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Everyone onboard an American Airlines flight smelled it -- that much we know -- but the problem is they had no clue who or what dealt it, so the pilot was forced to make an emergency landing.

The Wednesday night flight from Miami to Barbados was inundated by the pungent chemical odor -- and because the crew believed it was coming from a passenger's carry-on bag, you can imagine the panic that caused.

The pilot made the quick decision to head back to the MIA.

Miami-Dade Fire Rescue units met the plane once it landed, and all 172 passengers were quickly evacuated as firefighters investigated.

Sources with direct knowledge tell TMZ ... the smell was coming from a large, industrial-strength bottle of nail polish -- it somehow made it through TSA and spilled in the passenger's bag. We're told the woman isn't in any trouble.

Art Laboe, a pioneering voice in radio who created one of its most famous phrases, is dead after battling pneumonia.

The famous disc jockey who's widely credited with coining the phrase "Oldies but goodies" died on Friday night at his home in Palm Springs ... according to a rep for Art's production company. We're told he was diagnosed with pneumonia 2 weeks ago.

We're told he had close friends by his side when he passed -- and generations of his fans, particularly on the West Coast, are remembering the man who revolutionized radio broadcasts.

Art was just 18 years old when he got his first gig on KSAN in San Francisco. During WWII he started taking requests and dedications ... a new concept for disc jockeys at the time. He later moved to L.A. and had an enormous social impact on the city.

He organized live DJ shows at a drive-in movie theater ... where he would play rock 'n' roll music, and attract young audiences of white, Black and Latino fans. His shows were so popular, some credit him with helping end segregation in SoCal.

Art went on to become a record producer, and concert promoter and even owned some radio stations. And, when you talk about marathon careers ... Art's final syndicated radio show was produced last week, and aired Sunday night.

He was 97.

President Biden put the nation on red alert Thursday, announcing nuclear "Armageddon" is a real possibility given Russia's recent setbacks in its 8-month war in Ukraine.

At a Democratic fundraiser hosted by James Murdoch, Biden characterized Russian Czar Vladimir Putin as "a guy I know fairly well" -- and added, Putin was "not joking when he talks about the use of tactical nuclear weapons or biological or chemical weapons."

Biden went on to say, "We have not faced the prospect of Armageddon since Kennedy and the Cuban Missile Crisis." He also implied the threat from Putin is tangible "because his military is -- you might say -- significantly underperforming."

The Cuban Missile Crisis was a 13-day showdown in 1962 born out of the Soviet Union's deployment of nuclear weapons in Cuba ... prompting the Kennedy administration to launch a naval blockade of the island.

As far as the public knows, it remains the closest the U.S ever came to a nuclear war.

Biden says he's still "trying to figure" out Putin's "off-ramp" in Ukraine. Where does he find a way out?" Biden asked. "Where does he find himself in a position that he does not not only lose face but lose significant power within Russia?"

Despite Biden's chilling warning, U.S. officials have NOT seen Russia change its nuclear posture to launch an imminent attack.

The amusement park free-fall ride where a teenager fell to his death in Orlando is about to be reduced to scrap metal.

Orlando Slingshot, the company that operates the 400-foot tall ride known as the "Orlando FreeFall," tells TMZ ... it's scrapping the ride as a direct result of 14-year-old Tyre Sampson's death. The company says this is what his family and the community wanted.

We're told Orlando Slingshot will honor Tyre by creating a scholarship in his name, and it's working with his family to hammer out those details.

Remember, Tyre died March 24 after falling from the ride at Orlando's ICON Park. The Orlando FreeFall -- which plummets at 75 MPH -- had only been open since December.

As we first told you, Tyre was a gifted athlete with a promising future ahead of him.

ICON Park leases land to Orlando Slingshot for FreeFall, and the park is supporting the decision to take down the ride, telling us ... "Tyre's death is a tragedy that we will never forget."

A police officer pummeled a 17-year-old boy and drove a knee into his neck while arresting him in Oklahoma over the weekend ... and it was all caught on video.

Footage of Sunday's "attack" shows the deputy and other officers trying to restrain the teen on the ground at the Tulsa State Fair.

