US (disambiguation)

US or U.S. usually refers to the United States of America, a country in North America.

US, U.S., Us, us, or u.s. may also refer to:

Language

Geography

Education

Music

Other uses

Ambassadors of the United States

This is a list of ambassadors of the United States to individual nations of the world, to international organizations, and to past nations, as well as ambassadors-at-large.

Ambassadors are nominated by the President and confirmed by the U.S. Senate. An ambassador can be appointed during a recess, but he or she can only serve as ambassador until the end of the next session of Congress unless subsequently confirmed. Ambassadors serve "at the pleasure of the President", meaning they can be dismissed at any time.

An ambassador may be a career Foreign Service Officer or a political appointee. In most cases, career foreign service officers serve a tour of approximately three years per ambassadorship whereas political appointees customarily tender their resignations upon the inauguration of a new president. As embassies fall under the State Department's jurisdiction, ambassadors answer to the Secretary of State.

Current U.S. ambassadors

Ambassadors to international organizations

United Nations

The United Nations (UN) is an intergovernmental organization to promote international co-operation. A replacement for the ineffective League of Nations, the organization was established on 24 October 1945 after World War II in order to prevent another such conflict. At its founding, the UN had 51 member states; there are now 193. The headquarters of the United Nations is in Manhattan, New York City, and experiences extraterritoriality. Further main offices are situated in Geneva, Nairobi and Vienna. The organization is financed by assessed and voluntary contributions from its member states. Its objectives include maintaining international peace and security, promoting human rights, fostering social and economic development, protecting the environment, and providing humanitarian aid in cases of famine, natural disaster, and armed conflict.

During the Second World War, US President Franklin D. Roosevelt initiated talks on a successor agency to the League of Nations, and the United Nations Charter was drafted at a conference in April–June 1945; this charter took effect 24 October 1945, and the UN began operation. The UN's mission to preserve world peace was complicated in its early decades by the Cold War between the US and Soviet Union and their respective allies. The organization participated in major actions in Korea and the Congo, as well as approving the creation of the state of Israel in 1947. The organization's membership grew significantly following widespread decolonization in the 1960s, and by the 1970s its budget for economic and social development programmes far outstripped its spending on peacekeeping. After the end of the Cold War, the UN took on major military and peacekeeping missions across the world with varying degrees of success.

United Nations Security Council

The United Nations Security Council (UNSC) is one of the five principal organs of the United Nations, charged with the maintenance of international peace and security as well as accepting new members to the United Nations and approving any changes to its United Nations Charter. Its powers include the establishment of peacekeeping operations, the establishment of international sanctions, and the authorization of military action through Security Council resolutions; it is the only UN body with the authority to issue binding resolutions to member states. The Security Council held its first session on 17 January 1946.

Like the UN as a whole, the Security Council was created following World War II to address the failings of another international organization, the League of Nations, in maintaining world peace. In its early decades, the body was largely paralyzed by the Cold War division between the US and USSR and their respective allies, though it authorized interventions in the Korean War and the Congo Crisis and peacekeeping missions in the Suez Crisis, Cyprus, and West New Guinea. With the collapse of the Soviet Union, UN peacekeeping efforts increased dramatically in scale, and the Security Council authorized major military and peacekeeping missions in Kuwait, Namibia, Cambodia, Bosnia, Rwanda, Somalia, Sudan, and the Democratic Republic of Congo.

Nikki Haley

Nikki Haley (born Nimrata Nikki Randhawa, January 20, 1972) is an American Republican politician who has served as the Governor of South Carolina since 2011. Prior to her election in 2010 as the 116th governor of the state, she represented Lexington County in the South Carolina House of Representatives from 2005 to 2011.

Haley is the first woman and first minority to serve as Governor of South Carolina; at the age of 44, she is the youngest current governor in the United States. She is the second Indian American governor in the United States, after Bobby Jindal of Louisiana. As governor, she also serves as chair, ex-officio, of the board of trustees of the University of South Carolina during her term in office.

On November 4, 2014, Haley was re-elected to a second term as the Governor, a term that will expire on January 9, 2019.

Haley delivered the Republican response to Barack Obama's final State of the Union address on January 12, 2016. She has also been touted as a potential vice-presidential nominee for the Republican ticket.