Europe

ROTTERDAM, July 29 (Reuters) - The container ship Ever Given, which got stuck in the Suez Canal for six days in March, arrived in the Dutch port of Rotterdam on Thursday after being released by authorities in Egypt.

It was scheduled to dock at Rotterdam's ECT Delta terminal for unloading until Aug. 3 before departing for Felixstowe, England, the port said.

The vessel, one of the world's largest container ships, became jammed across the canal in high winds on March 23, halting traffic in both directions and disrupting global trade. 

FRANKFURT, July 29 (Xinhua) -- Shuttling between stations in an assembly hall of a manufacturing base located in the Sino-France Ecology Park in Chengdu, several automated electric trucks carry materials in an orderly and efficient manner, enabling a brand-new car to roll off the production line in less than 20 hours.

ZAGREB, Croatia (AP) — A major European Union-funded bridge built by a Chinese company has been connected over the Adriatic Sea, linking two swaths of the Croatian coastline that are divided by a small stretch of Bosnia’s territory.

The China Road and Bridge Corporation (CRBC) in 2018 won an international bid to construct a 2.4-kilometer (1.5-mile) long bridge. The 420-million-euro ($500 million) construction is 85% financed by the EU and is a rare Chinese project in Europe that went through a regular bidding process.

FRANKFURT, Germany (AP) — European plane maker Airbus posted 1.87 billion euros ($2.2 billion) net profit for the second quarter and raised its outlook for plane deliveries as the airlines sector steadied itself amid the devastating impact of the COVID-19 pandemic.

The Airbus figures out Thursday compared to a loss of 1.44 billion euros in the same period last year, when the first major wave of pandemic restrictions disrupted travel and business.

LONDON (AP) — AstraZeneca said Thursday that it intends to seek U.S. authorization for its COVID-19 vaccine in the second half of this year, offering a new timetable for the much-delayed application.

The Anglo-Swedish drugmaker announced the schedule as it released second-quarter financial results, which showed that the company and its sub-licensees delivered more than 700 million doses of the vaccine to over 170 countries in the first half of this year. That includes 80 million doses that went to the COVAX initiative for low- and middle-income countries.

CARRY-LE-ROUET, France (AP) — Europe’s famed summer holiday season is in full swing, but efforts to inoculate people against the coronavirus are not taking a break.

Instead, with lockdowns easing despite concerns about variants and nations looking to breathe new life into their ailing tourism industries, vaccinations are being taken to vacationers. It’s all part of an effort to maintain momentum in campaigns to protect against the pandemic that has killed more than 1 million across the continent, including in the European Union, the United Kingdom and Russia.

NOVO-OGAREVO, July 28. /TASS/: Russian President Vladimir Putin participated in the inauguration ceremony for the start of railway traffic through the second Baikal tunnel on Wednesday via a video link.

Builders, operations specialists and executives of Russian Railways and USK Most dealing with the facility construction took part in the inauguration ceremony.

CEO of Russian Railways Oleg Belozerov reported that all systems were up and running and requested to start the traffic. "You have my permission," the President replied.

MOSCOW, July 28. /TASS/: Russia is concerned over the activity of US special services on its territory, Kremlin Spokesman Dmitry Peskov said on Wednesday, declining to compare the successes of both countries’ intelligence agencies. 

"The US special services are active on our territory and this, of course, is a cause of concern," Peskov said.

"This has been evident for a long time, and it is ongoing," the Kremlin spokesman said.

MOSCOW, July 28. /TASS/: The Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline is by now 99% complete, the Fortuna pipe-laying barge is working at the final section, a representative with Nord Stream 2 AG, the project’s operator, told TASS. 

Meanwhile, the Akademik Chersky pipe-laying vessel has fully completed the planned work.

KYIV, July 28 (Reuters) - President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said on Wednesday that Ukraine expects to receive a second payment from its $5 billion International Monetary Fund programme after fulfilling all its agreed commitments.

The IMF approved the standby loan facility in June 2020 and disbursed a first tranche of $2.1 billion to help the Ukrainian economy, which was hit hard by the coronavirus pandemic.

Further loans have been frozen due to the slow pace of reforms in Ukraine and concerns over central bank independence.