In one video, the cops are struggling to place the teen in handcuffs. At some point, the deputy slams his fist into the teen's head. Then he pushes his knee hard into the boy's neck as onlookers scream, "He's a f---king kid, y'all!"

But it didn't stop there. The deputy drags the teen -- who has seemingly gone limp -- across the asphalt with his face to the ground. The cops then cuff the boy.

Another video shows the angry crowd begging officers, who are standing around, to do something. Several witnesses confronted one officer and gave him a tongue lashing.

They screamed, "What the f--k is the matter with you? Do something about this? You can't just let him do this to this kid. He's beating the shit out of this kid. You better hope that kid lives, man. You guys are fucking ridiculous. He's barely conscious."

According to police, the teen was drunk and acting belligerent while waiting in line for a ride. Several people complained and police responded. The teen, who is white, began mouthing off and, according to cops, using racist language toward a black deputy. That's when all the trouble began.

Tulsa County Sheriff's Captain Mike Moore backed up the actions of his officers, reportedly saying "the deputies were required to use the force necessary" when the teen "continued to resist and continued to fight deputies."

At least 125 people were killed Saturday after a stampede erupted during an Indonesian soccer match.

It was a horrifying scene ... fans swarmed the field and opposing sides squared off as they fought violently.

Police were at a loss, firing rounds of tear gas. In fact, it was a fatal move, because fans ran for the exits ... causing a stampede.

Dozens were reportedly trampled to death. Others died by suffocation.

More than 300 others were injured and taken to nearby hospitals, but a number of them died en route or once they got to the ER.

Neil deGrasse Tyson is one of the smartest guys out there, and he's now weighed in on who he thinks is one of the world's great visionaries ... and he's squarely Team Musk.

We got Neil at the Reagan National Airport Friday, where he compared the Tesla honcho to perhaps the most imaginative person in the history of our country -- Thomas Edison.

Mind you ... Neil doesn't co-sign on every one of Elon's ideas. In fact, he thinks some are pie in the sky, but he says Elon dreams big, and that's when big things are bound to happen.

Tyson also has words for the place we call home ... AKA a "f***ed up" planet. He does, however, think there's a ray of hope with NASA's recent mission crashing into an asteroid.

Neil grouses ... if only dinosaurs had a little vision, they might be alive today.

A popular Wisconsin news anchor took her own life ... after sending texts to a friend and her ex-fiancé, revealing the pain she was going through right before she shot herself.

27-year-old Neena Pacholke killed herself in Wausau, WI last month ... in the home she and her ex, Kyle Haase, purchased together back in July.

According to the police report, obtained by TMZ, cops were dispatched to their residence after getting a call from a friend to do a welfare check -- claiming Neena was "making suicidal comments via text message."

Her text read, "He [Kyle] told me he hates me and will feel like a million bucks once I am out of his life."

She also sent a last text to Kyle -- who broke things off with Neena just 7 weeks before their wedding -- saying, "I`m so sorry to do this to you but I can't handle any of this pain anymore."

Police arrived at her home, heard a noise, followed by the sound of something falling. By the time they entered, Neena had already shot herself in the head with a handgun. Cops found a receipt showing she bought the weapon 90 minutes before killing herself.

Her Google searches the night before also showed her looking up ways to end her life.

Pacholke played point guard at USF from 2013 to 2016. The school's women's basketball team said following her death last month that it was heartbroken over her passing.

Whoever said "necessity is the mother of invention" probably wasn't thinking about TV reporters putting condoms up to their mouths in the middle of a hurricane ... but, yeah, that's a thing now!

NBC's Kyla Galer is practicing safe reporting down in Florida as Hurricane Ian roars across the state -- proudly, and gently we're sure, rolling out latex protection for her microphones while out in the field.

As Kyla's pointing out to curious viewers ... "It is what you think it is. It's a condom. We can't get these mics wet ... so, we gotta do what we gotta do."

Translation: No glove, no love live shots from this reporter!

