Clara Barton was important in campaigning for the United States to agree to the First Geneva Convention. The United States signed that Convention in 1882.
By the Fourth Geneva Convention in 1949, some 47 nations had ratified the agreements.
Today, nearly all 200 countries of the world are "signatory" nations. This means they have signed and agreed to follow the Geneva Conventions.
International law
International law is the law that is used when there is a conflict between countries. There are two different types of international law:
In recent years, people have also seen international organizations like the United Nations use international law.
Hague Convention
The Hague Convention is a set of treaties signed in Den Haag in 1899 and 1907. Along with the Geneva conventions, they are among the first treaties to speak about war crimes and the laws of war. They are considered to be part of international law.
The Hague
The Hague (with capital T; Dutch: also called , commonly ) is the third-largest city in the Netherlands, after Amsterdam and Rotterdam. It has a population of 490,000 (January 1 2011) and an area of around 100 km². It is in the west of the country, in the province South Holland. It is the capital of the province. About 1 million people live in the urban area of The Hague, on about 405 square kilometers.
The Hague is the location of the Binnenhof, the building where the national government of the Netherlands meets. Built in the 13th century, the Binnenhof is the home of the "Eerste Kamer" (literally "First Chamber") or "Senaat", and the "Tweede Kamer" (literally "Second Chamber"). These are the same as the upper and lower houses in some other countries. They form the "Staten Generaal" (literally the "Estates-General").
Willem-Alexander, the king of the Netherlands, lives and works in The Hague. His home is called the Noordeinde Palace and it is not far away from the Binnenhof. All foreign embassies and government ministries of the country are in the city, as well as the Hoge Raad der Nederlanden (The Supreme Court) and many lobbying organisations.
All of this is unusual for a country, because The Hague is not the capital of the Netherlands, which is Amsterdam. This is made so by the Constitution of the Netherlands.
Besides the buildings used by the government, the International Court of Justice of the United Nations is based in the Peace Palace, which is also in The Hague and often referred to as "The Hague" by metonymy. A tourist attraction is Madurodam, which has lots of tiny buildings that look like the real things.
The Hague is part of a large conurbation called the Randstad, where most Dutch people live. It is only an hour away from Amsterdam, Utrecht, and Amsterdam Airport Schiphol by train (most of which are run by Nederlandse Spoorwegen) and with its two train stations, is easy to get to from many places in the Netherlands and all around Europe.
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S.A.S.
The S.A.S. or Special Air Service, is a Special Operations Organisation of the British Army. It was founded in 1941 to attack behind the German line of defence in North Africa, in World War II. They are one of the best schooled units in the world, that makes them very valuable. There are about 500 active SAS soldiers.
The SAS is a secret organisation. Its members often do not tell anyone except close family that they are in it. The British Ministry of Defence (MOD) rarely speaks of the SAS and mission details are never released until much later.
The badge of the organisation is a flaming excalibur. It shows the motto: "Who Dares Wins".
Current SAS roles include:
The SAS is thought of all over the world as one of the best, if not the best Special Operations organisations.
This is mainly because of the intense training they are put through. The hardest part of this is intense interrogation (questioning while under torture) which the trainees must go through.
The SAS is respected worldwide and used to train many other Special Forces Units. Several special operations units are modeled after the SAS. For example, the U.S. Army's Delta Force was founded due in large part to Charles Beckwith, a U.S. Army special operations officer, serving as an exchange officer with the SAS. He felt that the U.S. Army was vulnerable in not having a unit comparable to the SAS.
Kookaburra Sport
Kookaburra Sport is an Australian company named after an Australian bird related to the kingfisher, which eats snakes and is, therefore, very valuable to the Australians.
Kookaburra makes and sells cricket supplies which are used by amateurs and professionals. They are one of the leading brands and are famous for their colourful and artistic designs. It is the leading manufacturer of cricket equipment in the world. Its balls are used the most in international cricket matches.
Lancashire
Lancashire is a ceremonial county in the North West of England. Its two cities are Lancaster and Preston. Before 1974, Liverpool and Manchester were part of administrative county of Lancashire.
The county has developed a fierce rivalry with Yorkshire, the next county east. This comes from rivalry in sport, such as in cricket, and comes from the War of the Roses.
A big attraction in Lancashire is Blackpool, an English seaside resort, which has a theme park called Blackpool Pleasure Beach. It has the second largest rollercoaster in Europe ("The Big One") and Blackpool Tower, a tower which was made to look like the Eiffel Tower in Paris.
Lancashire has market towns (like Chorley) and small villages (like Bretherton, Croston and Eccleston). It is just south of an area of outstanding natural beauty called the Lake District. Lancashire also has a lot of pleasant countryside such as White Coppice and the Rivington Moors.
A famous food from Lancashire is "Lancashire Hot pot" which is made of meat, onion or other vegetables and potatoes. It is often found on many pub menus in the county and in other places in Britain.
The people of Lancashire are known for their friendly nature. Humour is also an important part of Lancashire life.
Church of England
The Church of England is the leading Christian church in England. It is the church established by law: its formal head is the English monarch (Elizabeth II). It is the mother church of the Anglican Communion. Its headquarters are at Church House, Westminster, in London.
The Church of England understands itself to be both Catholic and Reformed:
There are other Protestant churches in England which are not part of the Anglican Communion.
The Church of England became independent under King Henry VIII in 1534. Henry VIII was married to Catherine of Aragon, but asked the Pope to annul the marriage (say that it was a mistake and that Henry and Catherine were never really married). He wanted to annul the marriage because he wanted a male heir to his throne and Catherine could not produce one. When the annulment was refused, Henry VIII used his position as King to break the Church away from the Roman Catholic Church. This established the independence of the Church of England, sometimes called the Anglican (English) Church. Methodism broke away from the church in the 18th century. The Oxford Movement brought some Catholic beliefs and practices back into the church in the 19th century.
Under his son, King Edward VI, more Protestant forms of worship were adopted. The Archbishop of Canterbury, Thomas Cranmer started more changes. A new pattern of worship was set out in the Book of Common Prayer (1549 and 1552). These were based on the older liturgy but influenced by Protestant principles.
Tense (grammar)
Tense is the form of a verb that shows the time something happened, or is going to happen. There are three main tenses:
Tense can be shown by changing the spelling of a verb. For example, "be" can become "am", "is", and "are" in present tense, and "was" and "were" in past tense. In English, future tense is shown by adding "will" before the verb. For example, "be" becomes "will be" in future tense.