United Nations General Assembly
Nalaka GUNAWARDENE and Vindana ARIYAWANSA
 The United Nations is an inter-governmental organization, meaning
only governments of the world can become its members. It was founded in
1945 after the Second World War by 51 countries committed to maintaining
international peace and security, developing friendly relations among
nations and promoting social progress, better living standards and human
rights. Sri Lanka became a member of the UN in 1955.
The United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) is one of the five
principal organs of the United Nations, and the only one in which all
member nations (numbering 193 as at September 2011) have equal
representation. This year, the UN GA holds its 66th Session, which
started on September 13, 2011.
The General Assembly is the main deliberative organ of the UN. It
provides a forum for multilateral discussion of the full spectrum of
international issues covered by the UN Charter. The General Assembly
meets in regular session intensively from September to December each
year and thereafter as and when required.
 1. The UN General Assembly typically meets at the UN Headquarters in
New York, which is international territory even though located in the
United States. However, this is not where the first session of the GA
was convened on January 10, 1946 for representatives of 51 nations that
had become members of the then newly founded inter-governmental body.
Where was the first GA held?
2. The President of the United Nations General Assembly is a position
voted for by representatives in the United Nations General Assembly on
an annual basis. Mr Nassir Abdulaziz Al-Nasser of Qatar is President of
the 66th Session that opens in September 2011. The only Sri Lankan to
have served as President of the UN General Assembly was elected to that
position in 1976, to preside over the 31st Session of the General
Assembly. By then, he had been Permanent Representative of Sri Lanka to
the UN since 1967 and Chairman of his country’s delegation to the
sessions of the Assembly since that time. Who was this illustrious civil
servant and diplomat?
3. Fifty years ago, on September 18, 1961, the chartered UN plane
carrying the then UN Secretary General crashed in the African bush
during a peace mission to Congo, killing all 15 persons aboard. The
accident remained one of the Cold War’s great unsolved mysteries, but
new analysis by aviation experts now suggests that pilot fatigue, not
sabotage, might have caused the crash. Name the Swedish diplomat,
economist, and author who thus perished, the only UN chief to die on the
job.
 4. Joe Abeywickrama, who passed away on September 21, 2011 aged 84,
was one of the most versatile and accomplished actors in the Lankan
cinema. In a career spanning nearly half a century (from 1957 to 2006),
he acted in dozens of films and won a large number of national awards.
He also won the Silver Screen Award for Best Asian Actor at the
Singapore International Film Festival in 1999 for “the simplicity and
maturity of his performance in the role of a blind man whose nobility
and honour transcends the depths of his personal sorrow.” What was this
Sinhala film?
5. Kaluachchigamage Jayatillake, better known among readers as K
Jayatillake, was a leading Sinhala novelist, short story writer and
literary critic who died on September 14, 2011. He is considered to have
been a pioneer in the Sinhalese realistic novel. Beginning with his
first creative work, Punaruppattiya, a collection of short stories
published in 1955, he remained active for over half a century. What name
did he give to his autobiography, first published in 1977?
 6. The late author K Jayatillake’s best known novel analysed three
brothers who bore three different characters. Born to a lethargic
gambling farmer, the brothers and their sister struggled to survive. The
eldest son Isa realised the family hardships and tried to find a way out
by becoming a farmer, but his efforts are ridiculed by his father and
sabotaged by the youngest brother Sana. Some critics say Isa’s
personality has similarities with the Chinese farmer Wang Lung, the
character created by Pearl S Buck in her Pulitzer Prize winning novel,
The Good Earth. What is this Sinhala novel?
7. Kathryn Bigelow became the first woman to win the Academy Award
for Best Director, for her 2009 film The Hurt Locker which won a total
of six awards out of nine nominations. Who was the first woman film
maker to be nominated for Best Director in 2003 for her film Lost in
Translation (which she didn’t win, but she won the Academy Award for the
best original screenplay)?
