By KATHY McCORMACK, Associated Press

The U.S. Air Force Global Strike Command has paused the use of a handgun following the death of a Security Forces airman at a base in Wyoming.

The use of the M18 pistol, a variant of another gun that has been the target of lawsuits over unintentional discharge allegations, was paused Monday “until further notice” following the “tragic incident” on Sunday at the F.E. Warren Air Force Base in Cheyenne, the command said in a statement. Security Forces combat arms airmen at all command bases “will conduct 100% inspections of the M18 handguns to identify any immediate safety concerns,” it said.

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The name of the active-duty airman, who was assigned to the 90th Security Forces Squadron, 90th Missile Wing at the base, and details of what happened have not been released. The missile wing said it was an isolated incident and there is no threat to the base or community. Security Forces specialists protect Air Force bases.

The gun is made by New Hampshire-based manufacturer Sig Sauer, which is defending itself against multiple lawsuits alleging that its popular related gun, the P320 pistol, can go off without the trigger being pulled. Sig Sauer denies the claims, saying the P320 is safe and the problem is user error. It has prevailed in some cases.

The P320 was adopted by the U.S. military as M17 and M18 pistols, and the M18 is now the official sidearm of all branches of the U.S. military, Sig Sauer says on its website. In 2019, Sig Sauer announced it had delivered its 100,000th M17 and M18s to the U.S. military.

The pause is so far limited to the Global Strike Command, which includes more than 33,700 Airmen and civilians. The rest of the Air Force and the other armed services have not announced any orders to avoid using the pistols.

“Our hearts are with the service members and families impacted by the recent reported event at the F.E. Warren Air Force Base,” Sig Sauer said Wednesday in a statement posted on Facebook.

The Air Force Office of Special Investigations is in charge of the investigation. The command’s statement says it collaborating with the Air Force Security Forces Center and Headquarters Air Force Security Forces “to conduct a thorough review of the M18 and develop appropriate corrective measures.” Sig Sauer said it has offered to assist.

The P320 was introduced in 2014. Sig Sauer offered a “voluntary upgrade” in 2017 to reduce the weight of the trigger, among other features. Lawyers for people who have sued the gunmaker, many of them law enforcement officers, say the upgrade did not stop unintentional discharges.

Earlier this year, Sig Sauer appealed a ban of the P320, M17 and M18 pistols by the Washington State Criminal Justice Training Commission, arguing that it appears to be based on inaccurate and incomplete information. The commission banned the weapons after a recruit said his P320 discharged while he was drawing it, even though his finger was not on the trigger.

And just this month, Sig Sauer announced that the Michigan State Police is adopting the M18 as its primary sidearm.

Several large multi-plaintiff cases have been filed since 2022 in New Hampshire’s federal court, representing nearly 80 people who accuse Sig Sauer of negligence and defective product design and marketing. That’s in addition to lawsuits filed in other states, including one in Pennsylvania last year alleging a wrongful death.

They say the P320 design requires an external mechanical safety, a feature that is optional. The most recent New Hampshire case, representing 22 plaintiffs in 16 states, was filed in March. A judge heard arguments Monday on Sig Sauer’s motions to dismiss the lawsuit or break it up and transfer it to districts where the plaintiffs live.

There also was discussion of a 2-month-old law in New Hampshire, created in response to the lawsuits, that prohibits product liability claims against Sig Sauer and other gun makers based on the “absence or presence” of the external safety and several other optional features. Claims can still be filed over manufacturing defects. The law hasn’t yet been incorporated into the case.

By ILLIA NOVIKOV, Associated Press

KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — President Volodymyr Zelenskyy announced that he’s sending a new anti-corruption bill to Ukraine’s Parliament on Thursday, in a further attempt to defuse tensions after he approved changes to graft laws that brought a public outcry and sharp criticism from the European Union.

Opponents of the contentious law passed by lawmakers and approved by Zelenskyy earlier this week said that it stripped Ukraine’s anti-corruption watchdogs of their independence by granting the government more oversight of their work.

Thousands of people protest against a law targeting anti-corruption institutions near the President’s Office in Kyiv, Ukraine, Wednesday, July 23, 2025.(AP Photo/Dan Bashakov)

Zelenskyy said that it was needed to speed up investigations, ensure more convictions and remove “Russian influence” from the fight against corruption, though he didn’t provide examples of Russian meddling.

In an abrupt change of course on Thursday, Zelenskyy unexpectedly said that he had drawn up a new draft bill on corruption that “guarantees the real strengthening of the law and order system in Ukraine.”

“The most important thing is real tools, no Russian connections, and the independence of the (watchdogs),” he said in a Telegram post.

