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Here's today's free edition. This is the World in Brief from The Economist.

Our top stories.

Russia released more than 100 Ukrainian soldiers and officers who it had captured during Ukraine's incursion into the cursed region.

Ukraine released the same number of Russians.

It is the second large prisoner of war swap in two days.

The deal was mediated by the United Arab Emirates, the eighth one brokered by the Gulf State since the start of 2024.

Dating apps may have contributed up to half of the growth in America's income inequality since 1980,

according to researchers from the Federal Reserve and Haverford College.

Americans have become less picky about their mates race, though it is still their leading criterion,

but more so about their skills, education and income, leading the well-off to partner up.

A third day of torrential rains across Central and Eastern Europe has put several countries at risk

of the worst flooding in four decades.

In Romania, flash floods killed at least 4, 5,000 households have been evacuated.

The Czech Republic is on its highest flood alert in 38 locations. Poland has also started evacuations.

Austria's mountainous regions are seeing unusually heavy snowfall.

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