MOSCOW (AP) — Pavel Durov, the founder of the Telegram messaging app, said Tuesday that the Russian government had opened a criminal investigation against him on charges of “aiding terrorism.”
Durov, who was born and began his career in Russia, accused Moscow of fabricating pretexts to restrict access by Russians to the Telegram service as part of an attempt to “suppress the right to privacy and free speech.”
“A sad spectacle of a state afraid of its own people,” Durov wrote on social media.
Russian media outlets had begun circulating unconfirmed reports earlier in the day that a criminal investigation had been opened against Durov by Russia’s Federal Security Service, or FSB.
It comes two weeks after Russia’s communications watchdog, Roskomnadzor, said it was restricting the Telegram app, accusing the company of refusing to abide by Russian law.
The move triggered a rare wave of public outcry, including widespread criticism from pro-Kremlin military bloggers, who warned that Telegram was widely used by Russian troops fighting in Ukraine and restricting its service would derail military communications.
However, Russian officials have continued to portray Telegram as a security risk. Digital development minister Maksud Shadayev told Russian news wire Interfax that foreign intelligence agencies could be reading messages sent through Telegram by Russian soldiers on the front line.
When asked about the case, Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said Tuesday that the FSB had gathered information on a “large number of violations” by Telegram, as well as content that could “potentially pose a danger to our country.” He said Telegram had been unwilling to cooperate with the authorities.
“Based on this, the relevant agencies are taking measures they deem appropriate,” Peskov said.
Under President Vladimir Putin, the authorities have engaged in multipronged efforts to rein in the internet. They have adopted restrictive laws and banned websites and platforms that don’t comply, and focused on improving technology to monitor and manipulate online traffic.
Russian authorities have targeted YouTube and imposed restrictions on popular messaging platforms, blocking Signal and Viber and banning online calls on WhatsApp and Telegram. In December, restrictions were imposed on Apple’s FaceTime video calling service.
While it’s still possible to circumvent some of the restrictions by using virtual private network services, many of them are routinely blocked too.
At the same time, Russia actively promotes the “national” messaging app known as MAX, which critics say could be used for surveillance. The platform — touted by developers and officials as a one-stop shop for messaging, online government services, making payments and more — openly declares it will share user data with authorities upon request. Experts also say it doesn’t use end-to-end encryption.
Durov has faced criminal investigations elsewhere. In 2024, he was arrested in Paris over allegations that his platform was being used for illicit activity, including drug trafficking and the distribution of child sexual abuse images.
Spirit Airlines’ parent company says it expects to exit Chapter 11 bankruptcy in the late spring or early summer, after striking a preliminary deal with its lenders and secured creditors that provides the support needed to finish its restructuring.
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The early-stage agreement would help Spirit finalize changes to its fleet, route network and cost structure as it works toward emerging as “a new Spirit” — a smaller, leaner carrier still focused on offering low fares but with more options like premium economy and its version of first-class seating with more legroom.
“Spirit will emerge as a strong, leaner competitor that is positioned to profitably deliver the value American consumers expect at a price they want to pay,” said CEO Dave Davis.
The budget carrier filed for fresh bankruptcy protection in August, months after emerging from a Chapter 11 reorganization. Davis said at the time that the airline’s previous Chapter 11 petition focused on reducing debt and raising capital, but after exiting that process last March, it had “become clear that there is much more work to be done and many more tools are available to best position Spirit for the future.”
Low-cost carriers like Spirit have been under pressure by bigger airlines, which have rolled out their own low-cost offerings.
Known for its bright yellow planes and no-frills service, Spirit has had a rough ride since the COVID-19 pandemic amid rising operation costs and its mounting debt. By the time of its first Chapter 11 filing in November 2024, Spirit had lost more than $2.5 billion since the start of 2020.
Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz and Democratic-Farmer-Labor lawmakers continue their push for new gun control legislation in the wake of the Annunciation Catholic School shooting in Minneapolis, though without the support of rural DFLers and at least one Republican, the path forward remains unclear.
That hasn’t stopped the governor from promoting a “gun violence prevention package” that includes a ban on so-called assault weapons, new magazine capacity limits, a firearms insurance requirement and new spending on school safety and mental health resources.
Walz presented the slate of legislation at a Tuesday news conference at the state Capitol, where he was joined by DFL lawmakers, gun control proponents and a survivor of the Aug. 27 shooting in the Annunciation school church, which took the lives of two young children and injured more than 20 others.
