Two veteran NYPD officers say it was “instinct” that led them to charge toward smoldering IEDs during a suspected terror attack near Gracie Mansion last weekend.

NYPD Chief Aaron Edwards and Sgt. Luis Navarro ran toward danger when 18-year-old Amir Balat and 19-year-old Ibrahim Qayyumi allegedly threw explosives into a crowd. A photo that later went viral captured the moment Edwards leaped over a police barricade in pursuit of one of the ISIS-inspired suspects.

“They say when you’re a cop, no two days are alike, but this was like no other day,” Edwards told Fox News on Thursday, adding, “We just immediately began running towards this threat.” 

Both officers joined the force in the wake of the Sept. 11th terror attacks. Navarro said there was no time to think, only a drive to protect the public.

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New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani speaks alongside Police Commissioner Jessica Tisch during a news conference at Gracie Mansion in New York City on Monday.  (Leonardo Munoz/AFP via Getty Images)

“I went straight on instinct. There was nothing that I could have thought about. There was no moment there where I could just say, hold on, slow down time, and just wait and see what I have,” said Navarro. 

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“I just know that as soon as, you know, the event started unfolding, I needed to save as many people as I could,” he added. 

The officers are being hailed as heroes for their bravery. Former NYPD Chief John Chell joined “Fox & Friends” on Thursday to praise the duo alongside retired Lt. Joe Cardinale and Blue Lives Matter co-founder Joe Imperatrice.

NYPD Bomb Squad officers search a car allegedly belonging to an individual who attempted to throw a homemade explosive at police officers on Sunday in New York City. (Ryan Murphy/Getty)

“It’s not a normal thing to run towards IEDs, and the chief, the sergeant… [and] all those cops converged to save people, and it was selfless act of bravery,” Chell said Thursday. 

“They’re all heroes. And thank God, those IEDs did not explode because they would have lost their lives, and that’s where people have to understand.”

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Other officers converged to contain and apprehend the pair before the devices could detonate. Their actions helped secure the area and take the suspects into custody before anyone was injured.

“It’s a great look for the NYPD. It’s good for recruitment,” Cardinale said of the officers. 

A suspect involved in the terror plot runs away after he allegedly threw an explosive. (United States District Court for the Southern District of New York)

“We hope it inspires others to get out there. The job needs that right now. They need heroes like this.”

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Imperatrice pointed out that incidents like the attempted bombing highlight the everyday risks officers face, even when the outcome doesn’t end in tragedy.

“People don’t realize that at the end of the day, this is one of the most dangerous jobs out there, and when officers leave their homes, they may not come home. So we shouldn’t just need an incident like this that goes on the news to start respecting our cops, which should be happening every single day.”

A prominent journalist lost nearly $10,000 gifted from his employer as an experiment to cover gambling in America and the pitfalls of the growing sports-betting industry.

The Atlantic staff writer McKay Coppins penned a lengthy feature, “Sucker: My year as a degenerate gambler,” in which the suburban dad and practicing Mormon “prohibited from indulging in games of chance,” was given $10,000 by the publication to wager during the 2025 NFL season. Since the cash belonged to The Atlantic, it did not interfere with his religious constraints, and the magazine planned to cover his losses and split any winnings with him in order to ensure his “emotional investment.”

Coppins, who consulted his bishop to make sure the arrangement wasn’t frowned upon, had heard plenty of stories about American men who let an “initially modest gambling habit” upend their lives and families. In his feature, he laid out how gambling became a near-obsession for him.

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The Atlantic staff writer McKay Coppins penned a feature about his experiment with gambling. (Lloyd Bishop/NBC via Getty Images)

“With the door locked behind me, I pulled out my phone and downloaded the DraftKings betting app,” he wrote of his first bet. “I felt a certain thrill as I typed in my debit-card information and deposited $500. The first game of the NFL season was a few minutes away. Anything seemed possible.”

Coppins previously thought gambling was a “waste of time,” but was well aware that made him an outlier. 

“Since 2018, Americans have wagered more than half a trillion dollars on sports, and roughly half of men ages 18 to 49 have an active account with an online sportsbook,” Coppins wrote.

His first time wagering was during a game between the Philadelphia Eagles and Dallas Cowboys, an experience he called “strangely mesmerizing.” 

“For 200 bucks, I had purchased an artificial rooting interest in a game I had no reason to care about. I kept watching even after a weather delay pushed it late into the night, scrolling frenetically next to my sleeping wife in search of angles to exploit with late-game bets,” Coppins wrote. 

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McKay Coppins lost nearly $10,000 of The Atlantic’s money during a year-long gambling experiment.  (Skip Bolen/Getty Images)

He lost a few bets but hit a prop parlay and finished the night up a whopping $20. 

He explained that the opening-night profit resulted in daydreaming inside the Coppins household and tried not to dwell on the bishop cautioning him to “be careful.” He studied up on the history of gambling in society, sought advice from famed data analyst Nate Silver and kept at it. 

“One rainy evening, I found myself parked outside a big-box store in Northern Virginia where my wife had sent me on an errand, obsessively scavenging for lines on my phone and jotting down favorites in my Notes app. When I looked up, 45 minutes had passed. I would be late for dinner,” Coppins wrote. 

“Doing all of this homework heightened my investment in the games,” he added. “But it also conjured something disconcerting and primal in me.”

He explained that a tough loss, or “bad beat,” caused him to despise the player responsible, and he became “unnerved” by the intensity it caused him to feel. 

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McKay Coppins’ first time wagering was during a 2025 game between the Philadelphia Eagles and Dallas Cowboys, an experience he called “strangely mesmerizing.” (Chris Szagola/AP Photo)

“I was surprised at how quickly and extensively the experiment was bleeding into the rest of my life,” Coppins wrote, explaining that his family quickly accused him of being addicted. 

