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It looked like a scene straight out of, well, a movie on the Warner Bros. lot ... as black smoke billowed into the air from the famous Hollywood plot.

Fire crews raced to the scene in Burbank Friday afternoon after a transformer -- no, not the car/robot kind -- reportedly blew up and started a fire. The good news is no one appears to have been hurt during the melee, and the whole thing was put out super quickly.

As for the lot, it's obviously got a TON of history, so it's a good thing none of the famous sound stages suffered any significant damage in the blaze.

And, if you're wondering ... that iconic WB water tower didn't come in handy for firefighters, it's actually empty.

The Warner Bros. lot served as home base for some of the most popular shows ever on TV -- including "Friends," "The Big Bang Theory," "Shameless," and "Euphoria."

Not to mention, some of Hollywood's biggest blockbusters were also filmed on location, including "Jurassic Park," "Batman & Robin," "Casablanca," "Inception" and a ton more.

French Prez Emmanuel Macron got his groove on Thursday night in Paris, as rioters hit the streets protesting a police shooting that killed a 17-year-old.

Macron and his wife hit up Elton John's Farewell Tour in Paris, seeming at least on the surface unbothered by the explosion of violence in his country.

The riots were triggered by a confrontation Tuesday in the city of Nanterre, who French police fatally shot a driver in the chest ... after the 17-year-old tried to leave the scene.

Rioters hit the streets in several cities. So far more than 600 hundred people have been arrested for starting fires, looting and other crimes.

Macron has said the riots are just an excuse to commit crimes, calling it "an unacceptable exploitation of the adolescent's death."

Some rioters have compared the police shooting to the George Floyd murder.

Losing luggage at the airport is bad, but losing a leg is worse ... and that's what happened to a woman in Thailand.

The painful incident went down Thursday morning at Don Mueang International Airport in Bangkok, where a woman lost part of her leg after getting caught in a moving walkway.

The victim, a 57-year-old Thai woman, reportedly suffered the grisly injury while trying to make a 9:45 AM flight ... her foot became trapped in the moving walkway in Terminal 2 and horrified onlookers rushed to hit the emergency off switch as her leg became mangled.

As you can see, the woman's foot is trapped beneath the belt at the end of the walkway ... and a medical team had to amputate her leg above the knee to get her out. Ouch.

The Associated Press reports the woman is trying to get her leg reattached ... and she's been taken to two different hospitals for treatment.

There's been a grisly discovery among the wreckage of the doomed Titan submersible recovered from the bottom of the Atlantic Ocean -- presumed human remains.

The U.S. Coast Guard announced Wednesday the remains were found in the debris field from the submersible's catastrophic implosion, only 1600 feet from the bow of the infamous Titanic shipwreck.

Now, the presumed human remains will be transported to the U.S. for analysis ... as part of an international investigation into the OceanGate sub tragedy.

As we reported ... the sub wreckage is now back on land, several pieces of the Titan were unloaded Wednesday in St. John's, Newfoundland, Canada from the Horizon Arctic ship.

We're now getting a first look at the wreckage from the Titan submersible recovered from the bottom of the Atlantic Ocean.

The photos, taken Wednesday in St. John's, Newfoundland, Canada show crews unloading several pieces of the Titan from the Horizon Arctic ship.

It's tough to tell what the items are, but at least one of them appears to be the black landing gear from the base of the Titan.

From here, investigators will likely take the recovered pieces for additional study in an effort to determine exactly what led to the "catastrophic implosion" that killed 5.

As we reported, the Titan disappeared Sunday June 18 about 2 hours after it started its mission to the wreckage of the Titanic.

A Royal Caribbean passenger is thanking her lucky stars ... after miraculously surviving a terrifying fall off a cruise ship all the way from the 10th deck.

According to the U.S. Coast Guard, a 42-year-old woman on RC's Mariner of the Seas ship went overboard Sunday about 27 nautical miles south of Punta Cana ... with crew members quickly launching a rescue mission to find the fallen passenger.

You see what appears to be a couple of empty life rafts next to some smoke -- apparently emanating from flares -- as guests onboard the cruise ship anxiously looked out to the ocean, hoping to spot her. Thankfully, the team eventually found her and picked her up in their rescue vehicle.

