Author: Daily Upsider

The final of the 2030 FIFA World Cup is nearly six years away, but the design for the stadium expected to host the match has been unveiled.

The Grand Stade Hassan II in Morocco – one of the three co-hosting countries, alongside Spain and Portugal – is projected to be one of the world’s largest football stadiums, with a planned capacity of 115,000. Located on a 100-hectare (about 247 acres) site in El Mansouria, north of Casablanca, the stadium’s design is inspired by a traditional Moroccan tent called a “moussem,” according to designers Oualolou + Choi and Populous. The structure will feature an aluminum lattice covering both the seating area and the surrounding tiered gardens, as well as a botanical garden on the ground floor.

Tarik Oualalou, design principal at Oualalou + Choi, stated that the design reflects Moroccan culture, drawing from traditional elements like the moussem, tent, and garden, as well as Moroccan landscapes. The stadium’s layout is designed with FIFA World Cup events in mind, with separate zones for general admission fans and a main section for VIPs and hospitality. Christopher Lee, managing director at Populous EMEA, described it as a potential landmark for Morocco and global football.

When compared to other large stadiums, the Grand Stade Hassan II will have a capacity of 115,000, placing it among the largest. The Narendra Modi Stadium in India holds 132,000, while the Rungrado 1st of May Stadium in North Korea has an official capacity of 150,000, though it’s estimated to now seat about 114,000 after renovations.

The Federal Reserve announced a much-anticipated interest rate cut on Wednesday, reducing the benchmark rate by half a percentage point (50 basis points) from its highest level in 23 years. This move comes as the central bank responds to progress in controlling inflation and aims to ease borrowing costs.

The cut, the Fed’s first since March 2020, brings the federal funds rate down to a range of 4.75% to 5%. This is a larger than expected cut and the Fed said they expect to make another before the end of the year.

Since July 2023, interest rates had been set at a range of 5.25% to 5.5%, the highest since 2001, while the Fed closely monitored economic data to assess whether inflation was moving toward its 2% target.

Recent months have shown encouraging signs that inflation is cooling, although it hasn’t fully reached the Fed’s goal yet. In August, inflation slowed to 2.5% annually, down from 2.9% in July, and significantly lower than the cycle’s peak of 9.1% in June 2022.

Now that the Fed is cutting rates, borrowing costs, including rates on home loans, credit cards, auto loans, and student loans should start to decrease.

Some rates, particularly mortgages, have already seen significant declines as the Fed indicated its plans for rate cuts. The average 30-year fixed mortgage rate recently dropped to 6.20%, according to Freddie Mac, down from a peak of nearly 8% last October.

Other rates, such as those for personal loans, credit cards, and auto loans, are more directly linked to the Fed’s policy changes and are likely to decrease shortly after the Fed’s decision, according to Parthenon’s Gregory Daco.

A boy who was shot in the head as a baby and nearly died is preparing to walk a 5k for the hospital that saved his life.

Harry Studley was 18 months old in 2016 when a 24-year-old neighbor, while cleaning his air rifle, aimed it at the crying toddler, thinking it was unloaded. The pellet lodged in Harry’s brain, causing a displaced skull fracture, swelling, and bleeding.

Harry was given a one percent chance of survival but beat the odds. However, he still deals with epilepsy, partial blindness, weakness, and some cognitive challenges. Now nine, Harry and his father, Ed, will participate in the Grand Walk for the Grand Appeal on Sunday, September 15th, to raise money for Bristol Royal Hospital for Children in England.

The family has created a JustGiving page for donations.

The Hubble Space Telescope recently captured an image of the Triangulum Galaxy (M33), proving it remains relevant despite the James Webb Telescope’s advanced infrared capabilities.

M33, located in the constellation Triangulum, is about half the size of the Milky Way and is the third-largest galaxy in the Local Group after Andromeda (M31) and the Milky Way. Known for its rapid star formation, M33 forms stars at a rate 10 times higher than Andromeda, thanks to its abundant gas, dust, and ionized hydrogen clouds (H-II regions). Interestingly, its well-ordered spiral arms show little evidence of interaction with other galaxies, suggesting its star formation isn’t driven by galactic collisions, as is common elsewhere. Instead, high-mass stars seem to form from molecular cloud collisions within M33.

The image reveals reddish clouds of ionized hydrogen and dark dust lanes. The graininess is due to swarms of stars—M33 is one of the few galaxies close enough for Hubble to resolve individual stars. Unlike most spiral galaxies, M33 lacks a central bulge or a supermassive black hole, making it a “pure disk galaxy,” a structure found in about 15-18% of galaxies.

Despite its current stability, M33 may collide with both Andromeda and the Milky Way in the future. This image is part of a survey aimed at refining theories on the interstellar medium, star formation, and stellar evolution.

If you want to see another fantastic image, check out this image from NASA’s Astronomy Picture of the Day.