The declaration appeared to bow to recent pressure that threatened to undermine public trust in Ukraine’s leaders after more than three years of fighting Russia’s full-scale invasion. The protests haven’t called for Zelenskyy’s ouster, but they are the first major anti-government demonstrations since the war began.

“It is important that we maintain unity,” Zelenskyy said in his post.

The announcement also left some questions unanswered. Zelenskyy had said Wednesday that he met with the heads of Ukraine’s key anti-corruption and security agencies and gave them two weeks to make recommendations on how the graft law could be improved before he presented another bill to Parliament.

Despite that assurance, further street protests were scheduled for Thursday evening.

The new pronouncement also left unclear whether Zelenskyy intended to revoke the law that he approved earlier in the week after Parliament had passed it. He didn’t publicize details about the proposed new law.

The unrest has come at a difficult time in the all-out war, which began on Feb. 24, 2022. Russia’s bigger army is accelerating its efforts to pierce Ukraine’s front-line defenses and is escalating its bombardment of Ukrainian cities.

Ukraine is also facing a question mark over whether the United States will provide more military aid and whether European commitments can take up the slack, with no end in sight to the war.

Delegations from Russia and Ukraine met in Istanbul for a third round of talks in as many months Wednesday. But once again, the talks were brief and delivered no major breakthrough.

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Fighting entrenched corruption is crucial for Ukraine’s aspirations to join the EU and maintain access to billions of dollars in Western aid in the war. It’s also an effort that enjoys broad public support.

EU Enlargement Commissioner Marta Kos expressed concern Wednesday over the new law, calling it “a serious step back.” The Ukrainian branch of Transparency International criticized parliament’s decision, saying it undermines one of the most significant reforms since what Ukraine calls its Revolution of Dignity in 2014 and damages trust with international partners.

Meanwhile, Russian planes dropped two powerful glide bombs on the center of Kharkiv, Ukraine’s second-largest city, on Thursday morning, regional Gov. Oleh Syniehubov said. At least 37 people were wounded, including a 28-day-old baby, a 10-year-old girl and two 17 year olds, authorities said.

The southern city of Odesa, and Cherkasy in central Ukraine, were also hit overnight, authorities said. The drone and missile strikes on the cities wounded 11 people, including a 9-year-old, and damaged historic landmarks and residential buildings, officials said.

Ukraine has sought to step up its own long-range drone attacks on Russia, using domestic technology and manufacturing.

An overnight Ukrainian drone attack on the Russian Black Sea resort of Sochi killed two women and wounded 11 other people, local authorities said Thursday.

An oil depot was hit, officials said, without offering details.

By DAVID FISCHER, Associated Press

FORT PIERCE, Fla. (AP) — A man charged with attempting to assassinate President Donald Trump last year at his Florida golf course will return to court Thursday to once again explain why he wants to fire his court-appointed lawyers and represent himself.

Ryan Routh previously made the request earlier this month during a hearing in Fort Pierce before U.S. District Court Judge Aileen Cannon. She did not rule during the hearing but said she would issue a written order later. But now Routh, 59, is set to be back in front of Cannon, a day after his court-appointed federal public defenders asked to be taken off the case.

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Routh is scheduled to stand trial in September, a year after prosecutors say a U.S. Secret Service agent thwarted his attempt to shoot Trump as he played golf. Routh has pleaded not guilty to charges of attempting to assassinate a major presidential candidate, assaulting a federal officer and several firearm violations.

The judge told Routh earlier this month that she doesn’t intend to delay the Sept. 8 start date of his trial, even if she lets him represent himself. Routh, who has described the extent of his education as two years of college after earning his GED certificate, told Cannon that he understood and would be ready.

In a June 29 letter to Cannon, Routh said that he and his attorneys were “a million miles apart” and that they were refusing to answer his questions. He also suggested in the same letter that he could be used in a prisoner exchange with Iran, China, North Korea or Russia.

“I could die being of some use and save all this court mess, but no one acts; perhaps you have the power to trade me away,” Routh wrote.

On Wednesday, the federal public defender’s office filed a motion for termination of appointment of counsel, claiming that “the attorney-client relationship is irreconcilably broken.” Attorneys said Routh refused to meet with them for a scheduled in-person meeting Tuesday morning at the federal detention center in Miami. They said Routh has refused six attempts to meet with their team.

“It is clear that Mr. Routh wishes to represent himself, and he is within his Constitutional rights to make such a demand,” the motion said.

The U.S. Supreme Court has held that criminal defendants have a right to represent themselves in court proceedings, as long as they can show a judge they are competent to waive their right to be defended by an attorney.

