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The probe may continue into the new year if the two parties can't agree on the findings or a settlement that involves punishing the team.

SAN FRANCISCO — Before and after the stunning early-season trade of Patrick Bailey, the Giants’ catching position has been an offensive black hole. When they arrived at the ballpark Wednesday, it had been nearly two months since the last home run from one of their catchers. The lack of offense from a defense-driven position is...

Russia Charges Telegram Founder Pavel Durov With Aiding Terrorism, Issues Arrest Warrant

Authored by Guy Birchall via The Epoch Times,

Russia's Federal Security Service (FSB) said on July 29 that it had charged Telegram founder Pavel Durov with facilitating terrorist activities and issued an international warrant for his arrest.

Pavel Durov in Jakarta, Indonesia, on Aug. 1, 2017. Tatan Syuflana/AP Photo

The FSB Public Relations Center said in a statement that "Telegram's head of administration, P. Durov, has been charged as part of an ongoing criminal investigation on suspicion of an offense under Part 1.1 of Article 205.1 of the Russian Criminal Code, concerning assistance in terrorist activities. He is being placed on an international wanted list."

The FSB added that the charges related to Telegram's failure "in violation of Russian law," to remove "numerous channels, chats, and bots of this messenger, which are actively used by Ukrainian special services, terrorist, and extremist organizations to prepare and coordinate acts of sabotage and terrorism, mass murder, and cyber-fraud in the Russian Federation, the consequences of which have resulted in numerous human casualties, including women and children, as well as material losses amounting to billions."

Specifically, the FSB said that it had "identified and documented numerous instances of Ukrainian intelligence agencies using the popular youth chatbot 'Dayvinchik/Leo - Dating, Chat, and New Friends' on the Telegram messenger to lure Russian citizens into sabotage and terrorist activities through deception and psychological manipulation."

The intelligence service said that as a result of joint operations with the Ministry of Internal Affairs and the Investigative Committee of Russia, it had identified and detained "46 Russian citizens aged 12 to 22 years" who had been using the chatbot and, subsequently, "committed armed attacks on law enforcement officers, arson attacks on transportation, energy, communications, and credit and financial system facilities," on the orders of the Ukrainian special services.

The detainees had also "acted as couriers delivering funds from defrauded citizens to crypto exchange points for crediting to enemy-controlled accounts," the FSB added, saying Ukrainian intelligence officers used the Telegram "Dayvinchik" dating bot, posing as women, to contact young Russian men, persuading them to share geolocations of meeting places (often shopping centers or key facilities) and pay for tickets or gifts via phishing links.

Later, individuals posing as Russian law-enforcement or Rosfinmonitoring (Russian Federal Financial Monitoring Service) officers contacted the victims through other apps, claiming the money had funded Ukrainian forces and the coordinates had been used for missile or drone strikes, according to the FSB, then used threats of prosecution and psychological pressure to coerce them into committing armed attacks or arson under the guise of anti-terrorism checks or fake operational tasks.

The Epoch Times contacted Durov and Telegram for comment but did not receive a response by the time of publication.

Telegram's official X account posted an image of Durov making an obscene gesture shortly after the arrest warrant was announced on July 29.

The move by the FSB comes after Russia's media regulator Roskomnadzor began limiting voice and video calls for Telegram users in Russia in August 2025 and, in February, announced it "will continue to impose successive restrictions in order to ensure compliance with Russian legislation and ensure the protection of citizens," on Telegram and other messaging apps not observing Russian law.

At the time, Durov said his app remains committed to freedom of speech and user privacy "no matter the pressure."

Telegram, an encrypted messenger app, says it has more than 1 billion users, and is widely used on both sides of the Russia-Ukraine war, including by the Kremlin.

Third-party compiled data estimates there are around 35 million Telegram users in Russia - one of the largest national user bases globally.

While trying to restrict Telegram's use in recent years, Russia has promoted its own state-backed MAX messenger service. Critics have said MAX is a surveillance tool, a claim Russian authorities deny. The app integrates various government services, and the Kremlin says it is designed to simplify and improve citizens' lives.

Critics have said MAX is a surveillance tool, a claim Russian authorities deny. The app integrates various government services, and the Kremlin says it is designed to simplify and improve citizens’ lives.

Durov, who was born in St. Petersburg, Russia, but now holds Emirati and French passports, founded Russia's Facebook equivalent, VKontakte, before selling his remaining stake in 2014 amid pressure from Russian authorities. He founded Telegram in 2013.

French authorities are also investigating Durov over allegations that Telegram failed to adequately prevent criminal activity on the platform and did not sufficiently cooperate with law enforcement requests. Durov denies any wrongdoing.