“This is a time for bipartisan action around an issue that tore at the heart and continues to and we owe it to the Annunciation families not to have that just be another statistic,” said Walz, who unsuccessfully pushed for a special session on guns last fall. “That was the final straw. That was it. I pushed and pushed and pushed and we couldn’t even get legislators to have a hearing. Well, those days are over. Some of these folks in here are going to be testifying today.”
Annunciation student calls for action
Among those speaking in favor of gun legislation at the Capitol on Tuesday was Lydia Kaiser, an eighth grader at Annunciation who survived a gunshot to the head while trying to protect a younger student with her body.
Kaiser had to undergo surgery to remove bullet and bone fragments from her head and spent more than a month recovering in the hospital. Speaking at a morning news conference ahead of afternoon House hearings on DFL-backed gun control bills, she called on lawmakers to take action.
“All children have the right to live free from gun violence in schools, churches and in our communities,” she said. “Elected officials have a duty to protect us from guns. No one should have to go through what we went through.”
Kaiser and others affected by the shooting gathered at the Capitol to pressure lawmakers to change state gun policies. Outside the Capitol, they set up 60 empty school desks to represent 200 Minnesota children who died from gun violence since 2021.
Sixty empty school desks are displayed on the Capitol lawn representing symbolizing the more than 200 school children killed in gun violence in Minnesota since 2021. Tuesday, Feb. 24, 2026. The display is in honor of Harper Moyski Fletcher Merkel, both students Annunciation School who were kill last August. (John Autey / Pioneer Press)
Prospects for additional gun control measures
Prospects for gun control measures remain dim in the closely divided Minnesota Legislature, where bills need bipartisan support to pass.
There are 67 Democratic-Farmer-Labor and 67 Republican representatives in the House. And while the Democrats have a one-seat majority in the Senate, some members from rural districts have been hesitant to back new gun laws in the past.
After last summer’s violence, Walz, DFL and Republican lawmakers spent more than a month negotiating terms for a special session on guns. Walz at one point said there’d be a special session on guns “one way or another,” but by October, it was apparent that closed-door pre-session negotiations were not delivering any results.
Walz then held town hall meetings promoting gun control policies in Republican legislative districts and in December issued executive orders aimed at educating the public on existing state gun policies and laying the groundwork for future gun control legislation by creating a gun violence prevention research council.
Neither made any immediate changes to state gun control policy and came after months of frustration for the governor. Republicans have remained opposed to new restrictions on guns and have backed funding boosts for school security and mental health services.
Those proposals are part of the governor’s overall gun violence prevention package. Walz said he believed he might get Republican support on a bill restricting so-called ghost guns — privately made firearms without serial numbers that can be difficult to trace to a crime.
But past the mental health measures and theoretical support for a ghost gun ban, there’s little indication of bipartisan appetite for restrictions on assault weapons.
Local gun control laws, binary triggers
Another change DFLers are hoping for is an end to a 1985 state law banning local gun control laws, something Twin Cities metro mayors called for in the fall after the Annunciation school shooting. Former St. Paul Mayor Melvin Carter and Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey were among several mayors who gathered at the Capitol in September, calling for the change. However, like other gun-control-related policies, it does not appear to have the support needed to pass.
Walz also is calling for the Legislature to re-pass a ban on binary triggers, modifications for semiautomatic rifles that fire a shot when the trigger is pulled and again while released, greatly boosting the weapon’s rate of fire.
Minnesota lawmakers passed a ban in 2024, but Ramsey County Judge Leonardo Castro shot it down last August, as it became law as part of a 1,400-page bill passed at the last minute of the 2024 session, violating a rule limiting bills to a single overall subject.
That was just one of several recent successful legal challenges to state gun laws by the Minnesota Gun Owners Caucus, a prominent state gun rights group.
In another August ruling, the Minnesota Supreme Court said a decades-old law banning certain guns without serial numbers didn’t apply to homemade “ghost guns” as long as federal law doesn’t require a serial number.
NEW YORK (AP) — Millions across the northeastern United States on Tuesday contended with treks to school and work as they dug out from a major — and in some areas record-breaking — storm that blanketed the region with snow, canceled flights, disrupted transit and downed power lines.
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Even as the snow moved north Tuesday, giving way to sunshine in parts of the region, the National Weather Service warned another storm originating in the Great Lakes was right around the corner, though it’s not forecast to be nearly as severe.
Many large school districts remained closed, including in Boston and Hartford, Connecticut. But in New York City, more than 900,000 students in the nation’s largest public school system had a regular day, Mayor Zohran Mamdani declared, inviting kids to pelt him with snowballs over his decision.
Many students and their caregivers seemed open to taking the mayor up on that idea, as they scrambled over mountainous snow banks and dodged salt spreaders during the morning drop-off.