8. The pen names Dr Seuss, Theo LeSieg and Rosetta Stone were all
used by a popular American writer, poet, and cartoonist most widely
known for his children’s books. He lived from 1904 to 1991, and
published a total of 49 children’s books, which were often characterized
by highly imaginative characters, rhyme and frequent use of trisyllabic
metre. His most celebrated books include the best-sellers titled Green
Eggs and Ham, The Cat in the Hat, One Fish Two Fish Red Fish Blue Fish,
Horton Hatches the Egg, Horton Hears a Who! , and How the Grinch Stole
Christmas. His stories have been adapted into 11 television specials,
three feature films, a Broadway musical and four television series. What
was the real name of this author whom the world knows as Dr Seuss?
9. The young Indian actress and model best known for her portrayal of
Latika in the 2008 Academy Award winning British-Indian film Slumdog
Millionaire plays a key role in the 2011 American science fiction movie
Rise of the Planet of the Apes. She plays opposite James Franco and
portrays the role of Caroline, a primatologist. Who is this actress?
 10. Prince Charles of the UK recently made an impassioned plea for
humanity to safeguard the natural world for future generations as he
became president of a leading conservation organization where his
father, Prince Philip, was for many years the Founder President. Which
organization? In accepting the new role, Prince Charles described
himself as an ‘endangered species’ but warned that he would not stop
‘harping on’ about green causes.
11. An unusual monument to the victims of terrorist attacks on the
World Trade Centre twin towers in New York on September 11, 2001 now
rests on the surface of Mars. Two unmanned robotic Mars exploration
spacecraft built in the aftermath of the attack used aluminum recovered
from the destroyed World Trade Center towers. These were moulded into an
aluminum cuff serving as a cable shield on each of the rock abrasion
tools on Mars. One of these spacecraft is the Mars Exploration Rover
Spirit, launched from Cape Canaveral on June 10, 2003. What was the
other, launched a few weeks later on July 7, 2003? (Both rovers landed
on Mars in January 2004 and completed their three-month prime missions
in April 2004. The presence of 9/11 metal was not announced until later
that year.)
12. Chikungunya is a viral disease that is spread by mosquitoes. It
causes fever and severe joint pain. Other symptoms include muscle pain,
headache, nausea, fatigue and rash. According to World Health
Organisation, there is no cure for the disease. Treatment is focused on
relieving the symptoms. It was first described during an outbreak in
1952 in an African country. In fact, the name ‘Chikungunya’ derives from
a root verb in the Kimakonde language, meaning ‘to become contorted’ and
describes the stooped appearance of sufferers with joint pain. Where was
the disease first reported?
 13. Michael Ondaatje is a Sri Lankan-born Canadian novelist and poet.
He is best known for his fourth novel, The English Patient (1992), which
was jointly awarded the prestigious Booker Prize for Fiction, which is
regarded as the most important literary prize in the English speaking
world. Ondaatje shared the prize with another author that year. Who was
the co-winner of the 1992 Booker Prize?
14. “Outside of a dog, a book is man’s best friend. Inside of a dog,
it’s too dark to read!” Name the well known America comedian who made
this remark.
15. The Pulitzer Prize is an American award for outstanding
achievements (in 21 categories) in newspaper and online journalism,
literature and musical composition. It was established by the newspaper
publisher Joseph Pulitzer and first awarded in 1917. When he died in
1911, a part of his bequest was used to found a journalism school in a
leading American university, which administers the Pulitzer Prizes.
Which university?
Answers will be published next week.
Last week’s answers
1. Professor Shanku
2. Inspector Feluda (also called Prodosh Chandra Mitra, who uses the
anglicised name Pradosh C. Mitter)
3. Bankubabur Bandhu (Banku Babu’s Friend or Mr. Banku’s Friend)
4. Rabbit Proof Fence
5. Melbourne, Australia
6. Harare, Zimbabwe (just ahead of Dhaka, Bangladesh)
7. Katori Hall
8. Samuel L Jackson
9. Walter Bradford Cannon (1871 – 1945)
10. Afghanistan, India and Pakistan
11. Flerovium, after the Russian nuclear physicist Georgy Flyorov
12. Ischemic heart disease
13. Williams Renault
14. Cessna
15. Goalball |
