Memphis Grizzlies player Brandon Clarke dead at the age of 29, team says
Brandon Clarke #15 of the Memphis Grizzlies runs up court against the Detroit Pistons in the second half of an NBA game at Little Caesars Arena on January 24, 2020 in Detroit, Michigan. (Dave Reginek/Getty Images)
(MEMPHIS, Tenn.) — Memphis Grizzlies player Brandon Clarke has died, the team confirmed on Tuesday. He was 29.
“We are heartbroken by the tragic loss of Brandon Clarke,” the team said in a statement on social media. “Brandon was an outstanding teammate and an even better person whose impact on the organization and the great Memphis community will not be forgotten.”
The circumstances surrounding his death are not known at this time.
The Canadian-American forward began playing in the NBA in 2019. He was selected in the first round of the 2019 NBA draft by the Oklahoma City Thunder and immediately traded to Memphis.
He was named to the NBA’s All-Rookie First Team in his rookie season.
“As one of the longest-tenured members of the Grizzlies, Brandon was a beloved teammate and leader who played the game with enormous passion and grit,” NBA Commissioner Adam Silver said in a statement. “Our thoughts and sympathies are with Brandon’s family, friends and the Grizzlies organization.”
This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.
A man is arrested after throwing a hand-made smoke grenade at a protest near Gracie Mansion, on March 7, 2026, in New York. (Ryan Murphy/Getty Images)
(NEW YORK) — Two improvised explosive devices brought to a counterprotest outside Gracie Mansion in New York City Saturday are being investigated as “an act of ISIS-inspired terrorism,” and the two suspects arrested in connection with the incident are facing federal terrorism charges, New York Police Commissioner Jessica Tisch said Monday.
According to a federal criminal complaint released Monday, both suspects openly pledged allegiance to ISIS while in the presence of police, and one suspect allegedly told officers they “wanted to carry out an attack bigger than the Boston Marathon bombing,” which the suspect noted “caused only ‘three deaths.’”
The explosive devices contained the volatile substance triacetone triperoxide, known as TATP, and were made to “injure, maim or worse,” Tisch said of Saturday’s incident.
“These were not hoax devices or smoke bombs. They were improvised explosive devices,” Tisch said during a news conference outside the Gracie Mansion mayor’s residence with New York City Mayor Zohran Mandami, the city’s first Muslim mayor.
One of the devices was ignited and deployed at protesters in a crosswalk on East End Avenue and East 87 Street, and the other device was detonated close by, Tisch said.
Tisch said a third suspected IED was found in the car of the two suspects, a black 2010 Honda with New Jersey license plates, parked on the Upper East Side of Manhattan near Gracie Mansion, prompting an immediate evacuation of homes in the area. She said the device did not test positive for explosives.
All of the devices are being sent to the FBI lab in Quantico, Virginia, for additional testing, Tisch said.
Two Pennsylvania men who are in custody are charged in a five-count federal complaint with attempting to provide material support and resources to ISIS, use of a weapon of mass destruction, transportation of explosive materials, interstate transportation and receipt of explosives, and unlawful possession of destructive devices.
The suspects were identified as Emir Balat of Langhorne, Pennsylvania, and Ibrahim Kayumi of Newton, Pennsylvania, according to Tisch and the federal complaint.
The suspects were ordered to be held without bail after they made their initial appearances, both in shackles, in Manhattan federal court on Monday afternoon. They did not enter a plea to the charges.
“They’re suspected of coming here to commit an act of terrorism,” Mamdani said Monday. “Let me say this plainly: Anyone who comes to New York City to bring violence to our streets will be held accountable in accordance with the law.”
The explosives were deployed at an anti-Muslim protest outside Gracie Mansion that was organized by far-right, anti-immigrant provocateur Jack Lang, officials said. The event was called “Stop the Islamic Takeover of New York City.”
The anti-Muslim protest drew counterprotesters who called their response “Run Nazis Out of New York City,” according to the criminal complaint.
“FBI’s Joint Terrorism Task Force is investigating the matter with our partners at NYPD as well as the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York,” the FBI said in a statement Sunday.
Balat and Kayumi are suspected of attending the event as part of the counterprotest to the anti-Muslim demonstration, authorities said Monday.
Neither Mamdani nor his wife, Rama Duwaji, were in Gracie Mansion when the incident occurred, the mayor said Monday.
Immediately following his arrest, Kayumi was asked by someone in the surrounding crowd why he allegedly attempted to bomb the protest, according to the complaint.
“Kayumi responded in part and as captured on NYPD body-worn camera footage, ‘ISIS,'” the complaint states.
Balat waived his Miranda rights to remain silent following his arrest, according to the complaint, and allegedly provided a written statement in which he “pledge[d] [] allegience [sic] to the Islamic State,” the complaint states.
Balat also allegedly told police that “they wanted to carry out an attack bigger than the Boston Marathon bombing, which Balat noted caused only ‘three deaths,'” according to the complaint.
