A United Nations Parliamentary Assembly is a proposed addition to the United
Nations System that would allow for participation of member nations'
legislators and, eventually, direct election of United Nations parliament
members by citizens worldwide. The idea was raised at the League of Nations
founding in the 1920s and again following the end of World War II in 1945,
but remained dormant throughout the Cold War. In the 1990s and 2000s, the
rise of global trade and the power of world organizations that govern it led
to calls for a parliamentary assembly to scrutinize their activity. The
International Campaign for the Establishment of a United Nations
Parliamentary Assembly was formed in 2007 to coordinate pro-UNPA efforts.
Supporters have set forth possible UNPA implementations, including
promulgation of a new treaty; creation of a UNPA as a subsidiary body of the
UN General Assembly; and evolution of a UNPA from the Inter-Parliamentary
Union or another nongovernmental organization. Several proposals for
apportionment of votes have been raised to address disparities in UN
members' population and economic power. CEUNPA advocates initially giving
the UNPA advisory powers and gradually increasing its authority over the UN
system. Opponents cite issues such as funding, voter turnout, and
undemocratic UN member nations as reasons for abandoning the project
altogether.
Read the rest of this article:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_Nations_Parliamentary_Assembly
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Today's selected anniversaries:
218 BC:
Second Punic War: Hannibal had his first great victory over the Roman
Republic at the Battle of the Trebia.
(
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_the_Trebia)
1271:
Mongol ruler Kublai Khan established the Yuan Dynasty in China.
(
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kublai_Khan)
1892:
The first performance of Russian composer Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky's fairy
tale-ballet The Nutcracker was held at the Mariinsky Theatre in Saint
Petersburg.
(
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Nutcracker)
1966:
Epimetheus, one of the moons of Saturn, was discovered, but was mistaken as
Janus. It took 12 years to determine that they are two distinct objects
sharing the same orbit.
(
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Epimetheus_(moon)<http://en.wikipedia.org/w…
)
1987:
Programmer Larry Wall released the first version of the programming language
Perl via the comp.sources.misc newsgroup.
(
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Perl)
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Wiktionary's word of the day:
hymnody (n) 1. The writing, composing, or singing of hymns or psalms.
2. The hymns of a particular church or of a
particular time.
(
http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/hymnody)
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Wikiquote quote of the day:
I cannot be grasped in the here and now. For I reside just as much with the
dead as with the unborn. Somewhat closer to the heart of creation than
usual. But not nearly close enough.
--Paul Klee
(
http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Paul_Klee)