Prosecutors have said Routh methodically plotted to kill Trump for weeks before aiming a rifle through the shrubbery as Trump played golf on Sept. 15 at his West Palm Beach country club. A Secret Service agent spotted Routh before Trump came into view. Routh allegedly aimed his rifle at the agent, who opened fire, causing Routh to drop his weapon and flee without firing a shot.

Law enforcement obtained help from a witness who prosecutors said informed officers that he saw a person fleeing. The witness was then flown in a police helicopter to a nearby interstate where Routh was arrested, and the witnesses confirmed it was the person he had seen, prosecutors have said.

Routh has another, unrelated hearing in Cannon’s courtroom scheduled for Friday on the admissibility of certain evidence and testimony that can be used for the trial.

In addition to the federal charges, Routh also has pleaded not guilty to state charges of terrorism and attempted murder.

By STAN CHOE, Associated Press Business Writer

NEW YORK (AP) — Wall Street is hanging near its records on Thursday, but the calm surface of the U.S. stock market is hiding some roiling moves underneath. Alphabet is rising, and Tesla is tumbling following a jumble of profit reports from big U.S. companies.

The S&P 500 was 0.2% higher in morning trading after setting an all-time high the day before. The Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 204 points, or 0.5%, as of 10 a.m. Eastern time, and the Nasdaq composite was 0.2% higher.

Alphabet climbed 1.6% after the company behind Google and YouTube delivered a fatter profit for the latest quarter than analysts expected. It’s leaning more into artificial-intelligence technology and said it’s increasing its budget to spend on AI chips and other investments this year by $10 billion to $85 billion.

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That helped push up other stocks in the AI industry, including a 0.8% rise for Nvidia. The chip company was one of the strongest forces lifting the S&P 500 because it’s the largest on Wall Street in terms of value.

But a 7.9% drop for Tesla kept the market in check. Elon Musk’s electric-vehicle company reported results for the spring that were roughly in line with or above analysts’ expectations, and Musk is trying to highlight Tesla’s moves into AI and robotaxis.

The focus, though, remains on how Musk’s foray into politics is turning off potential customers, and he said several rough quarters may be ahead as “we’re in this weird transition period where we’ll lose a lot of incentives in the U.S.”

Stocks have broadly been rallying for weeks on hopes that President Donald Trump will reach trade deals with other countries that will lower his stiff proposed tariffs, along with the risk that they could cause a recession and drive up inflation. The record-setting gains have been so strong that criticism is rising about how expensive stock prices have become. That in turn puts pressure on companies to deliver solid growth in profits in order to justify their gains.

Besides Tesla, Chipotle Mexican Grill also helped weigh on the market. The burrito chain delivered a profit for the spring that topped analysts’ expectations, but its growth in revenue came up short. Its stock fell 12%.

IBM dropped 10.4% even though it likewise reported a stronger profit than expected. Analysts pointed to slowing growth in its software business, among other things underneath the surface.

American Airlines lost 7.9% despite reporting a stronger profit than expected. The company said it expects to report a loss for the summer quarter. It also gave a forecast for full-year results that had a wide range: between a loss of 20 cents per share and a profit of 80 cents per share, depending on how the economy performs.

Reactions in the stock market have generally been stronger than usual when companies beat or miss their profit targets by a wide margin, according to Julian Emanuel at Evercore.

Other extreme moves have also been roaring underneath the market’s surface, including huge swings for “meme stocks.” Those are stocks where traders are looking to jump in amid online cheerleading and ride it higher before getting left holding the bag when momentum stops. Opendoor Technologies is heading for a gain of 10.9% following a manic stretch where it swung by at least 10%, up or down, in 10 straight days.

Such swings, though, haven’t been showing up in overall market indexes, which have been gliding recently. The S&P 500 hasn’t had a day where it swung by at least 1% in a month.

In the bond market, Treasury yields held relatively steady following the latest signals that the U.S. economy seems to be holding up OK despite all the pressures on it from tariffs and elsewhere.

One report said that fewer U.S. workers applied for unemployment benefits last week, a potential signal of easing layoffs. A separate report from S&P Global suggested growth in U.S. business activity accelerated in July, and the preliminary results easily topped economists’ expectations.

That helped nearly cement expectations on Wall Street that the Federal Reserve will hold interest rates steady at its next meeting next week, even though Trump has been agitating angrily for cuts. The European Central Bank, which had earlier been cutting its rates, also held steady on Thursday as it waits to see how Trump’s tariffs affect the economy.

The yield on the 10-year U.S. Treasury note briefly approached 4.44% in the morning before pulling back to 4.40%, where it was late Wednesday.

In stock markets abroad, indexes rose across much of Asia and Europe. Tokyo’s jump of 1.6% and London’s rise of 1% were two of the bigger gains.

AP Writer Teresa Cerojano contributed.