It irritated his wife as watching sports late into the night became a habit, and even his own boss wondered if it was affecting his mental health.

“Four months of burying myself in gambling apps had apparently made me twitchy in ways that were perceptible to my colleagues,” he wrote.

Throughout the feature, he weaved in stories of gambling addicts, professional bettors and the rapid rise of the practice in America–from $4.9 billion in legal gambling in 2017 to at least $160 billion last year.

By the time Coppins bet on the losing New England Patriots in this year’s Super Bowl, he’d lost $9,891 of the original 10 grand.

At that point, he sought to prevent himself from legal wagering in his home state of Virginia by filling out a “self-exclusion” form, a way of preventing online sportsbooks from taking his bets for a specific period.

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“When I’d started this project, I had presented it to my bishop as journalism; at some point, it had veered into obsession,” he wrote. 

Last Updated:March 12, 2026, 23:47 IST

Fans angrily on Kavya Maran: Sunrisers Group owner Kavya Maran has come under the target of fans during ‘The Hundred’ auction. After buying Pakistan’s spinner Abrar Ahmed for Rs 2.34 crore, huge protest has started on social media. Fans are citing those old videos and posts of Abrar in which he made fun of India. This is the first case of a Pakistani player being bought by a team with IPL links, which has created a big controversy.

Pakistani spinner joins Kavya Maran’s team.

Police will use the River Thames to separate protesters and counter-protesters at the Al Quds Day rally in central London on Sunday.

A planned march to the Home Office was banned earlier this week after Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood approved a request from the Metropolitan Police to block it to “prevent serious public disorder”.

The Met added that the organisers, the Islamic Human Rights Commission (IHRC), were “supportive of the Iranian regime”. It is the first time a protest march has been banned by the Met in 14 years.

But the IHRC have said a “static” protest will go ahead, claiming the ban on the rally was a “politically charged decision”. It said the static protest is a peaceful, pro-Palestinian event.

In a briefing on Thursday, Assistant Commissioner Ade Adelekan said the use of the Thames as a buffer between opposing groups is a “new bespoke tactic” to tackle the “unique set of circumstances” the Al Quds rally brings.

The Met are expecting at least 6,000 at the Al Quds protest, and an additional 6,000 counter-protesters – but warned there could be “significantly more” due to the volatile situation in the Middle East.

Protesters at the Al Quds march will be south of the River Thames on Albert Embankment, while counter-protesters will be contained within Millbank. Lambeth and Vauxhall Bridges will be shut to all traffic except emergency service vehicles.

More than 1,000 officers are set to police the event, including some from community policing and other forces. There will also be increased policing around other “vulnerable places” in London including areas with large Jewish communities.

Mr Adelekan said officers on the ground “will be briefed to act decisively”, including in relation to placards, flags and chanting.

The assistant commissioner also confirmed there will be a “zero tolerance approach” to hate crime, and anyone expressing support for proscribed organisations will face arrest.

The ban and policing measures “doesn’t completely remove risk of disorder”, Mr Adelekan said, but will make the protest “immeasurably easier to police”.

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In its decision to request the ban on the march, the Met said it took into account the history of the Al Quds rally, community tensions and an “intelligence gap” among other factors.

The tradition of Al Quds Day started after the 1979 Iranian Revolution, and traditionally takes place on the last Friday of Ramadan. Marches are held around the world, and the day is described by the IHRC as an expression of support for Palestine.

Any concerns about 11-time Pro Bowler Travis Kelce’s career continuing with the Kansas City Chiefs in 2026 were apparently unwarranted.

Shortly after news surfaced that Kelce would return to the only NFL team he’s ever played for, the 36-year-old tight end said he made the decision “about midway through” last season.

“About midway through the season,” Kelce said on the latest episode of “New Heights,” the podcast he co-hosts with his brother, former Philadelphia Eagles center Jason Kelce. 

While questions surfaced as Kelce took some extended time to reveal his decision, he made it clear he did not want to make an emotional decision.

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Kansas City Chiefs tight end Travis Kelce walks the sideline before the game against the Buffalo Bills at Highmark Stadium.  (Mark Konezny/Imagn Images)

“I was taking Jason Kelce’s advice. I was taking the advice to take a step back. You gotta let the emotions clear and you gotta have a clear head. I’ve made decisions based off of emotions, and they haven’t always played out the right way. So I think taking a step back, letting the emotions settle down… it still felt like I was hungry enough to get back at it. Obviously, there’s still a little bit of that grit and that emotion. I f—–g hated the way that s–t ended last year and I wanna make it right.”

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Kelce said his decision to return was also driven by another shot at NFL glory. “And I want to get another chance at another f—–g Super Bowl,” he said.

Travis Kelce (87) of the Kansas City looks on during an NFL Football game against the San Francisco 49ers at Levi’s Stadium on Oct. 20, 2024 in Santa Clara, California. (Michael Owens/Getty Images)

A 6-11 finish in the 2025 season meant the Chiefs were on the outside looking in at the playoffs for the first time since 2014.

As the Chiefs’ offseason got off to an earlier-than-normal start, Patrick Mahomes’ season-ending ACL injury and the uncertainty swirling around Kelce’s future are being closely watched in Kansas City.

Kansas City Chiefs tight end Travis Kelce (87) celebrates after a catch and run against the Chicago Bears during the first half of the game at GEHA Field at Arrowhead Stadium on Aug. 22, 2025. (Denny Medley/Imagn Images)

Kelce finished last season with 851 receiving yards and five touchdown receptions. 

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The Chiefs selected Kelce in the third round of the 2013 NFL Draft. Kansas City made a splash in free agency this week, signing Super Bowl MVP Kenneth Walker III to bolster its running back room.

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