Briefly

EURASIA

PMs agree to promote economic integration

The five member states of the Eurasian Economic Union have vowed to enhance their economic cooperation in various fields in the Armenian capital Yerevan on Friday. During the two-day meeting of the Eurasian Intergovernmental Council which kicked off on Thursday and brought together the prime ministers of the five post-Soviet states — Armenia, Russia, Belarus, Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan — the participants reached agreements in the fields of agriculture, energy and e-commerce.

UNITED STATES

Court blocks student loan forgiveness

A US federal appeals court issued an administrative stay late on Friday, temporarily blocking President Joe Biden's plan to cancel billions of dollars in federal student loans. The Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals issued the stay, and will consider a motion from six Republican-led states to block the loan cancellation program. The stay ordered the Biden administration not to act on the program. Biden said on Friday that nearly 22 million people have applied for the loan relief in the week since his administration made its online application available.

FRANCE

President vows to pull out of energy treaty

France will join other European countries such as Spain and the Netherlands in pulling out of the Energy Charter Treaty that protected investments in the energy sector, said President Emmanuel Macron on Friday. "We have decided to pull out of the Energy Charter Treaty," said Macron at the end of a European Union summit in Brussels. The treaty was designed to secure energy supplies and grants protection to companies investing in the energy industry.

Agencies - Xinhua