What group has less than 200 members, butrepresents more than 6 billion people?
It was founded in 1945, its headquarters is in NewYork City.
We are talking about the United Nations, and this week is a big one for the internationalorganization.
Representatives from most of the U.N.'s member countries are coming in New York for theannual session of the General Assembly.
It will be a week of speeches, debateand diplomacy.
Before we get too far in some of the subjects that might be discussed, here some fast facts onthe General Assembly itself.
Just the facts: The General Assembly is one of the main bodies of the United Nations.
All of the U.N. 193 members are represented in the General Assembly.
It's the organization's main policy making group, but the General Assembly's decisions are notlegally binding.
The assembly's regular annual session begins on the third Tuesday in September.
The civil war in Syria is likely to come up.
In speeches to the General Assembly, that country gave an initial list of its chemical weaponslast week as part of the deal proposed by the U.S and Russia.
There's also speculation about whether American and Iranian leaders might meet this week.
Those two nations have a tense history.
In 1979, Iranian revolutionaries stormed the U.S. embassy in Tehran, that's the capital of Iran.
They held 52 Americans hostage for 444 days.
In 1984, the U.S. government declared that Iran was a state sponsor of terrorism.
In recent years, Iran's nuclear program has caused controversy.
The U.S. and other countries believe Iran is trying to make nuclear weapons.
Iran says its nuclear program is for peaceful purposes.
Iran has a new president, Hassan Rouhani.
He was elected this year, and he appears to be reaching out to the U.S.
A tough high-stakes call this week for Barack Obama at the U.N. Should he take a bold gambleand try and meet with the new president of a state that is pretty much against everything theU.S. stands for -- Iran.
After decades of animosity, America, the great Satan to Iran, and Iran, part of the U.S.'s oldaxis of evil, that may be a thaw afoot.
As if to set that new tone, a very public invitation to meet came from Iran's president ontwitter.
Hassan Rouhani said Sunday, he was ready for dialogue without preconditions.
While no meeting has been set, the White House is clear it may be time to talk, if Iran is seriousabout giving up the desire of the U.S.says it has to make a nuclear bomb.
Since he took office, Obama said, he would welcome diplomacy with Iran.
We will extend the hand, if you're willing to unclench your fist.
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