News in brief

By The Associated Press

More public workers are getting student loans canceled

WASHINGTON | Another 78,000 Americans are getting their federal student loans canceled through a program that helps teachers, nurses, firefighters and other public servants, the Biden administration announced Thursday.

The Education Department is canceling the borrowers’ loans because they reached 10 years of payments while working in public service, making them eligible for relief under the Public Service Loan Forgiveness program.

EU leaders mull ways to get more arms to Ukraine

BRUSSELS | European Union leaders are debating new ways to help boost arms and ammunition production for Ukraine. Ukraine’s munition stocks are desperately low, while Russia has more and better-armed troops.

The leaders are also discussing how to ramp up defense spending. New plans are on the table, notably to use the profits from frozen Russian assets to help rearm Ukraine and give its defense industry a boost. German Chancellor Olaf Scholz says these profits should be used “first and foremost” to buy weapons and ammunition for the war-ravaged country.

Defense bonds are also being discussed at Thursday’s summit but are far from receiving the unanimous support required to start issuing them.

—From AP reports