US President Donald Trump says he may impose tariffs on countries that don’t back the US’s claim to control Greenland, a message that came as a bipartisan Congressional delegation sought to lower tensions in the Danish capital. Since Trump returned to the White House in January, he has repeatedly insisted that the US control Greenland, a semiautonomous territory of NATO ally Denmark, and said earlier this week that anything less than the Arctic island being in US hands would be “unacceptable.” Recommended Stories list of 3 itemsend of list During an unrelated event at the White House about rural health care, he recounted on Friday how he had threatened European allies with tariffs on pharmaceuticals. “I may do that for Greenland too,” Trump said. “I may put a tariff on countries if they don’t go along with Greenland, because we need Greenland for national security. So I may do that,” he said. Trump has said Greenland is vital to US security because of its strategic location and large supply of minerals, and has not ruled out the use of force ⁠to take it. He had not previously mentioned using tariffs to try to force the issue. Earlier this week, the foreign ministers of Denmark and Greenland met in Washington this week with US Vice President JD Vance and Secretary of State Marco Rubio. That encounter didn’t resolve the big differences, but did produce an agreement to set up a working group — on whose purpose Denmark and the White House then offered sharply diverging public views. European leaders have insisted that only Denmark and Greenland can decide matters concerning the territory, and Denmark said this week that it was increasing its military presence in Greenland in cooperation with allies. A bipartisan delegation of US lawmakers met the leaders of Denmark and Greenland in Copenhagen on Friday, seeking to “lower the temperature” with assurances of congressional support after President Donald Trump’s threats to seize the Arctic island. Advertisement European nations this week sent small numbers of military personnel to the island at Denmark’s request. The 11-member US delegation, led by Democratic Senator Chris Coons, met Danish Prime ​Minister Mette Frederiksen and her Greenlandic counterpart Jens-Frederik Nielsen, as well as Danish and Greenlandic parliamentarians. “There’s a lot of rhetoric, but there’s not a ‍lot of reality in the current discussion in Washington,” Coons told reporters following the meetings, saying the lawmakers would seek to “lower the temperature” on returning home. Looking for a deal Trump’s special envoy to Greenland also said on Friday he plans to visit the Danish territory in March and believes a deal can be made. “I do believe that there’s a deal that should ‍and ⁠will be made once this plays out,” Jeff Landry told Fox News in an interview on Friday as a bipartisan ​delegation of ‌US lawmakers was set to meet leaders of Greenland and Denmark. “The president is ‌serious. I think he’s laid ‌the markers down. He’s ⁠told Denmark what he’s looking for, and now it’s a matter ‌of having Secretary [of State Marco] Rubio and Vice President JD ‍Vance make a deal.” Adblock test (Why?)

Palestinian child shot dead by Israeli troops in occupied West Bank

Palestinian child shot dead by Israeli troops in occupied West Bank

Rights group says Palestinian children are ‘;increasingly targets’, as Israeli military and settler violence soars. Published On 16 Jan 202616 Jan 2026 Click here to share on social media share2 Share Israeli troops have shot and killed a Palestinian child in the occupied West Bank, as a wave of intensified Israeli military and settler violence across the territory continues. Mohammed Naasan, 14, was killed on Friday after Israeli forces stormed and opened fire in the village of al-Mughayyir, near Ramallah, assaulting residents. Recommended Stories list of 3 itemsend of list Naasan was shot in the back and chest, the Palestinian news agency Wafa reported. The Israeli military said in a statement that troops fatally shot Naasan because he was “running towards them carrying a rock”. The killing came after Israeli settlers, under the protection of the Israeli army, had earlier on Friday stormed an area south of al-Mughayyir and fired live rounds, according to Wafa. Palestinians across the West Bank have faced a wave of intensified Israeli military and settler violence in the shadow of Israel’s genocidal war against Palestinians in the Gaza Strip, which has killed more than 71,000 people since October 2023. Experts say the violence, which is taking place amid a push by far-right Israeli politicians to formally annex the West Bank, aims to force Palestinians out of their homes and communities. According to United Nations figures, at least 240 Palestinians, including 55 children, were killed by Israeli forces or settlers last year alone. The UN’s humanitarian office (OCHA) said more than 1,800 settler attacks that resulted in casualties or property damage were also recorded in 2025 – an average of about five incidents per day. Advertisement That is the highest average since OCHA began tracking settler violence in 2006, it said. Israel’s army routinely fires live ammunition, tear gas, stun grenades and other weapons at Palestinians in the occupied territory, and it often justifies the assaults by claiming that stones were being thrown. Israeli human rights group BTselem has said the military employs an “open-fire policy” that allows for an “unjustified use of lethal force” and “conveys Israel’s deep disregard for the lives of Palestinians”. Rights advocates also have documented how Palestinian children in the West Bank, in particular, have been at heightened risk of Israeli violence under the shadow of the Gaza war. “Decades of systemic impunity has created a situation where Israeli forces shoot to kill without limit,” Defence for Children International-Palestine (DCI-P) said last month after a 16-year-old Palestinian boy was killed by Israeli forces in the northern West Bank. “As Palestinian children are increasingly targets in the West Bank, Israeli forces’ rules of engagement seemingly allow direct targeting of Palestinian children where no threat exists to justify the use of intentional lethal force.” Adblock test (Why?)