The April 15, 2013, Boston Marathon bombing also left more than 500 people injured.
Kayumi, whom the complaint said also waived his Miranda rights, allegedly “stated, in substance and in part, that he was affiliated with ISIS; watched ISIS propaganda on his phone; and was partly inspired to carry out his actions that day by ISIS,” according to the complaint.
“Anti-Muslim bigotry is nothing new to me, nor is it anything new for the one million or so Muslim New Yorkers who know this city as our home,” Mamdani said at Monday’s news conference.
“While I found this protest appalling. I will not waver in my belief that it should be allowed to happen. Ours is a free society, where the right to peaceful protest is sacred. It does not only belong to those we agree with. It belongs to everyone,” Mandani added.
Many of the counterprotesters on Saturday confronted the “display of bigotry,” the mayor said. He also praised NYPD officers who swiftly responded to the incident and arrested the suspects, saying they were “faced with a chaotic situation that quickly could have become far more dangerous.”
The mayor specifically cited the “courageous and selfless” acts of two NYPD officers, Assistant Chief Aaron Edwards and Sgt. Luis Navarro, who attended Monday’s news conference. Mamdani said the officers “ran towards the danger so that others could run safely.”
Tisch said the last incident in New York City in which an IED was deployed occurred in December 2017, when Akayed Ullah detonated a homemade bomb he had strapped to his torso in a pedestrian underpass connecting the Port Authority Bus Terminal to the Time Square subway station.
Ullah, a permanent resident of Bangladesh who was living in Brooklyn at the time, was the only person injured in the act, which federal prosecutors said was committed on behalf of ISIS of Iraq. Ullah was convicted in April 2021 by a federal jury on all six counts of the indictment and was sentenced to life in prison.
U.S. President Donald Trump returns to the White House following a visit to Walter Reed National Military Medical Center on Oct. 10, 2025, in Washington, DC. (Anna Rose Layden/Getty Images)
(WASHINGTON) — President Donald Trump visited Walter Reed National Military Medical Center on Tuesday for his “annual dental and medical evaluations,” as announced by the White House earlier this month. A White House official confirmed Tuesday’s visit to ABC News.
“Just finished my 6 month physical at Walter Reed Military Medical Center. Everything checked out PERFECTLY,” the president wrote on his social media platform. “Thank you to the great Doctors and Staff!”
The visit took about three-and-a-half hours, a White House official told reporters, adding that details regarding the visit could be expected “in the next day or so.”
The White House said prior to the appointment that it would consist of “routine annual dental and medical assessments.” The visit was Trump’s third scheduled medical appointment at Walter Reed in 13 months.
Trump will soon celebrate his 80th birthday.
The president underwent a physical examination at Walter Reed in April 2025. In a memo detailing the findings of the physical, Trump’s physician – U.S. Navy Capt. Sean Barbabella – concluded that Trump was in “excellent health” and “fully fit” to serve as president.
The president also visited the dentist in Florida in January and in May.
“President Trump is the sharpest and most accessible president in American history who is working nonstop to solve problems and deliver on his promises, and he remains in excellent health,” a White House spokesperson said in a statement to ABC News.
Trump has frequently been photographed with bruises on his hand, which he attributed to frequent aspirin intake during an interview with The Wall Street Journal published in January. In December 2025, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said the bruising on Trump’s hand was caused by frequent handshakes.
A rash also appeared on the right side of Trump’s neck earlier this year, which the White House said was due to a “preventative skin cream treatment” that he was using for “one week,” causing redness that was “expected to last for a few weeks.”
Trump told the WSJ that he received a CT scan last October, though he initially referred to the test seemingly incorrectly as as an MRI exam. Barbabella said the CT scan was done “to definitively rule out any cardiovascular issues” and showed no abnormalities.
Last summer, Trump was diagnosed with a chronic venous insufficiency after appearing with swollen ankles and legs. This is a “benign and common condition, particularly in individuals over the age of 70,” Leavitt said at the time.
Over the past year, Trump appears to have fallen asleep during events, though he has denied experiencing any difficulty staying awake. During a Cabinet meeting in January, Trump said the press simply caught him “in a blink” and that he closed his eyes because the event was boring.
Trump has made a point to repeatedly proclaim “perfect” health and mental sharpness. On Friday, Trump again said he took multiple cognitive tests that he “aced.” The president has also frequently demanded that his opponents take cognitive tests.
Earlier this month, Trump said he feels the same as he did 50 years ago, though he noted that “someday, there’ll be a day when that won’t happen.”
ABC News’ Meg Mistry, Karen Travers and Mariam Khan contributed to this report.
(NEW YORK) — American journalist Shelly Kittleson, who was kidnapped in Baghdad, Iraq, on March 31, has been released by her abductors, according to the Iraqi militia group Hezbollah Brigades.
This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.
