ST. LOUIS (AP) — A man whose body was found in the Mississippi River south of St. Louis in 1994 has finally been identified after authorities exhumed his remains to collect new DNA samples.

In the latest cold case to be solved through advances in DNA technology, the sheriff’s office in Jefferson County, Missouri, announced Tuesday that the former John Doe was Benny Leo Olson from Edwardsville, a suburb on the Illinois side of the river about 15 miles northeast of St. Louis.

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Officials do not suspect any foul play in the case, the St. Louis Post-Dispatch reported.

After learning Olson had been dead more than three decades, his half-sister Catherine Heston told the newspaper, “We knew something must have happened, but you never really know.” If alive today, he would be 76.

She said Olson was a “perpetual student,” attending St. Louis Community College-Meramec, Western Illinois University in Macomb and at Southern Illinois University Edwardsville.

But mental illness also lurked in the background. In 1980, he was charged with trying to pay someone to burn down his stepmother’s house. His fingerprints were taken as part of that criminal case, and those prints ultimately helped confirm his identity following a partial DNA match to a distant relative.

Olson, who was diagnosed with paranoid schizophrenia, was deemed not competent to stand trial. He spent 11 years at a mental health facility in Illinois before being released in the early 1990s, Heston said.

Heston said the last time she heard from Olson would’ve been about a month before his body was found in the river, when he called during what she described as a “paranoid delusion.”

The family often wondered what happened. Over the years, her mother kept a box full of mementos, including his high school class ring, family photos and other keepsakes.

“This case resolution is a testament to the power of investigative genetic genealogy to give John and Jane Does their names back and provide answers to family,” Alyssa Feller, a forensic genetic genealogist who worked on the case, said in a news release.

By ROD McGUIRK, Associated Press

MELBOURNE, Australia (AP) — Australia announced it will reduce restrictions on U.S. beef imports in a move U.S. President Donald Trump’s administration claimed as a major victory over “non-scientific trade barriers.”

Agriculture Minister Julie Collins said Thursday that relaxing the restrictions designed to keep Australia free of mad cow disease, also known as bovine spongiform encephalopathy or BSE, would not compromise biosecurity.

“Australia stands for open and free trade — our cattle industry has significantly benefited from this,” Collins said in a statement.

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U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Brooke L. Rollins responded to Australia’s annoucement by congratulating Trump on a “major trade breakthrough that gives greater access to U.S. beef producers selling to Australia.”

She issued a statemeant under the leadline: Make Agriculture Great Again Trade Wins.

“American farmers and ranchers produce the safest, healthiest beef in the world. It’s absurd that non-scientific trade barriers prevented our beef from being sold to consumers in Australia for the last 20 years,” Rollins said.

“Gone are the days of putting American farmers on the sidelines. This is yet another example of the kind of market access the President negotiates to bring America into a new golden age of prosperity, with American agriculture leading the way,” she added.

Australia has allowed imports of beef grown in the United States since 2019. But Australia has not allowed imports from the U.S. of beef sourced from Canada or Mexico because of the disease risk.

But the U.S. has recently introduced additional movement controls that identify and trace all cattle from Mexico and Canada to their farms of origin.

US cattle import controls satisfy Australian authorities

Australian authorities were “satisfied the strengthened control measures put in place by the U.S. effectively manage biosecurity risks,” Collins said.

The timing of the new, reduced restrictions has not been finalized.

Trump attacked Australian import restrictions on U.S. beef when he announced in April that tariffs of at least 10% would be placed on Australian imports, with steel and aluminum facing a 50% tariff.

“Australia bans — and they’re wonderful people, and wonderful everything — but they ban American beef,” Trump told reporters then.

“Yet we imported $3 billion of Australian beef from them just last year alone. They won’t take any of our beef. They don’t want it because they don’t want it to affect their farmers and, you know, I don’t blame them, but we’re doing the same thing right now,” Trump added.

Lawmaker fears appeasing Trump endangers Australian cattle industry

Opposition lawmaker David Littleproud suspected the government was endangering Australia’s cattle industry to appease Trump.

“I want to see the science and it should be predicated on science. I’m suspicious of the speed at which this has been done,” Littleproud told reporters.

“We need to give confidence to the industry, but also to you (the public): this is not just about animal welfare, this is about human welfare, this is about BSE potentially coming into this country and having a human impact, so I think it’s important the government’s very transparent about the science and I don’t think it’s even beyond the question to have an independent panel review that science to give confidence to everybody,” he added.

Around 70% of Australian beef is exported. Producers fear that export market would vanish overnight if diseases including mad cow or foot-and-mouth disease infected Australian cattle.

Will Evans, chief executive of Cattle Australia who represents more than 52,000 grass-fed beef producers across the nation, said he was confident the agriculture department had taken a cautious approach toward U.S. imports.

“The department’s undertaken a technical scientific assessment and we have to put faith in them. They’ve made this assessment themselves. They’ve said: ‘We’ve looked at this, we’ve looked at the best science, this is a decision that we feel comfortable with,’” Evans said.

“When you have a $75 billion (Australian $50 billion) industry relying on them not making this mistake, I’m sure they’ve been very cautious in their decision-making,” he added.

US beef prices rise because of drought and a domestic cattle shortage

Beef prices have been rising in the U.S. due to factors that include drought and shrinking domestic herd numbers.

The average price of a pound of ground beef in the U.S. rose to $6.12 in June, up nearly 12% from a year ago, according to U.S. government data. The average price of all uncooked beef steaks rose 8% to $11.49 per pound.

Australian demand for U.S. beef is likely to remain low for reasons including a relatively weak Australian dollar.

Australia’s opposition to any U.S. tariffs will be high on the agenda when Prime Minister Anthony Albanese secures his first face-to-face meeting with Trump.

Albanese and Trump were to hold a one-on-one meeting on the sidelines of a Group of Seven summit in Canada last month, but the U.S. president left early.

Albanese expects the pair will meet this year, although no date has been announced.

The two countries have had a bilateral free trade deal for 20 years and the U.S. has maintained a trade surplus with Australia for decades.

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.