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U.S. assumes rotating UN Security Council presidency for December

Xinhua, December 2, 2015 Adjust font size:

The United States on Tuesday assumed the rotating presidency of the UN Security Council for December.

Permanent U.S. Representative to the UN, Samantha Power, took over the rotating council presidency from Britain's UN Ambassador, Matthew Rycroft, who held the council presidency for November.

Prior to the current position, Power served as Special Assistant to the President and Senior Director for Multilateral Affairs and Human Rights on the National Security Staff at the White House.

Power began her career as a journalist, and she is the Pulitzer Prize-winning author of "A Problem from Hell": America and the Age of Genocide (2002).

The United States will be responsible for setting the agenda for the month, organizing meetings, managing the distribution of information to Council members, issuing statements, and communicating the Council's actions to the public.

Under the UN Charter, the Security Council has the primary responsibility for the maintenance of peace and security in the world at large.

The Council is composed of five permanent members -- China, the United States, Britain, France, and the Russian Federation -- and 10 non-permanent members that are elected in groups of five, with a tenure of two years on the Council.

The presidency of the Security Council rotates among its 15 member states based on the English-language alphabetical order of the countries' names on a monthly basis. Enditem