Obama to Chair U.N. Security Council

For the first time, a sitting American president will chair the 15-member U.N. Security Council when Obama heads to the September 24 summit on nuclear non-proliferation and disarmament. The U.S. envoy to the U.N. said that the council had "a very important role to play in preventing the spread and use of nuclear weapons," the Financial Times reports, signaling a change from the Bush-era attitude that the UN was principally out to endorse its own unilateral policies. During the week of the summit, Obama may have occasion to run into Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, whom he gave until September to respond to the U.S. offer of negotiations. Likewise, Libya's Muammar Gaddafi is due to address the General Assembly on the same day as Obama, and could attend the nuclear summit Obama will chair.