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Manchester United unveiled plans on Tuesday to build the worlds greatest” soccer stadium. A proposed 100,000-seater arena would replace its iconic Old Trafford home and surpass Wembley as the biggest in the United Kingdom. Manchester United is the worlds most favourite football club and, in my view, is the biggest and deserves a stadium fitting of its stature, part owner Jim Ratcliffe said. Ratcliffe, who is one of Britain’s richest people, said the new venue could be a tourist attraction in the manner of the Eiffel Tower. We have 1 billion people around the world who follow Manchester United. They will all want to visit this stadium, he said. Designed by British architect Norman Foster, the first released images of the stadium include three giant tentpoles that would be seen from 40km away. They support a surrounding covered area, which he describes as arguably the largest public space in the world. Wembley is currently the biggest stadium in the U.K., with a capacity of 90,000, and is home to Englands national soccer team. Twickenham, which is home to the national rugby team, holds 82,500. Old Trafford is the countrys biggest dedicated soccer stadium with a capacity of just over 74,000, but is dated in comparison to the likes of the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium in London, which regularly hosts NFL games. Old Trafford, which was bombed during World War II, has been home to United since 1910. Under the plans, the 20-time English champion said it would build next to its current ground, meaning it would not need to relocate during the construction process. It is estimated it would then take around 12 months to disassemble Old Trafford. British billionaire Ratcliffe paid $1.3 billion for an initial 25% stake in United last year and made a new stadium one of his priorities. Today marks the start of an incredibly exciting journey to the delivery of what will be the worlds greatest football stadium, Ratcliffe said. Our current stadium has served us brilliantly for the past 115 years, but it has fallen behind the best arenas in world sport. The possibility of redeveloping Old Trafford was considered but an entirely new construction was the preferred option. United has not set a start date yet but Foster said building work, which could include pre-fabricated parts and a Meccano type construction, could mean it is completed in five years. Timings would likely rely on government involvement in what United wants to be part of a wider project to regenerate the surrounding Old Trafford area. It said it would be worth 7.3 billion pounds ($9.4 billion) to the U.K. economy, and the U.K. government has already voiced its support for the project. Our long-term objective as a club is to have the worlds best football team playing in the worlds best stadium,” United chief executive Omar Berrada said. Managerial great Alex Ferguson said the club “must be brave and seize this opportunity to build a new home, fit for the future, where new history can be made.” The announcement came days after thousands of United fans marched in protest against the club’s ownership in the face of cost cuts, ticket price rises and ongoing failure on the field. United is majority owned by the American Glazer family, which also owns the NFLs Tampa Bay Buccaneers. Upon investing, Ratcliffe vowed to return the once-dominant club back to the summit of European soccer after more than a decade since it last won the Premier League. But his first year in charge of soccer operations has been turbulent. United endured its worst-ever Premier League season last year and is on course to set a new low this term, with the team currently languishing in the bottom half of the standings in 14th position. James Robson, AP soccer writer
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E-Commerce
After the Trump administration and Elon Musks Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) gutted the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) by firing an estimated 7,000 workers, the agency responsible for collecting our nation’s taxes is now poised to close audits on some of the wealthiest taxpayers, who may not have paid their fair share. Democrats are warning that wealthy tax dodgers could soon benefit from fewer compliance staff, which would dismantle President Bidens efforts to strengthen tax enforcement on the rich. During the Biden administration, the IRS received $80 billion, in part to help the under-resourced agency hold these high-income individuals and large corporations accountable, which resulted in collecting $1.3 billion in back taxes, according to the Internal Consortium of Investigative Journalists. Last week, more than 130 House Democrats sent a letter to Acting IRS Commissioner Melanie Krause questioning the mass firings at the “already overburdened agency,” saying the move “threatens to undermine the IRSs capacity to serve the American people effectively” right before tax season, “including ensuring that taxpayers receive timely services and refunds.” (The last thing financially struggling Americans need right now is an IRS that can’t process our tax refunds promptly.) “These efforts are not only a matter of fairness but also a necessity for addressing our nations debt and revenue shortfalls,” the letter continued. “The loss of thousands of compliance staff . . . could cripple this progress, emboldening tax evasion, and depriving the U.S. of urgently needed resources.” Senate Democrats are also worried about the cuts hampering the IRS’s ability to function properly during the upcoming tax season, prompting 18 Democrats to send a letter to the Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration, saying the recent layoffs would “likely reverse recent improvements in taxpayer service, causing phone wait times to increase.” In 2022, the average phone wait time was 28 minutes, but it went down to just 3 minutes during the 2023 filing season, which was maintained through 2024. They also argued that the layoffs would interfere with the agency’s ongoing efforts to crack down on highly sophisticated tax-evasion structures used by ultra high-wealth taxpayers and companies, including offshore tax evasion, large opaque partnerships, and abuse of luxury assets like private jets.
