| Should a penitent Rick Sanchez get his CNN job back? | Poll Rick Sanchez, fired from his CNN anchor role for offensive remarks, has apologised for having 'screwed up'. Should he get his job back? guardian.co.uk |
NHS bonuses How does the system for NHS consultants work? bbc.co.uk |
Somali Pirates Abduct 43 Sailors Somali pirates have hijacked a South Korean-operated fishing boat with 43 sailors. Two South Korean, two Chinese and 39 Kenyans were aboard the Kenya-registered trawler when it was attacked Oct. 9. online.wsj.com |
From the archive, 22 October 1915: The execution of Miss Cavell Originally published in the Manchester Guardian on 22 October 1915The Foreign Office has issued the despatches relating to the shooting in Brussels of MISS CAVELL, an Englishwoman in charge of an establishment which had trained nurses for various countries, including Germany. These papers show that the American Legation in Brussels spared no effort to secure MISS CAVELL a fair trial and to obtain the commuting of the sentence of death passed upon her. MISS CAVELL was arrested on August 5. It was not until August 31 that the American Minister learnt of the arrest, and on that day he wrote to the German authorities. He was told that she was charged with assisting British and French soldiers and Belgians to cross the frontier so as to take up arms against Germany. The American Minister received an undertaking that he would be informed in good time of the result of the trial. He learnt on the day that sentence of death had been passed, and she was to be executed at 2 a.m. He at once had a petition for pardon drawn up, and commissioned the Secretary of Legation to beg for a postponement of the execution. The Governor replied that he had decided, after "mature deliberation," not to intervene. MISS CAVELL was seen by an English clergyman to whom she said that she was happy to die for her country. She was shot late that night.There seems little doubt that MISS CAVELL was given a fair trial, and no doubt that she was guilty of the offence charged against her. The penalty of death is prescribed by the German Code for this particular offence, and a similar sentence could be passed under the law of England. The two terrible features of the case are that the Governor should have resolved to confirm the sentence of death, and to have hurried the execution so that no attempt to appeal to a higher authority could be made. Did the German Governor of Belgium fear that his Imperial master would refuse to ratify a barbarous sentence? If that be the explanation, then not only did General VON BISSING do this horrible thing wilfully and knowingly, but there rises another question—Why was MISS CAVELL singled out as the special victim of this ferocity? Was it because she was an Englishwoman, and is the German Governor of Belgium as much at the mercy of that foul passion of hate as the most ill-conditioned ruffian in Germany?A hundred years of progress and expansion and fourteen months of victorious war have led up to what (all technicalities aside) is an atrocity perpetrated by a Government without excuse. Are there any in Germany who ask whither they are being led?[A memorial statue of Edith Cavell stands in St Martin's Place, next to Trafalgar Square in London.]First world warNursingguardian.co.uk © Guardian News & Media Limited 2010 | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds guardian.co.uk |
Death Toll Rises in Indonesia Tsunami Relief workers struggled to overcome rough seas to assess damage and to deliver aid, while a volcano elsewhere in the country continued to smolder. More than 300 were reported killed. online.wsj.com |