When the next Summer Olympics kicks off in Los Angeles, a Russian team could be among the competitors for the first time in more than a decade. The International Olympic Committee (IOC) has lifted its suspension of Russia’s Olympic organization, which had been in place since 2016. But many are angry at the prospect of Russia rejoining the international competition, especially during its war with Ukraine.

What’s the IOC’s decision?
The group “provisionally lifted the suspension of the Russian Olympic Committee that had been in effect” since October 2023, said the group in a statement. This came partly because Russia is “no longer trying to claim regional sports organizations on Ukrainian soil” as part of the Russian Olympic Committee, said The Athletic. And Russia must abide by anti-doping measures.

There’s also a “lack of confidence in the global sporting community relating to the return of Russian athletes to international competition,” said the IOC. But Olympic officials have stated they no longer want to punish Russian athletes for their country’s invasion of Ukraine.

What does this mean for the Olympics?
The IOC’s suspension of the ban represents a “significant step for bringing Russian athletes, who have struggled with their country’s pariah status on the world stage, back into the international fold after several years,” said The New York Times. But it’s a “highly controversial decision by the IOC and one likely to be condemned by European countries in particular,” said the BBC.

“Many within the IOC” are “mindful of the current geopolitical landscape,” as well as “accusations of double standards if the sanction against Russia was maintained while other countries that have launched military action against other nations escape punishment,” said the BBC. Others say that Russia’s ban should only have ended when the country pulls out of Ukraine and that allowing it in the 2028 Olympics “risks emboldening President Vladimir Putin and handing him a propaganda win.”

So while the IOC’s overturning of the ban does mean Russia could “compete at the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics,” Russian participation in the games will not come without backlash, said Politico. The IOC’s choice “sends a deeply concerning signal to the international community,” said Ukraine’s foreign ministry on X.

Launched in 2004, the Neil Gehrels Swift Observatory telescope detects some of the most powerful explosions in the universe. And the space agency’s attempt to catch this falling telescope is an unprecedented endeavor that has been repeatedly extended. But the observatory is sinking faster than expected due to recent solar storms and is at risk of crashing back to Earth in the coming months unless its orbit changes.

‘Especially tricky’
NASA has enlisted the help of Arizona’s Katalyst Space Technologies, which has engineered a “custom capture mechanism” that will use three guided robotic arms to “latch on to” the Swift telescope, which contains no engines and was not built with docking hardware, said Astronomy. 

Since Katalyst’s Link spacecraft launched on July 3, it has been undergoing a series of checks. The car-sized telescope will then be surveyed to determine the best point of contact before being captured and lifted back into its correct altitude. The capture will be “especially tricky because Swift was never meant to be touched again once it reached orbit,” said Astronomy. 

‘Worth saving’
At $30 million, the mission to save a “nearly 22-year-old space telescope” that’s “well past its prime” might seem, “on paper” at least, to be poor value for money, said Space (a sister site of The Week). But Swift is “still worth it, according to NASA.”

“We didn’t want to set the precedent that anything that comes out of orbit has to be boosted, because it’s part of our space ecosystem to have things deorbit frequently,” Shawn Domagal-Goldman, the director of NASA’s astrophysics division, said in June. But Swift is “not just any spacecraft” and has a unique ability to “quickly pivot across the night sky to find things that go boom in the night.” There’s “nothing like Swift,” said Pallab Ghosh at the BBC. And NASA “deemed that it was a spacecraft worth saving.”

Participants sprint to the finish line in the T-Rex World Championship Races at Emerald Downs racetrack in Auburn, Washington. Clad in inflatable dinosaur suits, runners dash for glory in a 100-yard race that began in 2017 as a pest control company’s team-building activity and is now broadcast on ESPN.
Lindsey Wasson / AP Photo

While everything from algebra to essay writing may have been covered in school, a subject area often left off the curriculum is personal finance. Unfortunately, most people are far more likely to run into questions of budgeting and investing than, say, calculating the area of a triangle (some professions aside). But the good news is that it’s never too late to play catch-up. And with these personal finance books, doing so does not have to feel like homework.

‘Get Good with Money’ 
This book by financial educator Tiffany Aliche, aka the Budgetnista, offers a breakdown of financial foundations and daily money habits. Perhaps unsurprisingly, given her moniker, it helps with establishing a baseline budget, but it also offers guidance on other staples like saving, investing, insurance coverage, credit scores and more. Ultimately, Aliche succeeds in presenting an “ethos of financial wholeness that rejects the unnecessary complexity and unrealistic nature of traditional financial advice,” said U.S. News & World Report.

‘Your Money or Your Life’ 
This book by Joe Dominguez and Vicki Robin encourages readers to get clear about their personal values around money. “The simple premise: How much money are you willing to trade your life for? Whenever you are working, you are trading your life and energy for money. What does that mean to you?” said Grant Sabatier, a personal finance blogger, to The Strategist. The idea is that “once you are clear on the ‘why’ behind your saving and spending, making decisions about investing and budgeting becomes much easier,” said the outlet.

‘The Intelligent Investor’
Once budget and debts are ironed out and a money mindset has been cemented, you are in a good place to begin investing, a practice foundational to building wealth. Benjamin Graham and Jason Zweig’s book was originally published in 1949, though it has since been updated, and remains a classic for a reason. It provides a guide to “investing for individuals looking to develop sensible strategies and protect their investments,” said GOBankingRates. Business magnate Warren Buffett has called it “by far the best book about investing ever written.”