Matthew Kuhn, who filmed the rescue video, told Fox35 he feared the worst during the search ... saying "I was like, someone just died." He says everyone was on their balcony at the time, and was cheering together once she was finally found.

The woman didn't require medical attention, despite the steep fall ... but she was taken to the hospital for evaluation.

Nicki Minaj is fully in the corner of the Chicago 14-year-old who shot and killed a man to protect his mom while she was being attacked, saying she's willing to help him go to college.

The rapper chimed in on the viral case, which has spurred a lot of conversation online over the past week or so. She took to IG to sound off, and it's clear she believes the 14-year-old and his mother did absolutely nothing wrong here ... even if it cost a life.

Nicki passionately writes, "That 14-year-old boy that backed dat hammer out when that grown ass man was punching his mother in the face as if she were a MAN; is a true hero."

She continues ... "If he wants to go to college, I'd love to help. It's what ANY son should've done for their MOTHER. She raised a dope kid & should be so proud. Also, God knew b4 she knew; that she'd be attacked that day & made sure they had protection on DECK."

NM finishes with a simple message, "God is GOOD." Now, as for her offer of assistance for higher education -- she didn't really elaborate ... but ya gotta figure she's talking about cash here. If the kid sees this, it'll be interesting to see if he takes her up on it.

As for the case itself ... it's a doozy. Carlishia Hood and her son were charged with first-degree murder after the teen shot and killed 32-year-old Jeremy Brown on June 18 at a restaurant ... this after an argument ensued inside, and Brown was filmed repeatedly punching Hood in the head.

Right as he's wailing on her, her son enters the restaurant from outside and opens fire on Brown. Cops say Brown then fled, but allege that Hood ordered her son to finish the job and continue shooting him outside ... which he then did. Brown died from gunshot wounds.

Amid a lot of uproar, Cook County prosecutors dropped all the charges against the mother and son ... saying they didn't have enough evidence to proceed with a prosecution. Since then, Hood has sued the City of Chicago and a few cops too ... claiming she was unjustly arrested/charged -- and that the whole ordeal has caused a lot of emotional distress.

Her legal team has been echoing what a lot of others have argued -- namely, that the use of deadly force here was justified and that Hood/her son were simply defending themselves.

Donald Trump is in deeper trouble than anyone could have imagined in his classified documents case ... this after CNN aired a bombshell audio of him showing classified material he never declassified ... showing it to people who had no business seeing it.

The 45th President was taped casually chatting with his staff about "highly confidential" documents at a July 2021 meeting in Bedminster, New Jersey.

The get-together was supposed to be centered around a writer -- also in the room -- penning a memoir about Trump's former Chief of Staff Mark Meadows, but it soon devolved into a conversation about a secret plan against Iran drawn up by Defense Department General Mark Milley.

The two-minute recording, featured Monday night on CNN's "Anderson Cooper 360," starts off with Trump purportedly grabbing the sensitive docs and rustling them in his hands.

Trump then says, "This thing just came up." This was [Milly]. This was the Defense Department and him."

He then points out the docs are "highly confidential, secret. This is secret information ... Isn't that incredible?"

Then Trump makes an incriminating admission, stating, "See, as president, I could have declassified it, but now I can't."

A woman in the room responds, "Now we have a problem," but she then starts laughing.

In another part of the recording, Trump makes fun of Hillary Clinton and her emails scandal. One of Trump's aides begins by saying Hillary would print out her private emails all the time.

Trump answers, "No, she'd send it to Anthony Weiner." He then called Weiner a pervert, causing everyone to chuckle. Weiner, a former Democratic congressman, was convicted of transferring obscene material to a minor and sentenced to 21 months in federal prison.

The teenager who died aboard the Titanic submersible had high hopes for his future -- including breaking a world record ... which he seemed primed to do.

19-year-old Suleman Dawood -- one of the five passengers who perished in OceanGate's Titan sub last week -- had been on record as wanting to set a new benchmark ... namely, solving a Rubik's Cube thousands of feet below the ocean's surface and being the one to have done it at the deepest depth, around 12,000-plus feet under the sea.

