mig-wp

Former Tottenham Hotspur and Switzerland defender Ramon Vega has confirmed he will stand as a candidate in next year’s FIFA presidential election, becoming the first person to publicly challenge incumbent Gianni Infantino. The 55-year-old, who also played for Celtic and Watford before building a career in finance, pledged to „reunite the global football family” and deliver „genuine and lasting reform” at FIFA. Vega’s announcement comes amid mounting pressure on Infantino, whose failed plan to sell stakes in the World Cup to private investors sparked a backlash across football, with UEFA, Concacaf and the Asian Football Confederation calling for him to quit. To appear on the ballot, Vega must secure backing from five of FIFA’s 211 member federations and pass an eligibility check, having fallen short of the required support when he attempted to run in 2019.

As AI continues to reshape industries, business leaders like Jeff Bezos, Jamie Dimon, and Bill Gates are predicting that artificial intelligence could usher in a permanent three- or four-day workweek by boosting productivity and freeing up employees’ time. From Amazon’s founder suggesting workers could support their families on a three-day schedule to Zoom’s CEO forecasting that every company will eventually adopt shorter weeks, these tech titans are painting a vision of a more leisurely future. Economists like Alex Tabarrok note that a shorter workweek is far more likely than mass unemployment, pointing to historical precedent—US annual working hours have already dropped roughly 40% since 1870 without rising joblessness. Whether driven by optimism or strategy, executives are clearly favoring an enticing vision of AI-driven leisure over a catastrophic narrative of widespread job losses.

With the midterm elections just one week away, President Donald Trump is already casting doubt on the results, refusing to unconditionally accept outcomes he deems dishonest. This follows a troubling pattern: in 2016, he said he’d accept results „if I win,” in 2020 he repeatedly declined to commit, and in 2024 he conditioned acceptance on a „fair and legal and good” election. Trump still refuses to concede his 2020 loss to Joe Biden, and analysts worry he may go further this time—especially as the DOJ files criminal charges against green card holders in California, Trump personally requests a lawsuit to block Alaska’s Senate certification, and his administration threatens Washington state over its voter rolls. Critics warn these moves are part of an „election takeover playbook” designed to undermine voter confidence, despite overwhelming evidence that U.S. elections are secure and that widespread voter fraud is a myth.

**Why Is Diesel More Expensive Than Regular Gas?** Diesel fuel consistently costs more than regular unleaded at the pump—sometimes nearly $2 more per gallon—a reversal from when diesel was cheaper before September 2004. The Energy Information Administration points to rising global demand, tighter supply from refinery constraints tied to the Iran and Ukraine wars, and stricter ultra-low sulfur regulations that raise refining costs. An added federal excise tax of 24.4 cents per gallon—6 cents higher than gasoline—also keeps diesel prices elevated.

High schools across the U.S. are increasingly treating business education as a core liberal art, with more than 1,500 schools offering the new Advanced Placement Business with Personal Finance course for the first time this year. The College Board designed the class to blend practical financial skills with big-picture thinking, teaching students how political, economic, social, technological, environmental and legal forces shape business decisions. This shift reflects a broader trend toward financial literacy in American schools, with 39 states now requiring a personal finance class to graduate, up from 35 two years ago. Research from the Federal Reserve suggests these requirements pay off, as students in states with financial education mandates tend to make smarter money decisions later in life.

Lifetouch, the largest school photography company in the world, photographs roughly 30 million children each year across tens of thousands of schools—a logistics operation that has quietly dominated the American classroom for nearly a century. Founded in 1936 with just $500 and later built into an employee-owned giant through more than 250 acquisitions, Lifetouch controls an estimated third to half of the U.S. school photo market. This in-depth look explores how picture day became one of the most efficient image-making machines ever built, from green screens and retake days to order forms engineered around the wallet-size print. It also examines the economics behind the ritual—district commissions of 15 to 50 percent, the $825 million Shutterfly acquisition in 2018, and why smartphone cameras never killed the school portrait.

As the Democratic establishment continues to lose primary battles to progressive insurgents from Florida to Michigan to Minnesota, party leaders and their mainstream media allies are waging a desperate rear-guard action to reclaim control of key Senate races. Bernie Sanders is stepping in to fill the funding vacuum left by the DSCC, backing candidates like Angie Nixon in Florida, Abdul El-Sayed in Michigan, and Peggy Flanagan in Minnesota, while establishment consultants work to moderate and manage populist nominees like Maine’s Troy Jackson. New political science research reveals that the key swing bloc in American politics is not the „economically liberal, socially conservative” voter that Rahm Emanuel and Chuck Schumer have chased for decades, but rather anti-system voters who distrust both parties and believe elites are corrupt. A Wall Street Journal survey confirms that Americans across party lines overwhelmingly support populist policies like prescription drug price caps and credit-card interest rate limits, signaling a coalition that transcends traditional political labels. As Rahm Emanuel teases a 2028 run despite his disastrous tenure as Chicago mayor and controversial stint as Ambassador to Japan, the Democratic Party’s internal war between establishment centrists and grassroots populists shows no signs of ending.

A July survey by Goldman Sachs Asset Management and Escalent found that the share of Americans living paycheck to paycheck follows a U-shaped pattern by income, affecting about 61% of workers earning under $50,000, 22% of those earning $100,000 to $200,000, and roughly 37% of those earning more than $500,000. Lower earners struggle with everyday basics like transportation and rent, while high earners face lifestyle creep, larger fixed commitments, and bigger gaps between the retirement they envision and what they’ve saved. The U-shape also shows up in how often financial worries hurt focus at work, difficulty paying credit cards, and delays in reaching financial goals, with 45% of top earners saying they’ve had to postpone retirement despite being employed. Read on to learn why income alone doesn’t guarantee financial security and how workers at every level are coping.

George Loewenstein, a co-founder of behavioral economics, argues in his new book *The Opposite of Happiness* that misery is not a malfunction but the evolutionary system itself—negative emotions like hunger, pain, and loneliness are how nature motivates us to survive, and they remain far more powerful and persistent than positive ones. Drawing on insights from Adam Smith to modern psychology, Loewenstein explains how negative „meta-emotions”—the guilt we feel about feeling bad—compound our suffering, and why societal pressure to be happy can actually deepen our misery. In conversation with Vox’s Future Perfect, he also links social media to rising mental health struggles by amplifying envy and social comparison, and suggests that the central aim of public policy should be reducing misery through robust safety nets rather than chasing happiness. Though militantly anti-self-help, the book offers a bracing and even comforting lens on what it means to be alive—insight, Loewenstein insists, is its own reward.

Ireland head coach Heimir Hallgrimsson has called on UEFA to prevent future fixtures between the Republic of Ireland and Israel after a tense 1-1 Nations League draw played behind closed doors in Serbia. The match was overshadowed by political controversy, including allegations that an Israeli player spat on Ireland’s fitness coach at half-time and criticism from the Israeli government accusing Irish players of „moral blindness” for bowing their heads during the national anthem. Hallgrimsson said he „wouldn’t wish any national team to go through what we’ve gone through in these two weeks” and urged UEFA to intervene, while two Israeli journalists were also banned from post-match press conferences following a chaotic pre-match media session.