A general view of the headquarters of the Federal Security Service (FSB), Russia's main security agency, in Moscow on March 23, 2021. Kirill Kudryavtsev/AFP via Getty Images Tyler Durden Wed, 07/29/2026 - 21:00

As Puka Nacua looks back on a turbulent offseason, one that brought headlines for all the wrong reasons and put a massive contract extension on hold, it’s not the money he might have lost or the embarrassment that weighs on him most. It’s the feeling that he let down the people who love him. So...

Day 1 is in the books.

The reality star has declined her two exes' separate proposals that would only grant her 40 percent of child custody, Page Six has learned.

The reality star has declined her two exes' separate proposals that would only grant her 40 percent of child custody, Page Six has learned.

The series concluded after 14 seasons in December 2024.

The series concluded after 14 seasons in December 2024.

Red Sea Redux: Saudis Call For 'Coalition Of The Willing' To Protect Shipping From Houthis

Here we go again... after months ago President Trump urgently pushed for an international naval alliance to 'open' the Strait of Hormuz amid the Iran war, which was met with at the time with a collective cold shoulder from European allies, the Saudis are newly pitching the same to open up the Bab al Mandab Strait.

"Saudi Arabia is seeking to build an international coalition to protect shipping in the Red Sea from Houthi attacks, say two people familiar with the deliberations," Reuters reports Wednesday.

March 2024: Maxar Technologies image shows the sinking Belize-flagged ship Rubymar in the Red Sea after being attacked by the Houthis.

"The composition of the coalition has yet to be finalized and remains under discussion with dozens of countries, the sources add," the report continues.

The conflict has just hit the first day of month six of a 'little excursion' what the White House all the way back in February and March insisted would be a swift, limited, and successful action.

Fast-forward and now a key American regional ally pleads for a new 'coalition of the willing' focused on safe Red Sea passage as the Houthis take shots at Saudi vessels.

But these calls are again likely to merely fall on deaf ears, given few countries will likely want to send their navies up against an entrenched Houthis movement in Yemen which hasn't yielded after well over a decade at war with the Saudis, Emirates, and Israelis.

Also, Washington's global allies have likely long ago lost confidence in American 'plans' for reopening Hormuz and bringing the Iran war to a close. They don't see an articulated exit strategy, but instead a continual escalation ladder broken up for brief pauses and talks which have obviously collapsed.

The fact that Riyadh is now scrambling to find safe passage through the Red Sea for its ships speaks to the widening scope of this war. We earlier featured analysis from former MI6 intelligence official Alastair Crooke, whose words are apt here:

By adopting such uncompromising Manichaean language, Trump effectively has severed himself from any prospective diplomatic solution. By widening the war (Lebanon, Yemen, Syria and Iraq) he has severely complicated any diplomatic track. All elements are interrelated, yet they also have separate agendas. Thus a solution involves a complex matrix of issues, rather than a binary dispute between the US and Iran alone. 

Likely Washington will jump on board these Saudi calls for international patrols in the Red Sea. But the US is unlikely to lead the way or even directly participate, given this was already tried before in the context of the Gaza war, when the Houthis previously imposed a naval blockade.

"Although the Iranian stranglehold on the Strait of Hormuz is a key contributor to increasing prices, there is now a second pressure point – a new threat posed by Houthi rebels to shipping in the Red Sea." Read this excellent piece from Nathan L. Owen, Colonel, U.S. Air Force… pic.twitter.com/D93FIpB3S4

— VoteVets (@votevets) July 29, 2026

Despite many rounds of major US and Israeli bombing campaigns over Yemen, the Houthis maintained their ability to target ships in regional waters, and the most advanced militaries and navies in the world seem powerless.

Tyler Durden Wed, 07/29/2026 - 20:35

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Ruemmler, who resigned from Goldman Sachs earlier this year after her extensive communications with Epstein were released by the Justice Department, told the House Oversight Committee the joke – “Best massage ever, but not your kind of massage” –  was made in “extraordinarily poor taste,” according to a transcript of her July 15 testimony released...

Luke Weaver would be a welcome addition to any MLB bullpen.

Frustration is brewing between Steph Curry and the Golden State Warriors and a recent report has added more to the mix. According to Logan Murdock of The Ringer, the Warriors had an opportunity to trade for Jaylen Brown before the NBA Trade Deadline this past February, but didn’t want to pull the trigger. Murdock reported...

A disturbed man who rammed his car into an iconic Brooklyn synagogue will get out of lockup within the week, a federal judge decided Wednesday — as he slammed prosecutors for requesting a harsher sentence based on a “misunderstanding” that the terrifying episode was a hate crime. Brooklyn federal court Judge Eric Vitaliano ripped the...

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In a sport where a lot can be bottled up into a metric of some kind, a catcher’s impact on his pitching staff may be impossible to measure.