“We’re walking on thin ice here. One more day would’ve been fine,” said Danielle Obloj, the parent of a Brooklyn fifth grader. “They should never have let these kids come back to school.”
Others hailed the city’s efforts at snow-clearing.
“It was much better than last time — an easy commute, no problems whatsoever,” said Raul Garcia, as he exited a cab with his three school-age children. “We thought it was going to be really bad walking, but looking at the streets, they’re so clean.”
Philadelphia switched to online learning Monday and Tuesday, while districts on Long Island and elsewhere in the New York suburbs canceled school again Tuesday.
A man walks a boy to school, Tuesday, Feb. 24, 2026, in New York. (AP Photo/Eduardo Munoz Alvarez)
A woman clears snow from a walk outside a preschool, Tuesday, Feb. 24, 2026, in New York. (AP Photo/Eduardo Munoz Alvarez)
Snow is piled high along a side street Tuesday, Feb. 24, 2026, in Providence, R.I. (AP Photo/Kimberlee Kruesi)
Key Lim, 55, of Quincy, removes snow from a sidewalk lined with trash bags in front of the laundromat that he manages on Tuesday, Feb. 24, 2026, in Boston. (AP Photo/Sophie Park)
A woman carries a child over piles of plowed snow as she walks a girl to school, Tuesday, Feb. 24, 2026, in New York. (AP Photo/Eduardo Munoz Alvarez)
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A man walks a boy to school, Tuesday, Feb. 24, 2026, in New York. (AP Photo/Eduardo Munoz Alvarez)
Roads are reopening and mass transit is coming back online
Monday’s storm that meteorologists are calling the strongest in a decade dumped more than 2 feet (0.6 meters) of snow in parts of the Northeast. More than 3 feet (0.9 meters) fell in Rhode Island — surpassing snow totals from the historic Blizzard of 1978 that struck the Northeast, the National Weather Service said.
By Tuesday morning, roads began to reopen, mass transportation was coming back online in some cities and power had returned for some of the hundreds of thousands who had lost electricity in Massachusetts, New Jersey, Delaware and Rhode Island.
Amtrak canceled some trains between Boston and New York and between New York and Philadelphia on Tuesday morning.
But other railroads were open, including New Jersey Transit, and the Long Island Railroad “unleashed” a snow-clearing train car known as “Darth Vader” to clear snow drifts.
Another storm is on the way
The weather service said it’s tracking another storm that could bring snow to the Great Lakes on Tuesday before pushing into the Northeast on Wednesday. The clipper storm brings the prospect of a combination of rain and up to a couple of inches of snow.
The new storm is not expected to be as strong, but even a few extra inches of snow on top of hard-hit areas could make cleanup more difficult, said Frank Pereira, meteorologist for the weather service in College Park, Maryland.
Canceled flights and a snowball fight
The weather service referred to Monday’s storm as a “classic bomb cyclone/nor’easter off the Northeast coast.” A bomb cyclone happens when a storm’s pressure falls by a certain amount within a 24-hour period.
Roughly 2,200 flights in and out of the U.S. were canceled Tuesday, according to the flight tracking website FlightAware. Most of the cancellations involved airports in New York, New Jersey and Boston.
Rhode Island’s T.F. Green International Airport paused its airport operations Monday as it dealt with nearly 38 inches (97 centimeters) of snow, according to the Weather Service, breaking a record of 28.6 inches (72.6 centimeters) set in 1978. The pause was expected to continue through Tuesday afternoon as the airport assessed conditions.
Along with the disruptions, the storm led to the creation of armies of snowmen and other sculptures as well as snowball fights.
A massivesnowball fight e rupted Monday in New York City’s Washington Square Park, but video showed two outnumbered police officers being pelted by snowballs. City police commissioner Jessica Tisch called the behavior “disgraceful” and “criminal.”
Storm strands juror as sex trafficking trial resumes
Storm-related travel disruptions even impacted the resumption of a high-profile criminal case in Manhattan federal court.
A juror in the sex trafficking trial of wealthy brothers Alon, Oren and Tal Alexander was “trapped in Miami” and wasn’t scheduled for a return flight until Friday, Juge Valerie Caproni said Tuesday.
The judge eventually dismissed the stranded juror from the case, leaving just one alternate. The trial wasn’t held last week to accommodate jurors whose children were on a school break.
“I am loath to lose another juror, but I am also loath to lose another week of trial,” Caproni said.
Associated Press writers Mike Catalini in Morrisville, Pennsylvania; Michael R. Sisak in New York; Kathy McCormack in Concord, New Hampshire; Audrey McAvoy in Honolulu; and Hallie Golden in Seattle contributed.
