As the United Nations turns 80, some key moments in its history

UNITED NATIONS (AP) — There have been many memorable moments in the 80-year history of the United Nations, both at its headquarters in New York and at its far-flung global operations.

Here are photos of some of the U.N.'s history-making events as the world body marks the anniversary of its founding on June 26, 1945, when the U.N. Charter was signed by 50 countries in San Francisco.

Most of these moments made headlines — but for very different reasons.

Delegates from 50 countries met in San Francisco in the ashes of World War II to establish an international organization to prevent a repetition of such a conflict and promote global peace. The U.N. Charter remains the bedrock of the United Nations, which now has 193 member countries.

The charter's opening words express determination “to save succeeding generations from the scourge of war.”

North Korean forces invaded South Korea on June 25, 1950. Twelve days later, the U.N. Security Council adopted a resolution authorizing the United States to establish and lead military forces to repel the attack and restore peace on the Korean Peninsula.

The U.N. Command was the world’s first attempt at collective security under the new United Nations. It still operates because there is an armistice — but still no peace treaty — between North Korea and South Korea.

It was the height of the Cold War and the leader of the Soviet Union, Nikita Khrushchev, went to the annual gathering of world leaders at the U.N. General Assembly and listened in growing annoyance to criticism of the Communist bloc.

In one intervention, in which he repeatedly banged his fist on the podium in the assembly hall, he declared: “You will not be able to smother the voice of the peoples.”

Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat was invited to speak at the United Nations even though the territories were not a U.N. member nation.

Arafat told diplomats in the General Assembly chamber, “Today, I have come bearing an olive branch and a freedom fighter’s gun. Do not let the olive branch fall from my hand.”

The bombing of U.N. headquarters in the Canal Hotel in Baghdad was the deadliest terrorist attack against U.N. staff in its history and killed many team members as well as Sergio Vieira de Mello, a rising star who was U.N. human rights chief and temporarily headed its Iraq operations.

U.N. Secretary-General António Guterres said on the 20th anniversary of the tragedy that it “marked a change in the way humanitarians operate.”

Moammar Gadhafi, the autocratic ruler of oil rich Libya, ripped up the document in his only address to the U.N. General Assembly’s annual gathering of world leaders — a rambling 90-minute speech that went way beyond his allotted 15 minutes.

He said he did not recognize the authority of the U.N. Charter. Then-British Prime Minister Gordon Brown retorted in his speech later: “I stand here to reaffirm the United Nations Charter, not to tear it up.”

A magnitude 7.0 earthquake that hit Haiti on Jan. 12, 2010, killed 102 U.N. staff members, including the head of the U.N. peacekeeping mission in Haiti and his deputy when the building housing their offices was destroyed.

Then-U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon visited the scene in Port-au-Prince days afterward.

The U.N. called it “one of the darkest days" in its history. Haiti’s government put the death toll at 316,000, while some estimates were lower.

Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad criticized Americans who threatened to burn the Muslim holy book, saying, “The truth cannot be burned.” He then held up the Quran and the Bible and said he respected both of them.

The United States and about 30 other countries walked out during Ahmadinejad’s speech after he falsely claimed the U.S. masterminded the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, which killed nearly 3,000 people.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu held up a large, cartoonish diagram of a bomb divided into sections, saying the section marked 70% was where Iran was on its way to enriching uranium for a nuclear weapon.

He urged the world to draw a clear “red line” under the other section marked 90% and to stop Iran’s nuclear program, asserting that the country would be that far along by the following year.

Follow the AP's coverage of the United Nations at https://apnews.com/hub/united-nations.

FILE - Iran's President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, President of Iran, holds up a copies of the Quran, left, and Bible, right, as he addresses the 65th session of the United Nations General Assembly at U.N. headquarters, Sept. 23, 2010, during a speech where he prompted walkouts from the assembly when he questioned whether the Sept. 11 attacks were staged. (AP Photo/Richard Drew, File)

FILE - Soviet Premier Nikita Khrushchev pounds his desk with his fist at the United Nations, Oct. 12, 1960, during angry debate, as his wrist watch is on the desk in front of him. (AP Photo, File)

FILE - Residents from Pyongyang, North Korea, and refugees from other areas crawl over shattered girders of the city's bridge Dec. 4, 1950, as they flee south across the Taedong River to escape the advance of Chinese Communist troops. (AP Photo/Max Desfor, File)

FILE - Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu shows an illustration as he describes his concerns over Iran's nuclear ambitions during his address to the 67th session of the United Nations General Assembly at U.N. headquarters, Sept. 27, 2012. (AP Photo/Richard Drew, File)

FILE - U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon , center, visits the collapsed UN headquarters during his visit to Port-au-Prince, Jan. 17, 2010. (AP Photo/Francois Mori, File)

FILE - Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi shows a torn copy of the UN Charter during his address to the 64th session of the United Nations General Assembly, Sept. 23, 2009. (AP Photo/Richard Drew, File)

FILE - U.S. military vehicles pass the collapsed section of the United Nations headquarters Saturday, Aug. 23, 2003, in Baghdad, Iraq. (AP Photo/Manish Swarup, File)

FILE - U.S. administrator in Iraq Paul Bremer, fourth left, along with UN and Iraqi officials pays last respects before Sergio Vieira de Mello's coffin, draped in a UN flag is loaded on a Brazilian presidential plane at Baghdad international airport, in Baghdad, Iraq, Aug. 22, 2003. Vieira de Mello, the top U.N. official in Iraq, was killed in a suicide truck bombing attack on U.N. headquarters that killed at least 22 other people and left more than 100 injured. (AP Photo/Manish Swarup, File)

