Prisoners come home

A historic prisoner swap followed months of negotiations and involved 24 prisoners across six countries. Track and field is in full swing at the 2024 Paris Games. A rise in unemployment last month doesn't immediately indicate a recession.

🙋🏼‍♀️ I'm Nicole Fallert , Daily Briefing author. Get ready for Maya Rudolph's "SNL" return as Kamala Harris .

Evan Gershkovich and Paul Whelan are back home

Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich, former U.S. Marine Paul Whelan and journalist Alsu Kurmasheva landed in the U.S. late Thursday night, capping an extraordinary return home from Russian prisons after the largest and most extensive West-East swap of prisoners since the Cold War. The swap involved 16 individuals detained in Russia in exchange for eight people held in the U.S., Germany, Norway, Slovenia and Poland. The key concession was the return of Russian hitman Vadim Krasikov, who was in jail in Germany. Read more

Olympic update: Swimming and running and swimming and running and —

Yep, we're going in circles (metaphorically) following the Olympians in the pool and on the track Friday. The 2024 Paris Olympics have entered a unique point of the schedule during which swimming and track and field overlap − and what a packed slate it is.

What to watch on Friday: The Olympic swimming schedule today features three finals, including Caeleb Dressel in the 50m free. The Olympic track and field schedule calls for full prelims, heats and qualifying rounds, including Sha’Carri Richardson’s heat in the 100 meters. The men’s 10,000m final also is today.

Here are a few more updates from the Games:

• Disappointment in the waves : Carissa Moore, the defending Olympic champion surfer who planned to step away from the sport after the Paris Games, failed to make it out of the quarterfinals.
• Simone Biles is the 🐐 of all 🐐 : With her second Olympic all-around title Thursday night, she is the third woman to win two Olympic all-around titles and the first to do it in non-consecutive Games. She has nine Olympic medals, six of them gold.
• 1960 was a long time ago . But that's the last time USA won the Olympic men's four rowing, *until now*.

🏅 There's so much more to come from the Paris Games. If you haven't yet, join our team and sign up for USA TODAY's daily Olympics newsletter, Chasing Gold.

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Signs of a recession? Stay calm.

If Friday’s jobs report reveals that the unemployment rate last month inched up from 4.1% to 4.2% − still a historically low figure − the U.S., by one measure, will be in the early stages of a recession. Experts aren't worried yet, but the jobless rate in Friday’s report could roil stocks and signal further weakening ahead in an already slowing labor market. Read more

Harris VP decision coming in days

Kamala Harris' vetting team has met in private with Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro, Sen. Mark Kelly of Arizona, Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker, Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear and Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg, according to news outlets. The vice president plans to hold sit-down talks with her leading candidates ahead of a decision expected early next week. Read more

Unofficial addresses no longer accepted by Georgia law

Georgia has maintained loose guidelines for how homeless residents demarcate their place of residence, allowing them to list the name of a bridge or field in which they sleep. But starting at the beginning of 2025, these unofficial addresses will no longer be accepted for voter registration. Read more

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One family's escape from the Maui fire

Just a whiff of smoke is enough to transport Sue Brimeyer back to that day. To the acrid smell of charred homes as flaming debris rained down and fire raged through Lahaina. And to the earth-shaking feeling her very heritage was going up in smoke. Read about her escape from the deadliest U.S. wildfire in more than a century, which swept through the Hawaiian island of Maui on August 8, 2023.

Photo of the day: The difference of three years for Sha'Carri Richardson

Sha'Carri Richardson is the fastest woman in the world. She was left off Team USA for the Tokyo Games after testing positive for THC, which led to a one-month suspension. Now, Richardson is officially on the roster for the 2024 Paris Games and burst through the competition at her Olympic debut Friday morning .

Nicole Fallert is a newsletter writer at USA TODAY, sign up for the email here . Want to send Nicole a note? Shoot her an email at NFallert@usatoday.com .

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Prisoners come home