Just to wrap this up ... Kyla's getting pounded in the Naples area, just south of where Ian's eye came onshore Wednesday. She, and tons of other TV reporters, are out in the elements getting whipped by heavy wind and rain -- but a little prophylactic preparation goes a long way.

A Florida weatherman is feeling Twitter's wrath after posting a video of a struggling kitten in Hurricane Ian -- and not being able to bring it to safety -- as conditions in the area continue to worsen and pose life-threatening risks to anyone who dares to go out in the storm.

WINK-TV meteorologist Dylan Federico posted a short clip of the kitten outside the Fort Myers TV station clinging to a bench with water and wind thrashing all around it. Federico's caption read, "Storm surge is rising rapidly outside WINK News. A kitten is on the bench trying to escape the water. The doors are locked but we're trying to get the kitten inside."

More than an hour passed without an update on the kitten from Federico ... and his followers got PISSED.

One Twitter user wrote, "Less filming, more saving. If the water ain’t as high as a bench, you sure as heck can go out there and get that baby." Another said, "bro, save the cat! For the love of god!"

Dylan eventually deleted the post -- and the anger on social media continued. Another person wrote, "You may have deleted the video but none of us will ever forgive you. Cowardly, cruel and inhumane."

Finally, a couple hours after the video first went up, Federico Tweeted, "Right after the video was posted we attempted to get to the cat but it swam in a different direction out of view. I waited to post an update in hopes we could grab it. Please take your companions with you when you evacuate."

What's more, a source with direct knowledge tells us staffers were given strict instructions to stay inside the building as conditions continue to worsen and going outside could prove deadly.

On a better note ... one video showed a dog and a kitten rescued from a sailboat Wednesday while the storm hammered boats in a harbor.

Weather Channel reporter Mike Seidel looks like he deserves a raise -- he's working on the ground, in the winds of a category 4 hurricane ... and the videos are scary.

Mike threw on a rain jacket and trudged out into the thick of Hurricane Ian as the storm's eyewall made landfall Wednesday on Florida's Gulf coast ... and as you can see, the 84 MPH wind gusts are giving him a hard time.

With Ian's wind and rain bearing down on him and waves crashing at his feet, Mike admits live on the air he and his crew are getting hammered by the storm ... but the show goes on.

Mike's still out in this mess ... doing more live shots even as Hurricane Ian intensifies for folks in the Fort Myers area.

The wind is only going to pick up, and the water will continue to rise ... but so far, it looks like Mike can handle whatever comes his way.

These Florida men, who decided to go swimming off a pier in the area, also seem to think they can handle the storm. We're not as sure about their safety as we are Mike's.

Navy SEALs are apparently using performance-enhancing drugs en masse -- a phenomenon under the microscope after a recent death -- and now ... the branch is cracking down.

This all came under increased scrutiny after 24-year-old SEAL trainee Kyle Mullen died suddenly earlier this year while he was participating in the training program ... specifically, during Hell Week, where would-be SEALs are put through extreme conditions.

While Mullen's mother denies her son was on any type of steroid/PED that could've adversely affected his health -- paraphernalia found in his car shortly after his death has caused concern among Navy brass, spurring them to request more testing to detect this stuff.

There's a list of banned substances -- including PEDs -- that the Navy doesn't want its recruits using ... even though, in reality, it seems many of them are. Mullen's mother told CNN that her son relayed this to her while he was alive ... that more often than not, prospective SEALs were juicing up for competitive advantages in the elite program.

Officials believe this problem goes beyond just human growth hormone, BTW -- the PED problem is said to be rampant and wide-ranging ... which is obviously worrying, seeing how much this stuff has been found to be bad for the average person's health, increasing heart rate and blood pressure levels beyond normal -- and that can lead to death.

After Mullen's death, other cadets were ordered to undergo urinalysis to test for PEDs, but the Navy wants blood testing approved (and funded) because they believe this issue needs to be weeded out and strictly forbidden.

A Naval senior officer told CNN ... there is "beyond a reasonable doubt that a significant portion of the candidate population is utilizing a wide range of performance-enhancing drugs."

It's not every day you can wakeboard in the street ... so when the weather from Hurricane Ian caused a huge flood, a Florida man was there with his board!

