Search and rescue operations under way as authorities lose contact with 10 crew members after a vessel collision near Istanbul.
Published On 2 Sep 20262 Sep 2026
Turkiye’s coastguard has launched a search and rescue operation after two Turkish-flagged commercial vessels collided off Istanbul and contact was lost with one vessel and its crew of 10.
The collision took place at 3am (00:00 GMT) in the Marmara Sea a little more than 20 miles (32 kilometres) south of Silivri, a suburb of Turkey’s largest city, the Istanbul governor’s office said in a statement on Wednesday.
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Contact was lost with the crew of the Tugberk Imamoglu, flagged to Turkey, after the collision with the Turkish-flagged Alsu, which appeared undamaged, the governor’s office said.
“Numerous naval units from the coast guard’s Marmara and Bosphorus Command and a coast guard helicopter were dispatched to the scene,” the office said.
After two seasons together at the bottom level, Cardiff, Swansea and Wrexham were reunited – this time in the third tier – for a couple of seasons in the mid-1990s.
And now, after more than three decades, they are together again.
“Three Welsh teams in the Championship… it’s enormous for the country,” said Wrexham manager Phil Parkinson.
“There’s a mini-league going on [in Wales].”
Wrexham came out on top last season, finishing four places above Swansea in 11th.
Bookmakers make Parkinson’s men favourites to finish as Wales’ top club once more, with the Red Dragons tipped to push for a play-off place, Swansea in the middle of the pack and Cardiff among those with the longest promotion odds in the division.
Brian Barry-Murphy reckons his team are capable of surprising the doubters – though the Cardiff head coach brushed off questions about the fight to be Welsh football’s leading club before Monday’s mouthwatering curtain-raiser against Wrexham.
“We just want to do really well this season and try to get off to a good start on Monday,” he said.
Barry-Murphy was then reminded that when he took charge last summer, he described Cardiff as the biggest club in Wales.
“Cardiff feels like the biggest club in the world to me,” he said in response.
“When I’m here the energy from the supporters is incredible.
“Hopefully on Monday you’ll see an atmosphere that befits the stadium and the club and we’ll try to do our part by producing a performance that gives us a chance to win.”
After, well, the world seemingly fell in line with his long-planned $110-billion merger of Paramount Skydance and Warner Bros. Discovery in recent weeks, a dozen state attorneys general, led by California’s Rob Bonta, have stymied the deal with a so-far-successful lawsuit that has put the whole thing on ice.
That has Paramount, and presumably Ellison, big mad-sad. So much so that a company lawyer this week suggested Paramount could move out of California if Bonta doesn’t back down.
For those of us in the cheap seats, the whole plot of the Paramount merger has become so convoluted and nebulous it‘s hard to follow exactly what’s going on, and what it all means.
So let’s pull back, and take a big-picture look at what’s happening and what’s at stake — legally and politically.
Legally pretty good
First, the recap: Paramount and Warner Bros. Discovery have been trying to merge since 2024. European regulators, along with those in other countries, cleared the deal, with some conditions in place.
Then, recently, 12 state attorneys general led by Bonta sued to stop the merger on antitrust grounds and won a temporary restraining order.
So why did the states sue?
Trump’s idea of regulation seems to be to OK anything he likes, or that personally benefits him. Therefore, “the states have come in and played a really important role, since the DOJ has basically walked away from a lot of interest enforcement,” said George Hay, a professor of law and economics at Cornell University. “The states take this really seriously.”
While there have been lots of angles on this merger in the media (including concerns over foreign investments), the antitrust lawsuit is really fairly narrow — the main argument is that the merger will “kill off theaters,” Hay said, and hurt consumers and creators.
Bonta has pointed out that after the merger, the new Paramount would control about 27% of films released into theaters in the U.S., along with basic cable distribution.
David Ellison, chairman and chief executive of Paramount Skydance, speaks at a New York event in April.
(Noam Galai / Getty Images for Paramount)
On those narrow grounds, “the states have done a good job putting together a credible case, a case that a court’s likely to regard as being plausible,” said William Kovacic, a professor of law at George Washington University.
While the lawsuit is only in preliminary stages, Harry First, a professor of law emeritus at New York University and an expert in antitrust matters, said it has a “decent chance of succeeding.”
That has to worry Paramount, because a long, drawn-out court case is bad for business.
“If you go through appeals, it means that your transaction hangs suspended in the air for a couple of years,” Kovacic said. “It creates all sorts of uncertainty about the future direction of the business.”
The issues that don’t matter, but actually do
Paramount also has PR headaches involved with this deal, though they largely lie outside the scope of the legal action.
Whether or not CNN would retain its editorial independence has been a huge topic of debate. Ellison’s dad, billionaire Larry Ellison, is a huge F.O.T. (friend of Trump) with a hard-right tilt.
The younger Ellison has already been accused of destroying the integrity of “60 Minutes.” Many fear (or hope, depending on their politics) that he will do the same to CNN. But that’s not really an antitrust issue, although Ellison has tried to claim this is political persecution by liberal states.
There’s also been talk from labor unions and some politicians that the merger will hurt workers, which seems like a reasonable fear. In general, First points out, less competition leads to more power for the remaining owners to set the terms of employment.
Again, that’s not what the lawsuit is actually focused on.
Politics front and center
But both of those issues have become popular talking points, more prevalent than the actual issues in the lawsuit.
That reality is creating a political headache for some big political heads, including California Gov. Gavin Newsom and governor-in-waiting Xavier Becerra, who are increasingly receiving pressure from Paramount to make this all go away.