A video that his family shot -- which is now making the rounds -- shows him cracking the toy puzzle relatively quickly ... at about 19 seconds. For the Titanic voyage, he wanted to do that in the sub.

Reports say his father even brought a camera to capture the moment, so it was definitely on his mind.

Of course, his family was incredibly proud of him ... and the guy had a lot of life to live.

His mother, Christine Dawood, recently did an interview with the BBC ... and it's heartbreaking. She says she was nearby when they initially went missing last Sunday and spent torturous days hoping against hope.

Sadder than that ... Christine says it should've been her on the sub instead of her son. She explains that the plan was for her to go with her husband, Shahzada, but she gave up her spot to her son at the last minute because he apparently really wanted to go.

In hindsight, Christine says she regrets that ... and goes on to say she misses her family.

Christine also says she and her still-living daughter have vowed to learn to solve the Rubik's Cube in honor of Suleman.

MrBeast was almost one of the people who perished on the Titanic submersible -- but, lucky for him, he had the foresight to steer clear of the doomed trip under the sea.

The YouTube star made the revelation Sunday, taking to Twitter to write ... "I was invited earlier this month to ride the titanic submarine, I said no. Kind of scary that I could have been on it." He also attached a screenshot of a text message he says he received.

It reads, "I'm going to the Titanic in a submarine late this month. The team would be stoked to have you along. I'm sure you're also welcome to join." Unclear who sent it -- but, on its face, this presumably came from one of the five passengers who were killed onboard.

There's been a lot of reflection in hindsight following the tragedy -- a lot of people are bringing up stories and examples of experts who tried sounding the alarm about some of the Titan's safety features ... with some, including James Cameron, insisting it wasn't up to snuff.

Titan completed successful missions -- including some to the Titanic -- before ... but many say it was just a matter of time before the thing ran into trouble. Obviously, that manifested.

Other notable individuals have come forward to say they, too, turned down opportunities to ride OceanGate's ill-fated submersible ... including financier Jay Bloom and actor Ross Kemp. Even more online have been mocking what they say was a disaster waiting to happen.

OceanGate has tried defending its operation in the wake of all this -- but it's a losing battle, it seems ... most everyone appears to be on the same page here ... this was a bad idea.

Scammers looking to make a quick buck on the missing Titanic-bound submersible tried to crowdsource off the tragedy ... but GoFundMe is cracking down.

Here's the deal ... we did some digging and found several GoFundMe pages seeking donations for search and rescue efforts, and money for the missing passengers' families.

Problem is ... these GoFundMe pages are NOT legit ... and the platform is taking action, and scrubbing the pages in some cases.

A rep for GoFundMe tells TMZ ... their Trust & Safety team is monitoring the platform for fundraisers related to the OceanGate sub, and 5 fundraisers have already been removed.

The folks behind the bogus fundraisers appear to have lofty visions ... most of them set six-figure goals, with others seeking upwards of $2 million.

A train derailed in Montana this weekend, causing a bridge over a river to collapse ... which now has officials worried that a hazardous spill is in making its way through the water.

The accident happened early Saturday morning, when a freight train went crashing into the Yellowstone River ... for reasons that have yet to be determined. Several rail cars are partially submerged in the water -- and word is, some of them are carrying toxic materials.

One of those chemicals is reported to stem from petroleum products -- some have said it's actually asphalt and other slow-moving liquids that have yet to be identified. The authorities have said they fear some of that may have started to seep into the river -- which feeds into the water supply for nearby residents. A full assessment is currently underway.

While there's no official word on a bona fide threat ... some citizens in Yellowstone/Stillwater Counties have reportedly been told to limit their water usage for the time being.

As you can imagine, emergency crews are on the scene and attempting to clean up what they can. Federal and state lawmakers are also responding en masse -- saying they're monitoring the situation and working with the appropriate experts to get it under control.

Of course, this is far from the only train derailment that's made news in the past year or so -- the one that went down earlier this year in East Palestine turned out to be a disaster.

Naturally, the issue of crumbling bridges and shoddy train tracks has been questioned of late ... especially across party lines. Some are wondering where the recent federal infrastructure bill money is going ... and why these incidents appear to be happening more regularly.