A bystander in Marathon, Florida caught the performance on video ... where a pickup truck,  submerged in water, pulled the wakeboarder through the flooded streets.

There were even spectators there ... cheering on the wakeboarder.

Even though it looks fun (heck, is fun), Hurricane Ian is no joke. The storm could bring 155 MPH winds when it slams into Florida on Wednesday, according to Weather.com.

Last week, Hurricane Ian struck the Cayman Islands and Cuba, leaving at least 2 people dead in Cuba and millions without power.

This is the second major hurricane of the 2022 season.

Several sporting events in Florida, and even South Carolina, have been postponed due to the severe weather, including UCF's game, originally scheduled for Saturday game, that's been moved to Sunday.

As of now, the Buccaneers-Chiefs game is still on for Sunday night at Raymond James Stadium in Tampa, but an NFL spokesman said the league is "monitoring the storm and continuing to talk to both teams."

The 56-year-old Utah mom carrying her son's baby says while the pregnancy brings the potential for health risks, there's been a lot of love and peace through the whole process.

Nancy Hauck and her daughter-in-law, Cambria, joined TMZ Live Friday to talk about the unique family dynamic as they patiently await the arrival of the new baby girl. Nancy's carrying her son, Jeff, and his wife Cambria's baby after a life-saving hysterectomy left Cambria unable to support a pregnancy.

Nancy tells us she's the one who volunteered to carry the embryo, and at first, she didn't even think it was medically possible.

Nancy and Cambria said a lot of research and advice went into the decision, and so far everything is going smoothly ... both Nancy and baby are healthy. Doctors cautioned the family that at Nancy's age there's more risk of hypertension and gestational diabetes, but everything is clear.

One thing Nancy and Cambria both echo, there's been a lot of peace and love through the whole thing ... and they're excited to welcome the baby girl into the world, and let her know the unique story of how she came to be.

A Los Angeles TV anchorman just got the boot for going ballistic against management -- on the air -- after his co-anchor was not allowed to say so long to viewers after she resigned.

Mark Mester had been suspended earlier this week, but KTLA decided what he did warranted termination.

Mester was pissed off that co-anchor Lynette Romero, whom Mester called his "best friend," told management she was leaving after 24 years to anchor at another station and management didn't allow her to have an on-air goodbye.

Producers had reportedly written a segment for Mester to read as tribute to Lynette, but he refused, instead, Mester groused, "I want to start off right now by offering up an apology to you [Lynette]. I love you so much, you literally are my best friend. You did not deserve what happened to you."

Mester was not done, calling the move rude, cruel and inappropriate.

He also told viewers a plane was flying over KTLA with a banner that read, "We love you Lynette." The plane was chartered by Mester, according to the L.A. Times.

Apparently, Lynette was willing to stay if she could anchor weeknights instead of weekends, but the station wouldn't budge and that's why she left.

NASA's James Webb Space Telescope is giving the younger generation something they've probably never seen before -- an extremely detailed look at Neptune and its rings, which hasn't been captured this clearly in over 3 decades.

NASA released the high-res snapshot of the ice giant Wednesday ... showing off a crisp view of the planet's multiple rings -- and even its faint dust bands, too.

Some of the rings haven't been spotted since Voyager 2 first observed Neptune in 1989. Shining bright above the planet is Triton, one of Neptune's 14 known moons.

Heidi Hammel, a Neptune system expert and scientist for Webb, says this isn't just breaking ground for the visual of the rings -- "this is the first time we've seen them in infrared."

In fact, the infrared cameras are the exact reason why the planet isn't coming up blue in the pics -- looking a little different to die-hard fans of our Solar System's 8th planet.

This telescope is no joke -- as we reported, it's been giving us great looks at our universe and beyond this year. NASA showed off its capabilities in true form in July, giving everyone a clear view of the Southern Ring planetary nebula (NGC 3132) and its two stars.

We also got a look at 5 galaxies known as Stephan’s Quintet, which NASA describes as colliding galaxies that are "pulling and stretching each other in a gravitational dance."