A vital highway weakened by Nepal’s floodwaters has collapsed four days after the catastrophic glacial outburst. The road formed a landslide into the Trishuli river which has swelled after heavy rain.
Published On 30 Aug 202630 Aug 2026
Share
Tom Cruise is set to film a sequel to his 1990 NASCAR hit “Days of Thunder’ with Anne Hathaway, both actors announced in a video posted Saturday on social media.
The Paramount Pictures movie with Cruise reprising his role as NASCAR driver Cole Trickle and Hathaway playing a team owner and engineer will be filmed in IMAX and is expected to be released in the summer of 2028.
Jonathan Levine, whose credits include “Warm Bodies” and “Long Shot,” is directing, and Jerry Bruckheimer and Tommy Harper are producing along with Cruise.
The original film, which earned $157.9 million worldwide at the box office, was directed by the late Tony Scott and starred Robert Duvall, Randy Quaid, Cary Elwes, John C. Reilly and Nicole Kidman, who met Cruise during filming in 1989. The couple married in 1990 and divorced in 2001.
The sequel movie will see Cruise and Bruckheimer join forces again on another legacy sequel after their work on 2022’s Top Gun: Maverick, which came out 36 years after the original blockbuster and grossed $1.5 billion.
Hathaway, who won a best supporting actress Oscar in 2013 for her role in “Les Misérables,” currently stars in the epic drama “The Odyssey,” one of a string of big films including “The Devil Wears Prada 2” the actress starred in this year.
The condition of one of Nigeria’s most critical highways has been getting worse for years and recently it ground to a complete halt for days. Al Jazeera asked people on the Benin-Agbor-Asaba road how they view this infrastructure crisis.
Published On 29 Aug 202629 Aug 2026
Share
For the last month, the Los Angeles Dodgers and Lakers have filled the headlines and airwaves, but not for the reasons either would like.
The Lakers were sold by Mark Walter in mid-August, just over a year after he bought the team.
The sale came about two weeks after the Wall Street Journal reported in late July that the U.S. attorney’s office and securities regulators were investigating Walter’s business and insurance empire regarding $16 billion to $21 billion in possibly fraudulent loans.
In June of last year, 66-year-old Walter and one of his holding companies, TWG Global, purchased a controlling interest in the Lakers for $10 billion, only to sell the franchise to Joshua Kushner and Bob Iger for $12.5 billion this month.
Bloomberg reported that Walter’s sale of the Lakers was done to eliminate some of the billions in outstanding loans that has drawn the ire of federal regulators.
Since then, questions have swirled about whether Walter will put other assets on the market in his fundraising bid, including the Dodgers, which he purchased as chief executive of Chicago investment firm Guggenheim Partners for $2.15 billion in 2012. Sources close to Walter say he’s not likely to sell.
To better understand this tangled story, we spoke with Times sports reporter Steve Henson about why he thinks Walter won’t put the Dodgers up for sale.
Sign up to start every day with California’s most important stories.
By continuing, you agree to our Terms of Service, which include arbitration and a class action waiver. You agree that we and our third-party vendors may collect and use your information, including through cookies, pixels and similar technologies, for the purposes set forth in our Privacy Policy such as personalizing your experience and ads.
Business reporter Laurence Darmiento wrote Aug. 5 that the heart of the federal investigation swirls around related-party transactions.
These dealings are “between entities with business or personal ties, including loans, sales and other transactions that can have legitimate reasons but pose potential conflicts of interest and typically require extra scrutiny,” Darmiento wrote.
More than $1 billion in financing to buy the Dodgers in 2012 came from insurance companies managed by Guggenheim Partners. The purchase was later vetted by state insurance regulators.
Investigators are checking whether billions of dollars’ worth of similar loans made by Walter’s companies were properly disclosed and that insurance companies were not over-leveraged.
Approximately $21 billion in loans not disclosed to state insurance regulators were made by two Delaware insurers Walter owns, according to ratings agency Fitch. The loans reportedly were made to companies with ties to Walter or his TWG Global holdings company.
The issue with these loans is they raise suspicions, according to Bruce Dubinsky, a forensic accountant who spoke with Darmiento. Dubinsky worked on the Enron and Madoff cases.
Dubinsky said that from an audit standpoint, these types of transactions “are always more suspect to fraud” and manipulation since repayments can be delayed indefinitely.
The insurance industry’s tight regulations for money collected from premiums exists so that money is available for future claims. Regulators believe related-party transaction are a threat to that guarantee.
TWG Global has rejected any allegations of wrongdoing.
Henson teamed with Times colleagues to write about Walter’s chances of hanging on to the Dodgers amid this federal probe and whether new owners Bob Iger and Josh Kushner overpaid for the Lakers.
Henson reported that Walter owns a broad series of sports interests: English soccer Premier League team Chelsea, the Los Angeles Sparks WNBA team, the Cadillac Formula 1 racing team; a premier women’s tennis competition, the Billie Jean King Cup, and the entire Professional Women’s Hockey League.
He already sold the Lakers and Henson noted that there have been reports he’s putting his shares of Chelsea on the market.
So, why keep the Dodgers?
“No MLB team has ever been run as boldly as this team,” Henson said. “And the revenue from the Dodgers is relentless, from ticket sales, to international merchandise and including friendly [player] salary deferments that help keep money in-house.”
Since Walter and Co.’s takeover, the Dodgers have won three of the last six World Series and 12 division titles after he and partners rescued the franchise from bankruptcy.
Walter noted that a sale of the Lakers, a franchise he’d barely owned for more than a year, was easier than one he’s already helmed for nearly 15 years.
“His identity is totally wrapped up with the Dodgers and this success saga,” Henson said. “It’s dear to his heart and having them to sell them would just tear him up.”
Amid all of this speculation, the boys in blue are attempting to become the first National League team (and third overall) to win three consecutive World Series titles this year.
(Carolyn Cole/Carolyn Cole/Los Angeles Times)
(Melody Xu/Los Angeles Times)
The San Juan Islands off Washington state has a much-loved clam chowder served at La Conner Brewing Co. in the tiny picturesque town of La Conner, Wash. The dish is spicy enough and not so thick with cream or flour and is a standout in the clam chowder world, according to Times reader Mary Ann Mollenkamp.
Jack Dolan, investigative reporter
Hugo Martín, assistant editor, fast break desk
Kevinisha Walker, multiplatform editor
Andrew J. Campa, weekend writer
Karim Doumar, head of newsletters
How can we make this newsletter more useful? Send comments to essentialcalifornia@latimes.com. Check our top stories, topics and the latest articles on latimes.com.