Lots of folks' hearts are going out to the five people who died aboard the Titanic-bound submersible ... because they're playing Celine Dion's beloved "Titanic" theme song -- a lot.

Celine's track from the 1997 Oscar-winning movie, "My Heart Will Go On," is seeing a huge bump on streaming platforms in the wake of the sub tragedy ... with over 500,000 streams since the rescue of the missing sub came to an end.

The numbers are pretty incredible ... Spotify listeners have played the song 522,864 times since Thursday ... with Friday bringing even more streams.

As you know, the OceanGate sub set out for the Titanic shipwreck early Sunday morning but then it lost all communications, prompting a multinational, days-long search and rescue effort.

The search ended Thursday when a debris field was found on the ocean floor ... it appears the sub imploded Sunday morning during its dive down to the Titanic.

It's a sad and captivating story, and it seems folks are turning to music to cope with the tragic loss of more life in the Atlantic.

OceanGate Expeditions is on the receiving end of even more scrutiny following the death of 5 in its Titanic-bound submersible ... because a job posting for a pilot was apparently live as the crew was MIA.

The internet's been blowing up with screengrabs of a now-deleted job posting by the company for a Submersible Pilot/Marine Technician to join the team ... looking for someone to "manage and operate our fleet of manned submersibles and support vessels."

It says OceanGate's seeking someone who can perform maintenance on the subs and operate the systems that deal with its dives -- calling it an "excellent opportunity for a high-energy professional."

The listing's since been scrubbed, but it's unclear when it was posted ... however, online records show the page being live from Monday to Thursday -- the days after Titan went missing in the Atlantic Ocean.

As you know, the 4 passengers -- along with CEO Stockton Rush -- died after the vessel apparently imploded near the Titanic wreckage.

James Cameron's harsh criticism of the imploded OceanGate submersible, and its CEO Stockton Rush, is pissing off OceanGate's co-founder ... who says Cameron's just guessing what happened to Titan, and has no actual knowledge.

Guillermo Söhnlein is pushing back on the "Titanic" director's assertion the submersible was "too experimental to carry passengers" ... saying it's impossible for James to know all the details.

Guillermo went on Times Radio Friday in the U.K., and defended OceanGate and Stockton, saying ... "It's impossible for anyone to really speculate from the outside ... I know from firsthand experience that we were extremely committed to safety and risk mitigation was a key part of the company culture."

Remember, James is blaming the tragedy on Stockton -- who was piloting Titan when it imploded -- claiming he ignored warnings from the industry about the safety of Titan's design, and then made matters worse by taking tourists aboard the vessel.

James, who made 33 dives to the famous shipwreck, said he and others in the submersible community voiced concerns about the Titan submersible, but Stockton pushed forward, undeterred -- kind of like the Titanic captain who went full steam ahead into an ice field.

Guillermo says James' views are not gospel -- he says there are differing opinions and views within the industry about every aspect of deep ocean dives and submersibles ... and, most importantly, he says James wasn't involved in the design, engineering, building, testing or diving on Titan.

Despite the 5 deaths aboard Titan, Guillermo says this isn't the end of OceanGate ... he says the company needs to investigate what went wrong, and apply those lessons moving forward.

The document the 4 passengers signed before getting in the ill-fated submersible could prevent their families from filing a wrongful death lawsuit, but there's one big exception.

The relevant jurisdiction according to the contract is the Bahamas. Bahamian law adopts many provisions of United States law, and in most U.S. states a company can absolve itself of liability for injury or death even if it was negligent, provided it fully discloses the risks to the participants.

There are other factors to consider, including lopsided bargaining power and the clarity of the language in the waiver. In this case, the passengers were all well-to-do and sophisticated, with access to counsel.

In short, even if OceanGate negligently constructed or operated the submersible, the families could very well be out of luck if they sue for wrongful death.

Now there's a big exception ... if a court were to determine OceanGate was "grossly negligent," the liability waiver would not be enforceable. Gross negligence is defined "a lack of care that demonstrates reckless disregard for the safety or lives of others." In short, a company cannot enforce a waiver if it engaged in reckless conduct.

That will be for a judge and/or jury to decide -- whether issues of design, materials, and operation crossed that line.