FILE - A holster protrudes from under Yasser Arafat's jacket as he clasps his hands over his head during his appearance before the United Nations General Assembly at the U.N. headquarters, Nov. 13, 1974. (AP Photo, File)

FILE - President Harry S. Truman and the entire American delegation watch as Sen. Tom Connally signs the United Nations Charter in San Francisco, June 26, 1945. Standing, from left, after Truman are Secretary of State Edward Stettinius Jr.; Harold Edward Stassen; unidentified; Dean Virginia Gildersleeve; Rep. Charles A. Eaton; Rep. Sol Bloom, and Sen. Arthur Vandenberg. (AP Photo, File)

FILE - United Nations Conference delegates unanimously adopt the United Nations Charter in San Francisco, June 26, 1945. (AP Photo, File)

ST. LOUIS (AP) — World champions Ilia Malinin and the ice dance duo of Madison Chock and Evan Bates will anchor one of the strongest U.S. Figure Skating teams in history when they head to Italy for the Milan Cortina Olympics in less than a month.

Malinin, fresh off his fourth straight national title, will be the prohibitive favorite to follow in the footsteps of Nathan Chen by delivering another men's gold medal for the American squad when he steps on the ice at the Milano Ice Skating Arena.

Chock and Bates, who won their record-setting seventh U.S. title Saturday night, also will be among the Olympic favorites, as will world champion Alysa Liu and women's teammate Amber Glenn, fresh off her third consecutive national title.

U.S. Figure Skating announced its full squad of 16 athletes for the Winter Games during a made-for-TV celebration Sunday.

"I'm just so excited for the Olympic spirit, the Olympic environment," Malinin said. “Hopefully go for that Olympic gold.”

Malinin will be joined on the men's side by Andrew Torgashev, the all-or-nothing 24-year-old from Coral Springs, Florida, and Maxim Naumov, the 24-year-old from Simsbury, Connecticut, who fulfilled the hopes of his late parents by making the Olympic team.

Vadim Naumov and Evgenia Shishkova were returning from a talent camp in Kansas when their American Airlines flight collided with a military helicopter and crashed into the icy Potomac River in January 2025. One of the last conversations they had with their son was about what it would take for him to follow in their footsteps by becoming an Olympian.

“We absolutely did it,” Naumov said. “Every day, year after year, we talked about the Olympics. It means so much in our family. It's what I've been thinking about since I was 5 years old, before I even know what to think. I can't put this into words.”

Chock and Bates helped the Americans win team gold at the Beijing Games four years ago, but they finished fourth — one spot out of the medals — in the ice dance competition. They have hardly finished anywhere but first in the years since, winning three consecutive world championships and the gold medal at three straight Grand Prix Finals.

U.S. silver medalists Emilea Zingas and Vadym Kolesnik also made the dance team, as did the Canadian-born Christina Carreira, who became eligible for the Olympics in November when her American citizenship came through, and Anthony Ponomarenko.

Liu was picked for her second Olympic team after briefly retiring following the Beijing Games. She had been burned out by years of practice and competing, but stepping away seemed to rejuvenate the 20-year-old from Clovis, California, and she returned to win the first world title by an American since Kimmie Meissner stood atop the podium two decades ago.

Now, the avant-garde Liu will be trying to help the U.S. win its first women's medal since Sasha Cohen in Turin in 2006, and perhaps the first gold medal since Sarah Hughes triumphed four years earlier at the Salt Lake City Games.

Her biggest competition, besides a powerful Japanese contingent, could come from her own teammates: Glenn, a first-time Olympian, has been nearly unbeatable the past two years, while 18-year-old Isabeau Levito is a former world silver medalist.

"This was my goal and my dream and it just feels so special that it came true,” said Levito, whose mother is originally from Milan.

The two pairs spots went to Ellie Kam and Danny O'Shea, the U.S. silver medalists, and the team of Emily Chan and Spencer Howe.

The top American pairs team, two-time reigning U.S. champions Alisa Efimova and Misha Mitrofanov, were hoping that the Finnish-born Efimova would get her citizenship approved in time to compete in Italy. But despite efforts by the Skating Club of Boston, where they train, and the help of their U.S. senators, she did not receive her passport by the selection deadline.

“The importance and magnitude of selecting an Olympic team is one of the most important milestones in an athlete's life,” U.S. Figure Skating CEO Matt Farrell said, "and it has such an impact, and while there are sometimes rules, there is also a human element to this that we really have to take into account as we make decisions and what's best going forward from a selection process.

“Sometimes these aren't easy," Farrell said, “and this is not the fun part.”

The fun is just beginning, though, for the 16 athletes picked for the powerful American team.

AP Olympics: https://apnews.com/hub/milan-cortina-2026-winter-olympics

Amber Glenn competes during the women's free skating competition at the U.S. Figure Skating Championships, Friday, Jan. 9, 2026, in St. Louis. (AP Photo/Stephanie Scarbrough)

Alysa Liu skates during the "Making Team USA" performance at the U.S. Figure Skating Championships, Sunday, Jan. 11, 2026, in St. Louis. (AP Photo/Stephanie Scarbrough)

Maxim Naumov skates during the "Making Team USA" performance at the U.S. Figure Skating Championships, Sunday, Jan. 11, 2026, in St. Louis. (AP Photo/Stephanie Scarbrough)

Madison Chock and Evan Bates skate during the "Making the Team" performance at the U.S. Figure Skating Championships, Sunday, Jan. 11, 2026, in St. Louis. (AP Photo/Stephanie Scarbrough)

Gold medalist Ilia Malinin arrives for the metal ceremony after the men's free skate competition at the U.S. Figure Skating Championships, Saturday, Jan. 10, 2026, in St. Louis. (AP Photo/Jeff Roberson)