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E-Commerce
President Donald Trump, who’s buying a Tesla to show loyalty to company CEO Elon Musk, has had plenty to say about electric vehicles over the years. Most of it is not good. Of course, Trump was once a sharp critic of Musk, too, which is especially notable given how tight the pair are now. A look at some of Trump’s comments on EVs and Musk: Trump includes electric cars in a sour Christmas message Trump marked Christmas 2023 with a social media post lumping All Electric Car Lunacy in with a number of political enemies that he said are looking to destroy our once great USA. MAY THEY ROT IN HELL. A few weeks earlier, during a rally in Ankeny, Iowa, Trump said of EVs: They dont go far. They cost a fortune. He also suggested that the U.S. military was looking at making Army tanks all electric and scoffing, youre in the middle of the desert and you say, You know what, were running low on electric. Do they have a charger around anywhere? In November 2023, at a Claremont, New Hampshire, rally, Trump similarly picked up on distance being an electric vehicle issue: You cant get out of New Hampshire in an electric car. Where are you going? Im going to Massachusetts. Well, you better get yourself a gas turbine because this car is not going to get you there,” he said. Well, you could, if you stop about four times. That followed his joke during an event in Clive, Iowa, the previous month: “Electric cars are good if you have a towing company.” Trump bashes Biden’s electric car Hoax Electric vehicles were an especially attractive Trump target during the six-week United Auto Workers strike in September 2023. That’s when he told a rally in Clinton Township, Michigan, You go all electric so you can drive for 15 minutes before you have to get a charge. Trump, a Republican, also posted on his social media site that then-President Joe Biden, a Democrat, sold autoworkers “down the river with his ridiculous all Electric Car Hoax.” He suggested that promoting electric vehicles was the idea of the Radical Left Fascists, Marxists, & Communists” and that “Within 3 years, all of these cars will be made in China. Trump has also praised EVs at times As on many top issues, Trump has been inconsistent on electric vehicles. During his first term, in September 2020, Trump cheered an all-electric Lordstown Motors Endurance truck at an event outside the White House, calling it an incredible vehicle. After Musk endorsed the former president’s bid to return to the White House, Trump began suggesting that electric vehicles could work for some buyers. Im for electric cars. I have to be because Elon endorsed me very strongly,” Trump said during an August rally in Atlanta. In a subsequent conversation on X, the social media platform Musk also owns, Trump called Tesla a great product while noting, That doesnt mean everybody should have an electric car. During his inaugural address, Trump promised, We will revoke the electric vehicle mandate, saving our auto industry,” but he also said that Americans will “be able to buy the car of your choice. While there was no Biden mandate to force the purchase of EVs, his policies were aimed at encouraging Americans to buy them and car companies to shift from gas-powered vehicles to electric cars. Trump has previously pilloried Musk, too Just like he had a change of heart about EVs, Trump has changed his tune about Musk, who’s now one of his advisers. When the pair got into an online feud in 2022, Trump ridiculed Musk for seeking support during his first term. When Elon Musk came to the White House asking me for help on all of his many subsidized projects, whether its electric cars that dont drive long enough, driverless cars that crash, or rocketships to nowhere, without which subsidies hed be worthless, and telling me how he was a big Trump fan and Republican, I could have said, drop to your knees and beg, and he would have done it, Trump wrote then. Will Weissert, Associated Press
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E-Commerce
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