That thumbscrew campaign lost all subtlety this week at a Politico event in Sacramento, where Paramount’s chief legal officer Makan Delrahim said the company would consider leaving the state.
“If I was governor, I wouldn’t want to lose Hollywood from the state. I wouldn’t want to lose a major company like Paramount to another state,” Delrahim said.
Both Newsom and Becerra in recent days have indicated they would prefer some sort of settlement, avoiding a long legal battle that could kill the deal entirely.
NYU’s First sees that as “the weakness of Democrats who say they don’t like concentration and they don’t like concentration in the media and they don’t like companies getting bigger and bigger, and then they fold when the companies have political power.”
Let’s look at that power more closely, though, because if you recall, there are 11 other attorneys general in this suit, including from powerful states such as New York and Colorado.
That means “California doesn’t necessarily dictate what will happen to the case,” Hay said. “It may well be Ellison will twist Newsom’s arm to get Newsom to twist the attorney general’s arm to call off the case or take a very favorable settlement, but it doesn’t kick the other states out.”
While Bonta, at the same Politico event, said he’s had private conversations with Newsom on the issue, he also doesn’t seem interested in folding.
“In a span of weeks, Paramount agreed to halt the merger until a court decision or until June 2027, asked for a November trial, and is now back with another attempt to blackmail the state into letting an illegal deal through. Paramount has lost the plot as it continues to lose in court. It didn’t work the first time — on the eve of our July lawsuit — and it won’t work this time,” Bonta said in a recent social media post.
Don’t forget, Bonta has his own aspirations for governor, and Hay points out that AGs often see antitrust cases as “a political stepping stone” because they are popular with voters.
So what’s next?
As the lawsuit is currently written, First and other legal experts agreed this would be a hard case to settle because it doesn’t leave a lot of room for dealmaking.
That, of course, doesn’t mean a deal couldn’t be done.
But it’s unlikely Ellison will force California to crumble with so many other states in the game, no matter how many threats Paramount drops, and unlikely the merger will escape this lawsuit without concessions that the attorneys general can cite as victories.
“The biggest divorce trial in British history” is coming and the stakes couldn’t be higher.
Hayley Anderson Screen Time TV Reporter
16:04, 06 Aug 2026Updated 16:08, 06 Aug 2026
WAR official teaser trailer starring Sienna Miller and Dominic West
A “bold” legal drama has confirmed its start date where “winning is everything” when it comes to divorce.
Brought to life by the creator of Lupin and Hijack, War is an upcoming eight-part Sky drama on the “headline-grabbing” divorce between a tech entrepreneur and an international film star.
Dominic West leads the cast as Morgan successful businessman Morgan Henderson with his soon-to-be ex-wife and actress Carla Duval played by Sienna Miller.
They will be thrown into the “high-stakes world of two of London’s most prestigious rival law firms” who will stop at nothing to secure victory for their clients.
War will be making its debut on Friday, October 3, on Sky and its streaming service NOW, with its official trailer now out and it’s a gripping watch.
What’s even more exciting is that the future of War has already been guaranteed ahead of its season one debut. Sky has given the drama a two-series order with production currently underway on its second season.
Underneath the bitter tension between West and Miller’s characters, there’s also the competition between “London’s most powerful lawyers”, Cathcarts & Sons and Taylor & Byrne.
Screw actress Nina Sosanya is behind Beatrice “Queen Bea” Ubosi as The Crown star Pip Torrens plays John Smallwood from Cathcarts & Sons.
Meanwhile, their counterparts and “fierce rivals” at Taylor & Byrne are portrayed by The Great’s Phoebe Fox as Serena Byrne and Sexy Beast’s James McArdle as Nicholas Taylor.
Then there is ambitious young lawyer Jonathan “Johnny” Warren, played by Shadow and Bone’s Archie Renaux, who quickly realises that it’s a ruthless world where “winning is everything”.
Other memorable cast members set to feature in War include The Thursday Murder Club’s Celia Imrie, Ted Lasso star Nick Mohammed, Mint actress Emma Laird and Gavin and Stacey legend Adrian Scarborough, just to name a few.
War debuts on Friday, October 2 on Sky and streaming service NOW.
A train collision on Friday north of London resulted in at least 89 people being injured and Friday commutes into the city halted as emergency services responded to the incident. File Photo by Justin Lane/EPA-EFE
June 19 (UPI) — Two passenger trains collided north of London on Friday evening, snaring commutes as several train lines were closed as emergency services responded to the scene.
The two trains collided in Bedford, one from Corby and the other from Nottingham on the way to London St. Pancras, resulting in rail services to and from London St. Pancras being suspended, ABC News, The BBC and The Guardian reported.
The British Transport Police reported that 89 people were injured in the collision, 11 of whom were being treated for “very serious injuries.”
Officials are asking people to avoid the area, whether they are commuting or looking for a loved one, and local hospitals asked people not to come to the emergency room unless they have a serious emergency.
“I’m grateful to emergency services who are on the scene, attending to those affected,” British Secretary of State for Transport Heidi Alexander said in a statement on X.
“We’re working quickly with the rail industry and local partners to support passengers,” she said.
The collision occurred just after 3:00 p.m. local time on Friday as both trains were headed toward London.
U.K. Prime Minister Keir Starmer called the incident “hugely concerning” as other officials noted that a cause for the collision is not known yet but a full investigation will be conducted.
President Donald Trump presents a Medal of Honor to Tom Ripley on behalf of his father, John W. Ripley, during a Medal of Honor award ceremony in the East Room of the White House on Thursday. Photo by Aaron Schwartz/UPI | License Photo
